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"Steve Jobs did not like styluses. When he introduced the iPhone in 2007, he called the finger \u201Cthe best pointing device in the world.\u201D \n\"Who wants a stylus?\" the late Apple CEO and founder famously said, \"You have to get them and put them away. You lose them. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus.\"\nSee also: 18 Drawings You'll Swear Are Actual Photographs\nToday, styluses (sometimes \"styli\") designed and sold by other manufacturers sit inside the Apple store, adjacent to both Jobs\u2019 iPhone and the iPad. That simple fact makes it clear that Jobs ended up softening his stance on the implement. It also makes you wonder what one would look like if Apple made it themselves.\nAdobe\u2019s new Ink Bluetooth-based iPad stylus (and Slide digital ruler companion), $199.99, is probably the closest thing we have to an answer. \n\n\nAdobe Ink and Slide Hands On\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide Charging Case\nYou just plug the included micro-USB charging cable into the back.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide Packaging\nThe packaging for this product is exquisite.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide Case\nThe case/charger is about the side of a cigar holder.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide \nThe digital, Bluetooth pen (left) and Slide (right).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide in Action\nThe bumpers a appear when you place the bumper on the screen and when you touch it.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide Button\nThere's one button on the slide to switch from lines to shapes.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide on Box\nThe Pen, Slide, case and cable costs $199.99\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide with Shape\nA click on the button brings up a new shape. In addition to square, you get triangle and circle.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide\nThe back end of  Adobe Ink include charging contacts and LED lights that let you know when the pen is connected and, based on the color, if it's actually your pen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide Menu\nThe Line menu looks simple,but has a decent amount of hidden power.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide\nDrawing with Adobe Ink\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide\nThe slide digital straight-edge.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide Box\nInside you'll find the stylus, slide and charging case.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide with Charger Case\nThe case opens up so you can insert and charge the Ink pen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide with Charger Back\nThe pen clicks into the charging base thanks for some embedded magnets.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdobe Ink\nThe aluminum Ink pen is lightweight is comfortable to hold.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe creative software company\u2019s first foray into hardware is white and silver with an industrial design that would make Apple\u2019s Jony Ive smile. The design companion is also Adobe\u2019s worst kept secret. Known as Project Mighty, the digital pen (and \u201Cruler\u201D) appeared almost a year ago on Adobe\u2019s web site. The company made little effort to conceal how the products looked or worked. However, it would be many months before Adobe would be ready to deliver production units for review.\nI was among a small group of journalists that got first an early, hands-on look at the digital pen and Slide ruler (formerly known as Project Napoleon).\nPen and paper\nWith its twisted alumnium body, white ferule and white front with a black drawing tip on the business end, the Ink digital pen looks sharp and feels good. It\u2019s well-balanced, light, and ergonomic. I drew with it for hours and never felt finger fatigue. Adobe actually built Ink with its partner Adonit. The company is well-known for its Jot Bluetooth-based digital drawing pen. Having used both pens, I prefer holding and using Adobe\u2019s Ink.\n\nIts companion, the half-aluminum, half-plastic Slide, is more straight edge than ruler, but the more you use it in combination with the Ink stylus (or Pen), the more you realize just how innovative it really is.\nThe two devices, though, do not really shine without their free companion software. Perhaps the biggest news since Adobe first announced its intention to build consumer hardware is that it has also developed two new pieces of software: Line and Sketch and both are designed to work with Ink and Slide.\nGetting started\nAdobe\u2019s attention to detail is evident in everything from the product packaging to the company\u2019s ingenious solution for charging the Bluetooth-based Ink digital pen.\nInk comes with a white plastic enclosure about the size of a cigar tube. You pop off the gray back, slide the pen in and three magnetized contacts snap smartly into place against charging contacts in the case\u2019s removable back. A micro-USB cable plugs into the back and that can then be plugged into one of your exciting USB wall-wart chargers (Adobe does not include one) or a powered USB port.\n\nDrawing in Adobe Line is easy.During the charging process, a ring around the base of the case glows a series of different colors. Charging takes about an hour and Adobe tells me that the pen can operate for eight hours of continuous drawing on one charge. I only needed to charge it once during my review process. Slide doesn\u2019t need a charge, but more on that later.