Database Users

(Req) Note taking on Samsung Galaxy Tab - something that really works.

When I purchased my tab 10.1, I was absolutely sure I made the right choice, after reading reviews about all the major tablets in the market. Now, after three months, I am not so sure. The disappointment is largely because of the failure of giants like Google and android tablet manufacturers to not being able to provide an "awesome" experience, even after more than one and a half years of being in the market. This frustration is one of those times when you really want to like something, but you just feel constantly, it could be much much better.
Minor software like a responsive keyboard shouldn't be that far-fethched for android. While typing this post on my tab, it seems like I am typing on a device/software that is not even an alpha release, even after so many years since android launched. And of course, I compare it to the iPad's keyboard, although I would never buy an Apple product - I like android for a reason (freedom).
I had thought I would always be able to take notes in meetings on the tab, but I have come to a very disappointing realization that the tab is just not made for note taking - not even close. I bought the Adonit Jot Pro thinking it is the best stylus in the market and would help greatly with note taking. When I started using the stylus, it was clear to me there is nothing out there that can accomplish the functionalty of note taking on the tab - Jot Pro clearly failed, but it's not the stylus's issue. Just why can't the tab, although it has a better hardware than the iPad, not allow decent note taking functionality?
I started considering the Thinkpad tablet as it touts a note-taking functionality and the screen is especially made for that, but after reading and watching reviews for that product, it seems Lenovo has a lot of catching up to do. The Thinkpad is sluggish, doesn't record notes as its windows tablet counterpart does in terms of speed and accuracy. After getting excited about an android tablet - the Thinkpad - that would allow note taking, I am back to square one after reading its reviews. I am not going to buy it.
The developers here do an amazing job to make our tabs better, but why is the android OS still subpar compared go the iOS? It can't be just that it has to cater to multiple hardware options and manufacturers, or that is is newer than the iOS. I don't think my expectations are unrealistic.
As the keyboard is giving me such grief, I will cut this post short and come back to the request/point. Does anyone know of an app that does something simple and basic like palm-rejection and follows the writing on the tab closely, without any lag? I have used writepad, free note, genial, super note, and others, which were supposed to be good for the tab, but alas, nothing accomplishes not taking. I am aware the polling on the screen for the tab is lagged compared to that for the iPad (and just Why?!), but am sure something could be done about it.
Please don't suggest buying another tablet, especially the iPad, or that I should develop an app for myself. Any sensible reader (hope SamsungJohn is still around, and someone from Andy Rubin's team reads this post) would know what the point of this post is. Thanks.
Sent from my GT-P7510

just use touchscreentune from development thread. Problem solved

vitalij said:
just use touchscreentune from development thread. Problem solved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you miss the part about palm rejection? Touchscreen Tune can't resolve that problem, as far as I can tell.
It also won't help with the lag associated with note apps that he was referring to.
I'm actually quite interested in a solution as well, as I would love to take this to my dev meetings when I don't want to lug around my laptop.

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I would have liked to take notes with the G-Tab too but nothing I've found makes it ideal. There's an Asus note app in the dev section that helps a lot. For some reason it seems to accept responses better. It's what I used for short notes and phone numbers. For meeting notes, not so much.
ICS supports hand writing recognition natively. Hopefully there's not a h/w component required and that ends up being the long term solution for the Tab.

I wish there were an addon like the iPad's iPen for the Galaxy Tabs, it's an active digitizer:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1225098940/ipen-the-first-active-stylus-for-ipad

1) Handwriting
I don't know why there isn't an app for the tab that supports palm rejection. From a dev point of view, I assume the problem lies therein that it isn't possible to block other touchevents, so you cannot "ignore" parts of the screen. This may easily be a hardware related issue, that further touchpoints are ignored when your hand rests on the screen.
2) "Minor software like a responsive keyboard shouldn't be that far-fethched for android."
Have you tried a ROM like Galaxy Tab? The keyboard (stock) is much better than the touchwiz one.
3) Notetaking
TouchScreenTune, if you haven't tried it yet. Check out the dev section. No, doesn't help with palm rejection BUT, makes the notetaking for me possible.

