Playbook Screen and a Stylus

I'll begin this post by saying I love my PB, have had it since September and I haven't had any real problems with it. I will mention an Ipad here in comparison, but I don't want a different device, so please don't treat this like some of the other threads looking for an argument.

One of the things which would be very useful for me with my PB would be taking notes, either during a meeting or whilst generally working.

I have bought an adonit Jot Pro stylus for this, as I wasn't happy with the performance of other rubber tipped ones. I've tried this on a few of my friends iPad's, and it works brilliantly, very accurate and feels like writing with an actual pen.

On my PB I don't get the same response, the screen requires a significant amount of pressure before it registers that I'm trying to write with it, making for a very unnatural writing style. It means that if I'm trying to jot down things quickly the PB only registers half the word that I've written making for a very hard to read notes page.

I originally thought the problem was with the app's I was using, but to date I've tried:
Scroodle, Skit, Gen.Paper, Note Smartly paid version and the annotate function of Jotsy.
Scroodle has the best performance for me, but as it seems to be aimed at drawing more, it's not great at taking notes. Skit has an ok performance, but suffers alot from pressure issues. Gen.Paper and Note Smartly don't seem to 'refresh' (Take a sample of where the contact is, not sure what this is technically called) regularily enough leading to jagged corners and very sharp looking writing (square letter 'o' and things like that).
Jotsy works well for the highlighting, but again the actual writing side isn't great.


So has anyone had any success at writing with normal pressure using a capacitive stylus? As I said, at first I thought it was the apps, but the number of them I've tried with no great success seems to point more towards the actual PB - the screen material or something similar? I have noticed than very few of the writing apps seem to get updates, is it just that the apps aren't fully developed / supported, or will the PB just never properly support this?


Thanks

I have used a Targus stylus in the past and didnt quite enjoy it.
I rather found my finger/s doing an awesome job, and given the PB's perfect size, where it fits comfortably in my hands I didnt see the reason to use a stylus any further.

I however believe that the PBs touch screen is extremely well designed for capactive stylus, but the apps that are currently out there might not be at par to reflect the true potential of the PB. I have recently used an app called picinote and that seems to be by far the best app to be used with the stylus.

At the end I have mastered the two thumb typing so the stylus comes out only when I dont want to smudge the shiny PB screen :)

Originally Posted by anindoc

I have used a Targus stylus in the past and didnt quite enjoy it.
I rather found my finger/s doing an awesome job, and given the PB's perfect size, where it fits comfortably in my hands I didnt see the reason to use a stylus any further.

I however believe that the PBs touch screen is extremely well designed for capactive stylus, but the apps that are currently out there might not be at par to reflect the true potential of the PB. I have recently used an app called picinote and that seems to be by far the best app to be used with the stylus.

At the end I have mastered the two thumb typing so the stylus comes out only when I dont want to smudge the shiny PB screen :)

Thanks, that one looks interesting, I'll try it out when I get home.

In the end I can still type with my PB, and with the features coming in os2.0 I'll be able to type from my BB phone, but being able to scribble down notes has very different uses. I work at a computer all day, but I still have a notepad sitting beside me for notes.

Only app I've used is Scroodle.

I picked up a cheap ($12) Targus stylus at Walmart and while I knew off the bat I wasn't going to write a tome with the thing, I still wonder if it's my playbook because even when using my own fingers, the responsiveness of the playbook sometimes isn't there. It seems that sometimes, I have to press a little harder as well.

I tried several of the high/overpriced offerings, and found the Rocketfish stylus (which were on a 1 day only sale @4.99 on 12/26/11) works the best, and I attribute that to its use of a firmer rubber tip that does not collapse at the slightest touch as all the rest do. Highly sensitive and a breeze to write with, it does so even with the SGP Ultra Fine Mat screen protector I use.

Originally Posted by alnamvet68

I tried several of the high/overpriced offerings, and found the Rocketfish stylus (which were on a 1 day only sale @4.99 on 12/26/11) works the best, and I attribute that to its use of a firmer rubber tip that does not collapse at the slightest touch as all the rest do. Highly sensitive and a breeze to write with, it does so even with the SGP Ultra Fine Mat screen protector I use.

I have a cheap rubber tipped stylus, but it has a tip that collapses and the PB won't recognise contact unless the tip is fully compressed, making it quite hard to write with. That's why I had high hopes for the adonit.

I had really been aiming for something with a finer tip, allowing me to write more accurately, but I may have to try something like this.

Thanks for the replies, if anyone else has any insight, please to reply.

