Author: Emily Dolloff

Some Apple products I am immediately drawn to and honestly, I don’t even need a valid reason to buy it. For me, being cool is sometimes all I need! Who doesn’t want to pull out the latest Apple product and all of a sudden you’re the center of attention, and everyone wants to get their hands on what you have. When the iPad Pro came out, this was one of those products that I did not immediately put in an order for. Afterall, I have minimal artistic talent and I don’t need to design the next skyscraper. When it was time for me to upgrade my original iPad mini, I upgraded to the 2017 iPad last year. I just didn’t see how I would ever utilize the Apple Pencil and the iPad Pro.

My view has completely changed in the last several weeks. It all started when I went to a conference and realized I was one of the only folks writing notes in a notebook. Yep, a notebook and a pen. In fact, I love my notebooks so much I even had a favorite brand. Despite sitting in front a computer all day and taking extensive notes via Pages or just Notes, I was still an avid writer of notes. It’s my iPhone and my trusty notebooks that attend every meeting with me, until now. When Apple released the 2018 iPad I realized it was time to stop being so narrow-minded about the benefits of the Apple pencil and iPad.

I’ve only been using the Apple Pencil and iPad for a few days now, but I already wonder why it took me so long to realize how much harder I was working to keep myself organized. Before I get into how I’m using the Apple Pencil with the new iPad, let us talk for a moment about the difference between the 2017 and 2018 9.7in iPad. At first glance, you won’t notice much. It is the same size and weight and fits perfectly into my existing case. I did notice that the fingerprint recognition is improved on this model, the response at least is faster in my testing. There is also improved response time when accessing apps, it’s not dramatic but there is a noticeable difference. In my first 24 hours with the iPad I noticed a decline in battery performance, however, I’m using the 2018 iPad constantly during the day. It seems I’ll need to make it a habit to charge my iPad at the conclusion of the workday just like I often need to do with my iPhone. I don’t really see this as a fault.

I upgraded my iPad so that I could leave my notebooks behind, and, after some research, decided on GoodNotes as my notetaking app. This is a paid app, but so far I have not been disappointed. GoodNotes has been around for a while and while you don’t need specifically an iPad that works with Apple Pencil to use it, a few minutes into using it you can see pretty quickly how natural the process feels. I would occasionally handwrite notes in Notes, but often ran into issues with my hand resting on the iPad and poor recognition from the stylus. Commonly styluses have a hard time with fine point response. I now have a copy of all my notes not only on my iPad, but they also sync to my iPhone and backup to the cloud. This means I’ll no longer have to worry about leaving my notes behind!

Pages with Apple Pencil has also been an unexpected advantage. It’s extremely convenient to receive a file and make quick edits and suggestions. The retail managers utilize Pages to create signage in their retail stores and before it goes out I always check things over for compliance. It’s nice to be able to draw right on the file for corrections and suggestions to layout, it eliminates extra back and forth in e-mail when collaboration is not an option.

I have only been using the iPad with Apple Pencil for a few days, but it’s shown me that the benefits of the two go far beyond the narrow thinking I’d had about who is the ideal user. Whether you’re someone doing graphics work or someone like myself who’s just looking to be more organized and professional, you will likely be surprised with how versatile these two products are. I’ll have a more in-depth review in the coming weeks, including feedback on what it’s like to go from pen and paper to digital.