iPad Pro

Apple iPad Pro 10,5″ Rumour — It Could Adopt the 12,9″ UI →

August 22, 2016 · 14:42

Benjamin Mayo:

Apple is going to shake up the iPad lineup in a big way in 2017, according to securities analyst KGI Ming-Chi Kuo. Next year, Apple will reportedly release three new iPads, a 12.9 inch iPad Pro 2, a low cost 9.7 inch iPad and — most interestingly — a new iPad Pro with a 10.5 inch display, a new screen size for Apple’s tablet range. With a diagonal increase of just 0.8 inches over the 9.7 inch iPad, its unclear at this stage what will justify the introduction of another SKU.

I had my doubts about this rumour until I started crunching numbers. The current 9.7″ iPads have around 264 PPI, while the Minis have 326 PPI (which is the same as the 4.7″ iPhone). If you take the resolution of the 12.9″ iPad Pro of 2732 x 2048 px (it also has 264 PPI) and shrink it down to 10.5″, you get approximately 326 PPI. This could mean that the 10.5″ iPad Pro would get the slightly larger UI of the biggest iPad in the lineup, together with the better virtual keyboard and more room for two apps side by side.

I currently use the 12.9″ iPad Pro because the UI allows for more, due to its higher resolution — using two almost-full iPad 9.7″ apps side by side does make a difference. If Apple packages the experience in a smaller form factor, I’ll be standing in line on day one, waiting to get one as soon as possible.

Serenity Caldwell Left Her iPad Pro at a Rest Stop →

April 20, 2016 · 13:29

Serenity Caldwell:

After a fun weekend down in DC with Providence Roller Derby playing two incredibly hard-fought games against the roller derby teams from Washington DC and Cleveland, OH, I spent most of the car ride home excited to get back to writing about the iPad Pro and its 9.7-inch sibling; I even pulled out the 12.9-inch model to do some note-taking during the drive.

And then, in a late-night haze during our last rest stop of the evening, I did the unthinkable: I left the Pro on a Subway counter. I didn’t realize I had done so until this morning, when I went to gather my things to go to a local coffee shop to write — only to realize that my iPad wasn’t among them.

I’ve never had this happen to me yet, but I can imagine the sinking feeling you get in your stomach. Lots of good tips and warnings in the article too.

Jason Snell Review’s the Smart Keyboard for 9.7-Inch iPad Pro →

March 30, 2016 · 12:08

Jason Snell:

While the reduced dimensions of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro add complications in some ways, they offer benefits in others. This new Smart Keyboard has to cover a screen that’s 60 percent of the surface area of the larger model, meaning that it’s much lighter and less bulky. On the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (which is already 9.8 ounces heavier), using the Smart Keyboard as a cover felt bulky and burdensome. The smaller Smart Keyboard, on the smaller iPad Pro, doesn’t feel that way at all.

Whenever I want to use my iPad Pro 12.9″ for anything other than writing, I take the Smart Keyboard off. It’s too bulky. But the larger screen is gorgeous! Everything in life is a compromise, and it’s up to us to make the right choices.

Federico Viticci Tested Apple’s 29W USB-C Power Adapter and iPad Pro Fast Charging →

March 29, 2016 · 21:24

Federico Viticci:

The 29W USB-C power adapter with fast charging on the iPad Pro isn’t only capable of quickly charging an iPad Pro while its screen is turned off – most notably, it can both sustain and power the device considerably while it’s working hard used at full brightness. The 29W adapter is remarkably consistent in battery gains in a variety of conditions and it dramatically reduces the amount of time required to charge the iPad Pro.

I could guess Apple’s motivations for selling the 29W power adapter as a separate accessory (one could argue that fast charging for the iPad Pro wasn’t ready to ship last year). In an ideal world, however, the 29W adapter and USB-C to Lightning cable should be included in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro box.

The difference is insanely huge! I expected a difference, but not this.

Make sure to check out Federico’s charts.

