PRESS RELEASE

X1 Tablet with Intel® Core™ m7 Processor reaches 10 hours’ battery and unique modules add functionality

LAS VEGAS, NV – January 3, 2016 – Lenovo (HKSE:992) today unveiled its newly expanded and highly innovative X1 portfolio. Designed for forward thinkers, the series includes new additions such as the brilliantly adaptable ThinkPad X1 Tablet with its unique modular design; the immersive ThinkPad X1 Yoga with world’s first OLED display; and the award-winning ThinkPad X1 Carbon is even thinner and lighter, strengthening its superiority in the ultrabook market.  Furthermore, desktop users will be wowed by the stunning new ThinkCentre X1 all-in-one, the must-have design centerpiece for any office with outstanding performance to match.

Introducing Lenovo new offering - ThinkPad X1 Tablet. More than just a lightweight tablet, it can be a laptop, a projector and a 3D camera with new generation modular design! Will your tablet still be a tablet? #thinkfirst #thisisthinkpad Learn more from: http://www.thisisthinkpad.com

Designed and Engineered for Forward Thinkers
 
The modular design of the ThinkPad X1 Tablet offers something no other tablet can - adding functionality through simple clip-on optional modules:
 
·        Need more battery? The Productivity Module increases use up to 15 hours total
·        Ready to present? The Presenter Module includes a pico projector and HDMI port
·        Creating in 3D? Add the 3D Imaging Module with its rear-facing Intel RealSense camera

The full size ThinkPad keyboard with the iconic TrackPoint has three adjustable typing angles and recreates the classic ThinkPad keystroke feel. Keyboard and tablet together weigh just 2.4 pounds for an ultra-light laptop experience. What’s more, it is the first Windows tablet with LTE Advanced support for superfast connectivity from virtually anywhere. The ThinkPad X1 Tablet also features a removable rear panel for serviceability and upgrades.

ThinkPad X1 Yoga, a powerful laptop yet a device adapts your needs with 4 different modes: laptop, stand, tent & tablet. ThinkPad X1 Yoga, not just one way of working! #thinkfirst #thisisthinkpad Learn more from: http://www.thisisthinkpad.com

ThinkPad X1 Yoga is incredibly thin at just 0.66 inches and light at only 2.8 pounds. It is also the world’s first convertible featuring an optional Samsung OLED display that reproduces beautifully rich colors and deeper blacks. With a patented Lift and Lock keyboard that retracts keys in tablet mode, X1 Yoga also features an active pen that is perfect for highlighting and writing notes directly on webpages using the Microsoft Edge browser. The pen is also housed & charged inside the system so it won’t get lost.

Introducing the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2016) - the world's lightest 14" business notebook. ThinkPad X1 Carbon, THIN. LIGHT. TOUGH. #thinkfirst #thisisthinkpad Learn more from: http://www.thisisthinkpad.com

ThinkPad X1 Carbon continues to stand out as the world’s lightest 14-inch business ultrabook. One of the most refined and elegant notebooks available today, the X1 Carbon is thinner, lighter and more powerful than ever.   Focused on customer-centric design improvements, we listened to customer feedback and made a number of improvements, including more display options, increased memory and storage capacity, improved connectivity and made the X1 Carbon lighter at just 2.6 pounds.
 
Customers expect Lenovo to keep pushing the boundaries and the ThinkPad X1 series doesn’t disappoint. With a unique combination of performance, connectivity and security focused features available in all three products, the new ThinkPad X1 family is designed and engineered for forward thinkers:
 
·        Up to 1TB high-density, low-power Samsung M.2 NVMe SSD storage offers speeds up to five times that of standard SATA SSD
·        Ultra-fast enterprise class connectivity with the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X7 LTE modem with 4G LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation support for up to 300 Mbps download speeds
·        Fast and secure WiGig wireless docking for a cable-free desk environment
·        Touch Fingerprint reader and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security chip for peace of mind
·        Built tough to withstand the rigors of mobile working by passing more than two hundred Lenovo stress tests
 
The ThinkPad X1 family also includes a number of accessories specifically designed to match and enhance the overall user experience:
·        ThinkPad X1 Wireless Touch Mouse is a thin and light dual mode mouse optimized for travel. Flip it over to use the integrated touchpad presenter for easy navigation through slides.
·        The ThinkPad X1 In-Ear Headphones have been optimized by Dolby for the X1 series and engineered with dual drivers to improve phone calls, music and movies.
·        The X1 Sleeve, with its soft-touch interior and easy-to-open magnetic flap, is the perfect transport companion for your X1 Carbon or X1 Yoga.
·        The ThinkPad 65W Micro Adapter is 58 percent smaller and 50 percent lighter than a standard power adapter and is the ideal lightweight travel mate for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga.
 
The Desk Space of Tomorrow
 The ThinkCentre X1 AIO offers a superlative design within an ultra-thin 11mm frame giving one of the world’s thinnest desktops. The premium anti-glare display offers a bright picture from any angle on its 23.8-inch screen and despite the incredibly thin chassis, the ThinkCentre X1 is built tough. Designed to withstand dust build up, a common cause of hardware failure with desktop PCs, the all-in-one has been tested for eight hours in a dust chamber, replicating ten years in an office environment.
 
The 7.5mm ultra-slim ThinkVision X1 is the world’s first monitor to receive the TUV Eye-Comfort certification. Featuring a 27-inch UltraHD edge-to-edge anti-glare display, the ThinkVision X1 includes rich connectivity options such as a USB type C port, providing the perfect complement to the ThinkPad X1 Tablet.
 
Pricing and Availability
ThinkPad X1 Tablet will be available starting February from $899.
The Productivity Module will be available starting February from $149
The Projector Module will be available starting May from $279
The 3D Imaging Module will be available starting May from $149
ThinkPad X1 Yoga will be available starting January from $1449. OLED models will be available starting April. Prices will be quoted nearer the time.
ThinkPad X1 Carbon will be available starting February from $1299
ThinkPad X1 Wireless Touch Mouse will be available starting end of January for $69.99
ThinkPad X1 In-Ear Headphones will be available starting January for $69.99
ThinkPad X1 Sleeve will be available starting February for $50
ThinkPad 65W Micro Power Adapter will be available later in 2016 from $80.
ThinkCentre X1 AIO will be available starting March from $1029
ThinkVision X1 will be available starting March from $799.
 
http://www.lenovo.com/think
 
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $46 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode Yoga brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola brand), tablets and apps. Join us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@Lenovo) or visit us at www.lenovo.com.
 
Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. All Qualcomm Incorporated trademarks are used with permission.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X7 is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

PRESS RELEASE

• 12-inch Windows-powered tablet measures just 6.9mm (0.27 in) thin and weighs only 1.28 pounds 

• Delivers precision digital inking technologies by Wacom for a truly natural handwriting experience that feels like writing with pen on paper

• Suite of Toshiba original business applications inspire creativity, productivity and collaboration

• Available for pre-order starting today direct from Toshiba and at Microsoft Stores in late January for $569.99 MSRP

LAS VEGAS – CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW – January 5, 2016 – Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the availability of dynaPad™, a light and powerful tablet powered by Windows 10 and engineered to deliver the natural feel of pen to paper so you can work and create freely.

“Precision digital inking technology is the next frontier of truly personal computing,” said Philip Osako, senior director of product marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. “Advances in engineering and pen technology have enabled us to create an amazingly thin and light tablet that’s ideal for instant creativity while also offering the versatility to immediately transition to a clamshell form factor for productivity. Toshiba dynaPad is the ultimate digital notebook.”

Remarkably Accurate Pen Experience
Built with professional-grade digital inking technologies by Wacom®, Toshiba’s exclusive Active Electrostatics (ES) TruPen™ with Wacom® Feel delivers pen precision and accuracy, so note-taking, sketching and drawing feels like writing with pen on paper.Ideal for designers, artists and note-takers, it is also great for highlighting and writing notes directly on webpages through the annotating features in the Microsoft Edge browser. Featuring a sophisticated metal design, this fine-tip digitizer pen supports 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity and writing or drawing capabilities from extreme angles with virtually no latency. And because the pen is battery-powered, it can last for more than 1,000 hours so there is no need to carry a separate charging connector.

“Our Active ES solution continues to deliver a best-in-class writing and drawing experience on tablets like the Toshiba dynaPad,” said Masahiko Yamada, president and CEO of Wacom Ltd. “Toshiba’s TruPen stylus delivers unprecedented accuracy and speed and allows users to create intricate details, just like they would with a pen or pencil on paper.”

Dynamic Full HD Display Precision Engineered for Handwriting
Toshiba dynaPad features a 12-inch Full HD+ (1920x1280) TruBrite® display1
remastered for handwriting. To achieve a digital canvas that best replicates the natural feel of pen to paper, Toshiba bonds two sheets of high-quality glass with a metal mesh sensor and incorporates Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 with Native Damage Resistance™, plus an anti-fingerprint coating to deliver a sturdy surface that accepts fine lines and pressure-sensitive strokes – all while delivering a crystal clear 2 million pixel-perfect view. 

The World’s Lightest 12-inch Windows Tablet
The innovative slim and lightweight design of dynaPad – 6.9mm thin and 1.28 pounds – makes dynaPad the lightest 12-inch tablet that is powered by Windows. Sized to mimic a traditional A4 paper size, dynaPad’s design complements the large display area with a carbon fiber housing and a sophisticated, rubberized finish to give it a solid feel in hand, while reducing flex. The device also offers an optional ultra-thin, full-size keyboard with a 19mm pitch and 1.5mm stroke for easier typing and a well-sized touchpad ideal for Windows navigation. Attached by magnets, users canquickly convert the tablet to a clamshell laptop for productivity applications. The TruPen neatly attaches to the side of the tablet.