Originally Posted by Nedved51

I have a cheap rubber tipped stylus, but it has a tip that collapses and the PB won't recognise contact unless the tip is fully compressed, making it quite hard to write with. That's why I had high hopes for the adonit.

I had really been aiming for something with a finer tip, allowing me to write more accurately, but I may have to try something like this.

Thanks for the replies, if anyone else has any insight, please to reply.

I was looking for that too, and that's where the Bamboo stylus comes in, with a smaller rubber tip suggesting a greater degree of writing accuracy....not so, the rubber is uber soft, requiring greater pressure, and at the risk of scratching your screen with the metal band that holds the rubber tip. Numerous reviews by users compalin of how quickly the tip deteriorates/tears, and some have actually reported screen scratches.

Originally Posted by alnamvet68

I was looking for that too, and that's where the Bamboo stylus comes in, with a smaller rubber tip suggesting a greater degree of writing accuracy....not so, the rubber is uber soft, requiring greater pressure, and at the risk of scratching your screen with the metal band that holds the rubber tip. Numerous reviews by users compalin of how quickly the tip deteriorates/tears, and some have actually reported screen scratches.

That's why I had gone for the adonit Jot, though I had expected it to work better. I'd hoped that because it was a solid tip it wouldn't require too much pressure, and the fine point would allow for more accurate writing.

I'm still hoping it's an app problem, but I'm not sure.

Have you tried picinotes app, One of the feature of the app says "create notes with handwriting/stylus based technology"

I think I recall a thread where folks did discuss that one of the "drawing/writing" apps was quite a bit better at responding to a stylus. So it might be the underlying app as well as the stylus design.

I have a dagi stylus, and I have to say that I have mixed experience. I was given two tip, the first one had worked great but then I accidentally wrecked it. The second tip was not so good, it was not as responsive as the first tip.

IMHO, so far, the best app in recognizing handwriting/stylus is notesmartly, but still not good enough.

Is picinotes still available? I can't find it on App World.

I'm IT consultant and my goal on the PB was to find an app that provided strong organizational, photo/note-taking/stylus tools. I've been using Picinote extensively on my PB for a few weeks now and I couldn't be happier. The stylus is decent, but features including searchable picibooks, multi page/multi photo pinch and zoom, moveable text, etc... make up for any handwritten deficiencies. I reached out the Picinote's support team inquiring about future realease features and they responded with "soon to be realeased updates including active 2.0 email, addiational collaboration tools and improved stylus/hand writing capabilities".

I paid 4.99 for the app a few weeks back and don't regret it, but I noticed yesterday that it's on the featured list for 2.99. Great buy!!!!

Has anyone used the 2.0 Beta release??? Thoughts, comments, etc...?

I recently bought a cheap stylus from an online store (I couldn't find any in any of the stores near me).
This is the one:
Universal Capacitive Stylus - Silver

It works quite well with my android phone. Doesn't require much pressure and though the tip is fat, I can use it at various angles.

On my playbook, it only works straight up and also requires a lot of pressure...

Any ideas on how to improve this? And if not, could anyone point out any particular stylus which works well on the playbook (Preferably someone with first had experience)?

Thanks in advance.

Pretty sure it has something to do with the screen, while it's great for clarity and such it's not adapted for any stylus outside of the "piece of rubber" ones.

Someone quite a while ago did an extensive review of various models and posted a video. I'm sure things have changed but it was a nice roundup.

I'll look for the video then. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Khameleon05

Pretty sure it has something to do with the screen, while it's great for clarity and such it's not adapted for any stylus outside of the "piece of rubber" ones.

What do you mean by "piece of rubber" ones? Do you mean to say that only rubber tipped styli work on well on the playbook?

New Trent makes a line of micro fiber tipped stylus that work quite well. I have 2 and they work much better than the rubber tipped ones. One is the IMP63B, available from Amazon. Check them out.

Here's the links:

Targus and Dagi Capacitive Stylus for RIM Playbook - YouTube

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...aybook-655835/

Originally Posted by hackerguy

New Trent makes a line of micro fiber tipped stylus that work quite well. I have 2 and they work much better than the rubber tipped ones. One is the IMP63B, available from Amazon. Check them out.

Originally Posted by F2

Here's the links:

Targus and Dagi Capacitive Stylus for RIM Playbook - YouTube

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...aybook-655835/

Do the Dagi P504 and the IMP63B work at an angle as well on the playbook? I feel that that's a very important criteria to provide a natural writing feel.

Thanks.

Is it possible to take notes as on paper with either of these two styli? I'm mainly thinking about the speed of writing.

I got the Dagi one....works flawless...I tried many...but this one was the best...