Can you pinch, vibrate, rotate, and have hidden functions? Have you used the recently released Apple Pencil Pro?
After using it for a few days, I found that the "Find My" function, which was only mentioned in two sentences at the press conference, has become my most "life-saving" feature, but in fact, as an upstart in the Apple ecosystem, Apple Pencil Pro hides much more than that.
This seemingly ordinary electronic pen actually hides Apple's far-reaching plans and infinite possibilities for the future.
From "accessories" to "core", Apple Pencil Pro is ready
It is not difficult to see that compared to the previous Apple Pencil, Apple has stuffed the new Apple Pencil Pro with a new haptic feedback engine, a new pressure sensor, a gyroscope and a U2 chip, bringing multiple dimensions of upgrades.
The addition of the vibration motor allows users to feel the strength and speed feedback of the brush stroke more intuitively when using it, and the interaction mode is more natural.
The addition of the gyroscope allows users to operate through more natural gestures, without the need to switch tools frequently, making the operation more convenient.
The addition of these features also brings more future possibilities and use cases to Apple Pencil Pro, allowing users to immerse themselves more deeply in their creations.
Back in 2019, Apple applied for a patent for a technology called "Input Device with Haptic Feedback", which describes a technology that simulates real texture drawing through the tip of a pen, which is likely to be the principle of today's Apple Pencil Pro haptic feedback.
Apple's force sensing system can detect the movement of the tip relative to the case when a force is applied to the tip of the device, rendering the texture sensation by sensing a magnetic field in a magnetic element attached to the tip and case, simulating the feel of moving over a real-world environment, the patent shows.
In a word, it is to use an induced magnetic field to simulate the touch of real paper and pen.
In later updates, Apple has enriched the content with a new description, "The stylus can effectively distinguish between the user's haptic input and ignore the continuous haptic input provided by the user's natural grip position", reducing the risk of false touches and making them more useful.
In addition, hovering images provide users with a new interaction, allowing users to see different forms of pen tip "shadows" on the screen, allowing them to better improve accuracy and help users complete more accurate tasks that require more precision, such as drawing and drawing.
Although Apple did not give a detailed technical interpretation of this capability at the press conference, we found some clues from Apple's related patented technology.
Not long ago, the State Intellectual Property Office announced that Apple applied for a patent in September last year called "Photoelectric Sensing Enabled Display for Stylus Detection", which disclosed an optical stylus system including an optical stylus and an optical sensing system.
It uses the screen to determine the target or contact location, the center point, the hover distance, the angle of inclination, and, in some cases, the direction and rotation of the stylus, and then reflects the light back to the device that uses it, doing all the sensing optically.
In addition to Apple, there are also Wacom from Japan and N-Trig from Israel, but although traditional pen tablet technology is quite mature, there are still limitations in some aspects, such as accuracy and response speed.
In comparison, Apple's optical stylus system undoubtedly has higher accuracy and the ability to detect the angle of the Apple Pencil pencil, which also provides a strong guarantee for triggering different actions or functions more quickly.
This means that Apple Pencil Pro not only simulates a whole set of real-life usage scenarios by changing the tilt angle of the tip of the pen and creating lines with different thicknesses, shadows and color variations, but also a convenient rotation selection tool, sensitive real-time feedback and hovering "shadows".
For professional designers, in the process of using third-party painting software such as Procreate and Adobe Photoshop Sketch, the feedback closer to the real scene can not only make the creation more natural, but also provide greater freedom and expressiveness for creation.
It is worth mentioning that not only iPad-related content is included in the example, but the stylus using this patented technology can also be used in other Apple ecosystem devices, including iPhone, MacBook, and AppleWatch.
However, as for whether Cook will "betray" Jobs again and pull out an "Apple Pencil" for the iPhone, only time will tell.
In addition, Apple Pencil Pro also comes with a "Find My" feature to help users easily track and locate their lost Apple Pencil.
This is mainly due to the addition of the U2 ultra-wideband (UWB) chip. As a short-range wireless communication technology, UWB (Ultra Wideband) technology can use large-bandwidth signal transmission for communication or positioning, and can provide more accurate positioning results than Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in some small areas.
This technology has been widely used in some companies such as the Apple Watch S9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, and has been well received.
In particular, these devices use the U2 chip to achieve so-called "spatial awareness" capabilities, which can accurately detect the location of the device and allow users to better find lost or forgotten devices through dynamic guidance.
Obviously, while the U2 chip is primarily focused on positioning technology, it may also involve other functions, such as high-precision positional interaction with Apple devices, which is the spatial interaction content of devices such as the Vision Pro.
In fact, the Apple Pencil Pro, which has "spatial awareness" capabilities and a gyroscope, is very close to a traditional VR controller to a certain extent.
According to the official account V2XR, if you want to truly combine with Vision Pro, you only need to track the position of the Apple Pencil Pro through the Vision Pro's camera, and you can achieve full-space operation from 3DoF to 6DoF.
