jazzedmurf
2013-01-27

I just recently got an Envy X2, and my overall impression is very positive. But there are few nagging annoyances that are starting to drive me crazy--just little inconsistencies that take away from the overall polish of the product.

 

1. Synaptics settings are not consistent once set or changed. If you turn "tapping" off, then lock your tablet, oftentimes the tapping function will be reenabled. Sometimes locking the device or putting it in sleep mode causes the loss of multi-touch functionality on the touchpad upon resume--two-finger scrolling, as well. These issues are usually solved by undocking/docking the tablet, but this is an unnecessary pain.

 

2. Typing can be very problematic on the X2, as the touchpad is so highly sensitive. There are settings for this issue in the Synaptics Settings menu, but again, the device does not remember these settings after sleeping or being locked. HP included a way to "turn off" the touchpad by double-tapping the upper-left corner of the touchpad. There are two issues with this: 1) this only sometimes works, and 2) why would I want to completely turn off the touchpad? Since the only issue with the touchpad regarding typing is accidentally tapping something while typing, doesn't it make more sense to have this function in a way that leaves the touchpad on but simply disables tapping? Another, VERY irritating typing problem is the X2's constant--but random--interpretation of one spacebar keypress as two, which means  that some  sentences look  like  this one--all  inconsistent and  sloppy. 

 

3. Sound is also affected by locking or sleep mode, and the result is completely losing audio playback. I've noticed that muting the system by using the keyboard can cause this, as well. Playback thru external speakers/headphones is VERY quiet and makes listening to music in louder environments (like coffeshops) more difficult. When playing audio to external speakers, the X2 largely favors one channel over the others (the right channel, for me), leaving what tinny audio I can get sounding very unbalanced. Also, a completely nit-picking comment, but in the Beats Audio menu, "Virtual Surround Headphones" is spelled as "Vitrual"...

 

I installed all the latest available drivers a week or so back, so any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. I really like this product, and it meets 98% of my needs perfectly, but these issues are pretty glaring. They need to be addressed, because they definitely diminish the user's experience with the X2. Instead of just using it, one is in a constant routine of fixing these issues by locking, unlocking, undocking, docking, restarting...it gets old. 

 

All help is greatly appreciated!

 

Chris