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| Your results will vary, guaranteed |
Sad to say, I couldn't be less impressed with this $30 package that looks great, but performs terribly on all accounts.
First of all, the ColorStudio App (which is free to download and audition sans-stylus, but unlocks the full potential once purchasing the proprietary peripheral) is lackluster in its responsiveness. Though it has a wealth of cute, animated "pages" to color with digital representations of colored pencils, crayons, markers, and paints, there is a significant delay between placing the stylus (or finger) onto the page and lines being drawn by the app itself. Color is always playing catch-up with your movements and the lack of smoothness in line drawing/coloring makes the program feel as accurate as if you were painting with a mouse. I realize that children may not have the greatest accuracy when it comes to coloring, but the ColorStudio App almost accentuates the lack of fine motor control from developing toddler hands.
To compensate, the App defaults (and for the life of me, I can't figure out how to turn it off) to making it impossible to color outside of the lines. Of course, part of developing fine motor skills, as well as exploring creativity is the ability to learn how to color within the lines, as well as feeling the freedom to do the opposite. The excessive restrictiveness in this area not only hampers development of important skills, but also further disconnects coloring on the iPad from the real thing.
The stylus, for me, is the biggest disappointment in the whole ColorStudio HD package. Promotional shots have the stylus looking sleek, metallic, and dare I say, adult. In hand, however it is black and chrome plastic that feels like a toy requiring sensitive handling. The plastic cap, in addition to not being able to place it on the back of the marker, ala, a true Crayola marker, is also easily misplaced and a potential choking hazard. Be certain to know where this piece is at all time when using it with littler children.
In use, the stylus is battery-powered which is so the stylus can work with the ColorStudio App and differentiate between finger movements and stylus movements. It works fairly well when using the App - kids can rest their hands on the iPad without the App mistaking hand-resting for pen movement. But the amount of pressure required for the app to recognize the stylus is a little more than should be desired for a product designed for children's use. Again, that in itself isn't a deal-breaker, but it definitely should cause some hesitation between plunking down $30 for the experience.
The tip of the stylus is rubber, as opposed to capacitive foam. This is good for protection of the iPad screen from overzealous toddlers stabbing at the screen with their Crayola, but bad in all other aspects. Pen movement doesn't feel natural across the screen, and the rubber is partially the reason why the stylus has to be pushed down in order to have the signal recognized.
Most disappoint for me, though, is that because of the design, the stylus can only be used with the ColorStudio App and can not double as a stylus for every day navigation or note taking. The battery powered aspect of the stylus is such that it simulates capacitive touch but in such a way that it is turned on and off rapidly (you can actually hear the humming from this action when the pen is turned on). So when attempting to navigate or take notes with the Crayloa stylus, the iPad only registers the touch for a moment before it loses it again. So drawing a line across the screen in Penultimate results in something that looks like Morse Code, and attempting to navigate the iPad with a stylus means constantly losing momentum. This aspect alone makes the ColorStudio HD app and stylus a deal-breaker for me.
My opinion? Spend $30 on real Crayolas and coloring books.
