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Hands-On With the iPad Pro Apple Pencil

iPadCary said:
What's the reason why this won't work on all iPads?
Would an iOS 9 update fix that?
They'd sell 10x more if Apple Pencil worked with all iPads ....
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The Pencil sends messages to sensors built into the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro sends messages back. Together they determine the precise position and even the angle at which the Pencil is held relative to the tablet.

Older iPads don't have those sensors built in. No software update is going to add hardware sensors to your iPad. To use the Pencil, you must have an iPad with those sensors built in. Currently only the iPad Pro has those sensors. Maybe Apple will see fit to include the sensors in smaller iPad models in the future. They haven't said. Meanwhile, no software update can enable the Pencil to work with other iPads.
 
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doelcm82 said:
The Pencil sends messages to sensors built into the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro sends messages back. Together they determine the precise position and even the angle at which the Pencil is held relative to the tablet.

Older iPads don't have those sensors built in. No software update is going to add hardware sensors to your iPad. To use the Pencil, you must have an iPad with those sensors built in. Currently only the iPad Pro has those sensors. Maybe Apple will see fit to include the sensors in smaller iPad models in the future. They haven't said. Meanwhile, no software update can enable the Pencil to work with other iPads.
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I don't think any of this is true. The 'sensors' may not be optimised for ideal use but even that would be a slightly sketchy claim IMHO. Apple have made it so the Pencil doesn't work with older devices. Its deliberate but we don't know if its done with hw or sw or both.

It's well known the iPad Air 2 has a different touchscreen to previous versions, causing some chaos in the 3rd party stylus market. That was either to hamper/embarrass those 3rd parties prior to the Pencil launch, enhance the Air 2 to allow the Pencil to work, to degrade the Air 2 to block the Pencil, to allow Apple to misleadingly claim the Pro has an 'enhanced' touchscreen, or just to improve battery life. We may never know which.
 
The main issue with the iPad Pro is that there is no way for it to run full Photoshop or similar in any way, shape or form. You can't even connect it to a computer that does run Photoshop and use it like a Wacom Cintiq. As a Pro device, it would make sense to do that. So if you need to use Photoshop (many people), you NEED a Wacom tablet to do that. Then why would you spend money again on an iPad that does the same thing but lacks Photoshop? I would say that for everyone who uses Photoshop or a professional app with a Wacom pen will be unable to justify buying an iPad, as it would not replace their Wacom.

If the iPad Pro had a feature to be connected to a Mac and used as a Wacom tablet through a lightning cable or even wirelessly, it would save people from having to buy a Wacom, which is really expensive, and then people could afford an iPad. Right now a Wacom tablet is necessary for many pros and there is no replacement, and its price will prohibit buying anything else that's too similar. The iPad Pro could have easily been that replacement.
 
Mackinjosh said:
100 dollars....hahahahaha...to this day that joke still kills me. What a terrible product.
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1. It is in high demand, so the product cannot be that terrible.
2. It has received glowing reviews for accuracy, latency AND innovation (tilting among others).
3. It is a product for the professional market. A touch enabled screen of that size with a pressure sensitive pencil or stylus from Wacom costs more than an iPad Pro, but is not able to function without a workstation attached to it.

Your logic is severely flawed.
 
vasili4 said:
Please don't compare it to Wacom. Wacom's sensitivity is million times better, and it has pen incline detection, which really makes it a professional product. And Wacom pens start from $30, up to $70 for advanced models. Apple pencil is a toy
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The Apple Pencil also has incline detection and the build quality has been reviewed to be better than Wacom's stylii at even the higher price points.

edit: there are actual reports of users in this thread about that.
 
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baryon said:
The main issue with the iPad Pro is that there is no way for it to run full Photoshop or similar in any way, shape or form. You can't even connect it to a computer that does run Photoshop and use it like a Wacom Cintiq. As a Pro device, it would make sense to do that. So if you need to use Photoshop (many people), you NEED a Wacom tablet to do that. Then why would you spend money again on an iPad that does the same thing but lacks Photoshop? I would say that for everyone who uses Photoshop or a professional app with a Wacom pen will be unable to justify buying an iPad, as it would not replace their Wacom.

If the iPad Pro had a feature to be connected to a Mac and used as a Wacom tablet through a lightning cable or even wirelessly, it would save people from having to buy a Wacom, which is really expensive, and then people could afford an iPad. Right now a Wacom tablet is necessary for many pros and there is no replacement, and its price will prohibit buying anything else that's too similar. The iPad Pro could have easily been that replacement.
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Not everyone needs 'full Photoshop'. Not every 'professional' is a professional photoshop artist. Far fewer people need full Photoshop than use full Photoshop. Lots of Photoshop conscripts are desperate for alternatives. I've been using Photoshop for over a decade, and any chance I get to use something else, (Mari on desktop, Procreate/Sketchbook on iPad) I take it. Either for better features, or more streamlined workflows. Photoshop isn't the be-and end-all, its just the lowest common denominator, and/or the best at heavy photo manipulation. Plenty of apps are actually better at sketching, or painting, or photo processing, or other work. And of course, Photoshop is rental only.
 
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baryon said:
The main issue with the iPad Pro is that there is no way for it to run full Photoshop or similar in any way, shape or form. You can't even connect it to a computer that does run Photoshop and use it like a Wacom Cintiq. As a Pro device, it would make sense to do that. So if you need to use Photoshop (many people), you NEED a Wacom tablet to do that. Then why would you spend money again on an iPad that does the same thing but lacks Photoshop? I would say that for everyone who uses Photoshop or a professional app with a Wacom pen will be unable to justify buying an iPad, as it would not replace their Wacom.

