不老的書寫情節 尋找最好的iPad電容筆

Let’s face it: there is an inexplicable bond created when you slide a pencil or pen across a piece of paper, leaving traces of graphite or ink on what was once a blank canvas. That series of scratches coalesce to form a manifestation of an idea. As your mind scribbles and erases and scribbles some more, so does your hand. The physical steps become a part of the mental process.

讓我們面對現實吧：當你用筆在紙上寫下一行字，把石墨或墨水凝成的字跡留在一張白紙上，總會產生一種說不清道不明的感覺。這一系列塗鴉變成了一種思想的體現。隨着你的思想寫寫劃劃、刪刪改改，你的手也忙個不停。書寫這套動作，已經成爲思考過程的一部分。

Technology has done wonders to reduce these steps. Computers and tablets (and keyboards and mice and capacitive displays and even speech recognition software) help us more quickly create. The problem, it seems, is that sometimes our minds aren’t quite up to speed. We need a little low-tech resistance to make the right ideas flow.

科技奇蹟般地縮短了這些步驟。電腦和平板電腦（以及鍵盤、鼠標、電容屏甚至語音識別軟件等）使我們可以更快地進行思維的創造。但問題是，有些時候，我們的意識還沒有跟上科技創新的腳步。所以爲了讓正確的創意噴涌而出，有時候我們不得不放慢腳步，來一點“低科技”作爲佐料。

As someone who makes a living staring at a blinking cursor that seems to always be a step ahead of me, I often find myself retreating to—if you’ll permit me saying so, here on this website—the analog version of Microsoft Word. Not to romanticize it, but writing is an intimate act, and that aspect is often overlooked as digitization marches on. (Well, except in Milan. The folks at Moleskineseem to get it.)

作爲一個依靠盯着閃爍的光標（它似乎總是比我快一步）討生活的人，我經常發現自己對微軟Word之類的軟件有牴觸情緒。我不是在吹噓自己有格調，不過我認爲書寫是一種舒適的行爲，但是隨着數字化的發展，這一點經常被人忽略了。（呃，米蘭人除外，做Moleskine高檔筆記本的那羣傢伙似乎懂得這一點。）

Believe it or not, technology companies seem to be aware of the problem. Microsoft, among others, is putting a lot of effort into replicating the familiarity of pen and paper on a layer of pixels below a slab of glass. It’s one reason why the company touted the Surface Pen as a primary selling point for its Surface Pro 3 tablet. As you may recall from an earlier column, I was veryimpressed with how it performed, and as I went from meeting to meeting with it during a trip to Japan, people continued to approach me and ask: “What stylus is that?” (Which was often followed by: “Does it work with the iPad?”)

不管你信不信，一些科技公司也意識到了這個問題。比如微軟等公司就花費大量精力，試圖在平板電腦上模擬用紙筆寫字的感覺。這也是爲什麼微軟要把Surface Pen當作Surface Pro 3平板電腦的主要賣點之一。我在早些時候的一篇專欄文章中曾寫道，Surface Pen的表現讓我非常驚豔。前一陣我去日本出差時也帶着它參加了一場又一場的會議，不斷有人問我：“這是什麼筆？”（下一句話經常就是：“它能在iPad上用嗎？”）

The Surface Pen does not work with an iPad, of course—its proprietary software is Microsoft-compatible only. But the inquiries set me on a search to find an iPad stylus that could replicate the experience of the Surface Pen and, by extension, the conventional pencil or pen.

當然，Surface Pen是不能在iPad上用的，它的專有軟件只在微軟的產品上兼容。不過問的人多了，我就開始搜索有沒有和Surface Pen的體驗差不多、甚至接近傳統紙筆書寫感覺的iPad專用筆。

My search began with Pencil from FiftyThree ($60 and up). Its chiseled form is reminiscent of a carpenter’s pencil, and its walnut or graphite housing underscores the reference. On the business end you’ll find a soft rubber tip designed to glide across an iPad display; the butt of the tool offers another contact point that’s meant to duplicate an eraser. Thanks to a Bluetooth 4.0 sensor, the implement can detect tip pressure (which, through software, translates to line thickness), determine when the eraser end is in use, and eliminate any errant doodling when you rest your palm on the screen.

我首先找到的是FiftyThree公司推出的Pencil筆（售價60美元以上），它的造型讓人聯想起木工鉛筆，胡桃木加鉛筆芯的搭配更強化了這種感覺。筆尖一端有一個軟軟的橡膠頭，用來在iPad顯示屏上寫字；筆端有另一個接觸點，模擬的是橡皮擦的功能。藉助一個藍牙4.0傳感器，它可以探測筆尖的壓力（通過軟件可以轉換成筆跡的粗細），也可以探測到你是在使用筆尖還是使用橡皮擦，同時也可以避免當你把手放在屏幕上時，出現不合時宜的塗鴉。

Writing with Pencil, it was apparent that I was using a digital tool. Instead of concentrating on what I was writing, I constantly found myself focusing on what I was writing with. How I positioned the tip of the stylus was a persistent thought because its soft material made the contact point change in shape as I wrote with it. My letters would blend together unnecessarily, not unlike the stereotype of a physician’s freehand, leaving me to decipher my own transcribed thoughts. Pencil makes for a superb sketching tool, but as a writing implement it left me wanting.

