Capacitive Styluses are a dime a dozen and very rarely do one’s stand out from the crowd (such as the Quillit Stylus and Boxwave Stylus). Ditching the norm today however we have for review the Q Pen from Penpower, the world’s leading brand in handwriting recognition technology, according to their marketing material. This pen has a few neat features such as an all rubber design making it flexible enough to stretch across a tablet, however it is also bendy enough to screw up in to a pocket. But is it really any good? There’s only one way to find out.

Design

Unlike a lot of styluses which are made from plastic or metal, the Q Pen is made from rubber and the model we received was blue. Basically, it measures around 9.5 inches long including the nib, which sounds like an extremely long pen however it really isn’t. As stated, this pen is made from rubber, with the only real-world solid and fixed part measuring just 5 inches which is nigh on the same as just about any stylus on the market right now. The fixed part is naturally where your hand will go.

Without using this pen and looking at it, the easiest way to describe it is this then; it’s practically an enormous blue elastic band with a nib on the end, which means you can stretch it across a tablet for transportation. In practice, this works really well too. The pen’s rubber body makes it extremely flexible and also easy to wrap on to practically any tablet device from an iPad 2 to a thicker HP TouchPad (see images). The pen itself doesn’t leave any marks on the glass display of tablets either, and shrinks back to it’s original shape just fine leaving any durability concerns quashed.

Now whilst the idea of this product works in practice, there are some bad points to it. The first one is that the top half of the Q Pen is just bendy rubber, meaning it flops around whilst writing and sways from side to side whilst swiping. This is naturally something which can not be fixed in the factory with this pen, as it’s USP of being flexible unfortunately carries this niggle, however it can be remedied by simply folding over the top half of the pen underneath where your hand will go to write. The second niggle I have with the Q Pen is to do with the capacitive nib, which is the round rubber type which means anybody looking for a brush will have to look elsewhere. Surely, it wouldn’t have been too hard for Penpower to provide two nib options to prospective customers?

In use, sensitivity

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; this is where everything falls apart. You’ll note above in my design section of this review I pointed out the nib for this pen, well during the sensitivity part of my reviewing it I came across a number of pretty horrible problems which made me loath it. The main problem, if I’m to cut to the chase, is that the Q Pen does not work as marketed. To showcase this, please view the video below I created, featuring the Q Pen and a HP TouchPad.

As you’ll note from my video above the Q Pen isn’t sensitive enough to use on a daily basis, purely because after a while you’d feel like chucking it out of the window for not registering what you are trying to do. Please also note that this pen is brand new and no damage has occurred to the nib, meaning this is what you will get out of the box unless of course we have got a dud here.

Pricing

The Q Pen is priced at around £20, which I think is a little bit too expensive for what it isn’t; a good capacitive stylus.

Verdict

The Q Pen features a unique elastic band type design, will last for ages thanks to being made from flexible rubber and is also pretty grippy in the hand. All of those plus points being said, they don’t really count for much when the pen itself doesn’t work properly under sensitivity tests. Unfortunately then, whilst the theory is sound, in the real-world this pen just does not work. It doesn’t pain me to say then that the RRP of around £20 will be money wasted on this pen, however if you have cash to blow on styluses then look the Q Pen up. Just get ready to throw it from a bridge.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars (2/5)

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

There are many ways you can get most of the gadgets you need without having to pay for it – and the cool thing about these ways is that even those providing you with these gadgets will be very happy they did and at the end no one of you will be on the losing end – it will always be a win-win situation for both of you. In this article I will be sharing some of the best ways I get any products I want without paying.

Ask for a Review Copy

This technique has been used on my medifast and nutrisystem blog to great effect. It works when it comes to promoting digital affiliate products, it works when it comes to promoting physical products like books and it even works when it comes to getting access to the latest tech gadgets – the sad thing (and good thing for you!) about it is that very few people make effective use of it.

