Wacom Announces $80 'Bamboo Sketch' Stylus for Drawing and Writing on iPhone and iPad

[Duckyduckbumps]

Agree that first party solutions win, but these third party offerings fill a void and Wacom's are probably the least worst. Wacom has been losing money of late, so of course they're going to try and exploit this market until such time as Apple brings Pencil support to its full range of devices.

I bought an early pressure sensitive stylus for iPad that was crowdfunded. A valiant attempt, I knew it wasn't for me within minutes of using it.

My Cintiq Companion 2 is my only device apart from my phone and the drawing experience equals or betters Apple Pencil. But it's also heavy, noisy and has poor battery life.

Native Mac drawing tablet functionality in iOS 11 would be fantastic, but I can't see it happening when Apple is so vehemently opposed to touching macOS directly. Hope I'm proved wrong.

As for phones, the Galaxy Note line has a Wacom digitiser built in and it's very responsive. It would be great if Apple offered a smaller version of the Pencil to work with iPhone.

On a side note, IAF (Initial Activation Force) is more important for artists than pressure sensitivity.

Both Wacom EMR devices (Cintiq/Intuos/Galaxy Note) and Apple's Pencil have an IAF of about 1 gram. This is what makes them so responsive: they pick up your lightest strokes.

In contrast, the latest Surface Pen has an IAF of around 9 grams. An improvement on the last generation but still not good enough for me.

First party solutions will always win out because they designed the hardware to work together.
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If the new iPad Pro or iOS 11 update adds Mac drawing tablet functionality, as rumored, it will eat their lunch when it comes to their smaller tablets.

 

[MacSince1985]

When will companies stop wasting R&D money on these products? They will never be able to compete with the Pencil. I wish they could, but the last 7 years have shown otherwise.

Stylus predate the iPad. But until the iPad Pro and Pencil, there was no way for the stylus to communicate the pressure to the device. With a system as closed as iOS, they have to wait for Apple to add that support or build that support in the apps (which means the stylus only works with specific apps.
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In fact, if Apple wants to see a resurgence in iPad sales, it should also encompass support for all iPads, not just the Pro.

But that would also drive up the cost of entry.

 

[Nausicaa]

Maybe. Perhaps they are taking this sector more seriously with the iPad taking sales from their Cintiq line?

It doesn't matter what Wacom does on their end, the iPad Pro has extra hardware to make the Pencil experience work the way it does - high accuracy and low latency. Unless Wacom can tap into that, this thing will not perform substantially better than any other similar stylus ever released, and they don't perform well. It's an inherent limitation of utilizing the capacitive touch screen.

 

[jblagden]

Desktop support would be nice.

 

[Duckyduckbumps]

Desktop support would be nice.

Yes it would... But it goes against Apple's "no touch" policy on the Mac.

 

[spinedoc77]

Looks decent for the ip7 plus, I just hope Microsoft updates OneNote to work with it. I really really miss the Samsung note series and this may get me one step closer to that. I highly doubt Apple will ever consider bringing pencil support to the iPhone, it's apparent they draw the line at the ipad with things like pencil support, file system and multiscreen apps.

 

[Duckyduckbumps]

I don't think iPhone support for the Pencil is an impossibility, maybe with an iPhone Pro?

Looks decent for the ip7 plus, I just hope Microsoft updates OneNote to work with it. I really really miss the Samsung note series and this may get me one step closer to that. I highly doubt Apple will ever consider bringing pencil support to the iPhone, it's apparent they draw the line at the ipad with things like pencil support, file system and multiscreen apps.

 

[spinedoc77]

I don't think iPhone support for the Pencil is an impossibility, maybe with an iPhone Pro?

I think it's an impossibility with Apple's mindset. Although they did change their mind on a pen for the ipad and larger iphones so I suppose there is hope. But you can already see their mindset in not giving the iPhone many of the ipads features.

 

[Duckyduckbumps]

Well, the Galaxy Note has been a popular phone. Apple could outdo it with a smaller version of the Pencil and of course a better safety record. (Sent from my Galaxy Note 4 ;-)

Just noticed that Files is available on iPhone as well.

I think it's an impossibility with Apple's mindset. Although they did change their mind on a pen for the ipad and larger iphones so I suppose there is hope. But you can already see their mindset in not giving the iPhone many of the ipads features.

 

[acmeplus]

I received my Wacom Sketch yesterday. I spent some time last week deciding whether I would buy a 9.7" iPad + Wacom Sketch + bluetooth keyboard or justify getting a 10.5" iPad Pro + Apple Pencil + Smart Keyboard.

My initial plan was to buy the 9.7" first, try it with the Sketch and make up my mind later. Nevertheless I ended doing the opposite, buying the iPad Pro + Pencil + Smart Keyboard, but I already ordered the Sketch.

I've briefly tested the Bamboo Sketch with the 10.5" iPad Pro and with the iPhone 7+. I'm not an artist but I like to doodle and do some technical sketches from time to time. Also, I like to jot down notes on meetings but my handwriting is a challenge even for humans, so no expectations for handwriting recognition. That being said, I've used several apps to test:

• Concepts
• GoodNotes
• Sketches
• Paper
• Procreate
• Adobe Sketch
• Apple Notes

The Sketch will only work properly with apps that support Wacom styluses. All the apps above support it with the exception of Paper that only supports their Pencil app (and Apple Pencil on the iPad) and Apple Notes that only recognizes the Pencil or your finger. I ran all the tests with iOS11 on both devices.

First the good:

• The response is fairly good, latency seems to be very low and behaves close enough to the Pencil
• Pressure levels work fine
• The tip is fairly small and glides smoothly (unlike Paper Pencil or similar styluses)
• Carrying case is nice, it comes with 2 extra nibs and a USB charger

The bad:

• Pixel precision is nowhere close to the Pencil
• Parallax is evident and it takes some tries to minimize it and get it close enough. I tried drawing squares using a grid in Concepts. Most of the tests ended with a slightly off-centered square. The Pencil got them as close as paper.
• Not directly Wacom's fault, but Apple Notes won't recognize the Sketch as a stylus.
• Palm rejection is a hit and miss. I was not able to draw on a natural form as you can do with Apple Pencil
• There's no tilt support

Initial thoughts:

• If the iPad Pro price makes you think twice, you may want to get a 9.7" iPad + Wacom Bamboo Sketch. The overall cost of the tablet + pencil/stylus is $430 vs $750
• If you really want to do handwritten notes, the Pencil is a clear winner
• If you want to do precision drawings, the Pencil again wins.

I'll update my post with more comments, feel free to ask additional questions.