Lately I have been bored of using a keypad for entering text so finally got an Ball Pen Tablet. One of the first advantages being the product worked on my machine ( Windows Vista UE) without the need to install any additional software. With a bit of configuration I was up and running and writing this review with the pen. One great advantage of using the pen being that, I need not use mouse or keypad fordoing most of the tasks like clicking and entering prose text. Further, the tablet Input panel provided by Vista is really fantastic in handwriting recognition. It also sports a automated spellchecker. I also used the system with GTalk and had no problem text chatting with it. So far have only one complaint about the writing recognition Software, which is not really able to distinguish my I and J properly. In any case its a big boon for papa who are not really comfortable using a keypad. However if you use a Keypad and are good at typing then you may find any the Pen a bit cumbersome at first, but will definitely enjoy using it. Deleting text is as simple as striking off the word. And using it to Paint Some Stuff is another pleasant job. In all I find this product really useful for people with slow typing speed. And I must also mention that the Vista's inbuilt handwriting recognition is d really fascinating and enjoying tool to use. Which to some extent is not good as even if you have a bad handwriting (like mine) , the Vista tool recognizes the stuff and you hardly try to improve!
67 comments:
hi there, i stumbled upon your blog while searching for reviews of the iBall pen tablet.
can you please tell me if you are using the iBall 8060U [http://iball.co.in/inner/show_product_details2.asp?catid=18&pid=86]
and can you also tell me how much did you shell out for that?
Are you finding it convenient to use? I am a graphics artist, and cannot afford a wacom, so was planning to buy this. Can you please share your insights on the same..
thanks :)
Thanks for the iball tablet review.
are using the iBall 8060U? and can you also tell me how much did you shell out for that?
I am a graphics artist, and cannot afford a wacom, so was planning to buy this. Can you please share your insights on the same.
thanks in anticipation...
dear amit,
thanks for the comments.. but i am not using 8060U, but a much basic version:
http://iball.co.in/inner/show_product_details2.asp?catid=18&pid=83
i am not a graphics designer, but i find that useful for my daily tasks..
IBall PF1209 Vs Wacom Intuos3
Ok...I was looking for a digital tablet and I know Wacom Intuos3 is the way to go.
But, the price is something that was bothering me. A decent 12x9 A4 Intuos3 will cost you around Rs 20,000/-.
While I was hesitating on it, I came across this IBall PF1209 digital tablet pen. It costs around Rs 9000/- and comes in A4 9x12 size.
Now, the big question for me was, with half the price of Intuos3, will PF1209 compromise on quality too?
I have compared the technical specifications of both products.
Both have a pressure sensitivity levels of 1024, Report rate of 200rps, and tilt angle detection up to 60 degrees. Till this point, technically they are same.
But, the difference was with Resolution. While Intuos boasted about 5000 lpi (lines per inch), PF1209 simply put it at 2000 lpi. Does the reduced resolution affect the sensitivity? There is only one way to find out. By actually testing it.
When I connected the tablet to an XP machine, it started functioning right away. The USB detected the PF1209 as is and worked fine with PaintBrush etc... However, you have to install the supplied drivers to start using the 'pressure sensitivity' option. Once the drivers are installed, you can control the 'sensitivity' to your liking.
Once all drivers are setup, you would find the PF1209 to be performing excellently. It is accurate and responsive. You would need to train yourself a little bit with the pressure sensitivity though.
Another big difference you would find between Intuos3 and PF1209 is that the former has additional button and touch strip on the tablet itself, which makes it very convenient to work with. The PF1209 does not have any buttons on it - but wait, it has a whole horizontal software 'programmable' line near its top, that makes you forget the hardware buttons.
On the top of PF1209 active area, you can find many quick access 'soft' buttons (that you click with the pen to simulate that action). The buttons are 'New', 'open', 'copy', 'paste', 'undo, 'redo' etc... All these are programmable through the driver software that ships with the product.
All in all, this is a great product in reasonable price. May be less in price than Intuos 3, but does not lack in features or quality. Highly recommended.
By,
Gopalakrishna Palem
http://www.geocities.com/krishnapg/
Hi Ganesh
I am not very computer savy except for some basics. My sis presented me a i ball digital pen tablet 4030 u. I just installed the driver and dont know how to use it. Can you help me plz
Hello Ganesh,
Is the pen battery free, if not how often do you need to change?
Shailendra,
The pen is not battery free. It takes one AAA type battery.
