I feel that this review--like so many others--is comparing the pencil to other ipad styluses. No problems with a happy customer review--but I feel like it lacks context of reviews that specifically consider competitive products. The pencil is a fine product--but there is nothing here that the surface pen could not have done as well. (note--i earlier stipulated the pencil as being better than the surface pen overall)
I agree that the Pencil reviews are mostly worthless. The Pencil should be compared against Wacom Penabled (SP1/2, Note, Yoga Pro, etc), N-Trig (SP4 generation) and, to a lesser degree, the current Cintiq generation (I say lesser degree only because this digitizer isn't available in a device competitive to the SP4 or iPP).
The linearity is the main distinction vs SP4. Apple's apparently built a finer digitizer grid which significantly reduces the "stair step effect" seen when you make a slower diagonal or curved stroke on active capacitive digitizer pens (SP4 included). It's more expensive to make the digitizer this accurate. MS could easily decide to do this next year, but they didn't for the SP4. The 240hz polling rate doesn't hurt either, but if you test the iPP with a "dumb" stylus you'll find that linearity is still better at 120hz than the SP4's digitizer.
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.
Yeah, the aluminum shells are too slippery. I even remember this being a big complaint when Apple went from glass to aluminum iPhone backs with the iP5. I can find a lot of reasonable ways to hold onto it because it's not very heavy, but the Apple logo is the only grippy part of the back if you just want it to rest flat on your hand.
This is hardly a good solution for a $1000 device, but I've covered the back with clear packing tape, which makes the entire back about the same as the logo. Elegance - 10, ergonomics + 5. It's technically no different from the standard plastic screen protector, except that those are a full sheet and a slightly thicker plastic (and the application involves wetting the glue). Someone like Zagg will be selling a single-sheet version of this same idea within a month.
Is edge accuracy really an issue? I have not seen it in any of my wacom's. Not sure what that means.
They've improved it a lot, at this point it's more of a linearity error in the last inch of the screen than a serious drift. So depending on your stroke speeds it may never show up (like the SP4 diagonal wobble). I've seen it slightly better or worse on different units, different edges of the same unit, different models of Cintiq, etc. It's not a big deal, but you get a larger vertical area with perfect linearity if the screen is taller.
