Logitech’s Pen is a sturdy stylus made for Chromebooks within the classroom

Logitech has introduced a brand new stylus referred to as Pen, and it’s geared toward being the best choice out there for school rooms filled with Chromebooks. Unlike many rubber-tipped styli, the Pen is an lively stylus that helps the Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) normal, successfully guaranteeing one factor: it’ll work out of the field on a lot of current Chromebooks — no pairing required.

If a Chromebook is talked about on this list, the Pen will work with it. Logitech says that extra Chromebook producers have been transferring ahead with the USI normal, so count on to see extra fashions added to it.

The Pen can recharge by way of a USB-C port positioned the place you’d discover the eraser on a conventional pencil, and Logitech says it could possibly final for as much as 15 days of normal faculty use, although that declare assumes your scholar is utilizing it for about 2.5 hours a day with its good sleep and wake function enabled. If it dies, Logitech claims {that a} 30-second cost can yield half-hour of use, and it may be used whereas recharging.

Logitech’s Pen isn’t a consumer-facing machine, so don’t anticipate finding it in shops. Instead, it’s only for training, and IT managers in your districts will be capable of inquire by means of Logitech’s website and different training tech resellers about orders beginning in the present day, with delivery kicking off in April 2022. Logitech shared that every Pen prices $64.99, but it surely isn’t permitting piecemeal purchases but. You’ll have to position a bigger order.

It’s true that Logitech isn’t the primary firm to launch a USI-compatible stylus, neither is its Pen essentially the most inexpensive or essentially the most succesful. Lenovo’s $34.99 USI Pen that’s out there for buy right here, simply to call one instance of many, gives the identical 4,096 ranges of stress and assist for the USI normal. But Logitech’s angle for the Pen is to be extra of a staple for the classroom with its design. Its yellow splashes of colour are supposed to be paying homage to a pencil, and there’s even a Pen loop that may be adhered to the lid of a Chromebook show for straightforward storage. The Pen contains a silicon grip to make holding it really feel snug.

We had an opportunity to check the Pen on an Acer Chromebook Spin 713, a higher-end Chromebook that’s suitable with the USI normal. The Pen labored very equally to the Penoval USI stylus when it comes to lag and writing dynamics and its bigger, triangle-shaped design is likely to be simpler for youthful arms to grip. It lacks any buttons and even an eraser tip on the highest, which is suitable with some, however not all, USI Chromebooks. It’s clear Logitech prioritized simplicity over an abundance of options right here.

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Logitech says the Pen meets the MIL-STD-810G spec for sturdiness and is ready to survive as much as four-foot drops. It’s additionally spill-resistant. Additionally, Logitech constructed its Pen tip in such a manner that college students who fidget shouldn’t simply be capable of pull it out (although it may be eliminated with needle-nosed pliers). Logitech is backing every stylus with a three-year guarantee.

Given that a number of different USI-supporting styli are broadly out there to customers, it’d be nice if Logitech made this one out there to extra than simply educators. The firm didn’t even trace at an eventual widening of its availability. Though, maybe that may change as soon as it launches in April 2022.