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My (BRIEF) Experience with the Apple Pencil

Centris 650

Centris 650

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 26, 2002
576
308
Near Charleston, SC
While picking up my iPad Pro this morning I was able to play around with the Apple Pencil and I was...UNDERWHELMED for several reasons.

1) The staff didn't know much about it.
I asked if you could adjust the pressure sensitivity and 2 of the 3 reps I talked to didn't know.

2) There was NO pressure sensitivity as far as I could tell. The variation in line weight you got was based on how fast you moved the pencil. You can do that with your finger and get the same results.

I don't think the pencil is going to be like this at launch though. There might need to be a software update to get the pressure sensitivity you SHOULD get or maybe the employees just need to be trained.

If the Apple Pencil is like this at launch I will be sorely disappointed.
 
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If you were using procreate that's the default setup for most brushes because there hasn't been pressure sensitivity until now. You have to customize the brushes to enable Apple pencil pressure effects.

It's going to take a while for software to get up to speed I general, and I wonder if that's part of why there's no supply available.
 
My experience was the opposite. I loved the weight of it and was able to use it for both drawing and note taking.

My intention is primarily for notes with a secondary drawing requirement. I was impressed how well it captured my horrible handwriting.

I was not impressed they didn't have any to sell.
 
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it's was not setup right probably, and since the Apple people were clueless, the demo was not going well.
 
judahde said:
My experience was the opposite. I loved the weight of it and was able to use it for both drawing and note taking.

My intention is primarily for notes with a secondary drawing requirement. I was impressed how well it captured my horrible handwriting.

I was not impressed they didn't have any to sell.
Click to expand...

I AM SOOO GLAD you had a better experience. I bought the iPad pro to draw on and was really disappointed that I had so many problems with the demo at the Apple Store.
 
Considering Paper *just* released their update to support the Pro on November 9th, I'm guessing the store models didn't have the update. Pity they're unprepared, but I know Paper supports pressure as well as Procreate. I *think* (not sure because I don't have one) you can adjust pressure curve in Procreate as well.
 
While picking up my Pro, I tried out the Note app. The pencil is pressure sensitive. I was able to draw thick and thin lines and it wasn't speed based. Still a bit miffed that I couldn't take a pencil home with me.
 
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bryanl said:
While picking up my Pro, I tried out the Note app. The pencil is pressure sensitive. I was able to draw thick and thin lines and it wasn't speed based. Still a bit miffed that I couldn't take a pencil home with me.
Click to expand...

Can I help you sir?
No, I'm doing fine, unless you have a hacksaw I could borrow *trying to rip Pencil off display chain, has left $100 bill on counter*

Any thoughts on latency, accuracy, linearity in person? linearity just means "does the line look wobbly" when your hand isn't causing the wobble.
 
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Atomic Walrus said:
Can I help you sir?
No, I'm doing fine, unless you have a hacksaw I could borrow *trying to rip Pencil off display chain, has left $100 bill on counter*

Any thoughts on latency, accuracy, linearity in person? linearity just means "does the line look wobbly" when your hand isn't causing the wobble.
Click to expand...

The craziest part is that the Pencils were sitting in a tray and not attached to anything. I own a SurfacePro 3, and I love the stylus it comes with. The Pencil didn't have any noticeable lag. I wasn't testing it for that, but I did draw in Paper, Apple Notes, and MS OneNote. It worked like I thought it should. The pressure sensitivity also seemed to work very well. The only thing that struck me weird is that Pencil is much bigger than I thought it was going to be. It's kind of in between a #2 pencil and a kid's pencil. I'm sure I'll get used to it in short order and wonder what I did before it showed up.
 
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Atomic Walrus said:
Can I help you sir?
No, I'm doing fine, unless you have a hacksaw I could borrow *trying to rip Pencil off display chain, has left $100 bill on counter*

Any thoughts on latency, accuracy, linearity in person? linearity just means "does the line look wobbly" when your hand isn't causing the wobble.
Click to expand...

Latency was nonexistent! I should have mentioned that in my post! It's super quick qnd didn't have that feel like a surface pro where the cursor is trailing behind.


The pencil feels great. While heavier than a regular pencil, it feels like a drafting pencil.
 
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Macalway said:
it's was not setup right probably, and since the Apple people were clueless, the demo was not going well.
Click to expand...
I'll buy that explanation. I overheard one of the blue-shirts tell a customer who had his MacBook in for genius bar shenanigans, "I'm not really familiar with Macs... I actually just started here a few days ago." Granted, he was the official door-greeter/check-in guy, but holeeey...

Reminds me of Demi Moore and Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men...

Kaffee: No, no problem. I'm just not that crazy about boats, that's all.
Galloway: J---s Chr---, Kaffee, you're in the Navy for crying out loud!
 
I tested one out at my local store and it feels a lot like writing with an actual pen. I would say they made a little much of the whole pressure sensititvity (at least test driving it with the adobe apps that were loaded on the display ipad pro). I did find it to be somewhat pressure sensitive but no where near as sensitive as a true pencil. To get any noticible difference I had to puch really hard, much harder then I would every push with an actual pen on paper. OVerall the pencil was much more responsive and acurate then your average run of the mill stylus though. I also really liked the weight of the pencil.

I am a big fan of "Pencil" by FiftyThree but the apple pencil definitly has a sharper tip and is more precise (and it is not application specific, outside of FiftyThree's paper app, their pencil is just an expensive stylus).

I am still wondering how people are going to keep from loosing it though. It is the size of a regualr pencil, it has no magnetic anything to keep it attached to your ipad when not in use and it is perfectly round (so ideal for rolling off a table). I am looking forward to when they are going to be widley available.
 
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