9.7 pro users- how much are you using the apple pencil?

[The Game 161]

As somebody who has replaced their 12.9 pro with a 9.7 my apple pencil sure hasn’t gone to waste. I’ve found I’m using it more for my 9.7 than I ever did on the 12.9. Just glad a £79 purchase for one tablet isn’t wasted even though I’ve decided to using the 9.7 instead. Those with 9.7 are you using the pencil more than you thought you would on the 9.7 inch display?

 

[hiddenmarkov]

I got mine for the pencil use I would I knew I would have. I was heavy into note taking on my mini, got the 9.7 because the 12.9 too large. See a coworker with his and the large not very handy as I see it (to my tastes, others mileage may vary ofc). 9.7 only a bit bigger than a mini to be more useful in this realm.

 

[Mr_Killjoy]

I went from a 12.9 wifi, to 9.7 LTE, to a 12.9 LTE.

The 9.7 saw the least pencil use, but I primarily use the pencil for drawing and detail photo editing. The larger screen was so much better for those, and the 9.7 just felt too cramped to really enjoy the pencil with.

 

[Precision Gem]

I use the pencil all the time, even as a pointing device and panning the screen. Do a lot of hand written notes too.

 

[barkomatic]

I bought the pencil thinking that I would be able to use it to take notes at work which I could easily convert to text with handwriting recognition. Although there are a few apps that do that--there is no killer app which makes it more efficient than simply taking notes with a standard pen and paper and then typing them later if needed. This is for my workflow. YMMV.

Therefore, I haven't used my Apple pencil in months. I'm not an artist either so it's almost useless for me.

 

[lax28]

Use the pencil all the time with both size screens, but that was a main reason I purchased the Pro. If I didn't need/want the pencil I wouldn't have gotten rid of my air

 

[redman042]

I'm not sure I desperately needed the Pencil, but I couldn't resist getting one as it's a hallmark feature of the new iPads. I enjoy doing art, but rarely have the time. But sometimes I will sketch in Procreate for fun. My 8 year old daughter also enjoys drawing on my 9.7" Pro and is quite good at it. It's handy for restaurants or road trips because it effectively gives her a full set of artist tools without the bulk or mess. She can sketch in pencil, paint with a virtual brush, airbrush, or whatever.

For work, I use it to mark up PDFs, take notes or make sketches in OneNote, or sometimes just use it to navigate the OS when I don't feel like smudging the screen with my finger.

I don't use it every day, but it's such a nice natural piece of technology that I enjoy it a lot when I do use it.

 

[Traverse]

Constantly, though not daily. Multiple times a week.

I use it to write Homework Solutions for students in Notability (it was 15 pages last time). I use it to precisely highlight text in the Kindle appp. I use it several times a week to markup PDFs in PDF EXPERT. I plan to start doodling more as well.

Sometimes I even use it for general browsing if I have just cleaned the screen and don't want to smudge the screen.

I never understood the comments here that said the iPad Pro 9.7 was too small for Pencil use (yet many want to use it on the 5.5" iPhone )

 

[Jessemtz25]

I don't use it much but my son uses it daily for coloring apps, drawing and books. He gets a lot of enjoyment out of it and I don't end up with crayon or marker on the wall.

 

[neutrino23]

I use the Pencil constantly on a 12.9" iPP. I take notes in Notes and InkFlow. I find that when I'm doing something else it is more natural to scribble a few notes to keep track of what I'm doing. I use it in Graphic to make sketches of floor plans for the house remodeling we are doing. I use it to fill in crossword puzzles. I use it to markup images in emails.

I feel like I keep finding more ways to use it as time goes on.

My Pencil just died and I have to wait a few days for Apple to get stock to replace it. The battery suddenly became erratic. It would jump from 100% to zero percent in under a minute. I put it on the charger and it would be back at 100% in two minutes. I went to the Apple store and they agreed to replace it. I feel kind of lost without it.

 

[rui no onna]

Barely. I misplaced my Pencil for 3 months and didn't even miss it.

Oh well. I didn't get the Pro 9.7 for the Pencil anyway. I did it for the fast processor and 256GB storage.

 

[Traverse]

Barely. I misplaced my Pencil for 3 months and didn't even miss it.

Oh well. I didn't get the Pro 9.7 for the Pencil anyway. I did it for the fast processor and 256GB storage.

*GASP*

I understand the 256GB of storage, but had the only upgrade been the A9X, True Tone, and speakers, would you have still upgraded?

 

[rui no onna]

*GASP*

I understand the 256GB of storage, but had the only upgrade been the A9X, True Tone, and speakers, would you have still upgraded?

Yep, I still would have.

With a lot of apps not supporting iOS 6, the 16GB Air (2013) became my primary iPad and that was just frustrating to use in terms of both storage and performance. I got close to pulling the trigger on the Air 2 and Pro 12.9 last November but thank goodness I waited for the March 2016 keynote. I don't even care about True Tone and speakers. Even if the only upgrade on the Pro 9.7 was A9X+2GB RAM, I still would have bought it. Mind, I probably would have upgraded again as soon as a 256GB model became available.

I really couldn't care less what tech pundits say. I base purchases on stuff I consider are important to me. Granted, I thoroughly enjoy reading AnandTech's reviews for their deep technical analysis.

 

[mostro900]

I bought the pencil thinking that I would be able to use it to take notes at work which I could easily convert to text with handwriting recognition. Although there are a few apps that do that--there is no killer app which makes it more efficient than simply taking notes with a standard pen and paper and then typing them later if needed. This is for my workflow. YMMV.

