Adonit, Evernote team up for fine-point Bluetooth stylus for iPad

Posted:
in iPad edited June 2014
Two firms buoyed by the success of iOS devices ? Evernote and Adonit ? have teamed to make a premium stylus that will bring precision writing to the iPad.



The new Jot Script Evernote Edition is a result of a partnership between the two firms, one aimed at bringing the natural feel of pen-and-paper writing to iOS devices. A central feature of the device is its 1.9-millimeter tip, which provides a much finer point of contact than most other styluses.

The new Jot Script is composed of stainless steel, aluminum, and plastic, with an aluminum and stainless steel end cap and a thermoplastic polymer resin tip. The thin barrel of the device features a textured grip meant to make the Jot Script feel like a regular pen. It measures 5.55 inches long and 0.46 inches in diameter, and it weighs in at 29 grams with a battery inserted.



The stylus is designed to take a single AAA battery, and one is included along with the device. That single battery, Evernote and Adonit claim, will give the Jot Script "over two weeks of pen-down writing time."

The stylus connects to an iOS device via Bluetooth 4.0 and Bluetooth Low Energy. Devices with Bluetooth 4.0 support can also access the Jot Script's palm rejection and advanced precision capabilities. Palm rejection allows the touchscreen device to ignore input from anything other than the pen tip when a user is writing.

The new stylus is available on both Evernote's new marketplace and directly from Adonit. The device is still in preorder stage, and it will ship on October 25. Both companies offer the Jot Script Evernote Edition for $80.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 43
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    I think I'm going to get one of these - affordable and useful...take that! Samsung GalaxyNote.
  • Reply 2 of 43
    I would never have told Stevo this, but I actually like using a rubber tipped pen on my iPad. It kept the screen free of smudges.

    That is when I remembered it or could find where I left it last.

    I know this product is more advanced that what I have but $80 seems high.
  • Reply 3 of 43
    I remember Steve saying "if you see a stylus, they blew it". But, I'm sure it has its place.
  • Reply 4 of 43
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  • Reply 5 of 43
    I'd be very interested in how they did this. It was my understanding that the sdk automatically filters out tiny impressions as noise. That's why all the styluses currently out use a fat rubber ball. It makes a big enough impression for the ios sdk to say.. "yeah that's a finger not noise". I wonder if the sdk now lets the app decide what to filter out. Alternatively maybe there's a fine location detection functionality in BT 4.0 I'm not aware of? Anyone know?

    The Samsung note stuff uses Wacom's technology for the fine tips. That's a whole different ball of wax.

    Adobe and Adonis have a similar product with a fine tip coming out btw. That one has pressure sensitivity which this one doesn't seem to have. That's a deal breaker for me. Pressure sensitive, fine tip, and ipad = sketch pad and would be great for artists and designers.
  • Reply 6 of 43

    Apple give us a damn stylus!  $80 unreal.  A pen has a place.  Build in true stylus support and let the 3rd party make pens.  Apple being stubborn yet again.  

  • Reply 7 of 43
    Originally Posted by Kung Fu Guy View Post

    Apple give us a damn stylus!

     

    Why?

     

    $80 unreal.  A pen has a place.  Build in true stylus support and let the 3rd party make pens.  Apple being stubborn yet again.   


     

    Except no. Why does Apple have to do anything for third parties to create their own capitative styluses? I can see Apple giving them the hard specs on the screen so they can tailor their products to the iPad specifically, but there’s no need for Apple to waste its time on this. Stubborn? Stubborn is idiots refusing to get rid of physical keyboards on phones. Stubborn is idiots keeping VGA on their motherboards fourteen years after DVI superseded it (luckily VGA support ends next year). Stubborn is claiming a stylus is needed for touchscreen use (you’re not; I’m referencing the old models).

     

    Would I prefer a stylus for drawing? Yeah; that’s why I have my Wacom tablet. But just for drawing. I’d love to be drawing directly on what I’m looking at, but it only takes a few hours to get used to doing it the split way. Eventually we’ll have desktop computers on which we can directly draw, by virtue of multitouch screens. But though Apple will make them, they won’t make styluses for them. Because it’s a terrible solution to an already solved problem, and a niche outside of that.

  • Reply 8 of 43
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    Why?

     

    Except no. Why does Apple have to do anything for third parties to create their own capitative styluses? I can see Apple giving them the hard specs on the screen so they can tailor their products to the iPad specifically, but there’s no need for Apple to waste its time on this. Stubborn? Stubborn is idiots refusing to get rid of physical keyboards on phones. Stubborn is idiots keeping VGA on their motherboards fourteen years after DVI superseded it (luckily VGA support ends next year). Stubborn is claiming a stylus is needed for touchscreen use (you’re not; I’m referencing the old models).

