Review: Caseen VIBE Stylus Pen for Tablets, Smartphones and Other Touch Devices

[dgstorm]

The Caseen VIBE Stylus Pen was a fun and easy device to review. Some things in life just do what you expect them to, and do not require any complicated setup. That is pretty much exactly the way you could describe the VIBE Stylus Pen. The folks at Caseen call the VIBE, "the world’s most versatile and fast acting dielectric stylus with a balanced design." The name VIBE stands for Versatile In Balance and Exact.

The technology in the stylus is fairly impressive. It can sketch at less than a 35 degree angle, and it is weighted to give a very balanced hold point. The special tip is the most interesting part of the design. It's dielectric micro-mesh contact surface gives you a soft and gel-like touch, that makes the stylus feel almost like a felt-tipped marker. We will delve more into this in just a bit.

Since this stylus is meant to go with just about any multi-touch device, we took it for a spin with an Apple iPad 2, a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and a few different smartphones including an iPhone 4S, and a couple of different Androids. It worked flawlessly with each device, and there was no appreciable difference at all between any of them (except for the fact that it is harder to write in tiny letters on the phones). Because the VIBE does what it does in a remarkably simple way, the easiest way we can share the ins and outs of this device is to just break it down into what we liked and didn't like.

We enjoyed using the pen. It has a very quality look and feel to it. It flicks and darts around the Android and iOS screens as if it were your finger. It selects and taps just as you would expect it to when you use it, although sometimes it does require enough pressure that someone with a very light touch may feel like they are being a bit heavy-handed with it. For the most part this was only experienced when writing or sketching with it.

Speaking of writing and sketching... the VIBE handles these tasks with remarkable aplomb. We used the excellent free version of Bamboo Note for most of our drawing and note-taking. When writing, the VIBE was very precise, (deceptively more than you would expect it to be, although again, occasionally the artist in our crew found that he had to push down a bit harder than he was used to while drawing.) As a sketcher, it is more akin to sketching with a cartoonist's felt pen than a pencil, but all of our staff that used it loved the almost "squishy" feel of the tip as it smoothly glides along the surface of your tablet or phone. Because of its soft surface tip, it was also very quiet to use. This was expected, but still added to the pleasure of its use.

The only complaints would be that a couple of our guys felt the pen was a bit too small for them. This is probably owing to the fact that it is designed to be a stylus and extra-portable. It may be worth it to the company to investigate making an alternate longer version to sell to folks with larger hands, or that just want to have the pen/pencil feel. This would also alleviate the occasional problem of having your hand graze the screen and mess up your drawing because the size of the pen puts your hand too close. The only other issue with the VIBE would be that if you plan on doing a lot of sketching with this, then you have to get used to the fact that it requires a bit more pressure than some sketchers may be accustomed to, but that is really a minor issue.

Overall, for those that like/need to use a stylus for any reason, the VIBE Stylus Pen from Caseen is an easy product to recommend. It does what it is designed to do, and it does it well, without any fuss or hassle. You can get the VIBE on Amazon for $9.99. Here's a couple of links below for more info.

Caseen VIBE Stylus Pen and Amazon - Caseen VIBE Stylus Pen for $9.99