THE STORY OF THE STYLUS

In the computing world, the stylus or otherwise known as stylus pen is a small pen-

shaped instrument that is used to input commands into computer screens, mobile

devices or a graphics tablets. Don’t confuse them with Digital Pens which are much

larger than the stylus and also offer increased functionality such as programmable

buttons, pressure sensitivity and electronic erasers. The stylus had initially caught

everyone’s fancy when the touch screen mobiles had been launched in the market.

They provided ease of navigation with an increased accuracy of input and selection of

options.

The touch screen display that is sensitive to human touch or a stylus has been around

for nearly half a century now. One of the most important specifications of a touch screen

phone is the screen type – Resistive or Capacitive.

Bent Stumpe and Frank Beck, two engineers at CERN, developed a transparent, touch

screen in the early 1970s. This kind of screen relies on having an object pressing

particularly hard against its surface, and will only react to certain objects like the pencil

like stylus. It was first manufactured by CERN and utilized in 1973. Samuel G. Hurst

founded the resistive touch screen in the 1971. Hurst's sensor, called the "Elograph,"

was named after his company Elographics. But it was not mass-produced and sold until

the early 1980s. Unlike a capacitive screen, the resistive design is made of several

layers, and responds to the touch of a finger or a stylus. The outer layer flexes under

any touch, and is pushed back onto a layer behind it. This completes a circuit, telling the

device which part of the screen is being pressed.

Over the next few decades, touch screen technology continued innovating itself.

Screens became more receptive to touch and gestures, and more innovative moments

were focused on the devices. The stylus was first used in Personal Digital Assistants

(PDA) which was the domain of power-nerds and businesspeople who needed to read

their email on the go. The PDA market continued to evolve through the early 2000s,

eventually merging with cell phones to become the first smart phones. One of the first

such phones was the early Treosand BlackBerry devices. These devices were stylus

dependent and usually attempted to imitate the structure of desktop software. This was

cumbersome on a tiny, stylus-operated touch screen.

Until the launch of the iPhone in 2007, the majority of touch screen phones featured a

resistive display that often needed a stylus to navigate the menu system.

Since then, many phones have been released with capacitive screens that rely on you

using your finger to navigate the menu system and are more responsive to multi-touch.

Some of the handsets that feature resistive touch screens are the LG Pop, Nokia 5800,

Sony Ericsson Satio, Nokia N97 Mini and the Samsung ToccoLite. There are some

tablets too which function well with a stylus like the Lenovo Miix 2.

Shop for your trendy stylus enabled phones online at exciting discounts. Be it a

Samsung or a Micromax, you will find your perfect choice at your favorite online stores.

Happy Stylus Phone Shopping!