I would like to use a Surface Pro 3 pen with another tablet.

Anonymous
2014-06-26T02:23:55+00:00

Hi everyone!

I'm going to try out the Surface Pro 3 soon, but I think that N-trig pen is cool, especially the click the top to open One Note feature I saw when it was introduced.

I've done a bit of research and found out the reason the Surface Pro 3 switched from Wacom to N-trig technology was to make the device thinner as the Bluetooth technology used by the pen eliminated the need for a special digitizing layer on the screen. This led me to believe that the pen would be compatible with any Bluetooth supported Windows tablet. Can anyone confirm this is true and whether purchasing the new Surface Pen is worth my money?

I'm asking this because I'm a little annoyed with the performance of the Wacom digitizer on my own tablet (which is not a Surface) and was thinking that a Bluetooth operated pen, which does not require this special internal hardware to be fitted into the device, would make an appropriate replacement and/or backup in case the Wacom fails to work at all. Better still, I'd love to see the click to open One Note feature functional on my unit as well. What do you say?

Appreciate your advice, as always!

CSD Surface Tester.

Surface | Accessories | Surface Pen

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Anonymous
2014-06-26T05:38:09+00:00

That is the reason why to check the specs on the pen.  The particular pen for the Surface Pro 3 only.  The pen itself functions in a dual mode capability but still needs power to do it.  It is classed as a "mechanical" pen because it has electronic components.

The two button batteries pre-installed in the top of the pen functions the Bluetooth connection.  The main battery actually communicates with the pen's driver installed in the tablet to work with the touchscreen.  No digitizer is needed.

If it was a generic pen, you would have an installation disk to install a driver for the pen and that drivers mates with the touchscreen along with adding it as a Bluetooth 4.0 device.

Now, if the Bluetooth connection fails, the pen will still function similar to a stylus where the driver will use the touchscreen like a digitizer surface.  The Bluetooth connection is for software control mainly.

It is a little complex but is a great concept in my thought.  You eliminate hardware (digitizer) and emulate that hardware with software (driver).  Believe it or not, a network adapter and a dial-up modem have been working in that fashion for years; where the driver was actually the modem (simulated hardware) and the hardware (interface card) was just a circuit and connection point.

Right now, you can get Bluetooth and WiFi adapters just slightly bigger than a USB plug.  There is only a very small chip in those and rely on the driver to do the rest.

This pen operates in the same fashion.  Since the driver for it is built in, it cannot be used with any other tablet and this particular model was designed solely for the Surface Pro 3.

Now, like I said, you can get a generic pen (probably from N-Trig) from their web site.  That one will include an installation disk and will work with any tablet that has a touchscreen and Bluetooth 4.0 adapter.  You can't with this particular model.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-06-27T04:23:40+00:00

    I think you will have to try that yourself.  You may get a surprise compared to WACOM based digitizers.  The Pro and Pro 2 have had several issues in regards the capabilities it was supposed to have along with some malfunctions with drivers/firmware updates.

    Since there are several people here on the forum with Pro 3s, look at what issues you see in regards to the pen other than something flakey and minor.  There are no complaints from what I can see in the inking and other functions.  Now, there is a complaint about signed files not emailing with the graphical writing on them but that is only one instance.

    Now, Asus is a low budget manufacturer and will use the most economical technology for theirs and chances are that Wacom technology is cheaper.  That keeps the price down on the Vivo Tab Note 8 because the price is a major drive right now on tablets.  Wacom is a more mature technology as well and people will be used to that system.

    Go for the gusto I always say.  You never learn until you try.  You may even like the N-Trig version better.  Also, I would not really worry about the battery life of the pen.  Those batteries will probably last a year with heavy use.  Heck, I have a wireless keyboard that never seems to need a new battery and it is almost a year and a half old with the original battery.  Some devices use very little juice.  Besides, both the button batteries and the AAAA main battery are available everywhere.

    There will be limitations with the pen and won't work with everything.  There are some programs out there that won't work with a pen of any type.  I think that in your case, you would use it with OneNote, Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations and also PDF file annotation.  Along with a little drawing.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-06-27T03:47:46+00:00

    On N-Trig's web site regarding this pen type, the precision of it is down to 0.25 pixels!  That means you have about as perfect drawing capability as you can get.  It should look like you wrote with a ballpoint pen (fine tip) and it would be perfect.

    So is this reduction of parallax between the pen to and the screen along with the combination of both touch and pen input on a single digitizer reasons why N-trig digitizers are better than Wacom or other technologies where the active hardware is in the screen itself and the pen and touch digitizers are separate like on Surface Pro 1 and 2?

    Personally, I find that Wacom pens provide greater levels of pressure sensitivity while at the same time eliminate the need to replace batteries on a regular basis. Or why would Asus tout the Wacom technology in its Vivo Tab Note 8?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-06-27T03:35:51+00:00

    Lets be real clear and don't muddy the waters...

    The n-Trig requires the DuoSense Controller on the screen, it includes the Capacitive Touch Layer and the Receiver Controller for the Pen all on one piece of silicon as one complete sensor package.

    The pen I repeat will not work on a device with out the n-Trig hardware.

    From the site:

    DuoSense^®^ is N-trig’s integrated pen and touch technology enables OEMs to design slim and light smartphone, tablet and Ultrabook™ devices by using only a single sensor. The N-trig active pen and projected capacitive multi-touch technology helps computational device users create on-screen digital ink in addition to touch for, for a true Hands-on computing^®^ experience.

    • The DuoSense solution provides an integrated active pen and multi-touch platform that:

    Tracks both pen and multi-touch input on a single digitizer.

    • Advanced palm rejection: Differentiates between intentional and inadvertent touch contact.
    • Is based upon projected capacitive touch technology and active pen technology, eliminating accidental ink drops or skips, and featuring sub-pixel touch accuracy.
    • Offers accurate input, with an average pen accuracy of 0.25mm.
    • Offers fast response time and consistent performance for writing, drag-and-drop, scrolling, and selecting - without degrading stylus input.

    DuoSense supports Windows^®^ and Android™ operating systems. The DuoSense technology scales across a variety of screen sizes from 4.5’’-15.6’’ encompassing a wide range of form factors including smartphones, tablets, and Ultrabooks™. Target markets segments include education, business, and consumers.

    The DuoSense digitizer also features advanced palm rejection capabilities and a rapid pen report rate, resulting in enhanced levels of performance and productivity. The DuoSensePen2 active pen provides a rich set of capabilities to provide a natural pen-on-paper user experience.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-06-27T03:13:34+00:00

    Also, something additional.

    On N-Trig's web site regarding this pen type, the precision of it is down to 0.25 pixels!  That means you have about as perfect drawing capability as you can get.  It should look like you wrote with a ballpoint pen (fine tip) and it would be perfect.

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