iPad Pro Apple Pencil is flawless (opinion)

[bensisko]

Tried it out at the Apple Store. Loved it in OneNote!
Not sure how I feel about it in Paper - I can see myself that switching back and fourth between the Apple Pencil and the 53 Pencil (maybe). I can't WAIT to try it in SketchBook! I mainly use Sketchbook on the Surface Pro 3 - love it, but an all-iOS workflow just appeals to me so much!

 

[DaniJoy]

Check out this great review of cintiq companion, Microsoft and IPP. I have all these devices also and couldn't agree more with his review. For the reviewer, he prefers the IPP for his work flow, but points out its many flaws. And the flaws of each competitions tablet.

After finally getting my pencil I've decided I'm keeping my IPP for light mobile sketching, as this is where it excels, but the cintiq is a far better fit for my daily painting needs and still gets 90% of my time. This is an individual thing, since everyone has differing needs and workflows, so don't hate on me.

for me, The pen is far better on Wacom, it does tilt and rotation. It has More tooth on the screen, better pressure sensitivity, programable buttons, eraser, rotation, is ergonomically better, all this is found on more much powerful hardware, and uses software without limits. No other tablet can do that. any one saying the iPad pencil is flawless is either being dishonest or has not tried the other options. IPP does have less parallax. This is nice, but not a huge deal to me. Just look at the cursor.

Don't get me wrong, I love my IPP, but it does not live up to this hype for artists. If this thing had rotation pen feature, a screen with more resistance, buttons, eraser, double the ram and cpu speed, and ran professional software, I would ditch Wacom in a second. Procreate is too limited for my work.

I give the apple pencil 7.5/10 a "C" average. 7/10 for SP4, WACOM 8.75/10. If Wacom had no parallax it would be 9.5/10 for my needs.

 

[DaniJoy]

Tried it out at the Apple Store. Loved it in OneNote!
Not sure how I feel about it in Paper - I can see myself that switching back and fourth between the Apple Pencil and the 53 Pencil (maybe). I can't WAIT to try it in SketchBook! I mainly use Sketchbook on the Surface Pro 3 - love it, but an all-iOS workflow just appeals to me so much!

I cried when I downloaded sketchbook on my IPP, it lacks all the perspective guides that the desktop version has. I need those for work everyday. So bummed about iOS limits.

 

[roland.g]

In the tired specticle of the stylus scene, Apple Pencil (and the enabler, iPad Pro) is a gamechanger.

1. Quite well put in terms of experience and resulting perspective, especially considering the breadth of use of other devices prior.

2. Dude/dudette, work on the spelling. I know the interwebs is not a place for the grammar five-o, but you should work on that. Just sayin's'all.

3. The Apple Pencil may be a revelation. But the iPad Pro is really then a Pro Sketchbook or Pro Canvas. And not a Pro in much other aspect. I truly believe it should be called the iPad XL or iPad Plus except that Apple would never put XL on it, or reuse Plus. But a 'Pro' it is not. I think outside the canvas size and sketch capacity, this device is severely lacking as to Apple's capacity to innovate.

 

[archimonde]

Check out this great review of cintiq companion, Microsoft and IPP. I have all these devices also and couldn't agree more with his review. For the reviewer, he prefers the IPP for his work flow, but points out its many flaws. And the flaws of each competitions tablet.

After finally getting my pencil I've decided I'm keeping my IPP for light mobile sketching, as this is where it excels, but the cintiq is a far better fit for my daily painting needs and still gets 90% of my time. This is an individual thing, since everyone has differing needs and workflows, so don't hate on me.

for me, The pen is far better on Wacom, it does tilt and rotation. It has More tooth on the screen, better pressure sensitivity, programable buttons, eraser, rotation, is ergonomically better, all this is found on more much powerful hardware, and uses software without limits. No other tablet can do that. any one saying the iPad pencil is flawless is either being dishonest or has not tried the other options. IPP does have less parallax. This is nice, but not a huge deal to me. Just look at the cursor.

Don't get me wrong, I love my IPP, but it does not live up to this hype for artists. If this thing had rotation pen feature, a screen with more resistance, buttons, eraser, double the ram and cpu speed, and ran professional software, I would ditch Wacom in a second. Procreate is too limited for my work.

