Arctic Accessories first popped up on our radar last year, with the Architect stylus. Now the company is back with a new stylus, this time combining a rubber nib stylus with a ballpoint pen.
Packaging
Unlike the recently reviewed Jot Classic, the Emote comes in something a bit more bio degradable. It might not look as good, but it works, and you don’t feel bad about throwing it away afterwards. It’s a simple cardboard box that holds the stylus in a fold in the middle, and a fold-out compartment for the spare rubber nib. That’s right, a spare one! Why it has taken this long for a stylus manufacturer to include a spare tip I don’t know, but it’s a nice addition. I’ve had a Wacom Bamboo stylus tip rupture on me, and it’s not fun to have a $30 stylus become useless due to a tiny rubber nib.
Design
Speaking of the Wacom Bamboo, it’s hard (or impossible) too look at the Emote and not see where the design came from. It’s almost identical to the dual ended Bamboo Duo, to such a degree that I’m wondering if the parts are interchangeable. You have a thin rubber nib stylus in one end, and a ballpoint pen in the other. The two ends share a single cap between them that works on both and has a traditional pen clip. In other words, just like the Bamboo.
The biggest difference between the two is the graphics on the outside. The Emote is available with various graphical patterns, and unfortunately not in a more neutral design. Like with the colors for the Jot Classic, I’m not a fan, but that’s very subjective.
While it might not stricly be Arctic’s invention, the design works. It’s the size of a pen, with one of the thinnest rubber nibs out there, and it contains a pen for good measure. Below is a comparison between the Emote, Architect, and Jot Classic.
In use
Both the original Architect stylus (from the same company) and the Wacom Bamboo are great styli, and this is essentially the same basic design. It works. I’ve been using this daily for taking notes, and I don’t really have anything bad to say about the stylus itself. It’s a very decent stylus, never fails to be registered by the screen, and all in all exactly what you would expect.
I do have to mention a small issue I discovered with my particular Emote. The rubber nib that came installed was extremely soft, too soft to really work well, as I barely even noticed any push back at all when touching the screen. This made me jam the nib far too hard into the screen every time I put it to the screen, making the stylus less accurate because it was dragging the tip around. I tried the spare nib that came with the stylus, and that one didn’t have this problem, so I assume that this is an issue with that one particular nib. Neither of my two Architect styli have this issue either, just that one nib for that one stylus.
As for the pen, it’s a ballpoint pen. It works as you would expect, and it’s nice to have a analog pen available for interacting with the yet-to-be-digitalized part of the world. I don’t use such a tool often, but it’s great to have it easily available for when I do. For others though, this feature might just be the most important aspect of the stylus, as many prefer to use paper in conjunction with a digital device.
I do want to add a note about the cap. To me, it’s extremely unnatural to have a “pen” with two ends and one cap. I constantly find myself detaching the cap from the pen end to put on the stylus end, only to remember that there’s a pen hiding underneath the cap. One of the biggest selling points of the original Architect is the cap for the stylus end, and this doesn’t have that in practice, as it’s the ballpoint end you’re going to end up covering up. Arctic tells me that this is a design decision, but I don’t think design should come before functionality. If nothing else, offering spare caps in the store so that one could choose to have a cap on either end seems like a no brainer to me – and I would certainly jump on that opportunity. Unfortunately, that’s not being offered. I get the feeling that the spare rubber nib is a quick fix for ommitting the second cap, and that doesn’t sit well with me. Then again, Wacom sells almost the exact same stylus for twice as much, without offering either.
Conclusion
Bottom line, the Emote is a copy of the Wacom Bamboo, just with a more colorful design. It is, however, a copy that sells for $24 directly from Arctic, far less than the Wacom’s $40. It’s also a copy that comes with a spare rubber nib, something the Wacom doesn’t do. Aside from me personally being a bigger fan of plain designs, this particular “copy” seems superior to the original, and since it being first is hardly a reason to buy something, I would recommend this one before the Wacom.
When you put the cap over the nub, because you are using the pen, does the rubber nub get jammed inside? Happened to a similar pen that my roommate had.
The cap has so much extra room that I very much doubt that will ever happen to this one
I truly dont see much use for a stylus these days… What do you guys use it for? Are you really “writing” on your screen?
Absolutely: http://www.pocketables.com/2012/09/handwriting-on-the-ipad-using-partial-zoom-mode.html
Once in a while I’d like to use a stylus, but I don’t like the pricing. Seems like $10 is more in line with what you get. Maybe $15 if it has a pen, too.
My son got a pair for something like $10-$12 while on vacation in a junk/gadget/kitchen/… store.
His work fine, and I’ve borrowed one a few times. His are just a plastic stick, with the rubber nub on one side, and a pen on the other.
Why do companies sell stylus’ for so much?
If you’ve owned both cheap generic styli (like you’re describing) and the more expensive ones, and use a stylus daily, you very quickly realize the difference
I’ve always liked Wacom products but they are quite expensive. I think I’ll be checking this out if it’s just like Wacom’s but less expensive and with an extra nib. Also the cheap stylus are cheap for a reason.
Sorry I have to differ about this one – it’s great to see a stylus where the maker is actually making an effort to produce an attractive pen. I’m still amazed that Montblanc, Parker, Rotring, etc, haven’t tried to move into the stylus space, and have left it for Wacom, Belkin and their ilk. Personally, I’d buy a stylus with a tortoiseshell lacquer barrel like a shot if one existed. I’m using a stylus 24/7 for writing on my Nexus 7 – good HWR makes it work like a dream. If styli are hot enough propositions these days to get Kickstarter funding, they certainly deserve a little design love. These instruments are very personal: why not give them the treatment they deserve?
I have been looking for a good stylus for the wife so I can get my bamboo back (who said they only get 50%?!?)….. Looks like this would be great for her as she is constantly going between digital and paper due to work… Thanks for the review, I think she’ll be using one of these shortly!
now this is a much better stylus than the adonit jot classic. but the design of this stylus looks a bit overdone.
That’s the great thing about the marketplace. As long as the functionality is good, there is plenty of room for a range of designs – both in engineering and in appearance. Not all users of digital devices want the look of austere pure functionality. Just look at the huge selection of cases for iPhones and similar smartphones to see what demand has wrought.
true