ASUS Z300 tablet is the world’s first on-cell touchscreen with active stylus pen support

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The ASUS Z300 on-cell tablet provides a perfect ‘pen-to-paper’ writing experience thanks to Atmel maXTouch and maXStylus controllers.

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ASUS has revealed quite a few announcements over the last couple of days at Computex 2015 including an all-in-one PC, a full-featured smartphone for selfies, a second generation ZenWatch, as well as a range of tablets in various sizes. Among those devices was the 10.1″ Z300, which features the world’s first on-cell touchscreen with capacitive active stylus pen support that enables a precise ‘pen-to-paper’ writing experience for more content generation on today’s digital world.

To accomplish this, the company has selected Atmel’s maXTouch controllers to power the touchscreen and active stylus pen of its newly-launched tablet. The ASUS Z300 tablet’s touch display is driven by a maXTouch T-series touchscreen controller, which features a revolutionary sensing architecture that combines both mutual and self-capacitance to enhance performance.

“As a leading provider of innovative mobile devices for the worldwide market, ASUS continues to bring superior products to market,” explained Shar Narasimhan, Atmel Senior Product Manager of Touch Marketing. “The selection of Atmel’s maXTouch controllers for the industry’s first 10.1″ on-cell tablet with capacitive active stylus by ASUS is further testament that we are enabling OEMs to deliver leading-edge digital lifestyle products.”

What’s more, the device uses one of the industry’s most advanced capacitive styli, Atmel’s maXStylus mXTS220 — the only active pen with noise immunity capable of operating in the high display noise environment emitted by ultra-thin on-cell stack-ups. Together, the maXStylus and maXTouch integrate seamlessly to create a flawless user experience in even the most demanding conditions.

“As a leading manufacturer of mobile devices, our products are only built with world-class components,” added Samson Hu, Atmel’s Corporate Vice President & GM of Mobile Product Business Unit. “Atmel’s industry-leading stylus capabilities enabled us to deliver a much thinner on-cell display stack for more elegant designs with a best-in-class active pen experience. We look forward to launching more advanced devices with intuitive human interfaces powered by Atmel.”

Atmel launches next-generation maXStylus active pen platform

With CES 2015 in full swing, we’re excited to announce that we are sampling our next-generation maXStylus mXTS220 to multiple global customers. OEMs have been looking to expand the user adoption of active stylus solutions on mobile devices by providing precise handwriting, lower system and stylus cost, and easy-to-use styli that do not require frequent battery changes.

The next-generation maXStylus mXTS220 capacitive active stylus controller elevates the user experience with superior responsiveness after every stroke which is a key requirement for a ‘pen-to-paper’ writing experience. Higher precision writing and pressure sensing, with palms resting on the touchscreen, enable an artistic writing experience with fluid strokes. The maXStylus mXTS220 solution utilizes the capacitive touchscreen controller and does not require an additional sensor layer, such as EMR (electro-magnetic resonance) technology, for optimized solution cost.

Atmel’s maXStylus mXTS220 bidirectional architecture is the best positioned in the industry to allow OEMs to build next-generation styli with flexibility to interoperate with multiple digitizers. The unique two-way architecture enables the stylus to detect various noise sources so they can be avoided – a differentiation of maXStylus that no other solution on the market offers today. Enhanced noise immunity over existing capacitive solutions allows flawless pen strokes without any line breaks or missing strokes while further extending battery life.

“The ability to create content on your mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, notebooks and Ultrabooks, is quickly becoming a key differentiating factor in OEM designs,” said Shar Narasimhan, Atmel Senior Product Manager of Touch Marketing. “As a leader in the touch market, we are excited to bring one of the most precise active stylus solutions to the market, enabling a pen-to-paper experience on a touchscreen while meeting future OEM requirements with the flexibility of an interoperable platform.”

Interested in learning more? You can explore the entire maXStylus lineup here.

Video Diary 2: Atmel @ CES 2014

Atmel-powered products took center stage at CES this year, as conference attendees checked out the latest devices and platforms for MakerSpaces, garages and living rooms.

Atmel also unveiled and showcased a number of new products at CES 2014, including the AvantCar console concept, ARM-based SAM G lineup, the second-gen maXStylus and a low-cost ZigBee Gateway.

As you can see, Atmel’s various technology zones attracted quite a bit of attention, especially the company’s MakerSpace which was well-stocked with Arduino boards, 3D printers and other Atmel-powered devices.



Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi even stopped by for a chat to talk about the Atmel-based boards, while a MakerBot rep discussed the advantages of using Atmel microcontrollers and microprocessors in the company’s 3D printers. 

Watch the videos above and make sure to check out part one of our video diary here, as well as our CES 2014 pictures here and here.

