 Hey, it's Ellis with The Verge. So a lot of stylists out there claim to be the best for writing, drawing, and sketching on tablets. The company 53, whose founders worked on Microsoft's near-mythical Courier prototype, has long been known for its iPad drawing app, Paper. But this is the first hardware device the company has made, and it's aptly called Pencil. The stylus comes in two colors, walnut and graphite, and starts at $49.95. The walnut model is the only device with magnets to stick it to your iPad, however. It's branded as some rather novel functionality thanks to Bluetooth low energy. Pairing is easy and done within the Paper app itself, unlike with most stylists which ask you to screw around in the settings menu. In terms of features, here's what makes it stand out. When paired with Pencil, the Paper app can now do actual palm rejection, known to ignore your hand as you lean on it. There's also blending capabilities, so you can smudge color with your fingers, and perhaps shading at some point in the future. Pencil's flashiest feature? You can flip it over to erase. Pencil lasts about a month on a full charge, 53 says, and takes about 90 minutes to juice up completely using any conventional USB port. Pencil's expensive for a passive stylus, but cheap for a Bluetooth stylus. It inhabits an interesting space between the two categories that could feel just right for some people. Pencil's up for pre-order today, and ships in early December alongside an update to the Paper app. With its first hardware product, 53 has set a pretty high bar. Now that the company controls both the hardware input and software in Paper, I'm excited to see what functionality they come up with next.
 Hey, it's Ellis with The Verge.
 So a lot of stylists out there claim to be the best for writing, drawing, and sketching
 on tablets.
 The company 53, whose founders worked on Microsoft's near-mythical Courier prototype, has long been
 known for its iPad drawing app, Paper.
 But this is the first hardware device the company has made, and it's aptly called Pencil.
 The stylus comes in two colors, walnut and graphite, and starts at $49.95.
 The walnut model is the only device with magnets to stick it to your iPad, however.
 It's branded as some rather novel functionality thanks to Bluetooth low energy.
 Pairing is easy and done within the Paper app itself, unlike with most stylists which
 ask you to screw around in the settings menu.
 In terms of features, here's what makes it stand out.
 When paired with Pencil, the Paper app can now do actual palm rejection, known to ignore
 your hand as you lean on it.
 There's also blending capabilities, so you can smudge color with your fingers, and perhaps
 shading at some point in the future.
 Pencil's flashiest feature?
 You can flip it over to erase.
 Pencil lasts about a month on a full charge, 53 says, and takes about 90 minutes to juice
 up completely using any conventional USB port.
 Pencil's expensive for a passive stylus, but cheap for a Bluetooth stylus.
 It inhabits an interesting space between the two categories that could feel just right
 for some people.
 Pencil's up for pre-order today, and ships in early December alongside an update to the
 Paper app.
 With its first hardware product, 53 has set a pretty high bar.
 Now that the company controls both the hardware input and software in Paper, I'm excited to
 see what functionality they come up with next.