Original Apple Pencil vs. Apple Pencil 2

[MobiusStrip]

Sigh....I have to agree with many others that I think Apple is now getting greedy and I really do believe that it's going to come back and bite them hard in the next few years.

Combine that with the offensive degradation of the quality and usefulness of their products. The asinine emoji bar, the soldered-in drives and RAM (in glued-together computers), the POS keyboards that don't just suck from their lack of travel but cease to function altogether, the offensive and inexcusable removal of headphone jacks from media-centric devices, the embarrassing refrain of "thinner" which translates to "We're out of ideas, so we're deleting space we should be using for battery..." It goes on and on.

Jony Ive should be fired. This guy is a pompous hack with no ideas for improvement. He's the Trump of product design: With no ideas of his own, he seeks to destroy the achievements of his predecessors.

 

[arvinsim]

Apple rubbing it in our faces, Gen 1 users

 

[Plett]

Combine that with the offensive degradation of the quality and usefulness of their products. The asinine emoji bar, the soldered-in drives and RAM (in glued-together computers), the POS keyboards that don't just suck from their lack of travel but cease to function altogether, the offensive and inexcusable removal of headphone jacks from media-centric devices, the embarrassing refrain of "thinner" which translates to "We're out of ideas, so we're deleting space we should be using for battery..." It goes on and on.

Jony Ive should be fired. This guy is a pompous hack with no ideas for improvement. He's the Trump of product design: With no ideas of his own, he seeks to destroy the achievements of his predecessors.

LOL I got a kick out of this. Tim Cook is the John Scully of modern Apple. He has made it clear that quarterly earnings is what apple is interested in at the expense of the user.

 

[Marekul]

I love Apple products and have been using them since I was at college in '89 but I'm in a real bind! It's getting to the point where they are just pricing me out the market. I make a reasonably good salary, I don't have any kids so have no outgoings to consider from that respect and would say I have a pretty good disposable income compared to those with children.

I have spent a small fortune over the years on Apple products and probably owned a good 90% of the stuff they have brought out but I have concluded that I can no longer sustain at the current price levels. I understand that prices go up over the years but in the last few years, it's no longer about inflation just significant price increases by Apple themselves.

The MacBook Pro 15" for example, which is always my main machine, now costs £2700 (512GB is non negotiable, 256GB just doesn't cut it in this day and age)...we're knocking on the £3K mark and that's a huge amount of cash.

Sigh....I have to agree with many others that I think Apple is now getting greedy and I really do believe that it's going to come back and bite them hard in the next few years.

I would even pay these prices if products would have improved but we get the contrary, soldered ssds, no magsafe, Touchbar, no ports but also zero dongles included, keyboard that breaks like a butterflies wings when you touch it, products so thin they overheat and aggressively down clock... not even talking about major software and security issues...
Not going to pay a premium for that...

 

[Mascots]

I hope Microsoft port full Office to iPad - tablet Office is good but not perfect and misses a few functions desktop users at work insist on using...

If Adobe can do it for Photoshop, then surely it is possible.

The big difference is that the majority of Photoshop is written in C and can ported natively to iOS with little alteration, but the underlying language is compatible.

Many of Microsoft's projects, Office included, are written in C++ (and several other languages throughout its time and dependent on which features) - and the majority of those will not run natively on iOS without requiring a massive rewrite of not just the visual components but functional too.

Adobe has done a much better job at curtailing their legacy components as well. There are parts of Office that Microsoft has had to edit the binaries for to fix security issues because the original source didn't exist anymore.

 

[albebaubles]

$130 stylus? For a nearly $1000 sketch pad!

Hope those who buy this are able to use it for pro-work.

greed. it WILL be their downfall.

 

[cote32mt]

Its cheeper than the Wacom and works just as well I keep hearing and indeed have found myself. iPads Photoshop is really the missing piece since is so frequent that designs start on Pro Create then get transferred to desktop to be finished on Photoshop.

Why aren’t you using Affinity Photo?

 

[bobmepp]

What will happen with the next version? iPads and Pencils not compatible with anything, again, and more "New" compatible products to buy?

Also, the battery in the Pencil and AirPods - what happens when their end-of-life is reached?

