Quick info needed Smart E70 Interactive Flat Panel

[Cablers_JonPaul]

I'm sorry but generally market leaders have so much more to offer than just being the first to market and yes you are correct in saying it may not be the best choice but they have the right to boast because that is what they are. The best choice is surely made by the customer once they have seen all avenues and is not forced to make a choice just based on other peoples say so.

 

With established technologies like wireless, MDM's and interactive whiteboards you would be right that generally market leaders have more to offer. It also depends on what market they are talking about whats best for the education market may not be best for customers in the commercial sector. Customers vote with their orders and over time you see the trends easily enough. With a new technologies like the large format display touchscreens i think its a little early to decide.

I advise anyone to choose the screens they fancy and then go test those choices out. Don't just rely on the slick demonstrations that are designed to make the screens look good. Replicate some real classroom scenario's and see how those screens perform. Make some note's! You will rarely get two screens from different manufactures sat next to each other to play with at the same time which will make your notes invaluable when you test the next screen. By the time you make your choice of whats best for your school you will have discovered if the market leaders boasts are valid or hollow.

[Balrog]

You seem very anti regarding these alleged Market Leaders for this product. Surely they or their products are not that bad? Or you basing this on personal experience and if so what did they do?

[SimpleSi]

@Balrog

Can we stick to whether E70 is OK or not - ta

 

Simon

[Balrog]

yes by all means as long as everyone else does too. IN my opinion you would be better looking at all options including the market leaders to make up your own mind.

[achedgy]

E70 is a good touch screen, they look and work fab on an electric raiser, really work well with the kids. Interested in the Roth audio soundbar though, must check that out

[gshaw]

We have an E70 in and also an equivalent iiyama screen. Thoughts as follows:

 

- multipoint touch is better on the E70 (10pt vs iirc 5 on the iiyama)

- also found the touch response better on the E70, the iiyama just seemed a fraction of a second slower when writing, soon became quite irritating

- definitely need to hook them up via HDMI, noticeable difference on that compared to VGA

- you might need additional graphics card or DVI-HDMI converter for your PC to do this

- if you mirror the display onto a monitor budget in a 24" or so HD monitor that can match the 1920x1080 resolution on the E70

- make sure you adjust the advanced screen options for brightness, contrast and sharpness as the factory defaults look really poor

- image quality is (very) slightly better on the E70 on HDMI, iiyama better over VGA (but irrelevant as per point above)

- sound is poor on the E70, use external speakers

- E70 requires Notebook & Drivers v11, won't work with 10.8 if you're still on that version

- SMART has controls easily accessible on the side of the board, the iiyama decides to hide them at the back, no good if the remote has gone walkies!

 

Also note that writing on these boards doesn't feel as smooth as on a traditional board as the surface of the screen is more resistant to movement. The iiyama was really let down by its cheap and nasty pen (£1 eBay type stylus with flexible end that gives way under pressure) compared to the SMART stylus which was a bit better.

 

There were also some licensing queries on the iiyama and if I remember rightly will need a purchase of the SMART software. The price difference between the two once you factor that in isn't much so we're sticking with the E70 to keep the overall solution neatly tied together.

 

The only other vendor that came close was C-Touch but again SMART licensing comes into it and the price difference wasn't enough to make it viable. All the other manufacturers either ship with really poor software (Samsung!) or didn't come in the right kind of package (wall mount vs stand etc.) to be a realistic competitor for our environment.

 

@Cablers_JonPaul where does the new 6065 panel sit vs the E70, is it a higher end dispaly (4k etc.) or are SMART just trying to run out the E70 stock before moving solely to the new device?

Edited June 27, 2014 by gshaw

[achedgy]

E70 is a good touch screen, they look and work fab on an electric raiser, really work well with the kids. Interested in the Roth audio soundbar though, must check that out

[Cablers_JonPaul]

You seem very anti regarding these alleged Market Leaders for this product. Surely they or their products are not that bad? Or you basing this on personal experience and if so what did they do?

 

I am not anti any screen or anti any manufacturer. We are all working to improve education through the use of technology.

 

I am not even sure who the market leaders are meant to be Balrog, its always slightly ambiguous and extremely subjective. We were provided demonstrations by all of the touchscreen suppliers/manufacturers selling into education and a few others who don't which all looked very slick and impressive. Our team then purchased, begged and borrowed the best of those demonstrated units to do some testing without a supplier or a sales person standing over us. We spent quite some time carrying out extensive side by side testing of the many models until we came up with a list of our top 3. Those are the ones we recommend based on the results of the in house tests. It wasn't scientific, we just tried to replicate the use they would get in most classrooms. We even had some teachers in to help assess them so its not just the views of techies that we considered.

 

Even our view is subjective, sometimes their wasn't much to choose between them. Our team are always looking again at products after they have been updated or changed and if we find them to be as good or better than those we currently recommend we would add them to our list.

