Nexus 7 with S-pen would ROCK

Powerplaygraphix

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I've not purchased any tablet yet. I keep watching them come out, plays with some of my friends tablets, try them in the stores and I just can't make up my mind as to WHY I need one. Another thing is that I'm a Graphic Designer and I keep getting drawn (pun intended) to the Galaxy Note 8 with S-Pen. The pressure sensitive stylus is awesome but the tablet it's self is so expensive and the resolution on the screen is very disappointing. The other tablet I kept coming back to was the original Nexus 7. It's just felt very solid and very responsive and the "pure" Android experience is always more appealing than the skins, although the Note Multi-tasking is very impressive. Since I like the N7, I was also looking at the Sero 7 Pro. From all I've seen, it's as good an experience as the original N7 at $50 less with added features.

Well, the new N7 has really shifted the playing field. Now it's worth the cost over the Sero 7 Pro, so that one has dropped off my radar. The one thing that would make the new N7 perfect is if it did have a pressure sensitive stylus like the S-pen. It would really be nice to be able to use that power to do Photo editing and illustration with the Adobe apps like the Note 8 has. The size and the ultra clear screen and the raw power of the N7 at that cost is just impressive.

Oh well, guess nothing will ever be perfect.
 

puch96

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Well, as the tittle says, if it had an S-Pen it would rock. Can you imagine what it would be like if it had an X-Pen?.... Wow....
 

YAYTech

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While I agree that an S-Pen Nexus 7 would be sweet, the fact that the Nexus line is generally intended to be an Android developer's tablet, and mainstream consumers means it's not likely to come with extra-fancy features. The S-Pen is aimed at a niche, and to include something like it would add a chunk of cost & complexity that I can't see existing on a Nexus device anytime soon.

I'd love to see someone do a video comparing graphic design finesse on a Nexus 7 vs an S-Pen device. The S-Pen is sure to be better for graphic design - the question is how much better?
 

anon(394005)

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You would also need software support for the S-Pen (ex. such as that included in Touchwiz on Samsung Galaxy Note series devices), otherwise it would just be a stylus. :)
 

YAYTech

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You would also need software support for the S-Pen (ex. such as that included in Touchwiz on Samsung Galaxy Note series devices), otherwise it would just be a stylus. :)

Yup, so unless the software became part of vanilla Android, it wouldn't be on a Nexus device.
 

C Rogers

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The drivers are already there for pressure sensitive input. Back when I bought my Nexus 7 I plugged a lot of different things into the USB OTG cable, and was surprised to find that my wacom Bamboo tablet worked with pressure sensitivity in sketchbook pro. Granted, it didn't work that great because the Nexus 7 at the time had no landscape mode, so everything you drew on the landscape oriented wacom tablet came out very tall and thin on the screen. Still, shows you that the only thing actually missing is the hardware. It also may mean that some company could make an overlay to stick on that could utilize the functionality. I too am disappointed by Google's lack of vision in the hardware department. Well, at least there's a camera on it now! I presently own a Galaxy Note 2, and illustrate on it. That keeps me happy for the time being. Check out Clover Paint. It's a bit tricky to get the hang of, but blows away every other App in terms of pen options, blending modes, layers, and can even inport and export to PSD (photoshop) layered files.

Here are the results of my latest sketch (wip) : http://www.whitecatgraphics.com/illustration/wiz-house.jpg

Most of this I did without pressure sensitivity enabled, then found out how to do it (it's in the brush settings for each brush in Clover Paint). It's much faster to work with pressure sensitivity keyed to the brush size, because you don't have to keep changing the brush size for fine detail. The finger tool has a falloff, so it's not necessary to have it for things like the feather strands. It's just much faster, but not essential to have pressure sensitivity.
 
Oct 23, 2013
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Yup, so unless the software became part of vanilla Android, it wouldn't be on a Nexus device.
ok, this is a misleading statement. I am a programmer and developer and I want to educate you on the nexus experience so you understand. I own the nexus 7 2013 and there is nothing vanilla about it. What it is: stock android out of the box with no bloatware and full control over what is added by the user. I will say the nexus line is for the advanced user. Within an hour my nexus tablet was exactly what I wanted in a tablet, I wasn't restricted to an OEMS front-end software. I customized every inch of the tablet. It takes less than 5 minutes to unlock the boot loader and to flash any custom Roms/kernals/features to the tablet. Or you can just add you're favorite launcher and customize away. I hate when people use the term vanilla... Major pet peeve... Its nexus or nothing for me and any advanced user, we get a clean slate and get to add what we want, instead of having to remove what we don't want and add what we want in its place. And As a programmer, I will say this... The s-pen has nothing to do with the screen, its the software... Alot of people don't know that... And there is the s-pen SDK...software development kit and Google and Samsung just signed a huge patent deal... So I can guarantee you there is someone already developing the s-pen functionality to the nexus line as we speak...in fact I should be on that right now, the s-pen works off of nfc and the nexus 5 and 7 both support nfc, so its coming soon I promise...
 
