Active Stylus w/ Venue Pro

[goodsit2]

I keep reading terrible reviews of the dell active stylus (synaptics) and was wondering if anyone here has used it and would be willing to share their thoughts. It can be a review of any stylus used with the device. I'm mainly interested in note taking (OneNote), but it would be good to hear about its usefulness in other apps/programs as well

 

[mase123987]

I would buy it if I could find one in stores or Amazon. Right now, I only see it on Dell.com. I want to be able to easily return it if it is horrible like some say.

 

[theefman]

Dell just released an update today that greatly increases its usefulness. Notetaking in OneNote worked well for me but I also have a problem that the pen stops responding randomly. Going to try a new battery to see if that fixes it, if it does it will be a fantastic all rounder as I also have Miracast working well enough for me.

 

[SocalTouch]

Thats great to hear that the new driver fixes some of the performance issues of the active digitizer. I am thinking of ordering the Digitizer now. For those not aware, the new firmware is at Driver Details | Dell US


Also, If you don't mind me asking - What Miracast receiver are you using with Dell Venue 8 Pro?

 

[theefman]

Netgear PTV3000 with 2.4.26 firmware. Works in extended but best in second screen with a Bt keyboard. Mirroring doesn't work yet and extended mode leave the tablet stuck in portrait mode. Hopefully future updates can fix the remaining issues.

 

[romant56]

I checked the drivers page for the Venue Pro yesterday and the new stylus driver was gone. Today yet another new stylus driver was posted and the link SocialTouch posted above no longer works. I don't actually have the Venue yet so I can't try it out, but if someone can confirm today's driver is indeed newer and if it works better it would be much appreciated!

Driver Details | Dell US

 

[prowade]

I have the Active Stylus for my DV8P and it was decent, not great, but decent and now it has gone completely crazy. Regular touch input works fine but when I use my stylus it seems as if the center of the screen has stopped working all together and only the edges pick up my stylus. And on top of that, the points that it picks up are completely off. If I touch the bottom right it thinks I have touched the top left, it also thinks I am constantly clicking when I am only hovering.

Would love to have it working properly.

 

[theefman]

Driver seems to be the same, read on another forum someone tried and it failed to install.

@prowade have you tried calibrating the screen then resetting the calibration? Make sure you have a keyboard attached as well, just in case.

 

[nasellok]

Fact of the matter is - for 299$, this tablet is a little beast..........the active digitizer, while not even close to Wacom, is still pretty freeking awesome considering the cost of this thing. Its light years better than a capacitive one. My biggest gripe with the thing thus far, is that my screen has a scratch on it, not sure how it got there, which leads me to believe its not gorilla glass. My android phones with gorilla glass never had a screen protector on them, and never even got a single scratch. Ive had this tablet for less than a month, and already a scratch. That being said, its still awesome. Only thing that would make me give it up would be a similar sized win8 tablet with Wacom, which there are rumors that Lenovo will be coming out with one soon.

 

[prowade]

I ended up doing a "Refresh" on my DV8P and now it is working great. I love the tablet and it is the best one I have ever had. I use it for so much. For the price it is amazing. And the Active Stylus is WAY better than just a capacitive stylus.

 

[six6xis]

Can you buy any active stylus or does it have to be the Dell?

 

[Bo]

Can you buy any active stylus or does it have to be the Dell?

You will have to buy Dell's active stylus made for this tablet. I say that because they have different active styli for different models of their touch screen devices.

 

[philxor]

Any other updated reviews of the pen? I purchased the tablet yesterday but passed on the pen due to the horrible reviews on dell.com. I know there was supposed to be a firmware update but there were lots of other people complaining about the tip falling out?

 

[mister2d]

I think I have figured out why the pen is not so great on this tablet (and touch at times too).

When using the tablet to write with the stylus in landscape mode, it can get very sketchy. At times it seems like the digitizer doesn't know that you've lifted the stylus off the surface and keeps on writing wherever the pen goes. Not good.

Same goes for sometimes when you tap on the keyboard with my right hand. I get many repeated strokes it seems when using it in Landscape mode.


Here's my hypothesis. Holding the tablet into direct light you can see the cells of the digitizer and how they are situated. They appear to take input BETTER when in Portrait mode. I've tested this quite a few times with good results.

In Portrait mode my writing has vastly improved in OneNote as well as tapping on the onscreen keyboard (no repeated strokes). I think Dell designed this tablet to use its inputs in Portrait mode moreso than Landscape which kind of sucks because text sharpness slightly suffers in Portrait.

Anyone else have similar findings?

 

[NFLPLAYBOOK]

I just the Dell as a gift. I decided to try my Bamboo Stylus just for fun to see how it would work. It works great. In fact I'm going to have to turn down the touch settings because it works so well. It's very precise and responds very well. Hit's the little x's like they are nothing. The active pen from the Samsung Note doesn't work.

 

[Bo]

I just the Dell as a gift. I decided to try my Bamboo Stylus just for fun to see how it would work. It works great. In fact I'm going to have to turn down the touch settings because it works so well. It's very precise and responds very well. Hit's the little x's like they are nothing. The active pen from the Samsung Note doesn't work.

Which bamboo pen are you using?