Apple Pencil to Ship With Adapter for Charging With Lightning Cable

[Soccertess]

Macbooks pros and Airs have the mag2 connector (which I really like). The macbook uses UBC-C (which ditches the magnetic connect I so loved), the watch uses it's own magnetic connector... and some devices use the lighting cable. So some fragmentation..


But it does make sense that these smaller devices use a lighting port. It just begs the question if Macs and Macbooks will get an lighting female port.

 

[bobob]

I think 16 charges in the course of a working day would have a UX impact. Many of my colleagues would throw a device in the trash for that.

The Apple Pencil has a battery life of 12 hours.

 

[LordVic]

To be able to charge a dead pen on the go with no cable available is genius. Why is everybody down on this? At home you can stick it in any fairly current iOS device or use the adapter which was NOT a last minute decision.

great idea. But horrible implementation.

 

[Pakaku]

Why didn't Apple just make the Pencil's charging port be a female Lightning port? The idea of having the Pencil stick out the bottom of the iPad Pro, was ridiculous thinking on their part. It's not like it's so hard to use the charging cable from the iPad to charge the Pencil.

Could you not just keep the adapter attached 24/7?

 

[garylapointe]

And what's this connector going to cost me when I lose it?

Pencil should have come with needing the lighting cable to charge it and for those who wanted to charge off iPad a lightning to lightning adaptor.

Some idiot is going to plug two lightning cables together with this one...

Gary

 

[Nicksd84]

 

[mw360]

Could you not just keep the adapter attached 24/7?

That could cause damage to the connector when you flip the pencil over to try to use the eraser. And I can't decide if I'm joking or not.

 

[swarmster]

5 minute charge for 30 minute battery use was the numbers they used.

However, I'm sure most people aren't going to be plugging in their pen every 30 minutes for 5 minutes just to get another 30 minutes. They are going to want to charge it to 100% between uses, so that when they do sit to use their devices, they will not have to worry about it dieing on them.

with the current implementation, this is not an easy thing to do, unless of course, you buy an additional charger just to charge the pencil or you charge it independently, meaning that you have potential of having your device in use, while being charging your pencil, giving an opportunity for the pencil to not be avialable when you want it

You are wrong.

Anyway, I don't see the big deal about charging for 15 seconds before you start. It will probably take you at least that long to open your file and setup your palettes anyway. And if you want to use it for longer without briefly pausing, maybe leave it for 30 seconds? Or make use of the home adaptor Apple's providing for you?

I mean, at some point you kind of have to ask yourself whether electronic devices are right for you, you know?

 

[mw360]

The Apple Pencil has a battery life of 12 hours.

I know. Read the conversation.

 

[swarmster]

I think 16 charges in the course of a working day would have a UX impact. Many of my colleagues would throw a device in the trash for that

Obviously. I think that's why they put a bigger battery in it and allow you to charge at your desk? If you're using it in a professional environment, this included adapter makes that pretty easy.

But like you said, there are other options for people that find charging things too much of a burden. Everything has pros and cons.

 

[Shanley]

I'm still missing the magic of the pencil. The pencil can draw thin or thick lines based on how hard you press and it can tell if you are tilting the pencil to do shading. How many people have a use case for this to begin with?

 

[bobob]

I know. Read the conversation.

No need to play dumb with me.

 

[Krevnik]

I agree. I think including a female Lightning port on the pencil and providing a male-to-male adapter for the unlikely times you might want to charge it by directly plugging it into the iPad would have made more sense.

Here's the problem:
I'm in a meeting with my iPad Pro, and my Pencil and a note taking app. Pencil is getting way too low. Oops, I don't have the adapter, so I guess I can't charge the Pencil during that short break in the meeting so I can keep going once the break ends.

This is the correct way to go: If you are going to allow the Pencil to charge at and away from your desk, then when you are away from the desk is when you cannot rely on an adapter. Leave the adapter attached to a charge cable sitting at the desk. Have it plugged into any spare USB port (not like this thing's gonna pull 2A over USB), if you need to charge your iPad at the same time.

5 minute charge for 30 minute battery use was the numbers they used.

Apple's Page says 15 seconds for 30 minutes.

 

[LordVic]

You are wrong.

Anyway, I don't see the big deal about charging for 15 seconds before you start. It will probably take you at least that long to open your file and setup your palettes anyway. And if you want to use it for longer without briefly pausing, maybe leave it for 30 seconds? Or make use of the home adaptor Apple's providing for you?

I mean, at some point you kind of have to ask yourself whether electronic devices are right for you, you know?

yes, just double checked, 15s = 30 minutes

Its a great idea for a "top up" solution, but as your everyday, have to charge multiple times throughout the day?

it could have been done so much nicer. we've come to expect a certain level of elegance to Apple products. they're generally refined to provide one of the nicer user experiences to their users.

This implementation feels the exact opposite of that. It feels like something Microsoft under Ballmer would have done.

 

[WilliamG]

What a poorly thought out solution. Who's bright idea was it to think the primary way we would desire to charge this is by plugging it into the lightning port of the iPad Pro? If Samsung or Microsoft included an "adapter" as a solution, MR members would be howling at their inept planning (or lack thereof).

Who said anything about it being the primary way? I know the article makes it sound like Apple finally came to their senses, but it's quite reasonable to assume this adapter was going to ship with the Pencil itself, and the way Apple advertised it is more of an in-use type of deal. I know I'd much prefer to charge the Pencil when I'm working via the iPad Pro itself, rather than hunting for an adapter in my bag. Especially since it takes just a minute to charge the thing sufficiently.

