Pen Stylus Computing To Return On Android, Adobe Might Ride The Wave

In these days of tablets rising like a wave of oncoming ocean, it's difficult to remember the days when the Koala pad reigned supreme and I was drawing 3D boxes with a pen stylus. N-Trig, a company known mainly for Windows based touch laptops, hopes to soon change that with a big announcement to come as soon as Tuesday that'll include words of a new Android slate. This new tablet will make use of N-Trig's DuoSense technology, will allow for both pen and multitouch input, and will be shipping in the first half of next year.

Vice President of N-Trig Gary Baum spoke with the Wall Street Journal's Mobilized saying that adding a pen like they plan to do with this Android tablet will increase the cost of the pad by about $50 (no price for adding to is given.) This pen will allow pressure sensitivity and sub-pixel accuracy.

A person who finds this particular concept appealing is Adobe's vice president Michael Gough, who in another interview seems to believe this might open up doors for Adobe's creative products which are essentially lost to owners of iPads (which Mobilized says are mainly for media consumption.) Gough notes that he still carries around a Moleskine notebook around and until there's a thin and high-quality enough tablet to replace his old-fashioned pen and ink, he'll never change. He added that he did feel "a shift coming."

Gough continued, "The personal computer was actually impersonal. The tablet is personal. It's connected to you. Every time I have to use my laptop I feel it is a compromise." As for how Adobe plans on involving themselves in the next generation of technology bridging the gap, Gough said "I would say that it is obvious that there are going to be an explosion of devices in the coming year. Adobe will follow that, I think, just as much as they lead it. It all depends when the devices are in people's hands."

He continued by saying something I agree with very much, that Adobe's products have been as much a detriment to core values of craftsmanship and basic illustration skills as they've been a value, but that this might all change very soon: "One of things that I feel like we did over past 20 years convinced a whole generation of people they couldn't draw. What I think is going to happen with these more natural interfaces we are going to have this explosion of creativity. It could be quite an exciting time."

[Via Mobilized]