Is Wacom’s New Touch-Only Bamboo Tablet Worth It?
October 17, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Peripherals
Is a tablet designed only for multi-touch gestures worth it? Technograph has specifics on four new Bamboo tablets from Wacom. All of them feature pen functionality, save for the Bamboo Touch. As made obvious by the name, it only supports touch-controls—this is the first tablet from Wacom that doesn’t work with a pen.
The Bamboo Touch is the cheapest member of the Bamboo refresh, which was all about integrating full multi-touch gestures into the drawing surface (or, in the case of the Touch, the “touching” surface?). Is it worth paying for an over-sized trackpad that mimics the touch functionality found in Apple’s laptops? Wacom by the way confirmed that they have the “appropriate licenses” for the technology.
According to Rico Sta. Cruz, who uses the latest Macbook Pro from Apple:
One thing I learned about using the MacBook pro’s enlarged trackpad is that it’s actually very, very useful. The extra size and the swipe gestures were really great. If the Bamboo Touch is even better than that, then it sounds like a very powerful mouse replacement.
I’m willing to take Rico’s word for it, as I know him to be a geek who likes to maximize the tools he uses. In any case, let’s see how those touch controls work out if and when I get a unit for review.
It’s definitely a lot more useful and flexible to be able to use it with and without a pen. With the new generation of Wacom tablets, just imagine the different possible ways of creating illustrations other than with a pen.
Though I feel that ultimately it’s entirely up to whoever is using it. It might be useful to certain people, but redundant to some. Well I guess it’s better to wait for reviews then. =)
Agreed. Hopefully we get a review unit soon!