iPad Note Taking: Notability Now Has a Pencil!!

It’s buttery smooth, but is it better than Noteshelf’s version?

Closeup of Notability’s pencil tool

Trying to compare the experience of writing by hand on an iPad to that of writing with a real pen on real paper, as about as helpful as attempting to compare carob with chocolate, or soy curls with beef. One is often labelled as a poor substitute for the latter, which I think is both unfair and unhelpful. Each has a significantly different taste and nutritional profile, and should be evaluated on its own merits.

And so it is that when I’m evaluating an iPad notes app, it’s the feel of the tools and the lines that they allow me to produce that I focus on, not whether or not they feel more or less like the “real thing”.