Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch Small Tablet Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As a designer I have seen Wacom tablets in various shapes and sizes throughout the years. I have only used them a handful of times at colleagues offices however once learning of the Bamboo Pen & Touch and seeing the price, I decided to take the leap.
Overview:
For less than $100 you get an extremely capable pen tablet with a "rough around the edges" yet promising touch device. The shape and form factor is smallish yet works fine with my 20" widescreen monitor. The long USB cable should accommodate almost any workspace setup.
Pen:
The pen works flawlessly. Using the pen has dramatically increased my productivity particularly in Adobe Illustrator, it's a breeze to use compared to a mouse for vector work. It's also very capable in Photoshop and even as a mouse replacement for general use. The shape of the pen could be more contoured however and it's not easy to move quickly from using the pen to typing due to its shape. Overall I am very pleased using the pen.
Touch:
The multi-touch component of this device combined with the price is what sold me. I wanted a fluid experience much like other touch devices and this seemed, in combination with the pen, like the answer to a mouse-less desk. My initial impressions of the touch capabilities of the tablet were mixed, it was jittery, continually dragging items around my computer screen that I did not intend to move and frustrating. Now I have a touch pad on my laptop and am very comfortable using such a surface which made the experience even more confusing. A large portion of my problems were fixed by adjusting the preferences in the control panel as well as turning off the single finger "Drag" setting. Even after rectifying many of my issues I still feel like the touch experience could use some refinement, however I am sticking with it so far and have not returned to using a mouse.
Conclusion:
The Bamboo Pen & Touch offers a great entry into the tablet world along with a promising touch functionality. I would definitely buy this again with the strong message of adjusting the preferences right out of the box since this solved most of my initial issues.

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Combining intuitive design and versatility, the Bamboo Pen and Touch is a powerful creative workstation that lets PC and Mac users create digital art with an organic, hands-on feel. Using an innovative tablet and Wacom's "Multi-Touch" system, users can manipulate images and navigate the Web using simple gestures and finger taps. When combined with Wacom's pen-input technology, Pen and Touch allows you to write, doodle, and embellish with ease.Sleek, Stylish, and Easy to Use Measuring 9.8 by 6.9 inches, the Pen and Touch is compact enough to store comfortably in a laptop case. It features a large and responsive active area, providing enough workspace for even your most ambitious projects. For added convenience, four ExpressKeys provide quick access to user-defined shortcuts. The tablet comes with a battery-free pen with an easy-to-grip design, so you can have maximum control over your drawing. The work surface is textured, providing a pen-on-paper feel. It's also reversible, so you can use it comfortably whether you're right- or left-handed.The Pen and Touch is simple to set up. Simply plug the tablet into your computer via a USB port, install the provided drivers, and you're ready to go. You'll be doodling, writing, and painting in minutes.Enhance Creativity with Multi-Touch Technology With the Pen and Touch, Wacom has implemented a new technology called Multi-Touch. Typically, tablets require you to use the stylus for navigation, but Multi-Touch provides a comfortable hands-on alternative. It allows you to quickly navigate through your computer with a single finger. You can also scroll, zoom, and rotate your screen with simple hand gestures. It's intuitively-designed and easy to use -- even if you're new to the touch experience.For precision work, you can use the included pen. When you use the pen, the screen will automatically recalibrate for more precise use. In your hands, the pen quickly becomes an all-purpose art tool. It features 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, allowing you to perform tasks ranging from fine hand-writing to wide-brush painting. You can add hand-drawn embellishments to your favorite photos, add life to your digital sketches, or provide a personal touch to your scrapbooking pages.
First-Class Visual Editing Software The tablet also comes with a full suite of visual editing software, including Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 Win/6.0 Mac and Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 WE3--valued separately at several hundred dollars.Pen and Touch is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP (Service Pack 2) and Mac OS X (10.4.8 or higher.) It requires a powered USB drive, a colored screen, and a CD/DVD drive.What's in the Box Bamboo Pen and Touch tablet, Bamboo pen, Quick Start guide, installation CD (includes driver software, interactive tutorial and user's manual), software DVD.

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