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Using a stylus on the iPad - screen damage?

zen

zen

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 26, 2003
1,713
472
I was looking at Penultimate, a sort of notebook/sketch pad app for the iPad. There are several of these kind of app (Adobe Ideas is another).

I was wondering what to use as a stylus, as I don't have any other devices that have a stylus I could "borrow" for the iPad. Unless I can pick up cheap stylus off eBay or something? I don't know, I've never looked (okay, I'm being lazy here).

However, if the iPad has an oleophobic coating, and is really designed to be touched with your fingers, would a hard stylus damage the coating and/or screen in any way? Have people had experience with styluses (styli?) on the iPhone or iPod touch?
 
zen said:
I was looking at Penultimate, a sort of notebook/sketch pad app for the iPad. There are several of these kind of app (Adobe Ideas is another).

I was wondering what to use as a stylus, as I don't have any other devices that have a stylus I could "borrow" for the iPad. Unless I can pick up cheap stylus off eBay or something? I don't know, I've never looked (okay, I'm being lazy here).

However, if the iPad has an oleophobic coating, and is really designed to be touched with your fingers, would a hard stylus damage the coating and/or screen in any way? Have people had experience with styluses (styli?) on the iPhone or iPod touch?
Click to expand...

From my personal experience, I wouldn't recommend a hard stylus. I'm not sure about the iPad screen, it may be very well built. However, my 8 year old nephew decided to use his nintendo handhelds stylus on my iPhone 3G two summers ago. It did not go over to well. He would go it when I wasn't around and one point I came back to my phone on our table with very, very thin scratches running accross my screen. Again, they were very very faint and hardly noticeable.

Maybe a different kind of stylus would be best for you? I definitely would not recommend a using a hard stylus on the iPad screen. You can look around for screen sensitive styluses. I'm sure you can find some. And I also know a few people who use stylues for I don't know what. If you need any help for deciding what would be best- you can private message me and I'll try my best!
 
zen said:
I was looking at Penultimate, a sort of notebook/sketch pad app for the iPad. There are several of these kind of app (Adobe Ideas is another).

I was wondering what to use as a stylus, as I don't have any other devices that have a stylus I could "borrow" for the iPad. Unless I can pick up cheap stylus off eBay or something? I don't know, I've never looked (okay, I'm being lazy here).

However, if the iPad has an oleophobic coating, and is really designed to be touched with your fingers, would a hard stylus damage the coating and/or screen in any way? Have people had experience with styluses (styli?) on the iPhone or iPod touch?
Click to expand...

Hey. You WILL DAMAGE YOUR SCREEN if you use a hard stylus. like one meant for the Nintendo DS. They do however, make styli for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. They are softer and some have a rubber like tip.

I am sure if you google "iPad stylus" you will find something. One thing I did notice while someone was using a stylus on the iPad was that since the tip was "rubber like," it tended to stick a little to the iPad and move it/turn it.

Hope I helped.
 
almost no hard styli would even work for the iPad. What makes apple devices so hard to find an accurate stylus is only a certain few like Pogo stylus work and those have fat and soft tips.
 
Thanks - that Pogo stylus looks pretty good.
 
The Dagi looks interesting, however I'm hesitant to get it because of the hard surface.

I've got a Wacom enabled tablet laptop and use a wacom stylus. These are high end stylus' which have replaceable tips. The replaceable tips are key to preventing damage to the screen. Because the plastic used in the tips is a softer plastic, it wears down, rather than wearing down the screen itself. Once the tip wears down you just replace it with a new tip, kind of like graphite with pencils.

The Dagi however doesn't have a soft plastic tip, at least from what I'm seeing. Having a broad tip might help a little, though it could also just mean the wear is spread out over a wider area.

It all comes down to those lessons we all had in science class with the hardness scale. If you want to prevent wear on the screen then it needs to be touched by things that have a hardness rating that is less than the screen.
 
The Dagi looks like an instrument a dentist would use to scrape plaque off your teeth!
 
I can't speak for others, but the Pogo Sketch stylus I have is not hard. It's a soft, spongy material in a little ball at the end of an aluminum rod. I can't see how you'd possibly scratch the screen with this, unless you got something harder than the glass onto it without knowing it.
 
colmo said:
You may want to check out a stylus by Dagi

Here is a YouTube link of a review of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfTeIIi79r8

I have order off ebay - unfortunately you have to order 3 at a time so cost is around $32 with shipping
Click to expand...
Well, I have to admit, that's pretty cool. It addresses the issue I had with both my finger and the Pogo - I can't see where the exact point is that I'm drawing from. I don't think this would scratch the screen, being plastic vs. the glass of the screen, as long as both were clean. I may have to order one. Too bad about ordering 3 at a time. Maybe I'll offer up my remaining 2 here - anyone interested?
 
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