Wacom updates Feel Driver

Earlier this week, Wacom released version 7.2.1-21 of its Enhanced Tablet Driver, aka Feel driver.

The company hasn't updated its ReadMe file, so it's unclear what has changed. My inquiries to Wacom have gone unanswered.

It appears that the primary purpose of this release was to introduce compatibility with new ActiveES devices like the Toshiba Encore 2 Write. Now those tablet users can enjoy the benefits of the built-in radial menu, tip sensitivity adjustment and calibration.

I've tested the driver on Surface Pro 2, 10" Encore 2 Write, HP Pro x2 612 G1 and the Asus VivoTab TF810C with no problems to report. 

If you spot any differences, be sure to let me know in the comments section below. UPDATE 2/15/15: Many of you are reporting laggy performance and loss of volume button controls on the Surface Pro. Keep those error reports coming and we'll make sure to pass word along to Wacom. If you need to revert to an older version, you find those here: http://us.wacom.com/en/support/legacy-drivers/.

You can check out the driver for yourself here.

UPDATED: Keyboard hinders Lenovo's Thinkpad Helix 2

UPDATE: Lenovo has finally placed the Ultrabook Pro Keyboard on its website and the price is downright shocking. Yes, it's got a built-in battery that extends power for up to 12 hours, but for $399 more? No thanks Lenovo. Read it and weep. 

ORIGINAL POST: Just in time for your holiday shopping consideration, Lenovo has released the Wacom-penabled Thinkpad Helix 2, the first Intel Core M device I've had the chance to test.

The Helix 2 comes in two flavors: a $1049 5Y10 model with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD and the $1499 5Y70 model with 8 GB and 256 GB storage. Both versions have an 11.6" FHD IPS LED display with a resolution of 1920x1080 and feature Intel HD Graphics 5300.

Although the last thing I need is another Windows tablet, I couldn't resist the temptation and decided to purchase the low end version to see how it compared with the Surface Pro 3 and other devices in the SurfaceProArtist labs.

The Helix 2 ships with the Ultrabook Keyboard, a cover that doubles as a stand but lacks a hinge mechanism. The typing experience on the keyboard is far superior to keyboard covers like the Surface Pro's, but the lack of a hinge, backlighting or Bluetooth severely limits the keyboard's functionality. The screen rests at only one angle that may be awkward to use in a cramped environment (see image above). And you have to be careful to dock and undock the screen just right to use the keyboard as a cover. You can't just fold and unfold it as you'd expect from any other keyboard.

An Ultrabook Pro Keyboard will be available early next year. Lenovo doesn't offer a way to purchase the tablet separately, which adds an unnecessary expense to an already pricey purchase.

REVIEW CONTINUES AFTER THE UNBOXING IMAGES BELOW

As unboxings go, the Lenovo Thinkpad Helix 2 unveiling is pretty unmemorable. The tablet ships in a plain cardboard box, with no attention paid to first impressions. Contents are very sparse: the tablet, keyboard, power adapter and cord. I almost threw away the packaging before discovering that the pen was packed loosely in the very bottom of the box.

The keyboard features a USB output (left). Also visible on the tablet is the power connector. 

The top of the tablet has a power switch (right) and an auto-rotation lock.

The right side of the tablet includes (from right to left) a micro HDMI output, covered USB and SD ports, the volume button and headphone jacks. The opening in the keyboard is the pen silo.

Although its screen is only 11.6-inches vs. the Surface Pro 3's 12.5 (above, bottom and below, right), the physical dimensions of the Helix 2 are nearly identical.

The screen size of the Helix 2 is significantly roomier than the Surface Pro 2 (above), and it's also thinner and lighter (below).

I was expecting another Lenovo stylus like the one included with the Thinkpad Yoga (above top), but I was pleased to find that the Helix 2 includes a full-sized pen comparable to the Surface Pro 2 pen (third from top). The barrel is a bit narrower than I prefer, but it's very adequate for most uses. It ships with one Wacom flex nib, such as is found on the Fujitsu T-5000.

The digitizer on my Helix 2 works exceptionally well. I can draw all the way to the edges, I have no problem accessing the corner menus or the close gadgets and the pen-cursor alignment is uniform throughout the screen. This is the first Wacom Windows tablet I've owned that has worked so well out of the box. My Helix 2 shipped with driver version 7.1.3-9 installed and I've decided not to update it until offered the option directly by Lenovo (if that ever happens). The latest driver on the Wacom US site is 7.2.0-10, but if it's not broken, why fix it?

Drawing on the tablet is a wonderful experience. Unlike my Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga, the Helix 2 screen does not have a screen protector, but the pen's Flex nib offers all the grip that I need. Of course, the Helix 2 is compatible with all Wacom Tablet PC pens and I tested mine with the Bamboo Stylus Feel, Fujitsu T-5000 and many others with equally excellent results.

Pressure response is outstanding. (Sorry N-Trig/Microsoft, but there is still a recognizable improvement moving from a 256-level device to 1024 or beyond.)

I've tested the Helix 2 with the desktop applications Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop CC 2014 and Sketchbook Pro 7 and the apps Fresh Paint and Sketchable. The lower-end 5Y10 processor never broke a sweat. A major advantage of the Core M (formerly known as Broadwell) generation of chips is that they allow fanless designs. My Helix 2 has never heated up even while running graphics intensive benchmarks and the silent operation is welcome too.

If you've been waiting for a Wacom-equipped successor to the Surface Pro 2, the Helix 2 comes very close to being that device. It certainly offers more of a true tablet form factor than the SP2. It's significantly thinner and lighter and doesn't throw off heat.

On the other hand, there's something cheap-feeling about the Lenovo. The back is smooth and cool to the touch, but there are a few unsightly stickers and an unidentifiable protuberance by the SD slot that can be uncomfortable to hold. The hardware controls like the volume button are too close to the body and shallow, making them very difficult to distinguish from the USB and SD port covers. There is a sharp edge all around the tablet where the front panel comes in contact with the rest of the body that is less than ideal. The docking holes at the bottom of the display are also uncomfortable to the grip.

The docking mechanism itself is somewhat finicky. You have to align the tablet "just so" for it to send power to the keyboard. It's also very easy for the screen to detach from the keyboard if you attempt to carry the Helix 2 while in the laptop mode.

Lenovo should offer a standalone version of the Helix 2 priced around $800 to compete more directly with the Surface Pro 3 i3 model. Although the 11.6-inch, 16:9 HD display is not as nice as the SP3's 12.5-inch, 3:2 high-res display, it's close enough that Wacom aficionados would want to carefully consider the Helix 2.

But for now, the Helix 2 is simply over-priced. My advice is to wait until the new year when the Ultrabook Pro Keyboard is available and run the price/performance comparison again.

Of course by then, the Surface Pro 4 may be in the offing...

