Tonight I won the Apple Pencil lottery at my local Apple Store. I made the two-hour drive over to New Orleans to pick up an iPad Pro that I’d ordered online for Personal Pickup in store, half because I wanted avoid shipping delays and half because I want to take a chance on iPad Pro accessories being in stock. That paid off thanks to some dumb luck, and now I’ve officially had some hands-on time with the iPad Pro’s digital stylus.

But first, the story of how I caught one of these rare unicorns in the wild…

Apple Pencil currently shows 4-5 week wait times for delivery when ordering on Apple.com, and the Specialist that greeted me and called up my iPad Pro pickup reaffirmed that there were no Apple Pencils or Smart Keyboards in stock. While it turns out he was only half right, he added that the iPads arrived early and that the accessories were still catching up (this seems to be the standard explainer for the moment).

I usually skip the Personal Setup process, but I was shopping alone this evening in no rush and said okay to take advantage of the Wi-Fi. After getting to the Home screen on my iPad Pro (wow is it big!), I decided to browse the accessories walls and noticed the iPad Pro Smart Cover and Protective Case was available, but only in white and not the darker charcoal gray option.

A second Specialist approached me once again as I was heading out and asked if I needed any help. I said sure and mentioned that I noticed the iPad Pro cases were available in white, but wondered if the darker colors were in stock. He checked his inventory on his device and said they should be available, but reaffirmed that the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard would not be.

When he went to call out the charcoal gray iPad accessories, he noticed that his inventory indeed said not one but two Apple Pencils were stocked. I mentioned that I’d definitely buy one if they were actually there, so he requested from the back and sure enough it had just arrived around 7:30 on a Friday night. There were only two that arrived, and I’m pretty sure the other one will end up as his before the night is over.

I don’t think there’s much positive about launching the iPad Pro two months after unveiling it and not having two key accessories available, but boy is it a nice surprise when you win the Apple Pencil lottery…

Okay, now for a few observations on unboxing and using the Apple Pencil with an iPad Pro.

The packaging is rather unremarkable. Apple Pencil is serialized with the number listed on the back label, the contents slide out from the side, and there’s a pull tab underneath the plastic to help you unbox it.

Next to the pull tab is an illustration showing you how to quickly charge Apple Pencil. In retrospect, this is also likely showing you how to pair Apple Pencil to iPad Pro as well. Holding a warranty pamphlet and some care instructions is a sleeve marked with Designed by Apple in California.

The warranty pamphlet explains the standard Apple One Year Limited Warranty – Accessory – For Apple and Beats Branded Product Only. The instruction say to draw with Apple Pencil and iPad Pro as you would with pencil and paper. Interestingly, the pamphlet says that the tip will eventually wear away and need replacing to avoid damaging the iPad Pro display. A spare tip and a Lighting port adapter for recharging with a cable is included, but no spare Lightning connector cover.

The Apple Pencil itself is laid out in a tray similar to the security-free units on display at Apple Stores. It’s also wrapped in plastic like every other Apple device you’ll unbox this year.

The setup process isn’t obvious as there are no written instructions within the box that I could find. Taking a cue from Apple’s latest Magic peripherals for the Mac, I guessed correctly that removing the cap on the would-be eraser end and connecting it to the iPad Pro’s Lighting port would initiate pairing.

Once paired, I was surprised to receive a warning that Apple Pencil had 0% battery and needed charging. Not immediately aware of how to check the battery life and charging status, I remembered that iOS 9 added a new battery widget in Notification Center. By default, the battery widget is enabled but only visible in Notification Center positioned landscape when the “Widgets” section is enabled. By the time I found the battery widget, Apple Pencil had reached 4%; 15 minutes later it was nearly 25% charged.

Apple’s new Notes app on iOS 9 is a great place to start testing Apple Pencil once it’s set up, but the App Store has a collection of Apple Pencil-ready apps like Procreate and Paper by 53 featured prominently at the moment. I downloaded a few, then jumped into Apple Notes to try out the built-in experience.

Sketching features in Apple Notes are pretty basic compared to dedicated drawing apps on the iPad, but it’s a good start when test driving Apple Pencil. The usually odd paper-like background feels okay here, and I quickly decided that Apple Pencil’s palm rejection matched with the iPad Pro’s gigantic display make drawing on the iPad actually frustration-free and pretty simple for the first time ever.

I’ve always been disappointed with the drawing experience on past iPads; the display just feels cramped and more restricting than actual paper. Apple Pencil and iPad Pro fixes that. I foresee myself really enjoying casually sketching on this device without a doubt.

While the claim of “virtually no lag” may not ring true exactly especially in some non-Apple apps that claim to be Apple Pencil-optimized, seeing any lag with casual drawing required intentionally racing the ink hitting the paper and the Apple Pencil moving across the display.