“Toshiba’s dynaPad is a great example of a device that highlights how Windows 10 can help people do great things,” said Peter Han, vice president of Worldwide OEM Marketing, Microsoft Corp. “Toshiba’s TruPen with Wacom Feel technology is fantastic for taking notes and highlighting on webpages in the Microsoft Edge browser and the detachable keyboard combined with Continuum on Windows 10
enables you to use it as a tablet or laptop.”

Toshiba’s Suite of Original Apps Designed for the Way You Work
The dynaPad also includes updated versions of Toshiba’s exclusive suite of original business applications that enable users to easily collect, organize and share notes, images and files and integrate them seamlessly with Microsoft Office. The suite includes:

• TruNote™: A simple, yet powerful handwriting app lets you effortlessly take lecture or meeting notes, create detailed hand drawings, search handwritten messages, manage multiple notebooks and more. Smart settings allow for left- or right-handed use to maintain a normal writing style.
• TruCapture™: Easily capture images and text from whiteboards, textbooks, newspapers and more, at any angle for simple importing into presentations and sharing.
• TruRecorder™: A powerful voice recording application for meetings, lectures and interviews that can recognize the speaker’s voice for easy playback.
• TruNote Clip: Easily capture screen clips and mark them up for easy sharing.
• TruNote Share: Turn the tablet into a real-time whiteboard that can be shared with up to 40
people.

Performance for Creativity and Productivity
The tablet features the Intel® Atom™ x5 Z8300 processor with up to 4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of flash storage delivering snappy performance for navigating Windows 10, using apps and getting work done. Offering a range of connectivity options, dynaPad includes two Micro USB 2.0 ports, a microSD card slot that supports up to 128GB cards and a Micro HDMI® port for connecting to external devices. In
addition, the device includes ultrafast 802.11ac Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth as well as a 2MP front-facing camera and dual-array TruTalk™ mics for video chatting and an 8MP rear camera with auto-focus.

Pricing & Availability
Toshiba dynaPad is available today for pre-order starting today direct from Toshiba at toshiba.com/us and at Microsoft Stores in late January for $569.99 MSRP. 

PRESS RELEASE

Backed by three decades of digital pen input innovation, Bamboo Smart delivers the power of note-taking and ideation to a wider audience of laptop and tablet users. 

Las Vegas, Nev. - Jan. 5, 2016 - As mobile users demand more from their devices with the help of digital styluses, Wacom® continues to innovate and raise awareness in the smart stylus category. 

Bamboo Smart for select media tablets and 2-in-1 devices builds on Wacom’s 30 years of pen input leadership and the feedback of thousands of professional users as well as enthusiasts and hobbyists. The result is two premium Bamboo Smart styluses. 

The first, making its debut at CES 2016, is Bamboo Smart for select Windows® 2-in-1 devices enabled with Active Electro-Static (AES) technology. 

The second, introduced this past September, but new to most CES attendees, is Bamboo Smart for select Samsung® devices using Wacom’s Electro-Magnetic Resonance (EMR) technology. Both styluses offer pressure-sensitive precision and sublime comfort, producing handwritten notes and rough ink concepts that feel and look like they were produced by traditional media. 

Deep Digital Stylus Experience Drives Performance 
“We drew on Wacom’s long history and market knowledge to come up with the new Bamboo Smart styluses,” says Mike Gay, Senior Vice President for the Consumer Product Business Unit at Wacom. “Not only are we opening up digital note-taking and ideation to a new set of laptop and tablet users, but we are also providing a way for users to think differently and explore new ways to communicate and collaborate.” 

Both Bamboo Smart styluses are designed with high quality materials and use technology developed to enhance the effortless experience of a traditional inking pen. Every subtle written or drawn detail is captured accurately. Comfortable and balanced in the hand, Bamboo Smart owners can fearlessly take notes and sketch out rough ideas and concepts on their laptops and mobile devices just like they would with pen and paper.

Two programmable side switches on the barrel of Bamboo Smart’s AES stylus allow for fast and convenient access to regularly used commands, such as right click or double click. The stylus requires a AAAA battery that will last approximately one year when used around three hours per day. 

The Bamboo Smart for Samsung features one side switch and requires no batteries or any type of charging. Bamboo Smart users will find that they can get more out of their favorite productivity apps such as OneNote and Wacom’s own note-taking app, Bamboo Paper. 

Current Devices Compatible with Bamboo Smart Bamboo Smart for select Windows 2-in-1 devices: 

• Dell® Venue™ 10, 5000 Series (5050) 
• Dell Venue Pro 10 5000 Series (5055) 
• HP® Elite x2 1021 (New) 
• Lenovo® ThinkPad® P40 Yoga™ 
• Toshiba dynaPad N72 (New) 

Because AES technology is native to these devices, the Bamboo Smart works immediately, no pairing required. 

Bamboo Smart for Samsung devices: 

• Samsung Galaxy™ Note 3
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
• Samsung Galaxy Note 5
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.0“ with S-Pen
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 9.7“ with S-Pen 

Bamboo Smart for Samsung is battery-free and cordless. 

For more compatibility information, visit wacom.com/comp Availability and Pricing Bamboo Smart ($39.95 USD) for Samsung is available now on the Wacom eStore and at online retailers such as Amazon. Bamboo Smart for Windows will be available in February

PRESS RELEASE

Galaxy TabPro S brings an all-purpose, seamless mobile station in to one premium device

Las Vegas - January 5 2016 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., today announced Galaxy TabPro S, which combines Samsung’s world-class technology, powered by the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system together into a premium tablet. By integrating the most popular features of laptops and tablets, users now have access to full notebook PC functionality in a lightweight tablet for the most productive mobile experience, even on-the-go.
 
“Galaxy TabPro S balances the best of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab with the wealth of features on the Windows 10 operating system for the most advanced tablet experience on the market,” said Dongjin Ko, President and Head of  Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “We’re thrilled to be working  with Microsoft Corp. to deliver a 2-in-1 tablet that truly allows people to enjoy productivity and connections that matter most, through a seamless mobile station designed for all purposes.”
 
High Productivity in a Sleek, Portable Design
Galaxy TabPro S caters to high-efficiency users seeking to maximize their productivity at home, in the office, or on-the-go. The tablet delivers full PC functionality with both Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro for business, so that consumers and business users alike can enjoy all the features and functionality of the Windows 10 operating system, as well as compatibility with their existing IT infrastructure.
 
At 6.3 millimeters thin and weighing only 693 grams, Galaxy TabPro S is designed to be easily carried around all day. A full-sized keyboard cover, which comes included with the device, also enhances the usability. The keyboard’s flexible hinge enables optimal, dual-angle viewing for the clearest display in any circumstance. Moreover, the Pogo pin on the Galaxy TabPro S keyboard eliminates the need for pairing or charging separately. The keyboard’s touchpad emulates that of a PC to provide easy control, even when used in Stand Mode.
 
Superior Viewing Experience
Delivering the very first Super AMOLED display for Windows to the market, Galaxy TabPro S features a multitouch screen and a deeper color contrast with 94 percent of natural tones to show true-to-life colors and more precise details for a best-in-class viewing experience. The lightweight, power-efficient 12-inch AMOLED display enables users to enjoy gaming, movies and other popular entertainment with unprecedented clarity and color accuracy.
 
Powerful Performance
Galaxy TabPro S delivers Samsung’s advanced technology to maximize performance and power efficiency. It is the first tablet, powered by Windows, to support LTE Cat 6 for the fastest and most advanced connected experience. With enhanced fast charging features, Galaxy TabPro S’s battery can fully charge in just 2.5 hours, and offers up to 10.5 hours of battery life* for all day use. For power-driven performance, Galaxy TabPro S is equipped with the latest generation Intel Core M processor, designed for a fanless 2-in-1 tablet, featuring only 4.5W of power consumption to eliminate noise disruption and maximize efficiency.
 
To enhance productivity, a multi-port adapter (HDMI, USB Type A & C) and Bluetooth Pen are available for purchase separately. Galaxy TabPro S will be available globally, starting from February 2016 .

Galaxy TabPro S Specifications
OS  Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
Network  LTE Cat.6 **
AP  6th Gen. Intel Core M processor (Dual Core 2.2GHz)
Display  12” 2160x1440 Super AMOLED
Camera  5MP AF(Rear), 5MP (Front)
Video  MP4,3GP,WMV,ASF,AVI,MKV
Audio  MP3,AAC,WAV,WMA,AMR,FLAC
Connectivity  Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac MIMO, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, Bluetooth 4.1
GPS  GPS, GLONASS
Sensor  Accelerometer, Hall, Light
Memory  4GB(RAM), 128GB / 256GB SSD
Dimension / Weight  290.3x198.8x6.3mm, 693g(Wi-Fi), 696g(LTE)
Battery  5,200mAh (39.5W, 7.6V)
* Battery life is based on internal testing conducted by Samsung. Results may differ by usage pattern
** Network availabilities may differ by market

Alanna Cotton, VP at Samsung Electronics America, introduces the new, premium Gear S2 classic wearables, which come in Rose Gold and Platinum, and the Galaxy TabPro S, an ultra-thin, high-performance tablet that runs on Windows 10.