(Massive) guest post: 8" Toshiba Encore 2 Write impressions

EDITOR'S NOTE: Finding the time to update this blog regularly has become increasingly difficult for me, so I am always happy to pass along the impressions of other knowledgeable Windows tablet pc users. Over the last couple of weeks, TabletPCReview forums user Precurve has published an amazingly detailed series of posts on the new 8-inch Toshiba Encore 2 Write, one of the first devices to feature Wacom's new Active ES pen technology. Because the thread is now many pages long, I got Precurve's permission to condense the majority of his observations into this very long post. I've cut all the questions and comments, but you can visit the thread (see the link below) if you'd like to read the entire conversation. Enjoy (and please don't hold my future reviews to this impossibly high bar). --Rick

Jan 21, 2015 - I took delivery of the 8" Encore 2 Write (with stylus) yesterday. I'm an experienced tabpc geek with a t904, Samsung Slate, and 21" Cintiq UX, & ipads. This thing gave me one of the best first experiences with a new piece of tech in a long time. I got it on a whim to have a super portable note and sketchpad. Really incredible for the price point. So far I've tried full versions of OneNote, Sketchbook Pro 6 and Powerpoint 2013 (I like it as a scrapbook/sketchboard) in addition to metro versions of FreshPaint, Sketchbook Express. Exceeding expectations. Wacom pen is nice.

Jan 21, 2015 - (RE: Hover Distance) I get a very crisp and reliable 0.2" (5mm) air gap on hovering (with cursor following tip), then it breaks connection immediately (eg: not intermittent)... 

This picture (right)  is taken in Manga Studio 5 with strokes from a 54 pixel Gpen done lightly to mid pressure in clockwise direction... Manga Studio allows you to adjust pen curves and I have mine set to require a bit of pressure to start the line.

Frankly this pen is as as clean as anything else I have and I have almost all the Wacom products including a Cintiq and 3 tablet PCs.

I'm happy to try other small tests for the curious, but I won't be installing Photoshop on this unit. I'm under a lot of deadline pressure right now and this is just a side show. So anything really complex might take me a while.

MS5 is really cool with small to medium canvas sizes. The processor starts to choke on really large brushes with gnarly textures moving fast. But for doodles and small renderings, it's very satisfying. The multitouch pan, zoom and rotate works great in MS5. Not so great in Sketchbook Pro6.

$349? I know we're a picky lot but this thing is way better than I expected for that price.

Jan 21, 2015 - I have noticed a few stray marks from sloppy palm rejection, nothing troubling or unusual though. But again, the totality of the experience is quite good so far. I usually try not to write reviews or declare judgments until I've had gear for a while, but my initial enthusiasm for this tablet is quite high. You are welcome to keep me honest!

PS. I'd never measured it before but my Fujitsu t904 hover distance is ~ 0.45" for those who are keeping score.

Jan 22, 2015 - Qualitative impression: The thing that seems to make styluses have the tic tic noise is the 1) hardness of the tip material, 2) looseness of the tip in the pen, and 3) hardness of glass or coating. Shown here is the Toshiba stylus (left) and two Fujitsu / Wacom pens (right), one with black fiber tip and one with white plastic tip (NOTE: These tabletPC pens don't work on the Toshiba - this is for comparison only). The black fiber tip is nearly silent, the white plastic tip is quite clicky. I don't like the sound or the feel of the white tips. The Toshiba tip is right in between - may be closer to the back tip in terms of both sound and feel. I like it. And as you can see, it is new but slightly fiberous/textured tip so my guess it is will get a little quieter with use (my black pen looks and feels like an old Sharpie marker). The tip is slightly looser but its not bugging me and I really hate that loose feel.

So in a perfectly quiet room the operator can hear some tic but I don't think it would bother anyone in an office, classroom, or home. 

Jan 23, 2015 - NOTE: 

• All tests done after 2 Starbucks coffees. Some jitter may be operator error!
• All tests done at 100% scaling (eg: no drawing large then zooming out to create an appearance of smooth)
• Speed of slow drag is noted as seconds from beginning to end.
• Images shown are full sized .png screen captures saved as .gif (Site wouldn't allow original .pngs for some reason). .gif format may be introducing some slight aliasing. IMO the actual aliasing is not at all objectionable for fine lines at 100%
• No cleanup up or retouch allowed
• Note drawing window size is indicated on most screen captures(total screen - Ui)
• My handwritten notes are approx 0.2" high.
• Full sized images may appear quite larger on a PC monitor than they are on the device itself. The real world Screen dimensions are 6.75" x 4.25". SO to get an accurate feel for the real world device make each image that dimension on your physical screen.
• Some strokes were done using a plastic straight edge or french curve to reduce user jitter and are noted separately from "Freehand"
• Tested in PPT with Microsoft Ink and Manga Studio 5
• Powerpoint has some "smoothing" built into the Microsoft ink
• MS5 has user controlled stroke smoothing which I turned off except where noted. A small pilot pen without smoothing is close to the worst case scenario is MS5.
• The Third Screen capture demonstrates MS5 with a single "virtual old Sharpie" pen with a larger pressure sensitive tip and a slight texture. All strokes done without adjusting pen settings other than color.

I hope that helps

PS: I do not have screen protector on the glass. I think a little texture over the glass would create some helpful drag. I'll try that next week perhaps. I don't think I could draw a lot smoother at that size with a physical pen on glass. IMO: There is very little jitter caused by the digitizer. I've seen worse on my Cintiq.

Jan. 25, 2015 - 1) A quick test of the pressure sensitivity of the new TruPen in Manga Studio.
- Test 1 uses a 500 pixel G pen on a 1920 x 1080 canvas done in a single stroke going from minimal thickness to full thickness and then back again. You have to blame some of that jitter on my shaky hand and the raw glass surface. I did this stroke very slowly. I have a matte screen protector coming this week - the screen needs more friction IMO.

- Test two is with a 1000 pixel G pen on a 4000 x 2800 pixel canvas. There are not very many cases where you would need to go from one pixel to 1000 pixel line in a single stroke but it serves the purpose of illustrating that the new Wacom pen does have fairly impressive sensitivity even on this little budget tablet. At full thickness the stroke line was dragging a bit behind the stylus. On the other hand I was very impressed with the fine line sensitivity and control of this very large brush. I pulled this stroke more quickly which helped the smoothness.

2) The other thing that I did on a whim was download and install the free version of Sketchup (Make) 2015. All the modeling tools and functionality seem to work fine on this budget processor with 2 GB of RAM. Basic modeling is actually very responsive. Then I went to the Sketchup warehouse and downloaded a 4.2 GB Chevelle model, turned on textures and shadows and then dragged and rotated the model around in various positions. It was a little bit draggy but it didn't break. And for my use, the idea of having simple Sketchup models that can be used as underlays to block out some layouts is very valuable. Obviously it doesn't make any sense to do serious modeling on this little tablet and I don't mean to imply its suitable for anything other than simple blocking. But I was surprised that it worked at all much less worked as well as it did.

