To paraphrase an old joke, you can have the Apple Pencil in any color you want as long as that color is white. But an unconfirmed report indicates that’ll change soon. A version of this iPad active stylus in black is supposedly in the offing.
The Meco Stylus Pen is an affordable alternative to Apple Pencil. It’s well suited for taking handwritten notes on a range of iPad models, and offers palm rejection. And while it doesn’t have the features artists need, it offers a long battery life and is simple to connect to your iPad.
I tested this budget active stylus by taking notes and sketching out ideas. Here’s how it stood up to real-world use.
The 10.2-inch iPad might be one of the best deals in consumer tech. It packs everything you need in a decent slate, and it’s powered by iPadOS — the best tablet operating system on the planet. It’s also compatible with Apple Pencil.
What’s really great about the 10.2-inch iPad is that it’s often available at a discount. Amazon is again offering one of the biggest yet, with $79.01 off the cheapest model, reducing its price tag to just $249.99.
iPad users will be able to use an Apple Pencil to write words into any text box, if an unconfirmed report is correct. Handwriting recognition will allegedly be built into iPadOS 14.
This would bring real changes to the way many interact with their tablet.
Looking for a portable Apple computer? You have two choices — a MacBook or an iPad. Both excel at different things. The iPad is super-portable, silent and cool. The Mac is more flexible, offers more connections, and can run much more complex software.
It may be that you already know whether you need a Mac or an iPad. If you use apps that only run on the Mac, or if you need to hook up a lot of extra hardware, then a Mac is your only option. But if you desire the ultimate in portability, or you want to use a touchscreen or an awesome Apple Pencil stylus, you need an iPad.
If you’re on the fence, wondering which portable Apple computer best fits your needs, this article will help you decide. The MacBook vs. iPad battle is on …
A pair of fresh Apple videos demonstrate that its tablets can be tools for professional artists. They show the complete creative process of several advertising posters for Apple TV+ shows done on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil.
Watch them now:
Building on the capabilities of the Apple Pencil active stylus, Apple proposes adding additional touch-sensitive controls to the exterior. This would expand the capabilities of this drawing tool for the iPad without making it more difficult to use.
This is just one of several ways Apple is considering to improve the Pencil.
We will never see a touchscreen Mac. Apple has made this clear over and over. Whenever one of its executives is asked about a touchscreen Mac in an interview, the answer is always the same: macOS is for trackpads, and iPadOS for is for touch. Combining them would compromise both.
I agree. While I do catch myself tapping the Mac’s screen from time to time, there’s no way I’d want the Mac redesigned for touch. For one thing, you’d lose all the accuracy of the mouse, because clicking targets would have to be big enough for your fingers. But it doesn’t matter, because Apple has already made a touch option for the Mac. It’s Sidecar, and it’s amazing.
Black Friday is upon us, which means it’s a great time to start your holiday shopping. Don’t worry if you don’t know what to buy — Cult of Mac is here to help you choose the best gifts for the iPad lover in your life.
You’ll find the best headphones, speakers, game controllers, and keyboards in our iPad gift guide for 2019. And there’s something to suit every budget.
So, when you’ve finished scoffing down that turkey, check out the roundup below.
Apple’s annual holiday season ad arrived on YouTube today, just in time for it to be included in all the football games and parade footage on Thanksgiving day.
The three-minute long ad called “The Surprise” follows two young girls who travel to their grandfathers house for Christmas. Of course, there are Apple products spread throughout ad and it’s the iPad that will warm your heart the most.
You might wanna grab some tissues:
Adobe’s Photoshop is now available in the App Store, ready for you to try. You have to sign up for a $10 monthly subscription, even just to test it out, but there’s a one-month free trial included in the sub. With that out of the way, how is it? Extremely limited, but very promising.
If you’re familiar with Photoshop on the Mac or PC, then you will feel immediately at home. You will also feel immediately frustrated, because the app does almost nothing. We learned earlier this month that Photoshop for iOS would offer a cut-down feature set compared to the full desktop version. Still, this app is so basic that — if you want to actually get any work done — you should grab something like Affinity Photo instead.
But as an example of an iPad app, Photoshop is stellar. It’s easy to use, and yet most of the basics are there. And there’s a new UI innovation, called the Touch Shortcut, that should be in every app. Let’s take a look.