9.7″ iPad Pro — the Bad and the Ugly →

March 29, 2016 · 15:13

Andrew Cunningham, reviewing the 9.7″ iPad Pro, noticed a discrepancy in memory bandwidth when compared to the 12.9″ iPad Pro:

We’re not sure what to blame for the reduction in memory bandwidth. The memory bus could be narrower (the 12.9-inch iPad uses a 128-bit memory interface, as opposed to 64-bit in the iPhone), but the scores are still substantially higher than they are in the iPhone 6S, and we’d expect them to be lower if the memory interface had actually been scaled back. The smaller Pro could be using DDR3 RAM like the iPad Air and Air 2 did instead of DDR4, but every A9-equipped device has used DDR4 memory, and the A9 and A9X memory controller might not even support the older DDR3 standard. We’ll need to wait for additional insight from iFixit or Chipworks before we have enough information to say for sure.

This is the third thing that surprised me, after I learned that Apple’s Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter only supports USB 2 speeds on the smaller of the two iPad Pros.

If this A9X had shown up in an iPad Air 3 and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro didn’t exist, it would have blown us away. It still represents a tangible improvement over the A8X in the Air 2. It’s only next to the full-fat, 4GB-of-RAM A9X in the big Pro that this one looks a little disappointing.

While ‘only’ 2 GB of RAM wouldn’t impact me personally, I don’t quite understand why Apple wouldn’t want to future-proof the most popular iPad size category, especially since its sales are declining over the past few quarters. Four gigs could actually be a valid selling point, especially since people seem to keep their iPads for years. I realise that I partially answered my question, but raising the ASP should account for something, right?

The New 29 Watt Charger Should Be Bundled With the 12.9″ iPad Pro →

March 26, 2016 · 14:08

Benjamin Mayo:

This higher-wattage charger should come bundled in the box with all new 12.9 inch iPad Pros sold. I don’t care that it didn’t exist at first. The current charger Apple ships is mediocre, bordering on unacceptable. It barely does the job: you can’t use the iPad whilst charging and expect the battery percentage to go up. Apple should not punish new Pro customers with the 12 watt charger just because it shipped a 12 watt charger initially. Now that something better is available, include that in the box. Enough said.

Harsh, but I agree.

Thoughts on iPhone SE, iPad Pro 9.7”, and Apple’s March 2016 ‘Let Us Loop You in’ Event

March 26, 2016 · 10:15

A lot of people are not pleased with the fact that Apple ‘only’ unveiled a new 4” iPhone, another iPad, and a few Apple Watch bands. Personally, I don’t have anything negative to say about the hardware, but what I really miss is the surprise. The leaks in the weeks before any Apple event in recent years are both a blessing and a curse — while I can’t stop myself from following the rumours, they totally spoil the event. It’s as if I’d gone to see ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ on opening night, knowing the whole plot. In 2012, during D10, Tim Cook promised Kara Swisher and Walk Mossberg to ‘double down on secrecy’ — I’m still waiting for him to deliver.
Continue reading →

15 Year Zoe Olson Uses Her iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to Illustrate a Book; Tim Cook Complements Her Work →

March 23, 2016 · 18:14

Zoe Olson:

Before getting my hands on the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, I didn’t even know that I wanted to be a professional artist! Real paints were too messy and frustrating, and a Wacom Cintiq was too bulky and expensive for a career in art to be worth it to me. The iPad Pro has eliminated all excuses. It is the best of both worlds.

Her skills are amazing!

Apple: Pencil Support for Navigating iOS UI Will Return in Next Beta →

February 24, 2016 · 16:44

Chris Welch received an official statement from Apple regarding navigating the UI with the Apple Pencil, which I mentioned recently:

Apple Pencil has been a huge hit with iPad Pro users, who love it for drawing, annotating and taking notes. We believe a finger will always be the primary way users navigate on an iPad, but we understand that some customers like to use Apple Pencil for this as well and we’ve been working on ways to better implement this while maintaining compatibility during this latest beta cycle. We will add this functionality back in the next beta of iOS 9.3.

This is good news. Whatever the real reason, I’m glad it’s here to stay.

Federico Viticci’s iPad-Only Setup — a Year in →

February 23, 2016 · 15:24

Federico Viticci wrote at length about his iPad-only workflow yesterday, and I have to say that I envy him that he can go and do this:

OS X is a fantastic desktop operating system, but it runs on machines that increasingly don’t fit the lifestyle of users who, like me, can’t sit down at a desk every day. I can’t (and I don’t want to) depend on Macs anymore because I want a computer that can always be with me. The majority of the world’s population doesn’t care about Xcode. I want to use an OS without (what I see as) cruft of decades of desktop conventions. I want powerful, innovative apps that I can touch. An iPad is the embodiment of all this.

