The pencil is a must if you want to be able to take hand-written notes effectively and to a slightly lesser extent for drawing. I also find myself using it for UI navigation and general web browsing a fair amount as it allows you to click more precisely and in some situations is just more comfortable to me (and the experience doesn't feel all that different from using a traditional mouse IMO).
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Prove or Convince me why the Apple Pencil is a must with a new iPad Pro
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Can you elaborate on pencil support? My understanding is the pencil is a stylus, therefore it should function system-wide. The only real 'support' I can imagine is the pressure sensitivity, and angling of the pencil to control the thickness. But from my understanding, it works across the board generally.
I have one and I never use it (it was a gift). So if you don't have a specific app or need, I wouldn't bother.
No Pencil:
Receive form in email.
Walk to printer
Pick up
sign
scan
return to desk
Or (with pencil)
Open PDF
Sign
Or
take photo
sign
It's not a must, but that's a killer use case for me. Less paper wasted. Less stolen print jobs. Less time spent wondering: "Is, M880-East the closest printer to me, or is it M880-West?". Then finding that the printer jammed, or someone else is printing a 500 page document, etc.
Plus, drawing and screwing around with it is fun. Novelty: sure. But i haven't actually done any real art work for YEARS i until i got the pencil.
Also, in iOS 11, it will index my handwritten notes. I am constantly losing pieces of paper with notes, scribbles, etc. on them. I find it more difficult to lose my iPad. And even if i do, the notes are cloud synced. And indexed! I can search with a search box, rather than 2-3 different note-pads and loose bits of paper on my desk! Plus modification date and time automatically recorded! And they are with me wherever i go!
Sure, some of that could be alleviated or made redundant if i was less lazy about recording what I do. But I am what i am. I'm lazy when it comes to organising my life, and that's unlikely to change. I've learned to accept this. The iPad and the above pencil related features can really help me with this.
How important all that is, is up to you. But all of the above is pretty much not possible (or rather, annoying and more awkward than it needs to be) without the pencil.
I'm also a network admin/architect. So i use the pencil for sketching out network diagrams, rough maps of physical locations, etc. If you don't do that, fair enough, but for me that is another major win for the pencil for me.
Also meetings... sketching or taking notes is easier for me than using the touch keyboard. and i find it less rude if someone is writing than if they have a screen up that they are typing at. Small point, but relevant, imho.
Is it a "must-have"? No, probably not. But i do think it's something that, if you're spending the money for an iPad Pro - you may as well buy the pencil as well.
If you're NOT already in the iPad pro market and are considering say, an iPad 2017 vs. an iPad Pro + pencil, then that's a different scenario (the financial step from 2017 iPad to iPad Pro plus Pencil is HUGE). But if you already decided on a Pro, get the pencil. There's a whole slew of use cases for the Pro that you just can't do without it.
edit:
Also. If you have the Smart Keyboard, using the pencil as a pointer for the screen can sometimes be helpful to reduce the amount of time you spend with "gorilla arm" to paraphrase Steve Jobs. You can use the pencil as a finger extension somewhat. So you don't need to hold your arm "up" to point on the screen so much.
Again thought its more of a nice to have. But i do find that there are so many "nice to have" use cases that I think that (again) if you're in the iPad Pro market, you may as well spend the little bit extra on the pencil to unleash all of those "nice to haves".
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Prove or Convince sounds like too much work for this group. I think you just have to figure it out yourself depending on your needs. Personally, I like it a lot for marking up PDFs and general navigation. But I only use it maybe 20% of the time.
Yeah, but for that 20% of the time, how annoying would it be to do it via finger?
Agree though, it depends entirely on your use case. It's one of those things you might not miss at all if you don't have it or have not realised what you can do with it.
But in the context of say, the total cost of an iPad Pro (potentially plus smart keyboard or a case), the extra spend for the pencil isn't a huge amount vs the utility you get from it. But YMMV etc.