After a short time using Apple Pencil, I have to admit I’m impressed with the quality of palm rejection and even just how it feels moving across the screen. There’s a level of resistance and friction that emulates using a sketching utensil on paper. $900 is expensive to spend on a fancy notepad, but iPad Pro does a whole lot more of course. More on that and if I think it’s worth it after I spend some time with the 12.9″ tablet. For now, I recommend trying your luck at finding an Apple Pencil at just the right if you’ve got an iPad Pro or plan to buy one. It’s a really impressive little piece of hardware so far…

(By the way, I wrote this on my 12-inch MacBook as I’m not quite ready to use the iPad Pro for blog posting … more on that next week.)

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple Pencil, iPad Pro

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Apple, after unveiling a new Shopping category last week, appears to have now made more enhancements to the App Store. According to a report out of TechCrunch, Apple has improved its search algorithms to return more relevant and intelligent results when a keyword search is performed.

The change in algorithms appears to have begun on November 3rd, with the most notable changes being noticed yesterday and today. While Apple in the past has focused most on algorithms for the Top Free, Paid, and Grossing apps, these changes affect how apps are returned when a user performs a search.

Apps that are returned in search results are now ranked based on a mix of contextual keywords for the apps, including partial keyword matches as well as competitor brand names. With these changes, this is the first time the App Store has ranked apps for keywords not found in the title or the “keyword” field, TechCrunch reports. For developers, this means that when a user searches for their app, a handful of competing apps will now appear.

One example TechCrunch points to is of searching for Twitter. Now, when you search for Twitter, third-party apps like Tweetbot and Twitterrific are more prevalent in the results, ranking at numbers four and five, respectively. Instagram, the seemingly unrelated app to Twitter, finally no longer appears in search results for Twitter.

Dan Held, founder of mobile growth consulting firm Analytica, told TechCrunch that he believes these changes could suggest that Apple is beginning development of its own version of the PageRank algorithm:

“It’s their attempt at understanding how different apps rank relative to each other. I think this is an attempt to move in that direction…the first step would probably be to benchmark where you rank compared to your competitors.”

Apple has not commented on these algorithm changes as of yet.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: App Store, Apple, search

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Apple Store, UTC in San Diego has been hit with a “Notice of Failed Inspection” through the county’s Price Accuracy Inspection Program for charging customers a higher than advertised price.

The notice, which Apple has to display in the window of the Apple Store for ten days through November 22, reads:

“This establishment has been fined for overcharge violations found during an inspection on 9/1/2015.

Charging higher than the lowest posted or advertised price, is a violation of Business and Professions Code Section 12024.2.”

We spoke with an employee at the Apple Store, UTC who told us the pricing discrepancy wasn’t related to pricing on Apple’s own products, but rather a third-party accessory. The employee couldn’t confirm the specifics of the violation or pricing blunder.

The program is managed by the County of San Diego Department of Agriculture, Weights, and Measures who routinely inspects pricing at local businesses and enforces the law mentioned above. The department describes the program as regular inspections of “retail locations with automated point-of-sale systems to verify that prices charged to consumers are the same as those posted, advertised, or quoted price. Weights and Measures inspectors also confirm that check-out stands clearly display the price of each item as they are entered into the POS system.”

California has information on the law on its website, which outlines various rules that prevent businesses from overcharging customers in one way or another versus advertised pricing.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple Store, Business and Professions Code Section 12024.2, Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures, notice of failed inspection, price accuracy, San Diego, utc, violation

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Apple CEO Tim Cook sent an email to all of the company’s employees today addressing the situation at Apple’s Melbourne, Australia store that saw a group of teens booted from the outlet by management due to their race. The incident was captured in a video that appeared online this week.

In the email, which bore the subject line “Apple is open,” Cook calls the handling of the situation “unacceptable” and says that no one in Apple’s leadership was happy about what happened. He also said that store leadership teams worldwide would be required to re-take certain customer service training.

The CEO states in the message that the actions of the employee in Melbourne do not reflect Apple’s core values and expressed once again that the company is “open to people from all walks of life, regardless of race or religion, gender or sexual orientation, age, disability, income, language or point of view.”

He closed by reiterating the company’s committment to respect for its customers.

The employee and manager involved in the incident have both apologized to the students. The full email is included below, via BuzzFeed.

Team,

I’m sure you are all aware of the unacceptable incident which took place at our store at the Highpoint shopping center in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday. Several young men, who are students at a nearby school, had been asked by a security guard to leave the store. In an attempt to address the situation, one of our store employees gave an answer which shocked many of us.

