Hands on review and unboxing of new Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet
7:10 PM, Sep 24th, 2009 
39 Comments
Hands-on unboxing and review of Wacom's Bamboo Pen & Touch
Wacom just announced their new 2nd generation of Bamboo Touch tablets today and they’re currently up for sale. Last week we brought you a video review of the Touch but we haven’t seen anything about the Pen & Touch combo. This seems the most interesting of the group especially when you consider it’s only $99 (note: Amazon currently has it for $90.76) and can offer all of the advantages of the $69 Bamboo Touch and the ability to use it as a pen tablet as well.
Update: Win a brand new Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch from Best Tablet Review. Go here for information on how to enter.
Best Tablet Review got our hands on the Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch graphics tablet this afternoon and we’ve got your first look.
Packaging
The Bamboo Pen & Touch comes in a sleek and slim package. It has a slip-over sleeve and features a large picture of the tablet and logo on the front of it…
a list of package contents and system requirements on the side and a features list on the back.
The inside box is all black and opens to reveal a redundant cover top that covers the box’s contents.
It says “Welcome to your Bamboo. Experience. Discover. Share. And let us know how it goes…” in English and eleven other languages. It also includes the bamboo.wacom.com website.
Finally, the heart of the box. The Bamboo Pen & Touch is resting on top (wrapped in a foam sheet and black paper cover) with the pen resting in a formed compartment above.
After lifting the tablet the CD and manual case is under it along with a tiny ziplock bag with additional pen refills and a metal ring for the pen.
Everything is wrapped extremely well. The pen has plastic protectors on either end and is in a plastic sheet tube.
The CD/Manual box contains the Quick Start Guide, the installation/tutorial CD, a software bundle CD that has Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 WIN/6.0 MAC and Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 WE3. There are also single sheets for the Wacom Privileges Program, a free premium store offer on Cafe Press ($60 value) and a free 8×8 photo book from Shutterfly.
Here are all the contents of the package.
The Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet with pen.
The Wacom Bamboo pen.
Installation and Device Description
After booting up my laptop and inserting the installation CD it came to this menu.
You can install or watch the tutorial that goes over the motion controls.
Installation took only a few minutes and worked flawlessly with both touch and pen.
The Express keys on the device are defaulted to a Touch on/off toggle, back, right-click and click function. In the middle of the buttons is a horizontal LCD that lets you know if the device is active. You can set these keys to keyboard shortcuts, application launch or a variety of other abilities.
On the right side of the tablet is a threaded Wacom-branded loop for your pen to slide into. It’s a little cumbersome and hard to slide in and out. One would thing that Wacom could have included a simpler, less-flimsy holder for the pen instead of what basically amounts to a Levis tag.
The pen is a typical Wacom pen which is nice. It has the eraser end and the writing end. The middle has a flattened out piece to help the pen “lock in” to its cloth loop. It also has the two sided rocker where your index finger rests that can activate functions like the Brushes menu in Photoshop.
Using the Bamboo Pen & Touch Fun
Working with the device is fine. My previous tablet is an old Wacom Graphire (it’s a workhorse though) so it took me a minute to get used to the entire surface of the tablet being representative of the screen rather than the Graphire’s continue-from-cursor interaction. Still, I much prefer the Bamboo’s way.
The pad itself is very sensitive to your gestures. It registers your intention even with the lightest of touches. The surface area is nice and wide to. It’s basically a widescreen format which corresponds to my laptop nicely. With my old Graphire I was constantly going past the border area and having to recenter. This tablet doesn’t have that problem.
I can’t notice any major difference between the Graphire’s pen sensitivity and accuracy versus the Bamboo’s pen. I opened Photoshop and Illustrator and used both tablets — I much prefer the Bamboo. It’s not that the Bamboo’s pen ability is noticeably better, but more the orientation of the device is just so much easier to use. Instead of a 4:3 ratio device you’re working with a 16:9. You still have trouble when drawing vertically when zoomed in, but that’s inherent in any graphics tablet. My old Graphire will be moving on to new pastures. I’ll be keeping and using the Bamboo Pen & Touch Fun from now on.
