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Inking on the Fujitsu Lifebook T900

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As I teased earlier, I’m currently evaluating a Fujitsu Lifebook T900 Tablet PC on loan from Fujitsu. I’ll be shooting some video of the pen + multi-touch system in action as well as of the general hardware. But since I have some quiet time now, I thought I’d spill some thoughts about the inking.

I’m writing this in Windows Journal on a desk surface using a page template similar to my usual one. Still tweaking The width a little bit. The screen resolution and dimensions are lower than my Toshiba. 1280×800 on 13.3″ vs. 1440×900 on 14.1″ respectively.

You may notice the ink is a bit sloppier than it normally is. While I am trying to maintain my usual pace, I find that the slicker screen makes the pen guide faster. Also, the cursor does not align with the pen tip in the same way as on my usual tablet. There’s always a bit of parallax but I’m not adjusted to the angle on this one yet. There’s also noticeable wobbling along the edges of the screen. Doesn’t impede my inking too much except for the left edges on these pages.

Palm rejection on this touch screen is better than I’ve experienced on others but still not perfect. In the course of normal inking, lines and dots will appear on the bottom half of the page. Currently I am testing a SmudgeGuard glove to avoid that. I’ll post separate thoughts on that product later, but suffice to say, it’s keeping the page clean.

The inking feature that’s really hooked me, however, is the two-finger scrolling. Pen or single touch on the screen only activates inking. Two fingers allow the screen to be pushed up and down. Such a convenience compared to using the scrollbars. I only wish I didn’t still need that tiny button in the corner to add a new page.

Well, that’s it for now. I hope to record some special video of the T900 in action this weekend.

Originally posted in full size with Links in Ink on Sumocat’s Scribbles.

14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. Feralboy

    06/04/2010 at 8:17 pm

    Sumocat,

    Try inking in OneNote before you’re done. I love it with my TM2 because when I lift my pen tip, I can move the page with the fingers resting on the screen…touch defaults to panning.

    • Sumocat

      06/05/2010 at 5:10 am

      I have been using OneNote as well. Panning feels not quite as smooth to me. A bit jerky.

  2. Tim

    06/05/2010 at 1:12 am

    Obviously you haven’t had much time with it, but I know someone buying her T900 for college in the next few weeks, and comparing different models available, soooo:

    Would you stick with an active-digitizer only or do you find the dual-digitizer to work smoothly?

    Also wondering what specs they loaded you up with. It’s surprisingly impossible to find a real-world battery life comparison of i5 to i7 ><

    • Sumocat

      06/05/2010 at 5:20 am

      The pen+touch Wacom digitizer is working extremely well for me. I should emphasize I’ve been using pen only for years, so I’ve developed some habits that aren’t good for touch. But touch makes the overall experience much better for me as a pen user.

      I have the i5 model. Battery life on the default settings, no screen adjustment, one battery has been at least three hours. I’ll be testing that more definitively later.

  3. Giacomo

    06/05/2010 at 4:20 am

    As Feralboy said, try OneNote. With OneNote 2010 the palm reyection is better, since by default is not possible use ink with palm or fingers.

    I reviewed a T900 two weeks ago for my website: it is a great Tablet PC and it had the best cooling system I ever tried on a Tablet PC: I used the Core i5-540M model for six hours in a very hot day and the heat was extremly low, less than 37°.

    • Sumocat

      06/05/2010 at 5:24 am

      Ah, it’s OneNote 2010 I should be trying. Been using 2007, which comes pre-loaded. Still allows ink by touch. I’ll give 2010 a try later.

  4. Feralboy

    06/05/2010 at 6:59 am

    Yeah, sorry about that, I should have mentioned it was 2010! I’ve been using the RC for so long I’d forgotten it hasn’t been released to the general public yet(: Anyway, 2010 also has the groovy docking function, which makes me long for a higher rez screen like I had on my X60.

    That said, I didn’t think I needed touch on a tablet until I got it. In fact, when I first started using OneNote on my TM2, I would turn off touch, thinking it would only get in the way. It doesn’t. In fact, it enhances the experience and feels amazingly natural in OneNote. It appears the OneNote team developed OneNote 2010 with touch-enabled tablet PCs in mind. Whoda thunk?

  5. Brett Gilbertson

    06/05/2010 at 5:49 pm

    Hey Sumocat… I just got my T900 on Friday! Pretty full on machine with the new i7 processor. I’ve had a fair bit of time with the T900 before and I am pretty impressed with it. OneNote 2010 FTW too!

    And nice hand writing too. Love seeing ink online!

    • Tim

      06/05/2010 at 6:09 pm

      Any chance you could do some battery benchmarks? All I’ve found for the T900 is the i5, so between you and Sumocat we should get a pretty decent comparison.

    • Sumocat

      06/07/2010 at 6:28 am

      Yep, I’m saving my pennies for one too. Going to be difficult to give this one back.

  6. BurningOrange

    06/06/2010 at 3:11 pm

    i agree with feralboy. been using onenote 2010 rc for so long, i forgot it’s still a release candidate. it is the single piece of software i use the most everyday and the most intensively (hours and hours and hours and hours… every day *sigh*). it is incredible: inking with the pen then instantly multitouch zoom and pan. it’s getting close to mimicking real paper :)

    another killer feature for me: the ability to type mathematics using latex symbols in math mode (alt+=) and immediate conversion onscreen. wysiwyg mathematics in onenote. just too cool.

    tina turner would say “onenote 2010 is simply the best!”.

  7. Scott

    06/06/2010 at 10:16 pm

    Is the larger size and resulting resolution (13.3 – 14.1 vs 12.1) worth the marginally extra weight when mobile?

    • Sumocat

      06/07/2010 at 6:26 am

      I have a unique perspective on that. I started off with a 10″ slate then bumped up to a 14″ convertible, so my hands-on experience with anything in-between is limited. For me, it’s actually a substantially lighter machine than I’m used to carrying. The resolution is lower, but I find that switching between portrait and landscape mode, as I often did on my slate, is still a good workaround.

  8. Feralboy

    06/07/2010 at 8:18 am

    My previous tablet was a 12.1-inch Lenovo X60 with with a 1440 horizontal dpi, so I think resolution is as important as size when you’re making a decision. I must say that the resolution was perfect for a 12.1 inch tablet as the tighter pixels resulted in ink that was smooth as silk ink and I rarely had to scroll the screen. That said, I’ve gotten used to my current 1280 dpi display — having the ability to scoll the page with your fingers (OneNote 2010 again) as you work is a pretty sweet trade-off. As Tina and BurningOrange sang, it really is the best!

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