Here's the thing with Apple products, at least for me: The cost is justified by the relatively long useful life. For instance, I will likely be using my late 2013 Mac Pro for another 3-4 years because of its still good performance. My iPad Pro (9.7") and Pencil v.1 are still working fine and there is no good reason to replace them. When the Pencil's battery won't hold a charge any more is probably when I might be interested in a replacement. (I'm not thrilled that the battery is not replaceable.) Same with my iPhone 6s plus: the performance remains quite good. Its condition is like new because I treat it like the expensive thing it is. I'm on my second battery, and I only plan to replace the phone when I have worn out a third battery. Apple makes all of this possible because of the long time period they allow before declaring a product obsolete. I know of no other tech company that supports products for as long as Apple does. I have other complaints about Apple, but this is one of their strong points and why they keep me as a customer. I may not be the customer that Apple wants, but I believe I am like many, many Apple customers.

 

[albebaubles]

Adobe has done a much better job at curtailing their legacy components as well. There are parts of Office that Microsoft has had to edit the binaries for to fix security issues because the original source didn't exist anymore.

I'd love read proof of this. I mean, OUCH. what developer doesn't keep source code for the future?

 

[bobmepp]

It's not like you can do a 1 to 1 comparison of the pencils alone. You have to compare the sets (iPad + Pencil). For example, I assume latency is lower simply because of a more powerful processor in the iPad.

My main problem with the old pencil is that you have either a small cap or a small lightning adaptor to keep track of. I'm amazed I have not lost either yet.

My stm case holds on to my cap magnetically, so it has helped me to avoid losing it. I too am amazed I haven't lost my Lightning adapter, and the Apple store told me that replacements aren't for sale. (Update: there's a bunch of after market caps and adapters on Amazon for not much.)

 

[Abazigal]

It's not like you can do a 1 to 1 comparison of the pencils alone. You have to compare the sets (iPad + Pencil). For example, I assume latency is lower simply because of a more powerful processor in the iPad.

My main problem with the old pencil is that you have either a small cap or a small lightning adaptor to keep track of. I'm amazed I have not lost either yet.

The cap sticks to the bezel of the iPad Pro pretty well. I place it there when I am charging my pencil and it feels pretty safe.

 

[HNfan]

What will happen with the next version? iPads and Pencils not compatible with anything, again, and more "New" compatible products to buy?

Also, the battery in the Pencil and AirPods - what happens when their end-of-life is reached?

Buy the Apple Pencil 3 for $189!

 

[MNJohn]

Alongside the new 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, Apple introduced a second-generation Apple Pencil, which is designed to work exclusively with its latest tablets.

In our latest YouTube video, we took a look at the new Apple Pencil 2 and compared it to the original Apple Pencil to highlight all of the improvements that Apple made with the second iteration of its iPad stylus.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.​

Design wise, the Apple Pencil 2 is sleeker and smaller than the original Apple Pencil because of the elimination of the Lightning connector at the top of the device.

The original Apple Pencil's Lightning connector was always a questionable design choice. It was meant to plug into the bottom of the iPad Pro, but it stuck straight out and was inconvenient at best and dangerous at worst, as an ill-timed drop could cause damage when charging.

Apple's new Apple Pencil does away with the Lightning connector all together because the device is now able to charge via a magnetic connection to the new iPad Pro models. The Apple Pencil 2 snaps right onto the new iPad Pro, which allows for pairing, charging, and storage when it's not in use.

With no Lightning connector, the new Apple Pencil is lighter and easier to hold for longer periods of time, and it has a cleaner look with no metal cap at the top.

While the first Apple Pencil was round and prone to rolling off of flat surfaces, the new Apple Pencil has a flat side for connecting to the iPad, and that flat bit also prevents it from rolling as much.

In addition to these design and function changes, the Apple Pencil 2 introduces support for gestures. With a double tap, the Apple Pencil 2 can switch between tools in apps that support the feature, which is super useful because it allows for quick changes between a pencil and an eraser.

Apple is, unfortunately, charging $30 more for its newest Apple Pencil. The second-generation device costs $130, whereas the original was priced at $100. For users who have a new iPad Pro model, the Apple Pencil 2 is the only available choice as the original Apple Pencil does not work with the new tablets.