If you bought your Surface Pro 1, 2 or 3 new before July, 2015, you should contact Microsoft immediately to receive a replacement power cord. 

No fires have been reported but some customers have complained about overheating when the cords are wound too tightly. 

The recall is only for the cord, not the power brick. 

Surface Pro 4 and Surface Books are not affected. 

Visit the following link to find out more and begin your recall process. https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/powercord

Photo courtesy jason1980p via answers.microsoft.com

The Surface Pro 3 January firmware update released last week inadvertently included an incompatible Surface Pen driver that is wreaking havoc with the older tablets.

I unsuspectingly installed the update Sunday and began noticing flaky behavior yesterday, including witnessing the first BSOD I can recall encountering on my original SP3.

Problems being reported include these cited by answers.microsoft.com user NewbilityEdu:

1. Reboot into a black screen: After hitting the reboot button the machine shuts down but do not come back. I have to long press power button for 30 seconds and use "power + vol-" buttons to turn the device back on. Pressing the shut down button will also cause the same. A single click on the power button just won't boot up the device normal (interestingly it will boot up if I press the power button and leave it for 5 minutes).
2. Wake up from sleep randomly: After I press the power button and put the device into sleep, it wakes up automatically (and randomly) and stay in lock screen. (Wifi on, Bluetooth off, All accessories detached) 
3. Surface App mapping not working: the app does not control the device.
4. Occasional BSOD ends in "DRIVER_POWER_STATE_failure"
5. Not all drivers are up-to-date as described in the SP3 update history page. 

Fortunately, clever users traced the problem down to the Surface Pen driver and Microsoft employee Jerry (really wish they'd publish last names) posted the following explanation and fix:

Thanks for all that have provided responses on this issue.  With your help we were able to identify the source of the issue being the Surface Pen Settings driver (version 10.0.302.0 dated 10/22/2015) which was inadvertently being installed as part of the “System Firmware Update – 1/19/2016” or manually installed by some customers. 
 
This driver is not intended for Surface Pro 3 and is no longer being offered as part of the update.  If you had manually download and installed the Surface Pen Settings driver from the Surface Pro 4 Drivers page in an effort to enable Surface pen button customization through the Surface app on Surface Pro 3, you will need to roll back and remove the driver.
 
We are sorry for any confusion or inconvenience that this has caused.  If you have version 10.0.302.0 of the Surface Pen Settings driver on your Surface Pro 3, follow the steps below to roll back and remove the driver from your Surface.  We are working on an update to resolve this issue if the Surface Pen Settings driver is not rolled back:
 
 
1)  Right click the Windows Start Menu icon and click Device Manager.
 
2)  Click the arrow next to Human Interface Devices to expand that node.
 
3)  Double-click on Surface Pen Settings.
 
4)  Click on the Driver tab to view the version information.
 
5)  If the version of the driver is 10.0.302.0, please click Uninstall.
 
6)  In the Confirm Device Uninstall popup, check the box to "Delete the driver software for this device" and click OK.
 
7)  Restart (not shutdown) Surface.
 
8)  You should now have the Surface Pen Settings driver version 4.0.112.1 dated 3/30/2015.

Unfortunately, removing the driver is not as simple for everyone as Jerry makes it sound. Many readers, including me, report that the uninstall hangs. Restarting the SP3 in this state eventually triggered the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_failure BSOD.

In order to properly remove the driver, I had to disable the pen in Device Manager AND I had to delete the pen from the Bluetooth section. After about a half dozen crashes this morning, the Surface Pro 3 appears to be stable again.

If you continue to have issues, please leave a comment below and report your troubles over at this Microsoft support thread.

PRESS RELEASE

GARDENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of its continued growth in the U.S., VAIO Corporation today announced the arrival of its new flagship notebook line, VAIO Z, which comes in flip (a two-in-one convertible) and clamshell models, and its subsequent standard model, VAIO S, all of which were created specifically for hardworking, mobile business professionals. Both notebooks offer top-of-the-line performance in a lightweight body with a sophisticated design, making them a must-have item for those serious about taking their productivity to new heights.

“Business professionals need long battery life and portability without sacrificing power or performance, so they can work on-the-go without slowing down,” said Ryosuke Akahane, Executive Vice President, VAIO Corporation. “We delivered just that, essentially going back to what VAIO has been known for; performance-oriented notebooks with an exceptional user experience so business professionals can take their office environment with them all day long.”

VAIO Z and S notebooks address major pain points for demanding business executives by offering multiple ports, long battery life, portability and exceptional user experience. Whether you’re giving a presentation, heading to an important meeting or needing to work for hours on end, the VAIO Z and S notebooks have you covered.

VAIO Z – A notebook without any compromises

The VAIO Z notebooks are expertly-crafted, powerful and lightweight (2.96 lb. for flip model and 2.58 lb. for clamshell model) notebooks for demanding business professionals who want to take their office environment anywhere:

• Lightweight and Powerful – Equipped with Intel’s 6th generation 28W Skylake processor, the VAIO Z does not skimp on performance. Utilizing the VAIO Z Engine® technology, which miniaturizes the motherboard to make room for a larger battery and fans, the VAIO Z offers high performance without sacrificing portability or battery life (up to 11 hours 30 minutes for flip model and 15 hours and 30 minutes for clamshell model).*
  • Craftsmanship – Quality and craftsmanship incorporated into all the details down to the screw. The VAIO Z’s chassis utilizes aluminum and UD carbon to provide stability and durability. Its keyboard eliminates high frequency typing noises by fine-tuning the keycap tooling. The touchpad uses mica, a type of stone, to deliver the best feel when clicking on the touchpad, and there is a special coating on the keyboard that eliminates unwanted smudges. The VAIO Z flip model comes with a 13.3” WQHD display, while the VAIO Z clamshell model comes with a 13.3” WQHD display or a 13.3” full HD display.
• New Productivity Paradigm – The VAIO Z flip model contains a unique rotating screen mechanism so users can easily adjust the notebook from a standard clamshell position to a tablet for digital notetaking. The VAIO Z flip model also offers a wide viewing angle display so professionals can seamlessly turn their notebook into a presentation monitor using the flip mechanism. Moreover, the VAIO Z flip model has an eight megapixel high-resolution camera and CamScanner application so users can easily capture, store, edit and share documents and images. Finally, the VAIO Z flip model comes with a pressure sensitive digitizer stylus, which gives users the experience of writing with a real pen and paper.

VAIO S – An all-purpose, durable machine

The VAIO S with a 13.3” full HD display is an all-around performer for those looking for a machine that will last years, without sacrificing on any important features:

• A Design That’s Built to Last – The VAIO S is equipped with a molded magnesium alloy casing that ensures robustness and durability. The casing is further reinforced by adding ribs to the designated points, which also brings improvement to the feel of keyboard and touch pad.
  • Full Connectivity Options – Standard analog RGB Output, HDMI Output, LAN Connector, USB 3.0 (x 3) means no lugging around a number of adapters while traveling. Plus, the portable AC adapter comes equipped with a USB port to charge your smartphone.
• Stress-Free Usability – When the laptop is opened, the keyboard is automatically tilted, making it more ergonomic and easier to type, reducing the stress on the palm and wrist. The keyboard is equipped with the same keys as the VAIO Z for quiet typing. The touch pad comes with separate left and right buttons to avoid mistouch and it is aligned with the center of the keyboard for more natural typing. The VAIO S also comes with Microsoft's Signature Edition software which eliminates pre-installed bloatware, making it an enjoyable user experience.

Pricing for the VAIO Z clamshell model starts at $1,499, pricing for the VAIO Z flip model starts at $1,799, and the VAIO S starts at $1,099. Both the VAIO Z and VAIO S models will be available through http://us.vaio.com/, www.microsoftstore.com, authorized resellers and select partner retailers. The VAIO Z flip model will be available for order starting February 8, 2016. The VAIO S and VAIO Z clamshell model will be available for order starting early March 2016.

If you're unconvinced by active pen displays or want to add pen capabilities to your Windows or OS X desktop, your choices to date have been mostly limited to the Wacom Cintiq family of tablets.

Although prices on Wacom devices like the Cintiq 13HD or Cintiq Companion 2 compare favorably to general purpose tablet PCs like the Surface Pro 4, VAIO Z Canvas or even the iPad Pro, Wacom's gear can still be out of reach for students and hobbyists.

Enter Artisul (Art is Soul), a new consumer-facing subsidiary of UC Logic, the Taiwanese pen digitizer technology company. UC Logic's tech has previously powered budget pen displays from the likes of Yiynova and UGee, but after entering into and winning a patent dispute in China with rival Huion, the company decided to go to market with its own brand of pen displays.

The company's first product, introduced late last year, is the Artisul D13, a well-crafted unit that compares very favorably to the Wacom Cintiq 13HD. And just like the Cintiq line, Artisul eschews batteries and active pens for its own flavor of electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus.

Artisul provided a review unit for me to try out for the purpose of this review. I don't own and have never thoroughly tested a Cintiq 13HD, so my Wacom comparisons will be with the 13HD's cousin, the Cintiq Companion 2. 

Unlike the CC2, the Artisul D13 is not a standalone PC. It is a pen display meant to be used alongside a desktop or laptop PC or Mac. 

As with most EMR devices, the distance between the glass and display introduces a fair amount of parallax (or separation) between the pen tip and the on-screen cursor. Fortunately, I encountered no other EMR downsides like inaccurate corners or dead zones.

And more importantly for many of you, drawing slow diagonal strokes does not exhibit the jitter apparent in most battery-powered pen solutions.

