Wacom Intuos4 Wireless – Same as its predecessor but with Bluetooth

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Attractive looks, design is well thought, pen operation is extremely fluid.

Thumbs Down:

Doesn’t come bundled with mouse or Bluetooth adapter, schmutz is very visible on the grip of black pen, buttons could have a better tactile differentiation, mouse feels a bit awkward, while configuring it needs more real time feedback, plastic panel is glossy and attracts a lot of fingerprints.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Inside the package:

• Intuos4 pen tablet
• Intuos4 mouse
• Intuos4 Grip Pen
• Pen stand
• Ten replacement nibs (1 flex nib, 5 standard nibs, 3 hard felt nibs, and a stroke nib)
• 2.5m USB cable
• Nib extractor
• Quick Start Guide
• Installation CD (includes electronic user manual and software for tablet driver)

System Requirements:

Microsoft® Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.4.8+, Windows XP (SP2), Windows Vista. Other requirements – powered USB port, color display, DVD/CD drive, & broadband connection for downloading the bundled software

Razzle Dazzle:

Wacom Intuos4 Wireless’s looks have been radically updated. On the sides, there is a shiny plastic black control panel and it is matte black. There are 8 dynamically labeled programmable ExpressKeys and a programmable four function dial Touch Dial like an iPod. Usability wise, this device is far better than its predecessor. The pen come with a better responsive tip sensor and it also supports 2,048 sensitivity levels as compared to its predecessor’s 1,024. The response curve is tweaked for this device and this increases the sensitivity of the pressures that are lighter. Overall, it gives you a fluid feel.

Inside Dope:

It’s been almost a year since Wacom launched Intuos4 series, an excellent graphics tablet and now they have come up with wireless Bluetooth for the same. You will have to pay $50 more for this as compared to the USB sibling. This device is an excellent option for illustrators or artists while they are traveling. We will also recommend this to people who hate lurking wires.

Wacom Intuos4 Wireless is powered by lithium ion battery which is replaceable and charges through USB. You need a driver on your computer for this and has to be charged before you use it wirelessly. Setting up the Bluetooth is easy, you switch on the device and press the “I’m here” button. You computer will then detect the device and treat it like a mouse.

Wacom Intuos4 Wireless has a power saving feature up its sleeve, the device goes in to sleep mode after thirty minutes of inactivity. The driver puts an icon on the status are which gives you the battery juice information. However, when connected through USB, you don’t get this. Battery life is rated at 18 hours by the manufacturer but it doesn’t include continuous usage. You can also charge the unit through USB. We were a bit wary of charging the battery. The manual says if it remains in side the tablet for too long (a week or more) with low charge with the power switch on, the internal protection circuit inside the battery is activated as the battery is discharged with the available current. If this happens you wont be able to charge the battery anymore. Replacement batteries cost $39-$49.

We also had some problems with detection. We had to use Bluetooth Setup Assistant on the MacBook Pro with OS X 10.5.8. There was a problem on Windows Vista too (Business, 64-bit) we had to run an install several times even after the device was detected. Apart from that, this device is similar to the wired model which we reviewed ago. Operation is smooth and there are no hiccups which we are used to seeing on Bluetooth keyboards and mice.

The manufacturer says that the life cycle of the tip is increased to twenty million strokes and on the tablet’s edges; the signal to noise performance is also improved. We didn’t test this, but 6D Art Pen’s newer version is now cylindrical and when upright, it rotates uniformly.

Apart from redesigning the tablet, the product line is also configured to four sizes, small, medium, large and extra large. We got the medium one in our labs for reviews. They are bigger than what we saw on Intuos 3’s counterparts and apart from the size accommodations, they are all similar. For instance, the small unit doesn’t have LED labels close to the ExpressKeys and has a single USB jack and the extra large comes with captured USB cord.

The ExpressKeys are defaulted to Ctrl, Alt, Shift or equivalent buttons on Mac. Use can also use them for scroll/pan, display toggle, jumping the cursor within the two displays. The Precision Mode shrinks the mapping of screen to tablet to a smaller area for working with pixel level editing more in Photoshop CS4. It brings up onscreen cheat sheet of the functions which are currently assigned. There is also a Radial Menu which is a user programmable onscreen menu for operations of single functions. It has presets for operations like paste, cut and copy. There are also media controls for video and music. There are 4 presets for TouchDial – canvas rotation, brush size, cycle layers and auto scroll/zoom.

It is not easy to get around used to the Wacom Intuos4 Wireless quickly. We watched the tutorial on the disc and also the demo but even after that, it took some time for the acclimation. I had to use the documentation for help but after a while things went fine.

Nitty Gritty:

Wacom Intuos4 Wireless is improved upon as compared to its predecessor and it now comes with Bluetooth.

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