.KEYWORD stylus
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Stylus Plus: a stylish stylus at an affordable price
.OTHER
.SUMMARY The basic Palm stylus has been called a twig, and anyone who has tried manipulating that little plastic sliver with a normal, adult-sized hand would have to agree. If you’re a heavy Palm computer user, you’ll want a comfortable, practical stylus. Here, Denise Watkins reviews the Stylus Plus, a multi-functional stylus with an equally practical price tag.
.AUTHOR Denise Watkins
I am a pen snob, and I freely admit it. Long before I became a willing member of the cult of Palm, I haunted the better pen counters of office supply superstores. You’ll never find me using your basic 99-cent disposable stick pen.
The same goes for my choice of stylus. From a purely aesthetic point of view, I agree with the descriptive term Dan Velasco gave to the basic Palm stylus in his article, "Become a Graffiti master," available at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200004/faster001.html. "The twig" is what he called it, and anyone who’s tried manipulating that little plastic sliver with a normal, adult-sized hand would have to concur.
Not to mention the fact that the basic Palm stylus just looks cheap. Come on, you’ve spent, at the very least, $150 for your Palm device, so not getting a decent stylus is tantamount to buying an expensive new car and then being too cheap to spring for air conditioning.
.H1 A stylish alternative
If you’re a heavy Palm computer user, you’ll want a stylus that’s practical and comfortable. The Stylus Plus, pictured in Figure A, could be for you.
.FIGPAIR A The Stylus Plus is a stylish alternative to "the twig".
The Stylus Plus, at $19.99, is quite a bargain. It’s available at http://www.stylusplus.com. It has four points: a ballpoint, a stylus tip, a pencil point, and a highlighter. What makes the Stylus Plus so different from other multi-purpose styli is the fact that you have the ability to customize it. You can choose the color of the pen ink, the stylus tip color, and the color of the highlighter.
.H1 Selecting the appropriate tip
The Stylus Plus has four indicators, one for each of its various points. If you hold it directly in front of yourself while facing the clip, you can press the cap to make the ballpoint pen appear. Then, when you rotate the pen to the right, the blue dot faces you, and pushing the cap down will now give you the orange stylus tip.
Rotating a quarter turn to the right gives you the 0.5 pencil point. The removable end cap holds an eraser and extra lead. For me, the pencil was the least useful point. I can’t remember the last time I used a pencil, and as I’m the type of person who holds my writing utensil in a death grip, mechanical pencil leads are too weak for me. However, as I was completing this review, I learned the Stylus Plus is now available with a second ballpoint in place of the pencil option.
A final turn to the right gives you the highlighter. In truth, though, it’s actually more suited for underlining.
I have used a variety of styli and found that the Stylus Plus best suits me. Prior to using the Stylus Plus, I used a Cross Metropolis with the stylus refill and the Pilot Pentopia T2300. While both of these products are perfectly fine, for my own personal comfort and ease of use I can’t find anything that suits me better than the Stylus Plus. In Figure B, you can see how it comfortably fits in the hand.
.FIGPAIR B The Stylus Plus can be held in both casual and death grips.
.H1 Four-in-one fun
I find a multi-purpose stylus useful for a number of reasons. For one, I record every financial transaction in my Palm organizer, and I find the best time to do that is at the moment the transaction occurs. I record the transaction in MoneyManager, and if there is a charge receipt to sign, I then rotate the stylus and switch to the ballpoint pen function. If I’m writing a note to someone and I want to make a reminder for myself in my Palm unit, a quick turn and click takes me from pen to stylus. When I’m reading, I often have my Palm device at hand to jot down a quick note or an interesting URL. With the Stylus Plus, I can use the stylus point to make notes, or if I want to continue reading, I can use the highlighter to underline passages I want to return to later.
.H1 Don’t just take my word for it
I had two other Palm device users try the Stylus Plus for a few days each. Mind you, I was not a happy camper, having to rely on my backup stylus, and no, it was not "the twig". I do have standards.
One of the testers, however, does still use the basic "twig" stylus; the other tester is a Pentopia T2300 user. Overall, they gave the Stylus Plus a favorable review. By compiling our opinions, I came up with a breakdown of pros and cons. Interestingly enough, size shows up on both lists.
.H2 Pros
Here’s what we liked about the Stylus Plus:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Price: at $19.99, we felt it was reasonably affordable;
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Size: the Stylus Plus is the same size as a regular pen, measuring five and a half inches in length with an approximate quarter inch diameter. It weighs in at about 1.2 ounces;
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Convenience: having all four options in one pen is really handy.
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Cool factor: It really makes you feel "pulled-together" to be stylin’ with a quality stylus.
.END_LIST
.H2 Cons
Here’s what we didn’t like about the Stylus Plus:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Noises: we noticed some rattling and clicking noises in pen. Maybe this is because the cap is removable for access to the eraser. If so, this won’t be a problem in the newer version, which doesn’t include the pencil option;
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Soft lead: the pencil lead should be a bit harder to prevent breakage;
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Pencil confusion: it’s not intuitive how to make the lead move out of the pen;
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Size: if the stylus were a little smaller it would be better for storage reasons. Plus, the eraser/cap causes you to expend additional effort (i.e., you must re-adjust your hand position) in order to reach the end of the cap. One of my testers-who happens to be 6′ 4"-complained about the width, saying it was too narrow.
.END_LIST
.H1 Conclusion
Overall, I heartily recommend the Stylus Plus. Based on ease of use and price, it’s hard to beat. But don’t throw out your basic "twig" stylus! Your kids can use that to doodle on one of those magic slates.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
The Stylus Plus is available at http://www.stylusplus.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6e1ef
