Apple Pencil to Ship With Adapter for Charging With Lightning Cable

[Rogifan]

Normally I'd agree with you and it peeves me to see inventions dismissed by people who have only given the matter ten seconds of thought as opposed to the years of thought given by the designers.

But in this case (and the case of the Magic Mouse) I'm at a loss. They aren't dummies, and I'm not saying I'm smarter then they are but this is just awful. I thought that the instant I saw it, and I've given it a lot of thought since. That's because I really want one of these things, but I can't allow myself to spend that kind of money (a) playing Tim Cook's Annoying Storage Game, and (b) having something so badly designed it insults my intelligence.

My only theory is that there's some ill-functioning management at work. Possibly Sir Jony's obsession with making every device as thin and featureless as an OSX update, is being allowed to trump utility and user experience, since there seems to be nobody with a strong enough opinion to keep matters in balance. That's pure theory, but it allows everyone to be talented/smart/inspired while still collectively making terrible mistakes.

It's obvious with the magic mouse they want you to use it as a wireless mouse! I'll reserve judgment on the pencil but I'm sorry the complaints about the mouse are stupid. Two minutes gives you a nine hour charge, two hours gives you a 30 day charge and OS X gives you ample warning when the battery is getting low. There should be no reason that some would would need to use the mouse while charging it. But if it bothers people that much then just get a wired mouse.

 

[LordVic]

It's obvious with the magic mouse they want you to use it as a wireless mouse! I'll reserve judgment on the pencil but I'm sorry the complaints about the mouse are stupid. Two minutes gives you a nine hour charge, two hours gives you a 30 day charge and OS X gives you ample warning when the battery is getting low. There should be no reason that some would would need to use the mouse while charging it. But if it bothers people that much then just get a wired mouse.

But, there's also no reason why you shouldn't be able to use it while charging.

why impose a design limitation on something, that literally, has no reason at all to need that limitation.

just one of those little things, not a deal breaker IMHO, and way too much whining, but I can understand people going "Whhyyyyy?"

 

[Mac 128]

In related news, if Apple ever made a Lightning-to-Lightning cable, this could be used as an exension/coupler--but then we probably wouldn't need it in the first place since you could just plug that cable into the bottom of the iPad while not having an expensive pencil sticking straight out the bottom of your iPad. (Just an expensive cable you better not want to set the iPad down on.)

I really need that lightning to Lightning cable. I have a Lightning to HDMI dongle, but I don't want to plug the affair directly into my phone, I don't want two cables, especially not the HDMI cable trailing around the iPhone when giving presentations, or using it. So I need an extension that goes from Lightning female to Lightning Male. They actually make those on Amazon for $10, but while the phone has no problem charging from one extending a regular Apple Lightning charging cable, the HDMI dongle won't recognize it as an accessory that will work with the iPhone.

I should be able to use a female to female USB A adapter to attach two Lightning charging cables together, then this female to female Lightning adapter to flip one end around. So that's 3 original Apple products, and one third party USB connector which shouldn't facto into the equation. So maybe I'll actually be able to get an extension that works.

I'm stoked to get this adapter.

Good thing I was right and Apple wasn't stupid enough to rely on charging the pencil solely from the iPad Pro.

 

[kring]

To be able to charge a dead pen on the go with no cable available is genius. Why is everybody down on this?

No one is down on that. They just made the stupidest possible design to accomplish that. Out of the 49 possible ways to make it happen. They chose the worst.

 

[macs4nw]

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.

That makes sense but maybe the original thought was to piggyback-charge the pencil off the iPad while that itself was charging, say overnight, thus not needing an extra lightning cable. Just speculating here.....

Of course while the adapter is less expensive to produce than a cable, it's just another thing to lose.

 

[Gudi]

It's like any drug dealer

 

[Mac 128]

That makes sense but maybe the original thought was to piggyback-charge the pencil off the iPad while that itself was charging, say overnight, thus not needing an extra lightning cable. Just speculating here.....

Of course while the adapter is less expensive to produce than a cable, it's just another thing to lose.

