oStylus capacitive pen is worthy of an oFace (video)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted July 9th 2010 5:49AM
posted July 9th 2010 5:49AM
posted July 9th 2010 5:49AM
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Cool solution
@Rohan People are still in denial about the superiority of Resistive screens. Resistive is more accurate and there are now multitouch Resistive screens.
@Discourse Thanks captain obvious.
This stylus addresses some of the shortcomings of capacitive touchscreens by providing a more accurate pointer mechanism. Besides, I don't like the idea of pulling out a stylus every moment of the day with a resistive touchscreen, but I wouldn't mind using a tool like this every now and then for particular apps, like sketching and photo editing applications.
@Discourse Alright, go have fun on your resistive Nokia tablet running Symbian. Baibai.
@jellotime91 It's called an N900 and it runs Maemo, not Symbian. My DSi XL also has a resistive screen. Just saying.
@Discourse
I think that resistive screens are better solution for tablets (taking notes and drawing like on this video) and that capacitive ones are better for phones
@Discourse: I'm tired of ignorant fanboys chanting this mantra of "resistive screens are more accurate". They are most definitely NOT. Not at a technical level, anyway. The only reason their real-world usage tends to be more accurate is because last-gen operating systems like Windows Mobile required use of a stylus, and it is the STYLUS which makes usage of a resistive screen more accurate. But with modern OS's foregoing a stylus, the only advantage of resistive screens is their ability to be used with gloved hands. On top of all this, resistive screens require an extra layer of material which results in lower screen contrast and readability.
@jellotime91
You must be the high priest of idiots around here. oh wait: kthxbai
@Rohan
Still not quite getting it? Resistive doesn't need stulys any more than capacitive. It detects applied pressure and the newest screens are really sensitive. You can use your fingertips. You can also use your nails for improved accuracy when needed. Capacitive screen limits your use cases a lot more than resistive (women with long fingernails etc.).
@Rev: "the newest screens are really sensitive". No, they are more sensitive than older models, but they still can't hold a candle to capacitive in terms of sensitivity.
@Discourse Oh yeah? Try using the resistive touchscreen on a computer like the HP Touchsmart. It's abysmal.
@Discourse
I think you're wrong also. Having used all of them, nothing beats capacitive paired with an active digitizer, namely Wacom.
@Discourse I agree with you, resistive has come a long way from what people remember from the palm pda or your favorite resistive screen, I have an n900 and an ipod touch, the n900 you can get reaction with barely touching the screen, and even when hitting absurdly small links really close to eachother in full webpages it still clicks the link I want while using my finger, I have even put credit cards infront of the screen and you can still scroll and navigate with slight pressure on the screen.
I think people say resistive is old school and dead, maybe because of the same reason Prince says the internet is dead, mostlikely they havent used it since the dialup era.
@Discourse U got ripped off. If u waited u could have gotten the 3DS. It's going to be a whole new hand held system not just another DS remix.
@Rohan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66RBfrBgL2E
@Evster88 the HP Touchsmarts are NOT abysmal. In fact, Joanna Stern mentioned in a review that it was "very sensitive," and I'm using one right now.
Second of all, they're not even resistive. They're capacitive. So your entire argument is idiotic.
@tonicboy
I stand by what I said, really sensitive. Sensitive enough that they are easy and comfortable to use and very responsive.
Capacitive screens will always be more sensitive, but that is not a absolute positive value either. With capacitive, it is lot more easier to get accidential presses from simply moving your finger over the screen etc.
Surely they could put a bit of transparent plastic over the hole with a red dot so you don't have to guess where the drawing point is..
@Bender the great
or a build in laser pointer ~
@Bender the great Agreed. It looks cool enough, but still doesn't match the simple direct input of pencil and paper. Glad to see people still building new mousetraps though.
@Bender the great
The pointer would be useful. The only thing that would bug me is the lag, you can notice it a lot more with a stylus compared to a finger. I'm not an artist so I don't know how annoying it would get, do any of you?
