Adonit Jot Script Evernote Edition Stylus

Your iPad’s Writing Partner

Evernote is a leader in note-taking apps for iOS devices, and in the middle of last year they acquired Penultimate, a digital handwriting app. Although Penultimate continues to remain a standalone app, it has been integrated with Evernote’s services. This means that users have access to notes made with Penultimate across multiple devices, just like regular notes made with Evernote. On top of that, users can also easily search through handwritten Penultimate notes using Evernote’s optical character recognition technology.

The Jot Script Evernote Edition is the first of its kind: a true fine point stylus for iOS that allows your handwriting to flow as freely as your thoughts.

However, writing on an iPad or an iPhone is tricky because most styluses have thick nibs which lack precision. Furthermore, one must ensure that one’s wrist or palm does not get in contact with the screen as it might interfere with writing.

To this end, Evernote collaborated with Adonit, a company that specializes in tablet styluses, to create the Adonit Jot Script Evernote Edition stylus. This stylus is designed specifically for use with Penultimate and iOS. It features Pixelpoint technology, which aims to improve the writing experience on a tablet.

Designed to feel like a pen

First and foremost, the Jot Script is designed to look and feel like a regular pen; its aluminum barrel with brushed finishing looks very much like a high-end ball point pen. It has a ribbed grip near the tip; a nice functional touch. The nib is just 1.9mm thick and the material is also said to be specially picked to replicate the feeling of writing on paper. It also has a built-in accelerometer to monitor speed and writing angle.

In addition, Adonit says that every touchscreen emits a capacitance signature that varies from model to model, and the Jot Script is able to detect this capacitance signature and make internal adjustments to improve accuracy.

And then there’s “Wrist Protection”, a feature which works only if the stylus is used with an app that has been integrated with Adonit’s SDK— such as Penultimate—and also an iOS device that supports Bluetooth 4.0. This feature enables the app to accurately recognize and pinpoint the stylus input and ignore all others. This means that you can rest your palm on the screen as you write, as opposed to hovering above the screen, which is not only unnatural but also quite uncomfortable.

No need for messy docks or cables. The Jot Script is powered by a standard AAA lithium battery and connects effortlessly via Bluetooth 4.0; just grab Jot Script and start writing.

One important thing to note is that the stylus requires power to operate. And when used for the first time, it needs to be paired with the Penultimate app, which is fortunately easy to do and takes mere minutes. The stylus can work with other apps too, but you would lose some of its advanced features such as Wrist Protection.

The actual writing experience is good and feels significantly more precise than standard styluses with thicker rubber nibs. However, since the stylus relies on its integrated SDK to augment performance, there is a slight delay between your writing and the time your inputs actually register. Fortunately, this delay does not detract much from the overall writing experience.

Evernote reinvented Penultimate, the #1 note taking app for iPad,
to offer an unsurpassed ink-on-paper experience.

Wrist Protection works well too and we were able to write comfortably with our palms resting on the touchscreen. However, should you find it behaving erratically, you can fi ne-tune it by going into the settings menu and selecting the handwriting style that suits you the best.

All in all, if you frequently use your tablet for note taking, and functionality and practicality is high on your list, then the Jot Script stylus along with the Penultimate app will provide one of the best writing experiences on the iPad right now.