You will have to gently pull it open for larger metal portion of the pen to replace the battery.
Ganesh
Can you draw with this kind of pen?
Yes you can draw pretty well using this pen
hi ganesh,
i have iball pen tablet of 4.12version. the installation procedure given for windows older versions, now i am using windows 7. dont know how to install this . can u help me pls..
On windows 7 it is just plug and play. the provided software may not work with windows 7.
Hai Ganesh, I want to purchase a good quality Tablet.
Though I am quite good at typing, I want to shift myself to writing mode for data input.
I have the stock of about 50 pages a day. Will the Tablet meet with my requirement?
Will you please guide me?
Ashish,
For the kind of your requirement I wont suggest this piece. Because the writing area is quite small. You might want to try one with more writing area, possibly the size of an A4 or bit less.
Cheers
hi ganesh,
thanks 4 the grt info. planing to by 8060u (A5), any suggestion?
balaji,
not used this particular model, but it seems to be reasonably priced for what it offers.
cheers
ganesh
Calve,
Sorry saw the comment a bit too late.. Guess you would have already figured how to use this.. Its pretty simple just position the pen over the pad as use it as you would write on a notebook with a pen.
Lot of applications like Paint, MS Journal, One Note etc can be used with this. You may also use free ones like Jarnal or Xournal especially if you are using Linux.
cheers
ganesh
Hi Ganesh,
I am planning to buy this product.I will be basically using this for drawing purpose.
Will be using this only for 2 years. After that planning to switch to Wacom.
Is this worth for a buy ?
And will it work with windows 7 ?
Rohan,
If you are anyway planning to switch to Wacom, I would advice you to get that instead. I have also used Wacom (Bamboo) and is definitely worth the money you invest in.
The iBall works well without any problems on Windows 7. But, unlike Wacom Bamboo there is no pressure sensitivity with iBall, which I guess would be important for you for drawing purposes.
cheers
ganesh
Hi
I am using iBall pen tablet 8060u.
but I dont have any driver software for iBall pen tablet 8060u. Pls any one can share?
Thanks
Kubendran
Dear Kubendran,
You can get the latest drivers from the official iBall site:
http://www.iball.co.in/Download.aspx
cheers
ganesh
Hello Ganesh,
Hope you can help me on this.I've bought this I ball tablet in April and now it does not work.The product is: Pen Tablet 8060U (20.32cms x 15.24cms).I'm unable to use it, but the green light indicator on the tablet glows when I touch it with pen.What could be the reason? Should I re install the drivers or what? Please respond for this.
Thanks
madhu sirmani
Hi, I bought this Pen Tablet 8060U (20.32cms x 15.24cms) in April and it was working fine for 4 months.Now I'm unable to use.Can't figure out what went wrong.I've replaced the pen's tip, but of no use.Should I re install the dirvers? Please help me in this regard.
madhu,
i am not sure if i can be of much help here. does the device light work? if not try using a different USB port. if that too doesn't work you may try to reinstall the driver. last option is to take it to the guy from whom you purchased it.
cheers
ganesh
hi,
can any one tell me how to intergrate the same with openoffice?
hi,
can any one tell me how to integarte this with openofice?
i have a iball graphic tablet 8060U , however the pen isn't working....the tablet doesn't even recognize it....what should i do??? O_O!!!
Anshul, Not sure what you mean by integrating with OO. You can always use it with OO Draw if you want it for sketching. If you are asking for inking support as with MS Word, that is not available as far as I know.
shrijanand, see previous comments for possible answer to your problem. hope it helps!
Hello All,
I came upon your blog while searhing for iBall Pen tablets and iBall Take note.I wanted to know if the iBall Pen Tablet is stand alone device or has to be connected to the PC during use. As i am an architect, i would require the device for commenting on previously done drawings, corrections, taking notes on drawings at site etc.Also it would be great if you could tell if the iBall Take Note can be used like the pen tablet to open webpages,tag pdf files etc leaving the pressure sensitive applications.Your input would be valuable for my decision.Thanks,
Priya,
iBall pen tablet is not a standalone device. It needs to be used with a PC.
iBall take note is standalone. I have not used Take note myself, so can't say a lot about it. But reading the specs (http://iball.co.in/Product.aspx?c=16) it appears that it can't be used a regular Pen Tablet.
Also given your requirement (editing architectural drawings), I am not entirely sure if either of these is optimal.
