The media, and non-Apple users, are always mystified by the zeal of the corporate giant’s ability to turn out huge numbers on seemingly small upgrades. When you think about it, how silly is it that Apple is selling a pencil for £80, and they’re sold out everywhere. Not mention, the demand is causing auction website eBay to see the new device sell for over £400.
Crazy, right?
That is, until you use it. Then you get it..or you wish you had it.
Using Apple Pencil with iPad Pro
The Apple Pencil is a stylus in word only, and built to work with the new iPad Pro. Unfortunately, it won’t work with any other iOS or desktop devices.
What Apple has done is recreate one of man’s longest used writing implements, and brought it to the 21st century. There is a reason it’s sold out. “It Just Works”.
If you’ve used a pencil before, it feels just as natural. The weight, the abilities…everything. Apply more pressure for deeper strokes in a drawing app. Tilt the pencil to shade as you would on paper. There is even just a little bit of feedback so it feels like you’re writing on a piece of paper.
While these may seem gimmicky, businesses and students have been looking for a working stylus since the advent of tablet computers from Windows. Most styluses are clunky, slow to respond and rarely produce the same results of writing with a real pen and paper.
With the Apple Pencil, I was able to sign my name on a contract, and it looked (and felt) like my signature. The one catch is that the device has a battery life of 12 hours. However, a small adapter allows you to charge the Pencil for 15 seconds in the iPad Pro Lightning Port, and get 30 minutes of battery life.
That’s just enough to sign that next purchase order, or finish your lecture notes.
