Apple 'Punishing' iPad Pro Buyers With New Pencil Software Lockdown (forbes.com) 73
Apple's increasing use of "serialization," which pairs hardware components with the logic board using proprietary software locks, is making simple repairs on devices like iPads and iPhones harder and more expensive. In a recent Forbes article, a repair expert claims the Apple Pencil won't work properly on the iPad Pro if the display is replaced with a non-genuine Apple part, or even a screen from another iPad. From the report: This has now been extended to the displays of fifth and sixth generations of the iPad Pro 12.9-inch and third and fourth generation 11-inch tablets, repair expert Ricky Panesar, founder of iCorrect.co.uk, told me. While repairing a customer's device, Panesar found that the Apple Pencil wasn't delivering straight lines when the iPad display was replaced with a screen from another Apple iPad. "We found with the newer versions of the iPad that when you put a new screen on, even if it's taken from another iPad, the pencil strokes don't work perfectly." Panesar explained to me.
"They have a memory chip that sits on the screen that's programmed to only allow the Pencil functionality to work if the screen is connected to the original logic board." He continued. In practice, Panesar found that lines drawn on the replaced display (Panesar says he doesn't use aftermarket parts for repairs) with the Apple Pencil aren't completely straight. He demoed this in the video [here]. Panesar isn't the only person to discover this, a Reddit post from May complained about the same issue. The poster claimed to have bought a sixth generation iPad Mini from a reseller, which is having the same squiggly line problem. Commenters pointed out that the issue is likely related to serialization and linked to Panesar's video.
"They have a memory chip that sits on the screen that's programmed to only allow the Pencil functionality to work if the screen is connected to the original logic board." He continued. In practice, Panesar found that lines drawn on the replaced display (Panesar says he doesn't use aftermarket parts for repairs) with the Apple Pencil aren't completely straight. He demoed this in the video [here]. Panesar isn't the only person to discover this, a Reddit post from May complained about the same issue. The poster claimed to have bought a sixth generation iPad Mini from a reseller, which is having the same squiggly line problem. Commenters pointed out that the issue is likely related to serialization and linked to Panesar's video.
just wait for the EU battery rules come in (Score:5, Interesting)
just wait for the EU battery rules come in!
will apple be able to get away with serialization + return pricing after that?
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just wait for the EU battery rules come in! will apple be able to get away with serialization + return pricing after that?
Just think - In the future in the EU, your Apple battery can only be purchased, replaced, and recycled at EU-authorized Apple battery maintenance depots that can re-serialize your product to Apple standards.
That way the both the EU bureaucrats and the Apple money-grubbers will be happy.
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No. You are supposed to be able to buy a replacement battery and replace it yourself without using any tools other than a screwdriver.
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No. You are supposed to be able to buy a replacement battery and replace it yourself without using any tools other than a screwdriver.
Yep, but we both know that Apple are experts at complying with the letter of the law whilst violating the spirit of the law. They will try to punish the EU but are utterly unwilling to just withdraw from one of the worlds largest and most profitable markets.
If other Apple products are an indication, removing the battery will require a complete disassembly. The functional equivalent of a disused lavatory in the 2nd level of a basement in a locked filing cabinet with a sign on the door saying "beware of th
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The EU rules say that the battery must be easily user replaceable using common tools, e.g. a screwdriver. Frustrating those efforts with DRM is unlikely to be compliant.
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even with that apple can try the well you can easily user replaceable using common tools. But we only sell the battery's after you give us your devices serial and it's sold with return pricing so don't return that old one In X days then you are stuck paying an $$$ for that new battery if you want an apple one.
No they should be forced to sell them to repair stores with no returns so you have places that can do it right away and not be forced to wait for shipping.
Apple (Score:2)
Going to have to observe that my 20 year take on Apple hasn't changed any.
They are expensive landlords and you pay the mortgage forever.
The only good system they had was the 68040's and they dumped those for Intel.
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They are expensive landlords and you pay the mortgage forever.
Which is why I own stock in them. Revenue and profits guaranteed.
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Which is why I own stock in them. Revenue and profits guaranteed.
Ah! So you're the asshole here, by having given them money to encourage that behavior.
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Which is why I own stock in them. Revenue and profits guaranteed.
Ah! So you're the asshole here, by having given them money to encourage that behavior.
Nope. That would be the people who incessantly buy their products regardless of situations like this.
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Nope. That would be the people who incessantly buy their products regardless of situations like this.
So then you're the recipient of the greedy profits of that bad behavior (through dividends, etc.), which makes you the bigger asshole.
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As always, if people don't like something, don't buy it/visit it/partake of it. Until then, like Zuck (but to a far smaller degree) I'll make money on people's stupidity. So nope, not an asshole. An opportunist.
Re:Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
So nope, not an asshole. An opportunist.
That's right - not just an asshole. You're an opportunistic asshole.