If your architectural drawings are in electronic form then you should consider something like (http://iball.co.in/Product.aspx?c=16) that has pressure sensitivity.
Hope this is somewhat helpful!
cheers
ganesh
Thanks Ganesh
hi
i have pen tablet 8060, the software cd is not working because of scratches and i need to install the tablet software again.
so please if anybody know where to download the software, provide the links here.
vk,
u can download from:
http://iball.co.in/Drivers/49/Windows7VistaXP%20Driver.zip
http://iball.co.in/Drivers/49/TabletSoftware%20for%20Windows7VistaXP.zip
- ganesh
I am planning to undertake online teaching of science subjects for college students. For this I will need to use the 'whiteboard' feature wherein I will have to quickly draw some diagrams and write equations on the whiteboard which will be shared with the online students.
For this requirement, I intend using a Pen Tablet connected to my PC running Windows Vista. I have three questions:
A. Would iBall model 4030U suit the requirement? Should the tablet writing area be of A4 size?
B. Whenever I draw something on the tablet, does it immediately appear on the screen?
C. Where in Pune one can have a demo of iBall pen tablet?
Please advise on the above points.
Ajay,
Good idea to use the tablet for teaching!
Regarding your Qs:
A. I guess if you intended to draw a diagram or write an eqn the size of 4030u should be just fine. If you write "tonnes" of eqn in a single page A4 size would be a better go.
In most cases though, if you use a program like Paint or Paint.Net or the MS Journal (i guess this comes bundeled with Vista) even 4030u can be used to write more text.
B. Yes, but you need a program to capture it. I would recommend you to give MS Journal a try.
C. Not aware where you can get a demo of the unit in Pune. I bought mine from DCC, Deccan. But don't remember seeing a demo unit there. But then this was quit a long time back.
hope this helps,
cheers
ganesh
Hi Ganesh,
Request one advise from you.
I blog in Marathi, but the process is rather painful (writing it manually, then transliterating it with likes of Baraha).
I want to simplify it using tablet like Wacom / iBall, where whatever i write on tablet will be converted to devanagari unicode text.
Is this possible with Wacom / iBall? What are the additional softwares which I may require? Is the same possible on tablet PC's like iPad?
Please help!
--
Aditya
आदित्य,
I am not aware of any work or product for continuous handwriting recognition in Indic languages. There is some work underway at HP labs India, called LipiTk (http://lipitk.sourceforge.net/), but haven't tried myself.
Another alternative is to use translitrator built into Windows like: http://specials.msn.co.in/ilit/Marathi.aspx
But then this is keyboard based solution. Not exactly using the tablet or touch screen.
Also not aware of Apps on iPad, not having used myself.
गणेश
धन्यवाद गणेश! "लिपी टूल किट"चा या दिशेने जोरदार प्रयत्न चालू आहे असं दिसतंय.
Keyboard based solutions मध्ये मला "बराहा" जास्त आवडतं, कारण ते ऑफ लाईन पण वापरता येतं.
आपल्याशी बोलून आनंद झाला! संपर्कात रहा! माझा इमेल पत्ता आहे adityapanse[at]gmail.com
--
आदित्य
hi ganesh
i have i ball tablet using with windows xp am planing to upgrade my os with windows 7 64bit. is i ball tablet clearly works with windows 7, can i get any drivers for windows7. earlier i have a problem with the pressure sensitivity in windows 7.
like am from graphic background i use photoshop corel painter like painting softwares.
please give me some solution.
srinivas,
i have used this with Windows 7 32-bit, and it works very well with it.
i am not sure about the 64-bit version though, as i have not tested it myself.
cheers,
ganesh
hi ganesh
installed 4030u successfully. Unable to operate, no reaction on screen when i use pen. The product is new and battery installed in pen. Also usb ports changed and device redetected successfully. Now my question: How do i know whether this device is working, any suggestions. What indication should i look out for? Indicator on pad is not glowing..There seems to be some sort of indicator on pen, should it glow??
balaji v rao
hi balaji,
possibly you should reinstall the drivers. ideally you should be able to use it as a pointing device as soon as it starts to work. the indicator on the tablet glows .. am not sure of the pen though.
hope this helps
i am planning to buy a pen tablet. what should i choose between BAMBOO CTL460 or iBall 8060U. i am gonna use it for notes taking and drawing purpose. my budget is around 6000 rs.