     

     


     

    This did make me chuckle.... The real world can't afford to update kit with every whim and tremor of technology. A stylus is essential for so many jobs which the iPad could be capable of doing admirably, I can't understand why Apple haven't already made one charged us the Earth for it. The finger is great for making impressions in wet clay tablets but as a real, ACCURATE writing or sketching tool on an iPad, it's bloody useless.

  • Reply 9 of 43

    would love to make my iPad my lab notebook... make it able to easily insert photos, tables and other files and do handwritten annotations of the fly and I'm in :)

  • Reply 10 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    Why?

     

    Except no. Why does Apple have to do anything for third parties to create their own capitative styluses? I can see Apple giving them the hard specs on the screen so they can tailor their products to the iPad specifically, but there’s no need for Apple to waste its time on this. Stubborn? Stubborn is idiots refusing to get rid of physical keyboards on phones. Stubborn is idiots keeping VGA on their motherboards fourteen years after DVI superseded it (luckily VGA support ends next year). Stubborn is claiming a stylus is needed for touchscreen use (you’re not; I’m referencing the old models).

     

    Would I prefer a stylus for drawing? Yeah; that’s why I have my Wacom tablet. But just for drawing. I’d love to be drawing directly on what I’m looking at, but it only takes a few hours to get used to doing it the split way. Eventually we’ll have desktop computers on which we can directly draw, by virtue of multitouch screens. But though Apple will make them, they won’t make styluses for them. Because it’s a terrible solution to an already solved problem, and a niche outside of that.


     

    The right tool for the right job.    

     

    I don't want a phillips head on my hammer, just because other people fasten with screws.   But I have no problem with buying an electric driver when the job calls for it. And it may require Torx bits, or a #3 driver.   And I certainly don't want to go to the store only to find that to get a replacement hammer, I have to spend $20 more for a electric driver bundled in, and it isn't better than what's on the open market, and doesn't accept Torx bits.   It's junk in the drawer.

     

    I certainly don't want Apple to put a Square CC reader on every iPad.   I may like them, but I only need it for about 2% of my iPad work, and I can't see the extra cost buying me or other value the 99.999% of the time it's not being used.

     

    Heck, even $80 isn't much for a good stylus… The good ones now, are $20-30 bucks and aren't that great.  Integration via Bluetooth to the Evernote app.    Excellent.  I don't use Evernote… Great… I don't need to buy this…. but maybe now it does the job I want it to do…. hmmm?

  • Reply 11 of 43
    If a stylus is a "terrible solution to an already solved problem", why does the Wacom tablet still exist and why is it considered indispensable to graphic designers, art directors, advanced photoshop/illustrator users, etc.? Calling that market "niche" as if it's irrelevant is like calling Whole Foods irrelevant because it's not Sears.
  • Reply 12 of 43
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Stylus's do have their place. They shouldn't be needed for every day use (that's "blowing it"), but great to have for writing/drawing. When Samsung devices ship with one--and a small-pint one at that--it's a legitimate value to some people (and a fun gimmick for others). I use a cheap fat-tip one on my iPad for sketching out ideas occasionally.

    Great to see the iOS styluses advancing. I'll still wait another generation or two, but something with a fine point would be nice!
  • Reply 13 of 43

    The tip looks awfully short: should one worry about accidentally scratching the glass surface with the metal rim right above it, if the stylus is held at slightly too much of an angle?

     

    Or is that of no concern...

  • Reply 14 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by resnyc View Post



    why does the Wacom tablet still exist and why is it considered indispensable ...

    How many do they sell? 

  • Reply 15 of 43

    Bought. Will be perfect with the new iPad 5. 8-)

  • Reply 16 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Banyan Bruce View Post

     

     

    This did make me chuckle.... The real world can't afford to update kit with every whim and tremor of technology. A stylus is essential for so many jobs which the iPad could be capable of doing admirably, I can't understand why Apple haven't already made one charged us the Earth for it. The finger is great for making impressions in wet clay tablets but as a real, ACCURATE writing or sketching tool on an iPad, it's bloody useless.


    The better analogy is Ctrl-Alt-Del.  Why after 30 years is that the standard secret handshake with a tool?    We got rid of chokes on cars (on some we got rid of keys), eliminated operators for dialing phone calls, but in 'rapidly advancing technology'  we still require the most non-intutive clumsy way of literally acknowledging we need to start using this semi-prescient device?