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Apple Fanbois always gotta have the last word
wait, WHO always has to have the last word?
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For you have a certificate of ownership called a stock.
A certificate of blame.
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Re: Apple (Score:2)
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The only good system they had was the 68040's and they dumped those for Intel.
Well, they dumped 68040 for PowerPC, anyways. Intel came years later.
(To be more precise, they started using PowerPC chips in 1994, and started using Intel chips in 2006.)
They really have used a lot of very different processors over the years -- 6502, 65C816, 680x0, PowerPC, x86/x86_64. ARM.
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The only good system they had was the 68040's and they dumped those for Intel.
Well, they dumped 68040 for PowerPC, anyways. Intel came years later.
(To be more precise, they started using PowerPC chips in 1994, and started using Intel chips in 2006.)
They really have used a lot of very different processors over the years -- 6502, 65C816, 680x0, PowerPC, x86/x86_64. ARM.
The WDC65816 (used only in the AppleIIgs) is really sort of "just" a 8/16 bit version of the 6502 (don't kill me, I'm a WDC fan!); not so different from its predecessor.
And there was also one prototype of the Mac that was MC6809 based. And who knows how many other processor families they have played with in R&D?
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Going to have to observe that my 20 year take on Apple hasn't changed any.
They are expensive landlords and you pay the mortgage forever.
The only good system they had was the 68040's and they dumped those for Intel.
You skipped an entire CPU switch.
68k to PPC to Intel to ASi. And if you want to be technical, there was even a 6809-based Prototype.
Do try to keep up.
Re: Apple CPU Evolution (Score:1)
6502 NMOS Apple 1 and ][ ][+ //c //gs
6502B 3 MHz Apple III
6502 series into
65C02 Apple
65C816 Apple
â"-
Lisa 68000 plus MMU designed internally
Mac 68000
Mac 2 68020 Mac thin cheap one had this
Mac SE30 68030
Higher end Mac line 68040
Pro series others PPC
PowerPC also had ROM code to facilitate 680X0 compatibility
2004 Intel with Rosetta
Then M ARM derived Series exit from Intel and Rosetta
PA Semiconductor acquisition made ARM in house designs viable with out sourced fabs
This should clarify some of it
Same thing with EV battery swaps... (Score:3, Informative)
Swapped the battery pack off a "totaled" EV of the same make and model. Stuck it in my EV, expecting it to just work like the original pack, but NOOO, stupid car manufacturers have made the packs serialized too. You have to have a special dealership-only shop computer to pair the battery to your car.
Why can't EV batteries work like 12V lead acid batteries? Why does everything "smart" end up being totally retarded?
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Re: Same thing with EV battery swaps... (Score:1)
Because fuck the consumer, environment, and ethics.
Anything that puts more money in the corporation's pocket wins. Literally *everything* else is secondary.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]
Re: Same thing with EV battery swaps... (Score:2)
Many cars now require a relearn if you swap the 12v battery. BMW for sure. I think Ford does, as well.
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Many cars now require a relearn if you swap the 12v battery. BMW for sure. I think Ford does, as well.
My Hondas (2001 Civic, 2002 CR-V) have procedures in the service manual to relearn the engine idle after reconnecting the battery, which is suppose to be disconnected for certain maintenance items. I'll note that I've skipped this step at times and never noticed any difference in engine idle or operation.
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Many cars now require a relearn if you swap the 12v battery. BMW for sure. I think Ford does, as well.
My Hondas (2001 Civic, 2002 CR-V) have procedures in the service manual to relearn the engine idle after reconnecting the battery, which is suppose to be disconnected for certain maintenance items. I'll note that I've skipped this step at times and never noticed any difference in engine idle or operation.
That's about the ECM not having any non-volatile parameter memory than anything to do with the battery, per se.
The learning is to allow it to figure out how low it dare let the idle go, so it doesn't waste gas (too high), or stall the engine (too low), when you come to a stop. The "learning" is designed to be transparent to the user.
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That's about the ECM not having any non-volatile parameter memory than anything to do with the battery, per se.
Ya, I get that, but thought I'd pass it along anyway. Cars do all sorts of things of which their owners aren't aware.
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That's about the ECM not having any non-volatile parameter memory than anything to do with the battery, per se.
Ya, I get that, but thought I'd pass it along anyway. Cars do all sorts of things of which their owners aren't aware.
Ok, sorry.
Yes, yes they do...
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Cars learn continually. There's no need to have a special learning mode.
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Cars learn continually. There's no need to have a special learning mode.
Actually, with "learning" control systems, you sorta do want to set the software up so there is less and less effect of the "learning" over a relatively short amount of running-time. "Learning" may never really stop; but it gets to a point where it might as well be considered "done learning".
Otherwise, you end up with a system that never "settles-in", and instead, continually slowly oscillates around the optimum adjustments.
