When it comes to using a stylus with your tablet or phone there are two main contenders to choose from. Each with their own good points, but there is one overall winner.

Preamble

The majority of devices do not come with their own stylus - the exception largely being the higher end Samsung devices such as the Note series.

If you have an iPad or an older tablet (or anything larger than the Samsung Phablet range) then likely as not you will need to get an after-market stylus.

There are physically two types of stylus available, no matter the brand. They either have soft rubber tip, or a hard clear disk on what looks like a pen. 

Both work by having a tip that has a footprint about the same as a finger tip, though one is clear and the other not. Both work on Apple and Samsung devices.

In this review we have the red Targus stylus for iPad, and the blue Jot Mini from Adonit. Yes, it is Red vs. Blue. :-)

Why a stylus?

I have been using Inkflow from qrayon for many years and had been looking for a pen/stylus to help with the drawings I do. For our clients I have been trying handwriting recognition for data entry in the field (more in the next post). Some of our clients also work in harsh environments, so using a stylus means they don't have to remove safety clothing such as gloves. 

Using the two

The main difference between these two is the tip - the Targus has a conductive rubber tip and the Jot has a hard, clear disk. 

When using the Targus there is a good feeling of feedback from the rubber tip - you can jab at drop down menus, icons etc., but when writing or drawing it suffers from friction on the screen - dragging slightly. Another annoyance when writing or drawing is that you can't see the point of contact on the screen - which makes it difficult to be accurate.

The Jot Mini has a clear disk with a ball joint on the tip of the stylus. This gives a user experience more like using a pen or pencil - you can see where the 'ink' is coming out as you draw or write. There is also less friction than the Targus, so the stylus flows on the screen much better. 

Using menus etc. is OK, but you are tapping a hard object on the screen, so even though there is no danger of breakage it does make a tapping noise.

Which did I prefer?

There are two additional attributes worth mentioning. The performance over time and also the build. 

I bought the Targus two years ago and it served very well on the iPad for that time. In the intervening period the rubber tip appears to have lost its conductivity, so has started performing very poorly. For example if you draw a line, it will come out as random dots and streaks rather than as a continuous line.

The Jot Mini has a more substantial feel to it - an anodised aluminium body (aluminum for those reading in American English) compared with the tinny feel of the Targus stylus.

My overall choice is the Jot Mini. The main reasons being that I could see the specific point I was writing at, the lack of dragging on the screen (lower friction). 

For someone who mainly uses menus and won't be drawing or using handwriting then the rubber-tip style of stylus would be sufficient, but bear in mind that it may have a shorter lifetime.

My overall preferred stylus is the Jot Mini.