Review: Adonit Note+ Stylus for iPads (2018 and newer)

Adonit Note+ or Note Plus is the new and improved model over the Adonit Note which was released a few months ago.

The main difference between Note+ and Note is the Note+ now supports pressure and tilt sensitivity, that's in addition to palm rejection which is supported by both styluses.

This stylus supports iPads released in 2018 and newer models. At the time of this review, these are the compatible models:

• iPad Pro 11 and 12.9 (2018)
• iPad Mini 5
• iPad Air 3
• iPad 6 & 7

This stylus does not support tablets from other manufacturers.

To give you the quick review, Adonit Note+ is an excellent stylus for writing but the drawing performance could be better.

The matte textured tip provides friction when writing on glass. If you draw on a matte screen protector, you'll get a nice tactile feeling. The tip is replaceable but no replacement tips are included so you have to buy them separately.

There are two shortcut buttons on the side. The one closer to the tip doubles as the power button.

Battery life is rated at 10 hours and you can charge it from the back using the USB-C port.

The stylus can still be used while it's charging but the included cable is a bit too short to let you write and charge at the same time.

Unlike Apple Pencil which is automatically recognised by all apps on the iPad, the Adonit Note+ has to be paired with each app you use if you want to access all its features.

Technically speaking, you can still use Adonit Note+ even if you don't pair the stylus with any apps. In that scenario, you can still write or draw, but you won't have access to the shortcut buttons, pressure and tilt sensitivity.

And it's important to disconnect Apple Pencil from your iPad before you pair Adonit Note+. If the Apple Pencil is not disconnected, the apps will have problems detecting and recognising which stylus to use.

You can check out the list of compatible drawing and note taking apps on Adonit's website. At the time of this review, Procreate is not supported yet.

The compatible apps may support some or all of the stylus features. E.g. Some apps may support tilt, some do not. Some will allow you to customise the two shortcut buttons, some will not.

The main issue I have with Medibang Paint is the animation of the lines appear to be choppy. It's like 20FPS or 30FPS type choppy. Oh, and the lines taper to thick instead of thin ends. The way the lines appear is different from what I expect which is to have tapering ends as you minimise pressure as you lift the pens.

In Medibang Paint settings, there's the option to turn on Palm Rejection. Some apps have this option too. When Palm Rejection is turned on, the tablet only recognised the pen. Finger gestures, such as to pan, zoom, and tilt, will not work. There's actually no need to turn on Palm Rejection on supported apps because they already do a good job with default palm rejection.

On apps that do not support palm rejection, eg apps that don't recognise the stylus, palm rejection don't work as well so you can expect stray strokes occasionally.

ArtStudio Pro

ArtStudio Pro

Lines don't taper to thin with ArtStudio Pro as well. With ArtStudio Pro, there's the option to adjust the pressure curve but even so, it's still difficult to get those lines to taper gradually.

If you use an app that doesn't not support the stylus, you will still be able to draw or write, but you won't have access to the shortcut buttons, pressure and tilt sensitivity.

This app is ColoredPencil and it works well. Tilt works as expected.

With ColoredPencil, the only shortcuts you can assign to the side buttons are Redo and Undo. Other apps have more options to choose from, but some apps don't even support those buttons.

Adonit Note+ is very accurate. There are no misalignment issues so the line is always directly beneath the pen tip regardless of how the stylus is held.

NoteShelf for note taking performs really well with the stylus. It was able to capture my handwriting very accurately.

ZoomNotes works fine but...

There seems to be this bug that introduces jitter to letters already written. This happens when I press the shortcut button to undo or to erase. Suddenly all the letters will have jitter and the lines no longer look smooth.

To check out the full list of note taking apps that support this stylus, just visit https://www.adonit.net/jot-ready-apps/

Conclusion

Adonit Note+ is an excellent stylus for taking notes. It has no misalignment issues so it's really accurate. This is a stylus I can recommend easily to those who write a lot.

If you write a lot and want to save some money, consider the Adonit Note if you don't need pressure sensitivity.

If you're looking for a stylus to draw with, I still recommend Apple Pencil because its drawing performance in paralleled on the iPad. It's more expensive but you get what you pay for. But for writing, you can go with Adonit Note or Note+, both are excellent for taking notes.

Availability

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