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Hands-On With the iPad Pro Apple Pencil
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The problems with the iPad pro and pencil for me are that firstly the pencil will be rendered useless by updates - in three year's time the built-in obsolescence lag you get on all iPhones/pads will make it far from practical compared to the usual slow reactions of swipes and presses you get on the other devices. Secondly the iPad will never really be "Pro" with no accessible folder structure for storing work projects and the like, it's just too locked down for anything remotely complex.
So you can't complete a project because you can't see a /User/Jimrod/Documents/ folder? Riaghhht ok.
I appreciate this post mostly because I have zero point of reference on this subject and all I've seen here is complaints about the price. This actually uses facts and comparing and contrasting to illustrate, no pun, the place this holds in the market. It seems like Wacom, arguably the only one in the market, has done nothing to update its products.
I was under the impression that the iPad Pro has special sensors in the screen.
I thought they mentioned something about it in the keynote.
Not happy to pay 20 bucks for professional grade software? You're the problem with iOS, man.
I agree. It would be a nice accessory as the iPad Pro is also too big for me.
Be fun to use it with my Mini for quick notes or drawing.
money youve never even held one.
It's certainly the best device stylus I've ever used but I wouldn't consider it an incredible tool for artists -- it's just not accurate enough unfortunately. Great for writing notes and sketching but for full out digital art it doesn't quite fit the bill.
which, of course, is the point. the iPad Air and iPad Pro are both tablets, just as a canal and road are both places for transportation...but a car will no more work on a canal than the Pencil will on a device that wasnt built with the receivers for it.
ha! a "toy"! thats new, original, and insightful criticism right there....not at all a tired troll-trope, is it?
it's a toy if all you do is play with it. it's a real tool if that's what you use it for. tons of pros have reviewed it and said its the best digital thing theyve ever drawn with.
I really hope the next iPad is compatible with the pencil. I don't want to lug around a giant 13" tablet just to be able to draw effectively with it. Adobe's Ink never quite worked out for me on the Air 2. Does anyone know if it works well with the Mini 4?
I think at the very least they should offer a smaller, 9.7" Pro model. Faster processor and/or more RAM, Apple Pencil support, dock, make it $100-$150 more than the Air 2/3 or whatever so it's priced between.
The only thing right now that makes the iPad Pro a "Pro" device is that you have to buy a $100 stylus or $150 keyboard. And even those features are half-baked—for instance iOS still doesn't work well with keyboards. Things that you would expect to work don't. Can't even do basic stuff like scroll Safari with the arrow keys while browsing. You have to hold your hand out towards the display. Isn't that exactly why Steve Jobs said that Macs shouldn't have touch screens? All the keyboard shortcuts are very limited. I can't even tap a new tab without needing to tap inside the URL box to start typing a URL. This needs to be fixed for all iPads.
As for software there is absolutely nothing that makes the Pro any better than any other iPad. I'm glad I didn't pick this one up. I was really tempted because I've wanted to use the iPad to do heavy lifting creative stuff for years. Ironically with iOS 9 and recent app updates like Coda and Tweetbot, along with apps like Lightroom, Duet, Office and Pixelmator make my Air 2 more "Pro" than it has ever been. I just really want to use this pencil.
Here's what it boils down to for me: If you're a person who draws you want to draw on your iPad because you take it with you everywhere and it's easy to share your creations. You tote it between meetings around town, marking up thumbnail sketches or wireframes in meetings. You use it in the coffee shop. You kick back with it in the park, on the couch, in bed. Most people won't be carrying the iPad Pro with them everywhere, which makes the pencil much less useful. Right now it seems to be marketed as a Wacom Cintique replacement, which is kinda weird as that's such a niche thing and those users typically need more horsepower and better software than what the Pro provides.
The iPad Pro is just very confusing to me—especially as I consider myself the target market for such a device. I really want to like it, but it's just too big and too simple right now. I think there's potential, but there is a lot of work ahead and I'm tired of beta testing crap for Apple. I'm just done. I've done it with just about every device over the past 8 years and it's starting to burn me out. The iPhone 6 Plus was really the straw that broke my back. The slow and glitchy Apple Watch apps rubs salt in the wound. The 6s made up some ground until my phone started freezing up during the night with a burning hot home button, making me miss my alarms for work. At least the replacement is working fine and I love it otherwise. I've got the ATV4 on my Christmas list and I'm worried about the bugs I've been reading about with playback issues and general instability. Maybe I'll get an iPad Pro next year, if they make it in a reasonable size, just to get a decent drawing experience out of the iPad line. For now I'm just happy to have mostly stable devices, besides my iPad Air 2 not wanting to update apps automatically any more, hanging during the install process. It's always something!
