Pencil charging...extremely poor design

[aLbAn]

You just plug it in to the side of the iPad and then you have a long fragile stick just tethered to the side. Nothing can go wrong...

Seriously, this is the worse design from Apple I've ever seen.

There are USB-to-female Lightning cables for sale which would totally solve your problem. Personally, I would make myself a cup of coffee during that short charging period, so I won't be near the stylus to break it anyway...

Link to cable

 

[Night Spring]

In addition to the problem of sticking out from the side of the iPad, I've been wondering about the cap -- does anyone know if that cap can be popped on to the other end of the pencil while charging? Otherwise, many pencils are going to end up with no caps.

 

[ucfgrad93]

its actually very clever to incorporate the end of the stylus with lightning to charge, removes the need for cables - you would just need to be careful

Agreed, I like that their is nothing else to have to carry, but yeah you need to be careful when charging.

 

[HelloMikee]

I still agree with Jobs...the stylus is unnecessary and just gets in the way. The fact that it's $99 makes it even more unnecessary.

You obviously aren't a designer or illustrator

http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-displays/cintiq-27-qhd-touch

If it takes 15 seconds to charge it up for 30 minutes I'm sure a full charge won't take that long. Plug it in, take a sh*t, shower have breakfast and you're good to go.

People think way too much about the simplest crap and from someone who is saying the stylus is unnecessary, why in the world do you care? You're not forced to buy it. It's an option.

Simply. Don't. Get. It.

 

[Freyqq]

You just plug it in to the side of the iPad and then you have a long fragile stick just tethered to the side. Nothing can go wrong...

Seriously, this is the worse design from Apple I've ever seen.

It's not for long term charging. 15 seconds for 30 min of battery life.

 

[nStyle]

You obviously aren't a designer or illustrator

http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-displays/cintiq-27-qhd-touch

Ha...ok. Because I don't own a $2.8k piece of tech, I'm suddenly not a designer. Guess I should tell all my clients that.

I'm simply pointing out bad design, like it or not. Obviously this thread is riddled with my opinions. Take it or leave it. I had no intention of criticizing anyone that would buy/use the Pencil. My primary motivation was pointing out the fact that the Pencil could easily snap off if you dropped or laid the tablet down too harshly. My own use cases obviously do not reflect those of others, so I respect anyone who can see a genuine use in the Pencil. I'm just saying I wouldn't personally run out and buy one at nearly $1k when I already have plenty good enough (better?) tools for the job. I would imagine any artist for illustrator also has tools for their job/hobby already. Not saying I don't welcome options, but at almost $1k after tax it's definitely not practical for most. Granted, it makes more sense if you own an Air 2 and the Pencil will (presumably) work with it.

 

[HelloMikee]

Ha...ok. Because I don't own a $2.8k piece of tech, I'm suddenly not a designer. Guess I should tell all my clients that.

I'm simply pointing out bad design, like it or not. Obviously this thread is riddled with my opinions. Take it or leave it. I had no intention of criticizing anyone that would buy/use the Pencil. My primary motivation was pointing out the fact that the Pencil could easily snap off if you dropped or laid the tablet down too harshly. My own use cases obviously do not reflect those of others, so I respect anyone who can see a genuine use in the Pencil. I'm just saying I wouldn't personally run out and buy one at $99 when I already have plenty good enough (better?) tools for the job. I would imagine any artist or illustrator also has tools or their job/hobby already. Not saying I don't welcome options, but at almost $1k after tax it's definitely not practical for most.

I was quoting the fact you said the pencil was unnecessary... linked you to an expensive wacom product to show you that using a stylus can be quite necessary for some professionals. Throw on top of that, the fact the iPad + pen can do some pretty amazing things making this product even more optionally versatile.

 

[nStyle]

I was quoting the fact you said the pencil was unnecessary... linked you to an expensive wacom product to show you that using a stylus can be quite necessary for some professionals. Throw on top of that, the fact the iPad + pen can do some pretty amazing things making this product even more optionally versatile.

Ok...I concur.

 

[Night Spring]

Granted, it makes more sense if you own an Air 2 and the Pencil will (presumably) work with it.

I doubt the Pencil will work with any other iPad than the Pro, because I'm pretty sure there is something hardware-wise in the iPad screen that enables Pencil. I think there are other threads discussing this.

 

[nStyle]

I doubt the Pencil will work with any other iPad than the Pro, because I'm pretty sure there is something hardware-wise in the iPad screen that enables Pencil. I think there are other threads discussing this.

Yeah I just Google'd after writing that and indeed it won't work.

