... as Apple announces that henceforth, their base-level iPad will support Apple Pencil! And Logitech promptly announce a "Crayon" that will be half the price of a Pencil.

Actually, that's amazing. There are so many good drawing/art apps for iPad, it's ridiculous.

I wonder where that leaves the reMarkable?

In fact, I didn't *entirely* hold out - I got a Wacom Folio instead, which is a notebook with a cunningly concealed digitiser that responds to a battery-less pen. You'll find lots of reviews slagging it off, but actually, the Wacom Inkspace app that allows you to sync your notebook with a mobile device or (and many people don't realise this) a desktop machine is much better than I feared it might be, and pairing/syncing is generally very painless and quick.

For those looking for a convenient and relatively low-priced answer to the bullet journaling/digital recording thing, the Wacom Slate and Folio notebooks represent a genuinely interesting alternative. You can keep your bullet journals entirely analog - but save them regularly to computer and even (if you subscribe to the Wacom network) use handwriting recognition to make better use of your written entries. What's more, the notebooks are capable of functioning independently of your mobile/desktop device - you can take up to (I think) 100 pages of notes before you have to sync (but I need to check that out in more detail; Wacom's paucity of detailed information is one of their most irritating attributes). The nice thing about Inkspace is that you can run it on an iPhone, Android phone, iPad, Android tablet, Mac or Windows machine, so you can always sync your latest scribblings with the Cloud and re-sync them with the machine of your choice later on. This works extremely well.

MadaboutDana wrote:

... as Apple announces that henceforth, their base-level iPad will
support Apple Pencil! And Logitech promptly announce a "Crayon" that
will be half the price of a Pencil.

And more limited. For one thing, it will only work with this specific iPad, and not any iPad Pro. For another, it is NOT pressure-sensitive, so if you want to draw lighter/darker or thinner/thicker lines (via nib pressure) this is not the stylus for you.

And it currently has limited availability as well - if you're not an eduction customer you won't be able to buy one yet, and edu customers must buy in minimum orders of 10.

Yes, I see what you mean - I've just discovered that the Crayon isn't pressure-sensitive, and find no mention of it (yet) on Logitech's websites.

Damn. It'll just have to be the Apple Pencil, then... ;-)

Just read an article about it: no Smart Connector, so it cannot be used with an iPad-powered Smart Keyboard. It has the same display and resolution as the 2017 model, and like it it lacks an anti-reflective coating display coating and is not laminated to the cover glass (as the iPad Pros are). What this means is that there will be a visible air gap between the display and the glass, while the display will also be more reflective than the iPad Pros. And it has the same front/rear cameras as last year's model (1.2MP/8MP compared to 7MP/12MP for last year's Pro models). RAM is TBA, but the 2107 iPad 2as 2Gb and the Pro models have 4Gb

https://www.engadget.com/2018/03/27/apple-new-ipad-comparison/

So, for the same price as last year's model you seem to get a machine with a bumped processor (that's still slower than last year's iPad Pros) and limited pencil/crayon support, but it's otherwise identical. Certainly not a bad update at that price point (and superior to the Acer Chromebook Tab 10 which is the same price), but I'm more interested to see what the new iPad Pros offer.

I was, however, encouraged by a review that suggested there's very little difference in the feel of the new iPad (when using Apple Pencil) from the way an iPad Pro feels. From Alphr:

"The Apple Pencil itself is now £10 cheaper than before (£89 down from £99), but it hasn't had any upgrades. This means it feels and works in the same way as before. There were no discernible differences between using the Apple Pencil on the new, cheaper iPad and using one on the iPad Pro..." (http://www.alphr.com/apple/1008933/apple-ipad-2018-review

Another useful review (because by sensible writer with hands-on experience) of the new iPad 2018, comparing it with the Pro:

https://m.imore.com/2018-97-inch-ipad-vs-ipad-pro-which-ipad-should-you-buy

Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself. :)

It's a spec bump: faster processor (still slower than last year's iPad Pros, which themselves will be refreshed in a couple of months) and Pencil/Crayon support. That's it. No other real changes. I've used the air-gapped 2017 model, and there's a real difference between it and the laminated screens. The iPad Pro has a wider color gamut, an antireflective coating, and True Tone support (so it matches the lighting of the room you’re in). If you’re working with photos or videos, that extra color is going to matter.

This new low-end model also doesn't have the iPad Pro's ProMotion technology with a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes all motion on the screen smoother, crisper, and more responsive, *especially* if you're drawing on the screen.

Last year's Pro's front camera is better, and the rear one is image-stabilized, unlike the new iPad's.

These are substantial differences, and we haven't even seen what the specs (or prices) will be on the new iPad Pros, which should be announced or out by WWDC in June.

a pen that can design good and better UI would be great

in the future