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adonit INK stylus review colour options available windows touchscreen silver black blue

Review: Adonit INK Stylus

Anyone with a touchscreen 2-in-1 tablet will be familiar with how useful a good stylus is and how annoying it is to have to find a replacement or spare.

Lucky for us this is where Adonit steps in with INK, their latest Microsoft certified stylus. Lightweight, rechargeable and pressure sensitive without skimping on design and available for a very reasonable price.

So is the Adonit INK the stylus you’ve been looking for?

adonit INK stylus review colour options available windows touchscreen silver black blue
The INK is available in 3 stylish colour options.

Adonit INK Specs

  • 1mm fine point tip (replaceable)

  • Pressure sensitive

  • Palm rejection

  • Windows compatible

  • Rechargeable battery (up to 80 hours battery life)

  • Shortcut buttons (erase & right-click)

In The Box

The Adonit INK stylus comes with an instruction manual and a USB charging cable. You also get a 1-year limited warranty for the stylus.

adonit stylys INK review box contents midnight blue stylus USB charging cable instructions windows touchscreen
In the box; stylus, instructions and USB recharging cable. This one is the Midnight Blue colour option.

Look & Feel

The Adonit INK comes in three attractive colour options; black, silver and midnight blue. The midnight blue in the promotional images reads more like a royal blue to me, but it’s actually more of a dark blue with a light metallic sheen finish.

This stylus is very light and slimline. It weighs 12 grams, which is a lot lighter than many standard styluses. The diameter is slender 9.2mm. The metal has a sturdy, quality feel to it with no problems with metal allergies for me so far. This is always nice.

adonit INK stylus windows review touchscreen midnight blue green light stylus on
Quality feel and lightweight with nice design touches. When you turn on the INK a green light flashes to confirm it is working and charged.

Performance

There were no issues with connection, I turned the stylus on and was immediately able to use it with my device. I tried writing with the INK in a few different apps with varying results. OneNote behaved beautifully with the stylus. Wacom’s Bamboo Paper app, on the other hand, produced the occasional unwanted artifacts such as drips and loops.

When taking the INK into painting programs, I noticed how high the sensitivity of this stylus is set. You can accommodate for this, however, by changing the input sensitivity settings in most painting programs. I struggled to get more than 2 line weights with this stylus, even with changing settings. The tasks I found this most useful for in digital art were flat washes and sturdy outlines.

The shortcut buttons work well in most apps and programs I tried with the INK. I was able to prod, click, drag, write and paint with no lag issues. The pointer was always where I needed it to be.

adonit INK stylus review test krita pressure digital art line weight windows touchscreen
Stylus test in Krita with my stylus on the left and INK on the right. Note I have not adjusted any stylus sensitivity settings for this test. This shows that you need to adjust to get varying line weights with INK.

 

adonit INK stylus review windows touchscreen wacom bamboo paper app writing test
Writing test in Bamboo. The top line is written with the INK and the bottom line was my own stylus.

Battery Life

The Adonit INK comes precharged, so it’s ready to go straight from the box. You should get up to 80 hours battery life on one charge.

To turn the stylus on, simply hold down the button nearest to the nib for a few seconds. The INK switches itself off if you don’t use it after about 20 minutes. However, you can switch it off yourself manually by holding down both buttons at the same time. Personally, I find this double push awkward so I’m grateful for the auto shut off function.

The battery is easily recharged using the USB cable that came in the box taking a mere 45 minutes to reach full charge.

adonit INK stylus review recharging USB cable midnight blue windows tablet 2-in1 touchsreen
INK charges in 45 minutes via the included USB cable and your computer.

More Information

INK was designed to work with Windows-powered tablets and 2-in-1 devices including the Surface range. You can visit the Adonit support page to check if your device is compatible with the INK.

The Adonit INK retails for £44.49. You can buy directly from Amazon with free Prime UK delivery.

Verdict

I enjoyed using the INK a lot. It a high-quality finish, is comfortable to use, light and works great for writing notes. With OneNote, I found my handwriting looked more natural with the INK.

For artwork, I see this as an addition to my tools rather than a replacement. It is possible to make entire artworks with the INK, such as the bear design featured below. As far as creating art, this stylus works best in art programs with adjustable pressure settings.

The INK is great value for money, it is beautifully designed, but a little heavy on the sensitivity side.

adonit INK stylus review digital art painting drawing bear love windows tablet 2-in-1
Bear pun design created using the Adonit INK stylus in Krita.

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