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Apple Predicted to Launch Optional Stylus Accessory Alongside 12.9-Inch 'iPad Pro'
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Liquorpuki
macrumors 68020
No he's not
He's making up his own definitions for words that've been around for centuries
Stylus and pen are the same thing
Col4bin
macrumors 68000
That's kind of my thinking, too. Some sort of new possible product category that combines a more robust iOS/Mac OS hybrid in a larger iPad body style with more functionality. Even if this is a little too far fetched still for today, this is the way of the future and I'm sure Apple will be there within the next 2-3 years.
spinedoc77
macrumors G4
I love my "stylus" on my Note 4, I say stylus because it has many functions as that and not as a pen:
Smart select: You can select any area of the screen for your clipboard.
Image clip: You can trace around anything you want to clip.
Writing or drawing on a captured clip, picture, etc, IE annotating.
Copy and paste with much more accuracy than a finger
Just a few functions that I use all the time that make it worth having a "stylus". Also the obvious one is writing, taking notes, annotating, diagrams, etc. I know this is more towards a "pen" function but I see a LOT of naysayers saying that a stylus/pen only belongs on a tablet, but the usefulness is great on a phone IMO. The last thing that might belong in a stylus category is having a silo to store the stylus in, ensuring you always have it with you.
If you have seen how you can navigate a web page with a Note 4 stylus you would be surprised at how in some cases a stylus is indeed a better navigation tool than a finger. Hover, copy paste, clipping stuff, etc just make a heck of a lot more sense with a stylus. I get your point and I get where Jobs was coming from because I've used plenty of Windows Mobile devices, which basically was the windows desktop on a tiny phone screen managed by a stylus, I don't want to go to that era. But there are times when using a stylus does make sense.
It makes sense if you've ever tried to use a drawing app with your finger or seen how UPS has used its portable tablet-style devices for signatures for the past 20 years or so.
It can be a good accessory. But it's not exactly something I'd put in the name (S-Pen, ahem). I'm guessing Apple thinks, "So you want to write in cursive. How about we create dictation software that instead writes down your words?"
There are better ways than a tiny plastic stick for almost every application I can think of aside from signatures -- unless you count a thumbprint scan -- and artistic drawing. I'm guessing most of us can type with thumbs faster than we can write anything with a stylus.
It can be a good accessory. But it's not exactly something I'd put in the name (S-Pen, ahem). I'm guessing Apple thinks, "So you want to write in cursive. How about we create dictation software that instead writes down your words?"
There are better ways than a tiny plastic stick for almost every application I can think of aside from signatures -- unless you count a thumbprint scan -- and artistic drawing. I'm guessing most of us can type with thumbs faster than we can write anything with a stylus.
BvizioN
macrumors 603
Each to their own I guess. Samsung phones I have used have been garbage for me (galaxy S2, S5) and not worth the hassle. And no offence but I laugh when I see people using stylus on a multi touch sensitive screen for things that can easily be done just by fingers. Now if fingers happen to be super thick, it's a different story and stylus can somehow be helpful.
teslo
macrumors 6502a
what you don't get is that Jobs was against phone styluses. at a point in time that tablets weren't even around/popular. if he did mention how unnecessary styluses were after the iPad was released, it was because he didn't want a lack of one seen as a shortcoming - which it was, because the iPad couldn't handle a proper one.
of COURSE he'd be down for a stylus on modern tablets. whether or not he personally would have used one (was he into drawing?), from PURELY a business standpoint - styluses make a lot of sense to a lot of people. especially on a tablet.
how people don't see this - merely because steve glorified the fingers as a 'stylus' on a 3.5" phone - is ludicrous. he said things when they were relevant, and he also said things to discredit or mislead the competition. or to save face.
LOTS of people don't 'get' this. seemingly 90% of those who comment here and feel obligated to mention steve's past statements.
thank you!!! this still kinda sound halfassed. it should be done within the tablet, not just as a pen. like wacom does it. i'd LOVe to see this "pro" model compete with surface in every way. the pen should not need a battery. it should be the tablet that controls the pressure sensitivity. it should also run OS X not iOS. higher storage options. 256GB and 512GB. the ability to plug in external storage through lighting or usb. it should be a do i all device. that would make it a pro device!!!