\nDraft and draw\nYou can\u2019t really talk about Adobe\u2019s Ink and Slide hardware without simultaneously addressing the software. They truly complement each other.\nConnecting Ink to your tablet (iPad only for now \u2014 it works with any capacitive touchscreen, but without Bluetooth features like pressure-sensitivity), is easy. Adobe smartly moved the process from iOS\u2019s Bluetooth menu under Settings, to an easy-to-use target within its new Line app (in this regard, Sketch works exactly the same way). You select the pen icon from the menu at the top left of the screen and a large target appears where you place the tip of the pen. If the Pen is off or asleep (a mode it enters after three-to-five minutes of inactivity), you\u2019ll need to hold the pen\u2019s one button down for a second or two. The pen connects and you\u2019re ready to draw.\n\nAdobe Line has powerful perspective drawing tools that work smoothly with the Ink and Slide hardware.Image:  Adobe,  ScreenshotBoth Line and sketch are bitmap drawing tools. Adobe does have a vector line drawing app, Ideas, but it\u2019s not designed specifically for Ink or Sketch.\nOf the two apps, Adobe Line is the richer and more impressive one. It\u2019s designed for both detailed sketching and drafting, a task that I never imagined I could do so easily.\nLine\u2019s interface is deceptively simple. It has just six drawing implements, an eraser and five basic colors. However, there is some impressive power buried in here. Each drawing tool offers a set of controls that you access by holding the pen or your finger on the tool menu item. You can set tool size and opacity, though Adobe neglects to give you a \u201Csnap to reset\u201D option. Instead you have to carefully slide the controls back to a pair of karats that are supposed to help you eyeball the default positions.\nSee also: Adobe Launches Lightroom for iPhone, Updates Creative Cloud\nThe two ink pens also let you turn off the realistic looking ink-blooms at the end of lines (Adobe calls them \u201Cterminals\u201D).  If you hold down on one of the basic color options, you access a far richer color wheel. Paint tools also add the ability to realistically blend colors, but there is, unfortunately, no eye-dropper for picking up colors from, say, a photo. \nThe remaining interface menu items offer the most interesting and powerful drawing options. Under the Pen menu (not sure why it isn\u2019t called \u201CInk\u201D) you can connect a different pen, get a readout on you pen\u2019s charge, set the pen for right or left-handed use and also pen holding style, and turn on Palm rejection, a feature I rarely used. I\u2019ve been drawing on the iPad with an analog stylus for so long that I am no completely comfortable not resting my hand on the drawing surface.  There\u2019s also a transparency layer menu option in the lower-left portion of the screen. You only get one additional layer, which seems ridiculous when I can get well over a dozen with Procreate from Savage Interactive and Autodesks\u2019s Sketchbook Pro, two excellent drawing apps. \nThe Slide menu, which sits next to the Pen menu item offers a long list of shapes and stamp images (like Herman Miller chairs), but it defaults to lines (or bumpers) and basic shapes. \nUndo and redo are accomplished by sweeping left or right with two fingers. Place three fingers and the screen and drag left or right to scrub backwards and forwards through your drawing. Adobe said this is possible because the art is Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)-based. I hope Adobe eventually adds onscreen undo and redo buttons.\nWhat is Slide?\nIf you\u2019ve ever tried to draw a straight line on a tablet, you realize how handy a digital straight edge could be. I\u2019ve been known to use a variety of non-conductive materials like cardboard to try and draw a straight line on my iPad. Adobe\u2019s solution, however, is pure genius.\n\nYou can draft like a pro with Line and Adobe Ink and SlideImage:  Adobe,  ScreenshotSlide is a conductive device that more or less tricks the iPad into thinking you\u2019re using multiple fingers on the screen. The programming in Line (and Sketch) however, turns that touch into a set of parallel lines or bumpers that appear when you place slide on your screen and put one or two fingers on it. Those lines will move freely as you rotate the Slide, though they do snap into a perfectly flat horizontal position if you line up Slide at around a right angle to the iPad\u2019s right or left edge. \nYou do not have to carefully hold the Ink digital pen against the Slide to draw a perfectly straight line. Instead, as long as those guidelines appear, you will draw over them.  If you tap the Slide\u2019s button, the line turns into a circle. Another tap gets you a square and the last a triangle. As with the lines, you can put your Ink pen anywhere on the screen and the line will draw on the shape guide.\nOpposite the transparency menu item is a perspective button. A tap on this drops a rich perspective guide on your drawing screen. You can drag the grid around to adjust the perspective until it fits what you want to draw. Once you accept it, the perspective grid remains and Slides\u2019 guidelines will automatically snap to it. You can switch back and forth between vanishing points by selecting the little toggle arrow that appears right below the Slide when you have it one the screen (and your two fingers are on it).