Right! This is one of my biggest peeves with anti-Apple complainers...there are a few legitimate complaints with some of Apple's current designs but this isn't one! Apple Pencil 2 wireless charging nonwithstanding, this is the better design. Plugging in to your iPad is much better than having to dig out a cable, plug it into the Pencil, plug the other end somewhere else. Just think when your Pencil dies, which is more convenient?
The one that provides strain relief for lateral movements that may occur whenever anybody touches the other end of the lever you just jammed into the socket, with the fulcrum being the point of contact with the connector.
This is another example of sound engineering taking a back seat to user-facing design.
Instead of a fully removable cap, I would have used a tether to keep it secured to the device, and the connector would be on a short cord with a 90-degree connector. A removable clip would then secure the device to the edge of the pad as it charges. Otherwise the whole thing could flop around without damage to the male connector or female socket. Though this is all with the benefit of hindsight, everyone ought to know better than to plug anything into anything else without some strain relief.
I've used the Magic Mouse, found the bottom charger to be a non-issue in practice because it stays charged pretty much forever anyway, and charges enough to get you back on your feet if you somehow let it run all the way down in just a minute or two.
Pencil 1's terrible, though. It's led to many a "oh I could use my Pencil for this... oh it's dead, yet again. I'll just charge it... but I want to keep using my ipad, so where's the pinkie-nail-sized adapter again? Eh, screw it, I'll do something else."
[EDIT] also, when's it done? Dunno. Oh and the tiny adapter is directional, though either side kinda fits whichever way you put it, but I guess putting an arrow on it or making the ends different colors wouldn't have been "beautiful" so there's a little getting-it-right ritual every time. Get it wrong and it won't charge. Which, again, any little LED indicator of charging status would've solved that problem, too.
>Just think when your Pencil dies, which is more convenient?
Just think, when your Pencil plug end snaps, because it was protruding from the end of the iPad and you've dropped it, or hit something, or made a sudden move, etc, how convenient would that be?
Do you feel like the design of the 2nd generation Pencil for the 3rd generation iPad is _better_?
Personally I don't like moving from Lightning to a more-proprietary non-standard magnetic interface. I think the first generation Pencil has a much better design in this regard, since now we have it working with the standard iPad and iPad Air.
But, I think the design of the first generation Pencil is pretty good, so I'm curious of your thoughts since you find it to be a bad design.
>Do you feel like the design of the 2nd generation Pencil for the 3rd generation iPad is _better_?
Yeah, very much so. Both the charging and also the better grip.
>Personally I don't like moving from Lightning to a more-proprietary non-standard magnetic interface.
That's a non issue with the Apple Pencil, because it's already a proprietary product itself, inherently tied to the iPad. It's not like it's a cross-product/cross-platform device, and needs a standard charging interface. You'll need an iPad to use it in the first place, so might as well charge it with one.
No arguments here on the grip, that's clearly a win.
It _is_ cross product insofar as it's on the iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. This is pretty useful for me and my partner since we can simply share a single Pencil since neither of us rely too much on it. But that's just an exception case, I'm sure.
Lightning is proprietary, but very common. I've got a half dozen Lightning cables lying around. If I want to pair the Pencil to a new device, I simply plug it into the Lightning interface and it's ready to go.
I was trying to think of a better phrase than what I used "more-proprietary", since both are at 100% proprietary that doesn't come across how I intend.
Basically I strongly dislike these weird interfaces that we're putting on the iPad -- the one for the keyboard wasn't great, and the addition of the one for the Pencil also doesn't feel great. But, if that's the direction that best serves the function provided then I suppose it's fine. My hope then is that we get those to move down to the lower-end devices (as we've seen with the Air getting the keyboard cover).
I have not once heard of anyone having their Apple Pencil’s plug break because it was protruding. There is significant strain relief and it would take significant effort bordering on malicious intent to break it.
