Comments on: Netbooks: Swivel Touchscreen Does Not Equal Tablet PC

By: YANG

YANG — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:02:50 +0000

I have both active digitizer on Siemens T4215 and passive digitizer on Asus T91. The differences are huge. Just forget it if you really want to ink with T91, while T4215 is too heavy to carry around (> 2 kg when two batteries are used), although it inks well. I just heard Asus is going to launch eee pc T101, a successor to T91. Is it possible to have the ability to reject palm touch? Anybody knows?

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:26:48 +0000

Lower resolution digitizer makes sophisticated handwriting recognition much more difficult. Not to mention the fact that it is impossible to write on a 9-inch screen without resting your palm on the digitizer, which is recognized as a stylus touch.

By: Nameless

Nameless — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:04:59 +0000

I’ve yearned for a Wacom-or-N-Trig-equipped tablet netbook for 500 US$ or less NEW, so that the average person (read: not the likes of us, who know about buying used HP TC1100s and the like) will see it on a store shelf, know it exists, and at least consider buying it.

That said, resistive digitizers work okay on small-screened (4″ 4:3/4.3″ 16:9 or less) devices because you’re not very likely to touch the screen with your palm, but getting beyond that, there will be problems if a resistive digitizer is used for the pen/stylus. (While I’ve never used one of the old Apple Newton MessagePad 2000/2100s, I’m still not sure about their 6″ resistive-only screens. They seem just large enough that I could accidentally touch the screen with my writing hand.)

My priorities are on the pen/stylus, however. While I would like to just touch my TC1100’s screen sometimes, I get over it because I don’t want to deal with the accidental input issues that could result if it did have the capability to register finger touch. Also, pressure sensitivity is an EXPECTATION from me-something you can only get out of a Wacom or N-Trig pen (especially the former).

By: Alejandro Aguilar

Alejandro Aguilar — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:01:33 +0000

I’m not totally convinced about your point. Although active digitizers are better, passive digitizers are good for digitizing and vectoring. My proof: My Palm T/X, that can recognize digitizing of the letters I write into it. If a little Palm can do that, why a 9 inch screen can’t without fancy hardware?

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:29:23 +0000

I’m not a big fan of the input panel either. I always envisioned directly inking into textboxes and stuff, and the software would automagically make things good.

By: John in Norway

John in Norway — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:17:53 +0000

It’s very frustrating, to be sure, to ink on a normal touch screen. Unfortunately, for me, it’s the only game in town. When inking on my SC3 (7″ screen) the only way, as HG said, is to put your palm on the bezel. Makes for very untidy inking though. The other thing I do is to use a proper stylus than the tiny stick it comes with. It gives you a bit more reach and comfort.
As for using your fingers to operate Windows – well, I’ve found it extremely frustrating and always end up using a stylus.

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:49:35 +0000

I’ve been using my first tablet pc (which has a dual digitizer) for about two years now. I would say that I used the touch screen everyday, about 10 times or so. Mostly to flip through pdfs or to click on buttons.

The active digitizer is very smooth, but I rarely use it. It may be that I’m too used to writing with a keyboard, but I just don’t like using the Input Panel.

I would say, if you just want to do the basic stuff, go with a passive digitizer. I will cost less and offers much of the same functionality. Just don’t expect your handwriting to look all that great.

By: SAM

SAM — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:30:11 +0000

Do they make a 10″ active screen?

By: jkkmobile

jkkmobile — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:59:09 +0000

Upcoming Eee PC T91 will have multitouch on the Windows 7 version: http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2009/06/asus-eee-pc-t91-with-multitouch-screen.html

That might help on hand writing too…

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:21:16 +0000

Yes, that’s right. I’ve got a P1610 and rarely use my fingers on it because of the hard screen. You really need to use your fingernail to get anything to work which I generally found too awkward. The size of the P1610 was great but the touchscreen let it down IMO.

Because of that I upgraded to a 2730p (based mostly on your reviews of that and the 2710p). I’d like a true multitouch (as in finger + pen) tablet but prefer the ability to ink properly over the ability to touch. Of course, that might change when Windows 7 comes out

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:35:49 +0000

You are correct and I discussed that in numerous posts about the P1620 I used for so long. The hard touchscreen is what made the palm rejection work so well though, and some users have complained about both the inking and the touch control of those Tablets as a result.

By: Franko

Franko — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:24:06 +0000

Hi, i have a Q1UP-V (with W7) and I have become quite an enthusiastic inker, but I have been missing some keyboard (dont mind if it is the eee 901 keyboard for example). Do you think is a good idea to change to the T91? specially if I like inking (onenote on a daily basis)? are the touchscreen technologies that different between them?

Thanks in advance and greetings from Chile.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:28:41 +0000

Fujitsu’s P-Series tablets don’t just rely upon a hard touchscreen to prevent vectoring. They also use palm-recognition software to differentiate between palm and pen. However, like Derek I agree with the gist of your post

By: Derek

Derek — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:21:55 +0000

“Today, touch screens have become common and folks like to drive their PC with the finger.”

I agree with the gist of this post but I’m not sure either of those things are true. I’ve yet to see an HP Touchsmart or any other touch-enabled PC in the wild, nor have I ever seen a general user controlling a PC with their finger. It’s fun in theory but a mouse is simply better IMO.

By: HG

HG — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:38:11 +0000

The only way you can semi write on the screen is to put your palm on the bezel of the tablet screen. I do this on the SC3 when I use it for taking notes. The Fujitsu U810 also had palm rejection which you could ink pretty well; even though the screen was pretty small. I would just use the sticky notes since the screen was small. I wouldn’t mind paying a little extra for better inking screen.