Review: Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch

Looking to add Mac-like multi-touch to your PC? Then read on!

The Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch combines the multi-touch functionality of Apple’s MacBook line, while also preserving the intuitive pen functions. The tablet is a nice comfortable size around the dimensions of a sheet of A4 paper, and is perfect for those wanting to do more than what can be done with a mouse alone.

The tablet is nice and easy to use, just like a laptop’s track pad where dragging a finger across the sensor area moves the cursor around the screen; double tapping functions act as the left click on the mouse; while holding your index finger on the tablet and tapping once with your middle finger acts as a right mouse click. Placing two fingers on the tablet and dragging it vertically or horizontally serves to scroll the contents of windows up or down, left to right.

In certain programs, you can also enlarge or shrink images just like on the iPhone, by pinching or spreading two fingers. The tablet also allows users to rotate things if the function is available in the program, by simply placing your thumb on the tablet while another finger is dragged in an arcing movement across the tablet in the direction you want it to turn.

However, there are a few hiccups that we have encountered with the Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch. The first is that the sensor pad will register any object placed on top of it, causing the cursor to jitter around the screen. If you use a mouse in conjunction with the tablet and don’t clue into this fact, you tend to assume that there’s something wrong with either your mouse or computer. This anomaly is strange since both track pads and multi-touch screens don’t have this problem.

The second thing that bugged us was the dust and dirt that our fingers picked up while sliding them across the tablet’s sensor area. Although not suffering from OCD like Adrian Monk, we soon began to! Every day while our computer started up, we found ourselves looking for wet wipes and dusters to clean the tablet. Easily rectified with a dust cover of course, but annoying nonetheless.

The graphic designers at Neonpunch.com found one major problem with the tablet that truly concerns artistic types - the Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch has no plastic overlay sheet over the sensor area. Therefore, those who want to trace a sketch into Photoshop or Illustrator would have to tape their drawings down with masking tape. Not ideal.

The Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch is a nice tool for the casual computer user as it frees you from a mouse and gives you the natural feel of using your fingers and versatility of a pen. For the size and the included software, the HK$1,500 price tag makes it a really good deal. For those who are seriously looking into exploring the digital arts, the Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch is the perfect tool to makes things all that easier for you.

Included with the tablet is an installation disc and a second CD with a few software programs that include Photoshop Elements7 (Windows) 6 (Mac), Painter Essentials 4 (Windows & Mac), Bamboo Scribe 3 (Windows & Mac), Ink-Squared Deluxe (Windows) and IMDisguise (Windows). The included interactive video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to get started and make the most out of your tablet.

Find out more at the Wacom Hong Kong site in Chinese or in English back at the Wacom USA site here.

Looking to buy one? We point you to New Vision with 5 locations:

• Hong Kong Island: Central and Wanchai
• Kowloon: Kwun Tong (apm), Mongkok and Tsim Sha Tsui

Order by phone on 3156-1131