I’m currently travelling, as you may have noticed, and I had a touch decision to make when packing — iPad Pro or MacBook Pro. I ultimately went with the MacBook for one reason, and one reason only — to retain the ability to edit my RAW files in Adobe Lightroom. iOS software still has a way to go, and I wish companies such as Adobe would start working on a full LR replacement, instead of making it a companion app.

A year into my iPad-only setup and with only one task left for my Mac, I feel safe to say I’ve moved past OS X at this point. The iPad Pro and iOS 9 have continued to free me from the physical constraints of my MacBook thanks to better hardware and a stronger software ecosystem. Macs are great, and they’re not going away any time soon, but they’re no longer the kind of computers I want to use. I need a computer that I can hold, with built-in 4G Internet and apps I can touch, and with a vibrant developer community whose apps constantly improve how I get work done. That’s an iPad.

I wonder at times if younger people have it easier when adopting a newer platform. I’m probably ten, if not more, years older than Federico, and I find things easier on OS X, most probably because I’ve known the intricacies of this operating system for a numbers of years now, whereas iOS is constantly evolving. This reminds me of the time in my teens when I used to play Doom a lot, using just the keyboard for everything. When I switched to Quake, I continued to use the keyboard, despite the fact that using a mouse and keyboard simultaneously gave the player much more precision. I still remember the day I walked into an internet café and saw four kids firing away, right hands on mice, left on keyboards. I finally made the switch, but it wasn’t easy for me, and they were probably just five or six years younger than me. The difference was that they skipped the keyboard-only phase…

And I never even tried to switch to playing FPS games on a gamepad…

I Chose the MacBook Pro Over the iPad Pro

February 11, 2016 · 20:44

I loved all my iPads, especially when travelling. They’re light, take up little space, and I even read on them instead of on my Kindle, just to have one less device with me. However, when I travel to places and plan to take a lot of photos, I always take my MacBook Pro1 instead of an iPad, albeit the decision is not an easy one.

While I can pretty much use the iPad, and more recently the iPad Pro, for close to everything, it does not run Lightroom nor does it support RAW files the way Lightroom for the desktop does. That is the single reason why I take the laptop. If I had an iPad mini, I would have probably taken that too2. But I don’t. And I want to be able to edit my photos.

So, Adobe, what I want, and need, is Lightroom for iOS which replicates the desktop version’s features, and allows me to transfer everything over to my Mac once I get home, integrating it easily with my existing catalog. Please make this happen.

  1. 2014 Retina 13″. ↩
  2. Instead of the Kindle most likely. ↩

Nilay Patel Bought His Mom a Chromebook Pixel →

February 2, 2016 · 21:31

Nilay Patel:

We were off to the races. It’s a month later and she loves the thing. It’s not fighting her, or asking her to learn anything new, or foisting complicated new products on her. There are no apps to update, and no new versions of the OS to install every year. It’s just Chrome, doing its thing. And because it’s still a thousand-dollar laptop, it’s incredibly fast. (Apparently the secret to making Chrome run really well is to totally dedicate a 2.2GHz Core i5 and 8GB of RAM to it.)

I’ve used a Pixel for a few weeks and even reviewed it — it truly is an amazing little computer, certainly much better in its second iteration. What I don’t still quite understand is why it requires a Core i5 and 8 GB of RAM to run as well as it does. It shouldn’t need it.

When we talk about laptops still being popular and important, we tend to talk about things like the precision of the mouse and the power and flexibility of a desktop operating system. We talk about all the things they can do better than a phone or a tablet. We talk about more. But it’s worth talking about the power of technology that strives to do less — much less. The thousand dollars I spent on a Pixel didn’t buy my mom crazy extensibility, or the ability to run powerful apps like Photoshop or Excel. It didn’t even buy her that much storage. But it did buy her a beautiful, well-designed product. And most importantly, it bought her focus, and the ability to spend her time using her computer instead of trying to learn how to use it.

That’s a lesson I think Steve Jobs would have liked very much.

I believe that Steve understood the concept quite well — please don’t take this as putting words in his mouth; that’s not my intent. I am referring to a product you can actually buy, which most certainly ticks the ‘focus’ box. It’s called the iPad. While probably not best suited for Nilay’s mom, you can’t beat the focus a single window into the internet gives you. That’s probably why I get so much done on my iPad Pro, with or without an external keyboard.

