Hands on with the HP Pro Slate 8 and HP Pro Slate 12 and their incredible stylus

HP today announced the Australian availability of its latest Android business tablets, the HP Pro Slate 8 and the HP Pro Slate 12. The HP Pro Slate 8 is an 7.9-inch, iPad mini sized tablet, whereas the HP Pro Slate 12 is a massive 12.3-inches and is easily the largest tablet I've seen. Both share a design reminiscent of the HTC One M8, boasting dual front-facing speakers.

HP's new tablets are made unique by their stylus: the Duet Pen. As the name might suggest, the Duet Pen works both as a stylus and a regular pen. Its tip is actually a double-ended removable cartridge with a stylus nub on one end and a traditional black ink pen on the other. But what's more interesting is that, like the Neo Smartpen N2, the Duet Pen can be used to simultaneously write in a notebook and on the device's screen.

While the Neo Smartpen N2 requires proprietary paper to work, the Duet Pen works with regular paper. The HP Pro Slates triangulate the stylus' position using soundwaves, meaning you can write on any surface within the tablet's range. I found this method was fairly accurate, and copied my awful chicken scrawl handwriting over to the HP Notes app perfectly 95% of the time.