Comments on: InPlay announces battery free MagicPoint 820 digital pen http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/ Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:14:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: All About the Patents http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43404 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:09:36 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43404 Dr. Z appears to be unaware that Wacom holds patents which give it a monopoly on batteryless technology. All other digitizer manufacturers are therefore forced to avoid the patent by using batteries, or to pay Wacom a boatload of money. (Right now there’s a patent-infringement suit going on with a company in China that makes a batteryless stylus.)

Tim Evans likewise seems to chalk up Wacom competitors’ deficiencies to incompetence rather than patent protection. Isn’t it a coincidence that not only Finepoint, but also Adesso, and the other small tablet makers, all lack tilt and eraser? For years, Adesso has been blasted in reviews for not having an eraser. Why do you think they still haven’t done it?

]]> By: dr.z http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43405 Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:27:33 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43405 Good for that company, but not really special or newsworthy. Wacom has had battery-less stylus for a while now; the last digitizer I’ve seen that used a battery is the now defunct HP TC1000.

]]> By: Woananu Robert http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43406 Sun, 04 Feb 2007 09:33:32 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43406 thanks in advance please

]]> By: tim evans http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43407 Mon, 02 Oct 2006 08:27:26 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43407 I just bought a refurbished Gateway, and it appears to me that FinePoint does NOT support pen tilt. It does not even support pressure sensitivity, as far as I see. And it doesn’t have an eraser. FinePoint seems FAR inferior to Wacom from what I see. I am considering returning the Gateway.

]]> By: Mike http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43408 Mon, 08 May 2006 09:11:52 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43408 The timing of the press releases of the Gateway annoucement of a dual core tablet PC and the FinePoint MagicPoint 820 both were on the same day – April 20. I’ve not called Gateway to inquire, but it stands to reason that they may have refreshed their digitizer up to the MagicPoint 820.

As someone who is on the brink of ordering a tablet, I am a little surprised to not find much in the way of a review or breakdown of the FinePoint’s digitizer versus a tablet that uses a Wacom. I would love such a thing. All I’ve found are some rather generic table comparisons. Does the FirePoint support pen tilt? Does MagicPoint 820 solve the eraser not being on the pen? How does it compare to a Wacom in its tracking and accuracy?

I love the widescreen tablet idea. But now I’m scouring the net for any details on the next Tecra dual core tablet, which I’ve found almost nothing on. The new dual core Tecra notebook is widescreen but only shared video, not dedicated. The Gateway is attractive, even with only having 64MB of RAM for video. I’d love to crack it open and see if it could be upgraded higher. But the digitizer choice they made is, IMHO, not a good one, and until I see something that shows me its on par with Wacom or at least its feature set, then I cannot but into it.

]]> By: jk http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43409 Fri, 21 Apr 2006 08:51:18 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43409 No, it works on FinePoint digitizers only, which right now is what the Gateway Convertible Notebooks use. The current FinePoint pens have a battery to make them work, this announcement is pointing out they now have a battery-free version.

]]> By: Wesley http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43410 Fri, 21 Apr 2006 08:44:09 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43410 I’m glad to see that Finepoint isn’t dead. I have the Gateway Convertible Notebook and have always been bummed about the battery in the pen. The battery-free stylus is a good announcement, even though I assume that it’s not compatible with current Finepoint digitizer technology :-(

If Finepoint releases the long-rumored drivers with PS-compatibility in Photoshop and other programs and could work out a way to get an eraser top on the pen (or at least another button on the barrel that toggles an erase function), they could possibly start cutting into Wacom’s dominance. Competition is always good and helps keeps the frontrunner on its toes…

]]> By: Michael Venini http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43411 Fri, 21 Apr 2006 08:09:31 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43411 Kevin,

Great find, but does this pen work as a digital pen on an passive touch screen?

I’m not understanding.

]]> By: Battery Cordless Phone http://gigaom.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce/#comment-43412 Fri, 21 Apr 2006 07:46:00 +0000 http://jkontherun.wordpress.com/2006/04/21/inplay_announce#comment-43412

]]>