Surface 2 Universal Stylus Support

[campbellc]

I visited the MS store in Orlando today and got to see the Surface 2 in person. The sales associate told me the Surface 2 does in fact support a stylus. It isn't the MS digital pen but a universal stylus. She couldn't demo ot for me as they didn't have a stylus. Can anyone confirm this? Will it work with OneNote? If this is in fact true why would MS not provide support for their digital pen?

 

[Rising Mos]

I think the stylus they are talking about are not the pen point stylus. They mean those finger like stylus like what you would use in iPad. Personally, I take a lot of notes so I ended up with the surface pro because it supports the pen point stylus from wocam. I hate the thick ones for the iPad and all other touch devices.

 

[campbellc]

The stylus she showed me had a fine pen tip. Attached to the tip was a small round circular piece of plastic. Much different then thicker stylus's.

 

[azcruz]

They're are referring to adonit.com Jot Pro

 

[Daylife]

Surface 2 does not have a wacom digitizer like the Pro 2.

 

[campbellc]

How is the jot pro? Has anyone used it? Can it scratch your screen? I've never even heard of it before today?

 

[azcruz]

 

[berty6294]

Interesting, ill have to try this!

 

[bilzkh]

If you want a Windows tablet with active stylus, check out the Dell Venue Pro 8. It's an 8 inch tablet powered by Bay Trail using full Windows 8, $299.

Hands-on: Is the Dell Venue 8 Pro a "Just Right" Size? - Liliputing

 

[Christian Kallevig]

Wow, that actually looks pretty nice (...and breakable). I may need to buy one

 

[onysi]

don't get adonit. I thought it was cool at first, but overtime, the tapping made me uncomfortable. its nice at first, but it will skip around when u write. then youd have to pressdown harder and that's when the tapping may cause your screen to scratch or crack. I returned it. not worth the 30 dollars. got to a dollar store and bought a dollar pen/stylus pen that seems to work fine for not taking.

 

[stephen_az]

I visited the MS store in Orlando today and got to see the Surface 2 in person. The sales associate told me the Surface 2 does in fact support a stylus. It isn't the MS digital pen but a universal stylus. She couldn't demo ot for me as they didn't have a stylus. Can anyone confirm this? Will it work with OneNote? If this is in fact true why would MS not provide support for their digital pen?

Since Surface 2 lacks a digitizer, .the sales associate was feeding you a line. Like all tablets without a digitizer, it supports a "universal stylus" but your finger is one example of that stylus. Personally, I expect more from someone in a Microsoft Store - they are usually far more service oriented whereas this is just a cheap sales line.

 

[laserboy]

Surface 2 should have had a digitizer. I think more people would get them with that feature. Microsoft does not think.

 

[bilzkh]

Surface 2 should have had a digitizer. I think more people would get them with that feature. Microsoft does not think.

Microsoft is of the perception that most people don't care about the digitizer, so why add to the cost of the Surface?

 

[Paul Nicholas]

I personally think microsoft are right, 99% of people don't care about a pen.

They needed to make sure the Surface 2 was high quality and as low a price as it could be.

 

[Jas_A]

Up til now , I was deciding whether to purchase a Nokia Lumia 2520 or the Surface 2 but I gather from the posts that there is no digitizer . I am a Grad student in engineering, and I am trying to migrate from scribbling on books to tablets. I use one note extensively so I do require a windows tablet. Do I really have to spend a 1000 $(AUD) to get both of requirements, windows tablet with good writing capabilities? If so is the Surface Pro2 worth the money, because I already have a functioning (3 yr old)Macbook Pro which I run windows on.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

don't get adonit. I thought it was cool at first, but overtime, the tapping made me uncomfortable. its nice at first, but it will skip around when u write. then youd have to pressdown harder and that's when the tapping may cause your screen to scratch or crack. I returned it. not worth the 30 dollars. got to a dollar store and bought a dollar pen/stylus pen that seems to work fine for not taking.

