3d-touch-iphone-6s

What can 3D Touch do on the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus?

3D Touch is one of the key new features of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, but what can you actually do with it?

In essence, 3D Touch is a system that detects how hard your press on the iPhone's screen. It was first introduced on the Apple Watch as Force Touch, but the new iPhones introduce an extra level of pressure that creates more options.

You can watch 3D Touch in action in our hands-on video below, but read on further for a little more detail into exactly what it adds to the new phones.

HOW DOES 3D TOUCH WORK?

Before we go into how it works, here's a breakdown of the technology behind it. Unlike multi-touch technology, which allows you to pinch and zoom, 3D Touch will let you do what Apple calls 'peek' and 'pop'. Peeking on content basically means previewing the piece of content by pressing lightly on the screen. When you 'pop' – press on the screen longer – this will expand the content, letting you interact with it.

To do this, Apple has employed capacitive sensors integrated into the backlight of the Retina HD display. When the screen is pressed, those sensors measure the space between the cover glass and the backlight. Combined with the touch sensor and the iPhone's accelerometer, these provide the continuous response to the finger pressure.

Apple said it had to create its most sophisticated haptic feedback engine it calls the Taptic Engine that's able to more accurately respond to the different levels of pressures on the screen.

So here's what you can do with it.

CHECK IN ON YOUR EMAILS

3D Touch works inside Apple apps and Mail and it seems like a natural fit for the new feature. In this scenario, a light press or 'peek' will let you preview an email. This will expand the message. Press harder and you can actually interact with the message. You'll now also be able to swipe from the side or below to act on the message or simply send it to the trash.

PEEK INTO MESSAGES

Perhaps one of the most useful applications of 3D Touch is using it with Messages. When someone texts you with a time or even a location you can peek at it to see if you have time in your calendar or view the location on the map. You can now peek into URLs without opening Safari as well and view departure and arrival times if someone has sent you flight details.

LAUNCH APPS WITHOUT LAUNCHING APPS

If you want to access apps without even opening them, 3D Touch will let you do that as well. So from the homescreen you can peek on Phone and Music to quickly call a favourite contact or tune into Zane Lowe on Beats 1 Radio, or even your favourite group.

TAKE A SELFIE

For those self-obssesed iPhone owners, and we're sure there's a few out there, a press on the screen will give you quicker access to the new 5-megapixel FaceTime HD camera to shoot a pic. To preview, you can use the peek mode to glide through the images.

MULTI-TASKING EVOLVED

Currently, if you want to see what else is running on your iPhone then you'll need to double tap on the home button. Now with the iPhone 6S and the 6S you have an alternative way to check on those multiple apps bubbling away in the background. While inside an app, holding down on the screen will open up a full size multitasking mode letting you swipe through and across to different apps.

IT WORKS WITH THIRD-PARTY APPS

Unlike when Apple launched the first generation Touch ID sensor, 3D Touch will support third -arty apps from the start. That includes Dropbox and Facebook to update your status from the app icon on the homescreen all without actually opening the app. There's integrated support within apps as well like Instagram, where you can peek at images in the activity feed and then pop into someone's profile to see more.

GET TOUCHY FEELY WITH GAMING

If there's one thing we hate about playing some games on an iPhone, it's those virtual controls that often litter the screen. 3D Touch has a presence here as well. In the on-stage demo at Apple's event, we saw how in Warhammer 40,000 Freeblade you can use 3D Touch to aim fire, press deeper to zoom in and press harder to select a different weapon. We have a feeling gaming could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Apple's latest screen innovation.

ACTIVATE LIVE PHOTOS

Along with a new 12-megapixel iSight camera, Apple also introduced a new photo mode it's calling Live Photos. If you've used a Nokia phone recently, then this particular feature will be familiar and basically let's you bring your photos to life. This time, you can take photo in the camera app as normal and a Live icon will appear in the settings above the view finder. When you're looking back at the images you can press on the screen and it'll turn the image into a small video just like that.

