An iPad stylus

[Jockscrap]

What's the reason to using a pen on your iPad again?

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I find it useful for editing PDFs by adding highlights to text, underlining and adding various other scribbles and annotations. It's also useful for drawing rough sketches and making quick notes.
My DH much prefers navigating round my iPad with the stylus than using his fingers. I tend to go between the two methods. I've found that a game I have, Breakout Mania, is difficult to do with my finger as after a few goes back and forth over the same spot, the grease from my finger creates drag and the game becomes unplayable. With the stylus, the problem doesn't occur.

 

[china_cat84]

What's the reason to using a pen on your iPad again?

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I blame my reasons on school lol. My instructors require us to print off pages and pages of PowerPoint presentation handouts and write our notes on them. I just can't bring myself to use that much ink or paper! Not only can I not afford it, but it's such a waste when I'll only use the notes for a semester....plus when they're in sheets and not in a notebook, I tend to lose them.

So, I save the powerpoints as PDFs and download them into UPAD for note taking. Works like a charm and doesn't waste paper or ink. And makes my classmates jealous of my cool iPad. In fact, Apple should be paying me something because since last semester, I've inspired at least 10 people to purchase an iPad just because they saw me using it in class for my notes!

As for styli, I use a stylus-r-us stylus and I love it. I've never had a problem with handwriting legibility, especially with UPAD....my handwriting on the iPad looks pretty close to how it looks on paper. I didn't really have any issues when I first started either - I think you just need to become accustomed to how the iPad works and how best to use the stylus. Just my 2 cents. I also have an Acase stylus and it's ok. I do find that my hand becomes more easily fatigued with it, since I have to press harder with it than with the SRU stylus.

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[Jockscrap]

What is dh? And I can see how a stylus would be better than your finger at times.. How accurate are the? Are the like writing with a real pen on your iPad?

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DH is a forum acronym for dear or darling husband.
He finds the stylus is more accurate than a finger for selecting page numbers and small areas without the need to zoom in. I rarely find using just my finger for navigating a problem though.

You hold and use the stylus like a real pen but it has a semi-spherical rubber tip, not a point like a normal pen. The Acase pen is a little sorter than a normal pen which is a negative, and my hand aches a bit after lots of writing, but I don't write as much as I used to, so this could be another case of just needing to practice.

Like China Cat, I've found it most useful for making notes on to pdfs and it has already saved me from having to print out scores of pages. I'm going to have a look at the recommendations for the app and stylus in their post.

 

[Elton]

Hate to say it, folks, but I've just about come to a couple of conclusions after trying about half a dozen styluses and reading literally hundreds of posts about various brands.

() There are simply too many individual preferences to reach a conclusion about the "best" stylus. What seems ideal to one user is unusable for another.

() The basic problem lies with the capacitive touch screen on the iPad, not with various styluses. It is simply not a well designed medium for detailed work. If you want something that feels like writing with a pen and paper you're going to have to wait for technology to catch up with...a pen and paper.

Bottom line. Buy a stylus. Doesn't much matter which one though the cheapest are probably not quite as good as the most expensive. Then practice, practice, practice. That's how you get to Carnegie Hall and it's how you become proficient with a stylus on an iPad. Just don't expect perfection. The iPad screen won't provide it.

I can't agree with 100% of what you said but you are very close.
Yes, Everyone has his own preference there is no BEST stylus that suit everyone need.
Yes, the design of the iPad/iPhone touch screen has limited the input medium diameter to be larger than 5.5mm. Anything smaller is rejected. That's why it is so challenging to create a stylus that works all rounded well with the i-device.

But no, the design of the stylus does make a different. I have tried more than 30+ stylii, what I found is, all the stylii on the market were designed to perform well for point & tap action but not equally well for a stroke. As a result, the writing tip needed to be manually pressed toward to the screen in order for a pen stroke to be fully recognized. Short or light strokes are always lost its first half or completely ignored. Practice won't make this hardware limitation go away.

May I suggest you to take a look at this stylus responsiveness comparison video then u know what I mean:

Elton

 

[jsh1120]

I can't agree with 100% of what you said but you are very close.
Yes, Everyone has his own preference there is no BEST stylus that suit everyone need.
Yes, the design of the iPad/iPhone touch screen has limited the input medium diameter to be larger than 5.5mm. Anything smaller is rejected. That's why it is so challenging to create a stylus that works all rounded well with the i-device.

