Clever design is the five sided graphite pencil with attached rubber eraser I used to use when I was 5yrs old. Not at all prone to rolling around on a slightly inclined surface, intuitive use of an eraser opposite the pointy end and no need for over engineered weights to keep it stable. Double-tapping to get an erase function in the new pencil is a waste and a missed opportunity. Hopefully the next iteration will finesse the design to be more intuitive.
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Original Apple Pencil vs. Apple Pencil 2
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Clever design is the five sided graphite pencil with attached rubber eraser I used to use when I was 5yrs old. Not at all prone to rolling around on a slightly inclined surface, intuitive use of an eraser opposite the pointy end and no need for over engineered weights to keep it stable. Double-tapping to get an erase function in the new pencil is a waste and a missed opportunity. Hopefully the next iteration will finesse the design to be more intuitive.
I wondered about that as well. That alone seems sort of awkward. Why isn’t it flat on two sides, making it symmetrical? Or rather flat on 5 sides like a real pencil?
Yes, someone has tried it and confirms it charges, but doesn’t pair. Apple seems to have intentionally disable that ability, despite it being a part of the original programming of the iPad software.
One pairs the old Pencil the same way, plug it into a Lighting to USB-C cable. The original iPad software paired that way, so just leave the code, now enabled over USB-C. The new Pencil could easily have been made to charge on a dongle accessory. Adding a $29 charging pad to the cost of the new Pencil is a lot cheaper than a new iPad.
How so? It would charge exactly the same way as it did before only using a Lighting to USB-C cable.
Yes, but there are Lightning to USB-C cables. That’s cheap compared to buying a new Pencil, with features you may or may not need.
You mean not as profitable as requiring customers to buy new iPads? But, exactly. It could also have a pairing radio, just like the AirPods in the event Apple is using some new protocol which isn’t available in older iPads. Even at $49 it would be much cheaper than a brand new iPad.
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Oh you never know. Once Apple has sold enough new iPads, they may offer an iOS upgrade that allows it to work with an adapter to charge and pair it, just like it did on your old iPad.
Until someone demonstrates that the new Pencil uses an entirely different radio/data protocol than the old Pencil, this is going to appear as nothing more than blatant move to sell more new Pencils and iPads.
Does anyone know if the Logitech Crayon is compatible with the new iPad?
Thanks! I appreciate the answers you were able to provide. It seems some of these questions aren’t easily answered yet.
What I meant was, does turning off Bluetooth ensure the pencil is completely off (even if I turn Bluetooth back on)? On the gen 1 pencil, that was the only way to make sure the pencil battery wouldn’t drain.
Maybe if it was ALWAYS going to be attached to my iPad then I wouldn’t need extra. But it won’t be because sometimes it will fall off, sometimes I will want to use my iPad without it, sometimes I might forget to throw it in my bag. I use it for work, so I really want to avoid any situation where my pencil isn’t handy and ready to go by having multiple pencils strategically placed. But an extra pencil really needs a way to charge apart from my iPad so that it’s always ready to sketch a thought or write down notes at any given moment. If there’s no way to do that, that’s a big issue for my uses.
I had not thought about being able to charge the new Pencil away from the iPad at all. But you’re correct, that’s the same issue that currently exists, except Apple includes an adapter for that in the box. Clearly Apple no longer thinks it’s necessary to charge the new Pencil seperately from the iPad anymore. Of course, maybe there is a charging adapter coming from Apple, in which case Apple will have to intentionally block it from being supported on the older iPads. Of course maybe that’s Apples plan all along ... sell as many new iPads and Pencils as possible, then make more money later by offering cross support with both Pencils via adapters and iOS upgrades, to pull in the holdouts who aren’t going to upgrade, just like they did with the SE.
Huh? There’s a USB Port, and an Apple USB-C to Lightning cable. The Gen 1 Pencil came with an adapter to connect to that Lightning cable. Problem solved, and people are already using that method to charge it. Apple is clearly intentionally preventing the new iPads from pairing by that same method.
Firstly get off your high horse and please don't shout at me.
Now we have manners and civility orders out of the way...
It is confusing simple because you are now giving customers a choice. When ever you give customers choice, which is usually a good thing and Apple should do more of this, in this case it is not. You now have compatibility options to consider.
If I have a new iPad and an old iPad and have to buy two pencils, which sucks for one.
Apple is a big company with lots of profits but not enough staff to bring out updated ipads with support for pencil 2.
Then the choice would be simple, you buy any new iPad, you buy the single new pencil.
Better still, rather than coming out with a half baked design, why not come out with the one and only pencil.
It does highlight that Apple does get things wrong in terms of design.
Backward/forward pairing would be very nice, but at this point I just want it to charge.
I’m thinking if Apple doesn’t make a wireless charging cup or cradle or something for the new pencil, a third party will try to step up. Question is will they be able to or does it require some proprietary tech that Apple won’t license out.