I think at the very least they should offer a smaller, 9.7" Pro model. Faster processor and/or more RAM, Apple Pencil support, dock, make it $100-$150 more than the Air 2/3 or whatever so it's priced between.
The only thing right now that makes the iPad Pro a "Pro" device is that you have to buy a $100 stylus or $150 keyboard. And even those features are half-baked—for instance iOS still doesn't work well with keyboards. Things that you would expect to work don't. Can't even do basic stuff like scroll Safari with the arrow keys while browsing. You have to hold your hand out towards the display. Isn't that exactly why Steve Jobs said that Macs shouldn't have touch screens? All the keyboard shortcuts are very limited. I can't even tap a new tab without needing to tap inside the URL box to start typing a URL. This needs to be fixed for all iPads.
As for software there is absolutely nothing that makes the Pro any better than any other iPad. I'm glad I didn't pick this one up. I was really tempted because I've wanted to use the iPad to do heavy lifting creative stuff for years. Ironically with iOS 9 and recent app updates like Coda and Tweetbot, along with apps like Lightroom, Duet, Office and Pixelmator make my Air 2 more "Pro" than it has ever been. I just really want to use this pencil.
Here's what it boils down to for me: If you're a person who draws you want to draw on your iPad because you take it with you everywhere and it's easy to share your creations. You tote it between meetings around town, marking up thumbnail sketches or wireframes in meetings. You use it in the coffee shop. You kick back with it in the park, on the couch, in bed. Most people won't be carrying the iPad Pro with them everywhere, which makes the pencil much less useful. Right now it seems to be marketed as a Wacom Cintique replacement, which is kinda weird as that's such a niche thing and those users typically need more horsepower and better software than what the Pro provides.
The iPad Pro is just very confusing to me—especially as I consider myself the target market for such a device. I really want to like it, but it's just too big and too simple right now. I think there's potential, but there is a lot of work ahead and I'm tired of beta testing crap for Apple. I'm just done. I've done it with just about every device over the past 8 years and it's starting to burn me out. The iPhone 6 Plus was really the straw that broke my back. The slow and glitchy Apple Watch apps rubs salt in the wound. The 6s made up some ground until my phone started freezing up during the night with a burning hot home button, making me miss my alarms for work. At least the replacement is working fine and I love it otherwise. I've got the ATV4 on my Christmas list and I'm worried about the bugs I've been reading about with playback issues and general instability. Maybe I'll get an iPad Pro next year, if they make it in a reasonable size, just to get a decent drawing experience out of the iPad line. For now I'm just happy to have mostly stable devices, besides my iPad Air 2 not wanting to update apps automatically any more, hanging during the install process. It's always something!
ooh, this plus astropad makes it my dream come true. and i don't have to pay for anything because my bf is getting one and i'll just end up taking over it.
You've never used one. You couldn't have made that any more obvious.
Looking forward to get it. Though I would wish apple would consider making it available for OSX as well. Either as an app which splitscreen/mirror your mac and lets the pressure data come across, or like a tablet for OSX computers. If they did Wacom would be out of business.
You and everyone else has no idea the levels of pressure sensitivity on the Apple Pencil. But for comparison sake:
Wacom= 2048
Surface=256
AND the Apple pencil has incline detection BTW.
I wish there was a sticky to deal with this question because people keep asking it, not understanding how the iPad Pro and Pencil work together.
The answer is a definitive NO! For one thing, the refresh rate is too slow on other devices. When the pencil comes in contact with the iPad Pro, it ramps up the screen refresh rate so that you get the smooth interaction. The pencil also is not just a passive stylus. It broadcasts detailed information about its position. That's how you get the shading etc. when you put it on its side. There are many more reasons why it can't and won't work with any existing devices. Future versions of different iPad models may work, but it is not just Apple being d**** about it. It really is a hardware limitation.
Uhm, according to everything I read, including impressions from Disney and Pixar artists, the apple pen is more accurate than Wacom in all ways. And, as a professional artist myself I got to say that Wacoms precision isnt all that great, I dont even use the tilt feature and Cintiq tablets that cost more than the iPad Pro has about half a centimeter gap from the drawing surface to the screen with a nice and dim coating killing a lot of the color and contrast fidelity. So no, you are wrong!