Wacom is on a roll. For the second time this year, Wacom has released an exciting new line of innovative graphic tablets. True to form, these fresh Bamboo drawing tablets provide a simpler and more natural way to control a computer cursor.

In Sept 2009, after much public anticipation, Wacom launched their novel Bamboo line specifically designed for entrance-level users. Be it at home, school or the office, you will now be able to interact with your computer with just a touch of a finger.

Power at the tip of a pen or fingers

The second generation Bamboo graphic tablets combine two technologies into one tablet: the renowned pen control plus multi-touch input.

With multi-touch, just a simple tap of one finger will open a menu or select and drag a file. Two-finger gestures will rotate a digital photo, flip through documents, scroll up, down or sideways, pan, and zoom in or out. Touch-based input is much faster, and goes beyond, conventional mouse capabilities. Bamboo also boasts a much larger active area than the average track pad.

With pressure-sensitive, cordless, battery free pen, it is the ideal tool that enables you to sketch or draw, apply your signature to any document, and edit or retouch photos with stunning precision, again, with a lot more versatility and accuracy than a mouse.

Bamboo Pen and Touch tablets automatically switch between the two modes by the proximity of the pen. If the pen is near, it overrides the multi-touch commands. Touch-input can also be disabled by a press of a button if needed.

Bamboo in 5 fresh styles

Basically, the core of the Bamboo line-up is comprised of 3 small (hand-sized) sleek black models: Bamboo Touch, Bamboo Pen and Bamboo Pen & Touch. As their name suggests, Bamboo Touch only delivers multi-touch features, Bamboo Pen is strictly pen input only, while Bamboo Pen & Touch offers the flexibility of both finger-based and pen inputs.

A touch of simplicity

1) Bamboo Touch: is just that, a multi-touch tablet. To add to the touch input, 4 glossy customizable ExpressKeys allow for shortcuts to your keyboard or other applications. It is a great tool for those who just want a better alternative to basic and limited mouse navigation.

2) Bamboo Pen: a slimmer version of the old Bamboo classic, it comes with the famous two-button programmable digitizer pen and a software program.  This standard pen tablet is a perfect, inexpensive solution for those who are not interested in touch input but still looking for a more comfortable and more precise way to navigate, customize e-mails, documents, messages, data tables, and presentations with signatures, sketches, notes and scribbles.

3) Bamboo Pen and Touch: is the FIRST touch-interactive graphic tablet that reunites digitizer pen technology with finger-based input. It delivers TWICE the pen pressure sensitivity than the one-function Bamboo Pen tablet, therefore benefitting precision graphics work. It also gives the flexibility of switching to multi-touch input for a change of pace.  Four shiny ExpressKeys also grace the tablet which comes complete with some graphics software.

Then Bamboo Pen & Touch branches out into two stylish silver models: Bamboo Craft and Bamboo Fun,each with their own particular package to serve your specific artistic needs:

A touch of ingenuity

4) Bamboo Craft Pen & Touch: is basically the silver version of the small, black Bamboo Pen and Touch but with a treasure trove of free graphics software and bonus offers which all inspire and enhance the scrapbooking craft. Spontaneously alternating between multi-touch and pen inputs greatly adds to the fun and originality of this art.

5) Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch: the ONLY medium-sized Bamboo, is also the largest double-input Bamboo, offering more active area to work on, great for more detailed projects. Users can conveniently employ Multi-Touch input to flick through pictures, zoom-in on or rotate an image. When ready to edit or retouch a digital photo, or even add a signature or handwritten message, simply pick up the stylus and release your creativity. This medium-sized silver drawing tablet also offers a valuable creative software package and bonus items geared towards detailed graphics.

The final touches

All new USB-powered Bamboo tablets have retained the textured work surface which imitates the pen-on-paper sensation. Plus every Bamboo tablet is now reversible meaning that left-handed and right handed alike can enjoy an innovative solution for computer work and play.

Every new Bamboo tablet features a white LED status light which glows when the tablet is in use. It glows amber for the double-input (pen & touch) tablets. In addition, every Bamboo digitizer pen has a customizable two-button toggle switch on the side. Three spare pen nibs are also included with the stylus.

This long-awaited drawing tablet has only a few, be they insignificant drawbacks:

- contrary to the higher end older Bamboo tablets, the eraser on the new Bamboo pens is not pressure sensitive. Its only function is to erase or delete,

- the pen stand has dwindled down to a red-fabric pen loop attached to the side of the pen tablets,

- Bamboo has also done away with mice altogether,

- while finger-based gestures are definitely faster than a mouse, (a detailed tutorial on all the finger and hand gestures is included with each touch input Bamboo tablet), the new Bamboo multi-touch technology only uses a maximum of two-fingers. Therefore, it does limit some more professional based functions, and

- finger-painting is not recommended as it can only be done with one finger – there is only one computer cursor - and the finger-input lacks pressure-sensitivity.

A harmonious touch

Yet again, Wacom has delivered a whole new world of digital freedom. This time, users can enjoy both pen and touch input in one unit, or separately, thus enabling more creativity and personality.

Finally, Bamboo Touch enables a more harmonious way to interact with a computer by adding a human element: the simple touch.