Duet Display has come up with the greatest idea since screen sharing – screen sharing, literally! And as simple as it is to grasp as a concept, there’s a lot more that this app is offering for those with the iPad Pro, making it a purchase that might finally make some sense to those buyers.
The new Duet Display Pro features iPad Pro optimizations to include use for the Apple Pencil – one of the most anticipated features yet. The app already allows users to pair their iPad screens to a Windows or Apple computer to make the iPad act like a second screen, extending the canvas. And it worked like a charm all the time. The new Pro feature lets people use the touch sensitivity of the screen with the Apple Pencil, so drawing on Photoshop or Illustrator directly has become pretty easy, like a graphics tablet. There’s a bit of technology that’s gone into the Duet Display too, making it possible for hovering and palm rejection when the Pencil is in use. It’s a much-appreciated feature and should probably be part of every graphic designer’s arsenal of designing tools.
It’ll be available on the App Store for $9.99 for the regular version of the app. The Pro feature comes in the form of a subscription every year at $20. The app will be compatible with Mac OS X 10.9 or higher and Windows 8 or higher. Of course, the user would need to have an iPad Pro too to actually take advantage of this feature.
But this seems like a missed opportunity. Why couldn’t they have made a version of the app compatible directly to all tablets, running Android as well? With stylus support, any tablet with its own stylus could use the same functions. This doesn’t just need to dwell within Apple territory. Wacom has been making tablets that can connect to PCs to act like a drawing pad as well as a separate PC altogether. An app like the Duet Display omits the need of having an extra device altogether. Screen extensions and touch-sensitivity make for a great combination.
It’s a very cool feature for an app. And for people who think it’s too pricey, then they probably just don’t have the iPad Pro yet.