Recently I tested three pens digital styluses with the hopes to find one that would work like the rubber-tipped styluses. The 3 pens are the Cregle iPen, ByZero- Studio Pen and the A5 APen.
Unfortunately there is a dearth of apps that work well with the pens. Even after you calibrate the pen, your writing goes off into a slant like a first grader’s handwriting may look.
Second the cost- if you are going to pay $89.00-$159.00 you should be able to write anything anywhere!
Third- each pen has to use the 30-pin port for the pen’s receiver. If you lose the receiver expect to pay about $45.00 for a replacement.
Quite honestly there is not one pen I would recommend. Each pen has some attributes but this technology has a while to go. Each pen only works with specific software. Even though the pens claim they work with other note taking apps the calibration is very frustrating.
If you are like me and need to try the newest technology here is how I would rate the pens: Most expensive to least as well as
Studio Pen $159.00 came through kickstarter- this is a simply designed pen. The problem is the top does not fit on the back of the pen making it easy to lose. Once again there are less apps that work with this pen making it very expensive to work with only one app- Studio Basic Lite. If you are patient and can wait for more apps to align with the pen then start with the one app, which works beautifully,
Apen- $129.00- Apen technology has been around for a while. The A5 pen is extremely limited with apps. It works best with Studio Basic Lite. This is a clean note taking application but personally I did not find it intuitive. With apps such as
Noteshelf and a newer notebinder I would like my digital pen to work with these apps. Personally this is a lot of money for a limited item.
iPen $89.00 also from kickstarter. This is the best digital pen of all! It claims to work with certain apps such as Noteshelf Notes Plus, iWriteWords, , Goodnotes, Doc As .The apps that works are Ghostwriter, Notebinder, Explain Everything,, Writepad.
There are a few more apps iPen states it works with based upon the apps I own it seems to work with half the apps I have.
If you were desperately looking to purchase a digital pen I would say the iPen for cost and the most apps. I do believe this is the stylus we are looking for. In addition to not being reliable the receiver is in the same place you need to charge your iPad so make sure your iPad is charged before writing.
