[Review] Normal Stylus and Dagi Stylus

Disclaimer: This is not a professional review and all the findings and opinions are based on my own experience only.

Preface

Previously I have done a review about my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and mentioned about the things that can be done with it. In addition, I would also like to use it as a drawing tool and note taking tool as well. Therefore, apps and tools are required for such tasks. While the apps will be cover up later, I will talk about the tools that I used to complete this task.

While drawing with fingers can sometimes proved to be fun and straight forward, it still lacks the feeling of holding a pen or a pencil. Besides, the accuracy of the finger is of course undeniably low due to the large finger tip surface. Hence, I began to look for a stylus for this function and I came across various design and brands for it.

Common design of stylus for a capacitive screen will be a black blunt rubber tip pen that acts like a finger. There are many brands that manufacture this kind of stylus including some famous brands (e.g. Bamboo, Wacom, Buffalo) and also some imitation China brands, with the price ranging from RM10 to RM100+, assuming they have different quality and functionality I suppose, otherwise it won’t justify the high price. While this type of stylus is good to grip, nice to draw/write, with various drawing angles, but the main disadvantage is accuracy because the rounded rubber tip blocks the view when drawing/writing, resulting in inaccuracy.

There is also a cheaper alternative where a DIY stylus can be made by using a metal pen casing and conductive foam or foil. There are many guides and tutorials, including videos to demonstrate on how to DIY these styli, but of course, the quality control may vary. The most common disadvantage is that the build quality is not as good, and the stylus is not accurate as well.

In the mission of searching the best stylus, I came across this Taiwanese brand, Dagi, who designed and patented a special type of stylus that is usable on capacitive screen as well. It is actually a pen with a metal spring tip and a round transparent plastic on the tip of the metal spring. The reason of such design can be explained below.

How Capacitive Screen Works?

There are a few types of touch screen technology used currently which includes capacitive screen and resistive screen. The majority of the touch screen technology used in touch screen devices like smart phone and tablet nowadays uses mainly capacitive screen due to the advantages it has over resistive screen like multitouch function, fast respond time and reliability. Do google up for capacitive vs. resistive screen if you want to know more.

As mentioned, most of the smart phones and tablet nowadays use capacitive screen including devices by Apple, Samsung, HTC, etc. I have quoted some pictures from http://www.cellstrat.com/blog/?p=1314, describing how the screen of iPhone works, which is applicable for any other capacitive touch screen devices.

 

 

Source: http://www.cellstrat.com/blog/?p=1314

The Selection and Purchase

After googling around, I found this YouTube video that demonstrates a user drawing with his Asus Eee Pad Transformer using a Dagi stylus. I'm impressed on how the stylus can perform especially on the accuracy of it. However, I do aware that some stylus has issues with Samsung's touch screen devices, therefore, I need to personally test out the stylus before buying it. I began to locate any sellers that carry this stylus from Dagi. Unfortunately, this particular brand is not well known in Malaysia and only a few seller are selling it but most of the them have stop taking in stock and no longer selling. 

I tried my luck around Low Yat Plaza and Times Square but all the stylus I found are the round rubber tip stylus. Giving up in search of the Dagi stylus, I went around to look for a good round rubber tip stylus that is responsive enough for my usage. During my hunt for a stylus, I came across various brands of stylus with different prices. Some cheap ones do not perform well as the screen always fail to detect the stylus and end up drawing broken lines. I tried some expensive stylus in AllIT mart and Epi Centre that is used for Apple products, none of them satisfied my need despite the premium price for it. Finally, I'm able to find good stylus, responsive enough for my need, with acceptable accuracy. The stylus is branded "Acer" but I'm not sure whether did Acer really produces it. It has a ink point pen at the other end and it only cost RM30. Having no other options, this is the best stylus I could find an acceptable price tag.

Blunt Rubber Tip Stylus

The blunt rubber tip stylus serves me well with it's responsive touch register and acceptable accuracy. After some time of usage, I have noticed some pros and cons about this stylus, and should be applicable for other styli that has similar build.

Overall, this "Acer" stylus gives good sensitivity and I'm able to write and draw simple things. It even gives a "fake" pressure because when the rubber tip is pressed on the screen, the contact area is larger and hence creating a "fake" pressure when the screen is registering the touch, hence showing a thicker line during drawing (provided the app supports the detection).

However, the disadvantages also come from the rubber tip as it will create a drag on the screen when swiping around the screen. While slower motions will not encounter such problem, a faster swipe will cause the rubber to drag and changes the shape of it, as if the rubber is being pull. Worrying the rubber tip might get loose or even tears apart due to force, often I do not apply too much force when writing or drawing, indirectly causes the stylus to be less sensitive and not able to write/draw normally.

This troubles me a little and I decided to take the risk to order the Dagi stylus directly from the manufacture without trying it. I contacted the manufacture directly and able to get a fast respond with my email replied almost within the same hour I sent. After considering some suggestions by the seller, Jamie, I decided to purchase a Dagi P602 that cost USD20, which is about RM60+. After confirming my payment, Jamie kindly included another smaller stylus for me to try out and my parcel arrived after a week plus. I passed the "Acer" stylus for my dad to use with his Galaxy Tab 7.0+.

Dagi Stylus P602

First impression of the stylus is very positive. They also provide 5 extra protective films for the transparent plastic and an additional metal spring tip for replacement purposes. Along with the parcel is the instruction on how to replace the metal tip, and not forgetting the free little stylus that is included, which I then passed to my gf to use with her Galaxy S2.

The hands on with the stylus was good. It is very sensitive and the stylus is able to register the tip accurately on the screen. The metal spring bends well to handle different writing/drawing angles as shown in the pictures below. The screen is able to trace the stylus around and I can write and draw very fast without any problem. The only problem occur will be the default touch screen setting of the Galaxy Tab which delays the touch register for 5 pixels. However, this can be overcome by installing an app called "TouchScreenTune" which required root. I will cover this app in a later post.

A complain for the stylus is the drag and the sound produced is unnatural where u can feel as if the stylus is scratching the screen. This is later confirmed after a month of usage where the protective film wears off and the metal tip is in contact with the screen. My tablet's screen protector end up getting a lot of scratches by using this stylus. I did not try using it naked on my tablet without screen protector even thou my tablet is equipped with Gorilla Glass, while I guess the hardness of the Gorilla Glass will not be higher than the metal tip anyway.

Besides that, the metal spring deforms after some time of usage where you can notice the spring is bent and deformed. The stylus also becomes less sensitive some times and requires readjustment every time. It became very frustrating because I thought that this stylus should last me for some time and didn't expect it to be faulty this soon. I tried to replace the metal spring with the additional one provided, however the replacement tip is not able to register any touch on the screen and I suspect that the plastic is a bit too thick, causing the screen unable to detect it.

I changed back the old tip and manage to make it functional again. Nowadays I seldom use the stylus anymore except for some time where I play DrawSomething or for some note taking.

Wrap Up

I'm truly disappointed with the quality of the stylus. It is very useful in the beginning where it performs as well as it claims. However, things started to change when wear and tear starts to kick in. I will sum up my findings with the summary below.

Advantages

• Accurate
• Flexible
• Nice metal build
• Transparent plastic for see thru

Disadvantages

• Metal tip scratches screen
• Metal spring deforms
• Bad replacement tip

As mentioned above, the disadvantages are not about the functionality of the product. In fact, its the quality control of the product that lets me down. Even thou Dagi provided 1 year warranty, it will be a hassle to send back the product to Taiwan for a replacement. I guess, this is the risk of buying international products directly.

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