the perfect fit...the new apple pencil delivers pixel-perfect precision and industry-leading low...

APPLE PENCIL

The Perfect Fit The final piece in the jigsaw.

By Glen Barham MBE

The Perfect Fit

The final piece in the jigsaw.

By Glen Barham MBE

About the Author

Glen Barham is a Creative at Apple Southampton and a Sign Language Interpreter registered with the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind people who likes to write about himself in the third person!

Having completed 30 years working as a police officer, Glen retired in 2016 to focus on his Sign Language interpreting and to seek new challenges. He found those at Apple. As Glen says,

“Through creativity we unlock potential.”

Foreword by Albert Einstein

When Glen first asked me to write the foreword for his new book, “The Perfect Fit”, I was delighted. I wondered why he had asked me but then I thought, just like Glen, “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

That said, I wish the Apple Pencil had been around when I was doing my thang! It is a magnificent contraption with which to create.

As I once said,

“Creativity is contagious … pass it on!”

Chapter 1

THE BEGINNING

I t all started with iPad. First launched in January 2010 with a 9.7” display, 256MB RAM and no front or rear camera.

It’s hard now to imagine that iPad once had no camera but that all changed in 2011 with iPad 2 which sported a rear 0.7MP camera and a 0.3MP FaceTime camera.

FaceTime had launched in June 2010 on iOS and so now, for the first time, it could be used on iPad.

The addition was amazing but there was more to come.

DOWNSIZING!

Whilst many things were getting bigger, Apple changed things up again with the introduction of iPad mini. With a 7.9” screen, iPad mini was designed to be ‘small enough to fit in one hand but it’s still large enough to give you that rich immersive iPad experience.”

One of the early adverts showed iPad mini alongside the 9.7” iPad performing a piano duet.

AND ONWARDS!

iPad continued to develop with a new release every year but one during the ten years to 2020 with a staggering twenty-three models released to date.

The table on the next page shows the releases with dates and some of the changes along the way. The first three releases utilised the 30-pin connector but Lightning took over in 2012 and remains present on the latest iPad 7, released in 2019. Time will tell if iPad and iPad mini move over to USB-C as iPad Pro has.

Screen Size Inches

Maximum Memory GB

Rear Camera MP

iPad 2010 9.7 64 -

iPad 2 2011 9.7 64 0.7

iPad 3 2012 9.7 64 5

iPad 4 2012 9.7 64 5

iPad Mini 2012 7.9 64 5

iPad Air 2013 9.7 128 5

iPad Mini 2 2013 7.9 128 5

iPad Air 2 2014 9.7 128 8

iPad Mini 3 2014 7.9 128 5

iPad Mini 4 2015 7.9 128 8

iPad Pro 2015 9.7 256 12

iPad Pro 2015 12.9 256 8

iPad 5 2017 9.7 128 8

iPad Pro 2 2017 10.5 512 12

iPad Pro 2 2017 12.9 512 12

iPad 6 2018 9.7 128 8

iPad Pro 3 2018 11.0 1TB 12

iPad Pro 3 2018 12.9 1TB 12

iPad Air 3 2019 10.5 256 8

iPad Mini 5 2019 7.9 256 8

iPad 7 2019 10.2 128 8

iPad Pro 11” 2nd Gen 11.0 1TB 12

iPad Pro 12.9 4th Gen 12.9 1TB 12

Apple worked tirelessly to iterate and reiterate iPad to create something awesome. In the words of Sir Jony Ive, "If you are making changes that are in the service of making something better, then you don’t need to convince people to fall in love with it again. Our sense of habit and familiarity with something is so developed, there is always that initial reaction that is more of a comment on something being different rather than necessarily better or worse. In my experience, if we try very hard to make material improvements, people quickly recognise those and make the sort of connection they had before with the product.”

