“Apple Pencil is the most talked about accessory to come out of Cupertino in recent memory, and rightfully so,” Mikey Campbell writes for AppleInsider. “Its classic design, packed with cutting edge technology, makes it an enticing product for digital artists and, more importantly, speaks to the future of Apple’s tablet lineup.”
“Pencil is an unassuming device, much more so than the iPad Pro to which it pairs. Crafted out of tough, white polycarbonate reminiscent of Apple’s early iPod designs, Pencil has substantial heft and feels rock solid,” Campbell writes. “There is no flex, no extraneous buttons and, save for the nib and removable end cap, no moving parts. It feels purposeful.”
“When a nib gets worn down or damaged, it can be twisted off and replaced with a fresh tip. Apple includes one backup in the package,” Campbell writes. “Along with ultra-fast response times, the Pencil-iPad Pro pairing incorporates the best palm rejection technology we’ve seen in a consumer device. Period.”
Much more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: As Steve would likely say, “It’s magical.”
SEE ALSO:
Pro photographers: A couple weeks with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil made us fall in love – December 1, 2015
PC Magazine reviews Apple Pencil: Must-have device, your iPad Pro’s go-to companion – Editors’ Choice – November 24, 2015
The Pen Addict reviews Apple Pencil: Astounding, thoroughly impressive – November 23, 2015
Jony Ive: Apple Pencil is for making marks, the finger is the interface for iOS – November 18, 2015
New Apple Pencil stock begins arriving at some U.S. Apple Retail Stores – November 17, 2015
It’s awesomely the best stylus ever!
Agreed! It is great for sketching, I like it for note taking, but what I really love is using it for vector graphics in apps that incorporate “snap to”. It is such an improvement not to have a finger in the way of observing snap points.
I am still beating the drum for MyScript to update their apps, especially keyboards, to iOS9 and the Pencil.
Using the iPad Pro and the Apple pencil with the Astropad app, make for a much better graphic input and control tablet and stylus than any Wacom product at a much lower price.
The ultimate Mac graphic input controler…
For $99 they could have included a clip or some mechanism for toting it around. Oh, that’s right. Apple wants you to buy more than one.
I’m sure there will be a third party case with a pencil holder built in, if you really want a secure place to put it. What would be totally awesome is a third party battery pack case like you see for iPhone, where the pencil holder is also a charger (optionally, depending on whether you take the cap off), with a separate compartment to put your pencil cap ( so you don’t lose that either), and a keyboard. Sounds like the ultimate case!
I didn’t get one yet, but everyone in my family knows I would like one eventually (basically, a hint for what I want for Christmas). Lol
Yup its fantastic… When i played with it at the store.
But still 3-4 weeks away . Grrrrrr
If I had an iPad Pro I wouldn’t want an Apple Pencil to go with it.
Apple Pencil is NOT a “must have”
My Adonit Jot Touch w/pixelpoint works great with the iPad Pro with all of the drawing apps it supports and palm rejection is great!
It is, also, $99 U.S.D.
There are alternatives than just the Apple Pencil if some users do not want to wait or keep visiting Apple Stores hoping there will be a paltry few in stock.
While many IPad Pro users are still waiting for their Apple Pencils to arrive and arrive in Apple Stores, en masse, I have been happily sketching, drawing and painting on my new iPad Pro with my Adonit stylus.
Works great on the iPad Pro. No issues. No complaints
Finally received the Apple Pencil today after ordering it on the day the iPad Pro was released. Received the Apple Smart Keyboard as well so it was like a mini-Christmas today. 🙂 I had tried out both a few times at the local Apple Store and liked them both but the Pencil is what I thought would be essential.
It really does feel like a pen or pencil on paper – smooth and very responsive with no lag from what I could tell, at least on the Notes app. Tried it with PDFpen to mock up some documents and that felt great too. Will try more note-taking apps and some graphics apps soon as well.
Really love the look and feel of the Apple Pencil. I suppose it can be argued that it isn’t a “must have” but it just makes the iPP so much more useful. I have the Adonit stylus as well and it’s good but not quite in the league of the Pencil.
I guess the question is, if you don’t want the pencil do you really need the Pro ?
My answer is yes. I just bought one for my dad who just turned 80 years old. He had been using iPad 2 everyday to browse Chinese websites for news and articles, but complained about having to constantly zoom in and out to view the content. The resolution on iPad Pro enhances viewing and he seems to really like it.
The simplicity of UI is a must so that eliminates desktop/laptop PCs/Macs and because he also writes emails in Chinese, iPad Pro makes even more sense for him.