                                                           Abdellah SLAOUI

Review and Specifications of the Apple MacBook 2016

Apple MacBook 2016 Review Specifications

Specifications :

Review : 

It's best to think of the 2016 MacBook as a MacBook S. Similar to the evolution from the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 6s, Apple didn't revamp the design for its ultraslim 2-pound laptop. Instead, the company focused mostly on internal upgrades for the 12-inch MacBook ($1,299 to start; $1,599 as configured). These enhancements include a more powerful 6th-generation Core M processor, faster flash storage and an extra hour of battery life. This is a more capable sequel for sure. For this kind of money, though, I wanted more -- namely, an extra USB Type-C port and other improvements. The 12-inch MacBook is better than its predecessor, but it still involves compromises.

Design

The 12-inch MacBook remains a beautiful piece of hardware, made of sturdy aluminum and measuring just 0.5 inches thick. Apple added a rose-gold color option to the mix, which I tested, to go along with space gray, gold and silver. Yes, the rose-gold MacBook has a pink hue to it, but I didn't mind being seen using this laptop on the bus or at Starbucks. After all, (at least some) guys wear power pink shirts, too.

What I like most about the MacBook is that I can use it while commuting or flying and still have plenty of room to work when the person in front of me reclines. It's also so light that I would sometimes forget whether the notebook was in my backpack. 

By comparison, the aluminum-clad HP EliteBook Folio boasts an even thinner 0.47-inch profile and weighs a slightly heavier 2.2 pounds. But that's justified by the larger, 12.5-inch screen. With its 13-inch display, the Vaio Z weighs 2.56 pounds and is a chunkier 0.66 inches, while the Dell XPS 13 is 2.7 pounds and 0.33 to 0.6 inches thick. Lenovo's 14-inch ThinkPad X1 Carbon packs a much larger display and keyboard but weighs 2.6 pounds and is 0.59 to 0.65 inches thick. 

One-Port Problem Remains

The MacBook's extreme minimalism may be a selling point, but the lone USB Type-C port is still a problem for me. If I want to plug in the laptop's power cable and attach an external display or another device, such as the iPhone, at the same time, I need to connect the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter ($79), which has a power port, USB 3.0 port and HDMI port.

Apple sells other adapters, including a $25 USB-C-to-Lightning cable (for iPhones and iPads) and a $19 USB-C-to-USB cable (for cameras and other USB devices).

While the ecosystem of USB-C peripherals has grown, I still wish the MacBook would grow another USB-C port.

There are also third-party options from Belkin and SanDisk, including a 64GB USB-C flash drive ($79). There are plenty of other options available, too, but while the ecosystem of USB Type-C peripherals has grown, I still wish the MacBook would grow another USB Type-C port.

Another bummer: You can't connect more than one monitor to the MacBook at the same time --something I do every day with the MacBook Pro. However, Pluggable claims that you can connect the MacBook to its Plugable USB-C Triple Display Docking Station to power multiple monitors. We were able to use this dock to power two external monitors at 2K resolution simultaneously (2048 x 1152) with one HDMI connection and one DVI, but the 4K output to a single monitor using this accessory wasn't reliable during our initial testing.

Keyboard: Flat But Fast

To achieve the MacBook's razor-thin profile, the MacBook sports a flat keyboard that uses a unique butterfly mechanism. As I noted in my review of last year's model, the keys have very little travel -- just 0.5 millimeters. That's half of what the MacBook Air provides (1 mm), and also shallower than the keys on the Vaio Z (1.04 mm) and the XPS 13 (1.2 mm).

Nevertheless, I grew accustomed the MacBook's layout within a couple of hours, and I typed a fast-for-me 78 words per minute on the 10FastFingers.com typing test, with only two errors. That compares to my average of 77 wpm and one error on the 13-inch Air. The MacBook's keyboard isn't comfortable, but I found it perfectly usable.

Force Touch Touchpad: Still Magical

Even after a year, I'm pretty amazed by how the MacBook's large, 4.4 x 2.7-inch Force Touch trackpad tricks your brain into thinking that it's physically clicking down when you press it. It's not. Instead, the pad uses a Taptic Engine to deliver haptic feedback. It worked brilliantly as I clicked on links, opened apps and selected text.

