Keeping the palm off of the screen has always been of paramount importance, lest you accidentally activate a multitasking gesture, or leave weird marks on the page from where your palm was resting. However, creating these diagrams with any degree of accuracy has always taken extra effort on the iPad. There are many instances where text notes don’t fully capture an idea, where a quick diagram would do far more to preserve a memory or train of thought. With the introduction of this accessory, Apple has suddenly given Evernote, Paper, and their own Notes app far greater appeal. This is where the Pencil comes in for me. There’s a lot to delight in when you’re writing with quality tools. The scratchiness of a fountain pen on good paper, the sensation of posting a cap before you write, and the way the ink flows over the page - all of these sensations are satisfying in a similar way to typing on a great keyboard. I also type far faster than I can write.īut there is no denying there’s a romantic aspect to writing with a real pen, even to a zero-and-one digital loyalist like myself. Digital notes can be tagged, duplicated, and synced to any of my devices. I acknowledge how silly that sounds, but digital has always been a more comfortable medium for note-taking than a paper notebook, at least as far as I’m concerned. There are lots of pen-and-paper users out there, and I’ve actually spent a fair amount of time and money over the past year in an effort to become one. The pinpoint accuracy and the incredible palm rejection make for the very best drawing device I’ve ever used on iOS, but I think the Pencil has a wider appeal than that. There’s no question in my mind that the Apple Pencil is a boon to digital artists.

On the whole, I think most reviewers have been too dismissive of the Apple Pencil.

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