Added palm rejection to TouchScreenTune Test version in development thread:
PALM REJECTION:
added slider allowing to turn on palm rejection. That means that you hand can rest on screen while writing using stylus, but you will still be able to write since touch events from your palm will be ignored. Set palm detection slider value to 0 or maybe a bit more like 1-10 to enable this functionality.

there are some reports that the galaxy note pen works on the galaxy tab , it has thin tip and should be accurate in writing notes with supported applications

i dont use stylus but i use finger to write notes. i use ausus super note app and i feel comfortable compared to other notes app. you can try touchscreen tune if you havent tried it.

kmaq said:
i dont use stylus but i use finger to write notes. i use ausus super note app and i feel comfortable compared to other notes app. you can try touchscreen tune if you havent tried it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
The latest touchscreen tune with palm rejection (from the thread in the dev section) works well with asus supernote.

you can try these...
try the onscreen keyboard apps like thumb keyboard or swiftkey tablet x .
Both are really very good.
Thumb keyboard with multitouch option is really very helpfull.
Everyone knows about the predictive powers of swiftkey.

TooSlo said:
Did you miss the part about palm rejection? Touchscreen Tune can't resolve that problem, as far as I can tell.
It also won't help with the lag associated with note apps that he was referring to.
I'm actually quite interested in a solution as well, as I would love to take this to my dev meetings when I don't want to lug around my laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the multi touch bottom it help when my palm touched the screen it stopped it from reading my palm touch

The reason for the choppiness is that androids UI and keyboard ius not hardware accelerated like apple's. Android also runs it as oje process, while apple tries to split it up to accommodate doing smaller things (so only one thing lags rather than whole ui).
I hope this is fixed more in ICS, but i have noticed that too. You cna put a custom rom on the tablet to make it a lot faster (stock rom is pretty buggy).

To be honest I'd recommend getting a bluetooth keyboard. I have one that's part of a case and it works perfectly. Aside from that I think you just need to use an app that suits you, I don't mind Polaris to be honest, but I find for speed typing I DO need the keyboard.

Huh? I'm on 3.1 and the standard Android keyboard (not the Samsung one that's on by default) works great. Very responsive, zero lag.

I have the tab 8.9 and there is no touchscreen app so a little worse off than the 10.1.
I use the app freenotes to take notes along with a pogo sketch stylus. THis makes the tab great for notetaking for me- very flexible and very easy to take clear notes in real time. Will also try the Asus supernote app soon.
I just wish it had the PDF and other document import export that apps like notability have on iOS- would make it perfect

i have motorola xoom, ipad 1, and now SGT,and i personally think that people who want to use their tablet to take note , they can do that. But to have a tablet+ stylus that they can comfortably write as they do with their notebook+pen is a different story.

I found Quill. It's quite good. It seems to be open source because it's available in Google Code and you can download the APK: http://code.google.com/p/android-quill/downloads/list
It have an option for disabling the bottom of the screen for resting your palm, though with TouchScreenTune you don't need it...
However, it's choppy in the GT10.1 unless you are rooted and install TouchScreenTune (which, by the way, was recently updated and now really works! Thanks dev!)
Sent from my SGT10.1 using XDA Premium

I tried almost everything, and the best ones at the moment, are TabNotes, Writepad for stylus, and Handrite and Genial writing for handwriting.
Everything else is either laggy or choppy or just doesn't work well. At least imo. Quill and Freenote don't even compare with the two first above in responsiveness.
Of course you need touchscreentune, the recommended settings work fine. Palm rejection works quite well too, with the new version. (thanks again Vitalijus).
I tested all this on a UK tab version hc 3.2 (XXKL2).

I haven't tried Writepad because for some reason cannot buy apps from my tab... But Quill fill my needs.
Sent from my SGT10.1 using XDA Premium

Where does the pen all work?