Final Conclusion
The Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch is perfect for the person who wants a tablet or who uses one frequently. A lot of people will love the multi-touch gestures but my primary focus was seeing if this tablet would work as a graphics tablet as well. It certainly can. You’ll get pretty much what you expect from this tablet. It’s not for the hardcore tablet users (I would still recommend the Intuos line for them), but those that use it to draw and edit will find a nice, affordable and dynamic device.
About the Author
Your review is of the pen and touch not the pen and touch fun. The “fun” is a silver color, seems to be a slightly different size and comes with photoshop elements. Not sure what the other differences are.
Hey Iain,
Some sites are listing the Bamboo Pen & Touch as either that or the Bamboo Fun Small which is why I listed it in the article — like Amazon for instance http://j.mp/3Fcwy5
The main difference between the Pen & Touch and Fun is that the Fun is a larger sized tablet. But just to avoid any future confusion I’ll edit the article to refer to it as the Pen & Touch. Thanks for reading.
Thanks for the review. I’ve been looking to pick up the Pen and Touch model, but have only been able to find the Touch at our local Best Buy locations. Any tips on where to grab one of these?
If you can wait for the shipping Amazon is selling it for $82.10 today – http://j.mp/3Fcwy5 – which is by far the cheapest.
I struck out at my local Best Buy as well (they also only had the base Touch tablet) but Staples had all the models in stock. Many of the Staples stores have a endcap display of the Touch, Pen & Touch and Craft tablets for demo as well. Might be a good way to test it before making the final purchase — though you will pay $99 with tax to satisfy your immediate need.
Perfect. I was able to find one at Staples. Patience is not one of my strengths, especially when a shiny new gadget is involved.
How are you using the Graphire? I have a Graphire 4 and I have set the whole tablet to map the computer screen…
Grinser, my tablet is a Graphire 2. I’ve long since lost the install CD and have used it with a bunch of different computers. Wacom may have the drivers available to map screen with my Graphire 2 as with your Graphire 4 but I never installed them. I only ever used it for graphic design in Illustrator, Photoshop or Painter.
Hi! I liked your review but there is not much concerning the actual precision of the pen tablet. Is it usable for drawing ? I have an intuos3 and it’s perfect but I’d like to know if it’s comparable or if this new bamboo is not usable for actually drawing in photoshop or painter. Thanks bye.
I skipped over the tech specs since they’re available on the Wacom site, but it looks like the Bamboo Pen & Touch has the same pressure levels as the Intuos3 (1024) but less tablet resolution at 2540 lpi than the Intuos’s 5080 lpi. The Bamboo also has a slower report rate at 133 points per second to the Intuos’s 200 pps.
Now the major question is if an Intuos user can sense the difference with the lesser lpi and pps or if it’s hardly noticeable. Unfortunately since I don’t own one I can’t compare the two. I think someone who has never had an Intuos and is looking for an affordable pen tablet would be completely happy with the sensitivity of the Bamboo. As for using it with Adobe suite and Corel programs it’s perfectly fine. You can do a lot of great graphic work with it.
Loved the part where you mentioned in standard units of measurement how big the useable area is.
Wacom didn’t put it on the box and you haven’t written it here WTF!
I stayed away from bogging the review down with spec information found on Wacom’s website. It was already running quite long. But, if you’d like, here are the specs found on http://bamboo.wacom.com for the Pen & Touch:
-Tablet Dimensions (WxH) 9.8″ x 6.9″ (249mm x 175mm)
-Active Area – Touch (WxH) 4.9″ x 3.4″ (124mm x 86mm)
-Active Area – Pen (WxH) 5.8″ x 3.6″ (147mm x 91mm)
I have the first Graphire and it too can map the whole display area 1:1 with the tablet surface. I too have lost the CD but the drivers downloadable from the Wacom site are just the same and they work perfectly.
