Compared to some of its very sturdy (albeit capacitive) competitors, the iPen feels like junk. The casing around the tip of the iPen cracked within a week of using it, and the rest doesn’t feel like great quality. The iPen essentially a hollow-feeling white piece of plastic about as thick as a Sharpie marker. Press hard enough (since the iPen clicks in to register a press), and you could even scratch your screen. It’s at the very least nerve-racking to drag a pointy piece of plastic across your screen. And the iPen does slide - to the point where it’s tough to keep it in one place. There’s also a noticeable delay between the iPen sliding across the screen and the line that follows it. Despite several tries at calibrating the iPen, it just isn’t as accurate as either the Adonit Jot Pro or any of the rubber-tipped styli. I tested the app using Ibis Paint (updated April 17th, 2012) and Ghostwriter Notes (updated May 2nd, 2012), and had poor results with both. You’ll actually be able to see a cursor onscreen directly beneath where you’re holding the stylus. Within each app, you must calibrate the iPen using small targets onscreen. The iPen only works within the boundaries of specific apps - none of which are very good. The iPen works using a receiver that plugs into your iPad’s dock connector by “gathering iPen’s ultrasonic and infrared signal” to determine its location. Setting aside the drama Cregle created on Kickstarter, does the iPen digitizer actually work? Not so well, unfortunately. The Cregle iPen is a “digitizer” for your iPad that aims to make writing and drawing much more accurate. But overall, this stylus is a great deal. And as I mentioned, the tip of the Monoprice is shorter and mushier than the Amazon’s tip, which means it’s less precise. It’s light enough that it feels like it’s going to fall out of your hands if you don’t death-grip it. In comparison with the Amazon, the Monoprice is about a quarter of an inch shorter, but is a whole lot lighter. Add on shipping costs and you’ll be setting yourself back closer to $5.50, but that’s still a good six dollars cheaper than the AmazonBasics stylus, the next-cheapest entry. While the product is essentially a hollow aluminum tube with a pen clip and the Monoprice logo on it, it’s a pretty amazing value for under three dollars. The stylus is pretty poor for writing, because it has a short and squishy tip that compresses underneath you as you use it so the contact point with a screen is very difficult to infer. For everyday games of Draw Something or quick sketches, the Monoprice does a bang up job, but it feels like a piece of junk in your hand. The $2.97 Monoprice aluminum stylus is likely the cheapest stylus that’s still worth buying. The Bamboo’s going to cost you, though, checking in at just under $30. But ultimately, it’s the most precise and more importantly the most predictable stylus of the group. Like the rest of the rubber tips I tested, this one’s mushy and doesn’t provide the hardness I’m looking for from a writing utensil. Also, you can even remove the pocket clip if you want. The Bamboo’s smaller tip (which is removable, in case you need to replace it) makes it the second most agile of the rubber-tipped styli I tested â only the Kuel H10 managed to beat it in this department. The tip of the Bamboo, which is smaller in diameter than its peers, is the killer feature here. I just slightly prefer the Kensington’s height to weight ratio, but the Bamboo is close. The Bamboo is light enough to toss in a pocket, but heavy enough to feel substantial. It’s beautiful in a modern yet understated way, only taking what it needs from the conventional idea of a “pen.” For example, the shaft of the Bamboo is a touch girthier than a Bic pen, but it’s also about an inch or so shorter than a Bic. The Wacom Bamboo is highlighted by FiftyThree (the company behind Paper) in its website and video for a reason: it’s the best stylus you can buy for your iPad.
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