Say, I wonder, has anyone tried to charge the pencil on a wireless charging pad or with the Apple Watch charger? Small chance they’ll work but someone should try. Of course, it will be hard to tell if it’s charging. You’d have to check the battery level before charging, let it try to charge for awhile, then attach it to the iPad again to see if the battery level went up.
I agree that the apple pencil 1 had a very silly way to charge. However, this was NOT the only way, nor was it my prefered choice of charging. I always used the adapter and my lightning cable to charge. I never plugged my pencil into my iPad other than to pair.
I also agree that the pencil 1 not being compagtible with the new Pro’s is atrocious. Same Latency, same pressure points, same tips. Not enough to get the upgrade money for the new Pro’s, gotta get customers to upgrade their pencil as well.
I also agree that the pencil 1 not being compagtible with the new Pro’s is atrocious. Same Latency, same pressure points, same tips. Not enough to get the upgrade money for the new Pro’s, gotta get customers to upgrade their pencil as well.
I agree 100%. This is the first year i haven't upgraded my iPad, or iPhone for that matter. I've had every version of iPhone and iPad, and i LOVE my pro and pencil but this new one and the new pencil, I mean my God...I feel like Apple is starting to rape their long time customers with these massive price increases. i'll be waiting two or more years from now on to upgrade. I make good money as well but this is getting ridiculous.
I was tired of this silly trope when it started nearly 3 years ago.
At the time, before inductive charging at this scale was technically possible, Apple had two options to charge the Pencil. 1) give it a female lightning port which would mean charging the Pencil would require your lightning cable and a charger. Pairing it would be a manual process. 2) Give it the male port. This way pairing could be automatic and it would be impossible to have both a functional iPad and a dead battery in your Pencil.
Obviously option 2 is superior, your knee-jerk reaction not-withstanding. Even if you were still somehow unhappy with this decision, EVERY Pencil included a male-to-female adapter. If you were really SO unhappy with Apple’s choice, you are free to keep that adapter connected and charge exclusively with your stand-alone cable and charging brick.
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Can we just go back pretending the apple pencil doesn't exist because its actually that irrelevant.
That’s not true, as I showed here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-pencil-2-battery-life.2153502/page-3#post-26792979
At least my gen 1 Pencil still drains battery while idle, even with Bluetooth 100% off, after being unpaired. 48 hours later there was a 21% decrease in battery.
Five-sided pencils? Really. They're fine for grade school students. The best are round.
Double-tap to erase works great, is simple, quick, fluid, and intuitive. No need to flip the pencil around.
I'd say the opposite is also infuriating; the 2018 iPad I bought last week won't support the 2nd gen. pencil. WTF?
honestly as a owner of the 2018 iPad im sad that a item released less than 8 months later is incompatible.
im not yet sold on the iPad pro/pencil usefulness but i was holding off on a pencil till the event as I've seen how horrible design it is.
(no buttons or equivalent, no eraser, and that awkward plug into lightning charge method.
apple number 2 pencil is practically exactly what i wanted.
its the 1st time I would have been ok with apple's recent dongle happy nature, unfortunately no dongle and thus no way to use it on a older device
stupid move on apple's part they could have gotten 130+50ish for a dongle out of me rather than $99 and further resentment.
at this point im hoping either a 3rd party of some kind wether it be a hacker, or or business comes up with a solution to charge it and use the pencil with the older iPads.
If that happens, within the next month and a half i'll return this 1st gen apple pencil and by the new one but I'm not holding my breath.
im not yet sold on the iPad pro/pencil usefulness but i was holding off on a pencil till the event as I've seen how horrible design it is.
(no buttons or equivalent, no eraser, and that awkward plug into lightning charge method.
apple number 2 pencil is practically exactly what i wanted.
its the 1st time I would have been ok with apple's recent dongle happy nature, unfortunately no dongle and thus no way to use it on a older device
stupid move on apple's part they could have gotten 130+50ish for a dongle out of me rather than $99 and further resentment.
at this point im hoping either a 3rd party of some kind wether it be a hacker, or or business comes up with a solution to charge it and use the pencil with the older iPads.
If that happens, within the next month and a half i'll return this 1st gen apple pencil and by the new one but I'm not holding my breath.
Yeah my gen 1 always drains a little. But I think to some extent that’s just the nature of lithium battery devices. 21% over 48 hours seems high though. Not sure mine has ever been that bad. But turning it off (via turning off Bluetooth) sure saves way more battery than leaving it on.
Since I have had both. I will say that I really like the Apple Pencil 2 rather then the first one. I just really like the tap gesture and the ability for it to stick to my iPad is a huge plus. Other then that, I really don’t see a huge difference. Others might, but to me, other then the tap gesture, its the same thing.
And taller, I think, which is odd because I took both Apple Pencil photos right from apple.com, and they are made to look identical in size for some reason.
All "lead" pencils (2H, 2B, etc.) that I ever used were hexagonal, not five-sided. Rarely, there used to be some cylindrical pencils, usually with art supply.
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The more the number of sides, the more round the pencils were, to hold easily for prolonged use, without rolling off.
Since only one side is induction capable, I wonder how else Apple could've designed the Pencil 2.