Jan. 26, 2015 - Battery life is OK. Not spectacular IMO. I haven't done a formal test locking out variables like WiFi and power optimization. It seems to me if I leave bluetooth and WiFi on and do sketching and note taking and mixed file management it might be slightly more than 5 hours. That's also connected to a Skydrive/one drive with multiple apps open, I have done no tweaking yet to the brightness/battery config. All of that is "out of the box". I'd like to do a hypermile test to see what it will do with tweaks for long battery life but I have too many networked requirements for all the other evaluations and set up I'm trying.

Jan. 28, 2015 - The goal of this exploration was to evaluate the suitability of the Toshiba Encore Write 8 for PDF viewing and annotation.

SUMMARY:

This is a much longer answer to the basic questions that was asked. This digital annotation and note taking topic is of great interest to me and it has been for a long time. So, this gave me a chance to drill in a little bit with the my new Toshiba Encore 8. Real success of a mobile note/sketch pad for any one person is whether or not we are using the device on a daily basis for note taking in six months or a year. I'm sure we've all had plenty of occasions where we get excited for a month or two but then fall back to whatever we were doing before because it works better in the big picture. Significant improvements in the overall experience come from some combination of hardware + software + ecosystem. How that all works in the real world for someone is multivariate. So I'll provide my short answer on top and then a longer dialogue about my full impressions.

PDF / TEXT APPERANCE ON THE SCREEN

I don't have particularly great reading eyesight anymore. I wear glasses. I can spend long periods with the 8" Toshiba without eye fatigue or being distracted by the resolution. But I'm also a bit old school having used computers for years where 72dpi was the standard and you could literally see pixels. The Encore 8 and 10 are 168 and 145 Ppi (pixels per inch) respectively. You can’t really "see" pixels. But there is a crispness to something like ipad retina that you don't get with these low ppi screens.
Expectations: Met

ABILITY OF ENCORE TO HANDLE LARGE PDFs
I tested PDFs up to and over 100MB. The device handled these files well allowing fluid browsing, page flipping, zoom and pan.
Expectations: Exceeded

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
Unsurprisingly, a lot depends on the software. The built in MS Reader and the Drawboard app worked great. Adobe Reader (free acrobat) chugged a bit. I don’t like Adobe Reader anyway. In MS Reader and Drawboard, once the files were loaded (I was loading from OneDrive cloud) things were very smooth.
On the largest files with lots of pages the preview index (thumbnails) took a while to load. May be 30 seconds for 80 pages.
Expectations: Exceeded

WHAT BREAKS?
I couldn't break it.
Expectations: Exceeded

OVERALL ANNOTATION EXPERIENCE
The Pen is great. The slickness of the raw glass can make tiny handwritten margin text a little shaky but certainly legible. I hope a matte screen protector will help that. But basically underlines, hand notes, text notes, highlights, all worked great. The ability to open a cloud pdf document, annotate it, save it back and then open it on other devices with annotations worked well. I quite like the Drawboard app for annotation.
Expectations: Exceeded. I ventured into this just to explore the Encore. I will certainly use the device for annotation on airplanes or even in "leanback" mode on the couch.
Expectations: Exceeded

------------------------------------------------
DETAILED EVALUATION Notes
------------------------------------------------

EVALUATOR BIASES
I have a bunch of tablet PC experience and iPad experience. I have had Macs too. I have used my iPad 3 with Goodreader for storing a library of PDFs and doing a small amount of annotation while traveling. I would say I am a casual user of the annotation functions while mobile. It is not essential to my workflow. Typically if I am doing research and consuming documents like PDFs I'm at a desktop environment with multiple monitors open and a desk scattered with paper printouts. But when traveling I do use both my iPad and my Fujitsu13" convertible for viewing and annotation. I'm not a annotation connoisseur and I had never used Drawboard before this test.

The handheld mobile reader/notebook experience is good on the iPad from the multi touch tablet standpoint. Obviously the stylus situation leaves a lot to be desired on the current iPad. I have about 25 both passive and active capacitive styluses for my iPads and none of them are great for note taking. I also do some art. I think precision handwriting is way harder than tablet art.

By the way, I'm dictating all of this text into an iPad 3 in OneNote (which then syncs with my windows devices) while doing the annotation testing on the Encore. Dictation may explain the length of this doc. Speech recognition for me seems much more natural with a tablet then either virtual typing or scripting with a stylus. The built in speech recognition in iOS keyboard I have found to be very reliable as long as you're connected to a network. The built-in dictation in Windows 8 is just barely okay and I have not installed Dragon on this new Encore tablet and I am not sure that I will.

TEXT
Obviously the text on a retina screen is going to be substantially sharper than on the Toshiba encore. The retina is beautiful while the Encore is acceptable. I appreciate the tradeoff of lower price processor, efficiency, heat, battery life, etc. of Toshiba's choice to put in a lower resolution screen. Low cost screens will get better every year. But keep in mind that we've become spoiled fast with the last couple years of high rez screens. Retina is nice but it didn’t change my life. If it changed yours and you are super sensitive to screen resolution then you should be cautious of the Encores. But they are better than iPad1's PPi and way better than what most of us were using 5-6 years ago.

Windows 8 has a built-in PDF viewer, I already had full version of OneNote on the machine, I downloaded a copy of Adobe Reader XI (free Acrobat reader), and I also downloaded Drawboard PDF which seems to be the most popular PDF reader for the Windows 8/modern interface.

Let me quickly eliminate OneNote from this discussion. As best as I can tell, reviewing PDFs in OneNote requires that the PDF be essentially printed into the OneNote format which means it is very difficult to get the annotations back out in a proper PDF annotation later. I tried it and it all works OK on this Encore but I think it merits a separate conversation since it is not really staying in the PDF format and there are other idiosyncrasies.

I set aside a few PDFs from my archive that represent different formats and file sizes:

1) 2.8 MB file (text heavy): ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2014
https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ss14/ERS1406.pdf

2) 29.2 MB file (mixed text graphics) : Manga S5 intro book
http://manga.smithmicro.com/documentation/MangaStudio5.0.3StartupGuide.pdf
(I used an older version but it's essentially the same file)

3) 107.5 MB file (a graphic heavy PPT/Keynote printed to PDF) The future of gaming from PSFK
http://www.slideshare.net/PSFK/future-of-gaming

I played around in my spare time over a series of a few days In real world conditions often with multiple apps running . I used the Encore 8 with pretty much straight out-of-the-box settings. I left Wi-Fi on, and I didn't do anything extraordinary to try to give it extra operating overhead

Reader: Default Windows App.
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/reader/8a4ae377-a4ab-4260-9b80-f9382360e291
The built-in default application, Reader, worked beautifully at viewing all of the files. Even the large PDF on the future of gaming, which is mostly graphics, flowed nicely and I could flick my finger so that it scrolled for five or six pages and the device would catch up and render the graphics. If you pinch the screen, the document goes into light table mode so that you get little thumbnails of all the pages. Again the Encore had no problem keeping up with even the large file.