I give the apple pencil 7.5/10 a "C" average. 7/10 for SP4, WACOM 8.75/10. If Wacom had no parallax it would be 9.5/10 for my needs.

I agree with what you say but Pencil is not designed to compete with Wacom, nor is it designed for graphic artists. Rather, it is just an input device that lets you sketch on iPad and designed to deliver an effortless experience. And the beauty of Pencil is that I want to use it, not because it is superior product than a Cintiq, but because how easy it is for me to start sketching on my couch. And as a person who does a lot of random sketches, this product is 'the package deal' that could perhaps do more damage to Moleskinre than Wacom.

 

[DaniJoy]

It does offer a good simple experience, and good battery life. 8-9 hours for me today. I'm having a hard time getting good line quality in procreate with the ink pens, hopefully that will be fixed. Paint brushes seem ok. I think this really shines as a mobile sketchbook. With the pencil. Not so much for finished works. Defiantly not a cintiq killer.

Boy is the pencil slick and the screen too. Hopefully IPP 2will fix this. If I keep it, a photodon screen protector for more resistance will be mandatory.

I'm off to paint!

 

[Atomic Walrus]

Hey first post here. I'm loving my IPP getting a pencil tomorrow hopefully. I'm an artist I can't wait to put it through its paces. I have a cintiq companion 2 512 and a cintiq 27" and surface pro 4 to compare it to.

I think IPP is going to be a good mobile solution for drawing. But I'm a little concerned about the line quality issues here is a movie;

I'm optimistic this will be ironed out soon by Devs. But I'm not sure I would call it flawless.

I'll be sure to post my impressions when mine shows up.

The issue I was demonstrating in that video is a bug that a lot of 3rd party software has right now, but it's not actually a problem with the hardware. Basically developers just recently got access to the predictive input API and they're not implementing correction properly.

What you're seeing in the video is simply an interaction between their pressure change smoothing and the correction system that they didn't take into account, shouldn't be hard to fix. The issue doesn't appear in Apple's Notes app because (we'd hope) they know their own APIs really well.

It does offer a good simple experience, and good battery life. 8-9 hours for me today. I'm having a hard time getting good line quality in procreate with the ink pens, hopefully that will be fixed. Paint brushes seem ok. I think this really shines as a mobile sketchbook. With the pencil. Not so much for finished works. Defiantly not a cintiq killer.

Boy is the pencil slick and the screen too. Hopefully IPP 2will fix this. If I keep it, a photodon screen protector for more resistance will be mandatory.

I'm off to paint!

What's going on with your lines in Procreate? I had to make some adjustments to the default brushes to get the kind of pressure response I wanted, but I'm pretty happy with the inking performance (aside from the bug mentioned above, which unfortunately requires a bit of extra undo-ing when inking).

for me, The pen is far better on Wacom, it does tilt and rotation. It has More tooth on the screen, better pressure sensitivity, programable buttons, eraser, rotation, is ergonomically better, all this is found on more much powerful hardware, and uses software without limits. No other tablet can do that. any one saying the iPad pencil is flawless is either being dishonest or has not tried the other options. IPP does have less parallax. This is nice, but not a huge deal to me. Just look at the cursor

The Cintiq Companion is definitely still a better professional tool, primarily because of its grippy surface and obviously the fact that it runs real software (and can even act as a Cintiq for another computer). That hardware, though... So heavy, the size of a 15" MBP, slow AND hot AND loud, 16:9 display. It's just a terrible tablet PC compared to the Surface Pro. Hopefully Wacom will have to step it up on that front for the CC3. Imagine their digitizer in the SP4 or iPP body.

And as a person who does a lot of random sketches, this product is 'the package deal' that could perhaps do more damage to Moleskinre than Wacom.

Yeah, this is where iPP is currently a Cintiq killer. Not in the professional market, but for hobbyists who would have considered a Cintiq Companion as a simple pencil and paper replacement. I could also see professionals using this as a complement to their desktop Cintiqs instead of the heavier CC. No one's selling their 27QHD over this thing, but that doesn't have to happen for it to be successful.

