[khanh]

Unfortunately, the pen you bought is for the graphic tablet variant (the kind you plug into your laptop and draw while look up at your laptop screen). It has different frequency from the Tablet PC variants. It won’t work with the Cube Mix Plus, no matter what you do.

For the Cube Mix Plus, it use same kind of digitizer panel as the Samsung  Note Series, Thinkpad X220T , Hp 2760p , Fujitsu T902….  so either of their pen would work with the Cube Mix Plus. This full sized Samsung pen is a good choice. It’s affordable, and while not feel as good  in hand as the graphic tablet pen but work great.

[khanh]

Okay, now that is a bit unfair here.

The 2GB ram Surface 3 with no accessory cost 399$, twice as much as the Ezpad with pen and keyboard included. The T102HA is no doubt a better deal with 4Gig ram, keyboard and pen included, but it still also cost 399$, enough to buy 2 Ezpad.

The pen function is also not horrible at all, it’s the included stock pen that is to be blamed. Buy a 10$ Samsung s-pen off ebay and drawing on the Ezpad will be as good as on a Samsung note. It’s the same Wacom tech that power the note phone, hundred times better than the Chinese homebrew stylus tech in the Chuwi Hi 12.

The kickstand is nice, and the typecover is convenient to both protect the tablet and type in a pinch.

This thing is slow, yes. But it’s good enough to power my art program through drawing 4k comission works with few stutter and have edge open for reference at the same time. The good drawing exprience far outweight a few second waiting for program to open IMO.

Battery life is a concern, but it meet my realistic expectation  of 4 hour of drawing. My biggest gripe is charging time, but the DC  5v3A charger fixed that (3 hours to fully charge, and can charge while drawing )

The biggest advantage is cost vs good stylus function. For  around $400, there is plenty of option with good stylus such as the Asus T102HA or Surface. Heck, I would buy the Cube Mix Plus, much better performance, higher resolution for same price. Also not everyone here live in the US, and importing cost to buy from the US would inflat the price even more.

Looking for 10 incher with stylus for sub-200$? Ezpad with Wacom or the Cube iwork 10 with Chinese homebrew tech ? I would pick the Ezpad anyday.

Considering most people looking at this device is in for the stylus and lower cost, if you are willing to compromise what I mentioned above then it would serve you well. If you have high expectation, prepare to pay twice the amount for better performance.

I look forward to the result of Nicolas’s battery hack 🙂

 

[khanh]

Nicolas, even if it’s slower, can it charge the battery during use?

Last night I found another problem with it: the battery drain even when shut down! It happened a few time and I thought it’s a fluke but last night I tested and found it to be true. I charged it up to 100% then shut down, unplug  and go to sleep. The next morning I turned it  on and found only 60% left. At this point I believe it’s not a matter of small battery anymore but there is definitely something wrong with this device. The battery drain even when shut down  so only way to keep it working would be keep it chained to a wall even when the tablet has full charge and shut down.

I love the size, form factors and design of the device and drawing with it is a pleasure ( it beat every other unbranded stylus tech of other Chinese tablets). It would have been a perfect device to draw in coffee or away from desk if the battery life didn’t leave me hanging. As it is I can’t recommend it to my artist friends.

 

[khanh]

Bad battery confirmed. Disabled everything including onedrive startup, location service, bluetooth, wifi off during sleep. Only wifi on and 0% screen lighting. Draw with clip studio in coffee shop for 2.5 hours: battery from 66% to 6%.

My i5 4302y hp x2 612 might last just as long and only take 1hour (during use ) to charge up to 100%.

The Ezpad take 4 hours and only when  tablet is off to charge  up to 100%. For a tablet using atom low power chip to last less than a core i5 is unacceptable. I might not mind that it only last 4 hours because  I’m never away from an outlet for long, but for it to take 4 hours (without use) to charge up is too much. If I use it while charging even with lowest setting, the tablet still discharge  which mean the power the micro usb draw is not enough to offset the power tablet use when ilde.

I’m hoping  dc connection might provide better power but not sure which dc to try. I read that the previous version Ezpad 5s came with dc charger. Nicolas, if you have the original Ezpad 5S, can you try the dc charger if it can charge faster on the Ezpad 5SE?

[khanh]

Thomas wrote:

Can you tell me hw to get the Chuwi Pen working? I’ve got one here so I’d give it a shot, but out of the box it is not working at all.

Sorry for late reply Thomas,. I’m not sure if it’s the same with Chuwi Pen, but the Teclast Pen has a tiny hole next to the button. The reseller told be that he used a toothpick to push into the hole while pressing the pen to the screen to active the Teclast pen on Cube screen. I’m not sure the same can be done to the Teclast screen with Chuwi pen though.

