Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

651–660 of 668 posts

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#651

Post by qubex »

nextos wrote: post #531
qubex wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is it that hard for a giant of Apple’s size to put a fully fledged terminal in iPadOS? Of course it isn’t. And that tells you that it’s a deliberate decision not to, because it’s miles from the platform’s intended use by the intended users. Besides, it would be very confusing for users to have a terminal that can only connect to remote systems (which most people likely don’t have access to), because it’s rather imp…

OS X, now macOS, includes lots of applications that are "miles from the platform’s intended use by the intended users". A huge userbase will always have tons of different clusters, and it's good to serve them all. Furthermore, the terminal could be simply running in a little Unix sandbox, like Termux, and that could be a great entry point for kids to lots of different interpreters to learn programming. Not exclusive…

Why on earth should they go the extra mile of creating a sandboxed UNIX-like environment for the sake of a few power users who desire to run terminal commands which cannot (if they follow their own rules) affect other applications and/or interact in any stateful manner with the filesystem?

Even as a learning experience, why give (power)users the ability to acquaint themselves with a generic platform that is not tied to Apple’s own offerings? It makes no commercial or even pedagogical sense.

Try out iSH: https://ish.app It sounds like it’s what you want. Apple won’t be providing anything even remotely comparable for the foreseeable future, I’m sure.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#652

Post by qubex »

jkaptur wrote: post #469
qubex wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d wager that much of your incredulity regarding the suitability of iPads to doing “real work” hinges very sensitively upon what your conception of “real work” is, and that your judgement of utility follows suit. I’ve been using a succession of iPads as my main computing platforms since the first iteration was released ten years ago . Initial releases were a bit of a compromise, but the arrival of multitasking, mult…

> the risk of multitasking Do you worry about iOS's overaggressive autocorrect? (I'm just kidding, I know people are actually pretty close to as fast and accurate on mobile vs. desktop/laptop: https://userinterfaces.aalto.fi/typing37k/ )

Thanks for pointing that out. I corrected it.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#653

Post by rchaud »

roenxi wrote: post #500
ben7799 wrote: post #328

I already had an iPad Pro + smart keyboard + pencil once... and got rid of it and switched to a Surface Pro. We still have an old 10" iPad 2 + an older iPad Mini in the house and they get use for typical iPad consumer stuff. When I add up this new iPad in the minimum 128GB/Wifi/11" config this one is about $400 more than I paid for the Surface Pro + KB cover + MS Pen. (Which is i5/8GB/128GB/Wifi-only) The Surface has…

I remember observing when the iPad first came out one of its big selling points was is was a few hundred dollars cheaper than everyone expected and it kneecapped the competition who all had offerings in the pipeline that were sorta similar, not Apple and cost more. How times change.

I remember the pricing being a surprise, but the Android tablets that followed all came in at lower prices. Only the Blackberry Playbook and HP Touchpad (running already-obsolete OSes) tried to match Apple's pricing. Both were discontinued after terrible sales numbers.

Google botched Android 3.0 (the first "Tablet" version of Android), and developers mostly didn't bother trying to adapt their apps for tablet screens.

If it hadn't been for Samsung pushing the boundaries with pressure-sensitive screens, pen input (2014 Galaxy Tab pro line), Linux on DeX, and SoC improvements, there wouldn't be an Android tablet market beyond the disposable 7" tabs people buy for their kids.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#654

Post by cptskippy »

als0 wrote: post #552
cptskippy wrote: post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For most people, your argument is akin to saying "you too can go into space if you just start your own commercial space company".

It costs you nothing to sideload an app (other than time), but it costs money to make a company. Not a fitting analogy.

Sideloading an App is non trivial and not something that one would expect their userbase to undertake and it requires the user to have access to a Mac to perform it.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#655

Post by wlesieutre »

wlesieutre wrote: post #470
birdyrooster wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you imagine "macOS" mode in iPad OS? It's simple: app screens in iPad OS turn into windows on macOS and vice versa in a easy to understand way. It remembers the window positioning and screen ordering as you switch between modes. The mouse automatically is added and removed when you switch between modes. It would not ruin the iPad, it would ruin Apple's bottom line.