The MacBook's 12-inch display is so sharp and colorful it makes me want to throw out my MacBook Air.

As with last year's MacBook, the Force Click feature lets you save time by deep pressing on items. For example, you can look up the definition of a word by Force Clicking it, or you can preview a web page or preview an address in Maps with a deep press. However, I wound up disabling this feature, because I found it difficult to move icons around in the Dock with Force Click turned on.

Display: Just Awesome

The MacBook's 12-inch display is so sharp and colorful that it makes me want to throw out my MacBook Air.The laptop has a resolution of 2304 x 1440 pixels, which blows away the Air's low-res 1400 x 900 panel.

When I watched the 4K trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on this panel, a fiery explosion that sent Stormtroopers flying had intense sparks of yellow and orange, and a close-up of Felicity Jones in gleaming black armor neatly reflected the lights surrounding her.

Registering 327 nits on our light meter, the MacBook's screen is in between the brightness readings for the touch-screen version of the XPS 13 (336 nits) and the nontouch XPS 13 (318 nits), and higher than the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (292 nits for full HD, 257 for 2560 x 1440). However, the Vaio Z's display hit a sky-high 548 nits.

The MacBook's display can produce an impressive 107 percent of the color gamut, which beats the touch XPS 13 and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (both less than 105 percent). However, the Vaio Z reached 117 percent.

Apple should not get a pass for stuffing a low-resolution 480p camera into a $1,299 laptop.

Apple's panel is also quite color accurate, notching a Delta-E error rate of 0.99 (0 is perfect). While that's not as good as the X1 Carbon or the Vaio Z (0.5 to 0.8 range), it trumps the touch XPS 13 (3.13) and the category average (2.7).

Audio: Surprisingly Strong

I continue to be surprised by the MacBook's audio quality given its thin profile. When I streamed Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life," the pulsating drums meshed well with the vocals, and the speaker (located above the keyboard) produced loud volume without distortion. The ominous horns in the Rogue One trailer, as well as the piercing laser cannon fire from thudding AT-ATs, came through clearly.

Webcam: 480p, Really?

Apple should not get a pass for stuffing a low-resolution 480p camera into a $1,299 laptop. It's not that I video chat often, but when I do, I don't want to look like a pile of grain, as I did when testing the FaceTime app. I could live with an extra millimeter of thickness, if that's what it would take.

Performance: A Sizable Boost

The biggest changes to the 2016 MacBook are its internal components, which include a 6th-generation Core M processor, 8GB of RAM and faster flash storage (256GB or 512GB). You have your choice of a 1.1-GHz Core m3 or 1.2-GHz Core m5 CPU, and we tested the latter chip.

The Core m5 processor and faster flash memory add up to a much more capable ultraportable.

Overall, I found this machine more responsive than its predecessor when opening apps and switching among 10 or more tabs in Google Chrome, but there were still times when OS X's spinning ball appeared, such as when I tried to search for one app while downloading another in the Mac App Store.

On the Geekbench 3 benchmark, which measures overall performance, the Core m5-powered MacBook scored 5,906. That smokes last year's MacBook (4,631) and also beats the latest 13-inch, Core i5-powered MacBook Air (5,783), though the latter system has an older 5th-generation Core Series CPU. The XPS 13, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the Vaio Z, all of which had 6th Generation Core i5 processors, predictably scored a higher 6,374; 6,828; and 7,252, respectively.

The updated MacBook also benefits from faster PCIe-based flash storage. On our file-transfer test, in which we time how long it takes to move about 5GB of files, the MacBook took a brisk 14.3 seconds, which translates to 355.9 MBps. Neither the touch or the nontouch version of the XPS 13 crossed 250 MBps, but both the X1 Carbon and the Vaio Z managed 419 MBps with their PCIe drives.