What people have seen and heard from watching the video on the web does not represent our values. It is not a message we would ever want to deliver to a customer or hear ourselves. Our employee immediately expressed his regret and apologized to the students.

None of us are happy with the way this was handled. But we can all be proud of Kate, one of the senior managers at the Highpoint store.

On Wednesday, she greeted the same group of students to express a heartfelt apology on behalf of our store and our company. She reassured these young men that they and their fellow classmates would always be welcome at our store. The school’s principal later told a reporter that she delivered her message “with good grace,” and one of the students said, “It feels like we have justice now.”

Her words that day echoed a message you’ve heard many times from me and from Angela. It’s a simple pledge we all make to our customers and to ourselves:

Apple is open.

Our stores and our hearts are open to people from all walks of life, regardless of race or religion, gender or sexual orientation, age, disability, income, language or point of view. All across our company, being inclusive and embracing our differences makes our products better and our stores stronger.

The Apple Store Highpoint is staffed by people who share these values and illustrate our commitment to diversity. The team is made up of coworkers from Australia, as well as Egypt, Italy, India and five other nations. Collectively they speak 15 languages, including Urdu, Portuguese, Arabic and Mandarin.

While I firmly believe that this was an isolated incident rather than a symptom of a broader problem in our stores, we will use this moment as an opportunity to learn and grow. Our store leadership teams around the world, starting in Australia, will be refreshing their training on inclusion and customer engagement. These are concepts and practices they know well, but can always stand to reinforce.

Respect for our customers is the foundation of everything we do at Apple. It’s the reason we put so much care into the design of our products. It’s the reason we make our stores beautiful and inviting, and extend their reach to benefit the communities around them. It’s the reason we commit ourselves to enriching people’s lives.

Thank you all for your dedication to Apple, to our values, and to the customers we are so very fortunate to serve.

Tim

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple Retail, Australia, Melbourne

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Apple is reportedly planning to ship the first successor to the Apple Watch sometime next year around the second or third quarter, according to Chinese media source UDN. The report cites comments made during a meeting with Barry Lam, chairman and founder of Quanta Computer, an Apple Watch manufacturer. While it’s no surprise that Apple would be planning to introduce the Apple Watch 2 in 2016, a third quarter release would mean a launch two years after the first model was introduced and roughly a year and a half since it went on sale.

The report does mention initial shipments in small volume during the second quarter, meaning possibly meaning June, although that could amount to production ramping up ahead of a fall launch which is ordinarily what occurs before major product launches.

Apple first introduced the current Apple Watch last year in September 2014, then previewing it again in March 2015 before starting sales in late April. While Apple hasn’t updated the Apple Watch hardware this year, it has released the watchOS 2 software update adding new features, introduced new color options for Apple Watch Sport, Sport bands, and Classic Buckle leather bands, as well as a new high-end collection through a partnership with Hermès.

While 1-day battery life has been an issue for some Apple Watch users (more so after watchOS 2), the next-generation Apple Watch is believed to offer similar battery life performance for now. 9to5Mac reported in June that Apple was targeting 2016 for the launch of the next Apple Watch version, adding that a potential FaceTime camera for video calls was being considered.

Current Apple Watches rely heavily on connected iPhones for most functionality including the initial setup process and managing a lot of the experience. To start to remedy that restraint, Apple has been developing changes called “tether-less” that ease the dependency when on Wi-Fi. Enhances coming to Bluetooth next year, including greater range and increased speed for data transfer, will likely also benefit future Apple Watches.

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, Apple Watch 2, Quanta, Quanta Computer, UDN

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

App Store Free App of the Week: PDF Expert 5 goes free for the first time ($10 value)

Best of Black Friday – HDTVs: 40-inch from $149, Samsung 55-inch Smart $580 (Reg. $1,200), more

Best of Black Friday – Games: Xbox One/PS4 console bundles, deep discounts on games, more

Add 3100mAh of battery life to your iPhone 6/s with this MFi Apple-certified case: $21 Prime shipped (Reg. $43)

Apple MagSafe 2 Power Adapters for MacBook Air or MacBook Pro from $34 shipped (Reg. $79)

Implosion – Never Lose Hope for iOS goes free for the first time as IGN’s Game of the Month ($10 value)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Add TiVo DVR functionality to your over-the-air antenna with this refurb deal: $35 + $5 shipping (Orig. $50)

• Games/Apps: COD Black Ops 3 PS4 w/ Fallout 4 + charger $430, amiibo, more
• Amazon Gold Box – Timex Men’s Expedition Watches starting at $24 (Reg. $53)
• 12-month EA Access subscription: $25 (Reg. $30)
• Nintendo announces Zelda Twilight Princess HD remaster, more
• Daily Deals: Philips Friends of hue LightStrip Kit $120, Optoma Projector $749

BLACK FRIDAY AD LEAKS & NEWS:

Best Buy’s Black Friday ad brings deals on Apple Watch, Macs, HDTVs, games & more!

