Helping a friend or relative transition from a traditional phone to a smartphone can be a Herculean task. They must relearn already mastered tasks in the name of increased efficiency and ease. Instead of fumbling with a camera and then either developing the film or downloading the photos to a disc to share, pictures can be sent by a few quick flicks of the thumb. Instead of using a rolodex, contacts are sorted and alphabetized automatically. Instead of searching for a wadded-up map, speak your destination and the quickest route is dictated to you. Traditional information reference points must be uprooted and changed for the user. Even though the new world of smartphones can be learned, the many tethers to the past are tough to break. Many of the new technologies features are not fully utilized or embraced.

Compare this to someone who only knows smartphones. They fully utilize the power of the device: sending photos, checking news, live-streaming. Being born in the smartphone world, this type of information exchange is the air they breathe and the water they swim. Their tasks are engaged simultaneously, harnessing the entire power of their device. The smartphone is an extension of their internal world.

When presented with a new phone application, which smartphone user will be most effective? The one with reference points staked in the past, or the one who only knows the new medium?

In the 2000s, developers started to code for a new type of processor, the GPU. Unlike the CPU, the GPU allows for programs to multi-task rather than follow a strictly dichotomous process. The result is graphics rendered quickly and smoothly. Programs developed before the GPU are noticeably less flexible, appearing on limited devices, all the while suffering from the lack of latency and fidelity provided by a modern processor.

Many legacy art programs were developed before the GPU and suffer from similar problems: limited device support and cumbersome code. These problems stem from a code base too old and large to transition to modern devices. Similar to the traditional phone user, they can function in the modern environment but without its full potential.

Like the modern user, Sketchable is coded from the ground up in this new environment, embracing the full power and possibility of the GPU. Sketchable works seamlessly on a broad range of devices, consistently delivering industry leading latency and fidelity. Art is created in real time. Sketchable is designed for modern chips and the modern world. It is at home in the artist’s studio or on the subway there. Without the ties to processors past, Sketchable allows a cleaner, more responsive experience.