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I would like to use a Surface Pro 3 pen with another tablet.

Anonymous
2014-06-26T02:23:55+00:00

Hi everyone!

I'm going to try out the Surface Pro 3 soon, but I think that N-trig pen is cool, especially the click the top to open One Note feature I saw when it was introduced.

I've done a bit of research and found out the reason the Surface Pro 3 switched from Wacom to N-trig technology was to make the device thinner as the Bluetooth technology used by the pen eliminated the need for a special digitizing layer on the screen. This led me to believe that the pen would be compatible with any Bluetooth supported Windows tablet. Can anyone confirm this is true and whether purchasing the new Surface Pen is worth my money?

I'm asking this because I'm a little annoyed with the performance of the Wacom digitizer on my own tablet (which is not a Surface) and was thinking that a Bluetooth operated pen, which does not require this special internal hardware to be fitted into the device, would make an appropriate replacement and/or backup in case the Wacom fails to work at all. Better still, I'd love to see the click to open One Note feature functional on my unit as well. What do you say?

Appreciate your advice, as always!

CSD Surface Tester.

Surface | Accessories | Surface Pen

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-06-26T05:38:09+00:00

    That is the reason why to check the specs on the pen.  The particular pen for the Surface Pro 3 only.  The pen itself functions in a dual mode capability but still needs power to do it.  It is classed as a "mechanical" pen because it has electronic components.

    The two button batteries pre-installed in the top of the pen functions the Bluetooth connection.  The main battery actually communicates with the pen's driver installed in the tablet to work with the touchscreen.  No digitizer is needed.

    If it was a generic pen, you would have an installation disk to install a driver for the pen and that drivers mates with the touchscreen along with adding it as a Bluetooth 4.0 device.

    Now, if the Bluetooth connection fails, the pen will still function similar to a stylus where the driver will use the touchscreen like a digitizer surface.  The Bluetooth connection is for software control mainly.

    It is a little complex but is a great concept in my thought.  You eliminate hardware (digitizer) and emulate that hardware with software (driver).  Believe it or not, a network adapter and a dial-up modem have been working in that fashion for years; where the driver was actually the modem (simulated hardware) and the hardware (interface card) was just a circuit and connection point.

    Right now, you can get Bluetooth and WiFi adapters just slightly bigger than a USB plug.  There is only a very small chip in those and rely on the driver to do the rest.

    This pen operates in the same fashion.  Since the driver for it is built in, it cannot be used with any other tablet and this particular model was designed solely for the Surface Pro 3.

    Now, like I said, you can get a generic pen (probably from N-Trig) from their web site.  That one will include an installation disk and will work with any tablet that has a touchscreen and Bluetooth 4.0 adapter.  You can't with this particular model.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-06-26T03:09:03+00:00

    Thanks. My device fix not actually come with an N-trig pen, but since the pen is based off Bluetooth I thought it would be compatible with any Windows tablet.

    As it turns out, that's not true. Here's what I found on the N-trig website. Can you help explain what this means?

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-06-26T18:40:46+00:00

    Now, like I said, you can get a generic pen (probably from N-Trig) from their web site.  That one will include an installation disk and will work with any tablet that has a touchscreen and Bluetooth 4.0 adapter.  You can't with this particular model.

    Where on N-trig's website does it mention the availability of a generic pen that will add Duo Sense functionality to any Windows touchscreen tablet with Bluetooth 4.0?

    I really need a backup digitizer technology in case the Wacom digitizer layer on my tablet fails. By that I mean pressure sensitivity and palm rejection are included (saying that, the Adonit Jot Pro will not do as it behaves just like that annoying capacitive stylus I used with my Surface RT), just as it would with Duo Sense natively supported devices like Surface Pro 3 and the upcoming Surface Mini TKsurface mentioned in the previous post (and yes, I believe that the Surface Mini has the same technology as Surface Pro 3 so their pens should be interchangeable).

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-06-26T18:10:31+00:00

    I didnt read all the replies, nut rumor is the pen will work with surface mini

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-06-26T02:43:34+00:00

    You will need a driver in order to use that pen on another device.  N-Trig does have downloads for their devices and here is the web link to their web site.  Check the specs to make sure you get the right one (if it is cataloged).  Some companies produce products which are not available directly and support such as downloads will not be available.

    http://www.n-trig.com/Default.aspx

    JOT ADDONIT also makes a similar pen type and you can check with them if you are looking to do the same with an iPad.  Their version of the pen does require and app to be downloaded for use.  Their web site is here.

    http://www.adonit.net

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