• Walmart’s Black Friday ad leak hits with 4K UHDTV deals, iPad Air 2 $100 off, more
• Target previews its top Black Friday deals, launches surprise one-day sale
• Staples Black Friday Ad Revealed: iPad Air 2 from $374, mini 4 $300, more
• Amazon plans dramatic Black Friday discounts for its Kindle, Fire TV Stick & Fire tablet
• Amazon’s Black Friday Deals store is now open for business
• eBay’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday will deliver deals on MacBooks, iPhone, iPad Air 2
• GameStop Black Friday ad leak: PS4/Xbox One bundles $300, new Nintendo 3DS XL $180
• Toys R Us Black Friday ad leak: Xbox One/PS4 bundles $300, more
• Sam’s Club Black Friday ad leak: iPad Air 2 Cellular $175 off, Google Play $100 GC $80
• Kohl’s Black Friday ad leak: more PS4/Xbox One $300 bundles, home goods, clothing
• Sam’s Club One-Day Sale: iPhone 6s/Plus $100 off, iPad Air 2 64GB/128GB $150 off
• HHGregg Black Friday: Beats Powerbeats2 Wireless Headphones $100, more
• Sports Authority Black Friday Ad: Free gift cards w/ footwear, FitBit Charge HR $120
• eBay calls on Black Friday shoppers to decide which products will get discounted this year
• BJ’s Warehouse Black Friday ad hits with Samsung 4K UHDTV deals, fitness trackers
• Sears Black Friday Ad: deals on Samsung 4K UHDTV’s, more
• The Office Depot & OfficeMax Black Friday ad doesn’t bring much to the table

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

T-Mobile is discounting iPhone 6s/Plus by $100 when bought on an installment plan or outright

Huge savings on pre-owned Apple Watches, deals from as low as $261 shipped

Apple iPod Touch 5th gen 16-64GB sizes, multiple colors: $149-$199 shipped

Apple Magic Mouse 2 (open-box): $68 shipped (Reg. $80)

Apple iPad Mini 2, space gray or silver: $199 shipped ($70 off)

UE MEGABOOM in black: $227 shipped (Reg. $300)

• New Trent iPhone 6s Cases for $7.25 Prime shipped (Reg. $18), more
• TechMatte 3-ft USB-C cables starting at $4.50 Prime shipped (Reg. $9), more
• USB Deals w/ Prime shipping: Lumsing 10,400mAh Power Bank $13, more
• 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display 2.2GHz/16GB/256GB: $1,600 (Reg. $1,999)
• iPad Air 2 smart cases w/ auto wake-sleep: $9 Prime shipped (Reg. $12)
• Nest Cam 3-pack bundle launching this week for $497 ($100 savings)
• Roku 3 Streaming Media Player (refurb): $70 shipped (Orig. $100)
• ULAK Cases for iPhone 6/s, iPad mini, iPod Touch from $3 shipped (Reg. $10+)
• Beats by Dre. Powerbeats2 Wireless active collection drops to $130
• Smart HDTVs: LG 50-inch $450 (Reg. $600+), Samsung 55-inch $580 (Reg. $700)
• Incase’s ‘Mystery Box’ gets you a $150 grab bag of Apple accessories worth $320
• Lara Croft Go for iOS hits its lowest price ever: $2 (Reg. $5)
• A-T ATH-M40X Headphones + Blue Snowball USB Mic: $109 shipped (~$157+ value)
• Speakers: AmazonBasics Portable Bluetooth $40, Logitech 2.1 w/ sub $25 Prime shipped
• Dual-Port USB Power Banks: Poweradd 20,000mAh $18 (Reg. $36), more
• Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB audio interface for $100 shipped (Reg. $150), more
• Samsung D3 Station 5TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive $110 shipped (Orig. $150)
• ASUS Chromebook Flip 10.1-Inch 2 in 1 Touchscreen (2GB :$219, 4GB: $239 shipped)
• Crucial 2.5-inch 480GB SATA III Internal SSD $140, Samsung 250GB 850 EVO $75
• This solar powered flashlight is useful and at $20 a good deal
• Microsoft Office 365 one-year subscription for $50 shipped (50% off) – Word, Excel, more!
• 4K Smart HDTVs: Samsung 40-inch Ultra HDTV $520 shipped, more
• Media: Blu-rays from $4 shipped – The Hurt Locker, Man on Fire, more
• MacMall already has iPad Pros on sale with modest $12 savings, more!
• Grab a $40 Google Express voucher for $10 with email delivery (75% savings)
• 44 comic issues for free: Batman, Star Wars, Spawn, The Walking Dead, and more