If you're wondering whether the MacBook can crunch numbers, don't worry. This laptop took just 3 minutes and 11 seconds to match 20,000 names and addresses in OpenOffice. That's more than a minute faster than the XPS 13, and 40 seconds ahead of the Vaio Z. The X1 Carbon took 4:14. Remember, though, that we tested the Core m5 version of the MacBook; the Core m3 version will be slower.

Graphics

The integrated Intel 515 graphics in the MacBook will be fine for editing photos and playing some light Mac games, such as Rayman Origins, but don't expect more than that.

On the benchmark for the DiRT 3 racing game, the MacBook mustered just 27 frames per second at its native resolution with all of the details on low, and various effects (such as multisampling and VSync) turned off. That's below 30 fps, our threshold for playability. Still, the action seemed relatively smooth.

Heat: A Bit Toasty on the Bottom

The MacBook registered fairly cool temps after we streamed Hulu video for 15 minutes, but it ran warm on the underside of the system. The touchpad and the area between the G and H keys stayed below our 95-degree comfort threshold, at 84 and 90 degrees, respectively. However, the bottom of the notebook reached 100 degrees. That's 5 degrees warmer than last year's MacBook.

Battery Life: An Hour Better

Apple promises up to 10 hours of battery life on the new MacBook when surfing the web, and it got close to that mark.

On the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing at 100 nits of screen brightness, the system lasted a strong 9 hours and 38 minutes. That's about an hour longer than last year's MacBook.

The MacBook's runtime soundly beat that of the touch-screen version of the XPS 13 (8:08) but was well behind the nontouch model (11:54). The Vaio Z and X1 Carbon lasted 9:04 and 9:06, respectively. However, the 13-inch MacBook Air lasted an astounding 14:40.

With the screen on full brightness and when running multiple programs, the MacBook was down to 53 percent after 2.5 hours, so you'll want to keep it on half brightness or less to squeeze out extra juice.

Configuration Options

Apple offers two configurations of the MacBook. The $1,299 base model comes with a Core m3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage. Jumping up to $1,599 will get you a faster Core m5 CPU and double the storage.

I'd opt for the pricier config, because if you're going to spend this much on a laptop, it should be as powerful -- and offer as much room for your digital stuff -- as possible.

Bottom Line

The 2016 MacBook is certainly an improvement over its predecessor. It's significantly faster, especially if you opt for the Core m5 model, and it lasts an hour longer on a charge, all while being extremely portable. I also continue to love the Retina display and don't really mind the flat butterfly keyboard. However, for this kind of money, I would really like to plug in a power cable and a second device sans a dongle, and I believe anything in this price range should be able to power two external monitors.

To be fair, not everyone works like I do. Some won't care about attaching peripherals (or at least as often), and for them, the MacBook will be pretty close to a dream machine. It's tailor-made for frequent travelers or corridor warriors constantly bouncing from meeting to meeting. But it's too pricey for most students. For them, I'd recommend the 11-inch Air or the 13-inch MacBook Air (or wait for them to be refreshed) or the XPS 13.

Overall, the new MacBook is a compelling laptop, but a few tweaks would turn this very good ultraportable into a great one.

                                                                                                      Abdellah slaoui

samsungs-gear-s2-3g

Samsung's Gear S2 3G is a look at our untethered future

Every smartwatch you’ve likely seen, whether it’s an Apple Watch, an Android Wear device, or a Pebble, has relied on a smartphone for all of its smarts. If you were to disconnect any of these devices, they become little more than standard timepieces with a little bit of activity tracking. They become, in effect, dumbwatches with really poor battery life.

Smartwatches are therefore accessories to the main show, your smartphone. It’s hard to pitch them as must-have devices in your life when you still need your smartphone all the time to use them. Indeed, many of the complaints about smartwatches revolve around their duplicity: why do I need to wear this device on my wrist that just tells me the same thing the phone in my pocket is already telling me?

