Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Researching Stylus Concepts with Optical Tracking and Haptic Feedback

Dragonforce said:
The best stylus is your finger.
Click to expand...

Depends entirely on the application. Just look at the Nintendo DS, it has a lot of innovative gameplay that just wouldn't work with your fat finger instead of the stylus. A stylus is more precise and doesn't obstruct the view as much.

-----------------------------

Padraig said:
This is kind of like saying the best cutlery is your hands. Sure they're okay for eating sandwiches etc. but you wouldn't want to use them to tuck into a risotto or a steak.
Click to expand...

QFT!
 
Last edited:
Dragonforce said:
The best stylus is your finger.
Click to expand...

No it's not unless you are a cave man.

We have advanced over many hundreds of thousands of years and realised (like even some intelligent apes) that a tool can be better than our bare hand for certain tasks.

We generally only paint with our fingers with we are very young children and can't use a brush correctly yet.

Whilst a finger is good at touching buttons and swiping movements, and general positioning, a much finer tipped tool is what is needed for anything precise.
 
I really do hope Apple designs a super accurate pressure sensitive stylus that performs like the Cintiq... that would open up HUGE possibilities with artists and designers. And I'd be able to afford one ;)
 
Apple Key said:
I agree with you. But you also probably don't see many paintings made on an iPhone or iPad at an art gallery either.

Is it not enough for third-party manufacturers to make styluses for Apple's products?
Click to expand...

Sure... but I don't know that any of the currently available third party styluses incorporate pressure and angle... that's what's really missing with any writing / drawing / painting apps + stylus combo for the iPad. So this is cool research. But ya... I don't see Apple every making a stylus a required element for the user interface. Not a snowballs chance in hell of that happening. Which is as it should be.

----------
ristlin said:
We are still missing a few things, like a pile of redundant products and a hemorrhaging stock.
Click to expand...

Yup... and a company that's literally months away from bankruptcy. They say that before Steve came back Apple had maybe 6 months left. It was on it's death bed.
 
I do not quite see where the problem is.
Apple has obviously been researching the stylus concept and issuing patents since well before Steve Jobs' death.
I cannot see a stylus become reality anytime soon, but if they find a way to design one to enhance the user experience, why not?
Even Steve could despise an idea one moment and be fire and flame for it the next moment.
I do not see any reason why this would be the downfall of Apple.
 
Screw the stylus. My finger will do. They can improve upon what they have, but a stylus is just a burdon to carry, especially since they usually slide into the phone, whereas that valuble space could be used for hardware.
 
LOL at all of the idiots who made fun of the Note and it's stylus.

To move forward in fields such as academia and medicine, among others, the iPad or iDevices in general will need to support some kind of official stylus.
 
Fast forward to the following posts...

"Lots of phones and devices had styli but it was Apple that made it popular"

"Apple didn't copy Samsung and others. The newton had a stylus WAY before the Note"

"Steve jobs didn't say Apple would never make a stylus. Just like he never said they would NEVER make a screen larger than 3.5". He just said it wasn't optimal. Apple did their research back then. Anyway - that was before the iPad 7!"

And so on...
 
there is no harm done in having a stylus, as long as you don't HAVE to use it. That way everyone wins.

There are many tasks on the iPad that a stylus would come in handy with, but not so much on the iPhone. At least not for me anyway.
 
Just because Apple has invented a new stylus doesn't mean they're going to start using styluses for all their devices. Companies like Apple come up with patents all the time. There are all sorts of divisions and groups that just sit around coming up with ideas. Apple has tons of patents for all sorts of things that don't end up in products. Some things might show up years later in a brand new product category, others just sit on the shelf indefinitely.

It's like pure science in a way. You do experiments and figure things out that have no immediate practical use for anybody, but down the road somebody's glad you did it.

And hey, for all you know some manager somewhere decided to put a team on stylus technology just so they'd have some patents in their arsenal against other phone and tablet companies that are trying to differentiate from iPhones and iPads. Apple has no intention of ever using styluses, but they want to make sure nobody else uses good ones either, since Apple's got a lot of IP in touch and have clear market advantages on that playing field.
 
mrxak said:
And hey, for all you know some manager somewhere decided to put a team on stylus technology just so they'd have some patents in their arsenal against other phone and tablet companies that are trying to differentiate from iPhones and iPads. Apple has no intention of ever using styluses, but they want to make sure nobody else uses good ones either, since Apple's got a lot of IP in touch and have clear market advantages on that playing field.
Click to expand...

So you're in favor of patent lawsuits when one company never plans on using their patents and merely patented something (usually generic) as a means to litigate? Just asking. Because it sounds like you're "pro" on that
 
How do we know we won't get something like this for OSX? I mean think about it a non-x86 based OSX 10.8 device with dual touch(i.e. multi-touch and digitizer supported capacitive screen) capabilities. It would finally take away Wind'ohs and Wacom's strangle hold on the users who need digitizer/stylus support.
 
A lot of people seem to be confusing "using a stylus for its intended purpose" with "using a stylus for all input on the iPad". The latter would be a big mistake and Apple isn't stupid enough to do it. If this stylus sees the light of day, it'll be an accessory for precision work only - painting, drawing, etc.
 