     

    Yet, you're going to tell me it's essential to the job of computing… almost EVERY job?

     

     it's just a fancy stick, which we used 60,000 years ago to draw stuff.  We only started using a stick because the ground and the rocks caused our fingers to get bloody.   It took us 10,000s of thousands of years to perfect the drawing stick, and now you have a fancy stick that only works on a computer?   

     

    And the computer can feel my finger and allow me to do the same thing?   Tell me again, why this stylus isn't a just a tremor of technology?   If you feel you need one, then get one for yourself… I've got fingers, and I've got sticks… I don't need one for this computer.

     

    To the point.

     

    You have to learn how to use a stylus.   Our brains are wired to use our fingers accurately… more accurately than keyboards or mice…  

     

    It's the reason my my dad uses an iPad, but couldn't use a PC… he couldn't type, couldn't do the remote hand/eye for the mouse, and a stylus… his handwriting is terrible (Yes, he is an MD)… He spent 8 years learning how to operate a scalpel and 40 years perfecting it, but couldn't write a legible clinical note, using a tool he spent 28 year prior as his primary communications tool.   I know he couldn't use a stylus… 

     

    This is the key to the UI.   It's as close to natural as you can get.   Apple has 'doubled down' on that,  speaking, shaking, touching.

     

    To offer alternatives is to offer confusion.  If you know you need it, you have after market options.  If you don't Apple isn't trying to clog your brain with "Do I need RAID 0 or RAID 5 controllers for your SATA drivers on your iPad, and do you want a PS/2 or USB mouse… or are you going to use a Stylus?"    They are all impediments to getting to the 'Purchase Now' button.

     

    2 other nits in your discussion...

     

    'Accurate Writing' has little to do with the device, but the story that's up in the head.   (which leads me to Siri….as story tellers we are oral in tradition;-) 

     

    Accurate Sketching is a contradiction in terms. 'Sketch' is "a quick, rough drawing that shows the main features of an object or scene" (websters).   I'll bet you most seasoned designers don't use a stylus when they sketch, why should common folk?

  • Reply 17 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheOtherGeoff View Post

     

    You have to learn how to use a stylus.   Our brains are wired to use our fingers accurately… more accurately than keyboards or mice…  


     

    That's why we write essays, tests et. al. in school with our fingers. Oh, wait a minute, we don't. 

     

    I'm going to use it with the stylus to add notes to PDF files for my study so I don't have to print out hundreds of pages each week. Thankfully, app developers are not as ignorant as some people here.

  • Reply 18 of 43
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by resnyc View Post



    Calling that market "niche" as if it's irrelevant is like calling Whole Foods irrelevant because it's not Sears.

     

    I'd be willing to bet that for every 100 iPad owners, 99 of them do see styluses as irrelevant.

  • Reply 19 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Serendip View Post



    I'd be very interested in how they did this... etc...

     

    Yeah, my thoughts too. Perhaps the tip is firing/ emitting a sort of pulse to make/ fake a bigger impact?

    Agree with lack of pressure being a bummer for artists..

  • Reply 20 of 43
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by resnyc View Post



    If a stylus is a "terrible solution to an already solved problem", why does the Wacom tablet still exist and why is it considered indispensable to graphic designers, art directors, advanced photoshop/illustrator users, etc.? Calling that market "niche" as if it's irrelevant is like calling Whole Foods irrelevant because it's not Sears.

     

    you've identified 0.1% of the iPad target market.  the other 99.9% don't want it or don't know what it would do for them.  Building into the OS  tablet/stylus support is a waste of time for the great majority and counter to primary iPad design goals ('all you need is a finger or a voice')

     

    Niche to Apple is irrelevant from a retail/wholesale perspective.  It's not like Apple is Anti Stylus, just not wasting time building it into every nook and cranny of the UI.

     

    Your analogy is weak sauce (and Walmart would have been the wiser choice than Sears).  Would you require the UN to make sure that Whole Foods is mentioned a global solution... Why?  Because it's a great solution for the Beamer Crowd in Schaumberg or London (or London Ontario….It's not even in French Speaking Canada yet!), so the people in Somalia should get a coupon for organic greek yogurt  in their next air drop of dried milk and beans and rice?  Walmart at least has the price point more in line with global costs of living, and already has the infrastructure to support multiple languages and cultures, and also sells socks and sleeping bags… other things critical to the survival.

     

    So yes, in that mode… Whole food is niche compared to a Walmart.

     

     

    I'm done… 

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