The Windows 10 Review: The Old & New Face of Windows
by Brett Howse on August 25, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Operating Systems
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Digital Inking gets a Promotion
Microsoft launched the Surface Pro with a Wacom stylus, and the Surface Pro 3 switched that up to a N-Trig model. Microsoft ended up buying the N-Trig pen technology outright, and they now offer pen support in the smaller, less expensive Surface 3 model.
They have had a good response to the stylus input support, and some of their first-party apps like OneNote and Fresh Paint have great stylus support. Using the rest of the operating system with the stylus was more for easier selection of items, and navigation. That is of course still there, but the stylus has gotten a big promotion in Windows 10.
With this release, the system now supports pen input for any text field. Let me say this again. Any text field now supports pen input. Even desktop apps like Skype can be written to with the stylus now, and that is a big change over previous versions of Windows.
And, the text support is really good. I have, well let’s be honest here, I have atrocious handwriting. Windows 10 consistently had no issues knowing what I was writing and getting the right word added. It also offers a text correction box so you can tap on a word to correct it if it wasn’t right, much like a touch keyboard offers.
Some 3rd party tools have tried to emulate this, but it is really hard to compete with built in tools, and this addition to Windows 10 really moves the operating system forward for anyone who loves to use a stylus as an input tool. Before, you had to use in in combination with the touch keyboard, but now you can drastically increase text input by using a pen.
If you look ahead, you can see that this may also be a big feature of Windows 10 Mobile, coming to smaller tablets and phones in the near future. This should be a nice benefit to those devices, and the rumblings are that the new flagship Windows 10 Mobile devices from Microsoft are going to come with stylus support.
To a big chunk of users, adding pen support as a first-class citizen may not seem like a big deal, but going forward it may end up as one of the differentiators for the platform. For those that do have a device with pen support already, you are going to find it to be a big change that is very welcome.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
293 Comments
View All Comments
StevoLincolnite - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
FINALLY! And First. :Pwebmastir - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
Typical YouTube user.dsumanik - Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - link
Would just like to say this is the first Non garbage pseudo viral marketing advertisement "review" I've read on Anandtech in months. Well done sir.Please pass on some editorial tips to Joshua Ho and Brandon Chester, imho, the two most corrupt authors working for this publication.
kenansadhu - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
Came to a house and insult the owner. Classy.ddriver - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
If truth is insulting to the owner, he outta stop and think about what he is doing.Windows 10 is the worlds largest and most obnoxious spyware, and it just sucks to see how many people are getting paid to shower it with accolades.
quidpro - Tuesday, September 1, 2015 - link
MS is allowed to compete with Google, Apple, and Facebook, or anything else you may have account for and are willing to sign in with which adds convenience of syncing of personal info across devices. To lambaste MS for playing catch-up is ridiculous. A keyboard on an android phone or iphone "tracks your keypresses". It has to. You can't have GPS and turn by turn worth having without allowing a service know where you are or where you intend to go. You can't have your contacts pulled down across devices unless you allow for access to your data. You can't get from one website to another without divulging your IP. This is the way things are. These are the services people want to make their lives easier and better. Windows 10 isn't the most obnoxious, it's just late to the game. As is your criticism.ibudic1 - Saturday, November 7, 2015 - link
dittobs grinder - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
how many pieces of silver does ms pay u for ur quid pro bs????john rayburn Williamsburg nm
Lerianis - Thursday, October 1, 2015 - link
ddriver, cut the bull. Windows 10 tells you EVERY SINGLE THING that it will send back to Microsoft and allows you to opt-out or turn off the functionality that requires that stuff being sent back to Microsoft.Not a big issue in the real world and it is past time to realize that Windows 10 is not spyware anymore than OSX or Linux are.
zman58 - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link
You are dreaming, you have no idea what is or could be gathered and sent at any point in time. Read the EULA, you agree and bless whatever they decide to collect and send for whatever reason they see fit. And you give up far more than that when you click "I agree".