 

[soupcan]

How much you wanna bet Apple heard all the negativity about the way to charge the Pencil and decided "Nah, **** this, guys, we need an adapter quickly" and then made this in like a month.

 

[laudern]

And this article right here is why you never buy a first gen idevice.

 

[LordVic]

Here's the problem:
I'm in a meeting with my iPad Pro, and my Pencil and a note taking app. Pencil is getting way too low. Oops, I don't have the adapter, so I guess I can't charge the Pencil during that short break in the meeting so I can keep going once the break ends.

This is the correct way to go: If you are going to allow the Pencil to charge at and away from your desk, then when you are away from the desk is when you cannot rely on an adapter. Leave the adapter attached to a charge cable sitting at the desk. Have it plugged into any spare USB port (not like this thing's gonna pull 2A over USB), if you need to charge your iPad at the same time.



Apple's Page says 15 seconds for 30 minutes.

yeah, was wrong on the timing

But I can think of a few more elegant solutions than sticking a male lightning connector to your pen and sticking it in the bottom of the tablet.

Here's a quick solution off the top of my skull:

Why not inductive magnetic charging on the side of your pro? don't plug it into anything, out o charge? stick it to the side. No plug necessary (and you could have a female lightning plug on the back of the pencil to take regular charging).

Or how about using the 3 pin magnetic port that the keyboard uses? I'm sure it's capable of providing some juice, it powers the keyboard afteral.

maybe a mechanical sliding clip button thingy that changes the plug from male to female so that both options are available?

this would have felt a lot more "apple" in their design philosophy than what the current pencil is

 

[RoboCop001]

I think we'll see some 3rd party dock accessories come out. I'd say for sure we'll see a twelve south one lol. Maybe Apple will release a dock for it too eventually. I'd get one.

 

[mw360]

You are wrong.

Anyway, I don't see the big deal about charging for 15 seconds before you start. It will probably take you at least that long to open your file and setup your palettes anyway. And if you want to use it for longer without briefly pausing, maybe leave it for 30 seconds? Or make use of the home adaptor Apple's providing for you?

I mean, at some point you kind of have to ask yourself whether electronic devices are right for you, you know?

No. This is just stupid. When I sit down to work, I don't want the first thing to be a nag to charge my pen. If I have to charge something, I'll get up again and go get a drink or something while it happens. I'm not going to sit there like a pudding doing nothing. At the very least, I'll open a web browser or email or something to occupy the time and that's it, I'm distracted, momentum ruined in minute 1. Fifteen seconds is a long time to not get distracted. This is the kind of boneheaded, lazy engineer, excuse-led crap that Apple used boast about subverting.

 

[neutralguy]

I think the idea to do top up charges by plugging it in to your tablet is a novel one. The practicality of it though is a head scratcher.

And regular full charging of it was completely missed. This adapter seems like a "oops, here's an adapter cause when we designed this, we didn't think ti through fully"

When you're charging your tablet, why wouldn't that also be an opportune time to charge your pen? why not make it so both can be charged at the same time from the same powersource? even this solution is inelegant as you cannot charge the pen while charging the tablet. Unless you buy a 2nd set of power for the pen. This means you're only charging one thing at a time. Which will inevitably lead to situations where you get stuck with such an inelegant solution as a pencil sticking out of the bottom ofr your tablet for an indefined length of time, or plugged into the wall while you're using your tablet.

I'm not a fan of replacable AAA batteries like Microsoft went. Too much waste (although they claim 1 year out of 1 AAA battery), I would still rather a rechargable solution, but I'm not sure what Apple was smoking when they threw this together

This is the glimpse of Tim Cook's Apple. Always after thoughts. I would have preferred induction charging from iPad Pro to the Pencil. Once you attach the pencil the iPad Pro, it will get charged using induction charging. A much elegant solution.

For microsoft pen, you could always use a rechargeable battery. That solves your waste problem. But it's a better and nicer solution.

 

[flash84x]

Why didn't Apple just make the Pencil's charging port be a female Lightning port? The idea of having the Pencil stick out the bottom of the iPad Pro, was ridiculous thinking on their part. It's not like it's so hard to use the charging cable from the iPad to charge the Pencil.

Then you would need a male lightning to male lightning cable to get the benefit they went after... Charging the Pencil with your iPad.

 

[Rogifan]

Why didn't Apple just make the Pencil's charging port be a female Lightning port? The idea of having the Pencil stick out the bottom of the iPad Pro, was ridiculous thinking on their part. It's not like it's so hard to use the charging cable from the iPad to charge the Pencil.

They weren't thinking you'd do that for an extended period of time. Charging via the iPad is for topping off the device.

 

[newtestleper]

What a poorly thought out solution. Who's bright idea was it to think the primary way we would desire to charge this is by plugging it into the lightning port of the iPad Pro? If Samsung or Microsoft included an "adapter" as a solution, MR members would be howling at their inept planning (or lack thereof).

A lack of inept planning. Hrm.

 

[Rogifan]

Exactly, both Apple Pencil and Magic Mouse was poor decisions, with Magic Mouse they should it just added the lightning port in front..not on the bottom

Why? It's called a wireless mouse. A two-minute charge gets nine hours of battery. Two hour charge gets you one month battery. Obviously Apple not putting it in the front means they don't want you to use it while charging.

I don't believe anyone's mentioned this yet, but why the sweet **** didn't Apple design the pencil to adhere magnetically to the side of the iPad and charge from those connectors there which power the keyboard? Pencil 2 perhaps?

One, the pencil is probably thicker than the iPad. Two, how do you use the keyboard (or any other accessory) if you're charging the pencil?