This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 22:55 and is filed under Accessories, Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
We’ve got to, er, hand it to Innovative on its EVO Tablet Arm. It’s freakin’ awesome and we loved it! There aren’t many things we fall in love with right of the box, but I’m telling you, this was one of those things! If you’re scratchin’ your head and trying to even figure out what the heck this is, then dude, read the review!
March 1st, 2007 at 7:47
I see no mention of using it in portrait mode. The clips don’t look as secure with a true tablet in that position. The side would be open right? Is there some way to adjust the clips for portrait mode? Second, does the arm have sufficient resistance for one to rest one’s palm on the the tablet and input handwriting? I see using this with the tablet 2 or 3 inches above the desk height and leaning off the desk, using the screen as a sidebar to a desktop layout with monitors.and I am not convinced it fits that purpose. Perhaps it would need to be stabilized by grasping with the left hand and writing with the right?
March 1st, 2007 at 9:35
Hi Yacko,
Yes, you can rotate it in either left or right portrait mode. There are two fold out arms on the left and arm that are tightened into position with a plastic screw on the back of them to keep them in the desired angle. Like the bottom rail, these two arms have grooves on them to put clips on them as well (see the picture above). The EVO Tablet Arm comes with four clips total, more than enough to hold your tablet.
As stated in the review, you can reposition the arm and also tighten it into position. This should be adequate to adjust it to your needed height without issue.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:19
Thanks for your quick response, but,,,
>Yes, you can rotate it in either left or right portrait mode
Possibly lost in the original question because I dashed it off quickly. I understand the manufacturer claims it pivots, but the way the clips look didn’t assure me as the clips are set in the pictures for a landscape notebook or tablet. I was asking - did you personally test it in the portrait position and what are your observations. Your assurance the clip system is adjustable and configurable makes portrait mode look like it will work.
>and also tighten it into position. This should be adequate to >adjust it to your needed height without issue
The second question wasn’t about whether it was adjustable for height. I simply gave the use I might put it to as an example. A few inches above an 28″ desk, but not hovering over the desk, but thin air, by my left side, maybe with a corner of it over the desk., the desk already having 2 regular monitors on it. The tablet might be angled 30 degrees from vertical. The position is sort of irrelevant but the point is, if I place my palm on the tablet and then start writing cursive script as input, is the tablet at the end of this arm steady enough to do that or does it have to be further stabilized, probably by my left hand?
It is nice if the tablet is held in place, but if it can’t stand up to further pressure while doing handwritten input, that destroys the ergonomics. I won’t be removing the tablet but once or twice a day. For others wondering the same thing, I think they and I, would be better served by a tablet cart, looking like a wheeled breakfast-in-bed device on steroids and costing not much more than $100 at an office supply place.
March 2nd, 2007 at 20:11
Yacko, I did not personally test the portrait mode since we do not have a tablet on hand to test with. I can assure you, however, the clip well secure the holder in place in any pivot. It locks it well and can not be forced off by either gravity or weight without a helping hand, or rather a couple of fingers, to undo the release clip.
Again, I don’t have a tablet but I removed my MacBook Pro and rested my palm on the center point of the holder and pretended to write on it with a stylus (from my PDA) and it worked fine. In fact, I press hard on it with my palm and it still didn’t move. I think you’ll be just fine.