Early adopters (those brave souls) are starting to report on their just-delivered Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 slates. Mine won’t arrive for another day, but I’m as interested as anyone else in people’s early impressions of this highly anticipated slate.
If you’re a new Q550 owner, share your observations with us!
The Q550 Arrives!
I’m at work, so I don’t have time to rehash them here, but I did post some of my earliest first impressions of the Q550 in the comments on this post earlier today:
http://www.robbushway.com/2011/06/05/current-dual-mode-digitizers-2/
After the Inking-Nightmare that was the Slate 500, I’m cautiously optimistic about the Q550. (Have had it for a few hours now).
As FlyingShawn noted, there’s the unfortunate noise-factor: somehow N-Trig uses these Big, Hard plastic nibs which make a clackety-clak when they hit the screen (and when you lift up).
But again, it doesn’t seem as bad as on the 500, which had a glossier, more glass-like screen.
The Q550 has a seemingly softer, matte-like screen — which seemed a little strange at first, but I’m getting used to it.
But the colors and (most importantly) viewing angles of the screen are excellent.
I actually received a response from an N-trig employee a couple months ago, that they were planning to release a replacement pen later this year, which would be quieter. He had reported this in response to one of my online rants about the noisy pen. Hope it’s true.
But so far the Q550 has seemed very nice, and very promising. So much so, that I might be able to work around the clackety-clak for awhile.
But I still have to put it through it’s paces, and install some Drawing programs. And most importantly — install my beloved OneNote, which is one of the programs that keep forcing me to find the perfect Tablet.
Steve, Rob told that the XT digitizer might work on the Q550 since they are both NTrig pens.
Can you check that out when you receive your Q550.
Hope to hear more thoughts on those early Q550 users.
I might consider the Motion CL900 as well, but maybe the noisy pen will be the same as the Fujitsu.
Thanks
A.J.: Look for an improved pen in about 3-4 months.
Tuur: The XT and XT2 battery-less pens are NOT compatible with the current crop of N-trig equipped slates (HP Slate 500, Fujitsu T580 and Q550, HTC Flyer, Motion CL900, etc.) I verified this months ago on my Slate 500.
Steve, I don’t own the Q550. I own the Asus EP121. (UMPC Portal published my review on it but I feel funny posting a link here, but if you’re interested I’m sure you can find it). In any event, my question is the effectiveness of the Atom processor on the Q550. As you know, the EP121 has a Core i5 (U470) processor which to me was a big selling point (in addition to the 12″ screen and Wacom digitizer). Is the Q550′s particular Atom processor muscular enough?
Genghis: I also own an EP121, as well as a Slate 500, so one of the things I’ll be looking at is roughly how the three compare. I doubt that there will be any competition with the EP121, but I will be interested to see how well or poorly the Slate and the Q550 compare.
As for noisy pens, the $80 HTC Flyer pen appears to be a bit quieter than the HP pen… but it still makes noticeable noise. However, I think that some people are over-reacting to this issue. If they attended the sorts of meetings that I do, pen noise is hardly an issue!
Asus EP121 owners: what’s the real battery life of this device? If that’s 3 to 4 hours then this won’t do for people who are on the road or attend meetings I think. A tablet/slate is not made to constantly drag a charger is it?
Maybe Steve can make a good comparision between the 3 devices he owns.
Tuur, I’m not Steve (and never will be) but I do own a EP121 (as well as a Slate 500). As indicated in my review, and other sources referred to therein, battery life is in that 3 to 4 hour range for “normal” usage.
Tuur: The best I can say right now is that if you set it for full performance, the EP121 seems to last for about an hour. Probably not too surprising given the i5 processor.
If you implement “reasonable” power management settings and use the slate wisely (reduced display brightness, etc.) the battery life is more like 2.5 to 3+ hours (probably closer to 3-something).
Djee Steve, then I’ll take the noisy NTrig digitizer on the CL900 or Q550.
You can hardly call the EP121 a “mobile” slate with those operating hours.
I’ve had a little more time to play with the Q550 and while the pen “clakity-clak” is definitely louder than desirable, I don’t think it would be enough to disturb most meetings.
It’s probably still loud enough that it wouldn’t blend in acoustically and go unnoticed, but I don’t think it would be overly obtrusive either. I haven’t had the opportunity to try the HP Slate, so I can’t offer any comparisons.
“…You can hardly call the EP121 a “mobile” slate with those operating hours…”
Yup, you sure can! “Mobile” doesn’t mean “in the middle of the desert;” it simply means portable. I cross paths with outlets enough times during the average day that if I need to revive my battery, I can.
For the somewaht rare occasions when that is not the case, an external battery can be a very satisfactory solution…
Steve, which external battery do you use with the EP121?
Genghis: My APC UPB-80 finally died a couple of months ago. I’m waiting for the Electrovaya PowerPad 130 to come back in stock (theoretically any day now). I have a posting on mobile power that I will be posting shortly…
Only have time for a quick update here:
And So Far… I love the Q550.