Once the Windows drivers are properly installed and the D13 is calibrated, the pen performs extremely well, providing a very smooth transition between its 2048 pressure levels. The glass screen is covered by a matte finish that offers a bit of additional tooth or pen resistance but the 1920 x 1080 display is still noticeably brighter than on my Companion 2.

The pen is supplied inside a very nice Wacom-like case with a generous supply of replacement nibs, although I wish that they were available in more than one material. They are slightly harder than the soft Wacom nibs I prefer. I'm not a fan of the nib extractor built into the case. I much prefer a standalone ring.

Just like the Cintiq, the D13 features an array of 7 hardware buttons along the left side. These can be configured for each application and setups for Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint and others are included with the driver installation. The drivers were recently updated for OS X and a new Windows driver (which I wasn't able to test) is now in beta. The existing Windows drivers are very full-featured and graphical, offering controls reminiscent of Wacom's Feel driver.

The Artisul stand 051 is sold separately for $46. I found it much easier to set up and use than the Cintiq Companion 2 stand, although it doesn't offer sufficient resistance at all but the lowest drawing angles. An unexpected benefit of the stand is that it works well with the latest crop of 12.5 - 13 inch tablets like the Surface Pro 4, Surface Book clipboard and the iPad Pro. All of these devices are too wide to rest stably on my previous goto stand, the iKlip Studio, so it was very nice to discover a new option. If you own one of these new jumbo tablets, especially those without a built-in kickstand, the 051 Stand is a must-buy.
 
Given its size, separate stand and cable requirements, I wouldn't call the D13 a portable solution. However, it is thin enough to pack into a large laptop case along with its stand. If your ultrabook is thin enough, you may even be able to pack it alongside as well.

Despite being a first generation product, UC Logic/Artisul have taken pains to provide a premium experience, from the packaging to the fit and finish.

My biggest issue with the D13 is the tangle of cables required to hook it up. This is a drawback with the Cintiq as well, but the tangle is exacerbated by a power plug that requires an international adapter and then connects to the D13 via USB. Another USB cable runs from the device to your PC and an HDMI output from your computer feeds the D13's mini HDMI port. If your PC's ports are on the opposite side of your dominant hand, you'll be assured of a small rat's nest of wires snaking across your desk.  

Although I was able to run the Artisul while attached to my N-Trig equipped Sony VAIO Flip 15A, it's not ideal to attach it to a device with its own pen drivers, as conflicts are bound to occur, especially with Wintab software. However, I don't own any HDMI-equipped devices that aren't penabled. It would have been nice for Artisul to supply a VGA connector option so that compatibility with a wider range of PCs could be insured. 

Artisul Founding Designer and US Sales Manager Winnie Tso revealed recently that the company is working on a new generation device that they're calling the Artisul Pencil family which will feature an eraser end. According to Tso's post on TabletPCReview forum, eraser ends were a "competitor patent but has recently expired."

At $599 + $46 for the stand, the Artisul D13 is an excellent value, but the $150 difference for the Wacom 13HD may not be enough to convince artists to break away from the better-known brand. If Artisul were to bundle the stand or lower the D13 price a bit more, the pen display would qualify as a Cintiq-killer. For now, it's yet another competitor chipping away at Wacom's dominance of the art market.

NOTE: Educational pricing is available in the US, Canada and Mexico. Visit https://artisul.com/us/educational-pricing/  for more details.

Item Specification: Product Name Artisul D13 LCD Stylus Tablet; Model SP1301

General Information: Dimensions 389.0mm (L) x 250.7mm (W) x 14mm (H); Weight 1.1kg; PC And Mac Connection HDMI & USB

System Requirements: PC: Windows 10/ 8.1 / 8 / 7 (32/64bit); Mac: OS X 10.6.8 or later (Intel processor)

Powered by AC power adaptor or two  USB 3.0; Portability powered by two USB 3.0

Display Information: Screen Size (Diagonal) 13.3 inch; Aspect Ratio 16:9; Display Area 293.76mm(L)  x 165.24mm (W)11.5 x 6.5 inch; Resolution 1920 (L) x 1080 (W) pixels, IPS; Response Rate 19ms; Pixel Pitch 0.1529 x 0.1529 mm; Displayable Colors (maximum) 16.7 million; Color Gamut 75% Adobe RGB; Industry Standard Pre-Sets 6500°K whitepoint Default; Backlight Unit LED; LCD Brightness 300 (cd/m2); Viewing Angle178° (89°/89°) H, (89°/89°) V; Graphics Input HDMI

Power Supply Input 100 to 240 VAC, 50/60Hz; Power Supply Output5 VDC, 2 A (max); Power Consumption Suggested at least 2Amps; USB, HDMI CABLES; Power button, with LED indicator

Interactive Technology: Technology Electromagnetic; Active Area 293.76mm(L)  x 165.24mm(W)11.5 x 6.5 inch; Pressure Sensitivity 2048 (levels); Resolution 5080 LPI; Accuracy±1mm; Reading Height 10 mm; Function key Six hot-key + 1 srcoll wheel; Switches of Pen: Pen tip and 2 side buttons

Accessories included: Pen Model P58A, Pen stand, Pen Case, Pen tips Nine replacement pen tips (9 hard), Pen tip removal Built-in pen box, Connector cable with HDMI and USB connectors, AC power adapter, Quick start guide

Illustration by Don Seegmiller

PRESS RELEASE

Gainesville, Florida — (February 1, 2016) – Silicon Benders is proud to announce the refined and revamped release of Sketchable 3.0 to the Windows 10 Store. Sketchable is the only premium creative application exclusive to the Windows store. It was designed and engineered with this ecosystem in mind, making it the vanguard of creative pen and touch universal applications.

Since its inception, Sketchable has pushed the boundaries of the mobile creative market, knowing that inspiration may strike at any minute. Sketchable harnesses that inspiration by taking full advantage of modern graphics hardware, making it the quickest and most responsive sketching application on the windows store market. Its feature set is complemented by the ability for users to share their work both quickly and easily over multiple social and messaging platforms while, at the same time, engendering desktop post-production with PSD file export.

Traditional fine artist and digital artist Don Seegmiller states: “Sketchable has become my primary app for quick visualization. It is extremely fast and user friendly. The additional features with the latest release make it much deeper and useful. The idea of keeping separate journals for different projects appeals to my sense of organization. An inexpensive, simple, yet powerful drawing and painting application; what more can an artist ask for.”

Illustration by Don Seegmiller

Sporting a modern look with monochromatic icons, the UI of Sketchable 3.0 allows size and color customization, fashioning a personalized creative extension of each individual user. Complementing its seamless UI, Sketchable 3.0 has also streamlined its already intuitive interactions by making them entirely touch and stylus driven. Further feature improvements include up to 32 layers and more blending modes than Photoshop. Sketchable 3.0 may not be an artist’s only canvas, but, the way it is built, it well could be.

Sketchable 3.0 is the result of the continued effort of Silicon Benders to honor the mantra: artistic expression without limitation.

Illustration by Lawrence Mann. If you're new to Sketchable, check out Lawrence's YouTube channel LawrenceCanDraw.

Sketchable 3.0 also includes substantial feature additions & improvements. The Standard version is free. Upgrading to Premium is a one-time purchase of $19.99. Owners of previous versions can upgrade for $4.99.

Standard features

• Modern UI
• Monochromatic Icons
• Customizable Grayscale selection for Overlays and backdrop
• Nondestructive Viewing filters
• Mirror canvas to get a different perspective on your work to judge the balance of the composition or simply to overcome handiness bias.
• X-Ray Specs - peek through the obscuring layers onto the layer being altered
• Tonal filter - Get a feel for the tonal balance of your work.
• Three texture pots
• 2 universal & one tuned for the current preset
• Color pots are now stored with the document
• Color Picker Controls
• RGB & HSV
• Full Screen Mode
• Use natural handwriting recognition to name Journals and Pages with DirectInk

Premium features

• Symmetry – toggle between one or two axis and position them anywhere on the canvas. 
• Masks – Choose a shape and mark off a section of the canvas that is protected from edit. 
• Stencils – Snap to shapes for crisp lines and fluid curves
• Paint Bucket – Quickly fill any section of the canvas
• Layers - up to 32
• 34 Blend Modes    
• Adjustable background Color
• Brush Engine Improvements     
• Bitmap Tips and Textures
• import & export
• Additional Controls
• Drag & Drop - drag a file directly onto the window, drop it, and start editing
• Share direct to Facebook

Click this link to find Sketchable app in the Windows Store.

UPDATE 2/6/16 The Monoprice 22-inch Pen Display Tablet, product number 14481, is now live on the company's website for $599.99.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Monoprice has been dabbling in the ultra low cost pen display space for over two years. I purchased and reviewed their first two efforts which, while flawed, were excellent values that improved after a few driver iterations.

I gave the second generation Smarttouch display a positive review but was disappointed when it was unceremoniously removed from the Monoprice website. It quietly reappeared at the end of 2015 with new Mac drivers. 

I was pleasantly surprised when the author of this review contacted me with news of yet another 22-inch pen display from Monoprice that should soon be available for purchase.

E. KIM has been a digital artist for more than ten years, with experience in impact and print graphics and 3D design and sculpting for mass production and fine art. He generously contributed this review. 
 

By E. KIM

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to thank Monoprice for providing this factory sample for my review. All features of this review are based on an early factory sample and alpha drivers, features, dimensions, and software are subject to change at time of release.

