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The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

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Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#571

Post by gowld »

munk-a wrote: post #456
snapetom wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I agree with this - I feel like Windows has gotten much better at catering to delivering (or allowing other people to deliver) more targeted UX improvements. Once upon a time Fences was a requirement to be alive - now instant searching in the start menu means I hardly ever see my desktop - similarly universal key combinations (and global key capture) have let things like media keys really take off - being able to pau…

How do you get search to work? For me, Windows Search Indexer just uses 100% CPU forever.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#572

Post by danlugo92 »

derefr wrote: post #497
jandrese wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, and it's really frustrating when the tab was just a static webpage with some text you want to read. It has the iOS baked-in assumption that you always always have fast Internet access.

Putting something into your Safari Reading List saves it for offline access. If you want to read a webpage later on mobile (and it won't parse through Instapaper/Pocket for some reason), that's probably the way to go, vs. leaving it open as a tab. Though, admittedly, I never got it to work right at actually using the offline-snapshot versions of pages when I was, er, offline. Even though it clearly had them taking up…

Shouldn't this be handled by website developers via PWA-related tools? Think about it, if you're website is meant to work offline (and safari cannot know this), you can implement the necessary code for it to work offline (e.g. web.whatsapp.com)

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#574

Post by Cu3PO42 »

neuronic wrote: post #568
VvR-Ox wrote: post #563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just recently bought a used iPad that still got the iPadOS update and what I noticed is very ambivalent. PRO: - The device is light, has a nice screen and good sound. I can use it to read documents that need color, watch videos and browse the web all in one device with acceptable performance - The battery has enough capacity for the pad to work for days without recharging - You can use pencil 1 as an input device (…

> as someone coming from Linux it feels already "walled" enough for my taste Not criticizing at all, genuinely curious: what do you want to accomplish on an iPad that is prevented by the walled garden?

Not OP, but I also have some quarrels there.

For example, I can—to my knowledge—not use my preferred keyboard layout [0] on an external keyboard. NEO does not come built-in and I haven't found any way to add new layouts except by replacing built-in ones on a jailbroken device.

This more or less kills the device for me that requires any significant amount of writing, including tasks it would otherwise be perfectly suitable for, such as replying to a bunch of emails, brainstorming some ideas, or writing reports.

I also wish it were a more capable development machine without resorting to hacks such as ssh-ing into a server or accessing VSCode through the browser. I previously had a Surface 3 and for some light work on the go it was good enough, but I cannot be bothered to replicate my setup using a mixture of apps that might work now, but break when some requirement changes.

All that said, I'd buy another iPad if this one broke. It's by far the best digital writing experience I've ever had and even if I only use it for note taking, it's still money well-spent to me. But it could be so much more.

[0] https://neo-layout.org/

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#575

Post by signal11 »

nannal wrote: post #541
freepor wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that one of the reasons the device feels so powerful is that it runs iOS. A 5x specified Mac Pro doesn’t have the feel of the iPad.

Lets not get caught up unduly, any light OS would perform as well on the hardware, there's no magic between iOS and the ipad hardware.

The level of polish and integration between hardware and software with Apple is almost “magical” imho. Or at least very praiseworthy.

Compared to typical Windows laptop trackpads or most Android phones’ janky scrolling, Apple does a much better job getting better performance out of their hardware.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#576

Post by ellis0n »

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'm agree, problem in software, not hardware. I tried use Palm as remote terminal to my office servers before iPhone era and use iPhone and iPad later, but software progress looks like in 1990. This issue should be solved with new software, platforms like Animation CPU https://twitter.com/acpustudio

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#577

Post by yuriyromadin »

Steltek wrote: post #246
spurgu wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the reasons I don't understand why there are so many iPhone/iOS fanboys... are they actually never experiencing these kind of frustrating bits of iOS or are they just ignoring them? Because I experience them all the time. Only reason I haven't switched back to Android (yet) is that I love the form factor of the iPhone SE.

I felt this rather acutely at work where I was strongarmed into giving up my Linux desktop for a MacBook. When I ask how a Mac-loving coworker solved a OS problem, I'm met with blank stares as if they've never recognized it as a drawback, let alone wished for a solution. Multi-monitor support is a particular pain point for me; there just seems to be so much missing and I can't understand why.

I'm using multi-monitor (3 monitors) setup with my Mac for a long period of time (more than 5 years). What problems do you encounter, maybe I can help you to solve them.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#578

Post by ryantriangles »

Fr0styMatt88 wrote: post #483
jarjoura wrote: post #480

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 educ…

I still remember people saying that the iPad was just going to be a big iPhone and what is the point? I NEVER understood this. I was one of those people that was immediately excited about the iPad. Being able to lay back in bed and casually browse the web, read magazines, watch movies, play games? On something with a decently large screen, decent battery life and something that wasn't bulky? PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY!!!!…

"just going to be a big iPhone (...) lay back in bed and casually browse the web, read magazines, watch movies, play games? On something with a decently large screen" -- isn't that just a big iPhone, then? Especially now that the iPhones are fairly large themselves, and mobile layouts are almost universal. I have an iPad, but I've never really found a good use for it. Web browsing, reading, and watching videos I find more comfortable on a phone (or a Kindle) I can hold in one hand. The form factor of the iPad combined with its touch screen means I can never find a comfortable way of holding it long-term.

To me the big draw of the iPad is that it combines the simplicity of a phone OS with a screen that can render large fonts and still be usable. That's great for people with poor eyesight, like my grandparents, who can fit only a few words at a time onto a 5" phone display and who find the Windows interface frustrating (being full of small buttons, accidentally-pressed keyboard shortcuts, things minimizing to the tray, and multiple windows containing multiple tabs). As someone lucky enough to have escaped that problem so far the iPad exists in a strange halfway point between a laptop (large, powerful, keyboard-equipped, capable of running and doing anything) and a phone (comfortable, portable, long-lasting) that's never quite right for the job.

Admittedly I've never used the Pencil which I imagine can be quite nifty.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#579

Post by ellis0n »

Fr0styMatt88 wrote: post #483
jarjoura wrote: post #480

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 educ…

I still remember people saying that the iPad was just going to be a big iPhone and what is the point? I NEVER understood this. I was one of those people that was immediately excited about the iPad. Being able to lay back in bed and casually browse the web, read magazines, watch movies, play games? On something with a decently large screen, decent battery life and something that wasn't bulky? PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY!!!!…

Xcode is too expense for iPad by minimal hardware requirements.

Animation CPU should be good for dev apps too

https://twitter.com/acpustudio

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#580

Post by citiguy »

stillworks wrote: post #151
akg_67 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+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 think if you find a compelling use case for it, you will figure it out :-) I scan physical books to PDFs and read them as Quicklook from Files. Now, these books sometimes refer to other parts within the same book. So I almost always split the same book into 75:25 split. The smaller section section to move between the book/chapters, the larger section for focusing on. I find this almost TWMish way of windowing actua…

Wait - how does a Raspberry Pi help you here? Do you ssh into it from the iPad? How do you connect to it physically?
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