But while today’s smartwatches are shackled to a phone, that won’t always be the case. Eventually, smartwatches (and other wearables) will become independent devices, complete with their own wireless connections. There are some of these already available, and others are expected to hit shelves in the near future. I’ve gotten a small taste of this independent future over the past few weeks with the Samsung Gear S2 3G, a cellular-connected version of Samsung’s impressive Gear S2 smartwatch. The 3G model of the Gear S2, which is available for AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile (I’ve been using the AT&T version), is much like the standard model; it just happens to have a cellular radio inside that lets it do a few things other smartwatches can’t.

PHONE CALLS, MESSAGES, AND ACTIVITY TRACKING WITHOUT YOUR PHONE

For starters, the 3G S2 can place and receive phone calls without being connected to my phone. It has a speaker and microphone, so you can handle your phone calls Dick Tracy-style. It can send and receive text messages even if it’s not tethered over Bluetooth or connected to a Wi-Fi network. With the AT&T model, it can even make it look like those calls and messages are coming from my actual phone, thanks to AT&T’s NumberSync feature. (The Verizon and T-Mobile versions have call and message forwarding from your main number, but outgoing calls and messages will initiate from a different number.) It also has a GPS chip, so it can find my location without the help of a phone.

Those features make it attractive for runners. You could leave your phone at home yet still track your run, get your calls or messages, and even listen to music. There are no armbands, belt pouches, or other clumsy apparatus necessary; just put the watch on your wrist, tie your shoes, and head out the door.

The Gear S2 3G does do all of that, but its capabilities are limited. While you can stay on top of text messages and phone calls from the device, it won’t see any of the other notifications pinging your phone when it’s not directly connected. (Samsung has a feature in its Gear Manager smartphone app that should enable this, but it did not work for me when the watch was connected to the 3G network.) The S2 doesn’t have a huge app store, leaving Samsung’s S Health app as the only real fitness tracking option, which doesn’t play nicely with other popular services such as Strava or MapMyFitness. You could transfer your music to the watch or stream songs from Samsung’s own Milk Music, but if you use Spotify, Apple Music, or Google Play Music, you’re out of luck. And, perhaps the biggest issue, the S2’s battery life is deplorably short when it is relying on a cellular connection. Go for a long run and try to play music, track your activity, and send or receive a few messages and it might not be alive when you’re done.

It’s important to note that the 3G S2 is not a fully standalone device. You still need an Android phone to set it up and install any applications. It’s perhaps best to think of it as a standard Gear S2, with a few bonus features. It has the same overall design (it’s noticeably thicker when it’s off of a wrist, but I didn’t find it uncomfortable to wear in the least), complete with metal finish, vibrant display, and the intuitive and fun rotating bezel. And if you use it with your phone all of the time, its battery will last an entire day without issue.

THE S2 3G'S ADDED FEATURES AREN'T WORTH ITS COST

The Gear S2 3G is a tough sell. It’s more expensive than its non-connected sibling — $299.99 or $349.99, depending on carrier – and requires a service plan, which ranges from $5 per month at Verizon and T-Mobile up to $10 per month at AT&T in addition to your standard smartphone plan. The few advantages it offers over the less expensive pedestrian model aren’t worth its cost.

But it’s a glimpse at a future where I can do a lot of the communication handled by my phone on a smaller, wearable device. It starts with basic phone calls and text messages, but it doesn’t take a particularly creative imagination to add other forms of messaging, chat, location services, and activity tracking to the package. We’re still a few steps away from that future and there are a number of problems that need to be solved before we get there, namely battery life and functionality. (And it’s not clear if it’s something we even want: I had to force myself to walk away from my phone while testing the S2 and it was a struggle more than a convenience.)

For now, you’re better off with the standard Gear S2 or any one of the many other smartwatches available instead of the Gear S2 3G. Smartwatches are just going to have to get a bit smarter before we can really leave our phones behind.

question

What do you think of the samsung gear s2 3g ? is what you will buy? answer me in the comments and subscribe

                                                Abdellah slaoui

Apple iPad Pro 9.7 review: The ultimate tablet

Apple iPad Pro 9.7 review: The ultimate tablet

What is it that puts the "Pro" in iPad Pro? Not so long ago, you would have included a larger screen in the list of characteristics that turns an ordinary iPad into a Pro device. The more cynical of us might even have wondered whether iOS was even capable of doing proper work. With the iPad Pro 9.7, Apple has cast such qualms to one side. This is the iPad that really can do it all. 