Re: Same thing with EV battery swaps... (Score:2)
That's what the systems do. And that's good because parts wear and their characteristics change over time. The car is NEVER done learning because it is always changing.
Re:Same thing with EV battery swaps... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why does everything "smart" end up being totally retarded?
The manufacturers never said they were smart for the customer/consumer ...
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My brain rewired itself so whenever I see the word "Smart" associated with a product it gets subsituted with "Crippled".
I've yet to see a "Smart" product that's proved me wrong.
Proof that cause was serialization? (Score:1)
How did they prove that the cause was mismatched parts versus some sort of missing display-specific calibration, did they reassociate the display and mainboard to get them working again?
Re: Proof that cause was serialization? (Score:2)
There is literally a setting to recalibrate your screen in Settings.
The third party repair instructions from Apple also include that step and make non-stolen parts available for third party repair shops.
Not sure why this is worth a story, no journalist should have picked this up..
This will get the same old Apple response... (Score:2)
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You're holding it wrong.
Pro Tip: This is not good pillow talk.
Not quite a "Software Lockdown" (Score:5, Informative)
Reading the story and looking at the video, it looks like there is a memory chip storing calibration data about the screen and pencil. This corrects for where the screen detects the pencil (and how strongly) versus where it actually is.
Third party repair firms either lack the software to recalibrate the touchscreen, or don't know how to put the iPad into a mode which allows this.
The need to calibrate a touchscreen is not unusual. So I'm curious why it was not a problem before.
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That is my assumption as well.
Re: Not quite a "Software Lockdown" (Score:1)
This is exactly what it is. Many âoerepairâ facilities have no clue how to actually do electronics repairs. A real electronics engineer with experience commands upwards of $50/h, contracted out triples that.
Settings app, tapping General > Pencil and tapping Calibrate
Re:Not quite a "Software Lockdown" (Score:4, Interesting)
Reading the story and looking at the video, it looks like there is a memory chip storing calibration data about the screen and pencil. This corrects for where the screen detects the pencil (and how strongly) versus where it actually is.
That would make sense if there was any link at all to the pencil, but there's not. You can buy new pencils and they work flawlessly. And if your idea is that the screen has the calibration in a non-battery backed volatile memory in the display chip well the only reason for that to exist is anti-consumer as well.
The need to calibrate a touchscreen is not unusual. So I'm curious why it was not a problem before.
They aren't touch screens. These pens work on digitisers under the touch screens (think Waccom tablet) and they do not need calibration.
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Why doesn't Apple provide a simple app on the device to do the calibration?
All you need to do is measure a few different points on the screen, and for pressure you could use the known weight of the pen.
Reminds me of... (Score:1)
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Kind of reminds me of a car company whose name starts with a "T".
For me, the "T" is in the middle, as in "muskraTmobiles"
I mean... (Score:1)
On one hand I want to be like: lol serves you right for buying Apple's overpriced shit.
But on the other, it's not like Google and Samsung won't follow suit and aren't reprehensibly evil and anti consumer in their own way.
There's just no winning anymore.
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Well, at the very least, Apple only fucks their own customers, those who continue to buy apple products despite everything.
Google on the other hand, is trying to fuck over everyone, customer or not, they are way worse.
Samsung, I'm not aware of them doing evil stuff on even remotely the same order of magnitude of those two (did I miss something?). Not saying they don't want to, but they probably don't want to jeopardize their position and their brand's reputation. Unlike apple, they have real competition and
So much for right to repair (Score:4, Interesting)
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Typical lawyer: "I only gave you approval for repair, not a working device."
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I would call that “an incomplete repair”. Some guy THINKS that he knows all the steps necessary to do a repair, but it’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t, and people are blaming apple.
In any case, all good. Everyone wants everything to be simple and easy, and doesn’t l
I don't see the problem (Score:2)
1) Draw something on the iPad
2) Call it "post-abstract neo-realism"
3) Tell people the lines are straight and it's their perception that's skewed
4) Profit!!
Crap Like This... (Score:1)
is the reason for my approx 40 year boycott I've had going. I saw early-on that the bunch there just sits around and thinks up new, 'How can we F our customers today" ideas. Not signing up for that.
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I can do you one better. I've had a 50+ year boycott against Tesla and every other brand I've never purchased from.
Apple turned evil. (Score:3)
Apple's ENTIRE business model... (Score:2)
...is fleecing its customers in various ways, be it this sort of thing, or somehow convincing everyone their products are perfect. They are fantastic at it, you'll never hear me say differently, and it's made them the richest company on the planet. But they're doing it at the expense of a horde of zombie sucker customers, and this is just more of the same.
Late capitalism (Score:1)
Re: Late capitalism (Score:2)
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Re: Late capitalism (Score:2)
Incorrect title (Score:1)
Re: Incorrect title (Score:2)
Calibration != Lockdown != Right to repair (Score:2)