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The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

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Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#311
post #302
post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, Apple is the only one who has this market figured out. Ever see anyone at a coffee shop using a Surface Pro in tablet mode? I haven’t. That’s because the second you sit down to complete tasks for more than a minute or two you’ll want a keyboard at least if not a mouse, too. In my view that eliminates productivity as a legitimate use for a tablet. There’s no way I’d prefer touching my screen to the ki…

> Ever see anyone at a coffee shop using a Surface Pro in tablet mode? I haven’t. That’s because the second you sit down to complete tasks for more than a minute or two you’ll want a keyboard at least if not a mouse, too. Precisely because they are sitting on table. Have you seen those same users in their couch or bed?

So basically, add a table and a tablet becomes silly. That isn’t a good look for that device category. Who doesn’t have a table?

Now imagine how many of those people wouldn’t just use their phone while sitting on the couch or bed instead. Why should I use a tablet over my 6 inch phone screen? Why use a tablet instead of my TV?

The only two devices most people would need to own are a laptop and a phone. The tablet is an awkward third device that generally isn’t needed, or it’s a “cheapest possible laptop“ replacement for people who don’t need a lot of computing ability (emails, web browsing). Buying a Surface Pro instead of a proper laptop is itself a compromise.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#312
Our iPad 2 (bought new in 2011) is still being used on a daily basis by our kids. Battery life is still more than sufficient and it's not too slow to run some games, YouTube or Netflix. I think it's the longest we've done with a single electronic device ever!

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#313

I gave up doing any meaningful, multi-tasking work on the iPad. Now it just sits as a $1000 Netflix / Email machine.

I would try to set up Remote Desktop. It is amazing how nice it is to have high powered computation available on a light weight, long battery life machine. Simply VPN / VNC in, and you are set to go. Also, iOS 13 supports any Bluetooth mouse, so that may help as well.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#314
It’s interesting how success & potential is defined.

iPad generates ~$20B/year in revenue with huge margins. [1]

If iPad was a standalone business, it be the 156th largest company in the world by revenue (Fortune). [2]

How can having a single product where only 155 entire companies are bigger than it, “not live up to its potential”?

[1] https://sixcolors.com/post/2019/10/apple-results-64b-in-reve...

[2] https://fortune.com/fortune500/2019/search/

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#315

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 don't think I've seen an iPad used outside a restaurant payment system since they came out.

And I think whoever owns that restaurant might not be that smart if you consider the competition.

I like the idea of Microsoft's surface. But I haven't used one.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#316
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…

I think a big part of the mediocre sales is related to the use-cases that most iPad users have which seems to mostly be watching videos, browsing the internet, reading etc. Any 2 or 3 generation old iPad will do this fine with very little reason to upgrade. It doesn't have anything near comparable to the upgrade path that a lot of phone users who seem very eager to upgrade to a better camera/battery/etc.

For doing this sort of thing, most people can get by with a Kindle Fire, which are constantly on sale for $30-40. They are not anywhere near as good as an iPad, but for pure consumption they are more than adequate.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#317
Fun thing is, it is very easy to do a convenient multitasking on iPad that a toddler would understand:

Just make a multitask button in slide up menu or dock, which, when press, would present a user with his own home screen and an overlay titled "Select an app", maybe with slight clarification, "the launched app will be run next to your current app". Maybe not the best solution, but way better than the current one

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

”but that was years ago and they keep releasing new pencil 1 only devices” Apple doesn’t really release new budget devices; the case may change, but once technology has advanced enough to release an improved top-end device and parts prices for the existing product have fallen enough, they package the parts of the former top-end device in a new lower-priced device.

That turns out not to be true. The newer low-end models have various changes from the previous high-end models, including case changes, but also other hardware. The original low-end iPhone SE had the plastic case with the hardware of the 5-something - but a smaller display. The iPad mini had the guts of an iPad 2, except it was a smaller device, requiring a new motherboard and display, and it had a better camera, too…

The iPhone SE had a metal body. I have one in my desk drawer right now. It was fantastic hardware. It just used cheaper cameras and a smaller screen.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#319
post #269

I completely agree with this article. The iPad hardware is absolutely wonderful, it's light, gorgeous and powerful. I got the latest iPad pro to watch Netflix in bed and it fills that purpose completely. However, the OS running on the machine is bad. Very bad. The multitasking is horrifying. The Files app is unusable (especially if you want to access your files from an FTP server). You have to use your finger to sele…

Consider looking into iSH, it let's you access a Linux like environment where you can download and use common packages like vim and python in a terminal. It has to emulate x86 calls, but for my use case of writing notes in vim and compiling and running simple c++ programs, it works. You can see some more information here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ish/

But I completely agree that it's practically a moral crime that the OS is so locked down. Just a sandboxed native terminal would make this device my main coding environment. The cheap wireless keyboard and mouse I use with it makes the lack of a native terminal where I'd have complete control the one thing holding it back for me.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#320
> Turns out, “just a big iPhone” was a fantastic idea for a new product - music to tens of millions of iPhone users’ ears.

Was it?

I've never personally been interested in tablets, but my perception is that they're not especially popular. Over the last few years, I've rarely seen them being used for anything other than mobile video machines for little kids. A lot of people bought the iPad, but very few people appear to regularly use one.

I'm aware that the iPad extremely useful for some people. I'm just not convinced it's the breakout success this article paints it as. My personal experience and observations show that it is more of a niche product.

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