[khanh]

I believe it’s impossible to fix on a software level. I have a lot of wacom device : note 3,  note 8.0, vivotab note 8… they always work wonky  when used with a cover that use magnet, no matter  how many calibration  hack performed. I believe there is some sort  of shielding to protect wacom digitizer  from magnet of the speakers  but I don’t know which material, and this dock magnet is stronger than speakers so it should be even harder to shield.

It’s not exactly a defect, just a natural flaw of the digitizer -it’s not designed to work with magnet. Also Wacom EMR is known for inaccuracies  in corner and edge. I don’t mind it that much because I always draw in the middle of the screen, you just get used to it.

[khanh]

I’m afraid it discontinued.  The stylus tech of that device is the same as Chuwi hi 12 and Cube iwork 10 flagship but they are not compatible  out of the box without  some hacking. When i had my cube, both Cube and Chuwi pen got discontinued, so the reseller help me buy a teclast pen which took 1 month and he told me that it’s one of the last pen produced.

It seem like the pen source stopped providing  to all of the OEM so they are all out of stock now. Your best bet would probably  be buying off someone on this forum.

[khanh]

The kickstand is metal, but the rest of the tablet back is plastic. This plastic is not that hard either, it feel cheap and I can push it  a bit.

Oh and before anyone feel alarmed, the bump on the back of the tablet is very slight, like 0.5 mm slight, and I only notice it because I was smoothing my hand on it over and over. I wasn’t even sure if it’s there from the beginning or not. It’s only in 1/8 area of the back where it’s surrounded by ports and power+volume button so that is most likely where the CPU and other chip is placed. As I said the plastic back is quite malleable so the heat may have cause heatsink to expand and press into the plastic.

Update: Just saw the tear down image in Nicolas’s review. The motherboard take up the whole half of the tablet on the side of USB 3.0 and power jack, and the part I mentioned to have a bump is exactly the themal pad on top of the processor. The part where battery is placed is totally cool to the touch so there is nothing to worry about at all.

[khanh]

Just to clarify about the swelling part, I don’t know but the bump might have been there from the beginning. It’s very slight and and I only notice it while smoothing the back over and over. Given the placement of the bump, it’s 1/4 on the upper half at the side near the USB 3.0 and microUSB power; it’s the only part that get warm when the tablet is in use so it’s most likely where the CPU is placed, not the battery. The bump might have just been a heatsink on top of the CPU that press against the plastic back cause it to be hot.

Also the tablet only get really hot when I run a lot of programs on it at the same time while using the 3rd party charger. When I use on battery, the warmth is quite normal- similar to my Asus Vivotab Note; and after turning it off and use the Samsung charger, the warmth  while charging is almost unnoticable.

So it might have just been false alarm on my part. I only wish Jumper haven’t cheapen out and make metal back instead. If anything happen to my device, I will report it here but so far I haven’t gotten any problem with my device: Updating is fast and smooth and everything works as it should.

Update: It was a false alarm.

khanh wrote:

Just saw the tear down image in Nicolas’s review. The motherboard take up the whole half of the tablet on the side of USB 3.0 and power jack, and the part I mentioned to have a bump is exactly the themal pad on top of the processor. The part where battery is placed is totally cool to the touch so there is nothing to worry about at all.

[khanh]

The Hi 12/ Cube iwork 10 digitizer is actually usable if it work normally. I actually managed to draw things with it when the digitizer not acting up (see attachment). But when the tablet heat up, the jitters become big wave make it unusable. It’s probably due to the improper shielding of the unit I used to have.

As for the Ezpad 5SE flaw, I’m quoting my post from EZPad discussion thread:

khanh wrote:

Had the Ezpad for a few days now so I will write some of my own impression:

• The first thing I recommend would be buying a quality charger (it only come with an USB cord) and only charge when the tablet is off. This thing get HOT when you use while charging. The back of the tablet is plastic and I haven’t noticed it before but the hottest part on the tablet back seem to be (very slightly) swelled. I was worried the battery swell too soon, but it’s the only part that get hot on the back of the tablet so it should be where CPU is placed. I’m still treating it with caution, using a Samsung charger and only charge the tablet off and away from me.
• The typecover is okay-ish. I’m no extensive typist but it’s nice to have it protecting the tablet and have something to type on when I need to. It was included in my purchase and much cheaper than teclast so I don’t have much expectation for it other than the very basic. It’s nice that the keyboard have a touchpad disabling button too. The touchpad is only single touch and is not very sensitive.
• The tablet is definitely sluggish. It doesn’t feel better than my Asus vivotab note with last gen Atom and 2 GB of RAM. The processor is almost always at 90% load with just art program and 2 tab of Edge open. I heard the RAM speed is 1066 instead of 1600. I have a feeling Jumper purpose throttled the processor to reduce heat to make up for the flawed themal design that caused the heat problem mentioned above. I’m no power user and I follow the “if it is not broke don’t fix it” motto, so I won’t be tampering with the bios to make it faster.
• Speaker is awfully tiny, I can’t even hear coherent words when character whispering in movie, even at highest volume. Again not a deal breaker because I buy this thing to draw and can always use my phone for music.

