---------- ---------- PC Pro Realworld Computing: Paul Lynch - PDAs

Stylii

Both the Casio Cassiopeia (and all other Windows CE machines), and the Pilot styluses are very narrow and straight sided, and are held very tightly in the casing of their parent machines. With a new USR PalmPilot Professional, the stylus was held so tightly that I could only remove it from the case by using my teeth. I am very fortunate in not needing dentures, although I am not sure how long my teeth will endure this treatment - I hope the case loosens before my teeth do! The Pilot stylus is also very short, enough so that the end of the stylus barely reaches the web between my thumb and index finger when in use.

The first Newton stylus was just about long enough (almost half as long again as a Pilot stylus), but very wide, and almost completely flat. If you held it at the wrong angle it was quite uncomfortable to hold, but, grasped properly, was just about acceptable. Apple had enough complaints about the stylus that they released a tapered cylindrical stylus with the MP100, and have kept it through the MP series. This has a convenient bulge to hold, and was made of a mix of machined metal and plastic. Unfortunately it was both flimsy and intentionally collapsible, to fit into the Newton MessagePad sideways rather than lengthways. It came in several parts that were fitted together on a plastic screw thread; if these came apart for any reason, the thread would crumble and it would be impossible to reassemble. I ended up with a stylus composed largely of epoxy resin after a few months of use. However the desktop stand came with a perfect stylus. Like the collapsible stylus it was tapered with a stop on the end to prevent your hand sliding off, but was long enough to be a real pen.

All of the Newton styluses have been made of relatively hard plastic, and have had a good feel for writing, on a Pilot screen as well as the Message Pads they were designed for.

It has always been possible to buy replacement Newton styluses, and it is good to see that USR list an inexpensive three pack of replacement Pilot stylii, to cope with the inevitable losses, and to replace ones damaged by grit. Given the difficulty of deciding on the correct plural form of stylus to use, I propose that they should be know as 'stylosses', which is both what happens to multiple stylii, and a symbolic reference to their resemblance to dental floss.



Words and design by:
Paul Lynch
Last updated: July 30, 1997

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