Adobe Reader XI
http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html
All of the docs loaded into reader but that's about where the fun ends. I have trouble with Reader even on my full-size i7 computer. Highlights and written note annotations work but not great, hand scribed annotations are glitchy and unreliable. This is not the fault of the Encore 8. I have the same issues on every computer I've tried the new versions of Reader or Acrobat. It might be user error, but either way it's consistent.

Drawboard PDF
http://www.drawboard.com/
Drawboard is a metro/modern app. I have never use this piece of software before. I set it up to access files from my one Drive account so that I could also experiment with sharing the PDFs with other devices.
Drawboard was able to open all of the files, even the large gaming report and was able to scroll through all of the pages with reasonable ease. Drawboard has a white table mode with small page thumbnails. It took 20 seconds or so for the device to generate the thumbnails the first time, but after that the pages were cached and anytime I returned it to the index it redrew quickly.
Multitouch zoom and pan work very smoothly on all files..
All annotation features work as advertised regardless of the file size.

I was able to save the annotated PDFs back into my one drive where I could open and view them including the invitations on both my laptop and iPad. Presumably you could do the same thing with any cloud Drive service but I did not drive with any others.

CONCLUSION.
I've had this little tablet just a week but I've pushed it pretty hard. The device never crashed during PDF testing.

The 8 inch screen is small for some eyes and the text is not as sharp as on a retina screen. But certainly this device is very functional for reading and annotating PDFs. Multitouch zoom and pan is smooth enough that you can zoom into the margin to make handwritten notes at a reasonable scale and then zoom back out . Any small glitches that I saw I can't attribute to the Toshiba device itself. It seems more likely that there are glitches in the stack of applications cloud services and even the OS itself and when you stream all of these together you can get some small lags and hiccups especially with auto syncing.

Based on my notion that effective note writing and annotation is personal and depends on a lot of factors I can say that for me, this Toshiba Encore is a VERY suitable platform for on-the-go PDF reading and annotation. If I didn’t have other large tablets I would prefer the 10" for consuming PDFs. But this 8" form is very nice. For whoever may be reading this, I can't say if the whole thing will work for you. But it's not because the hardware is lacking. The hardware, especially for the price, is excellent. Here are caveats:

The devices cost $349 and $399 respectively. That's damn affordable for a lot of capability. But it's not going outperform a Surface, iPad or top of the line Samsung. It's not going to be the coolest bit of tech jewelry people have ever seen (though if they are Wacom enthusiasts you will get attention). Get your expectations in line. Mine were exceeded. But I've had my tech heartbroken more than a few times so I have very realistic expectations.

You better be pretty familiar with the windows 8 interface and ecosystem. If you are not, then just that learning curve is going to cause some frustration compared to android or iOS. Windows 8.1 is a much more complex and capable environment. If you already use Windows 8 and understand the difference between modern and desktop then this may be easy for you.

In my opinion the mobile OS tablets all suffer from some common issues. iOS, Android and windows modern/metro have a clunky interfaces for file management. This can become a real speed bump in your workflow especially if you're trying to collaborate with others in a multi computer multi OS kind of environment. Obviously there are workarounds but they all take additional learning and time to make them second nature. Drawboard surprised me to the upside here. Syncing through Microsoft OneDrive made the whole thing work really well for automagically sharing to other devices. Trying to do PDF reading and annotation on a small screen in Adobe Reader or Acrobat in the desktop environment would make me crazy, on ANY hardware.

If you're already a diehard iPad person, you might just wait for the rumored iPad pro comes and see if it includes an OS integrated stylus. If Apple does that it will be a beautiful thing. If they don't, Microsoft is going to start eroding the iPad market for anyone that needs a stylus. This new Wacom pen is very promising for the Windows platform.

The Wacom stylus certainly makes a big difference for hand notes and hand annotation. It doesn't make much of a difference for finger drag highlighting. But if you are looking for reasonably priced digital note and doodle pad that can run some desktop software then Encore is a good candidate.

I did this evaluation out of curiosity and to better understand the limits of the device. I feel confident now about using Drawboard with the PDF annotation tools where I need a small format tablet. My last comment about the Encore in general - If I lost this device tomorrow I would order another one immediately.

SCREEN CAPTURES
All screens shown at full pixel resolution 1280 x 800, unretouched.
Some .jpg compression of the captures required for posting may be causing fuzziness.
Actual screen dimensions are 6.75" x 4.25" and the image may appear larger than actual size on your screen.

Jan 29, 2015 - Purpose: Evaluate the upper limits of canvas size and layer count in MS5

>>> CAVEATS & WARNINGS

I am trying some edge case things to give people in the forum a sense of what the Encore 2 Write is capable of and where are its limits and breaking points.Just because one *can* do the things I'm showing here does not mean you *should*. I am not recommending this device for anything beyond a companion tablet for professional artistic workflow in this evaluation. This Encore is not going to replace a primary computer. If anyone is looking at these tests and thinking that I'm implying you could do hi resolution paintings all day for a living on it, you are mistaken. In my opinion, This tablet should not be expected to serve as a primary machine or attempt to be used for critical path and graphically demanding, processor intensive, professional work. This is a spectacular little device for the kinds of sketches, color comps, notes, and concept work that goes on behind-the-scenes of professional creative work. I am surprised and delighted at how far this encore can stretch but this is not a production machine. I hope I speak the obvious, but I'm never sure who's scanning through these forums and thinks they hear some enthusiast reviewer is recommending $350 8 inch Atom tablet is going to solve all of their needs. Expect too much of not just this product but the whole product category (low cost pen tablets) and you will be disappointed! I'm assuming my audience for these reviews are fairly technically sophisticated and informed computer & tabletpc users.

>>> TOOLBAR CREATOR v2.2

Please note that at the top of my screen captures is a small black toolbar with very teeny writing. This is a toolbar Ui that I am experimenting with using @lblb 's excellent Toolbar Creator (http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/threads/toolbar-creator-v-2-2-beta-available-for-download.63014/). I'm experimenting with a minimal configuration of my own creation that uses a 30 pixel high strip of very small buttons that are always on regardless of the application. This one is tuned for Manga studio. This 30 pixel high strip allows for the toolbar to remain in the header of the application. The toolbar lets you switch to other application specific toolbars, though the load can take 20 seconds or so if you switch. There are many different toolbar kits that are discussed on these forums. This sort of self-programmable toolbar is VERY useful, even essential, on pen tablets for applications like MS5 or Photoshop that rely on a lot of keyboard commands for fast workflow. Essential key combinations can be scripted into any button. Given MS5s customizable command bar I don’t actually need all the buttons shown here. The essential ones would be TAB (that hides all palettes) and the brush size slider (dragging the stylus left or right on this button rapidly changes brush size)

It is the precision of a stylus on a small device like this Toshiba that allows for such a tiny strip of buttons to actually be usable. IMO programs like MS5 or Photoshop are massively frustrating to use in a pure tablet environment without a toolbar of some kind to manage a few essential keyboard shortcuts.