 

[echo1877]

Agreed. It is a remarkable technology. I didn't expect to be that impressed but it really is amazing.

It makes every other stylus I've ever used feel like a toy.

 

[rowspaxe]

I give the apple pencil 7.5/10 a "C" average. 7/10 for SP4, WACOM 8.75/10. If Wacom had no parallax it would be 9.5/10 for my needs.

Good review. I'd add a 1/2 point to the pencil for its horizontal shade feature. The pencil is a very good product that is massively over hyped. Surface pen is good--but MS has to step it up in the next version

 

[rowspaxe]

Good review. I'd add a 1/2 point to the pencil for its horizontal shade feature. The pencil is a very good product that is massively over hyped. Surface pen is good--but MS has to step it up in the next version. Wacom somewhat over rated here--imo

 

[DaniJoy]

The issue I was demonstrating in that video is a bug that a lot of 3rd party software has right now, but it's not actually a problem with the hardware. Basically developers just recently got access to the predictive input API and they're not implementing correction properly.

What you're seeing in the video is simply an interaction between their pressure change smoothing and the correction system that they didn't take into account, shouldn't be hard to fix. The issue doesn't appear in Apple's Notes app because (we'd hope) they know their own APIs really well.



What's going on with your lines in Procreate? I had to make some adjustments to the default brushes to get the kind of pressure response I wanted, but I'm pretty happy with the inking performance (aside from the bug mentioned above, which unfortunately requires a bit of extra undo-ing when inking).

The Cintiq Companion is definitely still a better professional tool, primarily because of its grippy surface and obviously the fact that it runs real software (and can even act as a Cintiq for another computer). That hardware, though... So heavy, the size of a 15" MBP, slow AND hot AND loud, 16:9 display. It's just a terrible tablet PC compared to the Surface Pro. Hopefully Wacom will have to step it up on that front for the CC3. Imagine their digitizer in the SP4 or iPP body.

I'll keep playing with pressure, its just harder to control in certain situations. Going big to small airbrush dagger strokes is not working right now. Not a huge deal, I can adapt to other techniques. I'm just feeling less pressure control than Wacom. It's good enough though for most people.

I like 16:9 for photoshop, the extra length is better for all the panels. But for touch os is yes it sucks. If cc2 just had better battery life, I would not bother with IPP, CC2 is plenty portable and small. I've been toting it around for two years with no issues. It has a premium bag, stylus case, etc. But I am going for a pro job, so it makes sense I favor pro level tools. A little extra weight means nothing considering how much better it is. But yes, Wacom digitizer on the IPP, would make it almost ideal.

I can see IPP will sell well because more people just want simple, light, portable. And the apple hype machine makes it sound like the best thing ever. Apple is smart and goes for the sure $$$. There are tons more people who just want to sketch. But really, how many pencils, markers, and sketchbooks can u buy for $1000?

Also, it does seem like the pencil is not well thought out. No holder, that magnetic cap is annoying, charging sucks...period. Slick grip on the pencil, the tablet surface is too slick also. I think the pencil is uncomfortable, they need a more modern design that is ergonomic. Im spoiled by Wacom. A pencil is so 19th century. This might not matter to most, but I use a stylus for most of the day, every day. It needs a stand also. Tilt is nice, a bit gimmicky, but nice. Barrel Rotation and tilt would be better. Accuracy is lacking without a cursor, and there is parallax.

Also, I'm having huge issues with palm recognition not working. The pencil to touch interface is lacking, or I'm just not used to how the tablet works. It tries to paint with my palm and fingers all the time, and moves all over when I don't want it to. I'm nit picking, but giving my honest experience from a artist perspective.

 

[craggle]

Using the procreate settings you can specify touch input to be gestures only, disabling the ability to paint with your fingers.

 

[DaniJoy]

Using the procreate settings you can specify touch input to be gestures only, disabling the ability to paint with your fingers.

Thanks! Will give it a try

 

[Atomic Walrus]

I'll keep playing with pressure, its just harder to control in certain situations. Going big to small airbrush dagger strokes is not working right now. Not a huge deal, I can adapt to other techniques. I'm just feeling less pressure control than Wacom. It's good enough though for most people.