Adonit Note+ is a pressure-sensitive iPad stylus that stands up well in a head-to-head competition with Apple Pencil, and even beats it in some areas. It offers tilt detection and pressure sensitivity, as well as shortcut buttons. All at a price definitely lower than Apple’s stylus.
We used this Apple Pencil alternative for both writing and drawing — read our Adonit Note+ review to see how it handles in real-world use.
A next-generation Apple Pencil could have a built-in touchscreen. And it’s apparently an actual improvement, not just something bolted on to make it cost more. The display would let the user know what color they’re about to draw with.
Looking for some fun stuff to do with your Apple Pencil? Then you should definitely check out today’s update to Paper by WeTransfer, which introduces a new Paper Store.
Despite its name, the Paper Store doesn’t actually sell paper. Instead it offers a range of 28 digital journals created by brilliant designers and illustrators. These journals are filled with creative prompts, exercises and drawing tutorials that will get your creative juices flowing. And they’re a whole lot of fun to use.
Doodling has never been so easy or productive.
Like skinning a cat, there’s more than one way to take a screenshot on the iPhone and iPad. And with the launch of iPadOS 13, there’s now one more way to snap a picture of your screen on the iPad.
Let’s check out all the ways to take a screenshot on an iPad running iOS 13.
Apple’s press event today included the iPhone 11 series as well as updated iPad and Apple Watch versions. However, some rumored devices, features and accessories failed to materialize.
Most notably, the company didn’t announce a line of item-tracking tags, and the latest iPhones can’t wirelessly charge other devices. And there are other predictions that didn’t come true.
The stage of the Steve Jobs Theater is set for the biggest Apple keynote of the year — and we can’t wait to watch the iPhone 11 unveiling with you.
Rather than live-blogging the Apple “By Innovation Only” event, Cult of Mac is hosting a live chat so all our writers and readers of the site alike can nerd out on all the glory Tim Cook and the gang have in store. We know for sure we’re getting new iPhones but there’s still plenty of room for some surprises.
Could we see a new Apple TV set-top box? A Tile-style tracking device called Apple Tags? An Apple TV+ price tag and launch date? The anticipation is killing us. Apple’s iPhone 11 keynote kicks off Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific. Of course, we’ll be getting wild in the chat beforehand, so come in and join the fun.
The 2019 iPhone lineup is just weeks away from getting its grand unveiling. And according to recent rumors, it could be a lot more exciting than we first anticipated.
Faster chips and an extra camera sensor may not be the only reasons to upgrade this year. Two-way wireless charging, improved Face ID, and Apple Pencil support could also be on Apple’s list.
Here’s everything we expect from next month’s iPhone refresh.
Accessory-makers are already preparing cases for Apple’s next-generation iPhone lineup, including an “iPhone 11 Pro” that will support a brand new Apple Pencil.
Here’s what we can expect, according to Olixar.
iPad lovers may not have to wait much longer for the next big update to Apple’s most affordable tablet.
According to a new report out of Asia, Apple’s new 10.2-inch iPad — the expected successor to the current 9.7-inch iPad — could launch as soon as the end of September.
The days of Apple Pencil being only supported on iPad could soon be numbered.
Citi Research’s Apple analysts published their predictions of new features for the new 2019 iPhones and while most of the list is pretty ho-hum, there’s one new addition that hasn’t been on our radar: Apple Pencil.
Apple’s suite of iWork productivity apps received a big batch of updates today for both the Mac and iOS versions.
Keynote, Numbers and Pages for the two platforms added a bunch of new features. The biggest addition is some new outline styles. There are also a couple of new customization options for Apple Pencil and a face detection feature that intelligently positions people in placeholders and objects.
Microsoft proposes combining two very different peripherals. It dreamed up a tablet stylus that when not in use wraps around the user’s ear to become a wireless headset.
Is there a point to such a stylus? It’s debatable.
Spontaneous creativity is built into the centuries-old painting style known as fresco.
It is also the fitting name of Adobe’s developing drawing and painting program for iPad Pro and Apple Pencil artists who must quickly begin to create when inspiration strikes.
Adobe Fresco, a fraction of its power previewed by Adobe last year under the name Project Gemini, is on target for release this fall, according to a post on the Adobe blog.
More than artists want to draw on their iPad, and Adonit has just introduced a stylus for the rest of us. This lightweight accessory offers most of the features of the Apple Pencil, while costing far, far less.
We fully tested the Adonit Note iPad stylus, so be sure to read our review.