Strictly speaking, and in my humble opinion, no you don't. Presuming you are equipped with a Mk1 finger, you should get along just fine for the majority of iPad tasks. For those odd occasions, or if you're artistic for example, a stylus may help you get more out of your iPad experience.
Once you've decided you either want or need a stylus, the next question is what sort to buy? There are many different models out there, the vast majority of which fall into two broad categories: standard or fine-point.
By far the largest group is the standard capacitive stylus. These tend to have reasonably large rubber or fabric tips and are perfectly good for most stylus-related tasks. There are fewer fine-point styluses on the market, and where they do exist they tend to be much more expensive however, a fine-point stylus can give a more precise result than either a standard stylus or Mk1 finger in the right circumstances.
Regarding prices, standard capacitive styluses run from a couple of pounds upwards, whereas fine-point styluses tend to start around the fifteen pounds mark, prices increasing dependant upon what sort of extra functionality (bluetooth connectivity, pressure sensitivity, etc) is built in; my personal favourite is the Adonit Jot Pro, more on that later.
OK, so how do you decide which of the myriad styluses to buy? The easiest decision is between standard or fine-point, and unless you particularly require precision, a standard stylus will almost certainly fit the bill, and won't hurt the wallet too much either. Should you have decided a fine-point stylus is the one for you, you'll need to decide if bluetooth connectivity or pressure sensitivity are of importance to you. If you're an artist they may be, if not you'll probably get along just as well with something like the Jot Pro or its baby brother, the Jot Mini. A Jot Pro will run you somewhere around the £20 mark, with a Jot Mini coming in around £15 if you shop around, though if you want bluetooth connectivity and pressure sensitivity be prepared to stump up close to £50 for a Jot Touch 4 stylus.
My personal favourite of the three is the Jot Pro, probably because that's the one I've got, though this choice was based on a fair amount of research prior to handing over my hard-earned. I intend writing a separate review (with pictures) of the Jot Touch at a later date, for now I'll just run you through the basics.
The first thing that struck me was the aluminium barrel, in my case finished in a gunmetal shade, which to be has a hint of brown about it. Pleasantly weighty, the Jot Pro has a rubberised grip section so it remains snugly where you want it to be, which can be a blessing if you're working on something with particularly fine detail. The business end, more on that in a moment, is protected with a screw-on cap that threads onto the other end when the stylus is in use; no more lost caps.
The business end is the interesting bit. In order to work with the iPad’s capacitive screen, the business end of the Jot Pro features a small metal ball seated in a little clear plastic disc; it apparently needs this surface area in order for the screen to recognise it's there. The clear plastic disc is great because it doesn't obscure you're view while you work, though I've read a few reviews that suggest these discs are easily lost, so it might be an idea for you to do what I did when I purchased my Jot Pro, pick yourself up a pack of spare discs at the same time; these can be had for a few pounds if you shop around.
So there you go, if you just want a bog-standard stylus for everyday use, any capacitive stylus will do, if you need so wing with more precision, you could do a lot worse than invest in a Adonit Jot Pro. Try one out and let me know what you think.
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