Not with an app so much as a prefPane type thing. One switch to let you activate the stylus option button that turns the keyboard frame into a writing frame, so you can use it in any app that takes text. Really, the screen needs to have a sensitivity adjustment so that you can use that toothpick lying there if you left your 5-button bluetooth super-stylus at home.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
[Merged] The iPad and its lack of a stylus
- Thread starter mpgviolin
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
iPad ain't no iPhone
Whether you agree the iPad needs a stylus may depend on what you intend to use a tablet for. I think not incorporating pen and ink in the UI was a mistake.
It seems odd to me that Apple would even adopt the "pad" metaphor for something that cannot be used as a notepad. Afterall, the iPad is incredibly deficient when it comes to easy text entry...so is the iPhone by the way, but the iPhone is a cell phone.
So for text entry, you get no stylus or pen/ink functionality and if you really want to type something (other than a twitter message or brief email), you are expected to use an external keyboard.
I will not be surprised to see the iPad initially blow out of stores, but I hope Apple recognizes that their tablet ain't no iPhone.
Whether you agree the iPad needs a stylus may depend on what you intend to use a tablet for. I think not incorporating pen and ink in the UI was a mistake.
It seems odd to me that Apple would even adopt the "pad" metaphor for something that cannot be used as a notepad. Afterall, the iPad is incredibly deficient when it comes to easy text entry...so is the iPhone by the way, but the iPhone is a cell phone.
So for text entry, you get no stylus or pen/ink functionality and if you really want to type something (other than a twitter message or brief email), you are expected to use an external keyboard.
I will not be surprised to see the iPad initially blow out of stores, but I hope Apple recognizes that their tablet ain't no iPhone.
I will only buy after I use a demo model in a store, no preorder for me, however, I think that typing using the onscreen keyboard will be very easy after a short learning curve and the lack of tactile feedback won't be a very big deal. I can see the non-keyboard dock being the bigger hit picture frame use, etc. (Side note: think how much people already pay for those gimmicky 8x10 digital picture frames and the iPad does so much more).
I don't know that I would really use a dock or bluetooth keyboard over the onscreen. But I have an iMac, so if I want a keyboard I will use that.
As far as how accurate the stylus is, take a look at what's already been accomplished on an iPhone with Brushes and a stylus:
http://www.tenonedesign.com/gallery
Just imagine what can now be done with the new Brushes app demoed and a bigger canvas.
Now, as far as some sort of OCR, that would be great but not necessary for myself. There will be note apps for this device.. there already are for the iPhone.
http://www.tenonedesign.com/gallery
Just imagine what can now be done with the new Brushes app demoed and a bigger canvas.
Now, as far as some sort of OCR, that would be great but not necessary for myself. There will be note apps for this device.. there already are for the iPhone.
This is an interesting proposition and I think gets to the heart of the matter, at least as I understood SJ. The iPad is about doing what most of the people do most of the time. I would have to say that most people can take notes "only" with an onscreen or BT keyboard most of the time.
Given that, I would think we won't see a stylus from Apple itself. Happily, as has been pointed out, the market for 3rd party accessories for the iPhone is large, and since styli already exist for the iPhone, I'm sure we'll see even bigger ones made for the iPad for folks like you who want/need to make note of formulas, diagrams, etc.
Given that, I would think we won't see a stylus from Apple itself. Happily, as has been pointed out, the market for 3rd party accessories for the iPhone is large, and since styli already exist for the iPhone, I'm sure we'll see even bigger ones made for the iPad for folks like you who want/need to make note of formulas, diagrams, etc.
So far, nobody seems to have commented on the OP's request for a "stylus mode," where the screen would accept input from a stylus only, and ignore any accidental touches from fingers/hands. I can see how such a mode would be useful, because when we write on an actual notepad, we often rest our hands on the pad for support and ease of moving the pen. But to implement such a mode would surely be very technological challenging, and probably drive up the cost of a tablet quite a bit. As it is, all tablets currently on the market or being planned does one or the other, but I don't know of any that can switch modes like that. I do hope somebody will develop such a screen sometime, because that would be just awesome.
The iPad has a stylus; it's called your finger. Also, serious note, it's easier to type your class notes than to write them. To draw, it's easier to draw with your fingers by zooming and using different brushes than a pen.
That's the beauty of multi-touch.
