Inking in Photoshop tethered to the iPad by Astropad-Studio using Adonit’s brand-new Note-M stylus

Until a couple of days ago I had rather conflicting feelings about the latest iPad stylus made by Adonit, the appropriately named Note-M. The “M” moniker is supposed to stand for mouse, and indeed, the novelty here is the combining of a computer mouse with an iPad stylus. When you think about the concept, you might either go with “this is a genius idea” or “why would I need that”?! Or, in my case, both.

On the one hand, now, with iPadOS’ full mouse/trackpad support, it is only natural for accessory makers to move into this space. It is also hard to say no to the promise of multifunctional devices, especially when the alternatives tend to get lost because of their size. On the other hand though, it is quite conflicting to interact with a touch screen using a stylus, your finger and a mouse – all at the same time.

Apple’s approach to its tablet line is still touch-first. Their whole software ecosystem is built around this principle. Nonetheless, a stylus is far better suited for creating digital art, sketching out ideas, writing handwritten notes or, more recently, entering text within input fields using Scribble.

Creative professionals already appreciate the iPad Pro for its capacity to act as a portable design/drawing tool running professional apps, such as Procreate. However, when a keyboard and a mouse is added, this digital canvas is suddenly transformed into a laptop-like device, making it much easier to accomplish complex tasks, such as photo editing, text input/editing, file management, or browsing the internet for that matter.

Here is where the Adonit Note-M steps in, supposedly transforming our creative life by offering a 2-in-1 solution, acting either as a basic stylus or a mouse whenever one is needed. Click here to read our thoughts using Adonit’s brand new Note-M!

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