Monoprice, the California-based retailer and manufacturer has recently introduced a number of products into the pen display and tablet market. With many pen tablets already available in the past year, they have made great headway in the competitive market of pen displays.  With Wacom being the leader in pen display technology, a competitive challenger that can meet the quality of the standard at a more agreeable price has been desperately needed for years.  Those of us who adopted pen tablets in the ‘90s can remember forking out hundreds for the smallest Wacom Graphire, only to be envious of the pen displays the few could afford.

Today, everyone is adding the pen input options from Asus Zen books to Lenovo, Microsoft and even Apple's iPad Pro. But the old leader has always dominated the dedicated desktop pen display: Wacom. 

Monoprice's new 22 Inch pen display is a contender that delivers battery free EMR pen technology on a clear and responsive display.

The Pen Display comes with an easel style stand pre-mounted. The display sits with the bottom bezel nearly flush to the table surface. The back mount supports VESA Standard and Monoprice has several monitor stands its suggest for those who want something a bit higher or with more flexible positions.

For those that enjoy working more horizontally, the quick release latch, on the back is easily accessible and allows angles from nearly vertical to nearly horizontal. The stand is sturdy enough with the Rubber footpads to allow for little to no movement or vibration while working, even with a heavy hand. Construction feel sturdy but not oversized or heavy. 

The overall foot print on your table is the size expected of any equivalent monitor and the lightweight and integrated stand allows for easy mobility for those who want to be able to carry their pen display with them.

Cable mounting is on the left side facing the screen. You will find an HDMI, DVI and VGA for Video-In connections, a required USB and power port.

For my testing, I used both DVI and HDMI and found both Mac and PC had no problem connecting, even when using a displayPort/Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter.  The location of the connection ports do cause cables to stick out a bit from the left side but it is a necessity for the function of repositioning the display without binding.

Monitor Controls found on the right side facing the screen just behind the bezel provide basic but ample controls for color, saturation, and brightness.

Provided with this sample is the Art Pen, an ergonomic multi-button pen with 2 buttons, a rear eraser and the pen tip.  As shown below it sizes up just barely smaller then the length of the Wacom Cintiq Pen and roughly the same width with the triangle barrel design. The comfort of this pen took a little getting used to but soon felt very natural and it was easier to distinguish button location than with the Wacom pens.

The pen tip has a nice firm but flexible feel like a 2B pencil and the glass of this pen display allows it to Glide across without streaking, screeching or sticking.  

Screen resolution of the factory sample was excellent for 1080p, although this sample only had a color accuracy of 72% Adobe RGB, Monoprice is working for production to have a higher color accuracy. Viewable angles on this model are excellent without color shifting even at near horizontal angles: very Impressive quality for an MVA LCD.

Testing
Testing was done on 5 different configurations and operating systems: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (running on a Surface Pro), Mac OSX Mavericks and Mac OSX El Capitan

Driver installation

Alpha drivers where provided at time of testing and I found Windows 7 and 8.1 to have no problem but Windows 10 on a Surface Pro was currently incompatible. This could have been caused by a driver error between built in tablet computer and display. Final drivers may resolve this. (EDITOR'S NOTE: The Monoprice driver is likely incompatible with the Surface Pro's  wintab driver.)

Windows Drivers support calibration, pressure and tilt controls. Calibration is recommended immediately after install, as well as adjusting the pressure sensitivity.

*Shown is Beta Driver and Software

Some functions of pressure and tilt in different applications will be covered later.

Mac OsX Mavericks and El Capitan both installed drivers very easily and functioned perfectly, but current Mac drivers showed very little controls for tilt and pressure controls. However, pressure sensitivity worked perfectly on Mac OS but had no perceivable controls or effect on tilt.

Pen tip accuracy and response is on par with Wacom with a generous hover space of ½” and no offsetting in any of the corners. In both Windows and Mac, no lag could be detected in basic OS functions.

Adobe Photoshop functioned with great pressure sensitivity and accuracy.

The Foundry's Mischief is where the new pen display truly shone with great accuracy and high sensitivity to pressure.

Application Testing

The aim of this review being based on the point of view of a digital artist, I ran tests for compatibility and workflow with a selection of popular 2D and 3D art applications. These test included the pen's accuracy in menu selection, pressure sensitivity and, where applicable, tilt functions.

Current Tested software as of 12/15

2D software

• Adobe Photoshop CS6 and CC – Pressure functions but little tilt function
• Adobe Illustrator – Pressure
• The Foundry Mischief – Pressure, Recommended
• Autodesk Sketchbook pro – No pressure (Pressure Functions on MacOSx)
• Gimp – Pressure Functions
• ClipStudio/Manga Studio – Pressure
• Corel Painter - Pressure

3D software

• Autodesk Mudbox – Pressure (requires Windows Environment Variable to work)
• Autodesk Maya – works no pressure
• Autodesk 3ds Max – works no pressure
• Algorithmic Substance Painter- Pressure
• Blender - Pressure
• Pixologic Zbrush – Pressure, Recommended
• Pixologic Sculptris – Pressure, Recommended
• Pilgway 3D – Coat – Pressure, Recommended

Conclusion

After testing with the current list of programs, I can see some improvement for driver function with some software but overall the Monoprice Pen Display has proven itself to function with a majority of applications. The orientation of the display will take some getting use to for those with experience with the table-hogging Wacom displays.

Pricing has not yet been announced, but Monoprice has a history of providing competitive pricing for quality products.  Some minor additions I would like to see are different pen nibs and a penholder, as well as a unified 2-1 HDMI and USB cable. Other monitor mounts are available from Monoprice that allow more positions.

All being said, I recommend this pen display for all entry- to professional-level digital artists. Having been truly impressed with the overall quality and function of this product, it will be a must-have in their toolbox.

TabletPro, the utility formerly known as TabletPCMouse from developer LoveSummerTrue, is out of beta and now available for download from the Windows Store.

The software offers a variety of features, but most important to artists is the ability to create fully-customized on-screen hotkeys for your favorite programs.

While the TabletPro app is free to download, the Artist Pad functionality costs $9.99. Purchased individually, all the optional features will cost $34.99. The discounted price for the suite is $25.99. These include:

• Virtual mouse for touch
• Gesture for touch
• Simultaneous operation of pen and touch
• Zoom the desktop by touch
• Game pad for touch
• Transparent Touch Keyboard

TabletPCMouse V.1 owners are eligible to upgrade for $15.99. The developers also sent out an email to participants in the beta program with a free upgrade code. If you didn't receive it, contact Justice Frangipane.

Like its predecessor, TabletPro requires both the Windows Store app and a desktop component to function. Installation is easier now as the desktop utility can be downloaded directly from the app.

The default Artist Pad hotkeys (left) and the Artist Pad control panel.

I've always found the setup a little confusing (see my review of the original version here), but the effort is worth it if you want to use your Windows art tablet without a keyboard. Fortunately, the developers have published a detailed step-by-step installation tutorial along with a series of introductory videos. You can find them here: http://tabletpro.net/tablet-pro---tutorials.html

The included Photoshop Artist Pad hotkey configuration (left) and the Artist Pad layout window.

The TabletPro Artist Pad add-on includes preset layouts for Photoshop (pictured above), Clip Studio Paint and TVPaint. The TabletPro.net forum has a section where users can upload and share their Artist Pad layouts for software like ZBrush.

Although it may be a little confusing to use at first, and more than a little expensive for a utility, TabletPro is the only hotkey tool that I know of that is in active development. It's an essential addition to any artist's tablet PC.

When the Toshiba Encore 2 Write 8-inch and 10-inch models were released early last year, they quickly became the darlings of cost conscious artists despite some serious design limitations.

Featuring low resolution displays, only 2 GB of RAM and a slow Atom processor, I nevertheless recommended the E2W to anyone on a budget, given its outstanding Wacom Active ES pen performance. Unfortunately, the $400 device began disappearing from stock several months ago and is now nearly impossible to find new or selling at its original price.

Now Toshiba is back with the 12-inch dynaPad, starting at $570. With this device, the company is once again vying for the crown of Windows' price-performance champion. In addition to its larger display, the dynaPad features a few major improvements over its predecessor: 1920x1280 resolution, 4 GB of RAM and an additional micro USB 2.0 port.

Sadly the dynaPad is still limited to 64 GB of onboard eMMC storage and hindered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 cpu clocked at 1.44 GHz, yielding virtually the same performance as last year's Encore 2 Write.

Other tablet manufacturers should be thankful that Toshiba didn't equip their dynaPad with an m3 processor or 128 GB SSD because the dynaPad is otherwise nearly perfect.

Weighing only 1.28 lbs (tablet only) and .27 inch thick, the dynaPad is the ideal portable sketchbook: slightly smaller and lighter than even the iPad Pro and significantly more comfortable to hold. The edges of the dynaPad are rounded and slightly rubberized, avoiding the sharp, slippery feel of the iPad and other tablets. Unlike the E2W, which had a thick plastic coating on its screen, the dynaPad's Gorilla glass display is clear, smooth and durable.

Toshiba sells an optional keyboard cover for $100 that looks very nice but that I opted not to purchase for this review. The keyboard offers only one viewing angle (similar to the keyboard shipped with the Lenovo Thinkpad Helix 2 and which I found very impractical).

Compared in the images above and below to the Surface Pro 4 (left) and the Encore 2 Write, the dynaPad looks every bit a premium device.