You must have VERY narrow fingers. Try writing a formula with your finger, and then compare the results to one written with a pen. Post the results, I'd love to see how much easier and nicer the finger-painted version looks.
I realize that there will be 3rd party support for some of this, but it would have been infinitely better to have it as built-in functionality, especially if the iPad had a place to stow the stylus when not in use.
Think outside the box.
You can define the size of a brush in any painting app, etc. When you write with your finger, it doesn't need to be the size of your finger tip. It can draw a line as indicated by the movement of your finger, not its size.
I also found it odd that Apple would use the Pad name but not include any writing "notepad" functionality.
Doesn't this scratch the crap out of the screen?
I agree, for note taking in technical/math fields, a stylus would be very helpful. I'm sure third parties will fill the void here.
Zooming in, drawing thick lines, then zooming out would still result in crappy looking handwriting. Just because you wouldn't need a stylus, doesn't mean that there isn't a perfectly valid use for one. Posting a crappy workaround isn't helpful, and neither are the insults.You can do all of this in photoshop too. You can zoom in, use larger/smaller brushes, etc. And with my Wacom, I use all of these functions. But have you heard of anyone who makes a finger tablet for that? I've not seen any tablet like that. In fact, every tablet I know of up to this point uses a stylus, and even if there was some kind of strictly finger-touch tablet that I've not heard of, I think I'm safe in saying it's not very popular in comparison. Why? Because it's easier to use a stylus than your finger. This isn't to say you can't use your finger, it's just that it's easier to use a stylus when drawing and writing. It's more natural to use a tool. You just get better control.
As someone pointed out above, this device is called the iPad. When I think of a pad, I think of something you can write and draw on with a writing utensil. Not something you have to finger paint on. So it just seems odd to say:
Now, if you don't care about a stylus, I can totally get that. I don't think a stylus should even necessarily be included with the tablet when you buy it. But I think it would make sense for stylus functionality to be built in for something that is called an iPad. Especially since if they sold a stylus and an app to use it separately, they would only make more money.
FWIW, to capture customers' signatures on its new iPod touch-based EasyPay POS system, Apple Stores use the Pogo Sketch stylus (instead of making the customer try to sign the screen with their fingertip):
![product_sketch_horizontal.png]()
http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php
http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php
Pressure sensitivity and an optional stylus would be really nice. Just like the keyboard this would be an option. One could even have the stylus be a brush...
I can't find any examples of people writing with a Pogo stylus on the iPhone.
Taking notes, drawing diagrams, writing equations is all I want to do.
This thing looks horrible to write with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riE3imu5nLI
Taking notes, drawing diagrams, writing equations is all I want to do.
This thing looks horrible to write with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riE3imu5nLI
Going to be tough to think outside the box when can't see the box. Sure can make the pen size smaller than your figure. However, that also means you cannot see what you are drawing either. You can only see after your finger moves away.
So for example how do you pricely join 4 lines to all meet at a single point?
Zoom in and change brush size and then zoom back out and again change brush size is not the answer. You cannot think outside the box if you cannot see the box (i.e., think outside of the problem you are trying to solve). In the context of taking notes the content is streaming by. While you are adding additionaly ergonomic actions to perform the presenter could have moved onto the next point which also needs to be recorded. This isn't a "work at your own pace in Photoshop" where you can labor over a drawing for 5 minutes or build some paint-by-numbers diagram and fill it in. This is need to get drawing of modest complexity accurately done in less that 2-4 secs kind of context. (e.g., a physics problem force diagram of along 2-3 vectors , an equation with super and subscripts, an eight atom molecule with complicated bonds, etc. ). Too many additional commands will impair that process, not enhance it.
I could see some multitouch gesture to insert a canvas for a figure ( to make it distinct from a handwriting area from a drawing area). But once have bounding box... drawing is quicker is use a precise instrument.
Yes, the Pogo stylus isn't for real note taking. As for using fingers for notetaking, come on what are we cave dwellers, we don't take notes with our fingers. I want the iPad to succeed too, but let's not be blinded by our enthusiasm for a product that does not meet a need.
It's clear that some don't need or want a stylus in a tablet and, perhaps, Apple had those users in mind when they designed the iPad. Using the iPad for interesting uses like reading e-books, email, twitter messages, and whatever else we do on our iPhones and iPod Touch is fine for some. I, like a few others on this forum, apparently wanted the UI to include pen based notetaking.