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Pulse brings Bluetooth LE + iOS connectivity to a slew of Canon and Nikon DSLRs

Roku surprises with a new “special edition” streaming media player at an all-time low price

• Mophie introduces new power banks with a sleek aluminum design
• Yuneec introduces its own stabilized 4K action camera
• TP-Link introduces two new Wi-Fi extenders for home theaters, gaming consoles
• Review: How Amazon Echo changed my life + $130 special price
• Sony will release the Darth Vader Edition DualShock 4 controller on its own
• The best GoPro HERO4 action camera accessories, mounts, storage, more
• Is Luma’s surround Wi-Fi system the router we’ve been waiting for?
• Don’t Panic’s latest iPad Air 2 case is an astute all-in-one solution for every angle
• New Fallout 4 launch trailer hits with a fresh look at gameplay and more

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon, Amazon Prime, App Store Free App of the Week, Best Black Friday deals, Best Buy, Best of Black Friday, Black Friday, coupon codes, Cyber Monday, Daily Deals, Deals, free shipping, HDTV, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus, New Toy of the Day, PDF Expert 5, T-Mobile

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Google has quietly launched a Chrome beta for iOS through TestFlight, the beta distribution service Apple acquired last year and integrated into its own developer services. Google has yet to make an official announcement for the beta release, but users can already sign-up and download the beta when visiting Google’s Chrome beta download page on iOS.

Google has long had beta and other development channels available to all on its other platforms including Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, making iOS one of the last of the platforms Chrome is on to get access to in-development, beta features.

Users that download the new Chrome beta today will be able to update to Chrome version 47.0.2526.53, which brings support for Apple’s new 3D touch feature on the iPhone 6s, additional Bluetooth keyboard shortcuts, and other new features. For 3D Touch, users will be able to deep press the Home screen icon for quick access to functions like opening a new tab, voice search, and switching to incognito mode.

To sign-up to the Chrome beta for iOS, users have to click the download button on Google’s beta download page, enter their email address, and wait for a link via email to download the app through TestFlight. They’ll also have to download Apple’s TestFlight app to their device.

(via Google Operating System blog)

Filed under: iOS Tagged: 3D Touch, App Store, Apple, chrome beta, download, Google, iOS, TestFlight, update

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I posted my first impressions of the iPad Pro yesterday, and having spent much of the past 24 hours mostly using it rather than my MacBook, I now have more of a sense of why Tim Cook thinks it could be a laptop replacement.

While most reviewers dismissed that, and I would certainly join them in doing so when thinking of you or I, it’s easy to forget that we are not normals. We want the power of pro apps, and the ability to do plenty of multitasking. We’re a very different user case to the average non-tech user who rarely ventures further than email, web, chat and a bit of light photo-editing.

I’ve said before that when non-tech friends ask me for advice on which laptop to buy, I quiz them on what they want to do with it and often end up recommending an iPad and keyboard instead. With the increased screen size of the iPad Pro, I can see myself doing that even more often in the future. Sure, it’s expensive for what it is, but it’s a hassle-free, flexible device with the option of built-in LTE. For many, that makes it a better option than a MacBook.

In my usage so far, I’ve been impressed by quite a lot, have some grumbles – and have two key concerns about the possibility of the device replacing my much-loved iPad Air 2. Let’s start with the good news … 

Considering that it’s just a bigger and faster iPad, it’s amazing how different it feels to a standard iPad – even one with a keyboard. The size really does make it feel like a different category of device.

That’s partly just the sheer expanse of that gorgeous screen. It’s pretty much the same size as a 13-inch MacBook, and a very common size for non-Apple laptops. It doesn’t feel in any way constrained.

And it’s partly that, for the first time, I feel like an iPad is a viable device for multitasking. Sure, I can use Slide Over and Split View on my iPad Air 2, but I rarely do. The screen just feels too small for that. But Split View on the iPad Pro is great. Extremely usable. You have a decent view of both apps, so for the first time reading from one app while writing in another doesn’t feel cramped.

Granted it’s limited to two apps, but this is almost Mac-standard multitasking.

Anything involving photo or video is fantastic. Netflix addicts will love it. Not only is the screen a great size for personal viewing – and for two at a push – the speakers are loud. Really loud! And stereo makes a big difference for some movies.

While the speaker volume is a massive improvement, the quality is still just in the ‘ok’ range. You’re never going to get great sound out of such small speakers when it comes to listening to music, but for movies they are more than good enough.

Oh, one small niggle in the Music app: the now-playing bar and controls are still really tiny, and look even smaller on this size screen. Apple really needs to take advantage of the screen size to make them bigger.

