Multitouch Screen

[geisslingen]

I need your help guys as I am completely new to tablets and touch screens world. The specs of Surface 2 (which I just pre-ordered) mentions a 5-point multitouch screen while most new ultrabooks with touch screeens have 10-point multitouch, what is the difference and what is the multitouch used for? Is 10 point multitouch significantly better than a 5 point?

Thank you for your help.

 

[jnjroach]

5 points allows you to touch the screen with all the fingers on one hand, 10 points allows both hands....and all practically most people use 2 to 3 touch points on a normal basis. With some 2 player games 10 works better....

 

[Sandbo]

And it is worth mentioning that the Surface 2 uses only a capacitive touch screen, comparing to the hybrid screen with active digitizer on Surface Pro.
In this case, you will need a capacitive stylus on a Surface 2, which is less accurate compared to using Surface Pen on Surface Pro,
this is particularly important to be aware of if you are working on Adobe Photoshop or other software demanding high precision on touch control.

 

[jnjroach]

And it is worth mentioning that the Surface 2 uses only a capacitive touch screen, comparing to the hybrid screen with active digitizer on Surface Pro.
In this case, you will need a capacitive stylus on a Surface 2, which is less accurate compared to using Surface Pen on Surface Pro,
this is particularly important to be aware of if you are working on Adobe Photoshop or other software demanding high precision on touch control.

You wouldn't be working on Photoshop on the RT as it is an x86 Application that can't be installed on an ARM based machine. But with that said, an Active Digitizer is important for inking or painting. But honestly there are decent capacitive stylus out there, I use Adonit Jot Pro on my current RT.

 

[geisslingen]

Thank you guys very much for your input, I think a 3-point touch is the most I will need. I do not do any graphic work or use Photoshop, so I will be fine without the stylus. I love the looks of Surface 2 and I appreciate it weighs less than 2 pounds and can be used for a day on battery, this is what a tablet should be in my view.

 

[drewfromsd]

You wouldn't be working on Photoshop on the RT as it is an x86 Application that can't be installed on an ARM based machine. But with that said, an Active Digitizer is important for inking or painting. But honestly there are decent capacitive stylus out there, I use Adonit Jot Pro on my current RT.

jnjroach, did you have to do anything special to get good performance out of your Adonit Jot? I purchased a Jot Flip a month or so ago based on the repeated thumbs up it seems to have received. However, I find the performance on my RT to be terrible. It skips while inking, isn't recognized for gestures most of the time, can't seem to get it to highlight without several attempts. For use in handwriting I find that if I press down extremely hard while writing it seems to work best. However, by the time I have written a paragraph my wrist is so sore I can barely continue, and the writing is barely recognizable due to loss of control with pressing down so hard. I have used the stylus on my wife's iPad, and it seems to work flawlessly on that without any of the same issues.

I have ensured that the screen and the stylus "pad" are clean prior to use, which helps, but not by enough to call the performance even good. Any suggestions/thoughts/help? Appreciate it!

 

[jnjroach]

I found that the Gen 1 works better on the Surface RT (bigger disk), I also use the wider "medium tip pen" in OneNote . Also I clean the screen so there is no finger prints or smudges before inking. I don't press down all that hard. Other things that help, disable Scratch Out while Inking. You do need to be careful of resting on the screen with the pen as it recognized as a press and hold right click.

 

[beman39]

eengh! That pen might work great. but I find it looks horrible and that disk is distracting!

 

[jnjroach]

LOL....it doesn't bother me

 

[WillysJeepMan]

jnjroach, did you have to do anything special to get good performance out of your Adonit Jot? I purchased a Jot Flip a month or so ago based on the repeated thumbs up it seems to have received. However, I find the performance on my RT to be terrible. It skips while inking, isn't recognized for gestures most of the time, can't seem to get it to highlight without several attempts. For use in handwriting I find that if I press down extremely hard while writing it seems to work best. However, by the time I have written a paragraph my wrist is so sore I can barely continue, and the writing is barely recognizable due to loss of control with pressing down so hard. I have used the stylus on my wife's iPad, and it seems to work flawlessly on that without any of the same issues.

I have ensured that the screen and the stylus "pad" are clean prior to use, which helps, but not by enough to call the performance even good. Any suggestions/thoughts/help? Appreciate it!

I've run various comparison tests between the Surface RT running 8.1 and an iPad4 running iOS 6. The results on the RT are significantly worse. Regardless of software being used, I could not get the smoothness and accuracy that I am able to get on the iPad. Sporadic ink skipping (dotted lines rather a solid line), a curvy "stair-stepping" effect at low velocity drawing. Moving the stylus quicker seemed to smooth things out a bit... but too quickly and ink skips.

It's almost as if the touchscreen has a significantly lower touch resolution that the screen... which of course is true of all capacitive touchscreens, but the effect appears to be magnified on the RT.

I've experienced this behavior with a rubber-tipped stylus, foam-tipped stylus, and finger.

 

[jnjroach]

I've used the Wacom Bamboo Capacitive Stylus and Cheap Rubber Ones and the are similar:

Adonis Jot Pro Example:


Wacom Bamboo Capacitive Stylus Example:

 

[demandarin]

the Adonis jot pro is a lot better or more precise. pretty good for a capacitive pen. it works well enough for taking notes, it seems.