With so many iOS styluses on the market, some developers are trying more aggressively than others to set their designs apart from the rest of the market. We’ve recently seen interesting innovations with unique capacitive tips, while others are focusing more on the stylus’s base — or lack thereof. Today, we’re examining seven recently-released models from four different companies, a handful of which are truly unique. The list includes Acme Mobile Products’ MicroStylus Jack, Imymee’s Crayon Touch Stylus Pen ($15), Stylus Diamond, Stylus Presenter, and Stylus Titanium from Logiix, and oStylus Design Studios’ oStylus and oStylus Dot.
Each works with all iPads, iPhones, and iPods, although some are better suited to a larger or smaller screen.
Clearly inspired by Just Mobile’s AluPen but different enough not to be a clone, Crayon Touch Stylus Pen is a stubby, rubber-coated stylus with a soft capacitive tip on one end, and a headphone port plug on the other. Available in five colors, Crayon has a solid core, Imymee branding on one edge, and a picture of an owl on its white or black top. At 3.75” long, this stylus is rather short, and very comparable to an atypically thick crayon. Each one is shipped in a clear plastic tube with a silver cap; the packaging resembles a test tube.
We found writing with this stylus to be acceptable rather than great.
The large rubber tip has too much give to allow for a high level of accuracy, so our letters lost some definition but were still legible for the most part. As for the rubberized exterior, it feels nice when writing, but also somewhat cheap: it can be twisted around the core, and the end can be bent back and forth. This doesn’t affect the overall performance, but makes it feel like an unfinished product. Although we appreciate the headphone plug as a way to keep the stylus within easy reach, we didn’t practically like the way the stylus dangles from either the iPad or iPhone.
