The Lenovo Active Pen 2 is the first announced Wacom ActiveES Gen 13 pen
Today's press announcement of the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga, Thinkpad X1 Tablet, and Ideapad Miix 720 all mentioned the new Active Pen 2, but none provided any specs.
But a follow-up post on the Lenovo blog included a throwaway mention of the pen's increased capabilities.
With the Lenovo Active Pen 2 in hand, you use the shortcut button to open your email and check for any last-minute edits from your boss. Her suggestion: add one more hand-drawn schematic to the presentation. As part of the over 20 percent of detachable users surveyed who use a pen or stylus on a daily basis, you rely on a digital pen to sketch out the drawing along with some supporting annotations with just the click of your Lenovo Active Pen 2 using Windows Ink™. The 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity on the pen offer a precise drawing experience, like writing on paper.
Could this picture mean the Active Pen 2 supports tilt as well?
Assuming this statement is correct, that makes the Active Pen 2 the first Wacom ActiveES Gen 13 pen to hit the market.
We first learned of Wacom's generational naming convention in a Windows Ink presentation made at WinHEC in early 2016. Most ActiveES pens released in 2016 were Gen 12 and all supported only 2048 pressure levels.
The presentation was also the first mention of the dual protocol pen that Wacom and Microsoft are supposed to be jointly developing. That pen was due out at the end of 2016 but never materialized. Let's hope its release is imminent.
