Samsung Series 7 Slate - Touch And Pen Input

Gear: Samsung Series 7 Slate.

The video is packed with information. Hopefully it answers many questions.



TOUCH

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10 Touch Points
This is a Wacom based tablet that according to Samsung supports up to 10 touch points (source: Samsung). From my MS Paint test I can only get up to 8 touch points. In a way it doesn't really matter because on a tablet of this size we are not going to be doing anything with 8 or 10 touch points. Most of the time we'll use one finger. Sometimes two, three, or four fingers. When it comes to marketing things 10 touch points sounds better than the competition's 4 touch points, right?

Operating System
This unit has Windows 7 which is a desktop focused operating system that has a few touch features. Since it's desktop oriented it's not the most touch friendly operating system, iOS and Android are better. However, a desktop operating system gives you many more possibilities.

So far the programs/software that come with the operating system are not the most touch friendly that you can get. That of course is changing and Samsung did add better touch programs. We can expect even more touch friendliness with the release of Windows 8.

Flicks
Flicks make navigating through Windows 7 a lot easier. Instead of having to reach for buttons we can just perform a flick. The basic flicks are: Forward, Back, Drag Up, Drag Down. Of course you can add more flicks and customize them to suit your needs. If you do a lot of web browsing you can customize them to optimize your experience.

Unique Touch Gestures

• 2 Fingers Down - Opens/hides Touch Launcher program
• 3 Fingers Tap - Launches a Utility Bar with file management, magnifier, and numerical keypad options.
• 4 Fingers Tap - Launches the virtual keyboard (useful for some programs that ignore TabTip)

Tablet PC Input Panel (TabTip)
You can customize this to make your life easier. If you set it to "Point" instead of "Tap" you can easily open it up with a single press.

Swype will be covered later on.


PEN INPUT

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Digitizer/Pen
You will receive a Wacom ditizer that has: a tip, right click button, clip, and an eraser. It's a very slim pen. The reason you would want to use the digitizer is because there are things that the pen can do better than finger touch.

FYI this is a digitizer pen that is an electronic device. A "stylus" is very different and usually is not an electronic device,they are nothing more than a stick.

Digitizer Functions:

• Better Precision - Your fingers are not a very precise input method and it's going to be easier to navigate through Windows menus with a digitizer.
• Write Notes - Your fingers can do this... but with the pen you can view what you are doing.
• Draw Sketches and paintings - Many artists and graphically minded people use pens for their precise work. They may have stopped doing finger-painting back in kindergarten.

Pressure
Some programs support pressure sensitivity and this feature gives your drawings and notes a bit of personality.

Hover State and Palm Rejection
The hover state of the pen kicks in at about 1CM, and goes out at about 2CM. It will behave just like the "mouse over" state of the pointer (which is beneficial on websites).

There is palm rejection technology but you must be aware of the proper method. The pen must make contact (enters hover state) with the screen before your palm does. If you set down your palm first then you are going to get accidental palm clicks. Also keep in mind that once the pen gets out of that "hover" state the finger touch becomes active and your palm is recognized as touch point.

Accuracy
I have tried several Wacom based tablets including the X201T, X220T, and now the Series 7 Slate, and they have similar behavior. Usually Wacom digitizers are fairly precise in the middle areas. Once you move the digitizer to the edges the accuracy is reduced, sometimes it feels like the pointer is pushed out.

Calibrate Screen
One thing you can do to improve the accuracy is to calibrate your screen.  It will also reduce that weird edge behavior.

How to calibrate screen:

• Hit Windows key
• Type "Tablet PC Settings"
• Click "Calibrate..." button
• Follow along with the 16 points (the second time is only 4 points)

This calibration does not fully remove that edge behavior.

Touch Layer
The Series 7 Slate touch layer's texture has a bit of "gummy bouncy" feel.  This is different from other tablets that I have tried which have a firmer glass like feel.  Personally I like how the pen feels on the screen of the Series 7 Slate.

Vs N-Trig Digitizer
The N-Trig pens have a few negatives compared to Wacom. Some of these negatives are:

• Louder tip - The Wacom ones are quieter.
• AAAA battery will need replacement - Wacom doesn't need replacement batteries.
• No eraser - N-Trig doesn't have an eraser, Wacom pens do.
• Blockier lines - Wacom beats N-Trig when it comes to creating smoother lines.

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Overall I'm very pleased with the touch and pen input features of the Samsung Series 7 Slate. Thanks for watching/reading, and hopefully you got something out of this post.