11th Jul2014

‘Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Wacom-Intuos-Creative-Stylus

Have you tried drawing neatly on an iPad with chubby man-fingers? No? Well let me tell you it’s not easy. As a designer I often have to use tablets and stylus’ in my creative pursuits and I’ve experienced all manner of different makes and models – some good, a lot of bad – from a myriad of different companies. So when we’re offered the opportunity to review ANY new tablet or stylus I jump at the chance. After all the very next stylus I review could be the one product that fulfils all my drawing and writing needs – ideally furthering the touch experience and adding a LOT more accuracy…

Wacom, the go-to company when it comes to graphics tablets, have expanded their range of stylus’ considerably since we first reviewed the Bamboo Stylus a few years ago – and with the Intuos Creative Stylus, unlike previous iterations of their iPad stylus products, Wacom move into the “professional” market rather sticking to the consumer-led styli we’ve previously seen, aiming this product squarely at artist and design professionals, hence the higher price tag and myriad of superior features.

The top half of the stylus is made of brushed aluminium and is available in black or blue, with the bottom covered in a black soft touch grip, making it very comfortable to hold for extended periods. The stylus is pressure-sensitive so you can simulate pen and brush strokes in paint apps such as Photoshop, you can also customise the available buttons – which is great for easy access to commands such as undo, or for switching quickly to the eraser rather than pen (all software dependent of course). I did have a small issue with the sensitivity of the buttons, often clicking them with the slightest touch when I didn’t actually mean to – although that could be a case of heavy-handedness on my part.

According to Wacom, the Intuos Creative Stylus offers 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity – to a layman like myself what that means is a stutter free smooth stroke that transitions between pen pressures *almost* as naturally as traditional pen and paper. Although if your as heavy handed as me it might take some “training” to hit lighter strokes. At one point I was trying so hard to not put too much pressure on the nib that I didn’t actually register any strokes on screen!

Compatible with all Retina-display iPads (3rd and 4th gen) and the iPad mini, I had no issue pairing the stylus with my 3rd gen iPad via Bluetooth and the connection was a sturdy as a rock. And unlike Apple’s Magic Mouse, which eats battery power on prolonged use, the battery in the Wacom stylus seems to take a licking and keep on ticking – after playing around with the device for a week I had hardly made a dent in the battery power.

Team the Intuos Creative Stylus with Wacom’s Bamboo Paper App (the Intuos is apparently also compatible with other apps from the likes of Adobe and Autodesk, see the full list here) and you have one superb visual tool that expands the capabilities of the iPad for professional and casual users alike.

The Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus retails for £84.99 RRP. It’s available now from Wacom.com

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