用這支筆寫字時，我明顯能感到自己是在用一款數碼工具在寫字。因此我關注的不是我在寫什麼，而是一直把注意力放在我的書寫工具上。我一直在想自己應該用什麼姿勢使用這支筆，因爲接觸點的軟質材料容易在書寫時變形。我的字跡會出現不必要的模糊，就像醫生開處方的草書一樣，有時候很難識別。Pencil筆可能是一支很好的畫畫工具，但是作爲書寫工具仍稍嫌不足。

The Cosmonaut by Studio Neat ($25) was recommended to me by a reader. This stylus was thick like the Pencil but was cylindrical, designed to replicate the feel of a dry erase marker. The Cosmonaut is far simpler than its peers because it lacks internal electronics and dedicated software, instead relying on a device’s capacitive screen for interaction. The rubber tip of the stylus is firm and made for a consistent contact point on the iPad’s screen. Despite the tool’s girth, I felt like I had more control over my handwriting than the Pencil—I could indeed read my own handwriting. Unfortunately, it stops there: because the stylus lacks its own software, it offers little in the way of pressure detection or quick-erase smarts.

Studio Neat公司推出的Cosmonaut筆（售價25美元）是一位讀者給我推薦的。這支筆的粗細跟Pencil差不多，但它是圓柱型的，使用時感覺像是一支白板筆。Cosmonaut要比其它電容筆簡單多了，因爲它沒有複雜的內部結構和專用軟件，而是依靠設備的電容屏進行交互。它的橡膠筆尖較硬，而且與iPad屏幕的接觸點比較一致。儘管這支筆還是比較粗，但我覺得我對字跡的控制要好於Pencil——至少我能看懂自己寫了些什麼。可惜它的好處也就止於此處，由於這支筆缺乏自有軟件，它既沒有壓力探測功能，也沒有迅速刪除功能。

Is simple better for a stylus? I walked out of a Best Buy with a slim model made by Targus ($9) to find out. The implement has a soft rubber nib on one end and most closely resembles the shape and size of a traditional pen. Like the Cosmonaut, the Targus stylus lacks internal components or accompanying software. Unlike the Cosmonaut (but quite like the Pencil), it was a complete distraction during use. It quickly became clear to me that this stylus was better suited to acute tasks, such as selecting icons or buttons in an interface, rather than free-form writing.

對於電容筆來說，是否簡單纔是更好的？我在百思買（Best Buy）買了一支Targus公司生產的一支較修長的電容筆（售價9美元）。這支筆有一個較軟的橡膠筆尖，形狀和大小都像傳統鉛筆的筆尖。像Cosmonaut一樣，它也沒有內部元件或專用軟件。不同之處在於（這一點跟Pencil比較像），它在使用的時候非常容易讓人分心。它很快使我意識到，這支筆比較適合應急，比如選擇圖標或者按鈕什麼的，而不是自由書寫。

To the other end of the price spectrum, then. The Adonit Jot Touch ($120) was by far the most expensive stylus I tested, and like most of the models I used, it had a thicker profile, akin to a full-size Sharpie (but with two buttons where your thumb might rest). Like the Pencil, the Jot Touch uses software to facilitate interaction with an iPad. The two buttons can be assigned actions, depending on your composition app of preference; during my testing, I set the bottom one as an “Undo” action and the top one as a “Redo.” (What can I say, I’m an indecisive writer.) Though the Jot Touch’s body is thicker than a traditional pen, its “Pixelpoint” tip isn’t, and I found it suitable for writing at length.

再說說高端產品。賣價120美元的Adonit Jot Touch是目前爲止我測試過的最貴的一支電容筆。另外和大多數我測試的其它產品一樣，它的“三圍”也比較豐滿，有點像一支大號的Sharpie牌簽字筆，它有兩個按鈕，你可以把拇指方在上面。像Pencil一樣，這支筆通過軟件來促進與iPad的交互。根據你的偏好，這兩個按鈕可以進行指定的操作。在我的評測過程中，我把下面那個按鈕設置爲“撤消”功能，把上面那個按鈕設置爲“恢復”功能（沒辦法，我寫作時愛猶豫）。雖然這支電容筆比傳統鋼筆要粗上一圈，但它的“像素點”端卻沒那麼粗，而且我發現它很適合長時間寫作。

The world of styluses is surprisingly large, and I in no way claim to have tested every size, shape, or type available on the market. (In Best Buy alone, there was a four-foot section of them.) I evaluated the implements above on the advice of readers and personal research, using the Noteshelf app as my digital paper of choice. (Which, I should note, explicitly supports the Pencil and Jot Touch.)

電容筆已經成了一個大得驚人的產業，而且我也絕不敢聲稱我把市面上的每一種規格、型號、外觀的電容筆都測試了。（光是在百思買超市裏，就有四英尺長的一排貨架是賣電容筆的。）我根據讀者的建議和個人的搜索評測了上述幾款產品，搭配的書寫應用軟件是Noteshelf。（務必要指出的是，它對Pencil和Jot Touch支持得特別好。）

After a week of staring at my embarrassing penmanship—at times laughing at the fact that it could actually get worse than what’s already become of it in this keyboard-first world we live in—I came to an obvious conclusion. The Jot Touch, with help from Noteshelf, is the iPad stylus that best replicates the pen and paper experience so many covet.

我連續看了一個星期我那令人尷尬的書法，好幾次苦笑着承認一個事實：在這個以鍵盤爲主的世界，我們的字只會寫得越來越難看。在這之後，我得出了一個明顯的結論：Jot Touch電容筆在NoteShelf軟件的配合下，可以說是在iPad上模擬傳統紙筆體驗最出色的電容筆。

But a facsimile is not the real thing. If you’re looking for an intimate, creative, even romantic way to put pen to paper—well, you know what to do. Let the mind wander. Doodle in the margins. There’s a time to be efficient. This isn’t it.

但模擬得再像，畢竟也不是真的。如果你想要一種放鬆的、創造性的甚至是有格調的書寫體驗——你知道該怎麼做。讓思想遊蕩，讓筆尖在白紙上塗鴉。有些時候我們必須追求效率，但是寫作不能這樣。