Visually, you's struggle to tell the iPad Pro 9.7in apart from the iPad Air. It’s the same size and weight, and the main clues that it’s not an Air are on the back, where the camera bulges out, iPhone 6-style, and – if you have a 4G-equipped version – the former black stripe at the top is now silver. There’s also the telltale three black dots on the side that indicate the presence of Apple’s Smart Connector, for hooking up compatible keyboards.
The main changes are all internal, where you’ll find an Apple A9X processor and up to 256GB of storage. The screen, too, is entirely changed and now supports the Apple Pencil. More power, more storage, and a stylus: the question is whether all this adds up to a genuinely “Pro” device.

iPad Pro 9.7 review: Pencil and Smart keyboard

If you’ve used the Apple Pencil on the larger iPad Pro, you know what to expect from it on the smaller one. As we said in that review, the Pencil is the closest experience you’ll get to writing with a real pencil on paper. Yes, you don’t get the actual feel of pencil on paper, the slight drag, the physicality of leaving a trail of actual atoms on top of something. But the way Apple reflects a change in the pressure you're applying, and the angle of the Pencil itself, is somehow, magically, reflected in what appears onscreen. It's an excellent experience.

Arguably, the Pencil is a better fit for a smaller iPad. The 12.9in version is a pretty big thing to write or draw on, more like an artist’s sketchbook than a business notepad. That’s great if you’re an artist – you can certainly see how the designers in Apple’s design studio would love the larger size – but for an average person, the smaller device feels more familiar and natural than its big brother.

If you’re the kind of person who routinely carries around something like a Moleskine notebook, you’ll love the combination of the iPad Pro 9.7in and the Pencil. If you regularly use an app such as Apple Notes or Microsoft OneNote, you’ll love it even more. The combination of Pencil and iPad Pro 9.7in is possibly the ultimate OneNote machine. It’s portable, light, and a great writing and drawing experience.

Where the smaller iPad Pro compares much more poorly to the larger one is as a machine for typing. First, the good bit: Apple has done an excellent job of shrinking the Smart Keyboard cover to smaller iPad proportions and retaining a decent typing feel. However, even Cupertino is subject to the laws of physics and biomechanics, and a smaller keyboard is more tiring and less comfortable to type on than the more spacious one. I’ve found that I can happily type on the iPad Pro 12.9in’s Smart Keyboard for an entire day with no ill effects. The smaller version left me feeling cramps in the hands after only 500 words.

In a pinch, or when travelling, the Smart Keyboard is fine. However, if you’re serious about writing a lot, you’ll do yourself a favour if you buy an Apple Bluetooth keyboard instead.

iPad Pro 9.7 review: The screen

You’re going to love the screen on the iPad Pro 9.7in. It’s so good that I spent time just staring at the serried ranks of icons on the homescreen, admiring the colours on it. It’s not just pleasant to use: it’s an actual, real pleasure.

Apple’s done several things to make the screen better. The first is that it’s brighter – Apple claims 25% – and this, coupled with lower reflectivity, makes it much easier to read outside. But the biggest improvement is what Apple’s calling True Tone. True Tone is an active adjustment of the onscreen colour temperature based on the ambient light, measured by a tiny light sensor on the iPad.

Executed poorly, this kind of system would be terrible. Get the calibration between screen temperature and ambient lighting wrong, and your screen would be oversaturated, or dull, or washed out. There are so many potential lighting conditions that creating an algorithm for optimising the screen is a very tough proposition.

But Apple hasn’t done it badly. In fact, True Tone looked fantastic in every lighting condition I used it in. I turned it off for a while and quickly wanted it back on. It just looks better – you’re going to love it and want it on every other screen you use.

iPad Pro 9.7 review: Camera

Tablet cameras are something you either use a lot or think are a complete waste of time. The camera on your tablet, if you own one, has always been a generation behind the camera on your phone – often, multiple generations behind.