 

[mrex]

when using the pen the screen scanning is doubled. they reduced scanning in air2 and it caused all bt stylus were useless with air2. now they developed their own stylus and when using apple stylus the screen scanning is doubled. i wonder how it is affecting the battery life, as they needed to decrease it with air2 to get the similar battery life as previous model.. before i even think about buying it, i want to se the battery life when using stylus.. and now when they changed the screen tech again, what happens to all pens you already have bought?

 

[nStyle]

For me the Pencil basically doesn't exist then. Drawing electronically on a $1k setup is very niche considering you can't even run desktop software. It would of been nice for the Air 2 and I would of considered it.

 

[whtrbt7]

The apple pencil is an active digitizer type device. The real question is whether Wacom pens will work with the iPad pro. There still isn't a secondary or third button on the pencil so it may only be capable of doing single function and then relegating the rest of the functions to touch controls. The design of the pencil is very minimalist so it follows Apple's design aesthetics. I'm hoping as more apps get developed, this will all pan out. The charging design is either going to be complete genius or complete crap. It all depends on the people buying the product.

 

[Atomic Walrus]

The apple pencil is an active digitizer type device. The real question is whether Wacom pens will work with the iPad pro. There still isn't a secondary or third button on the pencil so it may only be capable of doing single function and then relegating the rest of the functions to touch controls. The design of the pencil is very minimalist so it follows Apple's design aesthetics. I'm hoping as more apps get developed, this will all pan out. The charging design is either going to be complete genius or complete crap. It all depends on the people buying the product.

This definitely isn't Wacom tech. Even current gen Cintiqs have way more latency than what we've seen from the Pencil videos. The powered pen suggests an "active capacitive" system (like N-trig) where the touch digitizer is shared by the pen, but the pen's signature is distinct from passive touch so you can do palm rejection. It's a proprietary system and there won't be any pen cross compatibility.

 

[BSben]

You just plug it in to the side of the iPad and then you have a long fragile stick just tethered to the side. Nothing can go wrong...

Seriously, this is the worse design from Apple I've ever seen.

WORST!!! If you are after perfection, do it without obvious mistakes.

 

[Old geek 959]

Its not out there yet. but if it charge for whats the equivalent of a day of work in less than 10 minutes. Its OK to have it stick like that. and am sure there will be plenty of chargers and adapters for it.

 

[wolfboy]

I'm sure the 15 second charge for 30 minute usage outweighs the cons, but you gotta admit this looks pretty funky.

 

[pat500000]

I wonder if someone from the apple engineer department got self-stabbed to death while charging the pencil. Maybe this guy wanted to see the monitor closer...-stabbed-

They call this, "genius?" They must fire whoever's in charge of design (ivy)...

 

[mixel]

This definitely isn't Wacom tech. Even current gen Cintiqs have way more latency than what we've seen from the Pencil videos.

Whaaa? No they don't. That's speculation and you really can't see a definitive difference from the videos at all. I can make a cintiq video right now with no visible latency in too. We can't compare the latency yet and we don't know the canvas and brush types, whether the apps are using line smoothing, etc. If you have a blank canvas and a simple brush you're not going to be seeing latency on a cintiq and a well optimised drawing app on a decent Mac. (Sketchbook pro, mischief, etc)

Although it's nice to think Apple might raise the bar here we have no solid evidence they have yet outside of people who're either biased (ex Apple employee?) or not experienced Wacom users.

 

[Macalway]

Ok, so this sucks.

I still want one. I'm just going to have to pretend this doesn't exist.

I'm sure that's what every competent person at Apple is doing

 

[0007776]

I'm not a designer so I'm not in the target market for it. My initial reaction was that it looks good but was way to expensive. However I've now seen from people who actually know what they are talking about that it is a reasonable price compared to other quality styluses so I don't think that anymore. The charging seems to be fast enough that plugging into the iPad directly isn't a bad thing. I am not likely to buy one if I get an iPad Pro, but I do think it looks pretty good if you are in the target market for it.

 

[fullauto]

Next year - slimmer iPad Pro 2 - Apple Pencil 2 with inductive charging / wireless charging and eraser end piece.

Must resist V1.. But both are pretty damn cool.

 

[Mystro]

I am getting the pencil when I get my Pro for a educational tool for my kids. My 5 & 7 year old kids will love drawing on the iPad and I am sure I will enjoy it for certain graphic applications. As mentioned above, there is certain to be a extra charging option. It's the Apple way. Owning a Apple product s like going to a 5 star hotel. There is going to be alot of side tipping and side charges for the price of admission.

 

[nStyle]

WORST!!! If you are after perfection, do it without obvious mistakes.

Ok...thanks for adding to the thread in a meaningful way.

 

[cynics]

I'm sure the 15 second charge for 30 minute usage outweighs the cons, but you gotta admit this looks pretty funky.

Someone clever could probably think up a couple jokes relating it to the Wiley Coyote or first world protest signs......