If you’re reading this blog then there is every probability you are a tech blogger. In a case like that all you need to do is contact the creator of the gadgets you are interested in, tell them the size of your blog and how engaged your community is and also tell them what you think they will be benefiting by being reviewed by you. Once they are able to see you as a thought leader or as a respected blogger in your field with a great audience they will be very happy to give you the gadget in exchange for your review.

It is however important to know that this technique works best if you already have a great audience and reputation, the second tip in this article will be applicable to those who don’t have an audience or blog.

Ask to be a Beta Tester

When it comes to building a new gadget or tech product companies hire their own engineers and developers to help them create and use the product for a period of time to see how effective it is. They also know that the opinion of these engineers might not be enough because they are not the end user and understand how to use the advanced features of the product – in order to be able to test the basic version of the product and see how the public will think of it they will also look for a few beta testers from the general public. As a result these beta testers will be given a free version of the gadget for them to test and it will be theirs even after the test.

The best way to make sure you are one of the people who enjoy this is by being close to the company manufacturing the gadget you want and getting in touch with them whenever they want to launch a new gadget. Make sure you let them know how a ‘basic’ tech user like you can help contribute to the development of their products and you will be able to win a cool gadget in the process.

Conclusion

The above two techniques are hardly used by most people in the tech space, but you will be amazed at how easy it is to use them to get your favorite tech gadgets.

John Smith is a blogger who loves to be reading tech news and to be following the latest gadgets. He blogs about the best coupon and discount codes for top products like Nutrisystem and medifast. You can check out his bog for the best nutrisystem discount code and medifast coupon code.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

As you may or may not know, ThinkGeek are known to come out with some very wacky, but cool products. Here’s just another one to add to their product line, an electric guitar messenger bag. The bag features 14 buttons which make up the fretboard of the guitar, so you can jam to most songs which are in a Major key.
Of course, you couldn’t forget the detachable amplifier, which will crank all the way up to an obligatory 11.

Moving away from the guitar, the bag will include some space for a 17″ laptop, while the other 8 pockets will hold your Coldplay and Blink-182 chord sheets.
Come August 28th, $50 and you’ll be able to start your own office band with a co-worker.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

When I have a cold beer I like to pop my glass in to the freezer for a short period of time, however not even this keeps that beer cold for long enough. Luckily now however Strapya World have taken cold beer to the next level with their Ice Mug, where all you need to do is use water to freeze into the form of mug. Once that is done, all that is needed from you is to pour your beverage. The Ice Beer Mug, which can be used with any beverage as long as it is not hot (well duh!).

Now, I don’t have any links or stuff for you to research this product further, but I do have a video of some Ice mugs being made.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

Do you toss and turn at night? Do you live in a highly unpredictable climate where the hottest of hot comes one day and coolest of cool comes the next? Well then that’s what our tech hungry eyes are here for, and i’ve just come across something infinitely cool. I’m talking about the ‘ChiliPad’ mattress here, which will not only heat your bed but will also cool it too, with thanks to dual climate bed warmers woven in to its fabrics.

The mattress itself is available in double and king size, however not single (hence the dual climate). It’ll set you back $599.99 for the warmer in question, however if you have the cash to splash, we don’t see why it shouldn’t be keeping to comfortable tonight.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

The P&T (as I’m going to start calling it because it’s faster) is Wacom’s first shot at combining both touch and pen input, and subsiquently the first time they have taken a stab at letting people navigate around their workstation without having to reach towards their beloved mouse or laptop trackpad. So how does it work out not only as a giant trackpad, but also as a drawing slate? And will this drawing touch tablet replace your mouse once and for all? Read on.

Review: Pen Input

First of all, let it be said that I am a horrendous drawer, putting a pen in my hand and asking me to draw a cat is a crime against nature and an insult to cats everywhere (see fig 1) but I took it upon myself to spend a good few weeks, doodling, writing and attempting to describe songs via only vague shapes and colours (for reference, the worlds dullest game) to test it out.