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Also, until then, sketchbook pro on my nexus 7 with the bamboo stylus rocks! My graphics come out amazing and its all about technique with the stylus, you can still achieve the results you're looking for if you know how to use the stylus correctly... Quick flicks result in a lighter shade... Takes a little practice but with the display of the nexus 7? yeah I can't even look at a notes display anymore... I'm spoiled I don't like to see pixels anymore
 

YAYTech

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ok, this is a misleading statement. I am a programmer and developer and I want to educate you on the nexus experience so you understand. I own the nexus 7 2013 and there is nothing vanilla about it. What it is: stock android out of the box with no bloatware and full control over what is added by the user. I will say the nexus line is for the advanced user. Within an hour my nexus tablet was exactly what I wanted in a tablet, I wasn't restricted to an OEMS front-end software. I customized every inch of the tablet. It takes less than 5 minutes to unlock the boot loader and to flash any custom Roms/kernals/features to the tablet. Or you can just add you're favorite launcher and customize away. I hate when people use the term vanilla... Major pet peeve... Its nexus or nothing for me and any advanced user, we get a clean slate and get to add what we want, instead of having to remove what we don't want and add what we want in its place. And As a programmer, I will say this... The s-pen has nothing to do with the screen, its the software... Alot of people don't know that... And there is the s-pen SDK...software development kit and Google and Samsung just signed a huge patent deal... So I can guarantee you there is someone already developing the s-pen functionality to the nexus line as we speak...in fact I should be on that right now, the s-pen works off of nfc and the nexus 5 and 7 both support nfc, so its coming soon I promise...

I'm not seeing what your disagreement with my use of the term "vanilla" is, when you described exactly what I meant - "stock android out of the box with no bloatware and full control". Unless you just don't like the term in general, in which case you're going to be frustrated a lot, since it has become common vernacular.

Now I will say that since I made this statement, Google has shown that they are willing to include extra software with a Nexus device when they included the custom launcher on the Nexus 5. That makes me think it is more likely that they would be willing to build a device with a special feature like a stylus that requires additional software to function.
 
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You're right about vanilla Android being a common vernacular. That being said, there are those who use the term vanilla in regards to Android in a different context, on many forums I've seen those write "vanilla Android" as in boring/without features... I guess I thought you were using it in the negative context. Anyways, the nexus line is really meant for the programmer. Its supposed to be a clean slate for Android developers to test app functionality and compatibility with the Android OS in its unaltered state. That being said, if you're a nexus user and programmer, you add whatever functionality you desire on you're device, and program new features for the nexus community. The stylus feature is not hardware driven, I promise its all software in which Samsung patented, Google knows what they are doing in signing a patent deal with Samsung. Samsung just released their patented s-pen apk which means you're right, the nexus line will support s-pen sooner then later, but not in the way you stated. It will be a developer who releases an app with s-pen functionality in which the nexus community will see first. There is a possibility that Google will throw the stylus feature on their next nexus device, but I'm trying to explain that traditionally Google leaves this stuff to their community of developers, but you could be right about Google just adding the function themselves I guess.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 

jerrykur

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I view the Nexus family as a reference hardware implementation, with a few extras like wireless charging. But, the goal of a Nexus device is to be a developer platform. I love that when I am writing an app it will usually run fine on a Nexus device because there is nothing getting the way. On other devices there are every present skins that can ruin the experience.
 

YAYTech

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While the Nexus line is/was intended to be a developer "clean slate", it's certainly also become a consumer hit. One has to question how much Google will try to leverage that fact. I don't expect them to stray too far from "vanilla", but they've already shown variation with the GE launcher on the Nexus 5.

*shrug* Time will tell. :)
 

brosko

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If nexus keeps gaining consumer popularity with your regular joe I'm sure they'll do whatever and add whatever on to the nexus devices to make that $
 

jerrykur

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The first thing they are going to have to do is raise the price. :'(

Actually, If I were Goggle I would start forcing manufactures to start making Developer Editions that meet certain feature requirements (easy to unlock, must run certain level of hardware, must support the latest version of Android withing 30 days of that version being available, must sell at certain price points,....) and get out of the device business. That would remove Google as competitor, and ensure that devices were available that not only supported vanilla Android features, but manufacturer specific features like the S-Pen, fingerprint scanners, removable SD cards, and higher resolution screens, etc..
 

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