@kiyu727 and lose the pivot angle? I think not.
@Digiboi If you used a laserpointer, you wouldn't lose the pivoting angle. You would simply center-mount the laser pointer inside the shaft, and no matter which way you pivoted it, it would still point into the center of the circle.
:-O
Reminds me of the O-Face in Office Space..
@gargle Oooh... :D that's the guy photoshopped behind the ipad in the picture.. sorry, didn't notice :)
@gargle
Now you're showing your d'oh-face.
...
...I'll let myself out.
Brilliant idea.
Once again, engadget proves they're run by JooJoo fanboys.
/s
@Rickreation Maybe that's what they want us to think! =O
@Rickreation
Josh sleeps with with joojoo every night
Very cool. It looks like it has a soft tip so it won't scratch the screen.
Dagi stylus is transparent, nothing new :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfTeIIi79r8
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2596/4179928399_99483b2d8e.jpg
@tauttvisz Better image http://pic17.eachnet.com/user_2018094956/product/P005-Black/Dagi%20stylus%20P005BlackFig.13.jpg
@tauttvisz
Engadget has a age limit
you either have to be 14 and above and a fanboy or 40 plus to post intelligent comments
@DefPoet What do you mean? I'm just saying there is transparent stylus, what's wrong?
This is by far the best title in recent memory.
DIGITIZER PLEASE.
Having to hover your hand is not fun. Do us all a favor and call Wacom.
wait... wouldn't any peace of metal work? i would polish the end to a nice round point of course.
@NeatOman Yes. If you can hard-solder, it will become really professional too.
@Bahumbug LOL, despite ur name you have a smiling guy as ur avatar and i have a frown on my gadget guy avatar but NeatO in my name.
BTW anyone notice the dude a stoked in the upper left of the picture HA HA HA
It's a 1/2 way solution. The device isn't robust and looks like it can break pretty easily unless carried in its own cover, deducting usability points for convenience.
You also have to visually guess the center and while it may work, it isn't optimal nor friendly.
The traditional stylii (basically anything you can find) on resistive is still far superior even if it ends up doing the same thing.
Resistives are simply more accurate and as I've used an N900, know that stylus is optional if you don't want to use it; although it's useful for drawing and fine point selection.
Capacitives, at this point, are still blunt instruments. Good for general navigation, but beyond that not much good if you need finer control & precision.
@ounkeo Its a piece of cake to make this stronger than the device you use it with. If you insist, make it of spring steel - you wont bend or break it. As it stands, we dont know what material it is made of anyway.
It is certainly leaps and bounds better than guessing where the center is when your fat finger is covering it, dont you think? Besides, as somebody pointed out, it would be easy to add a little plastic cap with a dot in the middle, so that _you_ wont have to guess anymore.
I dont think so. They're equally "bad" on mobile devices.
Nonsense. Capacitive screens are not inaccurate by design. They often are because it doesnt make sense to make them more accurate - they are being used with fat fingers after all. Screens with hybrid input are just a matter of choice.
What app is that?
*sigh*, still does not beat my sleeping 5 years old Dell Axim x51 in precision. Besides I could already draw things over it, so, in 5 years, all we have discovered is multitouch.
This is pretty nice.
I am not that big on the foam tip ones. Partly because they just do not seem like they will last that long.
This seems to be a better solution.
Isn't the person in the video scratch up his touchscreen? It would be just as bad as using a coin against it.
What an awful looking stylus.
It looks ridiculously cumbersome. Why would you want a metal washer as the tip of your stylus instead of a point like a Wacom stylus (and pretty much every other stylus ever made)
Can't hold a candle to Wacom's styluses.
useless. 1.) precision is horrible. OK as a gimmick, but an artist will only accept a fine point. 2.) lag is really bad. I know that's not the "pen's" fault.
Even though this obviously opens up a ton of possibilities for applications and uses of tablets such as the iPad, they obviously blew it. It *is* a stylus, remember?