What they could have down, is make a double headed male Lightning tip for the Pencil, which inserts into a female port and locks into the top. When removed, a regular charging cable is inserted into the resulting female port. When the cap alone is removed, it can be inserted into the iPad.

Easy, and doesn't require removing anything more than it presently does. Basically a built-in adapter that's part of the Pencil, so nothing more to keep track of or lose than already required by the current design.

 

[ghost187]

"OH MY GOD!!! My Apple Pencil is going to stick out of my iPad and look HORRENDOUS for 15 seconds. NOOOOO! What am I going to do. My cool imagine amongst my nerdy friends will be destroyed forever and I will never ever get laid again. This is the end of the world. I can't deal with this. ARGHHH!"

- General Consensus Amongst Macrumors Members

 

[Mac 128]

No one is down on that. They just made the stupidest possible design to accomplish that. Out of the 49 possible ways to make it happen. They chose the worst.

While the general defensive consensus around here is that nobody criticizing Apple knows better than Apple, and Apple must have done it for a reason, the reality is, Apple can't put their best engineers on everything. Clearly this is a solution that could have been better thought out, but they had so much going on they had to parcel this out to the guy that wasn't doing that much. Or conversely, he was so overloaded with work, he phoned that one in.

 

[LordVic]

"OH MY GOD!!! My Apple Pencil is going to stick out of my iPad and look HORRENDOUS for 15 seconds. NOOOOO! What am I going to do. My cool imagine amongst my nerdy friends will be destroyed forever and I will never ever get laid again. This is the end of the world. I can't deal with this. ARGHHH!"

- General Consensus Amongst Macrumors Members

reasons why a pencil sticking out the bottom of your device while charging can be a disaster waiting to happen and scenarios that are likely to happen or be impacted by the design implementation:

Example one:
you are charging your pencil, and you put it down somewhere while it charges. it shifts, Moves, sticks out, you name it, but some thing that some how bumps the pencil, which protudes out. this is going to happen. its Murphy's law, you know all that. if you leave something sticking out of something it's going to be bumped. This pencil is only attacked by a lightning port. A good hard enough jar is going to break the pencil, or possibly worse breaking the port.

How bout example two:
you want to sit on the couch and use the device. but oh, that pencil is out of battery. PLug it in. now you've got a long stick sticking out the bottom of your tablet, you know, where generally your guts are and for some of us, possibly further

its not the end of the world, but it's just, such an unpolished, not-typical to apple design that leaves me scratching my head. does it have some cool benefits to this, sure, but I just can't believe someone couldn't have come up with a better idea.

 

[Centris 650]

Plugging into the end of the iPad Pro was always a stupid way of doing it. Good way to break it. This way is so much better.



Seriously?

If you are drawing and your pencil is dying, plugging it in to the iPad for a few seconds is actually really smart. You don't have to look for a new cord or even have a new cord.

 

[chabig]

...you want to sit on the couch and use the device. but oh, that pencil is out of battery. PLug it in. now you've got a long stick sticking out the bottom of your tablet, you know, where generally your guts are and for some of us, possibly further

I'd turn it over so the pencil sticks out the top - problem solved. It only took me about two seconds to figure that out.

 

[kdarling]

Obviously it wasn't blown out of proportion if Apple ended up adding an adapter to the package.

It still feels like a kludge.

To paraphrase Jobs, "If it needs an adapter, they blew it."

 

[179202]

...Have people here forgotten how quickly the Pencil charges when you plug it in?! it's a minute or two, if that. You're not going to be leaving it plugged in. *facepalm* You probably won't even use the damn adapter.

Same with the Magic Mouse 2 - you don't plug it in long enough for it to be a bother. But you know, why bother reading? Nothing has ever been learned that way.

 

[Mac 128]

...Have people here forgotten how quickly the Pencil charges when you plug it in?! it's a minute or two, if that. You're not going to be leaving it plugged in. *facepalm* You probably won't even use the damn adapter.

