Apple Pencil Could be Getting a Lot More Interesting!

Two generations of Apple Pencil have gone by, each with their own set of gizmos. Which I might add have impressed us. But apparently Apple is not done yet with their Apple pencil. News is that the latest in the line- up could be getting a lot more interesting. In a latest patent filed by Apple we get to see what we can expect from Apple pencil 3.0- Just a name given.

New Patent and All we can expect from the - to – be - Apple Pencil: 

A new patent discovered by the one and only Apple Insider details how the next Apple Pencil will come. Apparently we’ll be seeing a lot more gestures with the new Gadget than its second gen counterpart. In the 2nd version of the Apple pencil we merely had a double tap input scenario going on but this time around that input range will get a lot more wider.

An example of things to come is a touch sensitive panel found on the side of the pencil which will allow the user to slide up and down to scroll through web pages.

The whole idea in making an Apple pencil with a lot more range if I may, is that normally when a user is holding a stylus or some other sort of writing impetus they are kinda limited by what they can do. To overcome this limitation Apple has decided to introduce a new and improved Apple pencil with more gesture capabilities.

Newer Ways of Making the Apple Pencil More Interesting? 

Another method as outlined by the patent, to make the Apple pencil more interesting is by allowing the user to roll the stylus or pencil in their hands to control something on screen.

There is also mention of a camera on the stylus in the patent that could probably help it in understanding what it is writing on and such. A little AI here and there wouldn’t be so bad eh!

However this is something that Apple has had in the wood works for some time now. So it is unclear whether it will make an appearance anytime soon.

Things of the Past…

Taking cue from previous patents Apple has also included support for other Apple devices. The so mentioned devices include the Apple TV and Apple Watch. But then again these are things of past mention as well. So who knows if they’ll be making an appearance in the Apple Pencil 3.0

As with all patents by all tech companies there is no surety when or even if these gadgets and gizmos will ever make it to any production belt, let alone any market. Tech companies keep patenting stuff that will never see the light of day. But one can only hope that the next Apple Pencil we see will have all that is expected and more.

A little side note- Apple’s pencils are some of the more advanced stylus’ out there. At present the latest of them comes with a double gesture tap system that we hope will get better.

Apple Pencil 2 Latest Rumours: Release Date and New Features

Apple Pencil – Best Tablet Stylus

The stylus of Apple for the iPad Pro known as the Apple Pencil is presently perhaps the best tablet stylus in the world. Many are keen on knowing what the design team of Sir Jony Ive tends to come up with, when the Apple Pencil 2 will eventually be unveiled.

The present Apple Pencil can be purchased on Apple’s Store for £99. Rumours have been circulating regarding the new Apple Pencil that the same would be released during the WWDC 2017 in June though it had been decided by Apple to bring the software updates to the stylus and would be made available to the public somewhere in September when iOS 11 would be released.

 However, they are available in beta for the developers presently and a public beta programme shortly. The new features comprise of Instant Markup that will enable the user to utilise your Apple Pencil to rapidly draw or make notes on PDFS, screenshots and much more. One could just pick the Pencil and touch the same to the screen. Moreover, one could also tap your Apple Pencil to the Lock Screen of the iPad Pro to start taking notes within the Notes app, immediately.

Document Scanner in Notes

Inline Drawing enables the user to draw or write in Notes while mechanically touching any text out of the way, above or below the drawing and this is said to work in Mail app also. Lastly, the new Document Scanner in Notes enables the user to scan the document and instantly sign or fill it with the help of the Apple Pencil.

Apple had also announced the new iPads during WWDC 2017 comprising of a new 10.5in model and details regarding the iPad is made available in their best iPad buying guide. In September 2015, the first Apple Pencil had been revealed together with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro in order that the apparent time to expect an update would be in autumn 2016.

However no updates came forth to the Apple Pencil. Since the software updates have been publicised, there is a possibility that we will not see an Apple Pencil 2 this year at all or most probably early 2018 together with the annual iPad refresh. There is some impetus which has been building around the rumour that the next Apple Pencil together with the next iPad Pro would be capable of attaching to each other utilising magnets.

Extending Range of Application

It is evident that this would be quite suitable than the present state of affairs, wherein the Pencil would roll off and be lost on the floor. To support this theory, the latest report from Letemsvetemapplem has cited `information directly from suppliers in China’ tends to claim that `in accordance with the patent which Apple had attained last year in September, the user would be in a position to attach a pencil to iPad with the magnet like the original Apple iPad Smart Case covers the display.

A site which is in Czech claims that the Apple Pencil 2 would be having a small clip similar to a traditional pen which means that one can clip the Pencil to your pocket though it seems probably like a simple solution to the problem of the impeccably round pencil rolling across desks and not remain in a particular place. Presently, it is very much unclear though some suggest that Apple is aiming on extending the range of application with optimised support from the Apple Pencil.

Back End of Apple Pencil – An Eraser

A Chinese-language site, Wei Feng, had already quoted in the release date segment that `the so-called Apple Pencil 2 will have what kind of characteristics? As per the supply chain, the answer was `compatible with a large number of applications’.

An Apple Patent 9,329,703 filed in 2011 and published on 3 May 2016 tends to describe an `intelligent stylus’ where the individual nib has its own sensor that seems to pair with a separate sensor in the body of the stylus. The patent’s detailed description reads ` The stylus 110 can include multiple sensors to provide information regarding its condition, where the sensors can be selectively used alone or in various combinations.

 The ability to provide information beyond simply touch input information, particularly information about the stylus’s condition that the stylus determines itself, gives this stylus,intelligence absent from a traditional stylus’.Referring to patent 9,329,703, Apple has mentioned the possibility of turning the back end of the Apple Pencil into an eraser.

