Despite Steve Jobs’ proclamation that a tablet with a stylus is a failed tablet, I think the iPad is much more useful with a stylus, and the Capdase Penn Touch Stylus is worth a look if you’re in the market for one. I use a stylus a lot to draw and take hand-written notes in Bamboo Paper and for marking up PDFs in GoodReader.
Dimension-wise, the Penn touch stylus is roughly the same in length, width, and thickness as the Targus stylus that I’ve been using for the last few months, though the Capdase is noticeably lighter, as if it were made of balsa wood.
Brief digression
If you were to chop off the Penn’s writing tip leaving only an inch of the shaft and insert it into a plastic holder attached to a small keychain or cell phone charm lanyard, then you have the Capdase Finga Touch Stylus.
Despite looking uncomfortably short — using it feels like I’m holding a pencil stub that’s been worn down to just an inch long — the Finga is surprisingly comfortable to hold and quite easy to use on smalls screens such as those of smartphones. If you’re the type of user who can still manage to use the small smartphone screen for hand-written notes or for drawing and painting, then give the Finga stylus a try.
A stylus that does more than just write
But it’s the Penn stylus for the iPad (and other tablets) that I really like. Compared to the Targus stylus, it works much better and has a couple of hidden and useful tricks, for exactly the same price. Though it feels cheap because it’s so light, I think the extra features make it worth buying. First, a built-in magnet. The magnet is not strong enough to keep the stylus from rolling off the iPad’s suface, but good enough to hold it in place and turn off the screen when it’s laid on top of the bezel. PIck up the pen, and the screen turns right back on. A nifty Smart Cover-like trick, I must say. Second is a needle-like piece of metal — a SIM tray ejection tool — hidden in the plastic cap, for users with 3G iPads and iPhones.
Four pretty colors! Built-in magnet to turn screen on and off! SIM tray ejector tool!
But where the Capdase Penn Touch Stylus readily beats the Targus is the material used for the writing tip. The Targus stylus has a rubber tip, which means there’s quite a bit of friction when dragging the stylus tip over the iPad’s screen. The Capdase styus’ writng tip also feels like rubber, but is stiffer, and glides much more smoothly across the tablet’s surface, making for quicker and more accurate notes. The only drawback is a tiny bit of lag between the contact with the iPad surface and the recognition of the contact (there’s no such lag when I use the Targus stylus). But it’s just a matter of putting more pressure on the stylus for the contact to register immediately.
Bottomline: If you’re thinking of getting a stylus to use with your iPad or tablet, I recommend that you get the Capdase Penn Touch Stylus.
Capdase Penn Touch Stylus
Colors: Blue, Red, Silver, Black
Price: Php795
Availability: Major Apple retailers
Capdase Finga Touch Stylus
Colors: Silver-white combo, and all-black
Price: Php695
Availability: Major Apple retailers
Likes
- Smooth writing tip
- Magnet for turning the screen on and off
- Built-in SIM tray ejector pin (both Penn and Finga)
Dislikes
- Too light for my taste
- Require more pressure for the tap/contact to register