The new Toshiba TruPen that is included with the dynaPad is significantly longer than the original, which makes it feel like a great writing instrument. An unfortunate design choice is the end clip which inserts into the dynaPad body (below). While the clip definitely makes a secure connection, inserting it and pulling it out again can be a real chore.

I don't typically write about the speakers on tablets, as they're not at all essential for art, but I feel compelled to mention the atrocious speakers on the dynaPad. The two openings are located along the right side of the tablet (see one of them to the lower left of the pen in the image above). I've never encountered speakers sounding this bad on any Windows tablet that  I've ever owned. Volume is ridiculously low and tinny, sounding like a cheap 9-volt transistor radio. The dynaPad ships with a Dolby audio tool but it doesn't do anything to improve the hideous sound. By comparison, the Encore 2 Write had excellent audio. I can't understand how Toshiba engineers thought it was okay to release a product with a defect this bad. How much could this choice have saved the company? Speaker quality shouldn't be a disqualifier for most of you, but be prepared to cringe when you hear every system notification.

As we've come to expect from all Wacom Active ES devices, pen performance on the dynaPad is outstanding. In the example above, see the wide range of stroke thicknesses I was able to derive from the same sized brush in Clip Studio Paint. Wacom AES offers 2048 pressure levels and it feels like I could successfully draw with each one.

Hover distance is greatly improved vs. the first generation TruPen. The pen is recognized about a half inch away from the display which should result in far less palm rejection errors and stray marks.

In addition to Clip Studio Paint, I also tested the dynaPad with Sketchable, Mischief, Sketchbook Pro and Sketchbook for Tablets and Photoshop CC 2015. Generally those programs that offer a little bit of brush stabilization performed best. Photoshop in particular seemed more difficult to control.

With 4 GB of RAM, I didn't encounter any slowdowns sketching on 11x17, 600 dpi images. As usual, some lag was evident if I pushed textured brush sizes beyond a few hundred pixels.

Real performance hits incurred by the Atom and eMMC storage occur when downloading and installing software. Windows updates can be very slow to install. Despite my very fast Internet connection, Adobe Photoshop still took 30 minutes to set up.

In benchmark tests, the dynaPad achieved middling scores of 938 in TabletMark and a 748 Geekbench (single) and 2182 (multi). The Encore 2 Write achieved 805, 702 and 2090, respectively. Better performance would definitely have been expected given the price increase. And most troublingly, the humble Surface 3 does 1253, 969 and 3204 on its tests. 

If you're looking for a speed demon, the dynaPad definitely is not it.

The dynaPad ships with one spare nib and that may not be enough based on the wear I saw on pen's nib (see above). This generation of nibs is somewhat softer than last year's but I've never had a tip deteriorate as quickly as this one. Within one week of limited use, I ended up having to replace it. Hopefully this was an isolated case but it's a real concern because neither Toshiba nor Wacom market replacement sets.

The new TruPen nibs (above top) are interchangeable with the previous generation. Those older nibs are made of a slightly harder material. While the older TruPen can be used on the dynaPad, the new pen will not work on the Encore 2 Write.

One final quibble is the micro USB to to USB power cable included with the dynaPad. It's only three feet long and limits your ability to use the tablet while it's plugged in. Not a major issue, but another in a line of disturbing cut corners.

Is the dynaPad right for you? If you're coming from an Encore 2 Write, absolutely. If you've never owned a Windows tablet or are shopping for lower cost iPad Pro alternatives, you'll probably be happy with the dynaPad. If you're a power user and have a few hundred dollars more to spend, you'll probably be happier with other more powerful options.

As you read this review, you should know something up front: the deal I got on the HP Spectre x2 12-inch tablet may not be available to you. I scored a $200 discount on the $799 tablet at Best Buy, which makes it feel like a great bargain, standing head and shoulders over the similarly priced Surface 3 and Toshiba dynaPad.

If I paid full price and then had to fork over another $60 for the pen, I'd have to compare the Spectre to the Surface Pro 4 and I'm not so sure that the tablet comes out ahead in that competition.

The Best Buy sale is over as I write this and the Spectre x2 is once again selling for $799 (a Core m7 version, with 8 GB RAM/256 GB SSD lists for $1150). HP is also marketing the nearly identical Elite x2 1012 tablet starting at $899, so it's entirely possible that the Spectre x2 may soon disappear from store shelves altogether.

Upon first inspection, the Spectre x2 is a silvery Surface Pro 4 clone. And the specs are virtually identical to the entry level SP4: Intel Core M3-6Y30 with Intel HD Graphics 515, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 3:2 aspect ratio display, adjustable kickstand, detachable keyboard cover. The Sx2's display resolution is lower than the SP4: only 1920 x 1280. But the solid keyboard cover is included in the base price, as is Verizon LTE antenna. A Wacom Active ES pen is optional (it's standard in the Elite x2).

The bundled keyboard cover is excellent. It's much more rigid than the Microsoft type cover and its island keys provide a great typing experience. The trackpad is also roomy and responsive, though not quite glasslike. The specs say that the keyboard is backlit, but I couldn't get my keys to light. (UPDATE: You just need to press F5 on the keyboard to toggle the backlight on and off. Duh.)  The keyboard is cloth backed, similar to a Surface Pro type cover.

The gaudiest design cue of the Spectre x2 is the speaker grill that runs along the top of the keyboard. Quad Bang & Olufsen speakers provide a surprisingly nice audio experience for a tablet, with two on the keyboard and two on the tablet's sides. This isn't something I normally mention, but after the dreadful speakers on the Toshiba dynaPad, audio is suddenly top of mind.

The back of the tablet (above) is also distinctive (or over-done depending on your point of view). I don't care for the black accent at the top of the tablet. In these images, the "natural silver" finish looks more sedate than it truly is. The highly reflective chrome-plated kickstand is recessed in the tablet back and released via a latch on the lower left side of the display (see below left). Unlatching and then extending the kickstand takes some getting accustomed to, but the support is very good at a variety of angles.

This side of the Spectre x2 also contains a headphone jack, volume buttons, and one of two USB Type-C connectors. The right side of the tablet (below) contains a second USB Type-C connector, SIM slot and a microSD media card reader.

The Spectre x2 is very thin (.31 inches) and weighs 1.84 lbs. With the keyboard, the combination is .52 inches thick and weighs 2.68 lbs. 

The combination of rigid keyboard and freely adjustable kickstand make the Spectre x2 the most lap friendly two-in-one tablet I've tested.

Performance is very good, performing neck and neck with the m3 Surface Pro 4. Looking again at these results, it's clear why I was so disappointed by the performance of the Toshiba dynaPad! The TabletMark performance of the SP4 is interesting but I have been unable to re-run those tests. The benchmark keeps hanging inexplicably on that tablet It's the only software I'm having trouble running on the device.

Unlike the dynaPad and Surface Pro 4, the Active Pen is sold separately for the Spectre x2, retailing for $60. You can order it on the Best Buy site or direct from HP.

Although the Spectre x2 is compatible with other Wacom Active ES pens, I thought it was important to test the native pen as well. Unfortunately, the results are very disappointing, mostly due to its poor form factor.

Significantly smaller than either the TruPen or the Surface Pen (see below), the HP Active Pen, feels more like a crayon in my average sized hand. It also ships without replacement nibs. I recommend using Toshiba's latest generation TruPen if you can find it sold separately. Although it didn't work as well as the TruPen, you can also use Lenovo's Active Stylus, which is more readily available.

Hover distance is not as good as Toshiba's dynaPad, but it is better than previous generation AES devices. (UPDATE: in ascending order from approximately 1 mm to 5 mm, here are the hover distance results: Dell Active Stylus, Toshiba TruPen (Encore 2 Write), Lenovo Thinkpad Active Stylus, Toshiba TruPen (dynaPad) and HP Active Pen).

Pressure response is excellent as I've come to expect from all Wacom Active ES pens. Due to the thinness of the display, if you press down hard with your pen, you will see a purplish ghosting as you draw. I found this pretty distracting and mitigated the effect somewhat by adjusting my pressure curve in Clip Studio Paint. 

Unfortunately, if your software doesn't offer pressure adjustment, the Wacom feel driver is not yet compatible with the Spectre x2, so there is no way to increase or decrease the pen tip's sensitivity or map the pen buttons. Worse still, without a driver, there is no way to make the tablet Wintab aware, That means that users of older software that requires Wintab for pen pressure are out of luck.

Test inks over John Buscema pencils

I tested the Spectre x2 with both its native pen and the Toshiba TruPen in Clip Studio Paint, Sketchbook Pro and Sketchable and didn't have any issues.

One behavior I noticed by juggling between pens is that it appears Wacom Active ES pens interfere with one another when handled in close proximity. Starting work with the TruPen, for example, appeared to cancel out the HP pen. I had similar results with a Dell pen that refused to work once the TruPen was connected. I also saw errant lines and strange wobbles when using one pen while holding another. Has anyone else seen this behavior? (UPDATE: To switch pens, a reboot is required in order for the tablet to sense the new pen with a tap or two on the display).

To sum it up, if you can find the HP Spectre x2 on sale for at or below $600 (and you can live without Wintab compatibility), I recommend it over the similarly priced Surface 3 or Toshiba dynaPad. At its $800 list price,  I recommend you look instead at the Surface Pro 4 or HP Elite x2 1012. Isn't it great to have this abundance of choice?

And they said it wouldn't last...

Three years ago, I had some spare time on my hands and decided to start this blog to document my experiences with the first generation Surface Pro and answer the burning questions of what ran and what didn't on Microsoft's new hybrid tablet.

