Touch is now one of our primary input methods. Given we poke and swipe at glass screens to get things done on phones, tablets, Windows 8 computers, it surprising styluses and digital pens haven't caught on in a really big way. Sure, they're popular accessories in the mobile era. But most people, rather than spend $30 or $40 on a bit of metal and plastic, still prefer to use the pointer they're born with.
If you are a stylus person---a population whose numbers continue to swell---then no doubt you're a fan of Wacom's products. The company has been making digital styluses and tablets (the kind that sit on your desk and take the place of your mouse) for years, and has also seen some great success with its Bamboo pens for touchscreens.
This week, Wacom announced three new Bamboo pens for mobiles. The first two are updates to familiar designs: the $20 Bamboo Stylus Solo, a dead-simple pointer with a carbon fiber nib, and the $30 Bamboo Stylus Duo, which is basically a Solo with a traditional roller-ball ink pen built into the other end. You know, so you can write on paper and stuff. Both of these third-generation Bamboo pens are passive input sticks and work with any touchscreen phone or computer. Doodle with them, swipe and tap with them, use them for games. Clip them into your pocket and use them to sign for Square purchases at the store.
More intriguing is the new Bamboo Stylus Fineline, a $60 Bluetooth-enabled pen made for iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad 3. It has a super-thin tip that offers 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. It works with all the leading drawing and note-taking apps, including Wacom's own Bamboo Paper app for iOS.
A pen like this lets you do more than just navigate and jot down notes, which the cheaper pens are great for. The Fineline is made primarily for artists who can take advantage of the control over the thickness of the line that the pressure sensitivity affords. Wacom lent us a Fineline to test, and it's really fun to draw and sketch with---I'm no Boris Vallejo, but I gave it a good whirl. The button that sits beneath your index finger can be programmed to do a number of things, like hold and scroll, or to trigger the eraser. The internal battery charges over microUSB (no AAAs!) and lasts a few days between charges.
So if you're looking for a iOS-ready pen that's smarter than your dumb old finger, this one will serve you well---at least until input technologies advance to the level where you to draw a picture with your voice.
