I’d never had any expectations on “writing with a pen” on an iPad or any electronic device, to be honest. In the past I’ve tried some pens in the market but was never convinced. This Apple Pencil though, “it really could be a game changer”, said by my several friends and multiple sources, and now I truly believe it and its potential.
iPad Pro 9.7 vs iPad Air 2
After the new 9.7 inch iPad Pro was released last month, I did lots of research on the typical subject: “should I buy it?”
I was struggling between the new Pro and iPad Air 2, the two has exactly the same size, and since I’m not a “power user”: not a designer nor musician, the improved performance wouldn’t help me that much as I often just use this device to read books and net surfing. I almost made my mind to go with Air 2 until I tried the Apple Pencil on my friend’s Pro. The experience was way better than I expected, so I decided to give it a shot, and so far I’m pretty happy about it.
Changes in Writing Style
I’ve written 3 blog posts on the iPad Pro, I’m using the app GoodNotes, which could convert your writings to “e-text”.
It feels much more natural to write with a pen, I mean the Apple Pencil, than staring with a blank screen with a constant blink cursor. And also no need to worry about finding the right link/image or wasting time on trivial editing.
Now my writing flow is
- Write first draft on iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil + GoodNotes
- Export it to Apple Notes
- Edit and publish on laptop
Writing More
I’m writing more. Besides blog posts, I’ve also switched my journals, work notes, daily simple notes and weekly review to this new writing style.
It has the same feeling of writing on a real paper, and also combines the functionalities of the e-notes: accessibility, search ability, portability, rich format.
Indeed the Apple Pencil is really a game changer to me. It’s so good and so intuitive to transfer your thoughts into words. When it comes to writing I don’t think I’ll need the Smart Cover with keyboard.
I’m enjoying this writing style. If you’re interested, try the Apple Pencil first to see if it is the thing for you.
p.s. Here is the screenshot of the draft of this post when it was first written on the iPad Pro, I know my handwriting is terrible :) but at least it motivates me to get things done and dump thoughts into words. 😁
