JustMobile's ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ; $20), a collaboration between Tools Design and JustMobile, combines the aesthetic of a charcoal stick with that of a pencil to produce a solid, squat, hexagonal, aluminum stylus. The pen feels natural in your hand, thanks to its shape, and the relative weightlessness of the aluminum keeps it from dragging while you sketch. It feels like a natural extension of your hand--without those pesky fingers to get in the way.

The AluPen is one of the many silicon-rubber-nib styluses I looked at. These rubber nibs feel similar to the rubber on a baby bottle, and the material glides over a touchscreen much more smoothly than a foam-tipped stylus, providing resistance only when pressure or weight is applied. This is both an advantage and disadvantage. On one hand, the lack of resistance gives an experienced artist more freedom to make bold lines; on the other, those without wrist control may find themselves unable to make steady strokes on the screen. Which is better comes down to personal preference.

The AluPen allows you to grip the pen towards its end without losing any precision, thanks to its the thick diameter and shape. While it doesn't achieve the same level of smoothness when writing as a weightier rubber-nib stylus (such as the Hard Candy StylusPen, below), the AluPen is still a great general-purpose art tool; using it, I was easily able to switch between sketching and lettering a comic panel.

The AluPen is primarily designed as an stylus; trying to use it as a navigational aid on the iPad feels silly and a little bit clumsy, and using it on the iPhone is nigh-impossible. That said, you could probably get away with using it for screen tapping now and then, but it's not the stylus I would recommend for primary navigation.

Available in a variety of colors (, , , , , and ), the AluPen achieves the right amount of balance and fit for both virtual sketching and writing, though its size makes it a tad too bulky for basic navigation.