Bamboo Product & Technology FAQ

Yes. Bamboo will work with current and future Windows and Mac operating systems. Windows 7 will already be supported out-of-the-box in addition to Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5

The component delivering Multi-Touch functionality in Bamboo is protected by a plastic overlay. The material is very durable and the surface easily withstands forces like fingernails and watches. Bamboo is designed to minimize wear and tear from normal use. Wacom continues to design and build to the highest product reliability standards while retaining the highest customer satisfaction expectations in the industry.

Pen and touch functions are mutually exclusive. Either the pen or touch is enabled at any given time. Simultaneous operation of pen and touch is not possible. When the user approaches the tablet with a pen, touch functionality will be disabled starting from 14mm above the tablet surface. This ensures that the user can safely rest her palm on the top of the tablet without accidentally generating touch commands. The tablet features a dual colour LED that changes depending on the input mode: White for touch, orange for pen input. When the user lifts the pen more than 14mm above the tablet, touch functionality is automatically enabled again. This use of pen height to arbitrate between pen and touch ensures that the pen can be kept in the hand even when using touch.

The two lower buttons default to left click and right click to enable click functionality for those users that prefer to use buttons over tapping on the tablet surface for that purpose. Since the tablet features an ambidextrous design, 4 ExpressKeys are needed to provide the best possible ergonomics for both left- and right-handed users. The tablet is turned around by 180 degrees when switching from right-handed to left-handed mode. The top button defaults to a feature called "Touch Toggle" which enables and disables touch functionality in Bamboo. This feature may be helpful when working in pen mode for a long time avoiding accidental touch input.

The size of the tablet's touch area is almost the same size as the pen area. For Bamboo small size tablets, the touch area is 125.0 x 85.0 mm (4.92 in x 3.35 in). For Bamboo medium size tablets the touch area is 190.0 x 130.0 mm (7.48 x 5.12 in). Size is important for a positive user experience since larger area can better accommodate larger hands and allow the users hands to be more relaxed while inputting the gestures. The larger area also allows for variations on gestures, such as Add Touch to right or left; varying inputs can help users sensitive to repetitive motion strain. User benefits are better ergonomics and better performance which are an important to a better user experience.

The primary difference is Windows 7 focus on interactive direct-touch display enables manipulation of multiple objects (e.g. photos, keys on a keyboard, sliders, etc.) at the same time. This only really makes sense if the user is interacting directly with a Multi-Touch display. For this capability, the user must purchase a laptop with Multi-Touch built into the display or a certified Multi-Touch monitor. Incremental cost to your existing computer configuration is significant.

The Windows 7 Multi-Touch API is not supported. The Windows 7 API requires absolute positioning data that corresponds precisely to visual data being seen by the end-user. Only Multi-Touch displays are compliant with this requirement. Bamboo 2nd generation as a non-display pointing device cannot deliver data as requested by the Windows 7 Multi-Touch API. There are specific benefits to the Bamboo approach. Most important is that Bamboo 2nd generation offers full gesture support across all supported operating systems, thus providing all customers the benefits of touch input. Wacom's approach further provides for a very consistent experience, regardless of operating system or application. Finally, the cost of a Bamboo is nominal and the peripheral fits very naturally into a traditional desktop configuration.

Functionality related to manipulation of multiple objects or widgets simultaneously (e.g. moving multiple photos simultaneously, adjusting multiple audio sliders simultaneously, etc.) will not benefit from Bamboo Multi-Touch input. Most applications with functionality related to zoom, pan, scroll, rotate, forwards/backwards, will benefit from the Bamboo Multi-Touch experience. Bamboo 2nd generation has no special features that need to be activated by Windows 7. Developers can support Multi-Touch gestures in Bamboo 2nd generation easily and quickly. The availability of documentation will be announced soon.

Bamboo supports Multi-Touch functionality out-of-the-box on Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5 in addition to Windows 7. Bamboo will issue scroll events for the scroll gesture by default. Therefore, scrolling should automatically work in all applications with no modifications needed. Other gestures issue standard keystroke, mouse wheel, or click events. By responding to these events, an application can zoom, rotate, or implement forward and backward. The availability of documentation will be announced soon.

Scrolling works in all applications out-of-the-box. A number of applications have special support added for zooming and rotation, so these work out-of-the-box as well. Developers who are interested to enhance the customer experience should contact product management or software engineering directly. Tighter integration and support are possible, often by simply adding keystroke support and possibly with something as simple as updating an XML file within our driver.

Bamboo features the same set of gestures as provided by Apple's Multi-Touch trackpad built into latest generation notebooks. Bamboo delivers a similar experience by just using two fingers to limit the complexity of gestures and accelerate user adoption. In addition, Bamboo delivers more possibilities to perform clicks to adapt to diverse user preferences. Bamboo 2nd generation features a touch area which is significantly larger than the Apple trackpad: 33% larger for Bamboo small and 300% larger for Bamboo medium. This ensures an optimized gesture experience for all hand sizes and adequate space for gesture movements.

The touch sensor is a component customized for integration into Bamboo 2nd generation products. It features a capacitive touch sensor interface based on a programmable chip solution, is built on top of the Wacom pen sensor and is protected by a durable overlay to avoid wear and tear. The touch sensor is basically a capacitor in which the plates are the overlapping areas between the horizontal and vertical axes in a grid pattern. Since the human body also conducts electricity, a touch on the surface of the tablet affects the electric field and creates a measurable change in the capacitance of the device. The change in capacitance is used to determine coordinates where the fingers have touched and other parameters to be computed by Bamboo tablet firmware and driver. The touch sensor has no impact on the pen sensor functionality and due to its capacitive technology ignores input tools other than human fingers. It works with a light touch.

Bamboo Touch addresses consumer needs primarily related to a simpler, more natural and intuitive input experience on computers that does not include pen applications. The tablet is more compact in size than other Bamboo products without compromising the active touch area. It can be transported or stored more easily still delivering the full Bamboo Multi-Touch functionality. Thus Bamboo Touch serves a purpose as an affordable, innovative and well designed product in the Bamboo range.

Bamboo Pen addresses consumer needs primarily related to Wacom's advanced pen functionality. A few simple strokes with Bamboo Pen and a doodle, a signature, a painting, a photo edit, a mark is done. With Bamboo Pen communication will become individual, a mark of personality. Bamboo Pen delivers a rich pen experience for personal and creative expression at an attractive price point.