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Pen/Stylus for iPad mini 4
- Thread starter JamesMike
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Depends on what you want to do with the Stylus.
Obviously these are personal suggestions...
Pencil by 53
I absolutely love this stylus for sketching - it is probably my favorite non-Apple Pencil stylus for iOS. It's very comfortable to hold and runs smoothly across the screen. On the downside, I found it very difficult to write with. Others have said they don't have as much of an issue. Also, I find that I have to replace the nub far more often than I care to (a replacement pack of 2 is available on Amazon for $8).
Wacom Fineline 2
For writing, I haven't found anything that beats Wacom's Fineline stylus. I use it to write / take notes in OneNote. I wouldn't use it for drawing, except small diagrams in OneNote.
Adobe Ink & Slide
The Adobe Ink stylus does both writing and drawing pretty decently. Writing in OneNote, it can perform almost as well as the Fineline. For drawing, this is the best 'fine tip' stylus that I've used - certainly better than the Fineline and better than the Wacom Creative 2.
There are some options from Adonit. A lot of people swear by the Disk stylus, but I don't like them. I had a Jot Script and it was okay - not great (though I had a very early version, so the current generation could have improved).
Obviously these are personal suggestions...
Pencil by 53
I absolutely love this stylus for sketching - it is probably my favorite non-Apple Pencil stylus for iOS. It's very comfortable to hold and runs smoothly across the screen. On the downside, I found it very difficult to write with. Others have said they don't have as much of an issue. Also, I find that I have to replace the nub far more often than I care to (a replacement pack of 2 is available on Amazon for $8).
Wacom Fineline 2
For writing, I haven't found anything that beats Wacom's Fineline stylus. I use it to write / take notes in OneNote. I wouldn't use it for drawing, except small diagrams in OneNote.
Adobe Ink & Slide
The Adobe Ink stylus does both writing and drawing pretty decently. Writing in OneNote, it can perform almost as well as the Fineline. For drawing, this is the best 'fine tip' stylus that I've used - certainly better than the Fineline and better than the Wacom Creative 2.
There are some options from Adonit. A lot of people swear by the Disk stylus, but I don't like them. I had a Jot Script and it was okay - not great (though I had a very early version, so the current generation could have improved).
Frustrating. Is there anyone that used adonit pixel? It's best in recent 7 trials.
The adonit pixel worked pretty well with my iPad pair 2. It's an active stylus with a fine tip and doesn't have that silly disc thing on it. It also has pressure sensitivity and palm rejection.
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I wouldn't say it was garbage. No where near as good as the Apple Pencil but it was ok with my air 2 once I took the glass screen protector off.
Milage may vary, but I found it to be worse than other fine tip stylii.
I've never tried any other active stylus. If only ever tried the ones with the big tips or the ones with the silly plastic discs on the end so it was a big improvement on those.
There are also "powered" capacitive styli that are NOT active but operate exactly as a passive capacitive stylus but with a fine point. The DotPen is one of them. I own one and used it on my Air 2 (and now on my Mini 4)... works wonderfully.
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Yeah?
Would you say it might satiate a desire for a Pencil-equipped Mini? I'm always on the lookout for a stylus for the mini that would at least let me take notes in OneNote on the mini!
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It depends. Since there's no palm rejection (except if a particular app supports it for a "dumb" stylus) writing won't feel completely natural without some assistance.
For me, I use a home-made art glove ($2 thin, white cotton glove with the thumb, index, and middle fingers cut off from Walgreens/CVS/etc.) and I can write in OneNote or sketch in any drawing app as well as I can with the Apple Pencil on my 12.9 iPad Pro... except for pressure sensitivity and slant support.
The art glove prevents the iPad screen from registering my palm as a touch.
Even if Apple never produces an Apple Pencil supported iPad, i will be content to continue to use this method will on my Mini 4.
How's the Parallax? Does it pass the line test?
(draw a line, then draw a second line with the starting point as the end point of the previous line)
(draw a line, then draw a second line with the starting point as the end point of the previous line)
It took me some time to respond because I wanted to give accurate info...
Parallax with the DotPen is highly dependent upon the app being used. With Apple's Notes.app it is unpredictable. It's sometimes good other times not good... straight lines are consistently good, but with curves it is hit or miss... maybe because of some auto-smoothing that is going on. In OneNote, parallax is overall consistent and very good. In general, parallax is affected by the angle that the DotPen touches the screen.
Thanks for the info!
For me, I'll probably stick with the iPad Pro and keep wishing for a Mini Pro. =)
Right now, I'm using a Dell Venue 8 Pro for that pocketable writing and the 9.7 Pro as the daily driver. I like having a Mini-sized device always with me (though it's rare that I don't have my 9.7 pro with me).
Me too... I'm hoping for a Mini Plus (Pencil support but smart connector is doubtful IMO). But in the meantime, I have no problems with my 12.9 Pro and Mini 4 (w/DotPen).
I don't like Adonit stylus or never use that Adonit stylus.
It is rather expensive for me.