AnandTech’s Apple iPad Pro Review →

January 25, 2016 · 11:39

Joshua Ho, Brandon Chester & Ryan Smith for AnandTech:

The iPad Pro is arguably the first tablet that I personally want to even consider buying. It isn’t perfect by any means, and there is still a lot of work to be done – seemingly fitting for a first-generation Apple device – but for the first time in a long time it feels like the broader tablet market is advancing once again. If you want a proper tablet that can replace pencil and paper with a keyboard for extended typing sessions, I have no problem recommending the iPad Pro. If you’re hoping for a laptop that can also double as a tablet, I suspect that the Surface Pro 4 will remain the right choice for you.

Having tested both the iPad Pro (which I bought) and the Surface Pro 4 (which I didn’t), I found that the former is a great tablet and can function as a laptop replacement for many, while the latter is a good laptop, which can be used as a tablet, albeit a bad one due to issues with Windows and the lack of quality apps.

P.S. Autocorrect is giving me a hard time today…

The iPad Pro Smart Keyboard vs. The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Type Cover

December 25, 2015 · 17:16

I’ve wanted to write about so many things during these past few weeks, but I never could find the time to get into them. One of those on hold have been my thoughts and first impressions of the Surface Pro 4, which I had on loan for a few weeks. It coincided with the time when I bought my iPad Pro. A few of the more interesting aspects of the two are the keyboards, hardware design and ergonomics of Apple’s and Microsoft’s products.

Continue reading →

Did Tim Cook, Phil Schiller or Someone at Apple Accelerate My Order?

December 23, 2015 · 13:15

I just picked up my iPad Pro Smart Keyboard from TNT and since I need to write something to test it out, I chose to speculate a little. You see, while the Smart Keyboard was available in the EU, the Polish Apple Online Store said it would be ‘coming soon’. I already had my iPad Pro at the time, miraculously managed to snag an Apple Pencil, but couldn’t get my hands on the most important accessory, especially since I was wondering if the Pro would replace most or all of my MacBook needs. I wrote a post directed at Tim Cook and Phil Schiller at the time, keeping my fingers crossed…

Continue reading →

Fraser Speirs Sells Mac, Goes All-in on iPad Pro →

December 23, 2015 · 09:50

Fraser Speirs:

I’ve been wanting to do this for five years now and it’s finally happened. I sold my MacBook Pro to go all-in on iPad as my main personal computer. Yesterday, I packed my 2015 13″ Retina MacBook Pro back into its box and sent it off to a new owner.

My Smart Keyboard is arriving today, so I’ll give it a shot too, while testing it out. I don’t have the balls to sell my Mac yet though…

Thoughts on the iPad Pro On-Screen Keyboard

December 14, 2015 · 14:51

Since getting my iPad Pro a few weeks ago, I’ve been writing on it a lot, using mostly the software keyboard, but also helping myself out with an external one. I bought an Origami Workstation a few years ago, and since it’s in perfect working order, as is the Apple Wireless Keyboard it contains, I’ve been using that combo quite often. This might change when my Smart Keyboard finally arrives, but in the meantime, I’ve been thinking about the iOS 9 on-screen keyboard a lot.

Continue reading →

Dear Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Apple — Please Start Selling the iPad Pro Smart Keyboard in Poland

December 11, 2015 · 03:29

Dear Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Apple,

I have an iPad Pro, which I bought the day after I first saw it. I have an Apple Pencil, which I acquired by pure luck, and another one on order from the Apple Online Store — two weeks to go still, should get here around Christmas time. But no Smart Keyboard. It’s not available for sale, and at this point, I’d go for the US version, weird Return key and all. There are none even on our local eBay, and flying to the USA to try and buy one seems a bit absurd.

Please make this happen ASAP. I need to get myself something for Christmas.

Sincerely,

Wojtek

Update

image

Thank you!! Won’t be here for Christmas, but at least I’ll have it in time for my birthday!

iPad Pro and USB 3 Over Lightning →

December 5, 2015 · 08:13

John Gruber:

I don’t know when we’ll see Apple take advantage of this new Lightning port (the cable that ships with the iPad Pro is still just USB 2), but I think it’s every bit as capable as USB-C. I bet it can handle not just USB 3, but also Thunderbolt and DisplayPort/HDMI 4K.