I absolutely love how good photos look on this screen. The size means that showing someone a photo on this is exactly like handing them a 10×8 print in the old days – you feel like they’re seeing it properly.

I’ve played with Lightroom on my iPad Air, but never really seen it as anything but an emergency option. But on the iPad Pro, it really feels like a viable option for the first time. I’m certainly going to try it.

A4/US letter documents may not have the wow factor of photos, but it’s terrific to be able to view them at almost full size. No scrolling, no zooming, just comfortably read an entire page at a time.

The screen size also makes a big difference with maps. On a standard iPad, I find myself doing quite a lot of scrolling around once I’m zoomed in close enough to see the street names, while the Pro lets you see a lot more at a time.

Finally, I don’t do many games, but X-Plane is really something at this size (though iOS 9.1 did kill the audio, something which will hopefully be fixed soon). I’ll let others more into games say more about this, but my guess is that if you’re an iOS gamer, you’re going to adore the iPad Pro.

The niggles

I have a few complaints aimed directly at Apple. A very minor one is that the iPad Pro doesn’t get the new super-fast Touch ID fitted to the iPhone 6s. I don’t really care, but it does feel a bit off that the latest shiny new piece of kit – given a Pro label, no less – gets old tech. However, Benjamin has suggested this may be for supply-chain reasons, that Apple simply can’t make enough of them to meet demand for the news iPhones, and that seems plausible to me.

Far less forgivable, in my view, is that the iPad Pro lacks 3D Touch. That’s a feature that makes a massive difference to iOS, and it really ought to be there in the latest top-of-the-range iOS device.

I mentioned yesterday my biggest complaints about the iPad Pro: the ridiculous waste of space on the Home screen, and the fact that many apps – even some of Apple’s own – are not yet properly optimized for it.

Take the email app, for example:

The body of the email looks like it has been copied directly from the iPad Air and just pasted into the center of the iPad Pro’s much larger screen. There’s little point in having all that lovely real estate unless apps allow us to use it, and to see this in one of Apple’s own on-board apps is really very poor.

Other apps just look absurd, like some kind of child’s toy. I love PopCalc, for example, but you need the scale provided by the iPhone 6s in the above photo to see just how ridiculous it looks at this size.

I’m really not a fan of touchscreen keyboards. The standard iPad one was a good effort, but I still hated using it. But the combination of the physical size, and constant number/symbol row, makes the iPad Pro version incredibly usable. I wouldn’t want to be writing this piece on it, but for emails and the like, it works well.

Which is another complaint about apps: so far, only a handful are using the new keyboard – many call up the standard iOS one, and that one not only looks silly but has such over-sized and widely-spaced keys that it’s actually harder to use than on standard iPads.

Apps in general need to think about how to use the extra space – but as I mentioned yesterday, developers may well take the view that it’s such a small market it’s not worth the effort. We’ll just have to wait and see on that one.

The two issues that concern me most

I love, love, love the size of the screen. As I said in the intro, it really does make it feel almost like a whole new category of device.

But of course that comes at a price – and not just a financial one. My iPad Air 2 slips very easily into my smallest bag, and even with the Brydge keyboard that goes with it, I scarcely notice it’s there. That’s not true of the iPad Pro. I need to use the same bags I currently use for my MacBook Air 11. Not only that, but the combo of the iPad Pro with Logitech CREATE keyboard is actually heavier: a total of 3lb 4oz versus 2lb 6oz for the MacBook.

So the first question I have for myself is: do I want to sacrifice that much portability? Given that my iPad goes everywhere with me, it limits my choice of bag and weighs me down more.

The second issue is the unwieldiness of the Pro in some uses. I already mentioned yesterday that typing on the handheld device really is horrible – you definitely want to put it down somewhere to do that. With my iPad Air 2, I frequently hold it in my left hand by the left-hand edge while I use my right hand to touch the screen, and that’s perfectly comfortable. With the iPad Pro, it’s really not!

You might think the extra weight is not that big a deal – after all, the first-gen iPad actually weighed almost the same as the naked iPad Pro (quite an amazing thought in itself!) – but there is the small matter of Archimedes. The lever principle very much applies here: holding the iPad Pro in one hand in landscape mode, all that weight is trying to lever its way out of your hand. The iPad Air 2 feels truly featherweight in comparison.

The unwieldiness also really makes itself felt if you use the device in bed, for Netflix or to read books. It’s far too heavy to hold up in the air above you, and even lying on your side – with the iPad’s weight taken by the bed – it suddenly does seem very big. It feels a bit like you’re in bed with a laptop rather than a book.

