As you anxiously await a return to safely travelling, now’s as good a time as any to upgrade all of your mobile gear. The stylus you’ve been using that only works as a stylus? That just doesn’t cut it anymore. Adonit’s new Note-M looks like it could be a better alternative because flip it around and you’ve also got a fully-functional mouse for your computer.
Like the Apple Pencil, the Note-M stylus works with Apple’s tablets including the 2018 iPad, iPad Pro, and newer models, and even magnetically attaches to the edge of the tablet for convenient storage (or any metal surface) although it doesn’t charge that way. On the side, you’ll instead find a USB-C port which, admittedly, isn’t as slick, but it gets the job done. (At least it isn’t microUSB.)
It isn’t a complete clone of the Apple Pencil, however. The Adonis Note-M lacks pressure sensitivity, tilt support, and even shortcut buttons. It’s essentially an alternative to your finger for interacting with iOS but with a much finer point that makes jotting notes much easier. If you’re an artist, you probably won’t want to abandon the Apple Pencil for the Note-M, but if you spend all day buried in spreadsheets on multiple devices, the Adonit’s alternative could be appealing.
On the opposite end of the Note-M, where you’d normally find an eraser on a pencil, is an optical sensor allowing the stylus to be flipped around and used as a mouse on almost any surface, even at a distance of about five millimetres. A small set of buttons on the side of the stylus serve as left and right mouse buttons and sliding a finger up and down against them recreates scroll wheel functionality.
Battery life is rated at 10 hours in stylus mode and just five hours when used as a mouse, and availability is set for September 4, with a price tag of $US80 ($112). Adonit is also introducing a nearly identical version of the Note-M called the Ink-M that’s instead designed to work with Surface tablets, tablets running Windows, and 2-in-1 touchscreen laptops. It will also be available for $US80 ($112) but improves functionality with pressure sensitivity and shortcut buttons while used in stylus mode.