Stylus calibration on Windows 8 tablets

[mgmueller]

I've got a vast collection of PDFs for business on my Windows 8 tablets.
I use the WACOM stylus on Microsoft Surface Pro and Dell Latitude 10, to add notes and comments.

My problem:
The stylus on Surface Pro is off a few millimeters on the left side and even worse so in the upper left corner.
The stylus on Dell Latitude 10 had been more accurate, but seems to get worse now over time.

Did any of you calibrate their stylus on Windows 8?

If so: Did you use the standard calibration? Or the 100 or 273 points calibration described in the XDA forum?

Did you install the WACOM Feel driver?

How do you calibrate exactly? Do you hold the pen perpendicular? Or in the normal holding position (45 degree angle or something like that)?

Whatever I try:
The WACOM Feel driver doesn't help at all.
The 273 point calibration makes for some minor difference, but not much.
The standard calibration doesn't seem to make any difference at all.
Some users claim, a few millimeters off in the corners would be normal for WACOM (I didn't have this on my iRex readers, though). Others claim, on their tablet the stylus is perfectly accurate.
But looking at the huge number of tips in the web, it seems to be a significant problem. Not only on Surface Pro, but most of the other WACOM tablets as well.

For my personal usage pattern, it's not a total showstopper. Still annoying though...

[Kumabjorn]

The 273 Point calibration is rather troublesome, and if you do it at an unfortunate time a firmware update may ruin your result. I did it, simply out of curiosity, and I could not discern any improvement, but I took that as a sign that my SP2 already was optimized (and I haven't had any edge problems with it). In real life usage, unless it is excacerbated somehow, I don't believe it would even annoying. In OneNote you have a never ending page to write on so all you have to do is move the page to be continue your inking, and I believe that is the case in graphic applications like PS as well.

[mgmueller]

After quite a few tests, my experience:
The WACOM Feel Driver kills it for me.
There's a tip in the XDA forum, how to use the enhanced calibrations, even though the Feel Driver is installed. I can't make that work.
With Feel driver installed, it's way more off than without.
With the Feel driver, 1cm from the left it's getting off and more and more so the closer I get to the bezel. And the upper left corner is totally off, more than 5mm.
Without Feel driver, I use the 130 points calibration from the XDA forum. Then it's okay. In the upper left corner it's about 1mm off, which is acceptable. The rest is more or less flawless, even the left 1cm that's so much off with the Feel Driver installed.
One flaw remains, though: Calibration only works in landscape mode. There's no separate mode for portrait format. In portrait, all is off about 2mm, which is too much for my needs. So I have to stick to landscape. In general, that's okay. More convenient to hold the tablet anyway. But it still annoys me and I'll opt for tablets without WACOM stylus the next time. I'd rather have no stylus, than such an inaccurate concept.
Interesting enough: The WACOM stylus on my Dell Latitude 10 is slightly more accurate than the ones on Microsoft Surface Pro. I've got 3 Surface Pros, so it can't be an isolated issue. Some say, it's the keyboard. Others say, it's the battery. Whatever it may be, there seem to be differences with WACOM precision on the different brands. But even the more precise one on Dell Latitude 10 is far from perfect...

[Kumabjorn]

Interestingly, I don't have any off these issues on any of my Galaxy Notes. If you're in the 30 day no questions asked return window why not use that?

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Interestingly, I don't have any off these issues on any of my Galaxy Notes. If you're in the 30 day no questions asked return window why not use that?

I've never had any Galaxy Note bigger than the N7000 with 5.3". I didn't see any offset, but on such a small display I couldn't make much use of the stylus and didn't have much options to test it out anyway.
I have less offset on my Dell Latitude 10 without any calibration at all. So it seems to be Surface Pro specific. And since some users claim gigantic offset and others none at all, there seems to be a huge range of precision.

I didn't have this on my iRex units either. And the WACOM graphic tablets are market leader, so I can't imagine it's a general flaw (although many users state, WACOM always would have those problems in the corners).

I'm way above the 30 days period. I've got mine in the very first batch in Germany about 3 months ago.
The inaccuracy only became obvious after having installed the WACOM Feel Driver. Quite frankly, I don't even need that driver. I have no demand for additional pressure sensitivity, so for now I do without the WACOM driver.
But when seeing the enormous offset with the WACOM driver, I've tested the various scenarios: With/without WACOM driver, standard calibration, Feel Driver calibration, numerous XDA calibrations (130 points, 273 points, ...).
And the more I looked into it, the more potential flaws I saw.
Now I've got a good enough calibration. It's only off on the left side (starting slowly 1cm from the left bezel and getting bigger the closer I get to the bezel, eventually being 1mm close to the bezel) and less than 1mm. Even in the upper left corner it's "only" about 1mm. (I easily can compensate this 1mm by holding the stylus slightly different = more perpendicular than usual). I probably even could further optimize it, by being more careful with the 130 points calibration I'm using now and testing the calibrations especially in the upper left corner. But since one rarely needs the upper left corner, I'm fine with this kind of offset. But now I've seen, how inaccurate it's in portrait mode (about 1mm off everywhere). And I don't find any way to optimize this. Not really important, one probably wouldn't use it in portrait anyway. But since I've seen it...