For Toolbar Creator fans: I'm right handed. I've been increasingly finding that I like my buttons (and app ui) on the right side of the screen if I'm interacting with Ui by pen and not touch. That way I can hold the Encore in my left and I don't have to reach across the page to do a selection, blocking my view of the brush size preview) The TAB key and the little brush slider at the top right are really useable even at 30 pix on this little device.

>>> MANGA STUDIO PAINT STRESS TEST

Pictured here is a screen capture of my MS5 stress test in its completed state. Forgive the crudity of the diagram. I didn’t plan it out, I just started painting crap. The objective wasn't a nice painting it was to performance test the Encore.

This is a 4000 X 3000 pixel canvas with 11 layers. Layers are mostly bitmap with one vector layer and one 3D layer. Two of the Bitmap layers have live channel operations (multiply and screen). In its final form it is a 49.5 Mb file.

The background was put down in multiple gradient layers and Encore was able to fill these gradients with little delay.

Chrome pipe was blocked in a single stroke with a 500 px Gpen from back (small) to front (fat). I erased out edges to clean it up, locked pixel transparency then painted in a chrome effect and some reflections with a 50 to 200 pixel oil paint brush.

Soft Air brush was used for overall shading and some detail varying size from 100 to 500 pixels on a separate layer (multiply)

3d chair and 3d soccer ball were added, rotated, and moved into place. These objects loaded fairly quickly and while they are rotatable and resizable in space, they are laggy and you can tell that the machine is having a bit of trouble with swapping the 3D controls and managing the refresh. It doesn’t glitch it just lags - a lot. I don’t expect to use much of the 3D in Manga on this machine. But in a pinch it will work with patience. Frankly I'm surprised it works at all in this large file.

On the background layer I loaded a repeating tree stamp brush and painted a forest effect. Touch of lag but acceptable.

I added a vector layer and a 100 pixel red vector "rough ink" stroke was added to the bottom of the page. It lagged a touch (not even a second) but felt very controlled. I washed the "simplify vector" tool over the vector stroke and it took about 4 seconds for the machine to calculate the task. Vector editing was tested and worked fine.

Colors of the rainbow were added in a new layer with separate colored strokes using a 160 pixel watercolor brush. Touch of lag, no problem. I performed a 200 pixel Gaussian blur of the rainbow on the entire layer. This took 10 - 15 seconds to calc. Layer type was set to "screen"

Using a blur tool I softened the back of the chrome tube and its edges with a variety of brush sizes ranging from 100 to 20 pixels. I was zooming and panning and rotating to do this. It's starting to get laggy but still manageable.

So far so good. Let's see how the current file load affects brushes now. I selected a Barbed wire paint brush and with a single fast stroke went from back to front creating a coil. No significant lag. I then erased the wire behind the pipe.

Call-out notes and call out shadows were added in separate layers. The file did not crash at any point. Multitouch pan and zoom still works acceptably though not quite as fluently as with a smaller file. Large brushes of 300 pixel are now very laggy but we will still accurately follow a slow draw.

Just to put a little frosting on this demo cake, the whole time I was doing the Manga painting I had OneNote open in the background with several notebooks open, connected to OneDrive, Wi-Fi on the whole time. In the screen capture below I have task switched over to OneNote done a few things and then brought up the task manager. You can see Manga Studio's memory footprint in the list of open applications. Even though I had this large file open in MS5 it did not degrade the performance or usability of OneNote.

>>> So…Where does Manga Studio "Break" on the Encore 2 8"

The short answer is, "I don't know". It never really broke. It chugged at larger file sizes. On one test I had a 1920 x 1080 canvas with 6 layers and I loaded one of the larger MS5 library articulating human Figures. These are fairly complex poseable 3d .obj models. This one is about a 15Mb file with textures. The screen blacked out when I dropped in on the canvas. I thought I'd finally crashed it. After about 40 seconds the screen refreshed and the model was loaded, moveable and poseable - although REALLY chuggy. I create a paint layer on top of the 3d layer and a 50 pixel brush showed no noticeable lag.

>>> CONCLUSION

In my experience So far, the Encore 2 is quite happy with canvases of 1600 X 1200 or 1920 X 1080 and 5 to 10 layers. At these canvas sizes brushes of 50 or 100 pixels, regardless of the pen or brush type, seem to be able to keep up with the stroke just fine. Larger brush sizes of up to 500 pixels have lag but with just a little bit of patience they are usable brushes. As I've shown in one of my other posts (http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/thr...wt8-b-encore-2-write.63815/page-4#post-425121), brushes of up to 1000 pixels require a very slow and deliberate stroke but the paint still registers to the path with full pressure sensitivity. If you scrub the screen as fast as you can with wild strokes using a very large brush you will break the stroke tracking. But I have still not seen that kind of behavior crash the application or the machine.

As I pointed out in other forum posts, and I'll reinforce here, this little tablet has exceeded my expectations and delighted me given my expectations of it as a low-cost, lightweight, atom processor tablet. I am not trying to do mission-critical work with it. I see it as a very personal mobile sketchpad and note taking device. Paired with Manga Studio and with the small tweaks like a toolbar this little device comes the closest to a portable full color paint kit/sketchpad as anything I've ever had my hands on. Obviously other tools and apps like Sketchbook Pro work great too.

Your mileage may vary.

* FYI: Review dictated into iPad OneNote in parallel to painting on Encore.

Jan. 29, 2015 - MICRO SD
I don't have a cover. I'm trying to avoid that, though the device does need some grip tape or something stuck to the bottom. But, in a standard folding case the microSD should be on the outside. In portrait position it would be on the upper half of the right edge

Toshiba Apps
Generally the OEM apps from everyone but Apple, Sony, and Microsoft are second rate and I tend to ignore or uninstall those kinds of things. The Toshiba Apps aren't much of an exception. I didn't intend to evaluate these because I always consider this stuff "throw away" except for the vendors I mentioned so these don;t figure into my eval. Though its curious to see how much Toshiba touts this stuff in the marketing.