I am planning to buy a pen tablet. what is the best option between BAMBOO CTL460 and iball 8060U. i am gonna use it for notes and drawing purpose.
surendar,
i currently have bamboo cth460, which i mostly use of sketching. i don't think it is good for note making, especially if you are writing long notes ( i use my asus tablet instead for this ).
iball 8060U has similar features as bamboo, though am not sure if the back tip of the pen works as eraser (which i find very useful when sketching).
hope this helps,
ganesh
hey ganesh, thanks for a nice post. i just want to ask a one line question pls, which one out of iball PF1209 and wacom bamboo pen tab is better.actually i want to use the pen tablet for teaching purpose and for taking my notes digitally.
thanks
hi ankit,
I think both should serve good. Although I find that the wacom bamboo pen tablet is slightly better for sketching and drawing.
cheers
ganesh
thanks Ganesh. just one more thing,actually i may sound a bit stupid as i am planning to use pen tablets very first time but how does the size of pen effective area really affects the convenience and having a real time experience of writing just as in actual notebook.. .. iball PF1209 has 12 x 9-inch (30.5 x 22.9cm) of pen effective area but wacom bamboo has lesser than this....!!
@ankit for writing text, it will not be as convenient as using a screen with digitizer pen. you will have to get used to this. as the geometry mapping of the pen tablet to the screen is not 1:1, it will be inconvenient; depending on how big is your screen and also the resolution map offered by the pen tablet.
hi ganesh , i am using iballpf1209 , suppose i do my signature in paint and want that it should be saved automatically in some folder which i create .......plz guide me to do this
Tasleem, I don't think this is possible with default paint application.
my tablets pen is not working. is that possible to bye just pen?
my tablets pen is not working. is that possible to bye just pen?
is that possible to bye only the pen for the i ball tablet. because my tablets pen not workng
Jyothy, Not sure if just buying the pen is possible. Possibly you should go to iBall service center (http://www.iball.co.in/Service_Centres) and ask them for parts replacement.
hello sir
i am a student of msc physics and needs to take a lot of notes and drawings also in the class . i just wanted your guidance choosing a good pen tablet using which i can note down all my class notes or stuff like that and then after the class transfer it in my laptop smasung np300 series.please help sir
regards
yogesh punia
Yogesh,
I would suggest using a tablet with digitizer along with Microsoft Onenote to take notes. This is the most convenient and best note making combination.
However, tablets with digitizer are a bit expensive.
An alternative is to use something like Take Note: http://www.iball.co.in/Category/Take-Note/188
Normal pen tablets are not really good for taking lengthy notes.
- ganesh
Mr. Ganesh,
My tablet pen is not working. How do I buy a new pen for my tablet?
I am using PF1209, 12" x 9" iball pen tablet.
Appreciate your answers :).
Thanks,
Bhavesh Gosai
Hi There,
Can any one help me how to buy a new pen for my tablet. Because my pen is broken by mistake. I supposed to buy a new one.
Thanks,
Bhavesh Gosai
Dear Bhavesh,
What exactly do you use the pen tablet for? I may not be able to suggest you a specific model, but you may look at Wacom tablets here (they are pretty good for drawing and sketches):
http://www.flipkart.com/search?q=wacom+pen+tablet&as=on&as-show=on&otracker=start&as-pos=4_q
With respect to iBall, I have not been keeping track of their latest products.
cheers
ganesh
Ganesh, thanks for writing this blog. It helped me with the decision to select the pen tablet. Also, big thanks to Gopalkrishna (KrishnaPG) for writing a detailed comparison of bamboo tablet with similar size.
Hi Ganesh,
I am planning on buying one these iball digitizers for writing word documents on a regular basis. Is the output directly in Digital Fonts ( such as times new roman) or you have to install or activate some third party application or activate any feature in windows.
Hi Nikhil,
You will need a handwriting recognition software. You can use the Windows OS inbuilt recognizer for that, although it will only support English.
cheers
ganesh
Hello Ganesh,
My father needs to digitize his notes. He finds typing inconvenient, so will this device help him to convert his notes written in longhand on the tablet-screen into MS WORD or Text document? Thanks!
D. Basu
Dear Basu,
No I won't recommend this for conventing to MS Word / Text document. I would instead suggest newer 2-in-one, or more specifically a Microsoft Surface tablet with pen for this purpose.
Regards
Ganesh
While I am using iball pen digitizer model: 8064, it say out of memory..there after system hangs.. application automatically closes in the middle..how to fix this problem?
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