If you go to Wacom’s web site, you can find drivers to make your Graphire work correctly. You can map it in many different ways to what you see on your screen. The default should be what you are seeing with the new device. I would not install drivers off of the cd, even with a brand new product, as there is most likely a newer driver on the company’s web site.
Did you try out the touch feature? That’s the part I’m curious about.
Thanks, Ian
Apart from their color, the main difference between the Pen & Touch and the Bamboo Fun Small (a.k.a. Bamboo Craft in some regions) is the bundled software.
In Europe, the Pen & Touch doesn’t come with third-party software at all, while the Fun Small ships with ArtRage (excellent!) and Photoshop Elements 6 (Mac) or 7 (PC). In the Americas, both come with PE, you’ll get an additional Corel Painter Essentials license with the Craft…
It might be different in other regions!
Since there hasn’t been any talk of it as a touch pad, I’ll just say that it leaves a lot to be desired.
I don’t have much use for the pen, but I have a MacBook Air glued to my hands all the time and now that I do more work on a desk top I wanted to swap out the mouse for a more familiar experience.
The fit and finish is really good and, unlike most reviewers, I really like the fabric loop. It’s sturdy and it’s a whimsical touch. All in all it feels like a solid little device.
As for the functionality, though, it’s just not up to scratch. Maybe if you’re migrating from a Dell, HP, or other PC it might work. I’ve found those touch pads to be pretty uneven.
Here’s exactly what I find wrong, specifically: When using multi touch gestures on the Mac, you can use multiple fingers to make basic tasks such as scrolling much easier. Touch two finger tips to the track pad and swipe and the page scrolls. While the Bamboo “supports” this type of two fingered gesture, the execution is all wrong. On the Mac, I can have one finger moving the cursor around the screen and add a second finger tip to scroll around in a field or on the entire page and again remove that finger to resume moving the cursor. Try this on the Bamboo and the cursor locks in place waiting for you to lift any finger tips off the surface and replace them to begin a new gesture.
This sounds nitpicking, but it makes for the most halting and inaccurate touch experience I’ve ever experienced. In order to use it I’d have to deselect all multi finger touch and use it as a straight cursor.
Let’s also not forget that we ofter need to click a button when we’re using a touch pad. Well the button is all the way at the side and not likely near your finger.
Long story short, the device is very interesting and I’m not even sorry I bought it. I just wish it lived up to expectations. Maybe a software update can rectify my concerns or maybe they’re a limitation of the hardware. Either way I wouldn’t recommend getting this to replace a mouse.
Is the USB cable attached to the tablet or can it be unplugged.
I hate that the usb cable on my Graphire tablet cannot be unplugged and has to be wrapped around it….
The USB cable is attached to the Bamboo, but unlike the Graphire — where it connects under the device and you have to smooth it out so it lays level — the Bamboo’s cord comes out straight from the site. I haven’t had any trouble with the cord getting in the way. It’s more malleable than the Graphire’s as well (which was almost like braided metal in a clear plastic sheath). But yeah, you still have to wrap it around the tablet or wrap it around itself when transporting.
Which is better the pen and touch or the bamboo fun? whats the difference? i want one for drawing, graphics etc but also for notes on docs.
The only differences between the Bamboo Pen & Touch and the Bamboo Fun is the size, color and price. Functionality is the same. So the real question is do you want to have a larger active pen area of 8.5″ x 5.4″ for roughly $100 more (Fun) or an active pen area of 5.8″ x 3.6″ (Pen & Touch)? Both have 1,024 levels of sensitivity, 2,540 lpi resolution and 133 pps data rates.
planning to buy my first tablet, choosing between the bamboo pen and the bamboo pen and touch. I’m not that interested with the touch thing, just the pen for drawing and retouching, but the bamboo pen has only 512 as to the bamboo pen and touch which has 1024. Are those pressure big factors? any advice? Thanks
The differences in pressure sensitivity isn’t that obvious unless you’re comparing two tablets directly. If you were to draw on the Pen and then draw on the Pen & Touch you’d notice a difference. The Pen & Touch will seem a bit smoother. Personally, I’d recommend the Pen & Touch after using it. We didn’t test the touch functionality out that much as it wasn’t that big of an interest. We did care about seeing how well a sub-$100 Wacom tablet performed with pen capability and were impressed with the sensitivity and size that the P&T had to offer.