Again though, if the pencil is going to be the difference between buying a 2017 iPad or a Pro... that is a BIG increase in cost.
Did I miss the obligatory "buy it and try for 14 days then return it" post? Always impressed by the inablity of posters here to sort the simplest purchase decisions.
The Pencil has several general use cases. Any or all of these may apply to you:
1. Taking Notes (e.g. Apple Notes, Goodnotes, etc.)
2. Annotating and/or Signing documents (MS Word, Adobe Acrobat, etc.
3. Artistic pursuits (e.g. coloring or drawing apps like Linea)
4. Image adjustments and annotations (e.g., Affinity Photo, Pixelmator, Youdoodle, etc.)
For me, I use the Pencil for 1 and 2 above quite a bit. I have to sign a lot of stuff and review other people's work, so my Pencil is used quite a bit for those applications. Is the pencil a necessity? No, but it sure makes the work flow a lot easier and faster.
1. Taking Notes (e.g. Apple Notes, Goodnotes, etc.)
2. Annotating and/or Signing documents (MS Word, Adobe Acrobat, etc.
3. Artistic pursuits (e.g. coloring or drawing apps like Linea)
4. Image adjustments and annotations (e.g., Affinity Photo, Pixelmator, Youdoodle, etc.)
For me, I use the Pencil for 1 and 2 above quite a bit. I have to sign a lot of stuff and review other people's work, so my Pencil is used quite a bit for those applications. Is the pencil a necessity? No, but it sure makes the work flow a lot easier and faster.
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Dictation is likely going to be the fastest method obviously, which I use all the time. However, Depending how much experience somebody has with the Apple Pencil and the speed they can write at given the responsiveness with Promotion and reduced latency to 20ms, they can be much faster than your anticipating by stating 'Not really' Over the Keyboard.
The stylus is not a must, unless you need it, then it is.
Seriously if you have an intended usage scenario for it then get it, if not then save yourself 100 bucks
Seriously if you have an intended usage scenario for it then get it, if not then save yourself 100 bucks
Dunno about you, but i can type approx 120 words per minute.
I can't speak that fast, and certainly siri can't understand that fast either. I can't write that fast either.
Excellent thread. I am learning a lot. One question: Folks are talking about the convenience of signing PDFs, rather than printing, signing and scanning. However, using the markup function, can't you just add a signature to a PDF without an Apple Pencil.....then save and send? Perhaps, it isn't as fast as signing with the Pencil, but it is pretty fast because your signature is stored in markup so it can be reused for other document.
Possibly.
But writing with a finger sucks, i doubt i'd get anywhere close to my signature without a drawing implement aside from my finger
But yeah, not just signature. say you need to fill out a form received as PDF and sign, tick a few boxes, etc.
You can't save all that as markup. Sure you could do it all with the finger, but less convenient. And that's what it's about really: convenience.
I'd wager that if you have a Pro, the little bit extra for the pencil to go with it is definitely worth it from a convenience standpoint. You already spent 90% of the total money on the iPad Pro (and possibly more if you got a keyboard, cover, etc. e.g., i think i spent about $1500 aussie on my Pro plus pencil plus keyboard - the pencil was maybe 10% of the total or less). Without the pencil, you're just not getting the full benefit of that particular device - but you paid 90% of the money already...
But if you don't have a Pro already and the pencil is the deciding factor only... that's a totally different amount of money you're adding to go from a non-pro ipad to a pro, PLUS the pencil purely to get the pencil support. In my case it would have been something like an extra $1000... adding $1k on top just to be able to use the pencil (i.e., you don't care about the rest of the pro features, only the pencil) is a much harder sell.
Not being an artist, it simply wasn't worth the $99 spend for something that I may or may not use and that I will probably end up losing. If I could pick one up used or refurbished for ~$50, then it might be worth a shot.
https://us.m.webuy.com/product-deta...pencil-for-ipad-pro/saccapplpena#.WXda3UEpCaM
They are currently out of stock in the US online though..
