Dell Latitude 10 Tablet

I am a pretty big fan of Windows Tablets and have been for some time.  I am especially excited with all the new stuff that is coming out.  One such Windows Tablet that I have been drooling over is the Dell Latitude 10 (here).  It is currently retailing for $900, but currently on a special price for $650.

I was recently visited by one of our Dell representatives at work and he had brought the sister tablet Latitude XPS 10, which is the Windows RT version.  I was able to play around with it for a bit and loved the touch, the responsiveness, and the fact that it had detachable keyboard with touchpad.  It was a very solid fit.  Unfortunately, I later found out that the Latitude 10 will not have that same keyboard.  Big disappointment if you ask me.  The Dell rep said that he would send me one when he got them in stock so I could give it a spin.  Well I just got the email and have it coming my way to give it a run. 

LATITUDE 10 SPECIFICATIONS

• Intel® Atom™ processor Z2760 1.8GHz with Intel® Burst Technology, 1.5GHz HFM, 600MHz LFM
• Windows 8 Pro, 32-bit
• 10.1" IPS (1366 X 768) Wide View Angle LCD, Corning® Gorilla® Glass, Capacitive 10 Finger Touch
• 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
• 64GB of Solid State Storage, enabled for mobile broadband (HSPA+)
• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (533MHz)
• 1.47 lbs
• Full Size SD Slot
• USB 2.0 Slot
• Mini HDMI
• Removable Battery
• 2MP Front Facing Camera
• 8MP Rear Facing Camera
• Wacom Digitizer (optional pen)
• Productivity Docking Station (optional) (2) USB, Ethernet, HDMI and Audio Output

I will have it for about 30 days to test it out and will blog about it more.

HP Slate 500 N-trig Input Control (Touch) Workaround

One of my biggest complaints with the HP Slate 500 on Windows 8 is the lack of decent touch control with N-trig.  N-trig has decided that they aren’t going to fix their drivers.  That’s fine, this will be my last device that has N-trig digitizer.  My dollars will be spent elsewhere.

So, what’s the problem you say.  My problem with the N-trig drivers is the lack of support with the input control (Digitizer Settings, see screen shot below).  This is what allows you to change how the touch and pen act (see picture).  Pen Only, Touch Only, Auto Mode, Dual Mode.

This Input Control (Digitizer Settings) do not work in Windows 8 and N-trig is not going to fix.  Shame.

So, what does this mean.  Well, for me I get the palm rejection or false touches when I write and my hand (palm) touches the screen.  The current setting is Dual mode, concurrent Touch and Pen input.  Think of it like the touchpad on your laptop.  You are typing and your palm touches the touchpad and causes the cursor to jump to a different spot on the page.  On a laptop you have the touchpad control that allows you to turn off if it senses a mouse plugged in or when you are typing.  Well, with N-trig, you don’t any longer on Windows 8.  No workie & No fixie.

I was browsing the internet the other day and happened on a blog post where the blogger found a workaround.  You will have to forgive me that I can’t find the blogger’s post or the blogger’s name.  When I do, I will definitely give him/her credit.

What is this workaround going to do?  This will temporarily disable the touch control on the Slate.  This would be similar to selecting Pen Only above.  This will allow only Pen touch only and the touch is temporarily disabled.  This isn’t going to be for everybody, but for this is golden for me.  Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way similarly to Auto mode.

Going to download a program that is a that when run connects to the Device Manager like view that allows you to enable and disable devices.  However the steps below will create a shortcut or command line that will be used to disable the touch.  You can also pin the shortcuts to the Task Bar for easy use.

STEPS:

1. Go out to www.Nirsoft.com and find a program named DevManView (direct link).  At the writing of this post the current version is v1.27.  Scroll down to the bottom and download the (x86) version (or x64 version for Samsung Series 7 or ASUS B121)

2. Create a directory on the root of your C Drive called TouchControl

3. Unzip the file you downloaded in Step 1 into the C:\TouchControl folder.  There are 4 files that are extracted.

4. Create a shortcut in that directory using the following command.

a. Open Device Manger | Devices | N-trig DuoSense(R) Digitizers

b. Locate “N-trig DuoSense MultiTouch HID Device” and double click.

c. Click on the Events Tab.  Copy the value that is highlighted in yellow.  This value will be added when you create the shortcuts.

d. Open Windows Explorer, browse to the C:\TouchControl and right click in the folder and select New | Shortcut

e. Copy and paste the Disable command below into the path, but using your value that you got above.

DISABLE
C:\TouchControl\DevManView.exe /Disable “HID\VID_1B96&PID_0001&MI_01&Col02\7&24205bb2&0&0001”

f. Click through and give the name of the Shortcut “Disable Touch”

g. Now Create another shortcut but use the ENABLE command below and name it “Enable Touch”, also using your value that you got above.

ENABLE
C:\TouchControl\DevManView.exe /Enable “HID\VID_1B96&PID_0001&MI_01&Col02\7&24205bb2&0&0001”

5. Add the shortcuts to the Task Bar just right click on the shortcut and select Pin to Task Manager.

6. To give it a little flair right click on the Shortcut | Properties | Change Icon, browse through the list and select an Icon that you like for Disable and Enable shortcuts.  I picked the Green for the Enable and Red for the Disable.

 

**Please note that the device that controls touch may not be the same on your tablet.  I was able to get this to work using the information below on my HP Slate 500, Samsung Series 7 Slate, and ASUS B121 eSlate but using the 64bit version of DevManView.  I have not found anything about the downloaded software that would cause any alarm.  It is not installing any software it is extracting several files that launch as a separate program.

EDITED (11/10/2012)
Found that the HID value is different on every computer.  Updated blog post to reflect that.

Also, this does require the elevated permissions when doing so.  I haven’t found a way around this.  You are actually disabling a device so I don’t think there will be a workaround.  I run my as a standard user and then another account that has Admin and just pop in the credentials when prompted.  I have run this so long that I don’t give it a second thought.

For a limited time get Windows 8 Media Center Pack for free

 

Act fast.  Get Windows 8 Media Center Pack for free.  Not sure how long this will last.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

What is your favorite application, program, or utility for your Tablet?

 

I have been installing Windows 8 on my tablets and it reminded me of a post that I did way back in the day.  What is your favorite application, program, or utility for your tablet and why? I have several that I can’t live without.

 

1. Microsoft OneNote 2013

I am a huge OneNote fan and have been when it first came out.  This was the first program that I used on my tablet with the Stylus pen, on my HP TC1100.  I became much more organized because of this program.  For me it is the most used application\tool that I use.  Love the inking, search capabilities, converting ink to text, the integration with the other Office products.  I send a lot of emails to OneNote for projects that I am working on.  I can immediate start writing notes, next actions, etc.  All time favorite.

2. PDF Annotator

I love the ability to load a PDF file and mark it up using my stylus/pen.  The ability to print any document to PDF using their printer tool.  Brilliant.  Absolutely a must have.

3. Dropbox

My cloud storage that is available to me where ever I am.  On my phone and my computers and assessable through the web as well.

4. Snagit

The screen capture tool that is a must. 

5. Notepad++

This free utility is a great tool for loading all kinds of different text files from TSQL files, to XML files.