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The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

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Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#471

Post by amelius »

wffurr wrote: post #253
amelius wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's the best tool (period) for reading datasheets (or any large PDF documents) Sounds intriguing. How would I go about copying the PDFs that are currently on my Linux PC onto it, though?

Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, a USB cable, a USB drive... Classic solution is email it to yourself.

> a USB drive

For a moment I thought this was going to be the solution, but then I looked into it and it turns out that you need an external power supply even for a flash drive.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#472

Post by SkyMarshal »

Fiahil wrote: 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…

>PS: even having a console-only ubuntu VM would make me happy at this point.

If you're ok with that console running on a home Ubuntu workstation/server or cloud server, then the Blink.sh iOS app is great for this. ssh into your Ubuntu workstation/server from your iPad. Discussed at HN before:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12932592

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#473

Post by hifumin »

koboll wrote: post #326

I do digital painting on the side, as a hobby. In that field, the iPad Pro, specifically the Procreate app, has been revolutionary -- every single famous digital illustrator, concept artist, and comics artist I follow on Instagram has one, and they post gorgeous work done on them regularly. It's the only tool that comes remotely close to challenging the gold standard workflow of Wacom tablet + Photoshop, and Wacom an…

The "cars vs trucks" metaphor from Steve Jobs still holds up.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#474

Post by monknomo »

egypturnash wrote: post #460
ghaff wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably add rule of thirds. Rules are made to be broken but it's a reasonable starting point. ADDED: A couple of other things. (Usually) have a clear subject of interest. i.e. focus in on something. Probably related. If you are taking pictures of people, for example, get in closer.

"Turn on the grid lines" is basically "rule of thirds".

that's what I was going for without wanting to explain what the rule is

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#475

Post by monknomo »

ghaff wrote: post #423
monknomo wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a natural photographer, but a couple rules I've followed have made my pictures better: 1. Light up the thing I'm trying to photograph 2. Keep the bright light sources behind me insofar as possible (for example, pictures of a person with the sun behind them are really hard) 3. Turn on the grid lines and try to get interesting things either on the lines or where the lines intersect 4. Line up horizons or verti…

Probably add rule of thirds. Rules are made to be broken but it's a reasonable starting point. ADDED: A couple of other things. (Usually) have a clear subject of interest. i.e. focus in on something. Probably related. If you are taking pictures of people, for example, get in closer.

Totally.

Get in closer!

Are you too close? No

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#476

Post by babypuncher »

jseliger wrote: post #392
Fiahil wrote: 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…

I don't think HN is the target audience for the iPad. I have one and use it as a reading device. Others use it for games and social media, where the many accurate deficiencies you point out don't matter much. The average person seems to use it within a narrow sandbox where it works. The minute you try to do something else with it, you'll struggle and be disappointed.

Yeah a lot of the comments here just don't make a lot of sense to me. I use mine to read books, and watch TV/Movies when traveling. It's a consumption device, not a work device.

I guess where the confusion comes from is the iPad Pro, which Apple pitches as a device for creators. However, they've been pretty unambiguous about targeting artists, not developers. I don't think they expect anyone to start programming with an Apple Pencil.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#477

Post by Wowfunhappy »

0xCMP wrote: post #322

As someone who uses his iPad Pro regularly, I love all the multi tasking of the iPad. I know many have written that they have issues with multiple windows on the iPad, but for me it's never been better or easier. My main gripe is keyboard behavior which is very buggy, but not related to how easy/hard it is to make and move apps around the screen. The fact is that the iPad is only useful because of its software. In my…

> I use these apps to pretty much avoid directly using my "real computers" as much as possible

Why? Are you actually faster at any tasks on the iPad?

I don’t doubt that Apple could eventually make iPads as productive as traditional computers, given time. But I also don’t understand how doing so is a productive use of Apple’s resources when macOS already exists.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#478

Post by Slartie »

gehsty wrote: post #357
Slartie wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not what I would consider "general computing device", more like "media consumption device", and yes, it is fairly good at that. I would require a device to be regularly used for content creation as well in order for it to qualify as "general computing device". But pretty much the only "content creation" that I see happening on iPads in normal peoples' households is writing emails. By that account, our smartph…

If by computer programming or media creation (videos etc) then I would say what you want is a specialist computing device - most people do not use their computers to do this, nor need them to be able to. With an iPad you can write all the emails you want, edit and share photos, create word docs and basic spreadsheets, which is enough for the vast majority of people. I agree that phones are also general purpose comput…

Yeah, that must be it. I mean "versatile", which is a feature not everyone needs, not even a majority, but a large enough proportion of the market as to be relevant (especially since the remaining share of the market depends on those that need this versatility, because without content creators - a prime group requiring versatile computing devices - there's no content for those that don't need this versatility because they mostly consume).

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#479

Post by wodenokoto »

snapetom wrote: post #411
Fiahil wrote: 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…

I feel that Apple has lost its way with OS design in the past 5 years or so. Not at a macro level, but at a micro, "little things" level. Launch anything Apple-written these days and you'll get a wizard telling you how to use some new widget - just like any other software by anyone else. I don't think Apple has ever done that before because features were designed so well, you can easily figure it out. Then there are…

They never nailed copy/paste nor select on any form of iOS.

And undo is also terrible.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#480

Post by jarjoura »

As someone who worked on the iPad v1, I can tell you, it was a product built in search of a problem. It was going to compete against the, then, growing Netbook market. Steve Jobs thought Windows was going to win that market and hastily threw a team together to answer for it. However, during several all-hands, no one except SJ seemed even remotely excited about the product.

"These things will probably sell in the educational market or something."

"Developers will always surprise us, they will come up with use cases for us."

During development Amazon was proving that people wanted E-Book readers. So when it was clear the iPad didn't yet have a coherent story from Apple, iBooks was thrown together at the eleventh hour and then SJ went on the attack against Amazon to push back against the growing Kindle market.

And then Windows 8 happened! People asked Apple (And Tim Cook), will we see touch-screen Macs? And instead Apple trapped itself in a corner by doubling down that the iPad was going to forgo running full macOS because something about people not wanting to touch their laptop screen. So here we are, a product that launched without a vision, and then hamstrung by ego.

It's true that people who love their iPads, LOOOVE their iPads. So it's a nice product. It's definitely well made and I love reading the news on mine. It's a great device to travel with, for sure, yet I agree with Gruber, this thing will never flourish outside of the niche markets its found itself in.

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