The iPad Pro 9.7in changes this. It uses the same 12-megapixel camera as on Apple’s current flagship phones, and it takes good pictures. In fact, the pictures are so good that when I look at them in the Photos app, I struggle to remember whether I took them with the iPad or my iPhone.

You get all the bells and whistles you’re used to from the iPhone, too, including Live Photos. Whether you think that these are gimmicks or not, it’s good that Apple is taking tablet photography seriously enough to make sure it’s not a second-class citizen.

Apple Pencil review: Much sharper than the average smart stylus

Apple Pencil review: Much sharper than the average smart stylus

Apple's pressure-sensitive writing tool is at once completely sophisticated and totally easy to use.

Apple’s pressure-sensitive Pencil is a home run, exhibiting remarkable performance on the new iPad Pro, but that should not come as a shock: The two were engineered from the ground up to work together and only with each other.

The iPad screen recognizes when you are using the Pencil, and in response, dynamically boosts its scan rate to 240 times per second (twice the speed it scans for your finger) to minimize latency, the time between the Pencil’s point touching the glass and a mark appearing on the canvas. Simultaneously, the Pencil’s sensors work with the display to detect its position, force, and tilt via APIs in iOS 9.1 that not only register current location but predict future movement.

The Notes app has a drawing screen, complete with a ruler for drawing straight lines.

Press lightly to get a thin stroke, press harder to get a thicker stroke, and rub lightly with the side of the Pencil’s tip to get shading action, just like using a regular pencil, though the quality of that shading depends on the app and the brush you choose.

Sketching and writing

Straight out of the box, Apple’s Pencil is a joy to use. You don’t need to do any elaborate pairing or visit the Settings app—just plug the Pencil in to the iPad Pro’s Lightning port to pair it, then go to town. It works as a stylus with any app, letting you launch, navigate, scroll, and complete basic operations. You can even trace over a regular sheet of paper.

So what if you think you can't draw? The Pencil even lets you trace through a regular sheet of paper. 

But Pencil doesn’t do everything. Edge gestures to access Notifications or the Control Center don’t work, and you can’t use it to open a second app in Slide Over or resize apps in Split View. You must still use your finger for those functions, and I’m good with that because it’s not necessary, and you don’t want to accidentally invoke functions with Pencil.

I tested the Pencil with Evernote, Notability, Adobe Photoshop Mix, Fix and Sketch, Complete Anatomy, LiquidText, Pixelmator, Procreate, Paper, Notes, Apple Photos, and iMovie, along with the iPad’s built-in apps. Remarkably, each app performed as advertised, and in accordance with its own conventions, including Notes’ nifty onscreen ruler that helps you draw a straight line. The only anomaly was the reference app Complete Anatomy, aimed at medical students, which suffered from a slight lag time when I used the Pencil to annotate the text.

Handwriting feels fluid and looks great too.

Cursive handwriting and printing can be a heartbreak with many styluses, and performance varies widely. However, I have yet to see a handwriting function that works quite as well as Pencil. (It reproduces my poor penmanship flawlessly.) Pencil is a totally natural notetaker and such a pleasure to use, that I’m almost tempted to lug the iPad Pro around for the sheer joy of writing with it. And just for the record, I thoroughly enjoyed sketching with it too, though I’m far from a freehand artist.

Use and handling

Styluses are a personal thing. What feels right to one paw doesn’t necessarily translate to another. Apple’s Pencil has just the right amount of balance and heft so that I can use it for long periods of time without feeling hand strain, just like a traditional pencil. That’s actually a bigger deal than it sounds. Only one other stylus I’ve used competes, and that’s Adobe’s Ink. Most other styluses wear out my hand in a surprisingly short period of time.

That said, I would have appreciated the instrument to have more of a matte feel, as opposed to the slick plastic surface. It was not hard to grip, nor did it slip from my fingers, but it would feel even better with an ever-so-slight degree of velvety friction on the surface.

