I just had a great conversation with N-trig‘s Gary Baum about my experiences with the Slate 500, Motion’s CL900, Fujitsu’s T580, their current generation solution and where things are headed with their 4th generation tablet and tablet pc solutions. Can you say 10 finger touch?
One of the interesting things to come out of our conversation was learning that the HTC Flyer is using an N-trig digitizer for touch and ink. I’ll certainly be buying one now to test out that experience. Good inking experiences on tablets like the Flyer and iPad are what I’m about, but up until now have been a let down. Let’s see what the Flyer and N-trig can do.
I also learned that N-trig has released their N-act gesture software for download. Gary’s description and use of it are tempting me to turn touch back on with my XT2. If you have an N-Trig DuoSense system, give it a whirl. Just make sure you are running the latest firmware for your machine. Here’s a description for the product page:
The N-trig DuoSense solution offers the N-act Hands-on gesture vocabulary, a set of true multi-touch gestures and combinations, providing users with a rich set of hand movements that use direct on-screen finger manipulation and enhance the overall user experience, enabling a new approach to interacting directly on screen, for a true Hands-on computing experience.
N‑actTM gesture vocabulary comprises a library of gestures for performing actions and tasks directly on the screen. Complemented by DuoSense pen functionality, this combination advances the pen and multi-touch experience from basic touch consumption to a much greater potential for interactive creativity, accuracy and precision, extending device functionality and providing an enriched and more precise performance that cannot be achieved by touch alone.
The N-act gesture set opens up a world of new possibilities for the development of different types of computing devices and the creation of new software applications, including advanced graphics packages, video games, CAD programs, and much more. Various examples of these can be seen here
Poor inking experiences like I and many of my readers have had concerns N-trig. Gary communicated to me that they are committed making the experience as natural as possible and will continue to improve their digitizers, pens, and software. I’m very interested in helping them improve their products and will do everything possible to test and provide feedback. If you have experiences to share with N-trig, please post them in the comments below. Also, if you’ve had some of the warm / hot pen issues in the Slate 500, let me know too.
Rob, am not sure why this post has no comments, I find the content to be encouraging for potential, future purchases. I had mentioned in an earlier comment for another post that I was looking forward to your future evaluation and post for N-trig/HTC Flyer was surely on my check list. Now it most assuredly is on the list, with even more anticipation than before!
Thanks for all the work you are doing so that others of us can do what it is we do. You provide a most helpful service.
Rob:
…Given our history, your comment on Friday was a bit surprising, given its moderate tone. I’m more used to you giving N-trig the business!
However, my experience with the XT2 and the latest N-trig software bundle (Version 3.118.026)has been good since I installed it late last year. Inking is not quite as good as the best Wacom experience, but touch is just as good, and I give N-trig credit for trying to expand the gesture set with N-act. N-act needs more fine-tuning, though.
Like you, I’d rather work with N-trig to help them improve their products, so that we have two good digitizers to choose from, not just one…
Steve – Like you, I’ll still give them the business when it is deserved – just as I would Wacom, Microsoft, Lenovo, Motion, HP, etc.
As they are making tremendous inroads with OEMs, it is in our interest to help them succeed so the end-users have the most natural experience possible. To that end, I’m happy to test, report back, be honest, and let them know when they are getting it right and getting it wrong.
Rob,
Appreciate the piece. I have been waving between the HTC Flyer / Puccini and the Samsung Tab 8.9 / 10.1. I expected the inking to be a little better on the Flyer; I am hoping that the Puccini will be better.
Thanks,
Kevin