Atmel @ CES 2014: Days 2 & 3 in pictures

Atmel unveiled and showcased a number of new products at CES 2014, including the AvantCar console concept, ARM-based SAM G lineup, the second-gen maXStylus and a low-cost ZigBee Gateway.

As you can see in the pictures below, Atmel’s various technology zones attracted quite a bit of attention from conference attendees, especially the company’s MakerSpace which was well-stocked with Arduino boards, 3D printers and other Atmel-powered devices.

 As MakeZine’s Mike Senese notes, Atmel’s tricked-out CES 2014 MakerSpace illustrates just how mainstream the Maker Movement has become.

“Atmel has typically focused on the microcontrollers and components inside many consumer devices, a role that puts them squarely in CES territory. They also provide the processor inside most Arduino boards, connecting them closely with the world of making,” writes Senese.

 “Promising new low-cost Arduino-based development boards, as well as a nation-wide education tour for 2014, Atmel is staying firmly connected to Makers.”

VentureBeat talks maXStylus

Earlier this week, Atmel confirmed shipment of its second generation Windows 8.1-certified maXStylus in volume quantities. The new capacitive active stylus controller delivers a near-perfect ‘pen-to-paper’ writing experience on a touchscreen with superior responsiveness.

The CES 2014 announcement was covered by a number of tech publications and journalists, including VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi.

“The advantage of the new stylus microcontroller chip is that it provides accurate active-pen performance without an additional sensor layer. That reduces its cost for tablets, laptops, and smartphones. Touchscreens using Atmel’s MaxTouch touchscreen controller chips can seamlessly support MaxStylus controllers,” writes Takahashi.

“The screens can better distinguish between stylus touches and accidental touches by a user’s hand. The result is fewer missing strokes, dropped touches and other errors. You can even go from the stylus to your fingers with no degradation in performance. The new pens also deliver longer battery life.”

According to Atmel’s Shar Narasimhan, Stylus heralds a new generation of interaction with smart devices as users seek a more “intuitive experience” for their smartphones, tablets, notebooks and Ultrabooks.

“These smart devices also require richer feature sets to differentiate their products,” Narasimhan adds. “Over time, more users [will] adopt pens for [tasks] like official signatures and use of tablets for educational purposes.”

Atmel’s MaxStylus pens are slated to hit the market during the first quarter of 2014.

Interested in learning more about Atmel’s second generation maXStylus? You can check out the product page here and our official coverage of the announcement here.

Atmel ships second-gen maXStylus Active Pen


Atmel is now shipping its second generation Windows 8.1-certified maXStylus in volume quantities. The new capacitive active stylus controller delivers a near-perfect ‘pen-to-paper’ writing experience on a touchscreen with superior responsiveness.

According to Shar Narasimhan, Atmel Sr. Product Marketing Manager of Touchscreen and Stylus Products, touchscreens ranging from 6” to 15.6” using Atmel’s maXTouch controllers can seamlessly support maXStylus without additional hardware components or design changes.

“These solutions include our recently launched maXTouch T Series devices ranging from the mXT640T to the mXT2952T single-chip solutions. This integrated solution eliminates the need for an additional sensor layer, lowering overall system costs for the OEM without compromising performance,” Narasimhan explained. “The complete maXTouch and maXStylus solution has achieved Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 certification and can be [easily] integrated into [Microsoft] Windows 8.1 or [Google’s] Android OS.”

Narasimhan also noted that Atmel’s Stylus heralds a new era of interaction with smart devices as users seek a more intuitive experience on their smartphones, tablets, notebooks and Ultrabooks.

“These smart devices also require richer feature sets to differentiate their products,” he said. “We deliver the closest pen-to-paper experience available today for users writing with a capacitive active stylus on a touchscreen. Our next-generation maXStylus pen is currently in mass production with tier 1 OEMs and will be available on store shelves in early Q1.”

Today, competing active stylus solutions compromise the noise immunity and power levels of a system as the touchscreen struggles to distinguish between the pen and the user’s fingers. This degrades the overall system power consumption, signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio and pressure sensitivity resulting in missing strokes, dropped touches, poor linearity and an overall inferior user experience. 

With Atmel’s integrated solution, the maXStylus mXTS200 uses intelligent scanning and synchronization with the touch controller to deliver a higher SNR ratio. This results in the best capacitive stylus writing experience available on the market today – without comprising the touch controller’s noise immunity and power consumption of the overall system.

In addition, the maXStylus mXTS200 features intelligent palm rejection and the capability to switch from writing with a stylus to using both large and small fingers, without degrading capacitive touchscreen touch performance.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Atmel’s official maXStylus site here.