Wacom's new pen tech start to spread (up to 15" devices)

Wacom finally opting for EMR pens with batteries? This sure isn't the Wacom I know, considering what a big selling point they made of having battery-free pens!

I suppose it won't be too much of an issue, aside from AAAA batteries being nonexistent in most stores I've been in should I need a replacement. The important thing is low initial activation force (something N-trig fails at) and accurate pen response, and having a battery isn't necessarily going to change that.

 

From the marketing agent Monty Python sketch (horribly misquoted, I'm sure):

Marketing Guy: "Amazing Water-Proof string!"

Supplier: "Actually, it gets a bit soggy when wet..."

Marketing Guy: "Amazing Super-Absorbent string!"​

 

Any more information about the "Active Pen" on the Yoga 14 and Yoga 15?

I chatted with a sales agent at Lenovo yesterday, asking about this. It didn't seem like she knew anything more than what she was able to look up on the spot, but she claimed that the Active Pen doesn't use an active digitizer. She said that these wouldn't be as good for drawing as a Yoga 12. so confus.

Edit: I think the sales agent was giving me info about the current Yoga 14 and 15. I didn't realize the Active Pen was only on the new models and she probably didn't know what I was asking about. Still, any more info about the Active Pen would be awesome - what I've read so far indicates that it would only be better than the current Lenovo penabled devices.

 

Toshiba has released a new tablet which uses the same new Wacom digitizer technology, (though in a 12" form factor).

Forum member Precurve has provided a detailed review of his experience with it.

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/thr...wt8-b-encore-2-write.63815/page-4#post-424849

It looks pretty good, imho.

-From CES, however, it appears that Lenovo was having some trouble with their Yoga demo model, with the digitizer skipping and putting down bad lines and such. Hopefully they will have sorted that out by now, though there is no indication as of yesterday on their Dutch sales site of a stylus being for sale, (though they do say that the option for an Active Stylus is built into the tablet).

I think, realistically, it's going to be mid-March before we know for certain how appropriate the new Yoga line is going to be for artists.

 

In the Encore Write thread surfaceproartist mentioned he was not impressed with AES. I haven't followed up the thread lately but he mentioned even N-Trig felt better...

Swiped from my Galaxy Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

Uhh. I've been traveling and haven't been able to finish my Encore review, but I don't recall writing that. At this point, I'd say AES is superior to N-Trig (but very close). Perhaps ron2k_1 was thinking of my comments regarding the Monoprice pen display I'm also testing.

 

I may had recalled your words differently:

Or I may had mix somebody else's words with yours. But I recall someone saying that N-Trig although limited to 256 LOP felt smoother, smaller offsets and less jitter than AES... Gotta finish reading that thread...

Swiped from my Galaxy Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

That hasn't been my experience at all. My only complaint is that I can't "feel" the 2048 levels of pressure. And the Encore 2 Write is woefully underpowered at only 2 GB RAM. I'm really looking forward to the Thinkpad Yoga 15 now.

 

When I talked to the Wacom engineer in charge of Active ES, he made it clear that Active ES is not replacing EMR for them. It is a lower cost, more 'flexible" to implement option for ODMs. All of Wacom's professional line will march on with the EMR board behind the LCD layout, parallax be damned.

Even in the vertical and consumer space, EMR won't be going anywhere in the near future, although I suspect ODMs will increasingly choose Active ES over Feel It/ EMR as time goes by.

The challenges for Active ES and DuoSense 2 are that the Palm rejection isn't as good as EMR for pen + Pro Cap for touch method (because the job can be divided perfectly to the two digitizers vs one digitizer performing both tasks) and that the size beyond 16" is problematic for Pro Cap active pens because the pro cap layer beyond 16" is expensive. But then again, no real demand for 16"+ pro cap digitizers in the mobile space so I see EMR eventually being relegated to the professional graphics market for Wacom.

 

What 12" toshiba are you referring to? The only one I'm aware of is the z20t (that I've been drooling over), and it uses Wacom EMR, not AES.