So, these are the two factors I need to balance out: my love of that big screen versus the reduced portability and clumsier handling. In a perfect world, I’d want to keep both devices, switching between them depending on what I’m doing. But having that much money invested in iPads, especially when I already have (with rather dubious justification) both a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air, would be truly nuts. So I am going to have to choose, and I’m not sure yet what that choice will be.

Filed under: iOS Devices, Opinion Tagged: iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Pro diary, iPad Pro review

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I’m on the record as loving Logitech’s Apple accessories, having been a very early champion of the K811 Easy-Switch Keyboard, and fan of its cleanly-designed Rechargeable Trackpad for Mac. The company also thrilled a lot of people with its Ultrathin series of iPad keyboards, which weren’t cheap or perfect, but worked well while looking and feeling nice. And many of Logitech’s Ultimate Ears speakers have nailed the rare combination of great looks, great sound, and great pricing.

So what the heck happened with the Create Backlit Keyboard Case for iPad Pro ($150)?

I wanted to like Create. In all honesty, I wanted to love Create, because it’s obvious that the large, heavy iPad Pro desperately needs a great keyboard case to simultaneously function as a stand, a great typing surface, and an insurance policy against damage. But rather than borrowing the best elements from Logitech’s prior keyboard cases, Create uses some design touches that really don’t work with the larger tablet. Consequently, while it’s an okay first day option, it falls short in a number of important ways that are worth considering in light of the iPad Pro’s release this week…

In form and execution, the Create Backlit Keyboard Case for iPad Pro treads on very familiar territory. Measuring roughly 12.2″ by 9″ by 0.75″ — a little larger than a 13″ Retina MacBook Pro — it is a fabric-covered folio, opening to reveal a keyboard on the left side and an iPad-holding partial frame on the right. The exterior material is ballistic nylon in your choice of black, red, or purple, with soft plastic button covers and a hard plastic C-shaped frame to grip the iPad Pro’s right side. I normally love the resilience of ballistic nylon when it’s used in bags, but as a taut covering for a heavy computer, it feels unsettling — one step less weird in the hand than a laptop coated in fur. Carrying it around made me realize how much I appreciate a smooth texture when I’m holding something large.

Create’s most problematic element is the C-shaped iPad frame, which makes insertion or removal of the substantial-feeling Pro simultaneously feel uncertain and uncomfortable. The frame uses physical pressure to clamp your iPad in place, focusing your fingers on the feel of somewhat sharp-edged plastic against Apple’s expensive and large metal Pro chassis. Once the iPad’s inserted and confirmed to be in exactly the right place, it feels steady inside the frame. But it’s not easy to get alignment perfect, and the flush-mounted volume button covers don’t work properly if the iPad’s not snug against the frame’s edge. Since people will frequently want to pull the tablet out for non-keyboard use, a better insertion/release mechanism is seriously needed.

As a stand, Create has one nice feature iPad keyboard case users now take for granted: it attaches the iPad Pro magnetically to a bar right above the typing surface, activating the keyboard as soon as the physical connection is made. Although the packaging notes that Create supports two angles for typing and viewing, only the typing recline is rigidly supported magnetically, while the steeper angle is more passive and subject to slippage when the iPad’s not being used on a flat surface. Strong support for more viewing angles would go a long way towards making the iPad Pro feel more like a laptop, so keyboard case makers should be thinking of ways to accomplish this.

If there’s any bright spot in Create’s design, that would be the keyboard itself, which is typically excellent in the way so many Logitech keyboards have been. Like the K811, the keys aren’t exactly like an Apple keyboard’s; this time, they use a cool Futura or a Futura-like font, and are almost slippery-smooth in texture. But they’re so close in feel and functionality that there’s zero learning curve before you start typing like a… well, Pro. I was able to type far more accurately and quickly on Create than with the iPad Pro’s new landscape or portrait keyboards, each of which I’ve found less comfortable to type on than the iPad mini’s and Air’s virtual keyboards.

The key array mimics Apple’s, including iOS-specific function keys while adding keyboard brightness controls; as with Apple’s iOS keyboards, there’s no Escape key to be found. Key travel is slightly greater than on Apple’s new Magic Keyboard, and slightly less than on its past Wireless Keyboard, a compromise that’s easy to like. Oddly for a premium-priced Logitech design, the keyboard has a somewhat cheap-looking top housing, which is primarily either space gray, silver, or gold metal, but with awkward-looking plastic wings on the left and right sides.

