As the name implies, the Universal Stylus Initiative, or USI, is looking to make PC pen tech more “universal”. Our first experience the HP’s USI stylus that works with Chromebooks equipped with USI tech in the digitizer was, well, less-than-favorable. Because our pen was an early pre-production review unit, we’ve saved our final judgment on USI for when more variations are made available from retailers. That said, it looks like Lenovo will soon launch its USI Pen that will be compatible with the Duet Chromebook, Flex 5, and Chromebook 10e along with USI-compatible devices from other OEMs.
Redditor crakb to the interwebs this morning to share his findings that the Lenovo USI Pen had recently passed through FCC certification. The stylus was submitted to the FCC on May 17th which means that Lenovo could have the pen available at any point if all looks good to the FCC and supply chains are in place. We won’t know until its launch how the USI stylus will be priced but the FCC listing reveals a replaceable AAAA battery which could mean that Lenovo’s pen could come in a bit cheaper than HP’s recently launched $70 USI stylus.
Lenovo’s new pen is carrying the model number SPEN-USI-02 and is manufactured by the white-label stylus maker Sunwoda. The company is listed on the USI website as one of a few ODMs that will be producing styli for brand name manufacturers. There isn’t anything too flashy about Lenovo’s new USI Pen but looking closely at the test photos it does appear the stylus “nib” or tip is a bit wider than the HP stylus. It does feature pressure sensitivity and all the standards that come along with the USI branding but I’m anxious to see if the fatter pen tip detracts from the natural writing experience. We’ll reach out to Lenovo to see if there is an official release date for the pen but I suspect that it will just show up when it shows up. At that point, we’ll get our hands on one and bring you our thoughts on the USI stylus.
