The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#1

Post by h9n » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 4:21 AM UTC

The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10
daringfireball.net

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#2

Post by zweep » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:08 AM UTC

I remember discovering iPad split screen more than a year into owning one. It was like magic, then I didn't know what I had done to invoke it. I started trying random stuff looking for the incantations and eventually gave up and Googled it.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#3

Post by swiley » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:32 AM UTC

I’d say the iPad is the symbol of everything wrong with consumer computing devices, I really hate it. The most upsetting thing is that I’m not sure that’s true, look at the cheap Windows PCs and Android phones: they’re full frontal active assaults on the users! It’s all terrible!

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#4

Post by cm2187 » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:35 AM UTC

Text selection is the most broken thing to me on an ipad. It makes any kind of editing pretty much unusable. Great device to browse the web from my bathtub and watch movies on a plane, but haven’t found any other usage.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#5

Post by broodbucket » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:35 AM UTC

iPads have complete market dominance in the world of the kiddies. I can't believe how many there are - big iPads in big cases, young children playing with some game or watching YouTube Kids. I don't think it's the market Apple invisioned, but it's a hugely successful one regardless.

I think judging the iPad based on changes they make for power users is near pointless in terms of its success.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#6

Post by hinkley » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:41 AM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #4

Text selection is the most broken thing to me on an ipad. It makes any kind of editing pretty much unusable. Great device to browse the web from my bathtub and watch movies on a plane, but haven’t found any other usage.

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.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#7

Post by cm2187 » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:46 AM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #6

cm2187 wrote: post #4

Text selection is the most broken thing to me on an ipad. It makes any kind of editing pretty much unusable. Great device to browse the web from my bathtub and watch movies on a plane, but haven’t found any other usage.

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.

But try selecting text from a web page...

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#8

Post by twsted » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:47 AM UTC

I agree completely with Gruber's analysis:

the multi-tasking, drag&drop, split-screen interface is very complex and confusing even for me, who have been using the iPad for ten years.

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#9

Post by x3ro » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:54 AM UTC

broodbucket wrote: post #5

iPads have complete market dominance in the world of the kiddies. I can't believe how many there are - big iPads in big cases, young children playing with some game or watching YouTube Kids. I don't think it's the market Apple invisioned, but it's a hugely successful one regardless. I think judging the iPad based on changes they make for power users is near pointless in terms of its success.

He says nothing about success, but about personal disappointment with the product. Why would you judge that against other people's experiences?

Re: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10

#10

Post by Decade » Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 8:55 AM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #6

cm2187 wrote: post #4

Text selection is the most broken thing to me on an ipad. It makes any kind of editing pretty much unusable. Great device to browse the web from my bathtub and watch movies on a plane, but haven’t found any other usage.

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.

For me, a chunk of text would go missing because it interprets fast typing as double, triple, quadruple tapping. Which means the text is selected and then promptly overwritten. The solution is to be deliberate about typing slowly on the screen keyboard. https://www.howtogeek.com/441872/how-to-use-text-editing-ges...