I'm interested in the TPT and am curious in which apps the pen all works? I'm assuming that it would work as a regular finger touch in all apps, is this true?
Can I use the pen on a software 'keyboard' like WritePad which allows for handwriting input - meaning I could handwrite into any app that would allow the WritePad keyboard?
Wanting to know what to expect before I take the plunge.

Anywhere you can use wrtepad, you can use the pen.
I have not come across any drawing apps that have NOT let me use the pen either.
I have been able to use the pen to open and close apps, browse the web, respond to e-mails, and so on.
Sent from my ThinkPad Tablet using xda premium

The pen works everywhere on the tablet, Just like your finger. As for writing apps, there is no shortage: quill, writepad and lecturenotes all let you write with either your finger or pen.
I know this wasn't part of your question but to save you from regrets and headaches, let me add:
If you want a writing tablet, I strongly advise you to wait for a month or so, when the Samsung galaxy note 10.1 is released because the plunge you are considering taking is a very deep one, into lenovo's slow, buggy software, weak hardware (easily breaking usb port and hardware buttons), strange warranty service, etc.
Be aware that lenovo would have a backdoor into your tablet through their "mobility manager app" and can execute actions with root level permissions. and no, they wouldn't inform you. sneaky, right?
It is not possible to disable touch or pen input at OS level on lenovo's stock rom so there can be accidental contact when writing with pen or typing on keyboard dock. There is such a feature on the CM9 port being developed by the good fellows here on our xda forum. However, everything is tricky: from rooting, to installing CWM recovery and flashing the rom. Your device can get bricked anywhere in between.
the location of the cameras on the thinkpad is laughable, and by extension, hardly usable.
The thinkpad was the first android tablet with an n-trig digitizer (the htc flyer uses wacom or something) so its essentially a prototype and expect the numerous glitches that plague first type devices. Now samsung is getting into the game, I expect using an android tablet with a digitizer will become a better experience.
But it's your call, just read through this thinkpad xda forum and the www.thinkpadtabletforums.com to observe the issues with this tab before you take the plunge.

Flyer, and every other pen enabled HTC tablet are also using N-Trig, if it was Wacom, I am sure more people would be using it. As for the Galaxy 10.1 Note, I doubt it would be out next month, if anything it should be out mid summer, with maybe North America getting it a bit later than that, specially if it may come out on a carrier, and/or with LTE.
For what it is, and the price I paid it is a solid tablet actually. I like it better than my Touchpad with CM9 installed. Yeah my volume up button went out, but still not as bad as my Touchpad, which came back from HP with a gap in the screen after I sent it in for a battery issue. I am sure, once CM9 is more developed it would improve things even more. I know on my Droid 2 CM7 based rom I was on was much better than that bloated crap Motorola put on their I will though agree that that Mobility manger is pretty damn shady and wrong. I think you can remove it with root, but I am not fully sure.

Thanks for the insights. Dark, I'm afraid you're giving me advice I *don't* want to hear. I'm a very long time Palm user and really like a pen. Right now I've got a Captivate and an original Galaxy Tab 7 with Overcome ROM, rooted and overclocked to 1400mHz. I don't think I'm used to the lack of precision and it's been over a year for me with Android. I'm using them with a stylus, but those big fat "Crayola's" leave a lot to be desired. Recently I got a chance to spend some time on a 10" tablet and kind of liked the size.
I really don't understand how popular tablets (iPads) have got without a pen. It just feels too primitive to be clawing at the screen with my fingers.

I'm quite pleased with the pen. N-trig was a big disappointment early on but their reputation has improved as has the product. Wacom is better but N-trig is OK how. Have been using a Motion LE1700 (Windows tablet) for years with Wacom and it's great. The TPT pen input is a bit primitive compared to Windows but it's good enough.

