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Ipen Due in Today

Anyone use one of these with an iPad that's in a case? Interested in the pen, but not interested in a naked iPad...

Also, I noticed a few people speaking of input lag. You gotta keep in mind, all tablets have about a 100ms delay. It's a combination of processor speed and more importantly, capacitive screen technology. Microsoft, believe it or not, has a few prototypes of sub-1ms screen technologies-- pretty impressive but many years out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4&

So, definitely not the pen that's causing the delay. Sure, some apps are much better than others, but that 100ms delay is not something that any app can compensate for.
 
Last edited:
Alucardx03 said:
Anyone use one of these with an iPad that's in a case? Interested in the pen, but not interested in a naked iPad...

Also, I noticed a few people speaking of input lag. You gotta keep in mind, all tablets have about a 100ms delay. It's a combination of processor speed and more importantly, capacitive screen technology. Microsoft, believe it or not, has a few prototypes of sub-1ms screen technologies-- pretty impressive but many years out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4&

So, definitely not the pen that's causing the delay. Sure, some apps are much better than others, but that 100ms delay is not something that any app can compensate for.
Click to expand...



The iPen circumvents the touch screen input altogether by triangulating the position through the adaptor. So your argument about the lag of the capacitive touch screen is not relevant since the iPen is not using it.

In addition to that the iPen on the iPad1 has way more than 100ms lag anyway.

More importantly the lag of the iPen is much larger than the input by finger (that is 100ms of the touch screen + whatever the CPU/GPU needs). This shows that the lag of the iPen is a sum of the delay in the iPen/adaptor electronics + whatever the CPU/GPU needs. So there is a clear possibility to reduce the lag in software if the adaptor hardware is not the limiting issue.

Given that switching off multi gestures and switching of the guide dot speeds up the iPen considerably shows that there is a big software component in the lag. So your argument doesn't really hold.


As for the case: The iPen adaptor sticks about a mm out of the iPad. So if your case is less than a mm thick around the dock connector it could fit. I use a silicone case that can easily peeled back enough around the dock connector so that I can plug in the adaptor. Works like a charm.

All in all aside of the lag on my iPad1 I love that iPen. I will try it on the iPad3 as soon as I get the opportunity to test it an this will determine if I upgrade to the iPad3. I will also check all other note apps for the lag issue.
 
I received my iPen yesterday, still have mixed feelings about it. Not going to give up on it just yet :)
95It2.jpg
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
My iPads have been on construction sites for 330 of the past 365 days. I use a variety of stylii. No screen protector, not a single scratch.

Seriously, unless you are talking diamond dust, screen protectors are for the super OCD only. Not necessary in the least.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Screen protectors are for those who sit on planes somewhat frequently and find that the lights above and beside make watching or doing anything on your iPad a headache. The best accessory I bought for my iPad 1 was the Power Support anti-glare screen protector. It was not to "protect" my screen so much as it was a lifesaver in situations where I could not move away from certain light sources. I'd give up some slight screen quality just to avoid that.

As for this iPen, this thread makes me really want one.
 
jessica. said:
Wrong. Screen protectors are for those who sit on planes somewhat frequently and find that the lights above and beside make watching or doing anything on your iPad a headache. The best accessory I bought for my iPad 1 was the Power Support anti-glare screen protector. It was not to "protect" my screen so much as it was a lifesaver in situations where I could not move away from certain light sources. I'd give up some slight screen quality just to avoid that.

As for this iPen, this thread makes me really want one.
Click to expand...

+1 for the antiglare screen protector.

On top of that I have my iPad sometimes loose in a bag with keys or other metal stuff in there and the sreen protector got scratched but not the screen. So it can happen that you scratch the screen but then it's a tool and tools get scratched over time so I'm not to worried about that.
 
jessica. said:
Wrong. Screen protectors are for those who sit on planes somewhat frequently and find that the lights above and beside make watching or doing anything on your iPad a headache. The best accessory I bought for my iPad 1 was the Power Support anti-glare screen protector. It was not to "protect" my screen so much as it was a lifesaver in situations where I could not move away from certain light sources. I'd give up some slight screen quality just to avoid that.

As for this iPen, this thread makes me really want one.
Click to expand...

Wrong. I wear glasses with anti-glare coatings. Screen protectors actually make matters worse as its a double-filter. This is also, by the way, why I'm an adamant fan of the glossy screen on MBP's as well.

