Should a universal active stylus work on Tab A8 T290 (without S pen support)?

[Bianval]

In this video review, the guy says (at 3:18) this tablet DOES NOT support an "active pen". I hope he is mistaken and just means it doesn't support specifically the "S pen". Should a universal active pen work with the Tab A8 T290? I think of buying the pen below, the manufacturer says it should work on any touch screen. The problem is that, if it doesn't work, I won't be able to return, I am in Italy and will send it to my niece in Brazil... so I have to make sure. Thanks if you can help!

PS.: Since I'm a new poster, links are blocked to prevent spam. Please, substitute (dot) for "."

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 SM-T290 Review: How Good Is It?
youtu (dot) be/9y-jXjp7IdA?t=198

AICase Active Stylus Pen, Penna Capacitiva Attiva Universale per Qualsiasi Touch Screen
amazon (dot) it/dp/B07KK7HJ8Q/?coliid=INIFVRM8I32TF&colid=3EWJ1C2WID35A&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

[optimummind]

"Active" pens, which are battery powered, work with devices that have a digitizer layer on the display. The non-S pen model Tab A won't support those pens.

Instead, you can use the universal non-battery or battery-powered capacitive stylus or pens, like these ones:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N1BRWLA

Or

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LG7DHXL

I already tried the first one but the experience wasn't good enough for me. The second one is arriving next week & I'm hoping it'll be better.

 

[Bianval]

Coincidently, I already have exactly the first cheaper Meko. I had bought it in order to save money and use it on my Windows Surface 3, it didn't work... I can in fact write a whole sentence with a lot of pain, but not really usable. The bigger soft tip is always responsive, but not nice for note taking. In the end, I had to spend more money and buy the Surface pen (which is very good). I've also tried the cheap Meko on an iPad, it works better, but not really good enough for note taking. I haven't tried it on an Android device, though.

Please let me know if the Meko with the battery works better.

Thanks for your answer.

 

[optimummind]

Coincidently, I already have exactly the first cheaper Meko. I had bought it in order to save money and use it on my Windows Surface 3, it didn't work... I can in fact write a whole sentence with a lot of pain, but not really usable. The bigger soft tip is always responsive, but not nice for note taking. In the end, I had to spend more money and buy the Surface pen (which is very good). I've also tried the cheap Meko on an iPad, it works better, but not really good enough for note taking. I haven't tried it on an Android device, though.



Please let me know if the Meko with the battery works better.



Thanks for your answer.

Unfortunately, and against my expectation, the battery-powered Meko pen performed worse! [emoji34] Instead of smooth lines, it was just dots everywhere.

On my iPad, though, it worked flawlessly.

I ended up returning both of the Meko pens.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Bianval]

Unfortunately, and against my expectation, the battery-powered Meko pen performed worse! [emoji34] Instead of smooth lines, it was just dots everywhere.

On my iPad, though, it worked flawlessly.

I ended up returning both of the Meko pens.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

So you mean the battery-powered Meko worked well on your iPad but not on your other device? Which one is it? Would it be Samsung Tab A8?
I guess it's a matter of luck, these styluses respond differently depending on the device.

I've been testing again the cheaper Meko Stylus (with no battery). These are the devices I've tried:
Surface 3 - very bad, not usable. 1 star.
iPad 4 - it could be used, but very painfully, not practical. 2 stars.
iPad 6 (2018) - very good, not great. It is usable to take important notes, like school notes. 4 stars.
Huawei P20 pro - very similar to iPad 6, responds very well. 4 stars.
Cheap Android phone (Leagoo) - very bad, 1 star.

I'm thinking of trying my luck on that "AICase Active Stylus Pen" (the one I put the link before, you can find in Amazon Italy)... it's an active stylus for 25 euros with a glove to rest the palm on the screen.

Thanks for you answer.... and please let me know if you find some good stylus for Samsung Tab A8 T290.

 

[optimummind]

So you mean the battery-powered Meko worked well on your iPad but not on your other device? Which one is it? Would it be Samsung Tab A8?

I guess it's a matter of luck, these styluses respond differently depending on the device.



I've been testing again the cheaper Meko Stylus (with no battery). These are the devices I've tried:

Surface 3 - very bad, not usable. 1 star.

iPad 4 - it could be used, but very painfully, not practical. 2 stars.

iPad 6 (2018) - very good, not great. It is usable to take important notes, like school notes. 4 stars.

Huawei P20 pro - very similar to iPad 6, responds very well. 4 stars.

Cheap Android phone (Leagoo) - very bad, 1 star.



I'm thinking of trying my luck on that "AICase Active Stylus Pen" (the one I put the link before, you can find in Amazon Italy)... it's an active stylus for 25 euros with a glove to rest the palm on the screen.



Thanks for you answer.... and please let me know if you find some good stylus for Samsung Tab A8 T290.

On my iPad, both of the Meko pens worked well - 4/5 for the disc-based one, and 5/5 for the battery one.

On my Tab A, the disc one worked better than the battery one - 3 vs 1.

I found this pen on Amazon for the Tab A that has good reviews:

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 Wi-Fi Stylus Pen, BoxWave [AccuPoint Active Stylus] Electronic Stylus with Ultra Fine Tip for Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 Wi-Fi - Metallic Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PGLKXM7/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_KO4QEbQCKCTMR

Didn't pull the trigger yet.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

[lewmur]

On my iPad, both of the Meko pens worked well - 4/5 for the disc-based one, and 5/5 for the battery one.

On my Tab A, the disc one worked better than the battery one - 3 vs 1.

I found this pen on Amazon for the Tab A that has good reviews:

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 Wi-Fi Stylus Pen, BoxWave [AccuPoint Active Stylus] Electronic Stylus with Ultra Fine Tip for Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 Wi-Fi - Metallic Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PGLKXM7/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_KO4QEbQCKCTMR

Didn't pull the trigger yet.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

I was about to state that ALL "active stylii" require a second digitizer to work but apparently that isn't totally true. I bought a BoxWave stylus to use with my HP Envy X360 laptop, and just to verify that it wouldn't work without the second digitizer, like the ones for the S-Pen, I tried it with my T510. I have never used a stylus for drawing, so I don't know if it works as well as an S-Pen for that, but it DOES work and it DOES produce a "ballpoint pen" type line. Their "MSRP" is fairly high, but if you shop around, you can get one fairly cheap. I got mine in eBay for about $20. New with free shipping.

 

[Bianval]

My "AICase Active Stylus" (from Amazon Italy) just arrived. It works very well, except that the glove that comes with it is useless, you can still use your finger to write with the glove on. I'm struggling to find some material that I can use to rest my palm... It's very uncomfortable to write without being able to rest your palm on the screen.
I would say it's a bit better than the passive Meko Stylus, especially for the iPad 4, which has an older screen. It has a metal tip, so you should have a screen protector to prevent scratches.

I've tried on these devices:
Surface 3 - doesn't work, it makes a few lines, but not good at all.
iPad 4 - works well enough
iPad 6 - very good, works a bit better than on the iPad 4
Huawei P20 pro - works similarly to iPad 6

I still haven't tried on a Samsung tablet.