Balance is nice, writing tip doesn’t squish too much, the size of the stylus is very comfortable, and the button has indicator lights so we know when things are working. Connecting the Pogo Connect to the iPad’s Bluetooth is not done through the Settings app. Instead, each app is told to look for the stylus independently. The list of supported apps is covering most of the big names in drawing and writing apps, see the list on Pogo’s site. Once app ‘sees’ the pen via Bluetooth, the app can respond to the level of pressure applied between the stylus and iPad.

The system is pretty efficient, allowing a single AAA battery to last longer than most of the rechargeable options. The tip has a fun feature, remove/replace just it quickly, being held on with a small magnet.

For apps, there is even one that will locate the stylus with a ‘radar’ like screen. We found we just left the pen on all the time since it connected to an app on it’s own upon launch where the app had previously been told about it.

Like we mentioned above, the stylus feels comfortable in the hand. Some of us had issues with holding right where the on/off button causing occasional power downs happening… again, lucky the re-connect is quick. The only real negative is that we are finding it difficult to find pressure sensitive interaction with app being needed. The app, Paper by 53, supports the Pogo Connect. But, the app also supports line thickness based on speed of the drawing instrument so we didn’t find it did anything more than we had. What we would love to have is the button being programmable. Some of the electronic styluses allow the button to be a ‘undo’, we would prefer it was able to bring up a drawing app’s color picker.

With this in mind, many coworkers have been using Kindle Fires and Nexus7 devices. They are small enough to carry like a small paper notepad and give the ability to get to our information no matter where we are in the buildings. While portable, meaning easy to carry and quick to use, they do not have many apps that cross over to our office work software. This means there is usually an extra step or files need to be translated in/out of apps.

All of this to say, we are excited to give the iPad Mini a try. We aren’t all in with the full staff grabbing up ‘mini’ happiness, many people that do their presentations and meeting notes on their iPads still feel they need the larger screen. Interactive magazines that are so nice to read on the iPad 2 and 3 will be one of our first tests as the assumption is we will need to zoom in/out  due to the smaller text on the mini sized screen.

Right after the Apple presentation, much of the water cooler chatter was around what people would like to try on a Mini and what will be must haves. Apple announced and released a new iBooks which claims it’s strong point is cloud storage of our eBooks and PDFs to allow easier sharing across our devices. Non of us are particularly excited about the ‘endless’ scrolling pages feature, but the sharing of eBooks and clips from eBooks will make the app an early install to keep access to research materials effortless.

Protection has proven a must for many of the mini tablet users. The smaller size means they have a tendency to get held by pinching between two finger and they seem to twist out of our grip when carried stacked on other devices or notepads. This area is completely to a person’s taste. The smaller size means they look very natural as a paper notebook when those style wrappers are chosen. For the serious user that is always on the go, OtterBox is showing three color options in a Mini sized Defender Series Case. These are the cases purchasing gets for those folks that have a tendency to drop or bump their devices. One of the team let us know that they got a email coupon to get a few bucks off if your looking to pick up this level of protection – 5% off orders of $50 or more use CODE: AM2012! Offer Expires 10.31.

Next up is which apps lend themselves to the screen size. The hardware size equals portable, but does the screen size mean a person is always having to make adjustments to how they interact with it?

We use a lot of different handwriting and sketching apps on our iPads. Three that will get tested right away is Penultimate, Note Taker HD, Paper and SketchBook. These are the apps that we use every day to hand write notes, sketch ideas and draw concepts. We would assume that the smaller screen just makes the work area smaller. But, remember, the screen is not at the level of quality found on the larger new iPads. Successful handwriting requires the lines start right on screen touch, not skip and have smooth curves as your lines sweep around the loops of the letters. Interesting stylus tip we stumbled upon. The disc of the Adonit stylus hits the iPad screen with a solid tap that feels unlike a pen on paper yet draws very nicely. The pressure sensitive version of the Adonit and Jaja pens seems to create less noise in meetings as well feels more like the classic ink pen and paper pad.

Photo editing might be fun. The screen size of the Nexus7 has proven to work very well for touching up photos. The ‘full size’ iPad is almost bigger than it needs to be for minor photo edits. Perhaps, when using the more advanced apps like Laminar, Filterstorm or PSTouch, the small screen might require zooming in/out to get the fine tuning desired. When we talked about the edits done most often though, Snapseed and the new iPad Camera+ do just enough to become the defaults.