See, two can play "My unique situation makes this a universal truth." LOL

Just kidding. OK, I'll warrant there may be one use for anti-glare screen coatings. But that's a different argument than using one purely as a screen protector.
 
IPen usage improves

After a couple of days now of using the iPen on Ghostwriter I am getting more hopeful for its becoming an everyday tool on my iPad. Once you learn the tweaks and gestures it becomes quite impressive. No c- type stylus can produce the same small print and detail that it does - as I have several of them and they just can't duplicate the same functions.
 
moxier said:
After a couple of days now of using the iPen on Ghostwriter I am getting more hopeful for its becoming an everyday tool on my iPad. Once you learn the tweaks and gestures it becomes quite impressive. No c- type stylus can produce the same small print and detail that it does - as I have several of them and they just can't duplicate the same functions.
Click to expand...

Moxier, what are your impressions of the pen itself?

-Build quality?
-Cap retention?
-Ergonomics...grip, comfort during extended use, etc.

Its not winning any points as a professional looking writing instrument, but I'm less concerned about that (although I'm sure some are).

Likewise, are the electronics inside the pen cavity itself? I know one of my associates has somehow managed to fit a Bamboo stylus inside of a Mont Blanc pen cavity to make his look professional. Do you see any kind of 'hack' possible with the iPen guts?
 
Alucardx03 said:
.................................

Also, I noticed a few people speaking of input lag. You gotta keep in mind, all tablets have about a 100ms delay. It's a combination of processor speed and more importantly, capacitive screen technology. Microsoft, believe it or not, has a few prototypes of sub-1ms screen technologies-- pretty impressive but many years out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4&

So, definitely not the pen that's causing the delay. Sure, some apps are much better than others, but that 100ms delay is not something that any app can compensate for.
Click to expand...

Cregle released this statement on their Kickstarter page:

Re: delay issue

The inking delay results from either app algorithm or iPad models. iPad 2 is much powerful than iPad 1, so the inking delay will have less effect in iPad 2. We are aware of the delay issue in Ghostwriter Notes. Ghostwriter told us they will fix this issue in the coming release. If you have further questions, you can reach them at: support@majorspot.com . Their support will help you to use iPen in their app.

Every app has different inking algorithm with its pro and con. We had tested Noteshelf beta as shown in the following video. The inking delay can almost be ignored. Noteshelf iPen version will come out this month.


So there is hope that they reduce the lag. If that works well I'm a happy camper.
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
Moxier, what are your impressions of the pen itself?

-Build quality?
-Cap retention?
-Ergonomics...grip, comfort during extended use, etc.

Its not winning any points as a professional looking writing instrument, but I'm less concerned about that (although I'm sure some are).

Likewise, are the electronics inside the pen cavity itself? I know one of my associates has somehow managed to fit a Bamboo stylus inside of a Mont Blanc pen cavity to make his look professional. Do you see any kind of 'hack' possible with the iPen guts?
Click to expand...

As to the physical makeup of the iPen:
- Build quality = good but not great - the pen is totally plastic (no surprise there).
- Cap retention = pressure fit over barrel (would like more of a 'click' into place but the cap does fit over the other end making a place for it when the pen is in use.)
- Ergonomics = what one would expect from a normal lightweight pen feel. Barrel circumference is ok as is its length. Should be comfortable enough in extended use.

Once the end cap is opened to insert the two button-type batteries all that is visible are the contacts for the batteries I cannot see anything deeper than that. As to the pen head (where the tip is) I have not tried to open that end (as the paper work said not to). No doubt though the transmitter is inside that barrel.

Over all the iPen gets a 3 star (out of 5) rating from me for quality and feel.
 
This is the worst product I have bought in years.

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. You will be sorry.

It won't work, it won't calibrate, the apps that are supposed to support it DON'T, they DO NOT RESPOND TO EMAILS, they have NO TELEPHONE NUMBER, there is no way to complain to Kickstarter about them, and I have a strong feeling that I and all my friends who bought this product will never get their money back.

You need a good stylus? Buy a Pogo+ on Amazon. It's like $20 and works IN EVERY APP.

If I could find the idiot blogger who recommended this piece of garbage, I would read them the riot act.

I do not make these criticisms lightly. I buy 100s of apps and computer hardware devices every year, have my own reviewing blog, and work as an analyst for an award-winning IT dept.

Trust me...this is a product that has great packaging, but the thing DOESN'T WORK.

It's a good thing this fly-by-night company isn't in charge of the iPad 3.
 