I don't think the slick surface does any favors for pressure resolution (you apply more pressure and it causes the pen to slip on the surface, compared to digging in and getting more friction on the Cintiq). I guess it's not realistic to think that anything except an art-focused tablet would go for that grippy screen texture.

I like 16:9 for photoshop, the extra length is better for all the panels. But for touch os is yes it sucks. If cc2 just had better battery life, I would not bother with IPP, CC2 is plenty portable and small. I've been toting it around for two years with no issues. It has a premium bag, stylus case, etc. But I am going for a pro job, so it makes sense I favor pro level tools. A little extra weight means nothing considering how much better it is. But yes, Wacom digitizer on the IPP, would make it almost ideal.

Well the weight problem isn't about transport so much as usability. I already have a desktop Cintiq so what I want from a portable device is something I can hold in one arm and work on, and the CC is way too heavy to fill that need comfortably. SP4 weight is the absolute limit for that style of usage (~1.75 pounds). The CC weight also doesn't really match its performance (it's not much faster than a SP4 and has way less battery life, so why is it that heavy?).

I also disagree about the aspect ratio, but obviously that's personal preference. 16:9 is definitely one of the most common complaints I hear about the device though, and while I see what you mean about the space for PS's panels it's not an optimal experience when you want to just clear the screen and draw.

My point is really just that Wacom's failed to make the sketchbook replacement a lot of people want that tablet to be, and I can see the iPP filling that niche simply because its pen input is better than the only alternative (SP4).

 

[DaniJoy]

A 3.4 ghz I7 with 16 gb of ram is slow? I realize few need the texture paining ability of cc2. But , to say 3 pounds is not useable is silly. I did it for two years. It's way easier to port around than 20 pound of oil paints and a French easil.

The digitizer is heavy. But it performs so well. It's unmatched.

I would say, IPP is too small. It's hard to hold onto, too thin and slick. I'm getting a case or something with more grip. Already dropped it once.

I took cc2 to life drawing several days a week, for a year. Drawing and painting. Hand held and with the stand No issues. Except battery life is short. These are 3hr drawing sessions. Without a stand, IPP might be less comfortable for this purpose. I'll know after next wednesday

Wacom is not a sketchbook, you are right,its a 2d/3D portable workstation for pro artists who work all day, not sketchers. That's why is comes with the stand. Its ergonomically better for long hours. Just don't say apple is better for art pen performance, because it's not. It's More practical for some people , but not for all.

Agreed it's a small niche. I have a sp4, the pen is just as good as apple, it only lacks tilt. But, Im keeping the apple, because battery life is better. And I already have a device that performs much better than both so I just want a light duty toy for content consumption, school reading, and the occasional sketch. The Sp4 goes back, but it's a better art machine ,Imo, because it runs full apps.

I really like my IPP, just calling out the hype. No device is perfect for everyone. The all have some sort of compromise. Thanks for the stimulating conversation

 

[Atomic Walrus]

But , to say 3 pounds is not useable is silly. I did it for two years. It's way easier to port around than 20 pound of oil paints and a French easil.

The digitizer is heavy. But it performs so well. It's unmatched.

That's a good point, it didn't occur to me that the digitizer itself may indeed be the weight source; It definitely has to be an incredibly tightly-packed grid to get that perfect linearity. The modern Intuos digitizers are fairly heavy on their own.

I'm still saying that 3.75 pounds makes it ergonomically poor (for me) as something I'd want to operate one-handed, and the only way they could sell me a CC at the moment is to get closer to ~2 pounds. Maybe I should have given it more time, but it was nearly twice as heavy as my SP1.

Just don't say apple is better for art pen performance, because it's not. It's More practical for some people , but not for all.

I'm not saying that at all. I have a current gen desktop Cintiq and the pen input quality remains unchallenged. Just expressing my frustration with the CC2, which I ended up returning.

Obviously we want different things out of it which isn't a problem: I want it to act as a portable sketchbook that CAN run heavy desktop software if it needs to, you want it to be a portable system for doing finished project work. In my usage I'd never be away from my desktop Cintiq unless I wanted to go to the couch or outside and sketch, which means I don't want to put it on a table or stand.