My last laptop was an X61 tablet. I was quite tired of how dim the display was from having to look through the digitizer. Does the TPT have that same dim/gray cast to the screen? Is it noticeably darker than non-pen-digitizer tablets?

no its very bright, i find the automatic brightness adjustment to be a little much, but that's just me, i usually set it at about 50 percent and its more than adequate to use outdoors with our cloudy weather up here. you can see little "dots" on the screen when held at certain angles with the screen off, this is the only visible evidence of the digitizer but its pretty much invisible with the screen shining through.

Handwriting on g tab 10.1

Hi,
I recently bought a cheap stylus on ebay and have started playing around with drawing and writing on my galaxy tab, but i have noticed that handwriting is complete crap, i cant write anything small and the sensitivity seems to be pretty bad, if i write a word that is the size of the screen it seems to work ok but anything smaller and it doesnt register.
So my question is... is it the stylus? the app? or limitation of the tablet? cause i have seen someone use an ipad2 for handwriting and it was far better than my galaxy tab.
i have downloaded the asus supernote app and noticed it was alot better than any other aps i tried but its still a bit lacking.
Cheers

ragrim said:
Hi,
I recently bought a cheap stylus on ebay and have started playing around with drawing and writing on my galaxy tab, but i have noticed that handwriting is complete crap, i cant write anything small and the sensitivity seems to be pretty bad, if i write a word that is the size of the screen it seems to work ok but anything smaller and it doesnt register.
So my question is... is it the stylus? the app? or limitation of the tablet? cause i have seen someone use an ipad2 for handwriting and it was far better than my galaxy tab.
i have downloaded the asus supernote app and noticed it was alot better than any other aps i tried but its still a bit lacking.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might want to try searching the forums before you spend money. The GT10.1 screen is not good for handwriting. There's a paid-for program (search...) that makes it marginally better (and I mean marginally) but it's a known hardware shortcoming.

use "touchscreen tune" from the market. It makes it not only marginally better, but very usable.
I use it to write down notes on slides during my lectures. Works quite good

There is already a thread on handwriting and stylii.
Download Touchscreen Tune, you might want to donate for it, it is worth it. download a good writing app, such as Lecturenotes or freenote. You might want to spend some money on a better stylus. I've heard that bamboo stylus is good, but I personally use iFaraday, which is custom made and is really really good.

Not sure about the s-pen

Hi all,
I am really turn between the LG G3 and the NOTE 4
in my country, the price difference is about 250$
my "fear" regarding the NOTE 4 is that i wont really use the S PEN
I feel that its a cool thing to play with for about a week and then forget about it.
i saw lots of reviews and the main thing i saw were:
write phone numbers and name to put as a contact- seems like an action i do once a month. tops
send screen shots- nice but not an everyday task for me.
doodle- not relevant for me
all pen apps are for samsung apps and not for GMAIL and so...??
So.... am i missing something?
if any of you feel like sharing what you really do with the s-pen, especially as a student or at work (engineer) it will be really great.
My phone use profile consists off:
- i rarely use the cell for talking
-a lot of browsing- looking up for articles (as a student or at work)
-GMAIL
-WHATSAPP
-games: rarely
THANKS

dman230 said:
Hi all,
I am really turn between the LG G3 and the NOTE 4
in my country, the price difference is about 250$
my "fear" regarding the NOTE 4 is that i wont really use the S PEN
I feel that its a cool thing to play with for about a week and then forget about it.
i saw lots of reviews and the main thing i saw were:
write phone numbers and name to put as a contact- seems like an action i do once a month. tops
send screen shots- nice but not an everyday task for me.
doodle- not relevant for me
all pen apps are for samsung apps and not for GMAIL and so...??
So.... am i missing something?
if any of you feel like sharing what you really do with the s-pen, especially as a student or at work (engineer) it will be really great.
My phone use profile consists off:
- i rarely use the cell for talking
-a lot of browsing- looking up for articles (as a student or at work)
-GMAIL
-WHATSAPP
-games: rarely
THANKS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It totally depends on you personally and what you use your device for.
Personally i use the S-Pen everyday - taking notes in meetings, i even use it for sketching and drawing. There's some pretty awesome drawing and painting apps available allowing me to be creative anytime and anywhere.
It also comes into it's own for usual OS tasks, selecting text, multiple documents, images, copying etc
I even sometimes just use it instead of my finger for usual stuff too, i dont really see the issue of people saying they would hardly use it, almost like it's some chore to take it out...
I feel that the S-Pen actually makes me use my device a lot more than i usually would! I don't think i could ever use a device without it going forward!
Cheers
Paul

