Doodling using a Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook, Lenovo USI Pen, & Infinite Painter

Infinite Painter on a Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook (Core i3 model)

I finally got around to test using the Lenovo USI Pen (Bluetooth stylus) to make one of my Doodle-a-Day project doodles. The test was on a Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 with a Core i3 processor. I used the Infinite Painter drawing app for this doodle.

In general, my comments are based on mostly using the Procreate drawing app on an iPad Pro over the past few years. I’ve also used Tayasui Sketches Pro, Zen Brush (versions 2 and 3), and Art Set 4 because each of those apps have specific digital brushes that I find interesting (water color, Japanese ink, and oil brushes, respectively). None of these apps are available for Android or Chrome OS.

A previous doodle test on an Acer Sping 13 Chromebook was drawn using a Wacom EMR stylus provided by the Chromebooks’ manufacturers (Samsung and Acer in my tests). These styli are short and feel like pencil stubs more than a conventional pencil or pen. The Lenovo USI Pen is the size of a conventional pen. So, it is easier to hold than the Wacom EMR styli I tested. The overall experience of this combination of hardware and software is reasonably good although there is a bit of lag when moving the stylus across the screen. I don’t know if this is due to the USI Pen, the Infinite Painter app, or their interaction with this particular Chromebook.

This doodle tested reminded me to note two items:

1. I really need to spend more time learning to use Infinite Painter.
2. I remember why I spent several months in 2020 trying to find a Lenovo Chromebook Duet — to have a tablet Chromebook for doodling instead of a bulky convertible like the Acer Spin 13 or Lenovo Flex 5. Although the Duet is more readily available now, it doesn’t make sense to buy a year old model — based on the assumption that newer tablet Chromebooks models will be available in 2021.

Lenovo USI Pen tip

A final note: The Lenovo USI Pen stylus tip seems to have tiny protrusions on it (see photo). This is even though I haven’t used this stylus for more than 60 minutes since receiving it two months ago.