I have a sp4, the pen is just as good as apple, it only lacks tilt.

I'm still not happy with the SP4 pen's linearity. If you only use fast strokes it wouldn't be a problem, but if I like doing slow controlled strokes that really only work on the Cintiq (and to some degree the iPP). They could fix it anytime they wanted just by making a denser grid and increasing the polling rate, which is all Apple's done with their active capacitive system.

**Edit: I might have a better way of expressing what I'm getting at. If the CC is going to stay around 4 pounds then I say keep the width, increase the height, add heatsink area and maybe even let it approach 5 pounds if necessary for some extra battery. It's already 15" MBP size so go quad core with that extra cooling. Really double down on the mobile workstation angle.

And then release a separate device that's closer to the SP4, call it the Cintiq Sketch or something. Might have to lose a bit of digitizer linearity to bring the weight down, but I expect it could still be industry leading.

Basically I think the current device wants to be both of these things and suffers for it.

BTW the ratio issue for me is actually less about 16:9 and more about the edge accuracy error (narrow screen means you have a very small area before the distortion).

 

[rowspaxe]

I really like my IPP, just calling out the hype. No device is perfect for everyone. The all have some sort of compromise.

Finally a thread with some informed comments. Not to trash the ipp and pencil--just to put it in correct perspective

 

[archimonde]

A pencil is so 19th century.

I think you hit the nail. Pencil is very 19th century, almost primitive. It looks dumb, very unsophisticated.

Apple could have made Pencil very sophisticated. They could have made it matte gray like Wacom's and have ergonomic grip, added 3 buttons, eraser, included a stand and all assortments of nibs. But, Jony Ive and his team must have made hundreds of variations and prototypes of Pencil before coming to the conclusion that this current iteration is the most natural experience within the current ecosystem. I mean, it's actually pretty ballsy to have 100 prototypes in front of you and deciding that a bland white rod is the better option over a super ergonomic 3 buttoned stylus. Microsoft certainly wasn't ballsy enough and just made a 'Wacom style' stylus for Surface.

Wacom is designed specifically for a specialized industry, whereas Pencil is like designed for everyday use like Magic Mouse. So, Apple made Pencil simple and stupid. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple had made a prototype 'Magic Pencil' with touch and pressure sensitivity on the surface of Pencil to act as 'buttons'. Whether such device would ever become public is upto Apple, and they may forever only release 'dumb' Pencil just because they feel like it. Is Apple a dictator? Perhaps. But, it's not like they force us to buy their products. We buy them because we love them, and by extension, Jony Ive and his design team's decisions.

Of course, your points and comments of Pencil are all perfectly valid. But they are also issues for you because Apple didn't make the stylus that you would like. So, I highly disagree with you when you say that Pencil is not well thought out, because there are so many aspects of it both the hardware and the software that shows the amount of consideration went into it, and just because they didn't include features that a Wacom has does not make them inconsiderate but rather a different approach to the stylus saga.

 

[archimonde]

Finally a thread with some informed comments. Not to trash the ipp and pencil--just to put it in correct perspective

Ah you want to talk about perspective... Well here are my two cents that is hopefully informative.

I'm sure Jony Ive by now has designs for iPhone 8, as in, while people are trying to predict what iPhone 7 will be, to him it's already a history before it is even out. And, Pencil has been in workings of years before we ever even knew Apple was working on a stylus. (Apple had the design for iPhone 4 even before the very first iPhone was released) Most probably, the Apple design team wakes up everyday and thinks nothing but their product. So, to say that somehow we think we can come up with better design than Apple is actually hilarious, cause they are some of the sharpest design minds on earth right now while most of us have never even designed a single product. I am not saying that somehow whatever Apple makes is the correct, but design criticisms hurled at Apple are made uninformed, without any idea why it was designed that way, and what Apple has in plan for the future.

