Test of two pens stylus for iPhone and iPad

Apple is not at all in the camp of supporters of the pen: it is precisely the denial of this piece of plastic is easier to lose than to use that allowed the creation of the iPhone and iPad. The pen, however, remains relevant for writing quick notes, annotating documents, drawing. Many Stylus capacitive screens are also pens, they work equally well on a screen ... on paper. Practice? Useful? The response in our test!

The principle

The good old stylus of PDAs and phones first "touch" were stupid pieces of plastic - a cap ballpoint pen worked perfectly, for example. These devices uses some resistive screens, pressure sensitive (pressure causes the contact of the two conductive parts of the screen, the contact point is detected in software).With capacitive screens like the iPhone and iPad, things are a little different: the glass is covered by a frame consisting of a rare metal, indium, accumulating electric charges. When you put your finger, these loads are transferred: the software detects the contact point along the gap fillers, and detects the pressure and measuring the size of the contact point (the more you press, the more you put your finger).The stylus for capacitive screens must be able to capture these charges, or at least cause a disturbance in the electric field: try a simple cell can be used as capacitive stylus. There are several types of stylus screen capabilities, which are based on this principle, but most consist of a metal body (transmission charges), and a "spike" in more or less thick rubbery, sometimes supported by the foam (pressure sensing). This is not the most accurate stylus, but it is more convenient and less expensive.The two pens that we are testing now resume the construction, but also serve as a ballpoint pen. The idea is not stupid: we do not lose anything faster than a pen - unless it is to always have on his own pen, as we always carry a pen. These pens will work with all types of capacitive touch devices (iPhone, iPad, other smartphones and tablet screen capacitive trackpads recent, etc.).. The part of compatible cartridges pen uses Parker.