Apple introduced the all-new iPad Pro, featuring a stunning 12.9-inch Retina display with 5.6 million pixels, the most ever in an iOS device, and groundbreaking performance with the new 64-bit A9X chip, rivaling most portable PCs. The new larger iPad Pro is thin and light and provides all-day battery life.
Apple also introduced Apple Pencil for iPad Pro, a precision input device available for purchase separately, which makes drawing and sketching feel remarkably fluid and natural.
The touch subsystem of the Multi-Touch display in iPad Pro has been redesigned to work with Apple Pencil to dramatically reduce latency and deliver incredible accuracy for activities like fine art illustration and detailed 3D design. Advanced sensors in Apple Pencil measure both pressure and tilt for a fast and fluid drawing experience, while a built-in Lightning connector makes for quick and easy pairing and charging.
Apple Pencil also works with popular apps like Mail, Notes, Procreate and Office 365 for iPad, offering new levels of creativity and productivity.
Apple’s new Smart Keyboard further extends the utility of iPad Pro, offering a full-sized keyboard in a thin, durable design so we can take it anywhere.
The Smart Keyboard, available for purchase separately, attaches to iPad Pro’s innovative Smart Connector port, eliminating the need for a separate battery, on/off switch or Bluetooth pairing. The Smart Keyboard is covered in custom woven fabric and features keys that provide the accuracy, stability and satisfying key feel of standard keyboards, but is also easily foldable and can transform into a Smart Cover. The Smart Keyboard also works seamlessly with new QuickType features in iOS 9 to make typing even faster and easier.
But former CEO Steve Jobs had hated the use of Stylus. He once said this at Macworld 2007 event keynote,
“So how are we going to take this to a mobile device? Get rid of all the buttons, and just make a giant screen. So how are we going to communicate? We’re going to use a stylus — no. Who wants a stylus?? Yuck!”
“So let’s not use a stylus, we’re going to use the best pointing device in the world — our fingers.
“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone. We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”
“iPad Pro is the most advanced and powerful iPad we have ever made. Its beautiful and large 12.9-inch Retina display has 5.6 million pixels and provides an immersive experience for content and apps. The iPad Pro is far and away the fastest iOS device we have ever made — its A9X chip beats most portable PCs in both CPU and graphics tasks, but is thin and light enough to hold all day,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
“The innovative Apple Pencil and new Smart Keyboard enable users to customize their iPad Pro experience to the particular apps they use and the work they do, making iPad Pro ideal for everything from professional productivity to advanced 3D design.”
iPad Pro’s 12.9-inch Retina display, with 5.6 million pixels and refined Multi-Touch technology, is the most advanced and highest resolution display ever in an iOS device.
It delivers greater contrast, more uniform brightness and improved energy efficiency through photo alignment technology, oxide TFT and variable refresh rate. A new four-speaker audio design provides powerful, clear and rich stereo sound, and a refined unibody enclosure of anodized aluminum gives iPad Pro a sturdy feel with a thin and light design that is easy to hold.
Apple’s powerful new 64-bit A9X chip, with third-generation 64-bit architecture, provides desktop-class CPU performance and console-class graphics. Ultra-fast wireless connectivity keeps you connected wherever you go with 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO technology, support for a wide range of LTE bands and other fast cellular network technologies (DC-HSDPA, HSPA+).
iPad Pro starts at $799 (US) for the 32GB with Wi-Fi model and $1079 (US) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular 128GB model, comes in three gorgeous metallic finishes including silver, gold and space gray and will be available starting in November from Apple.com, Apple’s retail stores, through select carriers and Apple Authorized Resellers.
Apple Pencil will be available for $99 (US) and Smart Keyboard will be available in charcoal gray for $169 (US). New polyurethane iPad Pro Smart Covers will be available for $59 (US) in charcoal gray and white. New iPad Pro Silicone Cases will be available for $79 (US) in charcoal gray and white. iPad Pro accessories will be available starting in November.
Read below the discussion about iPad Pro and Apple pencil in Reddit:
“One would think they would invent a more elegant way to charge the pencil. This is horrible.”
“It should come with a little pencil holder dock that plugs into the iPad so the pencil at least stands up when charging while its laying flat. Maybe a charging cable also so you can leave it on your desk. I’m sure they’ll be 3rd party charging docks but yeah as it is now its weird.”
“The pen that came with my Microsoft Surface Pro had been working well for 2 years without being charged or changing batteries. The pen that came with my Samsung Note 3 phone doesn’t ever need charging or batteries. Both these pens write a beautiful fine line, not like those horrible rubber tipped styluses. Apple has some catching up to do.”
“Who wants a stylus to NAVIGATE the device. Nobody. Who wants a stylus to draw and shit? Some people.
Edit: RIP my inbox. Still stand by my statement.”
“This is about pixel-level graphic artistry, and in a much more mundane sense, assisted graphics on productivity apps.”
“Surface Pro and Samsung Note products have been doing this for several years.”
“And doing it pretty damn good. My Toshiba Portege from 2005 is compatible with the sPen and I think that’s neat.”
“Anything can be a stylus if you try hard enough. – Abraham Lincoln”
The internals of the pen looks like it’s a N-trig. Whether it is or isn’t, all active pens in existence need special “digitizer layers” that receive data from the pen. Apple described theirs very briefly. The current non pro iPads do not have these type of digitizer layers.
And I have a feeling it doesn’t have palm rejection. Any confirmations yet? I did notice the demo people keeping their hands above the surface of iPad while using the pencil.
Since the pencil is sold separately, that means there isn’t a slot for it in the iPad Pro, right? So Apple expects people to carry around a $100 stylus loose. “You have to get them and put them away and you lose them” – Steve Jobs
This was my primary concern, but one of the last guys in the marketing video definitely had his
I was very excited about this for almost a year now. Frankly, I’m massively disappointed. I’m sure the iPad Pro will be great for certain people, but the fact that it’s running on unmodified iOS basically kills it for most truly productive uses. I hate to say it, but Microsoft’s truly doing a better job in this area. As a Mac user since the early 90s, the last year has found me slowly giving up my undying Apple loyalty. I think they’ve genuinely lost a certain spark, while their competition is getting very aggressive in carving out new and exciting product categories.
The events of today were foretold by this Hijinks Ensue comic from around 3 years ago.
“Apple and Microsoft approached the hybrid tablet/laptop concept in fundamentally different ways. Apple decided to upscale iOS, while Microsoft decided to downscale Windows to a tablet form factor.While Microsoft’s initial attempts at doing so were catastrophes due to technology limitations, (and failing leadership) technology has caught up enough that their approach became viable, and has opened up the vast and established ecosystem that is Windows, to a whole new range of form factors.
In contrast, Apple is now digging themselves into a hole. While scaling up iOS essentially invented the tablet market in 2010, building up the iOS ecosystem to now compete with the Surface is driving iOS to become redundant with OSX. But they have no choice because they have never evolved OSX to work with mobile/touch screens, and are now probably 5-7 years behind where Microsoft is with Windows touch features.
Microsoft’s lack of a mobile ecosystem 8 years ago forced them to stretch their Windows operating system down to more mobile screens. While they made fools of themselves along the way, Windows 10 is setting itself up to being the one OS to rule them all. While on the other hand, Apple now has two OS ecosystems, and neither can truly cover the middle ground between laptop and tablet, as beautify as Microsoft has done.
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