And it's not a difficult thing to do. During the visionOS test last year, some developers found that when the user held the Apple Pencil, the Vision Pro could not properly recognize the pinching and operation of the treatment, but the official feedback said that "this is a design feature, not a bug", which shows that the recognition of Apple Pencil is likely to exist in the Vision Pro.
Of course, the specific features and technical details have not yet been fully revealed, but it is indeed worth looking forward to. But for now, the Apple Pencil Pro is still more relevant to the iPad.
The more comprehensive Apple Pencil Pro is making the iPad even more specialized
In fact, Apple Pencil has been responsible for the professionalization of the iPad since its inception.
Released in 2015, the first-generation Apple Pencil, designed by Apple's soul designer Jony Ive, elevated the capacitive pen from a simple point-and-click tool to a drawing tool that simulates real-world brush strokes, opening a new chapter in the professional fields of drawing, design, and more for iPad.
The subsequent release of Apple Pencil (2nd generation) has been optimized for accuracy, latency, and more, and has added a touch sensing plane that allows you to switch between tools with two taps, eliminating the need to stop the pen and further improving the productivity of iPad.
Released last October, the USB-C version of Apple Pencil can be magnetically attached to the bezel of the iPad for easy storage while changing the charging port, and supports hovering function, adding new ways to interact and improve the accuracy of use.
The Apple Pencil Pro generation further enriches the application scenarios of iPad in the professional field, further enhances the application value of iPad in the professional field, and also shows us Apple's development path of professionalizing the iPad.
When it comes to the development path of specialization, we have to mention the Magic Keyboard released with the Apple Pencil Pro at this Apple conference. Its biggest feature is the addition of a "function key column", which can better allow users to adjust the brightness and volume of the screen.
The aluminum hand pillow and the larger touch version make it have a more similar experience to that of a MacBook.
In fact, Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard represent two directions in the iPad's journey towards productivity tools: one that mimics the input of real brushstrokes, and the other that is more akin to a traditional computer-like interactive experience.
Now, Apple has further integrated these two directions, combining the computing power of the M4 chip and the stronger display power of OLED, trying to maximize the advantages of the two to create a more comprehensive and professional iPad productivity tool system.
And the Apple Pencil Pro is obviously the key to this, which is the fundamental reason why Apple attaches so much importance to the Apple Pencil at this conference.
Of course, while the new Apple Pencil Pro has advantages in many ways, there are also uncertainties in many areas, such as the compatibility issues that the new Apple Pencil Pro has been criticized the most since its release.
Currently, Apple Pencil Pro is not available on all iPad models, but only on the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro (M4) and the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air (M2).
However, the iPad has always been known for its "durability", and it has to be said that it is indeed a big pity that many users have other models of iPad in their hands that are still doing the main work, but they cannot match the new Apple Pencil Pro with more features.
Not only that, after the thickness of the new iPad Pro was reduced to 5.1mm, the thickness of the Apple Pencil Pro was not reduced, and some netizens complained that "the pen used to be sucked on the iPad, and now the iPad is sucked on the Apple Pencil".
After adding various sensors, the weight of the Apple Pencil Pro may even increase, and the impact on feel and battery life is also a problem that cannot be ignored.
Issues such as how to better work with the iPad and how to ensure comfort and stability for long-term use are all areas that Apple needs to optimize and improve in future product iterations.
The "skeuomorphic" design that continues Apple's DNA is the most significant
Of course, in addition to its contribution to building a system of productivity tools, the new Apple Pencil Pro is more in line with the intuition of ordinary people, whether it is closer to the real-world haptic feedback or the hovering response similar to the shadow of a pen tip, forming a "skeuomorphic" effect, which is an adaptation to the user's habits, and also an opportunity to bring Apple Pencil Pro to more people.
"Skeuomorphic" design can not only help users understand the new digital interface interaction, reduce the user's learning cost, but also enable it to quickly attract the user's attention, and the familiar experience will also increase the intimacy and credibility of the product, and even have a certain cultural resonance.
In fact, this also has a certain amount in common with many people who like paper books, mechanical watches, manual transmission cars, and physical buttons.
Apple understands this, and in the early days of iOS, it was common to adopt icons that more resembled real objects, so that people could see the function behind the icons at a glance. We can still see icons such as floppy disks and folders appear on our electronic devices, even though these items have gradually become less commonly used or even died out in reality, but the binding relationship between their icons and their uses has been used to this day.
About the "skeuomorphic" design of folders
The same is true for the Apple Pencil Pro, where an action that often requires the hand to reach to the side to select a tool during the drawing/design process has been reduced to a side-rotated expansion, creating a more convenient way to interact with each other, and undoubtedly trying to establish a new symbolic pointing system.
Electronic devices, or technological products, are slowly but comprehensively changing our lives through one such detail after another and the new connected systems they have established, and this is perhaps the source of our surprise with technological products.
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