iPad Pro Hands-on Makes the Case for Productivity Uses, Apple Pencil Is Excellent

[MacRumors]

With the launch of the iPad Pro coming up shortly, technology and education expert Fraser Speirs got some hands-on time with the device at an invitation-only event in London yesterday. Speirs has been sharing his thoughts from his one-hour session with the iPad Pro and its accessories and answering questions on Twitter, offering an interesting perspective on the user experience.

Overall, Speirs was impressed by the iPad Pro, finding it most ideal for productivity tasks in noting the device "is expansive where the Air 2 is intimate. It definitely has a 'work' feel to it, although photos/media are fantastic." Multitasking in particular is "a whole different thing" on the iPad Pro with a true feeling of "two iPads stuck together," an experience that makes it "a great device for serious work and creativity."

If you're the kind of person who uses Editorial, Keynote, Pythonista, Office, Adobe, Omni and Panic apps, you should look at iPad Pro. - Fraser Speirs (@fraserspeirs) October 23, 2015

Speirs is a bit less enthusiastic about other use cases, noting that "if you just use it to browse and Netflix" there may not be enough benefit from the iPad Pro to make it worth the increased size and weight compared to iPad Air 2. For reading, he feels "it's not a device to snuggle up with" but would be solid for reference work.

Turning to the Apple Pencil, Speirs calls it "extremely impressive" and "certainly the best iPad stylus I have used by a country mile." Palm rejection is described as "near-perfect" and the "best I have ever seen on iOS," making for a smooth experience with writing and drawing apps.

Speirs was less impressed with the Smart Keyboard, calling it "a bit fiddly" due to its size and complexity but a "decent enough" keyboard. As far as the keyboard feel, Speirs compares it most closely to Logitech's Keys-to-Go among accessories iPad users might already be familiar with.

For more of Speirs' thoughts on the iPad Pro and its accessories, check out his Twitter timeline, which is full of tidbits and other impressions.

Article Link: iPad Pro Hands-on Makes the Case for Productivity Uses, Apple Pencil Is Excellent

 

[iapplelove]

guess I'm going to have to buy the pencil day of too.

 

[zakarhino]

Please, I so hope to God we get some IDEs coming our way to the Pro soon...

 

[farewelwilliams]

Near perfect palm rejection? I'm a stickler for this, it needs to be perfect or else I'm always going to have issues while taking critical notes. Why near perfect and not perfect?

Anyone know if palm rejection is implemented by the app or if it's handled by iOS?

 

[mdridwan47]

The size is too big for me. I'll wait for the iPad Air 3.

 

[iapplelove]

The size is too big for me. I'll wait for the iPad Air 3.

Fingers crossed one comes out under the radar.

 

[pnoyblazed]

holding off on the ipad air 2 for the pro

 

[aide199]

When can you pre-order??????????????????????????????????????????????????

 

[Chrjy]

WOW...there's a bunch of insight for you, I could have told you most of those things without the need to get a hands on experience!!

 

[M5RahuL]

I wonder if we can use the pencil, and it's features, on iPad Airs ?

 

[reden]

So they put the 3D touch (which would be excellent for a larger iPad made for more productive work) on the iPhone, but not on the iPad Pro?

 

[dannys1]

Logic Pro Remote on this size screen is enough reason for mix engineers to pick one up

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Palm rejection, along with other touch features, is handled by iOS itself.

 

[flux73]

WOW...there's a bunch of insight for you, I could have told you most of those things without the need to get a hands on experience!!

But you wouldn't have any credibility.

 

[Roessnakhan]

I wonder if we can use the pencil, and it's features, on iPad Airs ?

I doubt it, at least not to the extent you can use it with the Pro.

 

[Fzang]

Ehh too expensive for something that'll be obsolete once iOS 10 is out.

 

[Count Blah]

Does it make a case for people who need to access the file system? Or run OS X apps?

 

[JXShine]

Next year, apple will release the iPad Pro 2, featuring 3D touch, 20% lighter body. But that's not it! They will release iOS 10 to make your iPad Pro 1 30% slower!

 

[Xeyad]

As an owner of a 12" Macbook, I still don't see the benefits of an iPad Pro other than the pencil. Anything else, like Office work or some Adobe photoshop, OS X is simply much better and the mouse interface is more useful than iOS and touch interfaces.

 

[Stella]

Please, I so hope to God we get some IDEs coming our way to the Pro soon...

You'd need more than IDEs if your anything more than a casual hobby developer. Certainly wouldn't be good in a work place environment. Saying that, iPad Pro would be the first iPad that may realistically be up to the task for basic development.

 

[FieldingMellish]

Give me a paper pad any day.

 

[Chrjy]

But you wouldn't have any credibility.

 

[EllieV]

For anyone interested in palm rejection apps but not an iPad pro/pencil, notability has amazing palm rejection!

 

[ghost187]

I wonder if we can use the pencil, and it's features, on iPad Airs ?

Nope

 

[farewelwilliams]

For anyone interested in palm rejection apps but not an iPad pro/pencil, notability has amazing palm rejection!

i've used many different stylus available for the current iPads and the resolution just isn't that great. sometimes the strokes weren't recognized and it became frustrating after a while.