paulrgod said:
It totally depends on you personally and what you use your device for.
Personally i use the S-Pen everyday - taking notes in meetings, i even use it for sketching and drawing. There's some pretty awesome drawing and painting apps available allowing me to be creative anytime and anywhere.
It also comes into it's own for usual OS tasks, selecting text, multiple documents, images, copying etc
I even sometimes just use it instead of my finger for usual stuff too, i dont really see the issue of people saying they would hardly use it, almost like it's some chore to take it out...
I feel that the S-Pen actually makes me use my device a lot more than i usually would! I don't think i could ever use a device without it going forward!
Cheers
Paul
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see lots of people being that positive about the S pen, Yet I own the note series since the beginning. each time a new generation came, I was interested by the Spen features. However I don't use it as much as I thought I would be.. I don't know why, maybe its cause I suck at drawing

As a student you could take notes from classes on the note4, ye I know, small screen. Backup everything at every save so you don't loose any page or note. But you have to try it yourself. If you have a budget dilemma then go for the g3.

I'm a visual manager for a retail store. I use my Note 4 and it's S pen daily. I'm constantly making To Do lists and writing notes to myself. So that's actually why I got my Note 4. I always have my phone with me in my pocket, so it's easier to take it out and jot down some things than to carry a pen and paper... which I'll eventually have to set down in order to do something and then leave it there until either someone else finds it or I end up running around the store looking for where I put it.
I also use the S pen to sketch up floor plans. I even take photos of an area and make notes on it.
"Move this here" (using a drawn arrow to point from the object to the new location)
"Get rid of this" (X something out)
"Paint this wall yellow. This one blue."
Etc
I also use the S pen when I'm eating my lunch and don't want to get the screen all dirty with my messy fingers lol.
The honest truth is that if you're going to use the S pen for JUST writing down phone numbers or something, then you won't be utilizing it's full potential. In that case, why spend the extra money?
I'd suggest only get the Note 4 if you truly do a lot of writing that doesn't have to be on paper (such as having to submit hand written notes to someone). If you need to write a lot, and have no issue with the notes being digital (or printed from a printer), then this phone is worth it.
I actually had an LG G Pro and was very happy with it, but the phone didn't have a stylis. I ended up making the decision to get the Note 4 and so far, I'm quite happy with my decision. It sure as heck beats carrying a pen and paper around!

Yep I use the S-pen maybe once every two days. I use it when I come across complicated websites (ability to use it like a mouse is good), and when I RDP into PC's as it gives mouse like accuracy compared to fat fingers.
Although I would actually give up the spen for a slightly smaller screen. I watch a lot of videos and browse the net a lot and the screen size is fantastic. But it's living with it which gets to me. It's just so big, having it in your pocket is extremely noticeable. Sitting down with tight pants is super uncomfortable and even just taking it out of your pocket you realise how big it is. I came from an S4, perhaps my next phone will be 5.5" or less. I still enjoy using my S4 (wifes phone now), and do miss the size of it. Hope that helps you.

i use the s-pen as a notebook. write all you want and hit print for hardcopy. you can actually print from the note 4 directly over wifi.

Note 4 caused me to remove all paper from my home office. I write all work notes in LectureNotes. I also use it as notepad after work - for new words, sentences, reminders and todos.
For university note taking I prefer a tablet with stylus (I use Note 10.1 for that - I wrote hundreds of pages on it).

Besides s-pen, Note4 is the only phone working with Gear VR (snapdragon versions so far)
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

I use the S-Pen for everything. I rarely is my finger. The S-Pen is so much easier to use when typing, tapping on links on a web page, playing games, etc. And the screen doesn't get smudged up.