Likewise, the second-generation Apple Pencil is compatible only with the new iPad Pro models, so you can't get one and take advantage of the new features without also having a 2018 iPad Pro.

What do you think of Apple's new second-generation Apple Pencil? Is it worth the premium over the original? Let us know in the comments.

Article Link: Original Apple Pencil vs. Apple Pencil 2

Lack of backward compatibility and forcing customers to upgrade EVERYTHING for each product cycle is is just plain crazy (and greedy!) . Apple, your craziness is causing you to lose customers and your stock is falling like a rock. WAke up!

 

[hufflematt]

I love Apple products and have been using them since I was at college in '89 but I'm in a real bind! It's getting to the point where they are just pricing me out the market. I make a reasonably good salary, I don't have any kids so have no outgoings to consider from that respect and would say I have a pretty good disposable income compared to those with children.

I have spent a small fortune over the years on Apple products and probably owned a good 90% of the stuff they have brought out but I have concluded that I can no longer sustain at the current price levels. I understand that prices go up over the years but in the last few years, it's no longer about inflation just significant price increases by Apple themselves.

The MacBook Pro 15" for example, which is always my main machine, now costs £2700 (512GB is non negotiable, 256GB just doesn't cut it in this day and age)...we're knocking on the £3K mark and that's a huge amount of cash.

Sigh....I have to agree with many others that I think Apple is now getting greedy and I really do believe that it's going to come back and bite them hard in the next few years.

100% agree. They’re killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

 

[mrr]

If both pencils worked on pro and no pro iPads thenI think the extra $30 would be well worth it but just raising the price $30 on the only pencil that you can use on the new iPad Pro seems unfair.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

What will happen with the next version? iPads and Pencils not compatible with anything, again, and more "New" compatible products to buy?

Also, the battery in the Pencil and AirPods - what happens when their end-of-life is reached?

Battery replacement is $49 for the AirPods or their charging case:

https://support.apple.com/airpods/repair/service


Battery replacement is $29 for either generation of the Apple Pencil:

https://support.apple.com/ipad/repair/service
[doublepost=1542428203][/doublepost]

Nobody really uses the Apple pencil anyway... so why write an article on it?

Citation, please?

 

[appleofmyibook]

how does it feel in hand? i love the weight of pencil 1.

It feel so much better.

I am absolutely in love with the new iPad and Pencil 2. It just makes things so much better. So much more seamless and the double tap gesture is awesome.

At first I was really annoyed that nothing was backwards compatible, but now I don’t regret spending the extra money at all. That involves the Smart Keyboard too.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Seriously, the only reason to limit compatibility is to sell new Pencils.

Please.
[doublepost=1542428912][/doublepost]

When the Pencil's battery won't hold a charge any more is probably when I might be interested in a replacement. (I'm not thrilled that the battery is not replaceable.)

But it IS:

https://support.apple.com/ipad/repair/service

Near the bottom of the page. $29 for either generation of Apple Pencil.

[doublepost=1542429288][/doublepost]

no ports

Will this meme NEVER die?!?

80 Gbps of MULTIFUNCTION I/O bandwidth in 4 USB-C/TB3 Ports, easily and cheaply expandable up to FIFTY-TWO Legacy Ports in an almost infinite number of combinations of nearly future-proof I/O.

"No Ports", my eye!
[doublepost=1542429436][/doublepost]

I'd love read proof of this. I mean, OUCH. what developer doesn't keep source code for the future?

The same "developers" that have misplaced all the original plans and process documentation for the Saturn V rocket.

Yep. We couldn't build a Saturn V booster even if the survival of the planet depended on it!
[doublepost=1542429555][/doublepost]

Buy the Apple Pencil 3 for $189!

No.

Simply REPLACE the battery for $29:

https://support.apple.com/ipad/repair/service
[doublepost=1542429699][/doublepost]

Lack of backward compatibility and forcing customers to upgrade EVERYTHING for each product cycle is is just plain crazy (and greedy!) . Apple, your craziness is causing you to lose customers and your stock is falling like a rock. WAke up!

Ok.

Name ONE other time in its over 40 year history and dozens of products, that Apple has had an accessory more costly than a cable or adapter that compatibility only lasted ONE generation?