 

Any touchscreen that will encourage collaboration and transform classroom and teaching practices is a great product. If you have not tried as many as us you would probably never know that one is more or less responsive than another, or feels laggy in comparison or that the software this one provides is not as good as the software that one supply's or that this screen looks and feels better or that this screen can be seen from wider angles with less glare etc.

(Sorry for the very long sentence)

 

I would not slate anyone's product, but i will recommend what ones we feel deliver the best user experience. Its up to buyers to do their research and not necessarily put too much faith in the glossy marketing materials.

Edited June 27, 2014 by Cablers_JonPaul

[Cablers_JonPaul]

We have an E70 in and also an equivalent iiyama screen. Thoughts as follows:

 

- multipoint touch is better on the E70 (10pt vs iirc 5 on the iiyama)

- also found the touch response better on the E70, the iiyama just seemed a fraction of a second slower when writing, soon became quite irritating

- definitely need to hook them up via HDMI, noticeable difference on that compared to VGA

- you might need additional graphics card or DVI-HDMI converter for your PC to do this

- if you mirror the display onto a monitor budget in a 24" or so HD monitor that can match the 1920x1080 resolution on the E70

- make sure you adjust the advanced screen options for brightness, contrast and sharpness as the factory defaults look really poor

- image quality is (very) slightly better on the E70 on HDMI, iiyama better over VGA (but irrelevant as per point above)

- sound is poor on the E70, use external speakers

- E70 requires Notebook & Drivers v11, won't work with 10.8 if you're still on that version

- SMART has controls easily accessible on the side of the board, the iiyama decides to hide them at the back, no good if the remote has gone walkies!

 

Also note that writing on these boards doesn't feel as smooth as on a traditional board as the surface of the screen is more resistant to movement. The iiyama was really let down by its cheap and nasty pen (£1 eBay type stylus with flexible end that gives way under pressure) compared to the SMART stylus which was a bit better.

 

There were also some licensing queries on the iiyama and if I remember rightly will need a purchase of the SMART software. The price difference between the two once you factor that in isn't much so we're sticking with the E70 to keep the overall solution neatly tied together.

 

The only other vendor that came close was C-Touch but again SMART licensing comes into it and the price difference wasn't enough to make it viable. All the other manufacturers either ship with really poor software (Samsung!) or didn't come in the right kind of package (wall mount vs stand etc.) to be a realistic competitor for our environment.

 

@Cablers_JonPaul where does the new 6065 panel sit vs the E70, is it a higher end dispaly (4k etc.) or are SMART just trying to run out the E70 stock before moving solely to the new device?

 

I can only tell you what i have been told and that is the E70 will be offered alongside the new 6065 for the foreseeable future.

As well as a smaller 65" but higher end display (4K) the 6065 has object awareness so can tell if your using a pen, fist, gestures etc. (A bit like the 880 SmartBoard) It will also allow two users to use a pen at the same time and allows them to write in different colours. I do not expect SMART will bring a 70" version to market too quickly.

 

The E70 has a massive display but it does not have object awareness. If they do bring a larger version of the 6065 to market they may well keep the E70 as their budget model. The 6065 is currently the same price as the bigger E70 but a bigger version of the 6065 (6070 just a guess) would undoubtedly cost you more.

[OxfordBlue]

looks to be flooded with brands at the moment Jon-Paul, some are display brands, projector brands, IWB brands, low cost imports. If you can get demo samples, get on well with the supplier and direct contact to the manufacturer it's worth it's weight.

 

for the screens to last many years, not just long warranties and free service upgrades; but connectivity, OS support (Mac OS, Chromebook, Linux etc), Software licencing and added features you many not think you will miss today could be essential soon.

[Cablers_JonPaul]

looks to be flooded with brands at the moment Jon-Paul, some are display brands, projector brands, IWB brands, low cost imports. If you can get demo samples, get on well with the supplier and direct contact to the manufacturer it's worth it's weight.

 

for the screens to last many years, not just long warranties and free service upgrades; but connectivity, OS support (Mac OS, Chromebook, Linux etc), Software licencing and added features you many not think you will miss today could be essential soon.

Software will be a big issue and quite a provocative subject with many schools having got used to perpetual free upgrades over the years. Smart and Promethean have seen the shift in the market and have changed or are changing their licensing to suit. A screen for the classroom could well last 8 to 12 years if looked after. Look how long TV's are lasting. That means they will be selling less hardware over the years in repeat business. High schools we supply don't normally buy a screen on the strength of the software it comes bundled with as they tend to teach using more power point presentations so its less of an issue but with Primary schools it can be a key to what they buy as many are heavily invested having trained their teachers on one platform or another. We work with so many schools that have built most of their lesson content within Notebook over the years. Also schools that are Promethean only that have done the same.

 

It is possible to convert Notebook files to other formats but its not a perfect solution as certain things wont convert.

 

You need to take what software you use into account when you buy any screen and add that to the price if it does not come bundled.

[SimpleSi]

@Jon Paul

You've provided a lot of quality information here and I'd like to publicly thank you for that.