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[khanh]

Had the Ezpad for a few days now so I will write some of my own impression:

• The first thing I recommend would be buying a quality charger (it only come with an USB cord) and only charge when the tablet is off. This thing get HOT when you use while charging. The back of the tablet is plastic and I haven’t noticed it before but the hottest part on the tablet back seem to be (very slightly) swelled. I was worried the battery swell too soon, but it’s the only part that get hot on the back of the tablet so it should be where  CPU is placed. I’m still treating it with caution, using a Samsung charger and only charge the tablet off and away from me.
• Pen experience is standard Wacom, good accuracy and nice palm rejection. The included pen is horrid though so I recommend buying an S-pen that fit perfectly in the type cover pen loop.
• The typecover is okay-ish. I’m no extensive typist  but it’s nice to have it protecting the tablet and have something to type on when I need to. It was included in my purchase and much cheaper than teclast  so I don’t have much expectation for it other than the very basic. It’s nice that the keyboard have a touchpad disabling button too. The touchpad is only single touch and is not very sensitive.
•   The tablet is definitely sluggish. It doesn’t feel better than my Asus vivotab note with last gen Atom and 2 GB of RAM. The processor is almost always at 90% load with just art program and 2 tab of Edge open. I heard the RAM speed is 1066 instead of 1600. I have a feeling Jumper purpose throttled the processor to reduce heat to make up for the flawed themal design that caused the heat problem mentioned above. I’m no power user and I follow the “if it is not broke don’t fix it” motto, so I won’t be tampering with the bios to make it faster.
• Speaker is awfully tiny, I can’t even hear coherent words when character whispering in movie, even at highest volume. Again not a deal breaker because I buy this thing to draw and can always use my phone for music.

For me this tablet is ok: convenient design with kickstand and cover with pen  loop, great Wacom calibration, so-so battery life but okay for me. It’s a good companion device for drawing and it’s what I buy it for.

[khanh]

Hey, just saw your thread so I would like to chime in a bit more about what I know. The local reseller I bought  my ezpad from also sell other tablet, and he did make  some video in our native language to review  those pen.

• According to him, the hipen h2 is just a capacitive  stylus. No palm rejection or pressure.  they use battery to release some kind of conductive electricity at the pen tip to emulate  finger. Online review show that these pens are prone to skip line so it wasn’t  worth buying.
• Chuwi hi 12 and cube iwork  10 flagship  use the same kind of digitizer which has pressure sensitive and palm rejection . You can use the same Hipen H1 pen ( which is completely  different  from Hipen H2 and doesn’t work with Chuwi 10 at all) on both of them. Problem  is most of those pens are rare and seem to be discontinued. I actually  bought  the cube iwork  10 flagship before because  it used to be the cheapest with pen. It took me 1 month to get the pen and the reseller told me it was one of the last produced. That pen lack hover cursor so palm rejection  is bad. It detect palm immediately after you lift if from screen 2 mm instead of 1.5cm with wacom. Also my unit seem to be defective with heavy jitters so I returned  it with a 50$ restocking fee and exchange for an ezpad instead.

Bottom line, wacom EMR is the most fool proof and robust option  so if you want a pen, get an ezpad 5se or i7 book. Other digitizer either have QC problem  or just plain bad.

[khanh]

I have an EZpad 5se. Bought it for digital art on the go. I will confirm that:

• Yes it’s Wacom. When I check Device manager, there is a pre-installed driver named “Wacom Device”
• Yes Galaxy note pen work on it along with many other Wacom pen: tried my note 3 pen, note 8.0 pen, hp 2760 and x2 612 pen; all work well on this tablet with pressure sensitive.
• The included pen is shit, throw it: the tip is too short, it keep skipping line and go up to full pressure almost immediately, unusable. My galaxy note 3 pen works way better and they are almost extract same size and fit in to the type cover slot perfectly. A full sized pen work best though, so if you do art, invest into that.
• Wintab driver is pre-installed on this device. That mean you can use old school software like Sai, PS CS5, Fireaplaca, Krita and GIMP with pressure sensitive.
• Yes, there is palm rejection. Hover is about 1-1.5 cm. I’m still not used to windows 10 palm rejection though : If you chose right handed palm rejection and touch the screen on the left of the pen tip, you will make a mark.

So far, this tablet hit all the sweet spot for an illustrator with such an affordable price. My only concern is that the tablet always is at full load with just Clip Studio Paint and 1 or 2 tab of Edge (for reference image). Just wondering if that is normal for x8300 chip.

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