Ah, the much maligned stylus. It used to be the only way to directly interact with a mobile screen prior to the iPhone, so it had a magic wand-like mystique. That is, until one lost it. Then along came touch screens, and the stylus fell by the wayside, supplanted by the dexterous and nicely padded human finger. Steve Jobs called styluses 'yuck', and so these tools, like bows and arrows or magic wands, have become specialty items for practitioners of the arts.
I have been spending more time creating content on my Pixel phone, but I’m not fond of using my fingers for such work. There's something about holding a pen that just puts me in production mode. I already have a stylus for sketching, but its tip is made of plastic, and it makes an infernal clicking noise every time I touch the screen, which annoys me and anyone around me. So, I decided to search for a stylus more conducive to productivity and peace of mind.
I had almost given up my search when I came across this particular product with a 4-in-1 design by Penyeah. The stylus has four different tips that one can configure to suit one’s needs by unscrewing and screwing different sections. It sounded like a gimmick to me, but I decided to give it a try.
When I picked it up, it had a nice balanced weight. The body was smooth with some texture. It came with additional replacement parts that included a mesh, rubber, plastic disc, and ink pen tips. The hidden tips could be easily deployed by unscrewing the appropriate section of the stylus and reconfiguring as desired. The screwing action was a bit gritty at first, but after repeated twists, it felt more smooth and satisfying.
I was initially skeptical about it, but imagine my surprise when I realized that each tip actually served a specific function in my creative flow. After using it for a couple of months, these are my impressions.
The mesh tip with its slippery metallic surface is the best of the bunch for general purpose interaction with the phone. It's faster than a fingertip while still adding a bit of gratifying friction. The rubber tip has more grip and it's slower than the mesh one, so when accuracy is needed, particularly in tight spaces, then the rubber nipple is the best bet because it slows down the flow of the action.
For writing long text with the letter-tracing function, the plastic disc is excellent because you can see through the translucent disc at the letters on the screen. The ink pen is useful when you want to jot down a quick note on real paper. If I were stranded on an island with a digital device and could only take one tip, it would be the mesh one because it’s the best one overall, but honestly, all four are useful within their given interactive context. If I run out of power on that island for example, I could just use a pen to send that message in a bottle.
Any downsides? One broad criticism of the stylus, as Steve Jobs observed, is that it gets easily lost. He was right! I lost the first black one I bought, so I had to purchase another and opted for the white model. I was glad I did because this white one felt different to the touch. The body felt more ‘grippy’ and organic than that of the black one, which felt slippery and metallic to the touch. It didn't have the grittiness when screwing and unscrewing the sections but was nice and smooth. A thin leathery case was also added in this (slightly more costly) version of the stylus.
When I lost the first stylus, I shrugged, thinking I would go back to the good ole finger, but when it came to creative work, that finger was no good. It felt like I was going back to writing with a stick on a cave wall, so I had to ‘bite the bullet’, as we say around these parts, and get a replacement.
The stylus is not everybody's favourite method of interaction, but it has become my constant companion in my creation process. I like the feel of it when it slides out of its scabbard and enjoy fiddling with the sections to calibrate my digital interactions. Not bad for this ancient tech.
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