Thank you all!
this is exactly what i was looking for, if anyone else wants to add his experience, it will be great.
still not so sure why writing on a screen with a pen is more comfortable than typing a screen keyboard.
I guess I'll visit SAMSUNG store and play with it a bit

That little Wacom pen is THE reason why I only consider the Galaxy Note line as my smartphone of choice. It's that important.
Jot down notes in OneNote just like on my Tablet PCs (thank god they finally added ink support!), sketch things in Clover Paint, work as a mouse substitute for those pesky mouseover navigation bars on Web sites, maybe even serve as an external drawing tablet with the right software; it's like having a Tablet PC in the palm of my hand, just with Android instead of WIndows.
I admittedly don't use it on the keyboard. There's no reason for me to do so when the sheer width of the screen makes it easy for me to just use my fingers, especially compared to the old Galaxy S3 I was stuck with for the last two years. The Graffiti input panel (remember Palm OS?), on the other hand, would work really nicely with the pen if I decide to use that again.

dman230 said:
Thank you all!
this is exactly what i was looking for, if anyone else wants to add his experience, it will be great.
still not so sure why writing on a screen with a pen is more comfortable than typing a screen keyboard.
I guess I'll visit SAMSUNG store and play with it a bit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes its quicker to write a note than type. Sometimes you want to circle typet text to call it out.
Maybe you want to sketh a diagram. Pen is more accurate than finger.
Got a pdf file you want to write a note in? Or take a picture then circle something in the picture?
Just a few of many possibilities.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk

Windows vs Android?

Hi
Did anyone have a chance to compare these models in person? I am mostly concerned about drawing with it and drawing apps. Naturally the win version will have more natural media app options. I am more concerned about the feel of it, things like brush lag and the parallax stuff between the models are important to me. I already have Samsung Note so I am used to drawing on screen but also I am a Wacom user and I am much interested in a mobile drawing pad option if you will.
thanks

hajkan said:
Hi
Did anyone have a chance to compare these models in person? I am mostly concerned about drawing with it and drawing apps. Naturally the win version will have more natural media app options. I am more concerned about the feel of it, things like brush lag and the parallax stuff between the models are important to me. I already have Samsung Note so I am used to drawing on screen but also I am a Wacom user and I am much interested in a mobile drawing pad option if you will.
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
Thou I do not have direct comparison of Android and Windows 10 version of this device, I do have both Samsung Galagy Note 10 (2014) and Windows version of Yoga Book.
I do realize that this is not what you ask but, according to you post, we are in similar situation (I am also using Wacom tablet in the office) and as you wrote: “mobile drawing pad option” is the exact reason I bought this device. So I could make a comparison of these 2 devices if it helps. Let me know.

Talsi said:
Hey,
Thou I do not have direct comparison of Android and Windows 10 version of this device, I do have both Samsung Galagy Note 10 (2014) and Windows version of Yoga Book.
I do realize that this is not what you ask but, according to you post, we are in similar situation (I am also using Wacom tablet in the office) and as you wrote: “mobile drawing pad option” is the exact reason I bought this device. So I could make a comparison of these 2 devices if it helps. Let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I am definetely interested in that comparison because I have a Samsung 10 2014 as well (which I like).
The Samsung Note is fine in generaly for drawing and painting but it is nothing like comparison to the actual Wacom experience on the desktop.
Also can you tell me if you can plug your wacom tablet to it? Maybe it does not make sense but it can be nice to work with a larger tablet here and there.

