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The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

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Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#111

Post by nothrabannosir »

silveroriole wrote: post #67
hinkley wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just learned the spacebar trick a few months ago. I still get “5e” instead of “the” about twice a month. And once in a while I will be typing and four words to half a sentence will just disappear and I still have no idea how I’m doing that. A whole new text entry system wouldn’t go amiss for me, either.

It would be nice if they fixed the autocorrect learning insane things like correcting “male” to “Male” and “doesn’t” to “DOESNT”, so I wouldn’t have to do so much text selection to fix it. My iPhone which is really behind on iOS versions doesn’t do this but my iPad is awful for it.

Autocorrect on the iOS from four years ago was nothing short of magic. It would understand the most confused babble and rarely needed any guidance. It even seemed to get used to my style of typing after a while. Today, it is a constant battle. It keeps trying to rope in my address book, different languages I’m not typing in, and arcane words. I correct it every four sentences at least.

I thought I wanted these features; boy was I wrong.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#112

Post by adamsea »

majewsky wrote: post #106
Phenix88be wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And Steve Jobs was old enough to learn that much earlier: that the "modes" are bad and that good UI doesn't require one to do some magic to switch between them, as it can be summarized in the joke: "How to Quit Vim and Exit the VI Editor — the most popular Stack Overflow question -- and I'm using vi last two years because I can't figure out how to exit it." The more a software do, the less it's user friendly... You…

I would argue that vi(m) is more user-friendly by being more upfront about its learning curve.

I think that is different from being “user friendly”, where “user friendly” means “the UI for this application is as intuitive as we could make it do that a wide range of nontechnical users are able to comfortably use this application with a minimum of formal instruction.”

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#113

Post by icebraining »

acqq wrote: post #36
jwr wrote: post #20

This is a very good take on the subject. I love the iPad, I use it all the time. It's an unbelievably good piece of hardware with a number of really good software applications. It is a surprisingly good thinking and note-taking tool, it's the best tool (period) for reading datasheets (or any large PDF documents), it is a great music workstation if you connect a MIDI keyboard and/or an external USB audio interface. Bu…

> The worst thing is that the forced over-simplification of the UI features did not make it easier to use for beginners. I believe Gruber argues completely the opposite: that the recent changes to add features like split screen make it more confusing (e.g. the example of his mother getting stuck in the split screen and calling him). He continues in the very article we comment here (emphasis mine): "if I could go back…

Not just Steve Jobs: the development of the Apple Newton (arguably the precursor to the iPad) was in part led by Larry "NO MODES" Tesler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Tesler http://www.nomodes.com/

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#114

Post by adamsea »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #17
lowkeyokay wrote: post #11

>By 1994 almost all graphic designers and illustrators were using computers for work. The iPad is a great device but, it isn't essential to anything or anyone. If tomorrow there where no iPads anymore, we would all just get on with our lives.

That's because it's a consumption device, despite the heroic efforts of some people to prove otherwise. If I want to reply to an email I'll walk upstairs to my real computer rather than attempt to do it on our iPad. As Joey Hess said[1] "If it doesn't have a keyboard, I feel that my thoughts are being forced out through a straw." [1] https://usesthis.com/interviews/joey.hess/

The iPad Pro keyboard is pretty slick for what it is.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#115

Post by zaphoyd »

akg_67 wrote: post #96
acqq wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The worst thing is that the forced over-simplification of the UI features did not make it easier to use for beginners. I believe Gruber argues completely the opposite: that the recent changes to add features like split screen make it more confusing (e.g. the example of his mother getting stuck in the split screen and calling him). He continues in the very article we comment here (emphasis mine): "if I could go back…

+1 I still haven’t figured out how to get split screen reliably and every time. But I don’t find a need for split screen either. A few times, I tried I had to google how to get split screen then I gave up. Also, sometime I automagically get split screen and can’t figure out how to get rid of it. Usually land up just closing apps in split screen and restarting apps.

