The thing that impressed me most about this produt was the packaging. Not Amazon's, they sent in a standard brown box with those poofy plastic-bag-like replacements for bubble wrap, which are fun to pop, but not recyclable except at particular stores. Nothing special there. But inside the box with all the strange doodle-creatures with twelve eyes is another brown box, which contains only one molded paper-based stuff-holder. The tablet itself was wrapped up and the replacement pen nibs came in a tiny bag. Once I lifted up the tablet, I spotted a square folded paper package, the size of a CD case. Inside were all the CDs and a quickstart guide in about 6 different languages that is hard to read in each. (When will those guide-printers understand that printing all the steps, 1-7, in one language, and then the next, and then the next, is so much more understandable to everyone!?)
A lot of things about this tablet are not immediately apparent, so I'll start with the things that tripped me up the most. This tablet DOES NOT HAVE touch capability. I'm okay with that since I'd rather use the pen anyway, but the tutorial that comes with the Bamboo Dock makes reference to this capability, which other Bamboo tablets have, apparently, but not this one. The Bamboo Dock worth installing, and not just for all the free little games and apps that come with it. (Such timewasters! I can't help but be sucked in!) The tutorial is helpful, but only after you realize that this tablet doesn't do anything if you tap it and so forth. To find the full User's Manual, which includes specs and details on all the Bamboo tablets, first click the little gear shape in the upper right hand corner of the Bamboo Dock, (not one of the free apps) then the second item "My Tablet" and from there, "Pen Tablet Properties". This will open a dialog box, which has a question mark in the bottom right hand corner. Clicking this yeilds the User's Manual, in pdf form, which makes everything much clearer.
Second, there are no ExpressKeys on this model. If there were, they would be two raised boxes on the tablet itself on either side of the glowing blue strip. There are little lighter marks that denote corners on the surface of the tablet. Don't wipe those off - they're sposed to be there. The square these marks enclose is called the Active Area - the pen only does stuff if you move it in that area. Rolling the pen across the surface will jerk the mouse everywhere. It's kind of fun to do that, but not too much.
Third, this tablet's pen does not have a working eraser. If it worked, it'd be taller, fatter, and look more like a seperate cap on the end than it does in this model.
Fourth, the little green-yellow tab on the lower (right, if you're right-handed) side which is visible in the picture of the item, is actually the pen-holder. I didn't know this, and was about to cut the thing off, but the User's Manual stopped me. Poke the pen in eraser-side first. The fit is tight, but I'm guessing it'll loosen up over time. (In before, "like yo mama" joke.)
This tablet is exactly like the Bamboo Connect, except it comes with the extra free software, Art-Rageous, which is pretty dern fancy. Most of the dialog boxes in this program are in circle-shapes, but little sqare ones pop out as needed. This particular program will only open one file at a time, has its own .ptg extension so the files won't open in Paint or Photoshop, and has an impressive array of pre-installed 'stickers' and effects brushes, everything from very realistic rocks to flowers to stamp-like grasses, furs, and even Christmas presents. These stampable options and the way they are organized will be very familiar to someone with Photoshop experience, but the wheel-based and super-collapsable interface aren't similar at all. It has a much more fun, almost third-grade feel - all of the buttons are huge and the typeface is large and circular as well. The canvas is only one size, can be zoomed in, and rotated a full 360 degrees. Less of a professional piece of software and more of a learning amatuer or super self-expressive person. Fits in well with the ethos of a Mac, whereas Photoshop exudes a made-for-PC air.
A little shiny pull-tab appeared on the right side of my desktop after I installed the offical driver software. Touching it yanks out a long rectangular box that does hand-writing recognition and also a keyboard for writing or typing. (I haven't had much luck with the keyboard - my cursor keeps disappearing over it.) The handwriting recognition is pretty good - clicking on a word will expand the letter so you can correct them yourself. Hitting 'insert' at the bottom right of the rectangular box will input whatever word is currently in the handwriting box into whatever typing-box is open at the time. (Good for entering usernames - not passwords so much)
Both Connect and Splash come with SketchBook Express 2011, which functions almost exactly like Art-Rageous, except without all the pre-installed stamps. It has no stamp capability, actually. Aside from that, the basic Photoshop tools, Blur, Sharpen, using layers, text boxes, brush size, opacity, are all there. The typeface is smaller, making accidental clicking of the exit button more probable. SketchBook also has only one canvas that cannot be cropped or expanded, and only one file may be open at a time. Even the circle-pattern of certain dialog boxes is repeated. I strongly suspect that both applications were produced by the same company, which would also explain the free-with-purchase deal with Wacom.
The Bamboo Dock, which I talked about previously, has plentiful free app offerings, most of which are games. A few are unplayable without touch capability, and that makes me a sad panda, but not too much, because of Blokt and Animator. Those are my favorites. There are also at least two free painting programs, Sumo Paint, and Livebrush, which make me wonder how necessary the bundled software is, if painting programs like those are just included free. I guess the market is saturated. Please, do yourself a favor - if you've bought this tablet, don't ever use Paint again. These free programs have so much more to offer in terms of brush smoothness and professional-looking presentation. Paint is spelled with "pain" for a reason.
I use this tablet daily as a mouse-replacement, I don't rely on it for hand-writing recognition, and I rarely use it for digital drawing/painting. If you use digital drawing software with any regularity, this tablet, and others like it, can be a life-saver. Prevents mouse-using hand cramps, but not pen-holding cramps, and I've heard excellent things about the prevention of carpal tunnel. At roughly 70 dollars and complicated to finagle into full usability, this isn't something one should buy for the heck of it. Do your research, know what you're going to use it for, and if you're a real professional, check out the larger, more expensive tablets that have way more software and active area. A moderate upgrade in price can yeild astronomical upgrades in quality - or in cumbersome excess, if you aren't going to use it.
Have fun with your newly-de-cramped wrists, download the User's Manual pdf and don't lose those pen nibs! The Manual will tell you how to replace them, but I suspect a few months will go by after initial purchase before that becomes necessary.
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
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