So what is the correct perspective of this hype? Apple, the greatest industrial design company in the world by revenue right now, releases their first new major input device in years, I would say since multi touch since Magic Mouse was just an iterative evolution. This means, Pencil is hear to stay, and to stay in iOS. Meaning, this stylus could be the next big thing in interface, and has the potential to shake up the industry in a way that people didn't think before: could multi/3D/touch + pencil finally be able to replace keyboard mouse combo?

Is that an exciting prospect? Hell yeah. And does Apple have a chance at it? Way more than what Wacom and Microsoft could have ever hoped to incorporate stylus as a mainstream input device. By end of the year, there could be more Apple Pencil users than the entire worldwide Wacom users. It is not to say that Apple will eat away at Wacom, no, the Wacom number may remain stable for now. Rather, it will be bought by curious people like me who are trying to see if iPad Pro and Pencil is a viable notebook alternative, not of the laptop kind, but the pen and paper kind. And if my experience of using it the first time is how others also felt, then I'd say Apple has a good headstart than Microsoft or Wacom despite being late in the game.

 

[rowspaxe]

\So what is the correct perspective of this hype? Apple, the greatest industrial design company in the world by revenue right now, releases their first new major input device in years, I would say since multi touch since Magic Mouse was just an iterative evolution. This means, Pencil is hear to stay, and to stay in iOS. Meaning, this stylus could be the next big thing in interface, and has the potential to shake up the industry in a way that people didn't think before: could multi/3D/touch + pencil finally be able to replace keyboard mouse combo?

First, could the "the greatest industrial design company in the world by revenue right now" explain that pos keyboard cover? 3D touch is massively over hyped--but the idea tht it will replace keyboard mouse is absurd.

 

[archimonde]

First, could the "the greatest industrial design company in the world by revenue right now" explain that pos keyboard cover? 3D touch is massively over hyped--but the idea tht it will replace keyboard mouse is absurd.

First, just because you don't like a product does not make it a pos. You also don't have to get something if it doesn't work for you. I was not impressed with the keyboard cover because it doesn't suit my needs, and got the Microsoft Universal Folding Keyboard which is a perfect fit for me.

Second, what makes you say the keyboard cover is a pos. What is your basis other than "Logitech does this" or "Microsoft has already done that". Other than your subjective aesthetic opinion of the product and the design, what measures are you comparing the keyboard cover against when you say it is a pos. Is it because you've seen other 'better' products that folds in 12 different configuration? As in, you've seen other examples that has more features than the keyboard cover and therefore Apple's is a pos? Don't you think Apple must have made more than just 1 friggin prototype and called it a day? What do you know of the supply chain and manufacturing process for the cover, as in, maybe they can't do certain designs because it will bring the retail cost to $300 and no one will buy it? As well, if Logitech makes a keyboard cover that you think is a better design, well isn't that why Apple allows third party accessories? because they make products they believe in and knows that not everyone believes in the same approach?

If your argument for the keyboard cover was ideological, such as "it's not the keyboard hardware that is pos, but the concept of even making a keyboard cover in the first place that is pos", then there is much to talk about, but if your 'pos' opinion is based on your presumption that somehow you can think of a better keyboard is quite an overstatement. I am not saying your opinions are not valid, but unless you are an established designer or columnist, then your supporting arguments can only be shallow, as Apple Design team probably have thought of everything you could have thought of and decided it was not worth it. When (most) people think they can design better than Apple, it's not because they are a better designer, it's because they think '"oh, I would have add this feature, made it heavier, made it thicker, added more battery, backlit keyboard, kickstand". People think just throwing in features somehow inherently make the product better, which shows the shallow depth of their understanding of designing technology/interface.

Is Apple's keyboard cover perfect fit for everyone? no.
Is it the best Apple can do? no.
Is it, therefore, a pos? no, just because something isn't the best in its category doesn't mean it is a pos. It would be a pos if it stopped working only after 1 year (which, incidentally my type cover for Surface Pro 3 died little over a year after I bought it, and because their warranty is only 1 year, they wouldn't replace it and that is what I call pos).

3D touch being hyped? Perhaps. It may be until iOS X for it to mature and be consistent across the iOS platform. I also didn't say 3D touch would replace the keyboard+mouse; I said it was the multi/3D/touch + pencil combo that could replace the keyboard and mouse.