The Pencil isn't just for drawing. Complete Anatomy, an interactive medical textbook, supports the Pencil for taking notes and marking up drawings. 

That’s also related to the diameter. Being a pencil, it’s thin. And for drawing, that’s great. But when I’m taking notes with it, I’m reminded of how I tend to go for pens with a bit of a thicker barrel to ease the strain on my hand as the words fly from by brain to my fingertips. I’m not advocating Apple make the Pencil barrel thicker, but rather expressing that the variety of tasks the Pencil affords will offer different experiences.

The Pencil is pencil-like in length, so my small hand was just about able to handle it in a natural way. It edges toward being a bit too long, and I’m glad Apple decided not to use the end tip as an eraser, like traditional pencils, because at that length, it might feel awkward.

Most styluses are an either-or affair: You’re using your finger or you’re using the stylus. Thanks to a new touch subsystem in the tablet, the iPad Pro can recognize both inputs simultaneously and accurately differentiate between the two.

The Pencil feels like a pencil, only more slippery since it's finished with smooth, shiny white plastic.

Automatic and accurate palm rejection makes the Pencil convenient because I can actually park my fist directly on the iPad’s glass while writing, drawing, or painting without having to worry about errant marks showing up on the canvas.

And that brings me to the screw-on tip. Most high-quality styluses advertise their presence with a clicky little sound that gets old really fast. When I’m stressed or frustrated with a project, the last thing I want to hear is a clickety-clack. The Pencil has a point, but its materials make a very muted sound, which is much more agreeable. Apple thoughtfully includes a replacement tip in the box, just in case.

The only problem is losing tiny things. The second tip can stay in the box until you need it, but take care not to lose the adapter that connects the Pencil to your Mac or an AC power adapter for charging, or the little cap that covers the Lightning connector, as you cannot park both on the Pencil at the same time.

Limited use cases

To use the Pencil, which at $99 I consider reasonably priced, though on the high end of the spectrum, you also need the iPad Pro, which starts at $799 and goes over $1,000. The Pencil is totally useless on any other iOS device.

It’s a little disappointing that Apple limits the Pencil to iPad Pro users, when it could potentially engage a larger audience of late-model iPad users. Apple appears intent on creating a uniquely superior experience with the Pencil, so that a different kind of interaction, with perhaps more latency and less pressure sensitivity and tilt awareness, would defeat the purpose. Nonetheless, some people will stick with their laptops and smaller iPads and never need the iPad Pro. Depriving them of the Pencil doesn’t seem quite fair.

Yes, kitty, just plug the Pencil in to the Lightning port to give it a quick battery boost. 

Both the Pencil and the iPad Pro hold up well in terms of battery life, and the when the Pencil’s charge does drain, it takes almost no time to get it up and running again. The initial charge lasts about 12 hours, but 15 seconds plugged into the Lightning connector of the iPad Pro gets you back to work for another half hour before you can even lose your train of thought.

Getting a quick battery boost directly from the host device—without having to get up out of your chair to hunt for a cord or charger—is the way we all should work. Charging the Pencil is easier and faster than sharpening a regular pencil.

To check the Pencil's battery life, just add the Batteries widget to your Notification Center. 

Battery life, in this case, is academic, and the Pencil has no onboard battery indicator. However, you can check the battery level by enabling a Batteries widget in Notification Center; plus, an onscreen alert flashes when the battery hits 5 percent.

Bottom line

If you’re an iPad Pro owner, should you buy the Pencil? That’s a no-brainer—Apple hit it out of the ballpark in terms of ease of use and performance. Even those who feel they have no specific use for it right now will likely find it makes life easier in various, unexpected ways.

If you are an iPad owner that does not need an iPad Pro, it’s OK to be annoyed that you can’t use the Pencil with the rest of the iPad lineup—but that might not be the case forever. I think Apple should democratize the Pencil, upgrading the next generation of iPads to take advantage of at least some of the Pencil’s charms.

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                                                                                                                    Abdellah slaoui