^^ Pretty scathing comments. Moxier on another thread here gives it some pretty decent points as a first-gen product. It sounds like you have had a terrible experience with them however.

Unfortunate. I had higher hopes for them.
 
I received mine today
It is definitely all plastic but I don't see anything wrong with it
pics:





It is definitely all plastic but I don't see anything wrong with it
 
mine came
It is definitely all plastic but I don't see anything wrong with it
pics:


It is definitely all plastic but I don't see anything wrong with it
 
Last edited by a moderator:
moxier said:
Here's the link to other thread in case anyone is interested:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1339087/
Click to expand...

Thanks! Excellent thread.

Out of four or five apps that I purchased, only GhostWriter works with it so far. I shelled out $$$ for all those other apps!

The Cregle website clear leads people to believe that it works with all the apps listed. It does NOT.

Very bad business practice. And they still have not answered my emails.

Meanwhile, I discovered a far better combo for my money: Pogo+ stylus and 7notesHD Premium (built-in OCR).
 
Sandy Santra said:
Thanks! Excellent thread.

Out of four or five apps that I purchased, only GhostWriter works with it so far. I shelled out $$$ for all those other apps!

The Cregle website clear leads people to believe that it works with all the apps listed. It does NOT.

Very bad business practice. And they still have not answered my emails.

Meanwhile, I discovered a far better combo for my money: Pogo+ stylus and 7notesHD Premium (built-in OCR).
Click to expand...

Thanks Sandy, having more than one input about these things is always a plus as far as I am concerned. So yours is valuable.

Where do we find the Pogo+ and 7Notes deal?
 
note235 said:
mine came
It is definitely all plastic but I don't see anything wrong with it
pics:
[url=http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/3089/img0185ai.th.jpg]Image[/URL]
[url=http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8832/img0184vg.th.jpg]Image[/URL]
[url=http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/2944/img0183yy.th.jpg]Image[/URL]
[url=http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/779/img0182pl.th.jpg]Image[/URL]

It is definitely all plastic but I don't see anything wrong with it
Click to expand...

Well, let us know your real time experiences with the iPen once you get it going.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
moxier said:
Thanks Sandy, having more than one input about these things is always a plus as far as I am concerned. So yours is valuable.

Where do we find the Pogo+ and 7Notes deal?
Click to expand...

It's a not a "deal," per se.

The Pogo+ is a new model of the Pogo stylus. Amazon I don't think has it yet, so you have to buy it from the company: Pogo Sketch+ $14.95

7notes Premium is a simple note taking app with excellent handwriting analysis. It is available for the iPad in the iTunes Store: "Smart Writing Tool - 7Notes Premiums" — $4.99
 
Like someone else mentioned here (I think), when you write in the corners (upper and bottom ones) the calibration gets way off, unfortunately. Don't think this will be easy/possible to fix either, but I could be wrong. Maybe more calibration points can adjust it?
 
KennyM2 said:
Like someone else mentioned here (I think), when you write in the corners (upper and bottom ones) the calibration gets way off, unfortunately. Don't think this will be easy/possible to fix either, but I could be wrong. Maybe more calibration points can adjust it?
Click to expand...

The upper and lower portions of the screen (say 1/2 inch margin) seems to not track as close as it does elsewhere. Ghostwriter has only one calibration point and I think it really would help to have more.
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
[removed]

Likewise, are the electronics inside the pen cavity itself? I know one of my associates has somehow managed to fit a Bamboo stylus inside of a Mont Blanc pen cavity to make his look professional. Do you see any kind of 'hack' possible with the iPen guts?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't think it would work, not without "heavy" modification of the pen body. The Bamboo stylus is capacitive, right? The iPen relies on sending/receiving (?) data constantly, that's why the bottom 5 mm of the pen is only partially covered, and the next 5 mm is in a seethrough plastic. So unless you modify the replacement pen body so that the plastic part of the iPen fits I don't think it would work at all.

Would be fun to try out though.
 
Another iPen Update

Now after several days of using the iPen I am becoming more and more disappointed in GhostWriter ... the single calibration point is just simply not sufficient to keep the iPen tracking close enough. I wrote out the below and several times I had to stop and recalibrate the iPen. I really hope that the upcoming apps will prove better or that GhostWriter will do an update that better utilizes the iPen. To be honest... after using several styli I am disappointed that there is not a better way to do handwriting on the iPad.

--
 

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