Front Camera MP

RAM Security I/O

- 256MB Passcode 30 pin

0.3 512MB Passcode 30 pin

0.3 1GB Passcode 30 pin

1.2 1GB Passcode Lightning

1.2 512MB Passcode Lightning



1.2 2GB Touch ID Lightning









7.0 4GB Face ID USB-C







Chapter 2

THE STEP CHANGE

I n 2007 when iPhone launched, Steve Jobs famously commented on devices with styluses. He clearly didn’t like them and, one of the first things he did when

coming back to Apple in 1997 was to kill the Newton, a tablet-like device that used a stylus.

I remember the Newton which first introduced handwriting recognition. Comparing it to today’s devices is like trying to compare apples and oranges!

In that 2007 launch, Steve Jobs said, "Who wants a stylus? You have to get 'em,

put 'em away, you lose 'em. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus. So let's not use a stylus.

Ten Styluses

Steve Jobs considered that there was no need for a stylus because, "God gave us 10 styluses. Let's not invent another.”

It is, however, testament to Apple’s attitude to change and development that they know when to make a decision that reverses a previous stand-point.

And that change came in September 2015 when Apple unveiled the new iPad Pro. Philip Schiller excitedly explained to the audience at WWDC about the new iPad Pro but then, in a move that shocked, introduced a way to be even more precise with the introduction of Apple Pencil.

Apple Newton MessagePad Introduced 1993

WWDC 2015

“Precision that actually gives you the ability to touch a single pixel”

Sir Jony Ive

The first Apple Pencil advert, with a captivating voiceover from Jony Ive, started with the words, “Touch, of course, is the primary method of interaction with iPad” but it recognised that sometimes precision was needed to create even more.

The first generation Apple Pencil, which is still sold today, works on the current non-pro line up of iPad and is paired, and can be charged, with it’s cleverly designed built in Lightning connector.

Work on Apple Pencil first needed the re-engineering of the touch sub-system on the iPad display to allow it to recognise stylus input. When using the Pencil, the system scans twice as often to capture more points in a single stroke.

Highly responsive sensors, built into the tip of Apple Pencil, work with the iPad display to detect position, force and tilt. This means that you can press lightly for a finer stroke or more heavily for a broader stroke.

Signals are emitted from two locations in the tip to calculate the angle and orientation of the Pencil. It is truly awesome.

And when you use Apple Pencil with one of the magnificent apps on the App Store, such as Savage Interactive’s Procreate®, the possibilities are endless. Whether using the Pencil for writing, sketching or drawing, Apple Pencil allows creativity to flow.

UP TO DATE!

Three years after Apple Pencil’s release, Apple released the 2nd generation Apple Pencil. And with it, more functionality and an easier way to charge and pair.

The new Apple Pencil delivers pixel-perfect precision and industry-leading low latency, making it great for drawing, sketching, colouring, taking notes, marking up emails and more. And it’s as easy and natural to use as a pencil.

It also features an intuitive touch surface that supports the ability to double-tap to allow you to change tools without putting it down.

The 2nd generation Apple Pencil has been crafted specifically for iPad Pro 11-inch and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) and it features a flat edge that allows it to attach magnetically for automatic charging and pairing.

It has a seamless design and matt finish and, if that isn’t enough, the new flat edge allows for free engraving so everyone knows it’s your Apple Pencil.

All-in-all, Apple Pencil has given the iPad and iPad Pro the upper hand when it comes to creativity and, don’t forget, you can also use the Apple Pencil to mark up!

Apple Pencil is genius … but genius, of course, doesn’t just happen.

“Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work”

Albert Einstein

For me, whilst iPad is an immersive, intuitive and sleekly designed amazing piece of equipment, Apple Pencil is, without a doubt, the final piece in the jigsaw.

BHAAM.UK

APPLE PENCIL

The final piece in the jigsaw.

Written during the Quarantine of 2020.

By Glen Barham MBE

the perfect fit...the new apple pencil delivers pixel-perfect precision and industry-leading low...

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