Another patent of Apple initially filed in Q4 2014 though published in February 2017, has revealed plans for an Apple pencil with various touch and force sensors along the body of the device. The sensors could be utilised for touch gestures with the device and also when the Pencils is being rotated. Moreover it could also detect how the amount of pressure being utilised in controlling the scrolling or zooming or using pinching as a means of picking up and move on-screen objects.

Apple Pencil Gets a Twisty Torture Test

Apple Pencil – Concern Due to Awkward Position while Charging

The Apple Pencil could be a smart piece of technology though one thing that several people have been speculating is how susceptible it could be at the time of charging. At first glance, it tends to stick out of the iPad Pro which does not seem to be a clever idea. It has sparked some concern due to its awkward position while being charged. The Pencils placed into the power port on the iPad Pro, sticks out from there, open to the world where anyone passing could bump into it.

However, it looks like Apple had given it a though and there is a pivot mechanism within the connector created to take the strain should the pencil be knocked. Zach Straley, video blogger, tried his utmost in breaking it putting it through a gradual torture tests, ramping and though he eventually succeeded, he had to work hard in doing so.

Torture test is an evaluation of the ability of an item to endure extreme condition and such types of test can be conducted by product manufacturers, reviewers as well as end users. A torture test usually focuses the element to various severe trials which surpasses anything it would probably encounter in the real world practice.

Sporting an Unintentional Angle

Straley started off with an unboxing and a quick demonstration on the working of the Pencil and began with some wiggling, followed by more rigorous twists and tugs.

At one stage of time he could hear it cracking as he picked the iPad up using the Pencil as a lever, The Pencil had the tendency of popping out of the port when pressure was applied. Moreover it also performed some gymnastics when tugged from side to side.

Straley states that it is like they have created a hinge within the pencil in order that it would actually bend. The torture test processes to a set-up wherein the Pencil extends in the air when the iPad is placed on the table and this high tech writing device tends to end up sporting an unintentional angle. This means that one would have to take care while charging the Pencil.

Implemented for Marking/Drawing/Sketching/Taking Notes

Tim Cook and Jony Ive have been debating that the Pencil seems to be much more than a stylus even if the others may have to wait for some time to find out. The Apple Pencil is not intended to be utilised as a stylus which acts as a replacement for the finger.

 Ive is of the opinion that the design makes it clear that the Pencil could be implemented specially for marking, drawing, sketching and taking notes. He informed that the Pencil is a natural extension, in some ways of Apple’s iOS progress and the multi-touch user interface needs only fingers for operating and making it instinctive. However, assured activities such as drawing or sketching could be accomplished better with a tradition type factor tools.

There seems to be a familiar history of torture test for tech objects. Apple Watch had been subjected to drowning; boiling as well as dropping earlier in the year which makes the Apple Pencil’s trials to be a bit tame.

Hands on- iPad Pro with Apple Pencil

Apple Pencil for Pressure Sensitive Drawing/Painting

The new big screen iPad Pro of Apple has been expected for some time and bears some resemblances to the present products in the market. The iPad Pro introduced at the media event recently is a 12.9-inch screen with the potential of running two apps alongside each other without either of them getting cramped.

The iPad Pro weighs 1.54 pounds and is much bigger and can be held easily. Its screen is amazing and at 2732x2048 resolutions, it has 5.6 million pixels and the short side has several pixels as the longer side of an iPad mini. The Apple Pencil is not a stylus and is not focused at pointing and tapping things which one can reach, but is for pressure sensitive drawing and painting in app as Apple’s own Notes app or as complex and professional as the demonstrated Procreate or AutoCAD.

The Pencil feels great like a pencil and very natural wherein the sensors tend to detect the pressure and angle and effortlessly create lines of various thicknesses. The Notes app even has a ruler which enables perfectly straight drawing. Utilising the side of the Pencil’s tip one can also create realistic shading like using the side of a pencil lead.

Lightning Connector at End of the Pencil for Charging

A Lightning connector concealed at the end of the Pencil enables plugging right into the iPad Pro for charging. According to Apple rep, a quick charging provides enough juice for an hour or so of work in a few minutes while a full charge could last all day.

Besides this, Apple has also developed its own Smart Keyboard identical in appearance to the Touch Covers which Microsoft made for the Surface tablets and closes around the front of the iPad Pro. It tends to flip back to form a stand like the Smart Covers Apple had made for a while, though it has a built-in fabric surface keyboard having short key travel like the new MacBook.

Third-party keyboards would be capable of using the iPad Pro’s Smart Connector that power as well as pairs the keyboard. Logitech has already planned to introduce its own `Create’ keyboard in November.

No Buttons, Detects Pressure/Angle/Orientation

The Apple Pencil does not have buttons and besides detecting pressure, it also detects angle and orientation enabling it to perform more than just a simple stylus and follow more closely the behaviours of a pencil, brush or charcoal. That is the reason, why Apple chose the name `Pencil’ instead of a pen or stylus, both of which have induced an earlier generation of input sticks.

Adobe, for instance had demonstrated a watercolour brush effect for Apple Pencil which changes the paint-to-water mixture as one change the tilt of the Pencil enabling the artists in adjusting how much colour they have put down mix on making a stroke.

Another difference in Apple’s Pencil is that it tends to use a male Lightning connector in order to plug in the iPad Pro, once for initial automatic Bluetooth setup and subsequently to recharge. According to Apple it takes 15 seconds to charge the Pencil for 30 minutes usage and a full charge tends to last for 12 hours.It now remains to be seen if the Apple Pencil would be significant drivers of sales of iPad Pro or would remain a niche tool for certain classes of education, business and artist users.