Hey,
so here are my thoughts. I had my Galaxy Note 10 (2014) [note from now on] for about 2 years. I tried various painting apps but for the most time I have used InfinitePainter – its very similar to Autodesk Sketch Book which I am now using on my Yoga Book [yoga from now on].
On the Yoga you basically have 2 drawing surfaces: screen and pad.
The Anypen technology is screen part of the tablet allows you to draw on screen event with basic pencil, which is cool but it does not have pressure sensitivity – its reasonably accurate thou – and it has scratch resistant glass. On note the glass screen had (for me) noticeable stylus drag but when drawing with stylus on yoga, included stylus/pencil feels like it glides and does not give you barely any resistance - my hand often “slips” . It not very suitable for shading/coloring but if you pick small brush with low opacity you can very easily do quick sketches or trace image. The screen however does not have palm rejection so when drawing you need to hold your hand above screen – which gets tiresome after a while - or you have to have glove. Also, note used to get quite warm/hot during extended use, sometimes even to the point of discomfort. This is also case in yoga, but it is not as bad as in note.*
As for the “pad”, the feeling is very, very similar to my Wacom tablet (I have Intuos Pen&Touch). Yoga’s pad feels a tincy bit smoother, but it might be just me. Since actual hardware seems to be in screen part of yoga, the pad is always nice and cool.* Included stylus is very basic. The tip is basically ink tube (without ink of course) with plastic tip. It jumps a bit (inside and out) line note’s stylus but it’s accurate and when used on pad section it has pressure sensitivity – it has no button and there are no extra tips in the package. You do have 3 ink “cartridges” for writing on paper (included with yoga) but that is basically ball point pen. On the bright side, on pad section you can also use note’s stylus – works fine, event button! If you are serious about drawing you might want to get original Wacom bamboo stylus – might be better but its hard to say, I am beginner in drawing/patting (in my work I use Inkscape (vector) and Gimp (photo editing) thou, but for that I use mainly mouse) so quality is just fine for me. Also, you can not use other side of stylus as an eraser.
Now the cool part of yoga is that you can have it completely flat on the desk (180°). I found that the most comfortable is to have yoga in “portrait” mode – drawing pad on the right and screen on the left. I can work with my right hand and use interface and move/scale/rotate canvas with my left hand – this is important because you must keep in mind that when you are using drawing pad, you cannot use keyboard. You can quite quickly and easily switch between drawing pad and keyboard via dedicated key, but honestly I did not have any need for it – but just to be sure I also have Bluetooth keyboard (bought it some time ago for my note). Sketch Book is therefore quite good software here because it has nice and large interface. I am using older version 6 Pro, but the newest one for windows 10 (directly in windows store) have nice touch interface – basically identical to Infinite Painter.
I do not have Photoshop but I have Krita and GIMP installed on yoga. Both programs runs fine but it takes some time to load and gets a bit slow when working with larger images or if I have few more programs running in background. Since the screen is fullhd 10inch, the interface is quite small, and therefore harder to use with fingers – does not work well in portrait mode either. Also, for pressure sensitivity to work in these programs, you need to install special driver package directly from Wacom.
Yoga’s build is quite sturdy. Hinges holds position, any position, very well but when used as laptop, touching screen causes little swaying. Surface of the body is nice, smooth and matte but fingerprint are quite visible. Because of very smooth body, tablet tends to move around – especially at 180° during drawing. I solved this with simple anti-slip mat from local hardware store. VS note, the yoga is bit heavier and slips easier – note had leather back which was nice to grab on, in yoga you have to more careful.
As for OS selection. I am quite happy with Windows 10. It is definitely not 100% touch friendly and probably a bit slowed than android (thou everything runs reasonably well) but I still like it and since you have small touchpad as well, it is just fine (got myself bluetooth mouse thou). On my note, I had to deal with root, bloatware, warranty and general android issues like SD card write issue, external display properties and system updates in general. Here with windows everything works as well as on my desktop PC and nothing from above mentioned worries me anymore. Thou, If you go for Win10 version, you might want to buy SD card as well, because windows is large OS and you have only 30-32GB of free space on internal storage.
If you are considering this device, I have to point out that there are some issues with it. Screen edge colour deformation – see here – and keyboard issue – see here.
For your question, I have tried to plug my Intuos tablet in and system recognised the device without issue. It did not work and I did not install the drivers - I am worried that it might mess with build in pad (had to do factory reset once already and I do not wish to repeat it) – but light indicators were on (and reacting to stylus/touch/button press) so in theory it should work without issues, its regular Windows 10 laptop after all.
That all I can think of right now, but if you have specific questions let me know and sorry for typos.
* - Edit: I seems I was wrong. The hardware (or at least something that gets warm/hot) is in the "pad" section of tablet. I haven't noticed because I did not used yoga for more than 30-45 minutes at time before. But yesterday, I went to a fried to play Armello and after 2 hours the pad (top center area) got quite hot. But keep in mind that this was after heavy use for prolonged time period. I never noticed any elevated temperature during regular use/sketching.

