You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Last week, Wacom unveiled its latest tablet pen — the Intuos Creative Stylus — alongside a trio of Cintiq Companion standalone slates. The stylus is indeed a departure from the regular ol’ scribbling units that we’ve seen popping up all over. This time around, the Intuos Creative Stylus draws much of its look and feel from Wacom’s Pro Pen (or Cintiq Pen) with its on-board buttons, soft grip and recognizable shape. Of course, it wields the same 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity that we’ve seen on units included with Intuos and Cintiq models as of late, and connects to the latest Apple tablets via Bluetooth 4.0. All that sounds great, but as you might expect, it comes with a higher price. Is parting with $100 a safe bet in October or are you better off sticking with your current tools? Venture past the break for our initial impressions. %Gallery-slideshow73499%
Filed under: Peripherals, Software
Are you a digital artist who has long used a digital tablet to get your work done? Well, new models do not exactly spring up like the smartphone industry, but this does not mean that digital creative tablets are a stagnant market. Wacom has just released two more additions to the Cintiq Companion range, where regardless of which model you select, the creative professional in you will be able to work at just about wherever you want. The Cintiq Companion will run on Windows 8 and full versions of creative software, delivering just about everything that you would expect from Wacom’s Cintiq products. As for the other model, the Cintiq Companion Hybrid, it would come in the form of a traditional Cintiq when hooked up to a Mac or PC, but will function as an Android-powered tablet when you decide to use it as a standalone mobile device.
Regardless of the model that you pick, they will deliver a distinct Cintiq experience. Let us take a closer look at the Cintiq Companion first – it delivers support for creative freedom by offering everything required for productive art and design work, never mind if you are in a studio or out on the road. This is a fully-fledged Windows 8 tablet by all means, running on a 3rd generation Intel Core processor and Intel HD Graphics 4000, and you can choose from two models – one with 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD with Windows 8, while the other has a similar amount of RAM, although the SSD storage capacity has been doubled to hit 512GB SSD alongside Windows 8 Pro in tow.
As for the Cintiq Companion Hybrid, this has been described to be a digital sketchpad on the go, empowering illustrators and designers who want to draw, sketch and paint even when they are up and about. The Cintiq Companion Hybrid would work as a traditional Cintiq when it is hooked up to a Mac or PC, but when you unplug it, it is the ideal Android-powered tablet, sporting a powerful Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, Android Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice, and of course, specially designed software including the new Wacom Creative Canvas. Again, there will be two versions available at your disposal, the 16GB model and a 32GB model.
Pricing for the Cintiq Companion Hybrid starts at $1,499, while the Cintiq Companion models will begin from $1,999 onwards.
Press Release
[ Wacom introduces new range of Cintiq Companion creative tablets copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Wacom has introduced another one of its upcoming Windows 8 pen tablet, the Cintiq Companion (DTH-W1300L/K0). This pen tablet sports a 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD IPS touchscreen display, a 1.90GHz Intel Core i7-3517U processor (onboard video), an 8GB DDR3 RAM, a 256GB SSD, a microSD card slot, dual cameras (2MP front & 8MP rear), WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a USB 3.0 port, an adjustable detachable stand and runs on Windows 8 OS. The Cintiq Companion (DTH-W1300L/K0) will start shipping from late September for 198,000 Yen (about $2,025). [Wacom]
Midweek, we’re here for you! Our hump day tradition of the TechCrunch Droidcast continues into its third episode with your host Chris Velazco, myself and special guest Romain Dillet delivering some worldly charm.
This week, we’ve got some new Android-powered hardware to discuss, including the Nvidia Shield portable gaming console and Wacom’s new Cintiq Companion Hybrid combo Android tablet/PC or Mac drawing tablet. Both niche devices, but good examples of what Android can do when it isn’t just being used for phones or tablets.
We also get into Google’s native app strategy, prompted by the Keep update that came out today. Is Google Now the future? Are all apps destined to become features of that on-demand, contextually aware service? Spoiler: We have no idea.
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Wacom is a name that most of us are familiar with, especially digital artists who use a digital tablet to get their sketches and artwork done. Having said that, Wacom has just rolled out a spanking new pressure-sensitive digital pen for sketching, drawing and painting on an iPad, calling it the Intuos Creative Stylus. It is supposedly designed in a way so that it can inspire creativity at any time, anywhere thanks to a realistic pen-on-paper feel as well as an intelligent design which lets you rest your palm naturally on the iPad each time you make use of compatible creative apps.
Touted to offer “the best drawing experience” on an iPad, the Intuos Creative Stylus would enable an ad agency creative to perform a quick concept drawing on the train, or perhaps allow the art student to sketch out an idea right before class (all of those last minute work tend to be the most inspired as I have found out for myself over the years). Since iPads have grown in stature over the years to develop ideas and concept experimentation, the Intuos Creative Stylus would definitely be able to step in and fill a gap in the marketplace. It will play nice seamlessly with the iPad in addition to a bunch of creative apps, allowing it to deliver an authentic experience each time the bolt of inspiration strikes.
