[NTLK] Acceptable writing stylus for Galaxy Tab?

[James Fraser]

Hello,

--- On Wed, 3/14/12, Matthias Melcher <mm at matthiasm.com> wrote:

> Actually, it's capacitive (you can use it with you fingers)
> and active (you can use it with a specific pen). You can not
> use it with the newton Pen for example.

Which is too bad, as I have a twentieth century PDA Panache Stylus that I would -love- to use on a twenty-first century device. 

However, the PDA Panache stylus lacks the tuned circuit that the Galaxy Note stylus contains.  From what I understand, it's the tuned circuit that allows the stylus to register with the Note.  

I almost (but not quite) fully grasped the tutorial that Tony Kan helpfully linked to earlier in the thread, and so sought an alternate explanation that would explain things a bit differently.  This:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacom#Technology

...broke things down in a way that actually penetrated my thick wooden head.  The long and the short of it is that without the tuned circuit, the Newton stylus is not "smart" enough for the Galaxy Note to recognize.

....which leads me to wonder if it might be possible to dissect a Galaxy Note stylus, extract the tuned circuit, and install it in a Panache stylus (or Newton stylus of your choice).   

The single picture of a Note stylus I've seen depicted a somewhat blunt-looking stylus that doesn't have the fine tip that a typical Newton stylus (i.e. a stylus used in conjunction with a resistive screen) would have.  However, I'm not clear if the relative bluntness is due to contact patch constraints (i.e. a point of less than, say, 2mm won't register) or simply because Samsung felt that a relatively blunt tip would be best for Note users.

At any rate, it seems that implementing a Wacom digitizer in a smartphone hasn't been done before:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/5sjpjeh


Best,

James Fraser