Plus hearing that there’s a better Stylus coming soon, only makes it better.
Inking is Fantastic. I haven’t tried Photoshop yet, but my other drawing programs are fine.
And OneNote gets a 10 using the Pen. No issues. No random vector lines. It works just perfect.
But! I see one issue that might be a problem for some: The Touch seems sluggish at times. And I’ll have to tap a few times to get a reaction. Or I’ll have to leave my finger there for an extra fraction of a second, in order for it to register on the screen.
Maybe I can play with the settings to adjust it — but it really isn’t an issue for me, since 70% of what I do with a tablet involves a Pen.
But if you want iPad like touch response — it’s Not that.
It’s still usable for touch though, but I’ve noticed some strange occassions where it works great or else is a little sluggish.
As much as I’ve knocked the HP Slate 500, I will admit that the Touch experience was excellent. However the Inking experience was awful.
On the other hand the Q550′s inking has been excellent (so far). But Touch is just so-so. Usable, but a little slow at times.
Could be an issue for some, but personally hasn’t bothered me.
I’d prefer to see the device err on the side of good quality Inking.
A.J.: I’m rapidly coming up to speed. I spent a marathon night last night getting Windows started and updated. So far, my impressions are similar to yours. More to come, of course…
1. Calibrate touch utility – use the same finger to train the system (and yourself). Touch time is a little longer than iPad.
2. Tune touch screen. Just a utility that runs and seemed to improve the touch sensitivity. I was having to press “hard” or longer before I ran the utility.
3. Auto rotate screen. Makes the Q behave more like a tablet. Otherwise, there’s a manual button on the right side that you have to push.
5. Brightness of 10% is good enough and extends battery life.
6. Tip: Learn to use the keyboard/handwrite launch button. right side, second up.
7. Virtual keyboard is really small. There’s no way you could touch type with it.
8. Wifi signal seems to have -20db less or weaker than my Dell Vostro (or more however it’s properly stated.)
10. No volume rocker. Difficult to mute and change volume.
11. Angry birds sound has popping noise.
12. Possible bug: On PDFs, after screen rotation from landscape to portrait and back to landscape, the window stays narrow.
I really would like to find a portfolio keyboard (with Windows keys). I expect it will come soon.
For now the Folio Case with Silicon Sleeve and Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard will have to be carried separately:
http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/searchaccessories.do?searchtype=series&type=paging&pgIndex=0&category=&subcategory=&prodType=NB&series=STYLISTIC Q Series&model=&text=&priceSort=ascending
The virtual keyboard can be adjusted. I am showing a Windows experience index of 2.5 on my HP Slate and only 2.0 on the Fujitsu.
Tech: I’m seeing the same WEI’s. However, I’m not a big fan of benchmarks (which only measure whatever they’re designed to measure) and Microsoft’s stated position on the Experience Index is that it is NOT intended to be used as a performance comparison between system (individual computers).
That said, however, it’s clear to me that the Fujitsu Q was designed with a different balance of computing power and (presumably) battery operating life. I’m taking my time to see how the Q works for me on a day-to-day basis, not how well it runs benchmarks…
Steve: Could you elaborate? In what dimensions would you say the q550 excels? My q550 is scheduled to arrive next week, and I wonder whether I should cancel my order.
People comment it cannot stream Netflix (my $50 Roku box can do it), then they write that touch is not impressive, finally when it comes to number crunching the q550 lags behind the slowest tablets.
Is there a single application that works as expected?
I do read that it inks well, and while I’m happy to hear that – If I just want an inking apparatus, I probably would be better off using paper and pen.
My intention is to use mine as an e-reader (mostly pdf) that allows me to add annotations, and then as an electronic paper to jot my ideas on. But I also want to use it as an Internet Tablet (surfing and reading mail)
Thanks
Hi, Sam. If you can stand to wait just another day or so, I should be able to address your questions. I’m as perplexed as everyone else about the performance / heat / battery life balance that Fujitsu has apparently chosen, but I am not yet confident that I can accurately report the pro’s and con’s.
With regard to your order, check your seller’s return policy; my guess is that you can return your unit if you don’t like it…
Genghis, if you are out there somewhere, please contact me off line. Hopefully, you remember how to do that?
Steve, could you post the answers to Sam on this forum please ‘cos I’m interested in them as well.
Starting to doubt between the Q550 and the Motion CL900.
Hope to see some deap comparisons soon from you guys.
Tuur: See my first assessment of the Q here:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/fujitsu/42453-q550-user-observations.html
I’m hoping to write something for this site, too, but I have a busy week with a lot of personal demands.
Tuur: Having some difficulties this morning posting. See my comments on the Q at the TabletPCReview website in the Fujitsu forum. Look for “Q550 User Observations.”