Saturday, August 19, 2017

STAEDTLER Noris Digital

A Chromebook with pen support is great. Having the pen sitting within the body of the Samsung Chromebook Pro is even better as it's always there when you need it.
But sometimes, especially when working a lot with the pen, the build in pen is a bit too small.
This is where the STAEDTLER Noris Digital comes into play.

STAEDTLER Noris Digital





The STAEDTLER Noris Digital looks just like a normal pencil like I know them from my childhood and the first attempts of learning how to write.

The STAEDTLER Noris digital next to the regular STAEDTLER Noris pencil.

As you see, the pencil(s) are very similar to each other, just like the pencils I know so well.

By the way, STAEDTLER is a German company located here in Nürnberg, my hometown. :-)

The technology and development


The pen has been developed by a corporation of STAEDTLER, Samsung and WACOM. It works with most s-pen compatible devices by Samsung (and maybe some others as well).
As the pen works passively, it has no battery and does not need to be charged and can't also run out of juice just when you need it.

Check out this article of STAEDTLER for more information: The STAEDTLER Noris digital: Pencil on the outside - Digital on the inside

Details


Like shown above, the STAEDTLER Noris Digital is about identical to the pencil version. The magic happens in the tip. The display will recognize the location of it by a magnetic field. This allows the pen to be passive as well as recognizing it and following this, to ignore other screen interactions like resting the palm on it.

The pencil itself is made out of WOPEX, a material used by STAEDTLER for some of their products. The pen feels nice in hand, with a larger profile than the build in pen.

As shown above, the pen is the same size as the pencil and a good junk larger than the in the Chromebook build in pen.

Samsung Chromebook Pro build in pen next to the STAEDTLER Noris Digital.

Usage


The STAEDTLER Noris Digital usage is exactly the same as the build in pen.

The tips of both digital pens.

Just because of its larger shape, it fits better into the hand for writing or drawing. Of course, the STAEDTLER Noris Digital can't be stored in the body of the Samsung Chromebook Pro. Means, it has to be carried separately but even when left behind, the build in pen is still available for a quick note.

Editing PDF documents with the pen is a great experience.

On the other side, for longer usage, it's much more comfortable to use a larger pen that fits better in the hand. Regardless if your writing, drawing, taking notes, editing PDF documents (for education for example) or whatever.

Taking notes, just like on paper.

It's simple fun to edit documents, create notes or draw graphs and mind maps with a good pen at a device like the Samsung Chromebook Pro.

Drawing diagrams with shape recognition at this app is a blast.

Conclusion


When ever I am using a pen at the Chromebook for a longer input, I grab the STAEDTLER Noris Digital over the build in pen. On the other side, I like a lot the option to have a build in pen as a fallback strategy when I forgot the other one.

Of course, the STAEDTLER Noris Digital is not the cheapest (about 35 € at the moment at Amazon). So it might only be relevant for thous who use the pen a lot. I am using it quite often and as the pen is made by a local company of mine, I had to get it anyway. :-)

Especially for drawing diagrams, taking notes and editing PDF documents I really enjoy the options with today's technology.