I got my iPad back in 2017 and really wanted to love it but it has never been very useful to me. I tried attaching a Bluetooth keyboard. That made it heavy and clunky and I was never able to know how much battery life the keyboard had so even if I wanted to take it along instead of my laptop I never knew if it would make it through the day.
Enter the Apple Pencil; my iPad now has so many great applications in my life it is the device I use 2nd most only behind my phone. I type really fast so for many years I almost never hand-wrote anything to the extent that writing had started to feel strange to me. Our brains need that creative, hand-to-eye interaction to help support and expand memory function and stimulate our creative side. Now I use my iPad to take hand-written notes pretty much every day. Apple's native apps work great with the Pencil and there are also some great 3rd party apps that are really valuable for keeping a virtual notebook, drawing, writing music, making story boards... pretty much whatever you can do with paper and writing instruments.
The Apple Pencil you need depends on the iPad you have so pay close attention to which one you need for your device. The version 2 has a few more features and I would have gladly paid a little more for it, but it won't work with my iPad. Still, I'm really happy with this one! Don't undervalue the ability to tell exactly how much battery your Apple Pencil has at any given time when you're considering whether to by a knock-off or spring for the real Apple brand. You charge the Apple Pencil using your iPad. There is an external adapter that I never use. I can get an additional 15 minutes of battery life from just 15 to 30 seconds of charging with the iPad and it doesn't drain the iPad battery. It goes from dead to fully charged in about 20 minutes. You won't get that from the knock-offs and you won't ever be able to know how much battery life a knock-off version has. You'll need to carry the charger and block, and have access to an outlet if it dies. If you're considering those, read the 2 and 3 star reviews, and also sort the reviews by most recent. People who leave 2 or 3 stars saw some value but clearly there was a significant flaw. Those reviews told me that the knock-offs might seem great when new, but they die quickly. Many of the 4 and 5 stars are reviewing something they just received. Sorting by newest helps you to spot sellers who make quality products at first, but then start taking short cuts once they have enough good reviews to make it seem great.
Amazon puts this one on sale regularly. I paid $80 for the Apple Pencil Gen 1. A few days later I saw it was $99 again but as I type this it's back down to $79.99 so watch and wait for the price to be low.
I was not sure that I would ever use the pencil as I am not an artist or song writer. I a felt a strong need to get back to hand-writing my notes but equally strong need to have them in digital form so my desk isn't covered with sticky notes that make no sense. Now I take a request for info from a client and turn it into a graphic I've marked up and texted to them and they love it. I can hand-write an email and send it as hand-writing. Older relatives LOVE this. Instead of one paper notebook I can never remember to take with me, I have multiple virtual notebooks organized by topics and they're so valuable that I remember my iPad always--across the house or across town.
Watch some online videos about what you can do with an Apple Pencil! So many great little uses.
| Product Dimensions | 0.07 x 0.35 x 0.07 inches |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 4.6 ounces |
| Manufacturer | Apple Computer |
| ASIN | B0BJLG69QR |
| Item model number | MQLY3AM/A |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. |
| Date First Available | October 18, 2022 |
