Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you
Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you

Logitech’s Crayon offers $110 pencil play for the iPad 9.7

Not sure if you need the Apple Pencil? Logitech’s take offers similar tech in a kid-friendly and better priced package.

With the launch of the new iPad 9.7 this year, Apple built an iPad for everyone, offering enough of what people needed in a tablet that didn’t cost an arm or a leg.

It even offered support for Apple’s Pencil, the wireless digital stylus with pressure sensitivity, though it’s an accessory not everyone needs or can afford. In fact, if you were looking at buying a writing or drawing accessory for the iPad 9.7, the $145 price of the Apple Pencil can make things a little awkward.

Logitech is looking to make things a little more cost effective, though, and has released a Pencil-like peripheral that offers close to a $40 saving, different as it is.

It’s called the Logitech Crayon, and it’s a totally different accessory made for people who need the Pencil, but may need it built for drops, ideal for people who might be a little more clumsy, namely kids.

The Logitech Crayon works in a similar way, offering a wireless link to an Apple iPad 9.7, and provides a writing and drawing experience that changes its lines from thick to thin based on how you use the pencil edge, much like a real thing. You can draw, write, squiggle, and shade, but what it doesn’t have is pressure sensitivity, something that distances it from the Apple Pencil.

That’s one difference, and another is durability, with a body that can survive a drop of up to 1.2 metres.

The other difference is how the Logitech Crayon is used, as it can only be used on the iPad 9.7, with the iPad Pro out of action for this one. We’re not sure why that is, but Logitech’s local people confirmed that the Logitech Crayon is made solely for the iPad 9.7, and won’t work on the iPad Pro.

“First introduced to students as a versatile tool for learning, we are thrilled to make Logitech Crayon, our first digital pencil, more widely available so even more creators, dreamers, and learners can express themselves and communicate new ideas using the new 9.7-inch iPad,” said Logitech’s Michele Hermann.

“Logitech Crayon works seamlessly with iPad and the most popular creativity and productivity apps from the App Store so whether you are learning to write a new language, jotting down notes, marking up a screenshot or PDF, or visualising an idea, Crayon is the perfect tool for the task.”

You can expect to find the Logitech Crayon at stores across Australia, including major retailers and the Apple Store, where it will arrive for a recommended retail price of $109.95.

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