If you bought your iPad to draw it's obviously a must. Otherwise it's a convenience, a toy, a dust gatherer depending on each user's experience.
I want to like my pencil -- had it for a year.
1st problem for me is Apple really did not put do much thought into helping owners keep up with it and they don't even offer any accessory to keep it attached to the iPad itself. I made a work-around with the M$ Surface pen loop but still a bit paranoid it will fall out so bit of a fail. Really a Catch-22: keep in in the drawer and never lose it but never use it or use it and probably lose it within weeks.
There are cases with pen holders but they add weight and thickness -- sometimes equal to the iPad itself. If I wanted to carry around 2+ lbs of computer I can do that with a laptop. Tablets are suppose to be light and ultra portable, right?
2nd problem for me was when I bought it there were not many "must have" apps for it. What I really want is an app that will convert my handwriting into text and clean up my doodles.
I have a new 12.9 incoming. So I will endeavor to give it another shot.
I want to like my pencil -- had it for a year.
1st problem for me is Apple really did not put do much thought into helping owners keep up with it and they don't even offer any accessory to keep it attached to the iPad itself. I made a work-around with the M$ Surface pen loop but still a bit paranoid it will fall out so bit of a fail. Really a Catch-22: keep in in the drawer and never lose it but never use it or use it and probably lose it within weeks.
There are cases with pen holders but they add weight and thickness -- sometimes equal to the iPad itself. If I wanted to carry around 2+ lbs of computer I can do that with a laptop. Tablets are suppose to be light and ultra portable, right?
2nd problem for me was when I bought it there were not many "must have" apps for it. What I really want is an app that will convert my handwriting into text and clean up my doodles.
I have a new 12.9 incoming. So I will endeavor to give it another shot.
iOS 11 will do handwriting to text, and the slip cover has a place for the pencil (and will fit with the keyboard).
But yeah, no way of attaching the pencil is a bit of a bummer... it does magnetically stick to the smart keyboard when "closed" but it doesn't stick very well. no different to the surface pro 4 though in that respect. That pen fell off all the time too.
When Siri seems to be operable and understanding dictation with deciphering, I find dictation to be extremely quick. Accuracy is not always the greatest, but annunciation also plays a role. Where as Typing on the digital keyboard is not my preference over the Apple Smart Keyboard, I am much faster with a physical keyboard.
But I look forward to testing the new Siri on iOS 11 when it launches.
God man...I can't tell you the number of times I've forced myself to try to use the Pencil more. Taking handwritten notes when I'd normally be typing or trying to draw when I have no interest in it. I really just got the Pencil because I'm an Apple fanboy and I wanted to try it when it first came out.
Typing seems far superior for my uses since it's easily searchable, there's autocorrect for my crappy spelling, I can easily read it and I can type way faster than I can write. Also...dictation! It's surprisingly good if you're in a quiet room and speaking like a normal person.
Only times I've felt the Pencil is useful is if I had to make a diagram or something. Or write down notes a certain way like math work. But that's just me forcing it again since I don't do much math.
If I was a student who hand wrote things, oh man. This thing would be a godsend. Never having to deal with paper again? But since I'm not, it doesn't really fit into my daily life very well. Typing is better. Like right now. I'm not handwriting to you I'm typing.
Typing seems far superior for my uses since it's easily searchable, there's autocorrect for my crappy spelling, I can easily read it and I can type way faster than I can write. Also...dictation! It's surprisingly good if you're in a quiet room and speaking like a normal person.
Only times I've felt the Pencil is useful is if I had to make a diagram or something. Or write down notes a certain way like math work. But that's just me forcing it again since I don't do much math.
If I was a student who hand wrote things, oh man. This thing would be a godsend. Never having to deal with paper again? But since I'm not, it doesn't really fit into my daily life very well. Typing is better. Like right now. I'm not handwriting to you I'm typing.
The magnet on the new pen with the 2017 Surface Pro is much stronger. I've thrown it in my backpack traveling and it didn't come off.