The tablet while in pen only mode (which is just a hardware button away) maps the entire screen to the size of the tablet, so if you’re drawing on a canvas it will not focus in on that particular canvas, but instead represent the entire screen, it’s important to keep this in mind and if you’re a newbie to tablet drawing there’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve as you wrap your mind around it and get comfortable. The pen itself is light and reasonably nice to hold, although I do think Wacom could have spent a little longer on the ergonomics of it.

The surface of the P&T has a nice glide to it (although some people would have preferred slightly more resistance, I enjoyed it for writing) and the pen offers a good amount of pressure sensitivity, giving drawings more personality and making the illegible scrawl that I call handwriting a handsome representation on screen. I genuinely found the pen input a real joy to use.

Touch input

When I mentioned the device to some people they automatically assumed they could draw with their fingers, and quickly found that this isn’t the case. The included pen is the only item that can draw on the tablet, fingers are used solely for navigating around your desktop as you would with a regular track pad. For that purpose (i.e single finger use) it’s perfectly serviceable, I certainly wouldn’t claim it’s great but it does the job, although I did have some problems with multi touch gestures within Windows 7. Chrome, Firefox and Opera all had trouble understanding the two finger scroll while using it and I quickly ended up reverting to my built in laptop track pad for general day to day use, again though this is the exception rather than the rule.

Design

Things are rightfully sparse on the design front, there’s a built in fabric toggle for keeping your pen from getting lost, a drawing surface (5.8″ x 3.6″ for pen input, 4.9″ x 3.4″ for touch) and along the left hand side are 4 customizable hardware buttons and a light glows red when the pen is in use and bright white when fingers are being used. The entire thing is thin and light (even thinner than a Kindle) and I had no problem putting it in a bag alongside my laptop and it generally feels very well made.

Wrap Up

I’m the very first to admit that I’m not the most qualified person in the world to review a drawing slate, due lacking the required skill and experience but I know a good product when I use one: that’s what the Bamboo P&T is. Sure, the finger input might be a little wonky at present but after forcing myself never to use it and to always have to lean over to my touch pad I genuinely grew to miss it while I had the tablet in use. It’s a really solid tablet, with some great features.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

Interactive Group have come up with their fair share of qwerky and out of this world gadgets over the years however their latest, the Active-i sunglasses, are being hailed as the planet’s smallest standalone video and audio recording / playback device, utilizing a built-in camera across the bridge of your nose.

The Active-i sunglasses are capable of capturing up to two hours of video internally and the videos can be uploaded to PC or Mac via USB. There’s also a TV output, a microSD expansion slot and a bundled carrying case. Price wise we have no idea what these would set you back, however we will update this if we ever do find out (Google shows nothing!).

Check out all the latest gadgets here

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve always wanted to be a secret agent. Ever since I first saw James Bond and the awesome gadgets he had I have longed to have those same things. From a watch with an inbuilt laser to a car that can turn invisible he has had it all, and so now I just feel great to be able to talk about this gadget I have come across.

Its the Youvision Camera Glasses that I am all excited about, not because I want to be able to spy on people and randomly record my partner naked, but because it brings out my inner child and makes me feel all bubbly inside.

Man, If I had these when I was younger my brother would have been caught every time – you see, he was the cheeky one – the ‘windy up’ up, and I used to snap. But I’d have an excuse with these, its just a shame they are new.

They also could be seen as functional in the sense that you will no longer require a Flip Mino HD or a camera of any sort, but don’t hold your breath – I haven’t tried these, but some people complain about the resolution being that of VGA quality and it not working effectively in low sunlight.

Spec wise the glasses have 2GB of memory built in (not bad you say) but if you are a weirdo, or a bird watcher (these two aren’t linked, naturally) you’ll have to upload your precious video every 5 hours as it won’t record a full day > morning to night.

The glasses are also Mac, PC and UNIX compatible and are yours today for a pricey, but worth every penny in a childish way $149.99.

©2012 Technology Blogged, News. All Rights Reserved.