The Argument For A Stylus

Some time ago I was told that Steve Job's greatest pet hate was the stylus. Allegedly he killed off the Newton, an early 90's Apple personal assistant, just because it had a stylus. I am also informed that Jobs worked tirelessly on the iPhone and iPad screen technology to ensure that it never needed a stylus. I would tend to agree with Steve Jobs that it's better to not need one that to need one but these days I find that despite the wonderful advances in technology, nothing beats a stylus in terms of adding productivity and dexterity to your touch screen.

We all remember the blackberry qwerty key pad these days like it was our first true romance that we had a hard time breaking up with (some never got over it). It followed that we were forced to endure a period of withdrawal as we worked our way through the first iterations of touch screens. I am here to tell you that the withdrawal is over for me. The reason it is over is the stylus. I used to always carry a pen with me in my jacket so it wasn't something I wasn't already carrying and now I have been able to find two pens below, the Online and the Caran D'Ache which incorporate both a pen and a stylus in one. 

With respect to the productivity I mentioned earlier, I say that from experience. I have an iPad mini on which I use Procreate to draw, I type from my Android Samsung s4, I write emails from my iPad and I am now starting to use my desktop with a stylus (albeit very rarely). When I type I am much faster using a stylus than using my fingers and I look a helluva lot more professional than those wobbly 40 somethings who barely manage to put down one character at a time. 

Whilst the ideal pen I have in mind is still not created, these interim pens are very user friendly. In the instance of the Online pen, second from the bottom, the mesh nib is exceptionally good for interacting with touch screens. In the case of the Caran D'Ache the pen is slightly too long and heavy for my liking but there is a sense of refinement which makes it so much more alluring than the Online pen. If on the other hand you don't have money to throw at a stylus, the top two can be purchased from JB Hi-Fi for approximately 17.95AUD. 

If you, like me, enjoy having a pen in your pocket and want to get a stylus too, both the bottom pens can be purchased from Pen Ultimate in the Queen Victoria Building:

QVB  : Shop 15-17, Level 2, QVB455 George Street Sydney NSW 2000Ph: (02) 9264 4991

Bottom: Caran D'Ache multi-purpose pen; Second From Bottom: Online Dual Function Stylus And Pen