I remember describing the mission to someone at a tech show a few months later and I got the skeptical response, "Awfully niche isn't it?"

It's easy to overestimate the popularity of your personal preferences, but I was convinced there had to be others like me who cared about art and pen computing. The absolute lack of information anywhere else on the web may have been confirmation that the subject matter was narrow, but I chose to believe it was a rare opportunity to provide a public service.

Three years and four generations later, we're still plugging away. The Windows landscape is now littered with penabled convertible laptops and Surface Pro clones. And although the subject of pen computing still gets short shrift in most tech blogs and reviews, it at least gets a mention while many of you have contributed to the creative art conversation with your own reviews, tips and videos.

There's never been a better time to be a pen computing enthusiast or digital artist and I'm happy that SurfaceProArtist.com played its small role is spreading the word and building a community of like-minded users.

As I've written in the past, running this site is a huge loss maker and I'm unsure whether I can keep it updated much longer. But whatever the future brings, join me in savoring the great memories and conversations that have been sparked over the last three years.

Excelsior!  

Let's state it plainly up front: Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.x doesn't perform very well on the tablets I've tested.

Brushes are laggy and multitouch gestures work intermittently, often requiring much greater finger pressure than other software.

This stuttering performance might be pardonable on low-powered Atom or m3 devices like my Surface Pro 4, but they're absolutely inexcusable on an i7 Surface Book with a discrete NVidia GPU.

Bafflingly, Photoshop performs better on the Surface Book when the display is detached and the Clipboard engages the native Intel HD Graphic 520 processor.

A workaround for laptop mode, which I believe I passed along late last year, is to disable GPU acceleration in Photoshop's performance tab. This is a terrible brute force step that forces the Surface Book's processor to do all the heavy lifting.

This week, I came across a much more nuanced approach that has shown some (subtle) improvements, especially in initial pen lag.

Austin Hines of FutureLight Studios posted the video below which demonstrates the poor default pen performance and the steps required to improve it by changing the NVidia GPU's power settings.

Microsoft's fancy new Surface Book with dGPU has terrible default driver settings for digital painting. You get worse Photoshop performance with the screen docked and using the discrete nVidia GPU then when it's undocked and using only the integrated Intel driver. What the heck?

Because Microsoft manages display driver updates for the Surface Book, the NVidia control panel is not normally accessible on the laptop. But installing the GeForce Experience (http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/download) will also install the control panel.

Once you've done so, right click the desktop, select NVidia control panel (see right).

After installing the GeForce Experience, right click on the desktop to access the NVidia Control Panel.

Under Manage 3D Settings, select the Program Settings tab and then find Adobe Photoshop under program to customize.

Make sure that the NVidia GPU is selected as the program's preferred graphics processor and change Power management mode to "Prefer maximum performance."

Hit apply, close the control panel and start up Photoshop. As the video demonstrates, the pen lag will be reduced about 50%, most noticeably in initial, long strokes.

MSPowerUser.com is reporting an intriguing finding in the latest build of Windows 10 Redstone: "new APIs for a RadialController which is likely similar to the app-specific one in the OneNote app."

The build also includes a new Ink Toolbar control toolbar.

Both of these new features should make it easier for developers to add radial menus and annotation to their applications.

The site doesn't offer many details beyond this, so any Windows Insiders familiar with the APIs are encouraged to offer their insights in the comments section below.

Toonz, the professional 2D animation software used by Studio Ghibli in revered productions like Princess Mononoke, has been released in a free, open source version for Windows and OSX. OpenToonz was released for download this morning and includes modifications developed specifically for Studio Ghibli's workflow.

I've only had a few minutes to try it out, but it seems to run fine on the Surface Pro 3. If you discover any hiccups, please leave a comment below.

Download OpenToonz here: https://opentoonz.github.io/e/index.html

Below is the press announcement from the software's Italian developer Digital Video and its new Japanese owner, Dwango, which intends to continue to develop a paid version called ToonzPremium.

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PRESS RELEASE

Digital Video, the makers of TOONZ, and DWANGO, a Japanese publisher, announced today they have signed an agreement for the acquisition by Dwango of Toonz, an animation software which was independently developed by Digital Video (Rome, Italy).

Digital Video and Dwango agreed to close the deal under the condition Dwango will publish and develop an Open Source platform based on Toonz (OpenToonz). Effective Saturday March 26, the TOONZ Studio Ghibli Version will be made available to the animation community as a free download.

OpenToonz will include features developed by Studio Ghibli (*Toonz Ghibli Edition) which has been a long time Toonz user. Through OpenToonz, Dwango will create a platform that will aim to have research labs and the animated film industry actively cooperating with each other.

With this agreement in place, Digital Video will move to the open source business model, offering to the industry commissioning, installation & configuration, training, support and customization services while allowing the animators’ community to use a state of the art technology at no cost.

Digital Video will also continue to develop and market a Toonz Premium version at a very competitive price for those companies willing to invest in the customization of Toonz for their projects. A comprehensive list of the new services available can be found at www.toonzpremium.com.

Commenting on this exciting announcement, Mr. Atsushi Okui, Executive Imaging Director at Studio Ghibli said “ During the production of ‘Princess Mononoke’ in 1995, we needed a software enabling us to create a certain section of the animation digitally. We checked for what was available at that time and chose ‘Toonz’. Our requirement was that in order to continue producing theatre-quality animation without additional stress, the software must have the ability to combine the hand-drawn animation with the digitally painted ones seamlessly. From then onwards we continued to use the software while going through major updates to make it easier for us to use. We are happy to hear that this open source version contains the Ghibli Edition. We hope that many people inside and outside of the animation industry will utilize this software for their work. We would like to extend our gratitude to the staff of Digital Video.”

Claudio Mattei, Managing Director at Digital Video, the makers of TOONZ, said:

“ The contract with Dwango, which offers the Toonz open source platform to the animation community, has enabled Digital Video to realize one of its strategies, i.e. to make of Toonz a world standard for 2D animation. This deal will be also the starting point of a new exciting plan to endorse the Open Source business model, by supporting training and customizing Toonz for the old and new users. We are proud to share this path with Dwango and with Studio Ghibli, the renowned Toonz user since 1995.”

Mr Nobuo Kawakami, Chairman and CTO at Dwango, added:

"It is a great honour for us to be able to release OpenToonz as open source software.

We’d like to express our deepest appreciation to Digital Video and Studio Ghibli for their help and support We hope the high-quality software that meets the demands of animation professionals will contribute to revitalizing the animation industry. Dwango will also utilize OpenToonz in order to present its research and development results."

The open source version of TOONZ will be officially presented in Tokyo at Anime Japan (March 26 and 27)

PRESS RELEASE
OTTAWA, ON – March 15, 2016 – Introducing CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X8, Corel’s new flagship graphics solution that makes professional design, web graphics and image editing workflows faster and simpler, all while offering more control. The new suite enables designers, artists and business users to transform creative energy into artwork that creates lasting impressions across any medium. 
New functionality speeds and streamlines the creative process – especially when working with fonts, images and objects. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8 is the optimal environment for anyone creating graphics on Windows 10, in addition to offering exceptional experiences on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Whether you’re a new user or have relied on CorelDRAW for years, take advantage of a wide range of learning tools and a customizable environment to get started quickly and make the app uniquely your own. 

A new, open upgrade policy makes it highly affordable to move up to CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8 from any previous version. 
“With the new X8, we’ve taken away many of the pain points graphics pros face daily by offering a powerful design environment that’s faster and smarter than ever. From big additions, like the all-new Corel Font Manager, to the dramatically evolved Knife tool, the entire suite makes it easier for users to get the professional look and output their clients demand,” said Gérard Métrailler, Vice President of Products, Graphics and Productivity, Corel. 

“Professionals and aspiring professionals can save time and dramatically increase productivity with simplified processes and reduced steps they’ll quickly find they can’t live without. And with ultra-high resolution monitors and extensive pen and touch support, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8 is ready for the latest generation of Windows 10 devices. Whether you own X7 or go all the way back to version 1.0, this impressive list of new features comes together with our new open upgrade policy to make the move to X8 an obvious choice,” said Cécile Brosius, Director of Product Marketing, CorelDRAW. 

Save time and create stunning designs and images with the extensive updates and new features in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8:

• New compatibility and support: With full optimization for Windows 10, take advantage of new resolution independent multi-monitor viewing, 4K and higher displays support, and work with Windows Real-Time Stylus pen-compatible tablets, such as the Microsoft Surface, in addition to Wacom tablets and devices.

• New Corel Font Manager™: Finally take control of your ever-expanding font collection and make the most of the fonts you already own! Explore, handle, and organize your fonts and typefaces quickly. Ideal for professions that use fonts daily, from graphic design, illustration and publishing, to package design, sign making, advertising and website creation.
Enhanced Font filtering and search: Quickly find a specific font without spending time searching in multiple folders. For example, search for “script fonts” or a specific character-set and the font list will show all the fonts on your machine that match the request. 

• Enhanced Knife Tool: Split any object or group of objects − vector, text and bitmaps – along straight, freehand or Bézier lines. Overlap objects or create a gap between the new objects after splitting them. Choose an outline option, or let the application automatically select the option that best preserves the outline appearance. 

• New design features requested by users: Manage complex projects with ease with the new Hide and Show Objects. Copy, paste, or duplicate pieces of existing curves with Copy Curve and explore the Gaussian Blur to adjust the degree to which the drop shadow feathers at its edges. 