TRU RECORDER
Toshiba's audio recorder App is called Tru Recorder. 3/10.
It claims to distinguish voices in the recording and color codes individual speakers in the playback display. That feature is not working for me.
The quality of the audio is poor. Very "aliased" and compressed sounding. I don't know if its the Array microphones, or the audio codec, or something else.
My Samsung s4 and iPad both have far superior audio and audio apps.

TruNotes 6/10 - for what it is
This is a very simple note taking app. Its got some some nice features but its not a pro tool.
If you have OneNote desktop I can't imagine why you would use this instead. As a simple app, One Note/metro is better. As a pro tool, desktop OneNote is an order of magnitude more sophisticated. There's no reason to get this device for professional or serious student notes and not have full OneNote. The ecosystem of Onenote including cloud drive and interoperability with all platforms is very mature. If you have a new iphone, android or ipad download the free version of OneNote. Dictate into OneNote using the built in speech recognition of android or iOS keypad. Save it to a synced folder and you can view it near instantaneously on a PC. Take handwritten notes or doodles on this little Encore and view them on your full sized desktop in seconds. This is what we have been promised for along time and its starting to work really well with Microsofts release of the free ONeNote Apps.

TruCapture
Toshiba's camera app 5/10
It works. The camera isn't anywhere near as crisp as Samsung S4, iPhone or iPad.
The camera App itself doesn't do much. You can start it up from the lock screen by swiping down.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Whew! I told you this was massive coverage! I did omit a few of Precurve's smaller posts and you can imagine there are many other responses and questions posted by other readers of the thread. Check it out in full here: http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/threads/active-digitizer-on-toshiba-encore-2-wt8-b-encore-2-write.63815/

---

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CES 2015: Wacom's new 'Active ES' powers Toshiba's Encore 2 Write tablets

PRESS RELEASE

TOKYO and LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Wacom Co., Ltd, announced that Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. and Toshiba Europe GmbH have adopted "Active ES" pen technology, Wacom's unique capacitive pen solution, for their new Windows 8.1 tablets, the Encore 2 Write (exhibited at CES in the Central Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth #11028). 

Wacom leads the industry with its EMR® (Electro-Magnetic Resonance) digital pen sensor solution, and reached 100 million units of component production (cumulative) in April 2014. Wacom has now extended its technology portfolio by adding the "Active ES" pen solution to address broadening needs for pens in mobile products.

The Active ES pen solution handles high performance pen and multi-finger touch inputs simultaneously with a single sensor and a single ASIC controller. It realizes a natural and intuitive writing experience with high speed, precision and pressure sensitivity. By supplying both Active ES and EMR pen solutions, Wacom continues to accelerate digital pen use on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, and lead the way toward the era of digital stationery.

"Toshiba's Encore 2 Write tablets and TruPen stylus proves that Wacom's Active ES solution delivers a best-in-class writing and drawing experience, with accuracy and speed never seen before on tablets," said Masahiko Yamada, president and CEO of Wacom. "Our Active ES pen supports writing, drawing and editing in intricate details with pressure sensitivity, as well as flexibility in design and configuration for OEM partners."

Toshiba's new tablets running Windows 8.1 Update with Bing are ideal travel companions, delivering a powerful Intel® Atom™ performance to help users get the most out of their day.  The "TruPen" stylus brings high precision control to your work -- taking notes in meetings or lectures without sacrificing the writing feel of pen on paper, regardless of speed.

The TruPen is also ergonomically designed, making it comfortable to hold over long periods of time. Thanks to its pressure-sensitive tip, users are always in complete control of every line they write or draw. Furthermore, each model's elegant design features a special slot for attaching the pen to the tablet, so it's always handy for jotting down ideas or developing to-do lists.

By promoting the adoption of feel™ technologies in a variety of mobile devices, Wacom partners with industry leaders in making the world a more creative place.

RadialMenu isn't just for Wacom anymore

UPDATE: Surface Pro 3's right pen button now calls up the radial menu correctly. See below.

* * * *

ORIGINAL POST

One of the more popular recent additions to Wacom's Feeldriver is the radial menu, a handy set of shortcuts that can be called up with the click of a pen button.

The default RadialMenu offers eight commonly used functions that will apply to most applications. Each wedge is customizable and a profile can be created on an application-specific basis.

The radial menu had only been available on Wacom's professional devices until May of this year and its surprise appearance in the enhanced tablet pc driver was another competitive advantage the company had over N-Trig equipped devices like the Surface Pro 3.

We were hoping an SP3 pen menu would be part of Microsoft's recently released Surface Hub, but alas it didn't make the cut and a company spokesman was noncommittal  about it ever appearing. Some within the Surface team have told me they worry that an OS-level radial menu may conflict with context menus and/or software-specific marking menus like those found in Autodesk Maya.

Whether those concerns are valid or not, there's now a powerful utility that brings a highly-customizable radial menu to all devices and throws in a toolbar/ArtDock creator as well.

RadialMenu is the brainchild of independent software/game developer Clint Huegel, who wrote the utility for his Motion Computing LE1700. Fortunately for us, the program appears to work with a wide variety of hardware and software combinations.

"RadialMenu is a small project I started to alleviate aggravations I encountered while using my TabletPC," Huegel writes on his website. "The goal was to emulate the radial menu that Wacom distributes with some of their products but with per application menus. Since that goal was met a Toolbar was added as well." 

The RadialMenu application also includes a toolbar that can be easily customized.

In this view, the toolbar is collapsed with the center (Up arrow) icon. The arrows on the right allow you to move the toolbar around the screen. Tapping on the pie icon switches to the radial menu. Right-clicking on the radial icon brings up the settings options. See below.

The RadialMenu settings. The Menu Size allows you to scale the wedges. Along the bottom, you can create, copy or delete application profiles.

The RadialMenu's options are set in this window. Menu Follows Mouse attaches the menu to the pen cursor, although I had trouble reaching the commands in the right half of the pie with this option set. As a utility in development, RadialMenu still has some issues to be ironed out on various devices. I haven't been able to trigger the menu with a pen click alone on the Surface Pro 3. I use the keyboard trigger shown here (Ctrl-Shift-Z) and then tap to switch between the toolbar and radial menu.

UPDATE 10/22/15 RadialMenu's developer continues his torrid pace of development and today released version 0.2.3.83 which corrects many of the issues I identify above. Now, setting RadialMenu to load on startup on my Surface Pro 3, I can hold down the right pen button and tap on the desktop to call up the radial menu. Right button + tapping again (away from the center and the command wedges) brings up the standard Windows context menu. Right button + tapping on the center will call up the RadialMenu settings.

Problems persist with Menu Follows Mouse. When the UI is scaled to 100% or 125%, the radial menu icons can be accessed normally, but at 150% or above, I can't reach the lower right icons.

Look for alternate version 0.2.3.83 x64 at http://radialmenu.weebly.com/download.html I wasn't able to run the standard version listed on that page.

