The result? sadly disappointing. I won’t sugar coat, the Pogo just doesn’t hack it in comparison to my nice Penable pen. Now, I won’t say that the Compaq 2710p is perfect, on the contrary, the tracking sometimes is a bit off on the corners, but overall, my 2710p and One-Note was a killer combo. PenUltimate is a nice tool, but I feel like I’m back in kindergarten finger painting large scrawling notes because my Pogo won’t track that well (maybe because of my Zagg), and at times I need to resort to my fat finger, and I’m just wasn’t happy with the results…

The Pogo, because of the soft tip, had to be mushed onto the screen almost to the metal body for it to start tracking, and because of the tackiness of my Zagg screen protector the Pogo just dragged along the surface, so it felt like painting on fly paper. The other issue was my writing/drawing style, I can’t speak for everyone, but when I learned how to write in school my hand was on the page while holding my pen. Well, I can’t do that with the iPad, as soon as my hand rested on the touch surface, a touch was registered, resulting in scribbles where my hand started to rest. So, I had to use the Pogo like a Chinese calligraphy brush, hovering over the screen. The result was an even more unreadable mess. Ditching my Pogo was a little better, at least the tracking was better, but I just can’t write with my finger. Alas, I gave up on Penultimate and went to Pages, since Penultimate doesn’t accept typing. Once in Pages, I flipped the iPad into Landscape mode, locked the rotation and sat it on the desk flat to type meeting notes; a much better experience. It did take a little getting used to the slightly different arrangement of keys on the iPad keyboard, but I was able to type pretty quickly.

So my experience with my iPad in meetings didn’t go as nicely as I wanted. Doodling in boredom in Sketchbook Pro and taking notes in PenUltimate with my Pogo just didn’t work as nicely as the same combination found in my Penable TabletPC’s. The iPad’s form factor and battery life is so incredible, but it REALLY needs a stylus, even if it’s an optional accessory… Not having one just seems like such a travesty!

A few days ago, I ordered a Pogo Stylus which arrived in the mail today. I know there are plenty of no-name brand styluses out there, but I figured I’d go with the name brand first before jumping onto a generic. The question you must be asking is why buy a stylus? The iPad doesn’t need one! But I miss my stylus! I’ve been using tablet pc’s for such a long time, and not having a stylus for some tasks just doesn’t feel right. For example, if I boot up Sketchbook, or Adobe Ideas, I have a hard time using my finger to draw… It just feels like I’m in kindergarten finger painting with my stubby index finger. It’s times like this I miss the pressure sensitive pens on my Wacom penable tablets (even though they are not without fault). So to quell my desire for a stylus, I bought a Pogo. So, how is it?

It came in an unassuming box, and it was see-through and the pen was red… Not sure if  I ordered that color, but I don’t mind, I guess it stands out amongst all the Apple minimalistic toned stuff I own.

Look it's squishy!

The first thing that you’ll notice about this stylus is it’s skinny when compared to a regular pen, but it’s thicker than a Nintendo DS stylus. The tip is a nub with a soft foamy like material, which squishes…

Something I’m not too fond of so far. This is quite different than a plastic nib that I’m used to in my Wacom’s. But I can’t expect that, since the iPad/iPhone precision is a finger, which is about 20 pixels round…

My first attempt using it was with Adobe Ideas. The response was ok, but as I drew around on my Zagg surface, I noticed the tip pull and bend away more than it probably should… I think it has something to do with the Zagg surface, because it is smooth, but has a bit of tack to it, unlike the plain unprotected glass of the iPad. It did respond better on my iPhone though, but the screen protector I have on the iPhone is a cheaper smooth type, and not a Zagg… I’m not planning on pulling the Zagg off to try it out, considering how much effort it was to put the thing on, so we’ll see how it survives long term use. It does make the use of the iPad and iPhone a little different, I found myself more accurate on the iPhone when typing, since the stylus point is a bit more accurate than my stubby index finger.

All in all, it looks nice and it works, and it’s probably the closest thing I’ll ever get to a real stylus on the iPhone/iPad. Is it worth the $20 price tag? Hmm, I would say no… But luckily you can buy it for almost half that at other retail locations. I’m going to see about ordering some of those generic ones and see how they stack up. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can get used to drawing with this stylus.