Apps that require entry areas can be ‘size’ challenged. These are list programs that we use for Task on projects. Usually there is areas to enter text, then the ability to drag/drop. Both that require a finger tap of some level of precision. Lists like Cloud Outliner or OmniOutliner and process flow diagrams in OmniGraffle. All three are apps being used quickly in meetings, usually with people watching and waiting. Not the time to tap and miss, moving the wrong item.

Our assumption is that the Apple Work apps will work perfectly. Keynote, Numbers and Pages work as described, files moving back and forth with our other Apple devices. This is ‘in part’ the reason many of the folks that have the Android small tablets are looking forward to trying the Mini iPad. Less thinking about moving files and everything feels similar between the tablet and notebook devices.

Now, for Photographers, is Photography Week. While shorter than other monthly Photography iPad Magazine offerings, it isn’t just a rehash of a blog’s recent posts. Instead, the publication carries in depth reviews as well as quick equipment highlights via hot spot photos. Everything your used to seeing in the high dollar digital magazine, just a bit shorter and updated every week.

Each week, a new issue of Photography Week is delivered to the library within the overall app (Newsstand). After selecting the cover to launch the magazine, swiping up on the lower ‘Open’ tab gives you access to the many areas of content as well as thumbnails of articles which can be selected for jumping directly to the content.

The photographs within Photography Week are at the level you expect from the years of reading similar print publications. Throughout are photographs to inspire, submitted photos, product photos and article example photographs.

Selecting ‘hot spot’ markers around the page results in pop over boxes of more detail. This may not work for other subject magazines, but for photography it works very well. You are still able to see the photo being discussed while reading about technique for photographing or tuning of the photo afterwards. It is a nice way that digital magazines like Photography Week can do a better job of delivering the message and content than possible in a print publication.

Swiping up on content pages can take you to another page below or open the content over the top of the original view. Within these area can be boxes of text on the same subject that can be swiped from side-to-side to view more. This is nice when the article is on subject A, and the lower area can be related products or techniques. Everything in Photography Week appears to be tied together nicely.

A different use of hot spotting content is the weekly hardware review. Selecting each of the outer circles changes the center display’s information. Better than just scrolling through a couple page article? We like it as it really is easier to follow the information provided when your not having to flip pages.

Generally, your iPad is connected to the Internet, so some features use that connection to pull in the latest data or insert updates. Below is Facebook and Twitter responses to a question that could change every time you view Photography Week.

If you like getting a ‘magazine’ style view of the latest news and reviews in the area of Photography, the free 5 week trial is worth the quick download. It will be interesting to watch how publications re-invent themselves to merge the just-in-time features of a blog yet have the feel of having a paper magazine in a person’s hands. Photography Week is producing a nice product which we can image will continue to changes as new ideas come out for the best ‘print’ experience in a iPad digital world.

The app on the iPad has been acceptable but not great. It was more like having Pinterest open in multiple browser tabs on the iPad. Now, the app has been completely updated for easier viewing, liking sharing and even a bit of ‘finding’. The Universal app is still Free, as is the service, but you will notice a very different experience between the iPad and iPhone.

Launching Pinterest has the same default Following your used to seeing on your desktop, now with three columns across and visual clues to the levels of likes and repins each image has had. Tap an image to have it zoom in full screen. Giving you the ability to ‘Repin’, ‘Like’, and Share out through Facebook, Twitter or an email. Now that Pinterest is not ‘invite only’ anymore, you can share with any friends for them to join the service.

Navigation through the Pinterest app is through the upper left corner pull out. Tap to expose the options to view the pins from those you follow, go to a Web Browser, Search for image information or jump to one of the scrolling list of pin categories. Interesting, on the iPad there is no photo upload option like on the iPhone version.

Use the small icon to the right of the Pinterest log to view a list of those that have ‘liked’ or ‘repined’ images you have shared. The results being viewed has changed since the last version, now you see the person’s logo rather than what the image was that they took action on.

Notice the close ‘x’ in the upper right corner of the screen now. As you make selections throughout the Pinterest app, it opens that as a new window over the top of the default Following window. Below, we had chosen Following to go back to it from a previously viewed category when actually we just needed to close the category results window. Not really what you would expect from a iPad interface, but still workable.

Choosing the Browse the Web option takes you to a Pinterest app built in browser that has additional options across the top bar.