Therefore, I haven't used my Apple pencil in months. I'm not an artist either so it's almost useless for me.

I was using Notability, but just saw a review for an app called Nebo, so downloaded that. It's been amazing. Converting from handwriting to typed text is really incredible - especially considering the fact that my handwriting is atrocious. I mainly write in cursive and Nebo still manages to get it write 99% of the time. If I was going to say 'killer app' for handwriting, Nebo would be it.

 

[Traverse]

Yep, I still would have.

With a lot of apps not supporting iOS 6, the 16GB Air (2013) became my primary iPad and that was just frustrating to use in terms of both storage and performance. I got close to pulling the trigger on the Air 2 and Pro 12.9 last November but thank goodness I waited for the March 2016 keynote. I don't even care about True Tone and speakers. Even if the only upgrade on the Pro 9.7 was A9X+2GB RAM, I still would have bought it. Mind, I probably would have upgraded again as soon as a 256GB model became available.

I really couldn't care less what tech pundits say. I base purchases on stuff I consider are important to me. Granted, I thoroughly enjoy reading AnandTech's reviews for their deep technical analysis.

Ah, I thought you were coming from an Air 2 for some reason. The A7 to the A9X is a huge leap and the lamented display + Pro specific display updates would have been more than enough to push me to upgrade.

 

[The Game 161]

Yep, I still would have.

With a lot of apps not supporting iOS 6, the 16GB Air (2013) became my primary iPad and that was just frustrating to use in terms of both storage and performance. I got close to pulling the trigger on the Air 2 and Pro 12.9 last November but thank goodness I waited for the March 2016 keynote. I don't even care about True Tone and speakers. Even if the only upgrade on the Pro 9.7 was A9X+2GB RAM, I still would have bought it. Mind, I probably would have upgraded again as soon as a 256GB model became available.

I really couldn't care less what tech pundits say. I base purchases on stuff I consider are important to me. Granted, I thoroughly enjoy reading AnandTech's reviews for their deep technical analysis.

I have the 256GB pro 9.7 as well. Don’t regret downsizing at all. Love the fact the storage where I don’t need to worry about what I have left ever. I do like true tone display though and you do notice it and speakers being as good as my old 12.9 helps too.

 

[LCPepper]

I use mine in my 9.7" everyday, almost all day.

I use it mainly for note taking in Notability, and it's really quite amazing once you get your workflow going. Having gone back to handwriting notes from typing them for so long, I think there is real purchase in the idea of "mechanical learning", I seem to engage more with what I'm writing if I am doing it by hand. I also love it for PDF annotation and markup.

I also do some doodling and sketching now and again- but I'm no artist.

 

[zhenya]

It's an essential part of the iPad experience for me. It's what I've wanted the iPad to be since I bought the original iPad on release day. I'm still awed by how natural the experience is every time I use it. It's allowed me to finally go nearly paperless in my life. Most forms are filled out with it. I take notes in work meetings (I use the iPad rather than my Surface Pro because the note taking is so much more natural and reliable). And I use it at home for keeping my journal, which I've been doing digitally for years, but have found I often prefer to hand write over type.

 

[spesifikbrush]

I have been drawing with on my Pro 9.7 with Apple Pencil since I got it. These days I took a break from drawing, but I am still using the Pencil for taking notes in class. It's really good and I love it so much.

 

[Skika]

Yep, I still would have.

With a lot of apps not supporting iOS 6, the 16GB Air (2013) became my primary iPad and that was just frustrating to use in terms of both storage and performance. I got close to pulling the trigger on the Air 2 and Pro 12.9 last November but thank goodness I waited for the March 2016 keynote. I don't even care about True Tone and speakers. Even if the only upgrade on the Pro 9.7 was A9X+2GB RAM, I still would have bought it. Mind, I probably would have upgraded again as soon as a 256GB model became available.

I really couldn't care less what tech pundits say. I base purchases on stuff I consider are important to me. Granted, I thoroughly enjoy reading AnandTech's reviews for their deep technical analysis.

IPad Air was released with iOS7.

 

[rui no onna]

IPad Air was released with iOS7.

Yes, I know and I greatly disliked the flat iOS 7 UI.

For quite some time, my primary iPad was the iPad 4 128GB with iOS 6. I really only got the Air for universal LTE (had an int'l trip Christmas season post-Air release). Unfortunately, with some key apps not supporting iOS 6 (e.g. Disney Movies Anywhere, HBONow, banking), I eventually had to switch to using the iPad Air as primary.

Really glad I've since moved on to the Pro 9.7 256GB. While iOS 9 made for a big improvement performance-wise on the Air (in particular, Tumblr gif-heavy webpages), lack of storage on my 16GB Air was an absolute frustration.

 

[Commy1]

On a very recent, very long flight I drew a fair amount, I'm very glad I had it just for that. But for daily use, not as much but I think that'll change.

 

[Abazigal]

As a school teacher, I use the Apple Pencil during lessons, primarily for annotating on pdf documents. Easily multiple hours a day.

 

[xb2003]

The pencil is just a nice thing to have around. Marking up and signing pdfs is handy, making diagrams and sketches is something I do often, as it's often easier than typing out how I want something done. I take notes and draw circuits (electronics major) with it a lot. But honestly, that's my least favorite use for it. I don't find the note taking apps very intuitive. But I also don't know how I would fix them..