Startup Xencelabs Launches Professional Tablet

2021.02.24

New tech company Xencelabs unveiled its first product today in the form of a graphics tablet designed for use by professional digital media artists. This unnamed tablet, simply referred to as Pen Tablet by the company, gives a new refined feel to the tablet experience. With carefully designed ergonomics and responsive performance with long battery-life, this new tablet intends to deliver a brand new and more natural experience.

Tablets are currently the preferred interface of fine-art photographers that retouch images, mixed media artists, illustrators and 3D modelling users due to their incredible precision and speed of use. The market is presently a monopoly with Wacom as the only player. Their tablets are extremely well-regarded but have evolved slowly due to lack of competition. Xencelabs is ready to challenge them but must do so at the high-end simply because there is no market for low-end tablets. Just like the market of low-end cameras disappeared due to the phones, any Android or iOS device can serve as a low-end tablet which makes competing on price impossible.

The Xencelabs Pen Tablet launched today is the Medium model with an active digitizing area of 10.3" x 5.8" and roughly two inches of borders on all sides, for a total size of 12.6" x 9.1". This makes its surface area smaller than competitors due to its 16:9 aspect-ratio, purposefully selected to match the vast majority of monitors, meaning less inactive space and no distortion when translating pen movements onto a computer screen. This timing is slightly unfortunate since displays with more usable aspect-ratio finally gained traction last year.

The tablet is just 0.3" thin and weighs 1kg or 2.2lbs. Its features a gentle curved front edge without seams for improved comfort over long periods of use. Its surface has been carefully researched for a smooth experience. Lights mark the corners of the active area when matched with a 16:9 display. Otherwise, the active area is reduced to preserve shapes. Three buttons located on the top-edge provide access to tablet, pen and display settings while remaining out-of-way to avoid accidental activation.

Two pens are provided with each tablet. One is a thin two button pen and the other is thicker with three buttons. Both can distinguish 8192 levels of pressure and ±60° of tilt. A casing to store the pens is also provided plus 10 nibs to replace the contact point between the pen and tablet. This model works both wired and wirelessly with 16 hours of battery-life after 2%frac12; hours of charging.

Tablet users are apparently divided about buttons and so Xencelabs is offering a choice. The tablet can either be bought with just the two pens or with an additional wireless controller. This Quick Keys remote is extremely programable with 40 user-defined functions per application. Eight mechanical buttons activate chosen functions and a ninth cycles over sets of 8. Extremely conveniently, an OLED display on the device shows current actions. A backlit dial allows precise controls over 4 adjustable application parameters and offers 8 illumination colors.

The Quick Keys operates wirelessly and charges via USB. It runs for up to 50 hours on a single charge. A case is provided to store this remote which is sold separately or bundled with the tablet. Pricing is $280 USD for the Medium Pen Tablet alone and $360 USD with the Quick Keys. These products can be ordered from Xencelabs directly and from unspecified authorized resellers.

This new company is bringing excitement to a market that has been unchanged for a really long time. Although no firm commitments were given, Xencelabs plans to expand this family of products. During a press conference, it was hinted that they are planning a version with a builtin display. The new tablet is aimed for professional users and supports Windows, MacOS and Linux. Chromebook support is in the works too. The tablet launched is named Medium so expect other sizes, most likely larger models since that is more desirable for professionals.