Should you buy an Apple Pencil? The trendy input device recently received an upgrade that comes with a few exciting new features. But is the pricey device worth the cost – and do you need one for what you do with your iPad?
The Apple Pencil is a revolutionary upgrade to the old-school stylus. Decades ago, some of the hottest smart devices would come with a small plastic or metal pen with a rubber tip that would allow users to make more precise and detailed inputs on a screen. The Nintendo DS was one of the first examples of a stylus appearing in a game console and it was met with a hugely positive response from gamers. However, very few devices today come with a stylus because they have become largely obsolete. On older smart devices and PDAs, putting a full keyboard on the screen meant that it would be nearly impossible to pick out individual letters with your finger as the average person’s finger is simply too big. But the Apple Pencil was created to not just bring back the stylus, but to re-define what a touchscreen input device could do that a finger couldn’t.
Instead of just being a piece of plastic with a rubber tip, the Apple Pencil is a Bluetooth device with its own battery and a number of sensors. For example, the pencil is able to detect how hard you are pressing on the screen – a critical feature for those using it for art applications. The second generation release of the Apple Pencil includes new features such as the ability to tilt it for a different input type, or double tapping on the screen to switch to eraser mode. Wireless charging was also added in the latest refresh. The Apple Pencil is not a cheap device, however, with prices ranging from $99 for the first generation device to $129 for the latest release. So do you need an Apple Pencil, and is it worth the hassles that come with it?
The Apple Pencil Is Not For Everyone
Before getting started with the Apple Pencil, you need to determine whether or not you will get any value out of it aside from the novelty. One example that Apple uses to sell the Apple Pencil is by claiming that it’s perfect for taking detailed and colorful notes in a classroom setting. We tried this out and overall found the experience to be more of a hassle than it’s worth. When taking notes in a live classroom, you need to be able to jot down your ideas as quickly as possible without needing to stop and pay attention to what you are writing on. Not only that, but making a colorful and detailed page of notes is little more than a pipe dream as the time it takes to swap colors is just not realistic. If you are a student, you are better off with paper.
The other main market segment is digital artists. Unfortunately we weren’t able to test the Apple Pencil for this to a professional level, but we found that given enough time, the Apple Pencil is capable of doing some rudimentary sketches while away from one’s main machine. For serious digital artists, they probably already have a professional digital art set up, and an iPad with an Apple Pencil is unlikely to replace that. But again, an Apple Pencil is better in a pinch than trying to make a sketch with your finger.
What about if you’re just a typical iPad user? For most iPad tasks, the Apple Pencil doesn’t offer much. We found working with some of the more detailed professional apps such as Korg Gadget while using an Apple Pencil can improve the experience somewhat, but it is largely up to user opinion. For us, we found that as most apps are designed to be used directly with fingers on the screen, the Apple Pencil is largely unnecessary given its cost. Although the Apple Pencil is in theory a good idea and definitely a revolutionary step for stylus input, your average user simply doesn’t need it.