I would just prefer apple to license Wacom tech

Imagine using a Wacom pen on your iPad... That would be awesome!!

Picking up a cintiq in a few weeks but I would really love mobility... Professional grade mobility
 
You know what I can't stand reading.

"Steve Jobs said this..."
"Apple said this..."

and how Apple would be going back on what they said or w/e. Their is something y'all are forgetting. Technology grows and it grows at a crazy fast pace right now. What might not had been optimal AT THE TIME (seriously y'all think how many years ago that was) can become optimal later on. It wasn't optimal for Apple to do a screen larger than 3.5" for many reasons. The larger it got the more it would had hurt the user experience AT THAT TIME, for different reasons. Same thing with the stylus. They didn't want the "touch" screen to be only touched by a stylus. They didn't want to make a device where that was the only reliable means of touching really. That was not optimal for them. Now they are looking at ways to make a stylus a TOOL to use. This is not Apple saying they were wrong, this is saying they we now see a way that a stylus can be used as a TOOL. It can be an extremly great tool for professionals and even people in college. I would use it to take notes in college. It would be so much better than the old pen and paper approach.

If this is real and becomes real, this would be a TOOL to use, not the WAY they want you to use their touch screen devices.
 
Didn't read this whole thread, but I figure a lot of people are against it.

Just like with everything, having the option isn't a bad thing. If you don't want to use it, then don't. But don't go out of your way restricting such ideas to others who could find it useful.

If I could finally replace all my notebooks/binders/etc with my iPad, then I would. Not only is it more environmentally sound, but syncing with iCloud and Dropbox means I never lose anything. Plus, it makes sharing and working with one another much easier.

I've tried a plethora of styli for my iPad, but until there exists some sort of first party solution with ubiquitous implementation in any app, I just can't replace my notebooks yet :(
 
samcraig said:
fast forward to the following posts...

"lots of phones and devices had styli but it was apple that made it popular"

"apple didn't copy samsung and others. The newton had a stylus way before the note"

"steve jobs didn't say apple would never make a stylus. Just like he never said they would never make a screen larger than 3.5". He just said it wasn't optimal. Apple did their research back then. Anyway - that was before the ipad 7!"

and so on...
Click to expand...

qft =)
 
Yeah while I don't like to keep a stylus around, I do find finger-input lacking sometime. For example, I use Adobe Sketch Pro on iPad for Logo design the other day, I basically had to use trial and error for every precision-required line. And no, i can't do this on a PC because mouse is even worse. Free hand drawing is an application where stylus can benefit tremendously.
 
KylePowers said:
Didn't read this whole thread, but I figure a lot of people are against it.

Just like with everything, having the option isn't a bad thing. If you don't want to use it, then don't. But don't go out of your way restricting such ideas to others who could find it useful.

If I could finally replace all my notebooks/binders/etc with my iPad, then I would. Not only is it more environmentally sound, but syncing with iCloud and Dropbox means I never lose anything. Plus, it makes sharing and working with one another much easier.

I've tried a plethora of styli for my iPad, but until there exists some sort of first party solution with ubiquitous implementation in any app, I just can't replace my notebooks yet :(
Click to expand...

This sentence, to me, defies logic. How does carrying a notepad make any difference when it comes to in-app interaction? Why wouldn't a proper note-taking-application replace your notebook? =)
 
twigman08 said:
You know what I can't stand reading.

"Steve Jobs said this..."
"Apple said this..."

and how Apple would be going back on what they said or w/e. Their is something y'all are forgetting. Technology grows and it grows at a crazy fast pace right now. What might not had been optimal AT THE TIME (seriously y'all think how many years ago that was) can become optimal later on. It wasn't optimal for Apple to do a screen larger than 3.5" for many reasons. The larger it got the more it would had hurt the user experience AT THAT TIME, for different reasons. Same thing with the stylus. They didn't want the "touch" screen to be only touched by a stylus. They didn't want to make a device where that was the only reliable means of touching really. That was not optimal for them. Now they are looking at ways to make a stylus a TOOL to use. This is not Apple saying they were wrong, this is saying they we now see a way that a stylus can be used as a TOOL. It can be an extremly great tool for professionals and even people in college. I would use it to take notes in college. It would be so much better than the old pen and paper approach.

If this is real and becomes real, this would be a TOOL to use, not the WAY they want you to use their touch screen devices.
Click to expand...

Apple may have blatantly gone back on a lot of things Steve touted as gospel, e.g. no video on iPod, but his complete non-acceptance of any consideration of a stylus was IMO a different case.

Annoyingly, around here everyone just jumps on whatever Apple is researching/planning/rumoured to be doing, as the Next Big Thing™ (so much harder to get that symbol in Windows, but at least I don't have to use Lion), forgetting whatever was their opinion before, 1984 styles.

I really hope this doesn't come to fruition; it is built into every facet of the vision ... and the devices. If they are trying to give the iPad some purpose (at last), maybe this will help, but it does seem a real shame.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back