Macs aren't even 10% of Apple's revenue, so it can't do that much to their bottom line. I don't think that would be a great experience, but if it made the iPad into a stronger competitor to Surface Pro and similar Windows convertibles, it might bring in enough new business to counteract any drop in Mac sales. Apple has their Handoff feature for moving program state from one device to another, maybe that could be adap…

Another thought on this - Apple's push to state driven interfaces with SwiftUI would make it a lot easier, provided the Mac and iPad versions are structured in the same way.

Which they probably will be because there are maybe three development shops that will spend any time thinking about how to make their Mac interface better optimized for a destktop OS.

Still not saying this is a good idea, but it's an idea. Wouldn't be surprised if Apple were exploring it internally.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#656

Post by e_proxus »

comex wrote: post #620
danShumway wrote: post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If nobody has any reason to “only claim what they need”, then why would they? That's a reasonable question that at first glance seems to have an obvious answer. And yet, the web works. The web works brilliantly -- the web isn't perfect by any metric, but it is still almost objectively the most secure general-user computing platform that we have today. There are a lot of reasons for that, including just locking down…

> Under this model, the app is completely isolated by default, and never knows how many permissions the user has granted it, so it never knows whether or not to ask for more of them. This model has benefits, but it also has a major downside: if the app doesn't know it doesn't have privileges, it can't inform the user of that fact. The user has to realize on their own that the reason their search for a local bakery re…

But the OS can. So if photos are accessed for example, the OS can popup the same old dialog asking for permissions as always and you as the user can decide.

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#658

Post by e_proxus »

Someone1234 wrote: post #227
braythwayt wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't, but I see plenty of people who shoot pictures with their iPads. If the best camera was on the front, what would they use for a viewfinder? Also, I used to be 100% remote, and I WFH plenty, so I'm on videoconferences all the time. I do not perceive the need for insanely good cameras for this. Selfies, maybe, perhaps Instagram influencers need super-high-res selfie photos and movies. All that being said, maybe…

With the new keyboard attachment the front camera isn't even at the top of the iPad, it is on the left/right edges. That's a large oversight. As to video conferencing, it depends on what you're doing. If you're presenting a meeting and are being projected onto a conference room's TV/projector, the quality matters.

My biggest pain point with the iPad camera has always been that it isn't aimed against your face:

  \    /  :-(
   \  /
    \/

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#659

Post by donkeydoug »

martythemaniak wrote: post #629
donkeydoug wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sorry for the non-context response, but in hopes you see the reply (and missed the one from the other day), blockbattle.net is currently down. would be great if it could be back up, not sure of any other way to contact the creators, will not nag about this again here. if you want someone to take over hosting, would be totally up for it :-) great game, Thanks.

I messaged my buddy to restart the server, but in not really involved anymore.

Thank You :-) Would be great if anyone still involved could drop by /r/blockbattlenet ... would be happy to help with hosting (or if open sourcing at this point is an option, even better). Thanks again!

Re: New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

#660

Post by ogre_codes »

moondev wrote: post #602
ogre_codes wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wow. This must be one hell of a keyboard.. Kind of have to look at it as the whole package. You aren't buying an iPad and a keyboard, you are buying a 10.5" laptop for $1,100. I went cheap on my older iPad Pro and just use an aftermarket bluetooth keyboard, but I've kept this guy for 4+ years now and spending a bit (Ok a LOT) more and having a really nice keyboard/ case/ trackpad affects the usefulness of the devic…

At that point why not just get an actual laptop - MacBook air for $1k ?

The CPU, speakers, cameras, and display on the iPad Pro are much better. You can also detach the iPad from the base instantly and have the best tablet on the market.

Seems like every generation of iPad & iPad OS makes the Mac a little less relevant. That said... if you need MacOS—for example you are a developer—you get a Mac.

It'll be interesting when Macs with ARM CPUs hit the market. Or for that matter... if they were to release MacOS for the iPad.

Post reply on HN