 

You come across as the sort of supplier that us school IT people want to deal with

 

Someone who understands the end use (teaching pupils) and aims help do so by supplying the right product for the job

 

 

Simon

PS You need to learn to ignore trolls though

[timp]

The E70 is definitely EOL. The factory stopped making them months ago, Smart ended up with a lot of stock to sell, hence the price drops. It looks like the 6065 will be sold alongside it for a while. 4K resolution and attractive price. Did hear though that it doesn't have VGA input. Fine if you have HDMI but could be tricky if you don't. Only 4 point touch too.

 

As for market leaders, pm me I have the lowdown on that if anyone is interested..

[SimpleSi]

Right - E70 ordered and being fitted next Tues PM

 

Thanks for all info

 

Simon

[Cablers_JonPaul]

I can only tell you what i have been told and that is the E70 will be offered alongside the new 6065 for the foreseeable future.

As well as a smaller 65" but higher end display (4K) the 6065 has object awareness so can tell if your using a pen, fist, gestures etc. (A bit like the 880 SmartBoard) It will also allow two users to use a pen at the same time and allows them to write in different colours. I do not expect SMART will bring a 70" version to market too quickly.

 

The E70 has a massive display but it does not have object awareness. If they do bring a larger version of the 6065 to market they may well keep the E70 as their budget model. The 6065 is currently the same price as the bigger E70 but a bigger version of the 6065 (6070 just a guess) would undoubtedly cost you more.

 

timp is quite right about the E70 going EOL on his post towards the end of this thread.

 

Two of our techs were at Steljes yesterday and came back with the same news which was in direct opposition to what i had previously been told in my numerous phone calls with them.

 

I could only post what we had been told of and i am sorry that my information which i had confirmed with several people at Steljes prior to writing my post was not correct at the time. I will be talking to them again today. :yell:

 

We are going to test and evaluate the new 6065 properly and will post its pros and cons publicly once we know what we think of it. We wont rely on demonstrations and want to see how it stacks up against some of our other favorites. We will also be having another look at the CleverTouch now that its had a revamp.

 

I will share it on edugeek once our new round of testing is finished.

 

If you have a E70 i should not worry too much, you still have a great piece of hardware and it will last you for many years, if you don't have one then take advantage of any special offers you see for them with whatever supplier you use. We are not convinced yet that the E70 is being superseded by a better screen for the education market but i will keep you posted as to our final opinions once we know more on how it performs in a school environment under some stress.

[edutech4schools]

@SimpleSi How have you found the E70?

 

I am just about to order our first touch tv and have been given a bunch of quotes.

[SimpleSi]

Looks fine - didn't have a chance to play with it at all - the sound is absoultely rubbish so def need external speakers

 

Simon

[SimpleSi]

@Cablers_JonPaul

It surprises me not in the slightest about Steljes.

 

They are (and have been for a number of years) top of my list come the revolution

 

Simon

[Cablers_JonPaul]

We have to work with many of the manufactures and suppliers and they are not the worse.

 

To be fair @SimpleSi they normally quite supportive to the resellers and we never have any issues getting them out to fix problems with faulty kit which inevitably occurs from time to time. This helps me to keep the schools we work with happy and endears the their tech support team to me far more than their sales people.

 

I'm the guy at the end of the phone this end who usually cops it here when a problem arises. The lack of correct up to date information was quite annoying and a little embarrassing as i specifically rang them to get clarification.

 

Never mind, i wont dwell on it. Have you got yourself a sound bar yet or are you sticking with your standard audio solution?

[Cablers_JonPaul]

We have to work with many of the manufactures and suppliers and believe it or not they are not the worse.

 

To be fair @SimpleSi they normally quite supportive to the resellers and we never have any issues getting them out to fix problems with faulty kit which inevitably occurs from time to time. This helps me to keep the schools we work with happy and endears the their tech support team to me far more than their sales people.

 

I'm the guy at the end of the phone this end who usually cops it here when a problem arises. The lack of correct up to date information was quite annoying and a little embarrassing as i specifically rang them to get clarification.

 

Never mind, i wont dwell on it. Have you got yourself a sound bar yet or are you sticking with your standard audio solution?

[newpersn]

We fitted sound bars to ours. Running from optical out on the TV to the bar.

 

We only brought 2.0 sound bar (no sub) and works a treat.

[SimpleSi]

Just tried it out and ...

 

very underwhelmed

 

I seem to have to treble-click at times (but not all the time)

 

trying to get the X to work at top right is the most problematical.

 

Writing about 1 cm offset

 

Typical behaviour?

 

Simon

[newpersn]

We dont have that problem. (running over full Res)

 

What resolution are you running at?

[SimpleSi]

I'll check at lunchtime - what is its full res?

 

Simon

[Cablers_JonPaul]

I'll check at lunchtime - what is its full res?

 

Simon

 

Not a problem we have encountered when setting them up.

1920 × 1080 and 1280 × 720 are the recommended screen resolutions for best performance and most accurate touch.