Wow, very interesting. Paper is my #1 iPad app... but I'm not sure I want a one-app stylus.
Its expensive for a stylus (you can get decent ones by Griffin or Targus for 15-20), but I still kinda want one.
Those are passive, while this one is active. (Also: you can a half decent passive stylus for about a buck, and while its hit-or-miss, the hits work about as well as most other passive styluses). The active features are what makes the eraser, smuge-with-fingers tool, wrist-protection, etc. possible/better.
Not sure if this one has any form of pressure sensitivity or angle sensitivity, but an active stylus makes those possible/better as well.
Interesting product and lots of potential. But I think these drawings apps are going to continue being a niche product until Apple comes out with a pressure sensitive screen and a stylus that has pointed tip more like a ballpoint pen than a fat felt-tipped marker. But even then, I still think it's going to be limited to very rough concept sketches, or simple notation of other notes/photos/illustrations.
For precision work, I don't see a tablet ever replacing the real deal. If I'm an artist or a graphic designer, I think I'd still far prefer a bound stack of paper and a graphite pencil with eraser. Need to send off a concept drawing to someone? Photograph it with your iPhone and message/e-mail it. Anyone in this field(s), please correct me if I'm wrong.
I work with artists on commercial software products. Most use the higher-end Wacom tablets (the ones that are "just" dignitizers -- no screen, but the pens are presure sensitive, angle sensitive and have various other features which I don't keep track of). Most seem to like to do at least some sketching with (real) paper and pencil or other physical tools. But it varies. One uses nothing but a conventional optical mouse, which seems ridiculous to me but it works for her, apparently. However these days I work with people remotely a lot so I'm starting to lose track of current trends.
This is where Apple could hit it out of the park...making the iPad have a screen like a WACOM tablet and the sensitivity of one and stylus that you could buy separately.
They are missing the boat on this market and I don't know why...it's the logical step.
You know, I actually think this stylus is actually a decent argument for why Apple made the right call by NOT including something like that.
* A digitizer in every iPad would raise the price and increase the thickness and weight of every iPad... that's very bad for the many, many that don't care about using a stylus.
* It doesn't seem to have prevented some good options appearing. (a) You can use a very cheap passive capacative stylus for a basic experience (I do this daily -- it's not great but it's workabable). (b) you can pay more and get a fancy passive capacitive stylus. (c) we're on the second generation of general active styluses that have every wider support and more features. (d) you can get this one if you love Paper.
* A one-size-fits-all digitizer and stylus from Apple probably wouldn't have some of the higher-end features that these active styluses have. Yet its existence would make it very hard for higher-end options to get traction.
Well, I've written too much on this. This has gotten me excited! Paper is a significant part of my iPad usage... I'm probably getting one of these.