• New and enhanced photo-editing features: Remove imperfections with the Healing Clone tool and use the enhanced Straighten Image to correct perspective distortions. 

• New workspace customization: Be productive immediately with a workspace that matches your workflow. Alter the desktop and window borders color, select a dark or light UI that suits the way you work, customize the size of text and icons, and open desktop windows within a floating window. 

• New learning tools:  Get up and running quickly with a welcoming environment that provides easy setup, in-product learning resources, an improved Hints docker and more. See what’s new with either the complete Startup tour, or special product tour for existing power users of previous versions of CorelDRAW, Corel® PHOTO-PAINT® or other graphics applications. 

• Enhanced support for sharing and output: Rely on a collection of the latest industry-standard file formats and design features to create, prepare and deliver your finished product. Take advantage of expanded compatibility with formats like AI, PSD, PDF, JPG, PNG, SVG, DWG, DXF, EPS, TIFF, DOCX and PPT. The new Border and Grommet dialog box lets you create a banner from a page or selected objects. Whether you work on small-scale projects, such as logos and web graphics, or larger pieces, such as banners and car wraps, CorelDRAW delivers the output you need. 

• New CorelDRAW SDK & Developer Community: Create your own automation tools with support from the new CorelDRAW SDK & Developer Community site: community.coreldraw.com/sdk. 

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8 Includes: 

• CorelDRAW X8: Intuitive vector-illustration and page-layout application

• Corel® PHOTO-PAINT® X8: Professional image-editing application

• Corel Font Manager™: Powerful font management

• Corel® PowerTRACE® X8: Bitmap-to-vector tracing utility (included in CorelDRAW X8) 

• Corel® CONNECT™ X8: Access digital content in the Content Exchange and on a local computer

• Corel® Website Creator™: Website-design application

• Corel® CAPTURE™ X8: One-click screen capture utility

• PhotoZoom Pro 4: Plug-in to export and enlarge digital images from Corel PHOTO-PAINT CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8 also includes 10,000 clipart and digital images; 2,000 high-resolution digital photos; 1,000 OpenType fonts; 350 professionally designed templates; 2,000 vehicle templates; more than 1000 fills, frames and patterns; more than five hours of enhanced training videos; and much more.

For a full list of everything included in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8 and to download a free 15-day trial, please visit www.coreldraw.com. 

Customers can choose one of three flexible purchase options: 

• Perpetual License: Make a one-time payment and own the product license permanently; available as a box or download version
Subscription: Pay a monthly or annual fee to use the product; upgrade to the latest version as long as your subscription is active • Upgrade Program: If you buy a perpetual license of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8, pay one affordable yearly fee, and you’re assured of working with the latest design tools, file compatibility, and the most current technology. As long as your account is active, you’ll automatically receive the latest version when it’s released. Availability and Pricing CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X8 is now available in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Russian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Turkish and Japanese. Download the software now at www.coreldraw.com. Shipping begins April 5, 2016. The full version is priced at $499 USD and the upgrade is $199 USD. Subscription is available for $29.95 USD per month or $198 USD per year. Upgrade Program is available for $99 USD per year. Commercial and educational volume licenses are also available.

Microsoft put pen computing front and center during its Build 2016 keynote this morning. Showing off the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary update, Executive Demo Lead Bryan Roper (known in some circles as Fedora Guy) wowed the crowd with several nifty new features made possible by enhancements to Microsoft's Windows Ink API.

In his blog post, Executive Vice President, Windows and Devices Group Terry Myerson described the improvements thusly:

More than 70% of us spend more than one hour a day using a pen. We lose notes in our notebooks, take pictures of whiteboards, and can’t do equations or music composition with a keyboard. Windows Ink is an all-new experience, putting the power of Windows in the tip of your pen, enabling you to write on your device as you do on paper, creating sticky notes, drawing on a whiteboard, and easily sharing your analog thoughts in the digital world. Windows Ink is integrated into apps like Maps, Microsoft Edge, and Office. And today, we demonstrated how developers can incorporate Windows Ink into their apps with as little as 2 lines of code!

None of these are art-specific, but they do point the way to a Windows computing world where the pen is less of an after-thought. You can see the new features for yourself in the video below.

One Windows Pen to rule them all?

UPDATE 2 4/1/16 From the Windows Experience blog, posted by Aaron Woodman, Sr. Director of Marketing at Microsoft, comes the company's official take on the Wacom deal:

Another way we’ll deliver that is via a recent partnership with Wacom.

Wacom, a leader in digital pen hardware, has signed an agreement with Microsoft to create and produce Windows Ink capable solutions for the ecosystem. This will help provide customers with the best end-2-end Windows Ink experience. By combining Windows Ink technology, learnings from Surface and Wacom DNA into a high quality writing instrument built for Windows Ink, customers have an easy choice when they need an accessory pen. Customers should expect the pen to be available at retailers like Best Buy this holiday season.

UPDATE 3/31/16 From the official press release, below, Wacom is targeting the 2016 holiday season for the release of the dual protocol pen.

Wacom to broaden digital pen interoperability in the marketplace under Universal Pen Framework (UPF) along with Microsoft

Tokyo, March 31, 2016 ----- Wacom Co., Ltd announced today its Universal Pen Framework (UPF) initiative has entered a new stage with Microsoft Corp. licensing its Microsoft Pen Protocol to Wacom. In the near future Wacom’s digital pen solutions will incorporate both Microsoft Pen and Wacom Active ESTM Pen protocols, helping customers better take advantage of Windows Ink on Windows 10 devices.  Wacom is working to build pens that support both protocols, targeting delivery this holiday season at the end of 2016. 
 
“This is truly groundbreaking: now we have two leading pen protocols—by Microsoft and Wacom—that can be tapped on demand with a single pen,” said Masahiko Yamada, President & CEO of Wacom.  “Supporting multiple protocols makes our pen incredibly fast and easy for people to write intelligent notes, be creative, and get productive when using Windows Ink on their Windows 10 devices.  As well as advocating the digital pen as a primary interface tool for mobile products and services, we also believe in the power of digital ink as a transformational medium. Digital ink can convey people’s creativity by enabling ideas to be captured and shared over the cloud, while sustaining the evolution of those ideas. I’m looking forward to seeing how we can accelerate the emergence of digital stationery in collaboration with valued partners like Microsoft,” he added. 
 
“Windows Ink makes it easy for people to turn their thoughts into actions,” said Kevin Gallo, corporate vice president of Windows Developer Platform, Microsoft, Corp. “People that use pens with their Windows 10 devices are happier, more engaged, more creative, and productive. Today‘s agreement with Wacom will help customers get a great Windows Ink experience on virtually all pen-enabled Windows 10 devices.” 
 
Wacom has been supplying its Active ESTM pen solution to a number of OEM customers since 2014.  In order to ensure interoperability of digital pens among multiple platforms, Wacom has been developing the multi-protocol pen technology in collaboration with key IT industry players such touch controller suppliers, display manufacturers and platform developers, under the name of UPF (version 2.0).   
 
As part of the UPF 2.0 initiative, this agreement between the two companies makes it possible for Wacom to manufacture multi-protocol pen solutions including Microsoft Pen and Active ESTM protocols on demand.  It is hoped that this will help to bolster broad consumer demand for digital pen and ink as enabling tools for communication, expression, business, education and entertainment, covering various aspects of people’s daily activities.  
 
On January 7, 2016, Wacom introduced the Digital Stationery Consortium, which promotes the digital inking experience across multiple mobile ecosystems and solutions through collaboration with companies across a range of sectors, from IT hardware, software and service providers, through to businesses in stationery, publishing and education fields. The agreement on digital pen protocols is a huge step forward toward the era of simple, high quality digital pen and ink experience, and it will form one of the pillars of the Digital Stationery Consortium. 
 
(*) This is translated to English from a Japanese announcement solely for convenience of non-Japanese readers. 

* * *

ORIGINAL POST

Moments after I posted the earlier story about Microsoft touting its upcoming Ink API improvements, I came across a tantalizing Tweet from Bryan Roper.

Forgot something big! We are working with Wacom to create a pen that will work across a huge number of pen enabled devices!!!! #Build2016

— Bryan Roper (@broper00) March 30, 2016

Sounding like hyperbole, I assumed that this would be something similar to Wacom's iPad efforts: a Bluetooth stylus for touch only devices.

Tonight, several tech blogs are reporting that the two companies are indeed working on a much more ambitious collaboration: a dual sensor pen that will work on both Wacom ActiveES and Microsoft N-Trig devices.

This remarkable development will be the first time the pair work together since Microsoft abandoned Wacom's EMR technology used in the Surface Pro 1 and 2 for the thinner N-Trig digitizers found in every tablet released since the Surface Pro 3. 

Microsoft acquired N-Trig's pen technology last year and we all assumed that Wacom fans would have to look at devices from other manufacturers for the foreseeable future.

VAIO is the only other OEM producing devices with N-Trig digitizers. Since the Toshiba Encore 2 Write was released in January, 2014, Wacom has made steady advances, providing digitizers for Lenovo, HP and Dell, to name a few.

While N-Trig pens are interchangeable, Wacom's ActiveES pens have unique IDs and OEMs have chosen to limit compatibility between tablets. Wacom has been promoting a solution with its as-yet-unreleased Bamboo Smart pen for select tablets and 2-in-1 convertible devices.

The active pens from Microsoft and Wacom operate very similarly but they do have some important differences in pressure sensitivity levels, hover distance and button capabilities.

As more details become available, we will make sure to update this post.