Hey thanks man, that is some awesome review.
Could you eloborate on the differences between the Note and the Yoga one as far as performance, drawing performance, stylus feel/lag etc? I know they are different platforms but from usability point of view we can bring some important points.
I am mainly interested in the brush/stylus performance. I am an artist/sketcher and I do alot of 3d sculpting on Win and Linux.
I ordered the android version because the win version takes a while to get. So I will have a chance to compare the Android version with my Note 2014 10.1. However I probably might end up exhanging with the Win version. Lets see how that goes. I might end up going for the Win version mainly because of Krita and Zbrush but like I said I want to give the Android version a try which is a bit cheaper also.

Hi, anyone Knows if is possible to haver te both system at the same time?

hajkan said:
Hey thanks man, that is some awesome review.
Could you eloborate on the differences between the Note and the Yoga one as far as performance, drawing performance, stylus feel/lag etc? I know they are different platforms but from usability point of view we can bring some important points.
I am mainly interested in the brush/stylus performance. I am an artist/sketcher and I do alot of 3d sculpting on Win and Linux.
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The performance-wise and drawing specific, yoga is definitely slower but again it might be because of Windows. In note I never noticed any stylus lag and drawing was very smooth even in larger images. Here is a filler image (hand photo trace + quick shading) I made on note for one project. Made it in Infinite Painter, original is 2560x1600 image composed from 6 layers. Took me about an hour and I never noticed any performance issue. Unfortunately, so far I have only done few meaningless sketches on yoga so I do not have similar experience, but when I get some free time I plan to test it fully – possibly over Christmas vacation.
On yoga the best (fastest) software I have tried is definitely Sketch Book – except for 2 brushes (PaintBrush1 and PaintBrush2 – strangely thou PaintBrush [without number] works like a charm) everything is smooth and fast even on 1920x1200 large canvas. Krita is working fine when working on 1920x1200 canvas but the performance decreases on larger canvases and when using bigger size of brush – hardware stylus responsiveness is fine but sometimes brush lags behind or it takes few miliseconds for Krita to redraw your stroke afterwards. Most of the tools works fine, but there are some brushes that definitely lags. So again, on larger canvases/some brushes Krita has some issues, I would definitely not recommend high-res custom brushes but I would rate general performance as good/satisfactory.
Sadly, I am not at all good at 3D stuff – I tried using Blender few years back, but it seems that 3rd dimension is something my brain just can not grasp. I am therefore no good assessing this stuff
hajkan said:
I ordered the android version because the win version takes a while to get. So I will have a chance to compare the Android version with my Note 2014 10.1. However I probably might end up exhanging with the Win version. Lets see how that goes. I might end up going for the Win version mainly because of Krita and Zbrush but like I said I want to give the Android version a try which is a bit cheaper also.
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Click to collapse
Grats. If I may have one small request. When your yoga arrives could you please test the keyboard issue I described here? I was hoping to get feedback on it, as I believe that it might be just a driver issue.
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CardosoPedro said:
Hi, anyone Knows if is possible to haver te both system at the same time?
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Click to collapse
In Windows version you have option to boot from USB and I read somewhere that someone successfully booted (not in working state thou) linux from USB stick. However, the main issue here is custom lenovo driver from halo keyboard. Until someone makes official android distribution rom dump or extract drivers I highly doubt that fully functional dual boot is possible.
But I am not an android developer so who knows.