Hope the rumor is true. I don't want a stylus on my phone, I still want to be able to touch navigate/interact with an iPad/larger device, but right now my primary goal for a tablet is a pressure sensitive stylus for digital artwork.
I am already saving for a Wacom Companion 2 which will do everything I want it to, but I'd be willing to hold off for an iPad announcement just to see if it accomplishes what I need it to.
I am already saving for a Wacom Companion 2 which will do everything I want it to, but I'd be willing to hold off for an iPad announcement just to see if it accomplishes what I need it to.
Nope, x86 is just as power efficient as ARM stuff. Doing it back in 2008 when the iPad first launched...well, they could have, but maybe not in that form factor, but they could now. You can easily do x86 in phones. There's tons of tablets with x86 now.
That would be fine by me!
Ok that's news to me. I guess Intel caught up. But then the question (whether x86 or ARM) is still of course, is the performance level high enough where it can run OS X and useful OS X applications well while still maintaining satisfactory power-efficiency? I'm thinking we might still be a couple years away from that level and balance of performance and efficiency. And then the other question would be, if it's a hybrid device running x86, what happens to all the existing ios apps? I imagine there has to be a performance hit using an emulator.
Oh no, we've been there for quite a while now. Doing this in 2008 would have been really impressive and hard, but there's nothing to it now.
Yeah, that's what I'm not sure about. Maybe it's not a huge issue since most "apps" don't really need much performance, and there'd be real OS X equivalents for programs that do need more performance.
I guess ideally I'd like to see x86, real OS X, and either an emulator or a model where OS X has the iOS APIs and whatnot and programs on the store are recompiled for x86.
But baring that they could do exactly the same thing as like Windows RT and have iOS compatibility + a real desktop at least.
Apple's been spending so much developing ARM chips and seems so weirdly opposed to doing ultra mobile versions of OS X that I'm not expecting it, but there's certainly no reason they couldn't have done it with ease starting several years ago.
Eweie
macrumors regular
lol at all the morons that don't need a stylus bitching. yes people the world doesn't revolve around you, some of us need to draw, sculpt, write. you know, like intelligent creative people do, unlike yourselves.
I for one can't wait to have an ipad pro and hope this rumor is true and it better be pressure sensitive at the very least.
I for one can't wait to have an ipad pro and hope this rumor is true and it better be pressure sensitive at the very least.
johnnyturbouk
macrumors 68000
I agree, on both points: dislike of samsung products and the use of a stylus - for my personal needs: however, i appreciate this is not the same for others (ie my sister and millions of others) and i recognise that a stylus can be useful - just not very useful for me.
That all seems possible. So the tech is there, but the other big issue is interfacing with OS X and OS X programs on a touch screen. They would have to be redesigned to work with touch interface. Apple could probably make a touch version of OS X relatively easily. And if something like Windows RT was the goal then that would be the end of it. But the real benefit of OS X for a lot of people are the existing applications, and turning all those into touch applications is the humongous problem.
You could just attach a mouse and keyboard when using OS X applications. But to me, having to switch back and forth between touch and mouse/keyboard seems very disjointed. Plus youd have to carry around those peripherals. Its almost as if you might as well have two separate devices, and that are optimized.
To me, what would make it worth it, and what Im really looking for (and maybe you too), is a full blown Mac designed from the ground up as a touch tabletwith touch interface full OS X and touch interface full OS X applications. (But like I said, the applications are the problem right now.) So it's more like looking at it the other way around. Bringing something from iPad to Mac, rather than bringing something from Mac to iPad. We could do away with iOS and the iOS apps entirely if you have a touch OS X. Like you said, thered be the real OS X equivalents to those iOS apps anyway. Really its the portability, flexibility, ease, and fun of the touch screen tablet form factor that I like, and that I want brought to the Mac experience. Also because Im an artist and I need a powerful tablet (plus pen digitizer) for digital art on the go.