I love and use split screen all the time on my iPad for a variety of use cases. Even though I love the feature and find it really useful all of the UI constraints related to it are totally true. I would never want the feature removed, but the existing UI for it is beyond maddening.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#116

Post by mensetmanusman »

I have been using some version of an iPad since the day it came out. Version 1 is still alive and kicking and being used by our 3 year old, so far, it has been the most robust :)

Pros: biometrics / security / immediately usable to check email

Cons: software has started going all SAAS and Apple allowed developers to upgrade and break previous versions to force users on to SAAS versions

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#117

Post by icebraining »

gherkinnn wrote: post #92
ghaff wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPad arguably succeeded because it wasn’t a convertible. However, now, especially given big phones, it feels as if some sort of tablet/laptop convergence will eventually be the future.

I’d argue that the iPad is an excellent chance to downgrade to a less capable phone. Get an iPhone ~8 — no need for an 11 in combination with an iPad.

I did that for a long time with a 7" Nexus tablet, but it's hard to carry an iPad in your pocket - even the Mini is almost 8", way too big for any of my pockets -, and if I have to carry a bag, I'd rather bring a full 12" laptop with me.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#118

Post by k_bx »

kerrsclyde wrote: post #34

Plenty of iPad use within industry. Using it as more than just a consumption device. Yesterday the guy fixing the mobile traffic lights was using an iPad to configure them / My gym gets me to change my membership plan using an iPad within a floor standing cabinet.

Ukraine's biggest bank Privat Bank figured that having the system on iPad is pretty superior to computers, they got LTE, batteries and even camera to make client's photo. So now their computers are mostly not used.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#119

Post by adamsea »

zozbot234 wrote: post #93
Nextgrid wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The community is not an acceptable answer for a business deploying thousands of these. With an iPad you are guaranteed X years of updates. With the community, you may or may not get an update, it might have quirks and installing it might be non-trivial.

If you're deploying "thousands" of these devices, you can standardize on a single model and even get custom support. The iPad might still be a good choice then, but it's definitely not the only one.

Yeah but you have to think about it. I feel like for many businesses thought/effort/time — even only a little - is more valuable than money.

[edit] and you also need to have someone whose aware of those options to begin with which is less common outside prigramming enthusiasts imho. Because Apple has amazing marketing discovering an iPad solution is easy.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#120

Post by Darkstryder »

Heliosmaster wrote: post #84

From the comments here, I think many people are missing a very important factor: while we (as technologists) focus on what WE think of the iPad, or what we can do with it to be productive, this is only part of the picture of the general population. In my opinion the iPad has had a tremendous impact within the general population and (combined with smartphones) got rid of the PC altogether for the average family. And t…

I agree with this. My grandmother (who passed away in 2018 at the age of 91) tried to get into computers regularly for a decade, starting in the early 2000. We tried a lot of things, nothing stuck. Every device we would give her would quickly gather dust, unused after a few days.

Then in 2013 she got an iPad 2 and she instantly started using it several hours a day for the next five years.

In particular, I set it up so I could push new family photographs to her iPad remotely through iCloud. That was absolutely life-changing for her: now she was able to see super recent photos of all her children and grandchildren without having to beg for a printed version. That also worked for videos: for the first time since the VHS days she could replay family videos whenever she wanted.

She also liked multiple card games and the iPad was a wonderful device to play them electronically. The biggest self-service I ever gave myself was to only suggest games that had a paying version without ads, and pay a few euros to buy them. The biggest problems with ads for her was that she could sometimes be a bit sloppy with the touchscreen : when an ad was present it would redirect her to a random website and she would get lost. The quality of the iPad touchscreen and that we stuck to ad-free apps allowed her to almost never get lost like this anymore.

While the iPad may not have been a revolution for the general population, it definitely changed the world for my grandmother. For that I will be grateful for this device to exist.

Miss you, grandma.

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