If the iPad Pro had a feature to be connected to a Mac and used as a Wacom tablet through a lightning cable or even wirelessly, it would save people from having to buy a Wacom, which is really expensive, and then people could afford an iPad. Right now a Wacom tablet is necessary for many pros and there is no replacement, and its price will prohibit buying anything else that's too similar. The iPad Pro could have easily been that replacement.
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There is an app like this called Astropad and it's fantastic. Check out some artists using it on YouTube. It just may blow your mind :).
 
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Just a heads up as I've had the Apple Pencil since Monday, and the iPad pro since last Wednesday.

Before I received the pencil I was using the cosmonaut, and have to say that the iPad pro is a lot more accurate in tracking your finger or dumb stylus in the first place over the normal iPad (mini and air 1 from my testing)

The pencil is worth £79, I've lost count on the number of stylii I've bought over the years, and will be sticking all my wacom stuff on eBay next week as I just don't see it being used. Even my Surface Pro 3, and my Wacom Cintiq Companion will be going on there too.

The SP3 was the most accurate but the pen was fiddly, with desktop apps' interfaces being too small, and the various wacom screen always had dodgy colours up against the iPad, or were frosted, and had a massive gap between the pen tip and the screen...

The pencil is just so good... top tip though... don't let your daughter play with it and slightly unscrew the tip just a millimetre as the pencil stops working... took me 20 minutes of restarting before I realised it had been loosened!
 
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why would a developer make an app that utilizes a tool very few people will have? Its just like windows phone. the only ones who will make apps are the companies Apple incentivizes to do so. No one else will see a need to develop anything for it. Doesnt even matter how good it is. By not including it with the Pro or not allowing previous ipads to work with it they pretty much ensured it is a gimmick toy that will only benefit a few people
 
Ashf0rd said:
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.
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Professional comic artist PJ Holden disagrees with you.

PJ's a friend of mine, and says the iPad Pro plus Pencil is easily the equal as a drawing experience of a 12" Cintiq.
 
goomba478 said:
There is an app like this called Astropad and it's fantastic. Check out some artists using it on YouTube. It just may blow your mind :).
Click to expand...

That's pretty cool, and looks like they're working on iPad Pro support (with the Pencil). I guess just this one app alone can be a lifesaver!
 
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Precision Gem said:
I use Pixelmator, does everything I need from Photoshop at a fraction of the price. Has some features not found I photoshop, or are at least easier to use. Too bad they don't make it for Windows machines....
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Yeah PS is quite expensive, but it does FAR more than pixelmator for the person who needs it. I use Photoshop Elements more , which is very cheap and works nicely. You can always go free with gimp if you really need the cash as well, but not on iOS.
 
ckeck said:
I actually think the Pencil is a huge let down compared to the Surface Pro 4/Surface Book pen which sports ~1 year battery and has the eraser. There is also a button but since this is iOS I don't know if that would be useful.

Pressure sensitivity is the same I believe but I noticed that Apple has the problem of the older Surface pen which is the plastic on glass feel. The new SP4 pen has some "drag" to it which makes it feel better for writing/drawing.

Anyhow, the main thing that kills me here is the battery. How could they not pull off something more than that when a comparable (if not better) pen can go orders of magnitude longer...
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I have used both and I can say the the Apple Pencil is far superior.
 
SuperHamster said:
Dear Arndroid's Administrative Assistant;
You've misspelled your own professional title. Better fix it before your boss comes back from his juggling session and makes a salary deduction from your poor $27.25. I wouldn't put it past him, he doesn't sound like a nice chap to be working for.
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Man making 27.25 on OT while your boss sits and responds to posts on MacRumors, must be the life.
 
inhalexhale1 said:
Gotta love macrumors analogies. Please bring back the guy who compared carrying a MacBook to a 50lb bag of rice!
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Actually, it is a good analogy. A car doesn't have the necessary features to move on a canal, just like an iPad (except the Pro, of course) doesn't have the necessary hardware to receive input from the Pencil.
 
Jimrod said:
Why should I make my work more difficult? Right now I'm working on five project designs, each has a folder which contains 3DS Max, ai, Word, PDF, DXF, JPEG, Powerpoint and PNG files, my desktop computer can handle all that and all the associated programs with no problem, no fuss.

A "Pro" iPad that is essentially just a larger version of my iPad 2 would just make my work life vastly more difficult, couldn't even run half the programs I'd need to use and would have nowhere near the power required in the case of 3D rendering. It's just not very "Pro" in my eyes unless Pro means doing the odd presentation here and there.
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You can use Dropbox as a filesystem, among numerous other file system services that has an iOS extension.
 
galrito said:
You can use Dropbox as a filesystem, among numerous other file system services that has an iOS extension.
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If you enable iCloud drive on your iDevices, you get a fully navigable file system that's synched and persistent across all Apple machines using that account.
iCloud_Drive.jpg
 
galrito said:
You can use Dropbox as a filesystem, among numerous other file system services that has an iOS extension.
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You can even dump everything on your own local NAS (if you want higher performance (locally) and more privacy) and have access from in from any device at home. Having files tied to a device is a pain in the neck.

Of course, when doing compiles (or it would be kinda slow), you want your files local, but a sync directory from an outside source can work for that. The fact people are doing things across many devices makes the traditional one location way of doing things very inconvenient.
 
I happened upon an Apple Store today and I've been quite looking forward to testing this pencil. Initially I really wasn't impressed by the responsiveness in Paper 53, but I tried Apples Notes app and it feels a LOT more accurate.

I'm somewhat tempted, but the device is simply too big. I'll wait until the tech trickles down into the regular iPad.
 
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