My New Favorite Thing

Apple Pencil

The 9.7″ iPad Pro arrived this week and I think the picture says it all. The ink experience on this thing is amazing. I’m an old college rule notebook note taker, and in the modern laptop era, I never really made the switch to typing notes because I like to doodle. Enter the iPad Pro 12.9 and a glimmer of hope, but at 1.5lbs, not the feather weight daily carry I was hoping for. At just under 1lbs, the 9.7″ iPad Pro has solved that particular issue.

The 9.7″ iPad Pro is fast and when paired with the Pencil, it’s a doodling note takers dream. It’s also an amazing tablet for art, as my kids have quickly discovered. When I bring it home, they instantly grab it and intuitively start being creative. Finger, shminger, we’re made to use tools and the Apple Pencil is so responsive, it might as well be laying down graphite on the screen.

That’s not to say everything is perfect. I’ve noticed little things that show how Apple isn’t quite putting the same thoughtfulness into end user experience that it used to. The way you’re supposed to charge the Pencil by plugging it into the iPad is ridiculous. I mean, seriously, it looks lame sticking out the bottom of the iPad and you can’t really use the iPad while the Pencil is charging like that. Alternatively, their is the little adapter that comes with the Pencil that you can use to charge it from a regular lightning cable but can you say, going to lose it in the first 5 minutes? The cap on the Pencil’s lightening port rattles ever so slightly, as if someone left a few too many decimal places on the tolerances for the slot. But the biggest issue with the Pencil is storing it with the iPad. Absent a case with a loop option or a magnetic attraction docking scenario, the Pencil feels like an add on to the iPad as an experience. I’m also looking for a case with a hand loop that will make the iPad comfortable to hold one handed while using the Pencil. Pressing down with the Pencil and holding it one handed is a bit awkward on a naked iPad.

Having said that, the Pencil/iPad Pro technology is a home run. Now if only Apple would make an iPad/Pencil combo for $350 and convince SBAC to develop a tablet friendly version of their online assessments, they’d have a real shot at taking on the Chromebook in the classroom. For now, the iPad Pro is going to be relegated to piloting with our Teacher Leaders and in specific graphic intensive programs (STEAM!). As a general purpose learning platform, it’s too expensive and the parts just aren’t integrated together well enough to survive the classroom.