 

[bobmepp]

Please.
[doublepost=1542428912][/doublepost]
But it IS:

https://support.apple.com/ipad/repair/service

Near the bottom of the page. $29 for either generation of Apple Pencil.

[doublepost=1542429288][/doublepost]
Will this meme NEVER die?!?

80 Gbps of MULTIFUNCTION I/O bandwidth in 4 USB-C/TB3 Ports, easily and cheaply expandable up to FIFTY-TWO Legacy Ports in an almost infinite number of combinations of nearly future-proof I/O.

"No Ports", my eye!
[doublepost=1542429436][/doublepost]
The same "developers" that have misplaced all the original plans and process documentation for the Saturn V rocket.

Yep. We couldn't build a Saturn V booster even if the survival of the planet depended on it!
[doublepost=1542429555][/doublepost]
No.

Simply REPLACE the battery for $29:

https://support.apple.com/ipad/repair/service

Thanks for that info - I am so glad to be wrong on this. This is another example of erroneous coverage of Apple in the media, because I'm sure I read somewhere that the battery was not replaceable.

 

[subjonas]

Questions I have:
- how is battery life compared to gen 1
- how long does it take for low power mode to kick in?
- is low power mode activated by lack of pencil movement or lack of screen contact? Same question for deactivation.
- how long does it take for a fully charged pencil to completely drain in low power mode?
- is charging as fast as gen 1 fast charging?
- will turning off Bluetooth on the iPad turn off the pencil as it does on gen 1?
- how do I keep an extra pencil charged and ready to go?

 

[bobmepp]

Exactly, there's no reason to prevent the old Pencil from working with the new iPads.



Yeah, but Apple has offered backward compatible adapters for plenty of other transitions. Indeed, the Gen 1 Pencil came with an adapter to charge the pencil on regular Lightning cable. So the adapter is not a problem for anyone already using an old Pencil. And there's no reason why Pairing has to work any differently over the Port. The software was already in place to permit it on the old iPad, so just leave it in place as an alternate means of pairing. And there's no need to provide instructions of what to do if software doesn't receive an instruction like a double tap. It's not like the double-tap is the only way to activate something -- if anything the double tap is an addition to supporting the original base behavior. And it wouldn't be the first time Apple had to address deficiencies in older hardware with their operating system. iOS literally has to deal with that on every single device it runs on.

Seriously, the only reason to limit compatibility is to sell new Pencils.

Likewise, there's really no reason why the New Pencil couldn't be backward compatible as well, though it's understandable why they wouldn't want to support that considering the changes.

Have you considered the possibility that inductive charging might not work with older iPads?

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

If both pencils worked on pro and no pro iPads thenI think the extra $30 would be well worth it but just raising the price $30 on the only pencil that you can use on the new iPad Pro seems unfair.

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe there is a higher parts and labor cost in the new Pencil?

Of course not.

1. Inductive charging vs. hard-connector charging. Requires more circuitry and an induction-coil in the Pencil and iPad.

2. Believe it or not, high-power magnets are NOT that cheap. And yes, to hold on well, the Apple Pencil and iPad have to have some fairly strong magnets. And to be strong and small, magnets have to be made of increasingly-expensive "rare earth" alloys.

3. Possible tariffs, since these devices are made in China (I think).


That's just a couple of the things that could easily account for a price increase.

 

[bobmepp]

Lack of backward compatibility and forcing customers to upgrade EVERYTHING for each product cycle is is just plain crazy (and greedy!) . Apple, your craziness is causing you to lose customers and your stock is falling like a rock. WAke up!

Apple supports older products better than almost any other tech company, so you don't have to upgrade if you don't want to. I don't see any evidence that Apple is losing customers or that its stock is "falling like a rock."

 

[Playfoot]

I am surprised: this is bad, even for Apple. It seems no one in the company is thinking about function....

What about the new iPad, USB-C and the necessity to carry two cables, one for iPhone and one for iPad. Now, two pencils are needed if people are collaborating between two machines.....

 

[Firebrand]

Sigh....I have to agree with many others that I think Apple is now getting greedy and I really do believe that it's going to come back and bite them hard in the next few years.

Your sentiment is an honest one. However, Apple knows what it is doing and won’t be hurt.