We like the Pin It action of 2.0, which results in an overview of the available images on the Web page that you can choose to share.

Once you have a photo chosen, your taken to an improved ‘Pinning‘ window where it is now much easier to add text and categorize prior to sharing out to your friends and followers.

The folks that brought us the iPhone camera app have now released a iPad magazine (shows via the Newsstand). The magazine, Snap, is a free publication for more than just fans of Hipstamatic. The photos may be coming from the iPhone, but the content articles are full featured. This is not a ‘how to use Hipstamatic’ magazine, instead there is a mix of beauty and grit, which means it does carry a Adult Content warning when downloading.

With the exception of taping a title in the Table of Contents page to jump to the article, there is no interactivity in the magazine. Snap is a true page turner on the iPad. That is fine though, since the content of the articles and photographs is why we are reading, no need for movies or dynamic graphics when dealing with a world wrapped in a retro feel.

Full content articles are available throughout the Snap Magazine. This is not just a collection of interesting photos, everything has a reason as fresh content is provided cover to cover.

Throughout the Snap Magazine is Hipstamatic images from people’s iPhones. Each images gives credit to the person that submitted the photo and lists what settings they used to get the picture.

Clicking on the description circle above the image takes you to the iPad’s Safari browser, launching a page further explaining the lens/film combination used to capture the photograph. This is a nice feature to have in Snap since many times you wonder, “how did they take that picture?”… now we know.

Yesterday we got an update from Steve King out of Alameda California about his ‘Hand Stylus‘. Reading the name, the assumption would be that the stylus is some sort of finger thingy. Actually, he is providing a pen style stylus that appears to be physical feature rich. The knurled grip area takes us back to our drafting pencil days. The tips are replaceable by the user so that cuts down on the need to replace the whole pen if the tip goes soft. You may notice the clicker end of the stylus pen… yes, the tip is retractable so it is safe to carry in you pocket. Vital statistics: weight with pocket clip = 0.8 ounces; without pocket clip = 0.7 ounces. Length (from extended tip to top of plunger) = 133 mm or 5-3/16 inches. Width = 9.0 mm or 11/32 of an inch.

The Hand Stylus is being offered in many colors with a matte or gloss finish. Pictures can tell only part of the story, so we are looking forward to spending a day with these to see if they live up to the requirements of a true daily users. The distribution of the Hand Stylus is currently through a Kickstarter project… while it has 30 days left, it has been successfully funded multiple times over the asking amount. The project shows a July 2012 delivery date. We will try and contain ourselves waiting till then.

Many other print magazines available in the Newsstand iPad app are being assembled and distributed by PressRun. They have a slightly different interface but compatible features. Once you install the ‘free’ app, you can choose to purchase a single or yearly (auto renewed) subscription. Some come with free iPad content if you already subscribe to the print version and link the two together.

We were excited to see Stuff finally jump on board with iPad distribution. The content is in the digital tech area and fits nicely for the Wired/Fast Company subscribers. The navigation is slightly different between the two magazine publishing systems. For the PressRun’s version of Stuff, the navigation slider is at the top in a very slim line, better as a progress bar then to actually use to move through the magazine. Below the slider is quick links to the top areas of the magazine. Most are lists of content within them that contain hot spots to jump directly to articles.

Below, you can see the ‘+’ circles letting you know that there is an action that can happen by touching that area of the page. In this case, it changes the description text on the page, on other pages you will jump to another part of the magazine. The graphic showing the arrowed circle around an object will take you to the back side of the electronic device being shown. It’s a cool interaction that feels better than flipping to another page. We need to get a copy of this same magazine in print to see if all of the enhanced views are printed too or only in the iPad copy.

The interactive elements of Stuff continue with a magnifying glass for a full screen view of the art. That feature is more important for some images with fine detail. Below on the left is conversation bubbles between two individuals that you sweep through to see point/counterpoint discussion. In the lower right is a live stream feed from Twitter, which would only work when you are reading Stuff on an iPad connected to the internet. The content is available ‘offline’ but some of the interactive elements require being online.

In this article page instance, Stuff has several text areas to scroll through to read without flipping the page. As you can see at the bottom of the page, this is page 3 of 15 pages. The arrow down is letting you know the next page is below this one. Rather than having an endless scrolling up/down, after a few pages the arrow will be pointed to the right to move across to a new series of pages. It makes for less top level pages to sweep through.