Of course, it would make perfect sense to have the Intuos Creative Stylus play nice with Wacom’s very own digital notebook app known as Bamboo Paper. This new version is now available and has been optimized for the Creative Stylus, delivering a bunch of new tools which would enable one to be even more expressive and creative. Sporting advanced technology and a pressure sensitivity of 2048 pressure levels, it can react even to light strokes, all the while being smart enough to reject unintentional touches when used with compatible creative apps. Specially designed for the iPad 3, 4 and Mini, it will also play nice with apps like Autodesk SketchBook Pro for iPad, ArtRage (by Ambient Design), Bamboo Paper, ProCreate (by Savage Interactive) and Psykopaint. The Intuos Creative Stylus is powered by a single AAAA battery, it will retail for $99 a pop from this October onwards.
Press Release
[ Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus announced copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Wacom, the drawing and artist tablet manufacturer that has catered for many a digital artist over the years has just introduced a new Cintiq Companion range of tablets, where the Cintiq Companion will be powered by Windows 8, and is accompanied by full versions of creative software. As for the Cintiq Companion Hybrid, that happens to be a traditional Cintiq whenever you plug it into a Mac or PC, but it also doubles up as a mobile device which runs on the Android operating system as a standalone tablet.
The Cintiq Companion will be powered by a third Ivy Bridge Intel Core processor as well as Intel HD Graphics 4000, and there will be a couple of models available for you to choose from – one of them sporting 8GB RAM, a 256GB SSD and Windows 8, while the higher end model will get a storage bump to 512GB SSD with Windows 8 Pro as the operating system of choice. Regardless of which particular model you choose, either one will arrive with the Wacom Pro Pen that boasts of 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity.
Cintiq Companion And Companion Hybrid Announced original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Wacom promised a standalone tablet solution earlier this year, to be revealed this summer, and now they’re revealing not one, but two such devices. The new Cintiq Companion and Companion Hybrid bring Wacom’s pressure-sensitive graphics power to creative pros in standalone devices.
The Cintiq Companion is a Windows 8-powered tablet that comes in both an 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD version with Windows 8, and an 8GB of RAM, 512GB version with Windows 8 Pro, both of which have Intel Core i7 processors, and 13.3-inch displays with 1920×1080 resolution. They come with 2 USB 3.0 ports, 802.11n networking, a rear camera with an 8-megapixel sensor and a front one with a 2-megapixel shooter. At only 3.9 pounds, it’s not going to break any backs either, and it runs full Windows graphics apps like Photoshop and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.
The Cintiq Companion Hybrid is a different beast, with Android powering the tablets when they’re operating on their own, and with the ability to turn into a fully functional accessory tablet when paired with a Windows or Mac computer. Like the Companion, the Companion Hybrid has a 13.3-inch, 1920×1080 display, and 2048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity, as well as multi-touch input. But it’s powered by an Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, comes in either 16 or 32GB flavors, and runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. There’s 2GB of RAM on board instead of 8, too.
There’s also a big price difference: The Companion is either $1,999 for the 256GB version, or $2,499 for the 512GB model; the Companion Hybrid is either $1,499 or $1,599, depending on whether you want 16 or 32GB of onboard storage. Both models closely resemble the Cintiq 13HD drawing tablet released earlier this year by Wacom, but manage to also have an entire computer stuffed inside, and built-in batteries that probably also go a long way toward explaining the extra pound and a bit that the new tablets gain on the 13HD.
A lot of creative pros have been lusting after devices like these since Wacom introduced its pressure-sensitive display/drawing tablet combos, and while the appetite has been whetted by devices like the iPad, and the Galaxy Note line of tablets (which Wacom supplies the tech for), there’s been no substitute for a homegrown Wacom solution. It sounds like the Android-powered Companion Hybrid probably will be suitable more for light work while used away from a computer, whereas the Companion can probably act as a digital artist’s only machine. Either way, I think these will be welcomed by digital creatives everywhere when they arrive in October.
Alongside the Companion series, Wacom is also announcing a new pressure-sensitive stylus for iPad so that iOS devotees don’t feel too left out. The Intuos joins the Bamboo stylus, which offers no pressure sensitivity, and has built-in wrist detection with compatible apps. The Intuos offers 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, which is better than most of its competitors on the market, and connects to the iPad 3, iPad 4 and iPad mini via Bluetooth 4.0. A whole host of apps will be compatible with it at launch when it arrives in October for $99.
Artists, illustrators, and designers of all kinds rely on Wacom’s line of drawing tablets. Up until now, the devices only worked as peripherals. But Wacom’s new line of fully self-contained tablets are the only devices you need to make art just about anywhere.
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Following the announcement of its new Cintiq Companion tablets earlier this evening, Wacom has also taken the wraps off its new stylus for the iPad. The Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus aims to make sketching on the tablet feel realistic, offering pressure-sensitive functionality and a specialized design aimed at comfortable handling. The Intuos Creative Stylus, as […]
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