I agree with Tim Cook when he said there is no more reason to buy a PC anymore. PC's are for current generations, but the current highschoolers may well be the last mainstream users of PC because there is absolutely zero reason why you would buy a 10 year old a full Windows 10 running machine that could have virus/malware and requires constant windows update and slew of settings one must calibrate to get the device working properly. But, there are many reasons to give them an iPad (unless you are trying make child coding prodigies). Children of this generation will grow up in the world of iOS and Android; to them, PC/Desktop may be the thing of MS DOS when I was growing up.

 

[DaniJoy]

I think you hit the nail. Pencil is very 19th century, almost primitive. It looks dumb, very unsophisticated.

Apple could have made Pencil very sophisticated. They could have made it matte gray like Wacom's and have ergonomic grip, added 3 buttons, eraser, included a stand and all assortments of nibs. But, Jony Ive and his team must have made hundreds of variations and prototypes of Pencil before coming to the conclusion that this current iteration is the most natural experience within the current ecosystem. I mean, it's actually pretty ballsy to have 100 prototypes in front of you and deciding that a bland white rod is the better option over a super ergonomic 3 buttoned stylus. Microsoft certainly wasn't ballsy enough and just made a 'Wacom style' stylus for Surface.

Wacom is designed specifically for a specialized industry, whereas Pencil is like designed for everyday use like Magic Mouse. So, Apple made Pencil simple and stupid. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple had made a prototype 'Magic Pencil' with touch and pressure sensitivity on the surface of Pencil to act as 'buttons'. Whether such device would ever become public is upto Apple, and they may forever only release 'dumb' Pencil just because they feel like it. Is Apple a dictator? Perhaps. But, it's not like they force us to buy their products. We buy them because we love them, and by extension, Jony Ive and his design team's decisions.

Of course, your points and comments of Pencil are all perfectly valid. But they are also issues for you because Apple didn't make the stylus that you would like. So, I highly disagree with you when you say that Pencil is not well thought out, because there are so many aspects of it both the hardware and the software that shows the amount of consideration went into it, and just because they didn't include features that a Wacom has does not make them inconsiderate but rather a different approach to the stylus saga.

Good point. Maybe I'm confused because it's labeled as a pro device, and is more geared for consumers. Mostly, I just want to be able to hold it comfortably for long periods of time. It lacks in this department. I Can live without eraser or and buttons, because like you mention, the IPP and its software is so limited it can't make use of more sofisticated features.

 

[DaniJoy]

That's a good point, it didn't occur to me that the digitizer itself may indeed be the weight source; It definitely has to be an incredibly tightly-packed grid to get that perfect linearity. The modern Intuos digitizers are fairly heavy on their own.

I'm still saying that 3.75 pounds makes it ergonomically poor (for me) as something I'd want to operate one-handed, and the only way they could sell me a CC at the moment is to get closer to ~2 pounds. Maybe I should have given it more time, but it was nearly twice as heavy as my SP1.



I'm not saying that at all. I have a current gen desktop Cintiq and the pen input quality remains unchallenged. Just expressing my frustration with the CC2, which I ended up returning.

Obviously we want different things out of it which isn't a problem: I want it to act as a portable sketchbook that CAN run heavy desktop software if it needs to, you want it to be a portable system for doing finished project work. In my usage I'd never be away from my desktop Cintiq unless I wanted to go to the couch or outside and sketch, which means I don't want to put it on a table or stand.



I'm still not happy with the SP4 pen's linearity. If you only use fast strokes it wouldn't be a problem, but if I like doing slow controlled strokes that really only work on the Cintiq (and to some degree the iPP). They could fix it anytime they wanted just by making a denser grid and increasing the polling rate, which is all Apple's done with their active capacitive system.

**Edit: I might have a better way of expressing what I'm getting at. If the CC is going to stay around 4 pounds then I say keep the width, increase the height, add heatsink area and maybe even let it approach 5 pounds if necessary for some extra battery. It's already 15" MBP size so go quad core with that extra cooling. Really double down on the mobile workstation angle.