To customize the individual RadialMenu wedges, right click the wedge to edit. In addition to several preset options, you can also define a hotkey toggle or create a Macro command (see right).

Editing the functions of the toolbar works the same way as the radial menu. Just right click and select your desired function.

By default, the toolbar consists of five rows and two columns. The individual buttons can be scaled and the top row of icons can be individually hidden. Auto collapse will shrink the toolbar when you mouse away from it.

Expanding the number of available items in a toolbar is a simple matter of increasing the available rows and columns.

If you don't like the pie wedges of the default RadialMenu, the size, shape and color can be edited in a wide variety of ways.

The developer may have set out to emulate Wacom's radial menu, but it's clear that this utility is significantly more powerful than the original. I've encountered a few bumps as I've tested, but Huegel has been quick to post fixes.

You can download RadialMenu for yourself at radialmenu.weebly.com and either leave comments or questions in that site's forum or participate in the forum threads over at TabletPCReviews.

Although RadialMenu is free to download and install, I plan to contribute a few bucks to reward the developer for his efforts and encourage the utility's further development. I hope you will too.

Adobe Illustrator Oct. 2014 Update Introduces Touch Workspace

Just hours before the opening of the Adobe MAX 2014 conference, Adobe has unveiled major updates to most of its Creative Cloud 2014 offerings, including an important new tablet-centric workflow for the popular Adobe Illustrator.

Called Touch Workspace, the new interface will launch automatically when the keyboard is removed from your Surface Pro 3. It can also be accessed from the Workspaces menu.

As described in the Adobe blog, the Touch Workspace offers "essential tools for drawing and editing with a pen and your finger in a touch environment, including French curves that you can scale, move, and trace. At any time you can switch back to one of the “classic” Illustrator workspaces to access the full range of Illustrator tools and controls. It’s Illustrator you can take with you wherever you go."

Adobe has published a tutorial detailing the release here: Drawing in a touch environment.

I've only tested the software on the Surface Pro 3, but the touch workspace will work with any Windows 8.x tablet pc.

Tap and drag with the Selection tool to select objects in the document

Curvature tool in the Touch Workspace

Running Windows 10 Tech Preview on the Surface Pro 3

I'm not convinced that the Windows 10 Tech Preview released yesterday will do anything to enhance my life with the various Surface Pros and multiple Windows touch capable devices I own, so I'm taking it uncharacteristically slowly.

Yesterday, I installed the bits on my secondary desktop and I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it will grow on me, but right now it feels like a big step backwards. Instead of deprecating Metro/Modern, I wanted to see the Windows 8 UI refined and enhanced so that it could better replace the traditional desktop mode.

I'm now installing the preview on my original Surface Pro 1 and will offer my thoughts within the next couple of days. I don't intend to install the operating system on any other devices until Microsoft releases Continuum, which will enable users to switch more seamlessly between desktop and tablet modes.

However, I know many of you are tempted to install Windows 10 on your shiny (almost) new Surface Pro 3s and are eager to know what to expect. Fortunately for us, the guys at Windows Phone Central have done it and posted a very nice video review of their first impressions. Enjoy!

First look at Windows 10 Technical Preview running on the Surface Pro 3. Make sure you read more about it, including some things that do not work here: http://www.wpcentral.com/some-thoughts-about-windows-10-preview-surface-pro-3

New Dell Commercial PC Portfolio Delivers More Productivity in Smaller & Thinner Devices

EDITOR'S NOTE: NotebookPCReview is reporting that the Latitude 13 7000 will include a Wacom digitizer (pen sold separately). I could not find any reference to pen support in the release below.

PRESS RELEASE

New Latitude portfolio, including a new 2-in-1 and rugged laptop, enables secure and manageable productivity for every workforce

San Francisco, California--As a global leader in providing the most secure and manageable commercial PC solutions, Dell today debuted sleek, completely redesigned additions to its trusted Latitude portfolio: the Latitude 7000 Series 2-in-1 detachable laptop; the Latitude 3000 and 5000 Series laptops; and the Latitude 14 Rugged laptop. 

“Dell understands the complexity of supporting the wide variety of devices present in today’s evolving workforce environment,” said Kirk Schell, vice president and general manager, commercial client solutions, Dell. “Our new portfolio enables businesses of all sizes to embrace sleek and innovative form factors their workforce will be proud to use day after day to accomplish their productivity goals. While they look like thin and light consumer devices, these commercial PCs are backed by the industry’s best security and manageability that only Dell provides.” 

New Latitudes Enable Productivity Anytime, Anywhere 

Dell’s new additions to the Latitude family of commercial PCs offer a variety of work styles and use cases—from the executive road warrior to the rough and tumble demands of workers in the field. The new Latitude 13 7000 Series is the world’s most secure 2-in-1, combining a lightweight business Ultrabook™ and a detachable tablet in one powerful device without compromise. This “laptop-first” 2-in-1 offers a large 13.3-inch display and a professional, ISO-certified backlit keyboard, bolstered by the convenience of Instant Go from sleep mode, a feature often reserved for smart phones and traditional tablets. When paired with the Dell Mobile Office, a suite of accessories specifically designed for this device—a carrying case, sleeve, power companion and universal dongle—the Latitude 13 7000 Series 2-in-1 detachable laptop offers ultra-mobile professionals a first-class productivity experience. 

According to a preview from Dell’s latest Evolving Workforce Study,[1] flexibility and the ability to work anywhere continues to demonstrate considerable benefits for overall health and well-being than working from the office. Case in point, employees who are allowed to work from home reporting they spend more time with their families (26 percent), get more sleep (21 percent), drive less (48 percent), and feel stressed less often (29 percent )[1]. From the corner office to the coffee shop, the new Latitude 12 5000 Series joins the Latitude 14 and 15 5000 Series for a fully-featured, premium mobile experience to meet the needs any mobile professional. The world’s most secure business laptop, the Latitude 5000 Series has a new, sleek design that is 20 percent thinner than the previous model. It also offers all day battery life with a 4-cell battery,[2] enhanced materials for durability and enterprise-class support and services.

Designed to meet the needs and budget of small and growing businesses, the new Latitude 14 and 15 3000 Series offers the essential features of a business-class laptop with the right balance of mobility, productivity and affordability. Thinner and lighter than previous generations and backed by enterprise-class support, the new 3000 Series boasts all-day battery life,[2] a spill resistant keyboard, up to 1 terabyte of storage[3] and 14-inch or 15-inch displays with touch options. 

Dell is the only Tier 1 vendor in the world with a fully rugged portfolio, and Latitude rugged devices are backed by Dell’s security, manageability and enterprise-level support. The latest addition to Dell’s rugged portfolio, the Latitude 14 Rugged, is built for durability to survive wherever the job takes it. Data is protected from the elements, while enabling performance at high temperatures with fourth generation QuadCool™ thermal management. With an expansive 14” outdoor-readable display, everything can be seen clearly in bright and low light conditions and standard resistive touch means gloves can stay on. A customizable RGB backlit keyboard enables comfortable usability in all environments and Stealth mode allows users to go incognito with a simple keypress. 