Is yours not off in portrait mode? Is it perfectly calibrated on both modes (landscape and portrait)?

I guess, it's a typical Windows problem: You've got sheer endless options and eventually will stumble into one with problems. Whereas on Android and even more so on iOS, your options are extremely limited. You've got half a dozen applications and that's it.

[rem736]

i have the dell venue 8 pro and use a bluetooth mouse as my pointing device (along with a bluetooth keyboard). no stylus. no problems with accuracy.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by rem736

i have the dell venue 8 pro and use a bluetooth mouse as my pointing device (along with a bluetooth keyboard). no stylus. no problems with accuracy.

I've got the Microsoft Wedge Mouse, the Apple TouchPad, the Logitech TouchPad and so on. All perfect for the OS (moving Windows in the desktop and such).
But I want to jot down notes in OneNote and similar apps and this only can be done with a stylus. And I'm a stickler to details: Even if I don't need the stylus - since I've got it, it has to work flawlessly at least once...

[Kumabjorn]

It seems the Microsoft driver was developed when you didn't rotate screens. My information is that a new driver is in the pipeline, at least they are aware of the problem.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

It seems the Microsoft driver was developed when you didn't rotate screens. My information is that a new driver is in the pipeline, at least they are aware of the problem.

For when do you expect your Asus Windows 8 8" tablet?
My Dell Venue 8 Pro is scheduled for March 6th. More than 3 weeks for a standard configuration. No wonder, Dell and the likes have such enormous problems re. reputation and finances...

[Kumabjorn]

I've decided against it, I will wait for something a little more high end, less plastic, more storage. Better drivers, less need for scaling. I'm a but annoyed with bezel on the Surface Pro 2, do a small bezel will also be required before I open my purse.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I've decided against it, I will wait for something a little more high end, less plastic, more storage. Better drivers, less need for scaling. I'm a but annoyed with bezel on the Surface Pro 2, do a small bezel will also be required before I open my purse.

What annoys you about the bezel?
I find the swiping gestures quite helpful, liked them on BlackBerry PlayBook and HP TouchPad before as well. I guess, a smaller bezel would be difficult for the swiping gestures. And personally, I wouldn't want to have it any smaller to still hold it conveniently enough.

"Need for scaling"? When do you scale? I've got 125% on the desktop and never touched it again. But I still have to test on an 8" unit of course.

I haven't seen the Dell Venue 8 Pro in action yet. But I was positively surprised of the build quality of Asus VivoTab Smart. And Dell Latitude 10 is of excellent build quality, but then again it's a € 900 tablet, not a bargain unit.

[Sweetpea]

My Asus is on route to me... It was shipped the 17th and I think it'll take about 3-5 days (silly, I know, I could drive it in half a day!). I have no experience with any wacom stylusses at all (the pen on my Flyer is always a bit slow, so I'm used to that), but I'll see if I can find out what exactly you mean...

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

What annoys you about the bezel?
I find the swiping gestures quite helpful, liked them on BlackBerry PlayBook and HP TouchPad before as well. I guess, a smaller bezel would be difficult for the swiping gestures. And personally, I wouldn't want to have it any smaller to still hold it conveniently enough.

"Need for scaling"? When do you scale? I've got 125% on the desktop and never touched it again. But I still have to test on an 8" unit of course.

I haven't seen the Dell Venue 8 Pro in action yet. But I was positively surprised of the build quality of Asus VivoTab Smart. And Dell Latitude 10 is of excellent build quality, but then again it's a € 900 tablet, not a bargain unit.

I think there is room for more screen real estate, the device doesn't need to be smaller, just the bezel, hence more screen in the same form factor. I don't think it will affect the swipe gestures, but I could be wrong.

I need to adjust scaling depending on what Desktop applications I'm running, in portrait mode Office 2013 apps get very cramped tool ribbons, Metro apps are off course not affected by this. If I want to use the Japanese IME pad with stylus I have to take it back to 100%, otherwise stylus input will not be accepted, it's an odd anomaly but I haven't found any other solution.

I just got an Iiyama 21.5" monitor as a second display for the Surface, I intended to use it with a USB to HDMI dongle I have but the Surface didn't support that setup, so now I have to get the Microsoft Mini Display Port adapter, sends to me this is done on purpose by Microsoft.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

My Asus is on route to me... It was shipped the 17th and I think it'll take about 3-5 days (silly, I know, I could drive it in half a day!). I have no experience with any wacom stylusses at all (the pen on my Flyer is always a bit slow, so I'm used to that), but I'll see if I can find out what exactly you mean...

Please share your experience when you have used it for a week or so.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

My Asus is on route to me... It was shipped the 17th and I think it'll take about 3-5 days (silly, I know, I could drive it in half a day!). I have no experience with any wacom stylusses at all (the pen on my Flyer is always a bit slow, so I'm used to that), but I'll see if I can find out what exactly you mean...

That's surprisingly fast.
All websites I saw stated "available on March 17th".
Where did you order from?