There haven’t been many battery-less iPad keyboards — few companies released Lightning keyboards or Dock Connector keyboards — but that looks set to change with the iPad Pro. Bluetooth has so dominated the iPad keyboard category that I’ve gotten accustomed to opening a box and finding the same two items inside: the keyboard and a USB charging cable. Here, thanks to Logitech’s inclusion of the iPad Pro’s new Smart Connector, Create doesn’t ship with or need a charging cable: it is powered exclusively by the iPad Pro itself, which is a non-trivial accomplishment given that it’s not just a keyboard, but a backlit one. Although there are only three brightness settings — off, dimly lit, or brightly lit — they work as expected, with a bit of light escaping from the edges of some keys at the top and bottom. All but the most nitpicky keyboard users will appreciate Logitech’s inclusion of the backlighting feature, which differentiates Create from Apple’s iPad Pro Smart Keyboard.

It should be noted that batteries and charging generally aren’t issues for iPad keyboards. Many Bluetooth keyboards now promise 3, 6, or 12 months of run time on a single charge, numbers that are cut by 50% or more if backlighting is on, and Bluetooth pairing has become both effortless and power-efficient. So while the decision to run off iPad power rather than Bluetooth might matter if you save money or gain convenience in the process, neither really applies with Create. The $150 price is actually higher than a comparable Logitech iPad Air keyboard case with a long-lived battery and Bluetooth chip inside, and you’re just swapping the instant-on of a Bluetooth connection for the instant-on of a Smart Connector connection.

As noted at the beginning of this review, I would have been very happy to both have Create and recommend it as an ideal iPad Pro keyboard case — many iPad Pro users are going to find that they need something like it pretty quickly after buying Apple’s huge tablet. But between its size, weight, external texture, internal frame, and modest viewing angle adjustability, Create is hard to even like; even worse, it’s expensive, and only compatible with a single iPad model.

If you need something to use with your new iPad Pro, Create is a serviceable option, but most users will be much better off spending fewer dollars buying a great multi-device keyboard such as the K811 and their choice of inexpensive iPad Pro cases. I hope that Logitech and other companies learn from this early keyboard case’s mistakes, and quickly, because a lot of people will be looking for great iPad Pro keyboard cases in the very near future.

More From This Author

Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides, and reviews for 9to5Mac here! I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users. In addition to my popular guide to the best Apple Watch docks and stands, I’ve recently discussed how to safely prepare and wipe your iPhone for resale or trade-in, and how to get the best iPhone trade-in price to help buy an iPhone 6s, amongst many other topics.

Filed under: iOS Devices, Reviews Tagged: iPad Pro, keyboard case, Logitech, Logitech Create, Smart Connector

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Apple has launched a holiday gift guide microsite today, featuring Apple products and accessories targeted at a wide variety of audiences. The list is separated into six main sections: Gaming, Photography, Music, Fitness, Learning and Travel. Naturally, Apple prominently features its own devices in the recommendations (iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, Beats headphones) alongside third-party accessories and suggested apps.

For example, in the Photography category, Apple lists iPhone 6s as the ‘world’s most popular camera’ alongside silicon cases, the olloClip telephoto mount, a Gorillapod tripod as well as apps like Instagram, VSCO and Darkroom.

In the gaming category, Apple has focused on the new Apple TV and iPad in its gift guide. It recommends picking up the SteelSeries Nimbus Apple TV MFI game controller as well as Guitar Hero Live. Apple also pushes Beats headphones in this section, featuring the Beats Studio Wireless Headphones as an aside: “These headphones put the real world on mute and pull them even deeper into the game.” The Gaming category even features more esoteric real-world toys like a Sphero BB-8 Star Wars robot and a Parrot Drone.

Unsurprisingly, the music category is filled with Beats products as well as iPhones — the new age iPod. This includes things like the brand new Beats Pill+, Beats Studio headphones and even an Apple Music gift card. It also recommends the Bose SoundLink and BeoPlay A2 Bluetooth speakers. There’s a assured mix of consumption and creative products on display here. In the music recommendations, Apple also suggests picking up a MacBook, Apogee Mic and iRig beat pad to create your own music through GarageBand.

Naturally, the Fitness category is a perfect opportunity for Apple to promote Apple Watch Sport and running its Powerbeats earbuds. Apple also features apps like Strava and Pocket Yoga for optimizing your fitness workouts.

The Learning category is perhaps the most interesting in the gift guide and resonates well with Apple’s recent messaging around exploration and empowerment through their products. The page notably lists apps and products for teaching people how to code, explore the stars, educational tools for kids and much more. For instance, Apple highlights the Osmo Genius Kit which uses the iPad camera and physical jigsaw blocks to create an interactive game experience that also helps teach children about basic geometry.

The list has been released as we enter the holiday shopping season and just ahead of Black Friday. Whilst Apple normally has a timid participation in Black Friday sales, third-party retailers are keen to attract buyers with deep discounts on Apple devices. Keep it locked to 9to5Toys for the best Black Friday deals.

Filed under: iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple TV, Black Friday, gift guide, holiday gifts, iPad, iPhone

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