If you have seen Stuff in the book store’s magazine rack, you may find it in Electronics of the ‘Men’s’ areas. If in the Men’s area it is because the shelf stocking person didn’t bother to read the cover or look inside, they jumped to a conclusion based on the cover art. Yes, Stuff usually has a lady model on the cover and yes that same model is inside, generally in a review area, but they always have more clothing than you will see on a news Web sites.

The only negative for us so far with moving our subscriptions to Stuff onto the iPad’s Newsstand is the Issues area. This being the first edition, there is two pages to view copies you have purchased or editions you may want to buy. What about after we read the issue, do we continue to loose that memory space on our iPad? If we can remove, it is just archived so we can redownload for later reference?

For a quick overview of what we are talking about when it comes to the UI, here is a page that is in all of the PressRun interactive magazines outlining the navigation and hot spot features. All pretty self explanatory, just different if your used to using the interface Wired/Fast Company uses.

If your new to iPad Newsstand magazines, the general complaint aren’t about the content or the content layout, rather with how long it takes to download the magazine copies. We took a comparable sized file and downloaded to our desktops as well downloaded through Dropbox to our iPads and it was faster. We do not know (yet) if the magazines are being pushed to our iPads via the publisher through Apple or Apple is storing/distributing. Either way, someone needs to review their speed-to-delivery before the negative press impacts future readers.

Imagine if those same people with knowledge of the past and vision of the future where to add the twist of SciFi. The Technology Review folks have brought together 12 authors in all different areas of technology to write those ‘near future’ SciFi. Those 12 stories, because they are mostly the next step to what technology we are using now really gets a person thinking.

The stories are available in formats to match your favorite reader… for us that would be iBooks on the iPad (nook, kindle also available). The iPad version is called TRSI.

Right out of the box, we found the weight to be similar to the rest of the Jot Stylus line, which puts it in the class of a nicer ink pen than the usual stylus. The rubber area is great for gripping when using the stylus end. The cap has a metal pocket clip which  worked well with thin shirt pockets as well pants/bag pockets. The Flip does not have a magnet in it like the Jot Pro does… similar to the regular Jot.

One end of the Jot Flip is flat with a threaded outer lip. This means the pocket clip cap will screw on to keep it from being lost.

The big mystery for us was what the ink pen was. Twist the barrel and out comes the writing pen. The pen is a very small ball point pen. It writes nicely on paper, even the artists in our group thought it was a nice pen. The Jot folks say that there is a ink cartridge replacement available for the Jot Flip… we have yet to figure out how you do that though. We had thought the tip was going to be a felt tip style from the pictures, but now we are happy with the ball point since there is less chance of a pocket/ink issue.

Unscrew the cap from over the iPad Stylus end and screw it on the other end where the ink pen is. The stylus is the famous Jot tip that is a clear disc around a small point. An app decides what the digital ink width is so the size of the stylus tip doesn’t matter. What does matter is your ability to see where your writing on your iPad screen. The Jot Flip stylus tip glides very smoothly over the screen surface. It has a solid on solid impact when you start to write, which is much different from the fabric or rubber tipped styluses you may have used.

A iPad app, News.Me is offering a similar experience around the news your friends… and other people too… say is worth reading. It bases it’s decision on what to show you via Twitter posts. When you tell News.Me your Twitter account, the (Free) offers you the option to chose which people you already follow and others to keep an eye on for interesting news.

Initially, when you launch News.Me, you are provided with a list of content/news that people you follow on Twitter have been reading. Sweep up/down to view more news headlines. You can also sweep across a post to get to the options of ‘muting’ the post (hide from all streams) or ‘Save for Later’ reading. ‘Save for Later’ is accessed through the bookmark icon in the upper corner of the screen. That same area offers a arrow to jump to the top of the news list, settings and refresh the feed.

The upper bar of faces is the people you chose to keep an eye on what they found interesting to read. You can sweep the images side to side to cycle through, then tap one to choose. The lower area of the News.Me page changes from your twitter steam of liked news to one particular person’s recommendations.

When choosing to view an article, News.Me allows it to appear as the text does on the Web site it is pulled from or cleaned up to just the text uniformly laid out. If the content is interesting enough to share, the page also offers a variety of social share and viewing via a pull down. A great way of telling other people that don’t have News.Me on their iPads that you found a article worth reading… if they had the app, you wouldn’t have to!