Pricing and Availability

• The Latitude 13 7000 Series 2-in-1 starts at USD $1,199 and will be available mid-October worldwide.
• The Latitude 3000 Series starts at USD $640 and is available in Asia.

Supporting Quotes 
“Dell is continuing to emphasize a customer promise to create the most secure and manageable environments,” said Patrick Moorhead, founder, president and principal analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy. “Each of these areas is a critical component for any IT department, but so is the need to satisfy the user. Dell has wrapped its core IT strengths with new thoughtfully designed and attractive products geared for enhanced productivity in a variety of customer use cases.”

About Dell 

Dell Inc. listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. For more information, visit www.dell.com. 

Dell is a trademark of Dell Inc. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. 

HP Unveils Five New Innovative and Stylish Consumer Products for Holiday

PRESS RELEASE

New Detachable PCs and Colorful Chromebooks Enable New Ways to Work and Play

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 4, 2014) - HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced a new lineup of sleek consumer PCs including:

• Two new powerful HP ENVY x2 detachable PCs designed to deliver a notebook experience for productivity, but quickly transform to a tablet for entertainment and apps.
• The ultra-portable HP Pavilion x2 detachable PC designed for customers who want to simplify their life with a single device that transforms from tablet to laptop.
• Two new colorful HP Chromebooks that bring the power of the Chrome OS for a fast, simple, protected internet experience.

"Customers have told us they want devices that offer flexibility and performance while reflecting their personal sense of style," said Mike Nash, vice president, Product Management, Consumer Personal Systems, HP. "The products we are announcing today include innovative designs, vibrant color options, choice of operating system and computing power to enable the way that customers communicate, play and live."

Productivity and flexibility for work and play
HP further extends its award-winning HP ENVY portfolio with the addition of two new HP ENVY x2 detachable PCs. Available in 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch diagonal form factors, the HP ENVY x2 is powered by the latest-generation Intel® Core™ M processor and keeps up with the most demanding tasks while delivering great battery life. A fabric-covered, backlit Bluetooth keyboard provides flexibility for customers to find the most comfortable position for them, whether attached or not, and covers the screen for protection on the go.

Music lovers will appreciate access to more music, videos and photos on the go with 500GB hybrid hard drive storage(1) in the tablet on the HP Envy x2 15-inch or up to 256 GB of high-performance SSD on the HP Envy x2 13-inch, along with BeatsAudio™.

HP Pavilion x2

HP also announced the new HP Pavilion x2, a full-featured 10-inch diagonal Windows tablet that shifts to a full-featured laptop with a detachable dual-purpose keyboard/cover that both protects the screen and serves as a multiposition stand. The HP Pavilion x2 is a portable, versatile, highly affordable 2-in-1 PC powered by the latest-generation Intel Atom™ processor, and features front-firing speakers with DTS sound and a battery that lasts up to 11.75 hours(2) for serious staying power to shift from work to play without missing a beat.

Stylish new Chromebooks 
Building on the success of its Chromebook offerings, HP is adding two new ultra-thin and light Chromebooks, the 11-inch HP Chromebook and full-size 14-inch HP Chromebook. Both include 100 GB of Google Drive cloud storage for two years,(3) allowing customers to access Google Apps, work on documents independently or collaboratively, enjoy third-party apps such as Hulu or Netflix, or stream TV with Google Chromecast.(4)

The 11-inch HP Chromebook is equipped with the latest Intel processor for blazing-fast internet access, an 11.6-inch diagonal HD display(5) delivering crisp resolution and long battery life to keep customers productive. Style-conscious customers can choose from vibrant colors like Ocean Turquoise, Snow White or Twinkle Black.(6)

The 14-inch HP Chromebook combines beautiful design, super-fast performance and a wide 14-inch FHD diagonal screen(5) for a superior Chrome experience. Powered by the latest-generation NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor with world-class graphics performance, the HP Chromebook provides smooth multitasking while browsing the web, running productivity apps or streaming music. Tegra K1's breakthrough power efficiency gives the 14-inch HP Chromebook improved battery life. It also features a silent, slim, fanless design and is optimized for Google Hangouts, supporting Hangouts in HD.(5,7) Available in Twinkle Black or Snow White with a choice of complementary accent color options, including Smoke Silver, Sorbet Orange, Ocean Turquoise or Neon Green, the 14-inch HP Chromebook stands out in a crowd.(6)

Pricing and availability(8)

• The 13.3-inch HP ENVY x2 is expected to be available in the United States on Oct. 29 for a starting price of $1,049.99.
• The 15.6-inch HP ENVY x2 is expected to be available Nov. 5 for a starting price of $949.99.
• The HP Pavilion x2 is expected to be available in the United States beginning on Oct. 29 for a starting price of $329.99.
• The 11-inch HP Chromebook is expected to be available in the United States on Oct. 5 for a starting price of $279.99.
• The 14-inch HP Chromebook is expected to be available in the United States beginning on Oct. 22 for a starting price of $299.99.

About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. With the broadest technology portfolio spanning printing, personal systems, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP delivers solutions for customers' most complex challenges in every region of the world. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.
(1) For hard drives, GB = 1 billion bytes. Actual formatted capacity is less. Up to 30 GB of hard drive is reserved for system recovery software. 
(2) Battery life will vary depending on numerous factors including product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, use, wireless functionality and power management settings. The maximum capacity of the battery will naturally decrease with time and usage. Additional details are available at www.bapco.com. 
(3) Google Drive trial offer must be used within first 60 days of purchase, tied to this device and is non-transferable. If this device is returned, the extra storage will be revoked. In order to redeem this offer, it will need to be on Chrome OS 23 or later. Internet access is required and not included. Additional information about storage plan refunds, renewals, cancellations and expiration is available at the Google website: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/2703646?hl=en. 
(4) Availability of features varies by country. Streaming services may require a paid subscription. May not be compatible with all music files. Not compatible with DRM tracks. Internet access is required and not included. 
(5) High definition (HD) content is required to view high-definition images. 
(6) Color availability may vary by region. 
(7) Internet service required and not included. 
(8) Estimated U.S. street prices. Actual prices may vary.
Intel and Intel Core are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. The Bluetooth trademarks are owned by their proprietor and used by Hewlett-Packard Company under license. Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. AMD is a trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Google Play and Google Chromecast are registered trademarks of by Google Inc. and is used by Hewlett-Packard under license. Hulu is a registered trademark of Hulu Inc. and is used by Hewlett-Packard under license. Netflix is a registered trademark of Netflix Inc. and is used by Hewlett-Packard under license.
© 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.