\nSlide and Line provide additional guidance by adding smart anchor points wherever you started or stopped drawing a line. This is helpful for cleanly joining lines, and to give your perspective drawing a much sharper and more realistic look.\nI did the sketch you see here using all those tools and the transparency layer in which I placed the original photo of a modern home and then adjusted the transparency so I could draw over it. I\u2019ve rarely done drafting before and have never attempted it on an iPad, but now I\u2019m hooked. It\u2019s hard to imagine a better set of tools for this task.\nYou do not have to use the Slide hardware to draw straight lines and use the perspective features in Line.  A tap on the button next to the Slide icon reveals a virtual straight edge with two on-screen \u2013 and moveable \u2014 target points for your fingers. It worked just as well as the Slide, and I could see people gravitating toward this hardware-free option.\nMore power\nConsidering Adobe\u2019s obvious target market: draftsmen (and women) and interface designers, my experience isn\u2019t that surprising. In addition to all the stampable (and resizable, but not editable) images (trees chairs, dogs, chairs, tables, sofas, devices, interface elements), Line with Slide could be the perfect architectural draft and interface design tools. The company even included a set of French Curves for automotive designers. I tried them, but found I simply didn\u2019t have the skill to rough out anything beautiful.\n\nAdobe Line has a collection of scalable objects and people you can \"stamp\" on your drawing.Image:  Adobe,  ScreenshotBecause it\u2019s a Bluetooth pen, Ink also includes thousands of levels of pressure sensitivity. This comes in handy when sketching, so it\u2019s especially useful in the more lightweight drawing app Sketch, but perhaps less so in the draft-oriented Line, where I found I often wanted every line of equal weight. That said, the sensitivity worked quite well: a light touch produced the faintest lines and I could adjust my pressure to change line density as I drew. To be honest, though, I didn\u2019t think much about it and just naturally pressed hard when I wanted deeper colors or lines and sketched lightly when I was just starting to rough something out. It was a very natural drawing experience.\nAdobe is also pitching Ink as a cloud-based pen and is tying both the device and software closely to its Creative Cloud and Behance social platform (Adobe bought Behance in 2012). You can store pen settings (even favorite colors) in the cloud and instantly share drawings with the cloud community (you can also share sketches on Twitter).\nDrawing quirks\nOverall, I loved drawing with Adobe Ink and slide. The pen\u2019s tip is made of hard, PET plastic, but it provided a near-perfect amount of friction on the iPad\u2019s glass screen. I do wish, though, that it auto-recognized hold angles. I have a habit of holding my tablet styluses at a pretty extreme angle against the screen. I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s much different than Ink\u2019s drawing style illustration setting I chose, but Ink really needed more of an upright hold to accurately place my digital ink in the same position as the pen. Otherwise, it was a few millimeters out of alignment.\n\nAdobe Line offer grip control settings for the Ink  pen.Image:  Adobe,  ScreenshotI also sometimes noticed a slight delay between when I started drawing and a line would appear. And while I love the slide, it could be a bit finicky (guide lines disappearing), especially if I accidentally dragged it outside the border of the screen. It\u2019s really not a technical issue. Instead, as a touch proxy, the screen is responding as if I dragged on one my fingers off screen.\nThe apps could also use a bit more polish. Neither offer text-placement options or orientation control and they, oddly, place very similar drawing tools in different places on each app (consistency, please). I\u2019d like to see some paper options, and  it would be nice to get confirmation when my drawing is uploaded to the creative cloud. And while I loved perspective drawing, tapping the vanishing point toggle invariably also left a pen mark on my screen, which I later had to erase. \nI\u2019d consider all of these things minor annoyances. \nAt $199.99, Adobe Ink and Slide is considerably more expensive than most iPad analog and digital styli. However, if you\u2019re looking for a digital pen system that is more versatile than an analog stylus and far more powerful than your run-of-the-mill Bluetooth pen, there may be no better choice than Adobe Ink &amp; Slide.  Also, don\u2019t forget that the software, especially Line, is free, and it is a real joy to create your dream home with this rather unique combination of hardware and software.  \nAdobe Ink and Slide goes on sale this month at Adobe.com (U.S. only, for now).\n\nAdobe Ink &amp; Slide\n\n\nThe Good\nBeautiful \u2022 Ergonomic hardware \u2022 Innovative digital straight edge\nThe Bad\nExpensive \u2022 Software needs more layers \u2022 Hardware needs better firmware\nThe Bottom Line\nIf you\u2019re serious about  drafting or finally learning to draw, Adobe Ink and Slide may be your best hope.          \n\n\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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