Microsoft's already done it well though, and it's turned out not to be much of a problem. They've got the alternate touch interface, but with minimal changes regular programs work really well with touch too. Apple could take those ideas and run with them. At least with a 9.7" or larger screen, regular Windows Explorer and programs work really well with touch (not sure about on a 7" tablet, but then this is supposed to be 12.9 or whatever, WAY big enough).
They made some changes to Explorer and Office and I.E., but I find even 7 works well with touch. If you're doing serious writing or anything you want a keyboard, but that's true regardless. Of course touch APIs work with stuff like Firefix too, so really it's been seamless using touch with Windows (again on a 9.7" or larger tablet...not sure about on a 7" one).
Ooooh yeah, ultimately I'd love if iOS went away, or was just merged with OS X! Ditto for Windows Phone. Both are solid for what they are, but what I've always REALLY wanted is a full OS on an ultra mobile device. Windows (and OS X easily could too) scales down to a tablet fine...not 100% sure what you do with the phone part though, although considering "small" phones are like 4.5, 4.7" now...
Well anyway if they do real OS X + x86 I'm the first person to preorder :-D
Liquorpuki
macrumors 68020
Windows 10 is supposed to do the one OS on every device thing, including phones. The announcement tomorrow should tell a lot.
And one of Apple's biggest reasons to not get rid of iOS or merge it with OSX has to do with ecosystem. With iOS Apple has its model of the perfect ecosystem - walled garden, cheap commodity software that fuels expensive hardware sales, and they remain the gatekeepers because there's only one app store. If they killed or altered iOS, they'd be screwing with the ecosystem whose framework contributes heavily to their bottom line.
Them putting out a mobile/PC hybrid, iOS/OSX hybrid, ARM/x86 hybrid, etc or ditching anything on the mobile end is a huge strategic decision that could hurt them in the short term. I don't think they have the stomach for it.
thefourthpope
macrumors 65816
No doubt that a stylus is much more useful today than eight years ago. The tech that allows Notes Plus and my adonit jot to compare against a moleskine and my preferred pilot v5 has made all the difference. I doubt apple will force a stylus but if they can nail the integration and use, I'm all for this.
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Yeah, good point. They have the OS X app store of course, and maybe that does pretty well for them on the Mac? I'm not sure...but it's a real PC where you can install from anywhere which would hurt their sales at least somewhat, I guess.
Please show me where the market said that it wanted a bigger phone. All sales figures indicated the opposite.
1934hotrod
macrumors regular
About the iPad he said "if you see a stylus, they blew it". That doesn't sound like he was down for a stylus for a modern tablet.
While sales for the iPhone 5S were incredibly strong, most would agree this was despite the phone's screen size, not because of it. Now the phone is bigger, there's been an explosion of upgrades. Even if Apple do return to the one-handed-use phone market this year or next, plenty of people prefer more space for content over reachability.
The Verge's report: Apple knows customers are used to phones with screens larger than 4 inches:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/4/5571926/apple-document-shows-concern-for-iphone-sales-decline-need-for-bigger-iPhone
"Our data clearly shows that bigger is better for most consumers," the report reads.
http://www.cnet.com/news/the-world-wants-a-bigger-iphone-and-big-smartphones-in-general-surveys-say/
Even in the US - where interest in 'phablets' was relatively low, 40% of people wanted a bigger phone:
http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/mobile-devices/smartphone-buyers-want-larger-screens/d/d-id/1278766
Yahoo! Report:
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/survey-says-people-want-bigger-phones-89679157394.html
T-Mobile says 77% of its customers want a large screened phone:
http://www.slashgear.com/t-mobile-says-77-of-consumers-want-a-large-screen-phone-17238969/
'Go big or go home': http://www.technewsworld.com/story/75671.html
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Again, those were tablets running windows xp which needed a stylus to do ANYTHING because they were designed for a mouse, not a finger.
How can people not see the difference between a tool that a minority of people might use in some situations vs being forced to use a stylus for any task you want to perform.