And then release a separate device that's closer to the SP4, call it the Cintiq Sketch or something. Might have to lose a bit of digitizer linearity to bring the weight down, but I expect it could still be industry leading.

Basically I think the current device wants to be both of these things and suffers for it.

BTW the ratio issue for me is actually less about 16:9 and more about the edge accuracy error (narrow screen means you have a very small area before the distortion).

Good post! Different strokes for different folks! Yes my priority is one system that does it all. I hate having multiple devices.

I still think the IPP pencil and tablet are ergonomically poor also. Tablet has no grip, is slick. To thin. Pencil is slick and uncomfortable for long periods of time. Screen has no resistance. The charging cap keeps coming off in my hands while drawing. But I can see as a sketchbook, the companion would suck.

I think the aftermarket will solve some of these issues. I'll have to change my drawing habits which is tough since I'm classically trained, I hold my mark making devices like a wand, at the back.

Is edge accuracy really an issue? I have not seen it in any of my wacom's. Not sure what that means.

 

[Rogifan]

Good post! Different strokes for different folks! Yes my priority is one system that does it all. I hate having multiple devices.

I still think the IPP pencil and tablet are ergonomically poor also. Tablet has no grip, is slick. To thin. Pencil is slick and uncomfortable for long periods of time. Screen has no resistance. The charging cap keeps coming off in my hands while drawing. But I can see as a sketchbook, the companion would suck.

I think the aftermarket will solve some of these issues. I'll have to change my drawing habits which is tough since I'm classically trained, I hold my mark making devices like a wand, at the back.

Is edge accuracy really an issue? I have not seen it in any of my wacom's. Not sure what that means.

Seems like iPP is not the device for you then.

 

[DaniJoy]

Ah you want to talk about perspective... Well here are my two cents that is hopefully informative.

I'm sure Jony Ive by now has designs for iPhone 8, as in, while people are trying to predict what iPhone 7 will be, to him it's already a history before it is even out. And, Pencil has been in workings of years before we ever even knew Apple was working on a stylus. (Apple had the design for iPhone 4 even before the very first iPhone was released) Most probably, the Apple design team wakes up everyday and thinks nothing but their product. So, to say that somehow we think we can come up with better design than Apple is actually hilarious, cause they are some of the sharpest design minds on earth right now while most of us have never even designed a single product. I am not saying that somehow whatever Apple makes is the correct, but design criticisms hurled at Apple are made uninformed, without any idea why it was designed that way, and what Apple has in plan for the future.

So what is the correct perspective of this hype? Apple, the greatest industrial design company in the world by revenue right now, releases their first new major input device in years, I would say since multi touch since Magic Mouse was just an iterative evolution. This means, Pencil is hear to stay, and to stay in iOS. Meaning, this stylus could be the next big thing in interface, and has the potential to shake up the industry in a way that people didn't think before: could multi/3D/touch + pencil finally be able to replace keyboard mouse combo?

Is that an exciting prospect? Hell yeah. And does Apple have a chance at it? Way more than what Wacom and Microsoft could have ever hoped to incorporate stylus as a mainstream input device. By end of the year, there could be more Apple Pencil users than the entire worldwide Wacom users. It is not to say that Apple will eat away at Wacom, no, the Wacom number may remain stable for now. Rather, it will be bought by curious people like me who are trying to see if iPad Pro and Pencil is a viable notebook alternative, not of the laptop kind, but the pen and paper kind. And if my experience of using it the first time is how others also felt, then I'd say Apple has a good headstart than Microsoft or Wacom despite being late in the game.

Who is this Jonny u worship?

Why would anyone want this only as a notebook? Pencil and paper is still far better than digital.

Apple industrial design is beutiful but functionally poor as a sketchbook. I'm happy stylus finally came to apple. Welcom to the club boys and girls. Been doing this for 15 years on other devices. Hopefully it get better, it's pretty weak as a pencil and paper replacement. Of that's what they are going for,mother better lower the price allot. This thing costs more than a professional cintiq.

Sorry about the grammar errors,the touch interface is very cumbersome to try to edit, and I've misplaced my pencil somewhere, because some genius apple designer can't think of a way to attach the perfect pencil to the tablet.