But no, the design of the stylus does make a different. I have tried more than 30+ stylii, what I found is, all the stylii on the market were designed to perform well for point & tap action but not equally well for a stroke. As a result, the writing tip needed to be manually pressed toward to the screen in order for a pen stroke to be fully recognized. Short or light strokes are always lost its first half or completely ignored. Practice won't make this hardware limitation go away.

Elton

Elton,

Thanks for the video. Very interesting. I have to admit that the post to which you responded was written in a period when I was especially frustrated with finding the "perfect" stylus (for handwriting.) I still think that stylus choice is heavily influenced by individual preferences about weight and shape, writing styles, and even whether one is left or right-handed. Thus, blanket recommendations are of limited value. Having said that, though, I think you're correct that there is something to the old adage that you get what you pay for.

There are exceptions, however. I've been using a Jot Pro from Adonit for a week, or so. It's relatively expensive (about $30 USD). And while it's very attractive, hefty (I like that), and enables very precise input, it also fails to capture strokes intermittently, much like a pen that is low on ink. I've tried to adjust my writing style to minimize the problem but so far I've had only limited success in doing so. Unless I can overcome the problem or Adonit rectifies the problem via a change in design, I fear I'll have to stop using it.

In any event, your design looks interesting and imaginative. Good luck in your efforts to fund its development.

 

[Yarrenbool]

I was interested to watch your video but kept thinking: "I can't remember the last time I wrote with a stylus using a floppy spring to hold it."

I just can't see that your video shows any valid real-life testing.

 

[jsh1120]

I was interested to watch your video but kept thinking: "I can't remember the last time I wrote with a stylus using a floppy spring to hold it."

I just can't see that your video shows any valid real-life testing.

I think he was making an effort to remove any question of favoring one stylus over another (including his own product) in his demonstration. I agree, however, that real-life testing by a panel of disinterested consumers would be more useful.

 

[Elton]

Elton,

Thanks for the video. Very interesting. I have to admit that the post to which you responded was written in a period when I was especially frustrated with finding the "perfect" stylus (for handwriting.) I still think that stylus choice is heavily influenced by individual preferences about weight and shape, writing styles, and even whether one is left or right-handed. Thus, blanket recommendations are of limited value. Having said that, though, I think you're correct that there is something to the old adage that you get what you pay for.

There are exceptions, however. I've been using a Jot Pro from Adonit for a week, or so. It's relatively expensive (about $30 USD). And while it's very attractive, hefty (I like that), and enables very precise input, it also fails to capture strokes intermittently, much like a pen that is low on ink. I've tried to adjust my writing style to minimize the problem but so far I've had only limited success in doing so. Unless I can overcome the problem or Adonit rectifies the problem via a change in design, I fear I'll have to stop using it.

In any event, your design looks interesting and imaginative. Good luck in your efforts to fund its development.

I am glade that you that we are on the same channel, I don't like to retouch written pen strokes when I sketch on my iPad, that's why I decided to make one that can capture every stroke that I ever written. If you are not ready to bet on my innovation, please kindly support it by letting more people know about it. Thanks.

BTW, if you want to see how XStylus Touch captures light strokes, fast forward to 0:22 of this video (sorry the video is a bit shaky):

 

[Elton]

I was interested to watch your video but kept thinking: "I can't remember the last time I wrote with a stylus using a floppy spring to hold it."

I just can't see that your video shows any valid real-life testing.

I think he was making an effort to remove any question of favoring one stylus over another (including his own product) in his demonstration. I agree, however, that real-life testing by a panel of disinterested consumers would be more useful.

My bad, When I do this video, I was keep on thinking how to make sure that the audiences won't think I on purposely make the other stylii in-responsive on the video. I try something else that is more related to real life situation next time.

Technically the string wont' allow me to add any force onto the stylii, so all I can do is to lower the stylus to contact the screen. It is the tip and the body weight that doing the job with the screen. Imaging you need to retouch the first half of your strokes when you are writing with ball point pen, I am sure you will just throw it away. And the same should apply to iPad stylus, right?