Apple Pencil

This is a customer review on how the Apple Pencil works with the Aquapac case, specifically the iPad Pro Case.

I have spent some time working with the case and pencil with the iPad inside, the long and short of it is that it does indeed work as a proof of concept.  A few thoughts and observations:

• The case works best when the membrane is smoothly placed against the screen, with as little air as possible in the case.  Having the iPad in a protective “bump case” inside tends to interfere with this a bit.  Smaller/thinner cases, like the stock Apple silicon case that protrudes a bit above the screen so work pretty well, but the thicker cases do make this a bit harder.
• As mentioned above, the setup works best with as much air evacuated from the case as possible.
• The drawing action seems to be pretty responsive with the pencil.  Certainly, it is no more or less annoying than using the Griffin case with the plastic cover.
• I have not tried this setup in “wet” weather yet.  I suspect the pencil use would degrade quite a lot as the capacitive touch with iPads generally is terrible once moisture is added to the equation. This is not anything to do with the case, but everything to do with the touch system employed by Apple for the iPads.
• The material is a bit softer than the harder plastic use on most protective case screens.  I am not sure what the long term durability would be for abrasion of the pencil tip against the membrane.  One thing with the Aquapac setup is that one does not have to be shy about using water to clean dust/grime/mud off the case – so this might simply be a maintenance issue.
• I am not too concerned about “buy it for life” long-term durability of protective cases for iPads – at least for the kind of archaeology work that I do.  I have used various cases by life proof, otter box, and griffin over the years for iPhones and iPads. With daily use, they all seem to start to degrade in various ways within a year or two, with screen protectors scratching, button covers earthing through, and waterproof port covers breaking.  In some ways, your system can beat many of these through its simplicity.  In any event, environmental cases are consumable protection for any kind of serious in-field use for these devices.

(Our customer works for an archaeological consulting company in British Columbia)