I have been skeptical of iPad and iPhone styluses in the past, but the Alupen, a chunky, pencil-shaped, rubber-tipped pen arrived in the mail today, and it has changed my mind.
The whole point of the iOS user interface is that you can control it with a fat finger. A stylus is necessary on a Windows tablet, as you need to hit targets designed for a pixel-sharp mouse pointer, but on the iPad, it’s superfluous. As Steve Jobs has said, “if you need a stylus, you’ve already failed.”
But it turns out that the iPad is also great for painting, drawing and writing, and the fingers are hopeless for these tasks (unless you are daubing paint in kindergarten). I have tried a few styluses in the past, with too-grippy rubber tips, or floppy foam nibs, and hated them all. Then I ordered the Alupen, for around €20 (the US price is $20). I have been drawing all day.
The Alupen is a stubby aluminum stick, shaped like a thick pencil. A rubber core runs through it to add heft, and the tip is a squishy rubber bobble. The hexagonal cross-section keeps it from rolling away, and the thickness makes it comfortable to hold.
The first test was the tip. I have owned another rubber-tipped stylus and it was impossible to use, the rubber sticking to the iPad’s glass. The Alupen’s tip glides across the screen, and the fat bubbled shape lets you press without the metal touching it, a problem with foam tips.
The weight is good. An aluminum tube would be too light and cause cramp. Like a fountain pen, the Alupen presses itself down for you. At first look, the pen seems to be too short for comfort, like one of those free pencils at Ikea. In use, it is actually long enough (and I have big hands).
In fact, the only fault I can find is that the metal pen gets icy cold when left on my desk. But then, my desk is marble, and my apartment has no heating, so it could be that.
$20 may be too rich for some, although a good fountain pen is much more, and with a stylus you never need to buy any ink. Available now, in silver and a range of anodized candy-coatings.
Alupen product page [Just Mobile]
Photo: Charlie Sorrel
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