Wacom’s Bamboo Stylus for iPad Is Here, But Don’t Expect Pressure

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Screen shot 2011-04-21 at 10.23.06 AM

I know I’m late to the party, but I recently bought myself a Pogo Stylus for my iPad, envisioning a mid-life career change to an illustrator of Jack Kirby style acidless psychedelia. Wow, do these things suck or what? I never expected anything as good as a Wacom tablet, you understand, but I was expecting a little more than what appears to be an irregular shaped cube of asbestos glued to the tip of some aluminum…. especially from the only stylus sold at the Apple Store. Not only are they not pressure-sensitive (which I understand), but they don’t even have precise tips!

You’d surely think that Wacom’s official entry into the iPad stylus market would be better, and in fact it is… but don’t expect pressure sensitivity. It’s just your standard rubber-tipped pen. Sure, that tip is tapered for precision, but couldn’t Wacom — kings of the pressure sensitive tablet on the PC side of things — have maybe figured out some sort of Bluetooth-powered approach to communicating sensitivity to a custom app, then given that API to the Brushes and Paintmaker Pro devs of the world? Perchance to dream.

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