Styli...ish: Or the tale of the TrueTip finger stylus...

[Brad Isaac]

Styli...ish
Or the tale of the TrueTip finger stylus...
By Richard R. Padgett (aka RickP in AZ)
editor's note: This review originally appeared January 16, 2003 and received 1718 views.
With the instant speed of text input that Typango provides in my alleged writing it doesn't take a Mensa dissident to figure out that it has become one of my top three most frequently used programs. The usefulness of a full screen virtual keyboard is perfectly conveyed by the fact that on the 4th of July I was able to do rewrite a major portion of an article while patiently waiting for the theater lights to dim for the start of "The Powerpuff Girls Movie." ("Buttercup" is so punk, and "Mojo Jojo" has to be one of the supreme evil doers of the animated universe. Heck, I even allowed my daughter to accompany me…)

Being a mere 5'11” tall and weighing it at an oh-so slight 200 lbs., I'm just about average size for a male of the modern era. But years of caffeine abuse have impaired my fine moto shkilz a bit. This unfortunate affliction makes hitting the keys on the tiny screen of a handheld computer an exercise in cruel patience. As long as I don't nervously chomp on my fingernails I can achieve pretty good speed and accuracy but with the political troubles in Greenland my nails are chewed to the quick, rendering my fingertips mushy pads of semi-numbed flesh.
So how do I achieve blazing typing speed and laser like accuracy to translate my muddy thoughts into wonderfully intelligible words to waste minutes of the reader’s valuable time? The simple answer is to be found in the TrueTip finger stylus. Thank you! And good night!
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Oh, you're still here? Great so now you want me to actually tell you about them? Fine...
Packaged in a very stylish bubble pack with a nice graphic board behind it was my 4 pack of styli. Four Glow-in-the-Dark nubs of plastic with pointy little tips making my hands look like they belong to a freaky space cat, or some cyberpunk Balinese dancer. ("I feel pretty. Oh so pretty... I feel pretty and witty and...")

But seriously folks, any self-deprecating word-slinger knows that putting elegant words to paper or screen is a delicate balance between speed and accuracy. If the speed is great then the accuracy fades like Mickey Rourke's career and the resulting text looks like it's been run through a 128bit encryption algorithm. On the other hand, if every letter is perfect but the speed reminds you of Al Gore on barbiturates then your production rate will be even lower than mine.
Short of the Stowaway keyboard (who's driver is constantly playing catch up with my frantic fingers) Typango is the fastest way for me to write. But every once in a while my eager fingers roll from the proper key onto an adjoining one resulting in gibberish. Bam! Lost time in order to correct the error. So I delicately slip a TrueTip on each forefinger, lay the iPAQ on any flat surface and away I go.
A great theory on paper needs to prove itself in the real world so first let's show off my wonderful proficiency with Typango... (Eek, I guesss that I am a bit out of practice...)
Just pudgy fingers:
Thw qjick brown fox jimped over thw lazy dog.
Now with the TrueTips:
The quick briwn fix jumped over the lazy dog.
By my simple calculation it is obvious that my accuracy is better with the TrueTips versus my fat fingers. But the speed was increased by about 25%. With care and practice the speed with the TrueTips raises so high that I must focus my mind in order to slow myself down. But the unspoken benefit of the TrueTips for Typango/Full Screen Keyboard users is the fact that with your styli on your fingers you don’t have to hunt for your regular stylus just to navigate the system. Tapping an “x” or “ok” button is instantly accomplished where the tip of your finger is just too fat.
So it is obvious that with full screen keyboards the TrueTip is a great addition. But what about other methods?
Block Recognizer/Graffiti:
The quick brown fox jumped ovzr the lazy dog.
Fitaly:
The quick brown fox jumpej over the lazy doq.
Standard Keyboard (with large keys and gestures):
The quick brown fox jukped over the lazy dig.
Truthfully the above errors are more of a nature of my lack of finger dexterity than the TrueTips themselves. But I don't foresee myself using the TrueTips to replace my usual Dr. Grip 1+1 Stylus as more of my hand covers the input area, obscuring the keys and text.
One of the trickiest aspects of the TrueTips is getting them to fit properly. Out of the package they fit rather loosely for me so I end up pressing and holding the arms of the ring fairly tight for about 12 seconds and doing the same for the curve at the tip. These alterations hold for a short while but with use they begin to stretch out so the fitting process must be repeated. After doing this several times the smaller "settings" are retained for the most part.
Finally, would I recommend them? Yes, for use with full screen keyboards and for those of you with dainty, agile fingers. For me, they are present in my PPC bag but not "ever present" in my pocket. As my goal is to only carry my iPAQ, my phone, and my Dr. Grip with me everywhere, they aren’t with me as much as I’d like. But I must say that with the TrueTips I almost never bother with carrying my Stowaway so my bag is lighter when it does comes with me. (Don’t tell my wife that we wasted $99 on the Stowaway though… Otherwise I’d be in more trouble than I already am.)
Pros:
· More precision than fingertips
· Excellent quality
· Cheap price
· Glow-In-The-Dark is terrific for mental torture methods on felines
Cons:
· Difficult to use with most input methods
· Difficult to fit properly
· Inconvenient to carry on a regular basis
· Easy to loose
· Choking risk with infants and cats (I’m already missing one and I just saw my cat staring at his litter box with an inquisitive expression.)