Same with the Magic Mouse 2 - you don't plug it in long enough for it to be a bother. But you know, why bother reading? Nothing has ever been learned that way.

And yet, Apple is going to offer it. So that's either evidence they are slipping, or there really is a good reason to have it. Depends on whether you want to support or condemn Apple on this one.

And actually no, to get a full charge it's at least 6 minutes, and if it trickle charges like all other Apple devices for the last 20% it could take up to 10 minutes. Still, that's pretty good. Just wouldn't want to be forced into that as my only means to charge it.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

I might be different than most, but when I'm traveling, I have at least one charger (iPad) with me and two lightning cables (for iPhone and iPad), so my inclination would be to just charge the Pencil at night. I get the benefit of the quick charge in the iPad, but they could have made an adapter for doing that too, if we're going to have to carry an adapter around anyway.

Not everyone wants to carry an adaptor and Apple has always been about having as few cords as possible. You might carry an adaptor with you when you travel but when you're away from your hotel that's just 1 more thing you have to carry along with you.

Why add the extra stuff if you don't have to.

 

[Gudi]

While the general defensive consensus around here is that nobody criticizing Apple knows better than Apple, and Apple must have done it for a reason, the reality is, Apple can't put their best engineers on everything.

The reality is, now that it's no longer the only way to load an Apple Pencil, the ability to plug it right into the iPad for a quick emergency loading becomes a huge benefit. And this tiny adapter even eliminates the need for another separate loading cable, you can use the one that comes with the iPad. It's an elegant solution now that both methods are revealed.

Clearly this is a solution that could have been better thought out, but they had so much going on ...

No, it's not. You could come up with a different solution, but not a better one.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

I'd turn it over so the pencil sticks out the top - problem solved. It only took me about two seconds to figure that out.

Until you discover your iPad is on 1% battery life...

 

[Nausicaa]

All the charging complaints... jesus. The Pencil is meant to be used. You're not going to be sitting there watching it charge. One way or another, you can charge it quickly, and then use it. Who cares how it charges?

 

[Soccertess]

They should add a rubber doggle so you don't loose the adapter. It's apple people, you can always expect lots of adapters.

And Tim should try consolidate Apple's charging fragmentation and chart a clear path forward for charging. Unless he lost all those amazing magsafe2 engineers to Tesla.

 

[Mike Oxard]

Apparently this is too complicated for people to understand, and they have visions of being forced to walk around with the Pencil sticking out of their iPad.

Apple told us that was how it was charged. No one knew of the adapter until now.

 

[Mac 128]

No, it's not. You could come up with a different solution, but not a better one.

A matter of opinion. I happen to think this solution is much better than Apple's. Apple's way sells more dongles though. Your mileage may vary:

#108

They should add a rubber doggle so you don't loose the adapter.

They should have a rubber "doggle" so you don't lose the Pencil's cap. I'm sure Apple will start selling replacement caps about a month after the Pencil hits the shelves ...

 

[argentum47]

Much cleaner way would've been to have

Before detaching cap: female lightning connector
After detaching cap : male lightning connector

(i.e., the cap is a F-F lightning converter)

 

[VTECaddict]

They should have just made the top of the pencil an uncovered female lightning port for ease of normal charging without extra steps or things to lose. Then you can twist or pull off a (tethered) cap on the end to reveal a male lighting connector for 'emergency' quick charge from the iPad.

 

[Lexdexia]

Don't worry about Apple Pencil's poorly designed charging solution. I'm sure in the future Apple will debut a newer generation of Apple Pencil that makes this version look like a joke. The next-gen Apple Pencil can probably charge via inductive charging, get rid of the silly cap design altogether. And instead of a removable cap at the back, it will have some sort of sensor that lets the Pencil be used like an actual pencil and have eraser-like functionality when you rub the back of the pencil against the screen. When you need to charge, simply place it on your iPad Pro 3 and it charges, works like magic!

In the meantime: have fun with taking off the cap every time you need to charge, enjoy putting it in the charging port and risk the chance of it breaking.

Oh and try to not lose the cap.