Best iPad Stylus For Note Taking
Its not for everyone, but one of the handy applications for the iPad and other comparable tablets is the ability to scribble notes into third party apps like NoteShelf. Typically you have two choices for using these kinds of applications:
- Use your fingers
- Use a stylus
Using your fingers is frankly not a real option since the chances of you being able to write something that is remotely legible in the future is non-existent. That leaves us with 1 option, buying a stylus.
Its not exactly the sexiest purchase you’ll ever make, but purchasing a good one will make the experience a lot more gratifying. Having used a few my personal favourite at the moment is the Adonit Jot Pro Stylus.
Why I would recommend it
- Its got a small nib, which makes it a lot more accurate for writing and drawing images.
- Its nice to use with a rubberised grip that makes it comfortable to hold and pleasant to write with.
- Its made out of a durable aluminium steel and magnetises to certain tablet covers such as the Apple Smart cover.
- It has a protective cap, which screws on to cover the nib when not is use and screws onto the other end of the stylus when you’re using it to ensure you don’t lose the cap.
Below is an example of the accuracy of the writing that comes from using the Adonit Jot Pro Stylus vs. my finger (for the record I was zoomed in and took great care to produce my finger version, so its probably better than most of us can manage in a normal attempt).
I let a colleague who enjoys note taking in this way trial my Adonit and within 20 seconds of using it he was on Amazon looking at prices. At the time he was put off by the price, currently £26.99 but when I ran into him the following week guess which stylus he was using? Yup….the Jot Pro.
It took 20 seconds of usage to convince a heavy tablet note taker to decide that this was the right product for them.
Some other very good, slightly cheaper options would be:
I’d love to try and review other Stylus products, so please feel free to give me your recommendations below in the comments.
Posted by bendrush | 6 comments
I'm Ben Rush, born and raised in the UK and now living in Singapore. This site is my personal blog and portfolio and covers a wide range of topics including my progress in completing my bucket list.
Ryan
This is an incredible product. I wasn’t aware such writing devices existed. Obviously naive on my part. The quality of product and the ease of use makes it seem a real good product.
Do you typically write blog posts on your iPad using it?!?
Good review. I’ll be following suit and picking one up.
Many thanks,
Ryan
bendrush
Hi Ryan, glad you enjoyed using it. I don’t typically use it for extensive writing as to be perfectly honest I don’t think digital tablets are yet productive enough tools for long winded writing.
I use it a lot for note taking in meetings so I don’t have to type pad it. I find this the most useful attribute to using an iPad and a Stylus to increase productivity as I have my important meeting notes in a more shareable format than simply having it scribbled down on paper.
Aman
I like Jot stylus due to its unique design but Estylo is much better for sketching.
You can see my review on Estylo on,
http://graphicssoft.about.com/u/reviews/iphoneandipodtouchapps/Stylus-Reviews/Plai-Estylo.htm
bendrush
Thanks for your input Aman, I haven’t got any experience of using the Estylo personally but I don’t tend to do any sketching myself. I still think it largely comes down to accuracy, be it for writing or sketching so for me the Jot Pro is still my preference.
The Estylo at least looks cool
Aman
Jot is really great,but if some one is looking for joining thin lines or points Estylo comes on its way!
Also I forgot to mention that Estylo is not for writing its only good for sketching.
Overall I like Jot.Its different than other disc tip styluses and doesnt have that offsetting problems of Dagi or Ostylus!Adonit really has invented secret technology that keeps the stylus always precise unlike OStylus and Dagi whose edges make error inputs in sketching while the whole disc tip is touching the screen!Looking forward to see official launch adonit’s new product “jot Touch”
Thanks!
Aman
I think one thing which people don’t know is that we use the angles to sketch with Estylo rather than a flat surface full,Estylo doesn’t use centre of tip as input point.it uses the corners of the tips (corners at angles) to write actually and the tips r inclined to the stylus axis giving u clear view of your sketch.