I'm not going to claim that you didn't experience what you experienced, but I have NOT experienced any of those things. But are you referring to the Adonit Jot or the Adonit Jot Pro?

The Adonit Jot is $15 online at places like walmart.com. I have not experienced any skipping. "Pressing down harder" makes no sense since it is a capacitive stylus, pressure is not needed nor is it registered. Even if one were to stab the screen with it, the stylus would break well before the screen cracked.

Those $1 rubber or foam tip styli do a terrible job on the Surface.

Surface 2 should have had a digitizer. I think more people would get them with that feature. Microsoft does not think.

Microsoft IS thinking and they were correct for not including a digitizer in the Surface RT/2. Many, many are using the capacitive touchscreen on the iPad with great success. Myself included. Where Microsoft may have been short sighted was in cheaping out on the resolution of the sensor array of capacitive touchscreen. The iPad (even the non-retina display models) appear to have a higher resolution sensors.

 

[jMawl]

It "is" possible to have (effectively) an active digitizer with the surface 2, but it will have to be combo hardware/software driven. Go to Adonit's website and look at the Script or go to Wacom's website and look at the Intuos Creative Stylus. Both of those work with the iPad (which does not have a digitizer) by Bluetooth and only using certain programs. Now e-mail Adonit and Wacom and ask that they add support for the Surface 2. I did, and Adonit gave me the, "we're looking into it," line. I'm not actually sure that it is in their hands as I think it would need to be a general driver for the Surface (I don't know much about that stuff)...anyway, as I said, it is possible, it just doesn't exist for us yet (if ever).

 

[kristalsoldier]

I'm not going to claim that you didn't experience what you experienced, but I have NOT experienced any of those things. But are you referring to the Adonit Jot or the Adonit Jot Pro?

The Adonit Jot is $15 online at places like walmart.com. I have not experienced any skipping. "Pressing down harder" makes no sense since it is a capacitive stylus, pressure is not needed nor is it registered. Even if one were to stab the screen with it, the stylus would break well before the screen cracked.

Those $1 rubber or foam tip styli do a terrible job on the Surface.



Microsoft IS thinking and they were correct for not including a digitizer in the Surface RT/2. Many, many are using the capacitive touchscreen on the iPad with great success. Myself included. Where Microsoft may have been short sighted was in cheaping out on the resolution of the sensor array of capacitive touchscreen. The iPad (even the non-retina display models) appear to have a higher resolution sensors.

But does the Adnoit stylus scratch the screen over prolonged use?

 

[WillysJeepMan]

But does the Adnoit stylus scratch the screen over prolonged use?

With proper use and care, no. There is nothing inherent in the Adonit Jot design that would cause it to have a higher probability of scratching a screen than the rubber or foam capacitive styli.

The iPad uses gorilla glass (or the equivalent), so does the Surface. Very durable. The plastic disk at the tip of the Adonit Jot is not hard enough to scratch the screen. If the plastic is cracked and the metal nub exposed, then it is possible. But that is caused by a DEFECTIVE Adonit Jot.

What typically happens, and it can happen with any stylus, is that a speck of grit attaches itself to the screen and is pushed across the screen's surface by the stylus. Depending upon the composition of that speck of grit, it is possible to scratch the screen. In terms of probability of a hardened speck scratching the screen, relatively speaking it would be most probable with the Adonit Jot (the plastic disk would keep a firm grip on the speck, followed next by a rubber tip, and lastly a foam tip stylus. Theoretically, a fingertip could cause the screen to be scratched (if that speck of grit were under the fingertip).

Common sense and good practice. Keep the screen clean. First with a clean microfiber cloth that is gently used to remove an potential grit, and then something to remove the oils... I use eye glass lens wipes. Examine your stylus before using it... even ones with the rubber or foam tips... make sure that there is no grit trapped or attached to it.

Hope this helps.