The Bamboo Touch notes that it’s compatible with the Bamboo Pen (not included). My question is; would the Bamboo Touch be compatible with older Wacom pens?
If so, I would just buy the Touch and save $20 – $40 dollars. Does anyone have any experience with this?
According to Wacom, the Bamboo Touch is strictly a touch tablet — it has no pen tablet capability. We haven’t tested it yet, but it seems sound as the Bamboo Pen has no touch capability. As far as other Wacom pens working on the Bamboo Pen & Touch we’ll be testing that shortly with an Intuos 4 pen on the Bamboo.
Thank you so much for the review! One thing I would like to know is, is the screen removable so that I can put a drawing under it (similar to the intuos 3)?
Also, does the pen have an eraser function?
Thanks!!!
There is no clear sheet covering the Bamboo like the older Intuos models. It is simply the touch/pen surface which is like a smooth rubber feel. That doesn’t necessarily preclude you from tracing (as long as it’s not thick paper). We’ll be doing a comparison between the Bamboo Pen & Touch and the Intuos 4 shortly. I’ll make sure to test how well the trace ability works by simply placing the sheet over the active area and seeing if it decreases the sensitivity or not.
With the pressure sensitivity, will the average person notice a difference between the 1000 of the Pen & Touch and the 2000 of the Intuos4? My wife is an artist, but I don’t know; the response of the Bamboo seems pretty good.
The response on the Bamboo is very good and the comparison between the Bamboo and the Intuos 4 is a question we get asked often. That’s why we’re happy to thank Wacom for sending us an Intuos 4 so we can finally answer that question once and for all. We’ll have a three way graphics tablet comparison review between the Bamboo Pen & Touch, Intuos 4 and Genius G-Pen M712X next week. And if you have a specific area you’d like us to focus in (pressure sensitivity, tracing, tilt, etc.), please post it in the comments.
I appreciate the review here as well as great Q&A. Looking at this being my first tablet purchase mostly for prosumer-level Photoshop editing + basic windows navigation, so would appreciate user comments on the size of tablet most prefer to work with. The Bamboo Pen & Touch and Craft models seem small to look at compared to medium sized Fun model, but what do most like working with? Do most who use the small versions of tablets find that they wished their budgets had allowed for bigger? Is bigger always better?
Can i go to their webpage and install the driver from using the cd.
Wacom has all of their tablet drivers available online. There’s no need for CD. Actually, we recommend you download from the website directly when you get your Wacom tablet as they’ll have the most recent update.
Hi!
Thanks for your review. I’m thinking on buy one of these to my boyfriend, but he uses Ubuntu. Does this tablet work in Linux?
Thanks!
The new Bamboo line doesn’t work with Linux, at least not natively. There is the Linux Wacom Project which works on patches for Wacom products and Linux OS’s. I don’t think they’ve successfully built a patch yet so you’d probably be best going with an older Intuos.
does the pen and touch work for drawing sites?
Yes. It will act the same as a mouse with click held down when the pen has contact with the pad.
Hey, I just wanted to say thanks so much for the review; reading the comments here has been equally helpful.
i cant find the answer to this anywhere…i have recently purchased a bamboo fun pen and touch medium tablet, i have installed all the drivers and also the bundle of software, but when i tried to use my tablet on photoshop and corel painter the pen was not being picked up. it works fine for general desktop navigation etc, ust as soon as i try to use it on the drawing programs i bought it for. FRUSTRATING, please help if you know why this is!! thanks.
Hi, Does anyone have a Wacom Craft tablet? I am wondering how they work with Illustrator & Photoshop. I read that the tips wear out fast. Any feedback on this product would be appreciated. Thanks.
I bought Wacom Bamboo, it’s really good , but kind expensive. I also bought another brand with similar function to Wacom Bamboo
,It’s SEJAT S1211. This one works great too.
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