iOS 9's 'predictive touch' may pave road for rumored 'iPad Pro' stylus from Apple
One of the new technologies in iOS 9 is "predictive touch," an addition that may presage the launch of an Apple-made stylus in tandem with an anticipated jumbo-sized 12.9-inch iPad.
The new predictive touch feature was announced during this week's Worldwide Developers Conference as part of a "What's New in Cocoa Touch" session. In a video of the session, senior iOS engineering manager Jason Beaver explains that iOS 9 not only tries to reduce touch response times, but also uses curves, velocity, and acceleration to predict at where a touch input might be headed. Cocoa Touch is the core interface framework in iOS.
Predictive touch is typically considered an essential feature for serious stylus use, since it makes drawing faster and more accurate, Cult of Mac reported.
In May, AppleInsider learned that one of the main features of the long-rumored 12.9-inch iPad -- which has colloquially become known as an "iPad Pro" -- will be support for an Apple-made Bluetooth stylus. It's not clear if the stylus will be bundled with the new iPad or sold separately, but bundling it could help set the larger model apart from the rest of the iPad lineup.
iOS 9 is due to launch in the fall, which may suggest that the so-called "iPad Pro" will be announced in the same timeframe. Last year new iPhones were announced in September, while new iPads debuted in October.
Other anticipated features of the new iPad include Force Touch, a USB-C port, and some sort of NFC functionality. Rather than being used for authorizing Apple Pay transactions, as on iPhones and the Apple Watch, NFC may be used to pair a stylus automatically, or to allow it to be an Apple Pay receiving terminal at retail.
The new predictive touch feature was announced during this week's Worldwide Developers Conference as part of a "What's New in Cocoa Touch" session. In a video of the session, senior iOS engineering manager Jason Beaver explains that iOS 9 not only tries to reduce touch response times, but also uses curves, velocity, and acceleration to predict at where a touch input might be headed. Cocoa Touch is the core interface framework in iOS.
Predictive touch is typically considered an essential feature for serious stylus use, since it makes drawing faster and more accurate, Cult of Mac reported.
In May, AppleInsider learned that one of the main features of the long-rumored 12.9-inch iPad -- which has colloquially become known as an "iPad Pro" -- will be support for an Apple-made Bluetooth stylus. It's not clear if the stylus will be bundled with the new iPad or sold separately, but bundling it could help set the larger model apart from the rest of the iPad lineup.
iOS 9 is due to launch in the fall, which may suggest that the so-called "iPad Pro" will be announced in the same timeframe. Last year new iPhones were announced in September, while new iPads debuted in October.
Other anticipated features of the new iPad include Force Touch, a USB-C port, and some sort of NFC functionality. Rather than being used for authorizing Apple Pay transactions, as on iPhones and the Apple Watch, NFC may be used to pair a stylus automatically, or to allow it to be an Apple Pay receiving terminal at retail.
Comments
Even without an iPad Pro, they did show that you can now draw in Notes, so predictive touch makes sense with or without a larger iPad and stylus, I would think.
I saw the drawing in notes and said to myself, "that happened because the stylus is coming because the iPad Pro is coming." This fits in that category as well. Then, there was the divided screen multitasking coming to exactly one model of iPad. If the iPad Pro is real and coming this Fall and has been delayed as much as it seems behind the scenes all of these tech additions came from work towards its release. Of course it can apply to other models and uses, but it makes more sense with the iPad Pro w/ stylus in mind.
I'm wondering what will be out first: iPad+ or SurfacePro4? Microsoft will be hitting back hard to recapture lost corporate Apps and sales.
MS is too late. They should have locked in an IBM deal. The Surface Pro won't die but it won't dominate the market.
Then again, you can only thin slab glass so much before you need to add additional features.
I think its unlikely that Apple will release a Stylus with an iPad... that written, I guess it could be a profit center to replace all the one's that will be lost or broken at $19.95...
There's so much that can be enhanced from the Wacom Cintiq experience. The two most substantial features being accuracy and retina. The glass is really thin on the iPad. It'd be amazing to draw on it. The glass on the cintiqs is really thick, so there will always be a parallax issue.
The moment I saw that drawing input in Notes I thought "so the stylus really is coming after all! Yeeey!"
There's so much that can be enhanced from the Wacom Cintiq experience. The two most substantial features being accuracy and retina. The glass is really thin on the iPad. It'd be amazing to draw on it. The glass on the cintiqs is really thick, so there will always be a parallax issue.
And Apple isn't going to introduce a stylus unless it has some notable advantages. Not only that, but the developers of art apps on iOS are so much more responsive and active compared to other platforms even trying hard to support the wide and horrible selection of styluses that try to work inside the capacitive touch meant for fingers. The downside, of course, is the speed of graphics and processor compared to Macs/PCs but I'm very, very curious what Apple has in store here.
MS don't need IBM to be in the enterprise, like Apple did to push iPads and Macs. They already are there with a stack of applications and services far ahead of Apple.
Apple should just stop with these half-baked solutions and just put in an active digitize from Wacom like the Samsung Galaxy Note series; give us proper stylus support with pressure sensitivity and palm rejection. It's not that hard. This way we can also utilize all those awesome Wacom stylus.
I tried the Bluetooth stylus and it was TERRIBLE! It was not well coordinated. It was causing a weird offset effect. The connection is not robust. The friction is unnatural as well.
I am definitely looking forward to iPad Pro.
One more thing, the bluetooth stylus does not perform well at all. There's a significant lag when I draw or write and it makes it less usable. Not so with a screen capacitive screen where iPad Air 2 is always catching up my speed.
MS is too late. They should have locked in an IBM deal. The Surface Pro won't die but it won't dominate the market.
MS is not late in the enterprise, they are already there. Apple is the one who needs IBM to push iPad's and Mac's in the enterprise.
Even without an iPad Pro, they did show that you can now draw in Notes, so predictive touch makes sense with or without a larger iPad and stylus, I would think.
The Notes app really looks good on iOS9. I'm really looking forward to it. I've tried using Evernote but somehow never found the love for it.
The updated Notes app includes all the stuff I need, like attaching images, checklists, etc., so it really is what I'm looking for.
Granted, Evernote may be more robust, but I'd take a pared down first party Apple app in this case!
do you mean split screen? eh. while it has some use cases I don't see it being that big of a deal.