I’ll gladly accept faster transfer speeds, even though I do close to everything over Wi-Fi anyway. I hate the fact that an optional cable will be necessary to take advantage of them. Reminds me of the time that I bought an iPad charger for my iPhone — it really should be included in the box.

A Few More Details on the A9X From Andrew Cunningham →

December 1, 2015 · 09:12

Andrew Cunningham:

Imagination’s chart for the Series 7XT GPU puts a hypothetical 12-core design in the same general performance neighborhood as an Nvidia GeForce GT 730M, a low-end discrete GPU that’s a bit slower than the stuff Apple is shipping in its high-end MacBook Pros. Our own graphics benchmarks place it a bit higher than that, but as some of you have pointed out, iOS may have a small advantage in some of these tests because of differences between the mobile OpenGL ES API in iOS and the standard OpenGL API used in OS X.

He also mentions the probable cause for the lack of an L3 cache.

Quite frankly, I’m a bit surprised it’s as fast as it is in benchmarks, because it doesn’t feel that fast — many animations which are as smooth as silk on the iPad Air 2, stutter on the Pro. Apple obviously needs to further optimise iOS for the new screen size and resolution.

‘If journalists reviewed Macs like iPads’ →

November 30, 2015 · 22:00

Fraser Speirs:

There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the MacBook Pro and, in particular, whether it can replace an iPad Pro for getting real work done.

Firstly, consider the hardware. The huge issue with the MacBook Pro is its form factor. The fact that the keyboard and screen are limited to being held in an L-shaped configuration seriously limits its flexibility. It is basically impossible to use a MacBook pro while standing up and downright dangerous to use when walking around. Your computing is limited to times when you are able to find somewhere to sit down.

Not that you would want to use a MacBook Pro while standing anyway. The sheer weight of these devices means that your shoulder is going to take a beating if you switch from iOS to OS X. The current 15″ MacBook Pro tips the scales at 4.49 pounds – or three iPad Pros – despite having a lower-resolution screen and one less hour of battery life.

Only those with very specific workflows could realistically switch from iPad Pro to a MacBook Pro.

Pure gold.

Jason Snell Reviews the iPad Pro →

November 24, 2015 · 23:22

Jason Snell:

You get used to the size fast. After a week using the iPad Pro, I dropped my iPad Air 2 down on my trusty old Origami Workstation and just started to laugh. It’s like a tiny baby iPad! On a tabletop or other workspace, the size of the iPad Pro’s screen really shines.

Unfortunately, in other contexts it’s the size of the device itself that comes to the fore. When I wake up in the morning I like to grab my iPad and check in on the Internet before I get up and face the rest of my day. In this scenario, the iPad Pro feels like overkill. Sitting in a chair or on a couch, it felt big but not overwhelming, but in a context where I’m leaning back and really just reading stuff, not doing a lot of typing, I was a lot less comfortable.

I have close to the exact same experience as Jason. The problem is that going back to my Air 2 seems as if I’m returning to using a toy…

The Apple Pencil as a Writing Tool →

November 23, 2015 · 15:48

Myke Hurley:

To really see what the Pencil is capable of, the best place to try it is in iOS’ built-in Notes app. The drawing mode that you can activate only features a modest selection of tools and options, but is by far the most responsive experience. Using the Apple Pencil in Notes is the closest I have ever come to getting a true handwriting experience from a digital device.

To say there is no lag would be incorrect, but it is close enough to feel that it works. When you move the Pencil across the screen, most lines will travel ever so slightly behind it. But compared to previous experiences of using a stylus on a iPad, the difference is like night and day.

My Pencil delivery date can’t come soon enough—4 weeks to go.

I also tried out a selection of drawing apps, just to see what the Pencil was capable of. I spent most of my time in Paper by FiftyThree, Adobe Photoshop Sketch, Procreate, Tayasui Sketches, and Zen Brush 2. The responsiveness of the Pencil really differed in each of these apps, with Paper by FiftyThree being the worst.

Am I the only who is curious which one was the best?

Update

And Myke responded to my question while recording Upgrade in their IRC channel:

[18:14] <imyke> Morid1n: the notes app is good. I also like Notability and GoodNotes.

Seems that Notes is the way to go.

My iPad Pro Stops Responding and the Screen is Black →

November 21, 2015 · 05:37

Apple Support:

To get back to using your iPad Pro, force restart it by pressing and holding both the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons for at least ten seconds, until you see the Apple logo.

Apple is aware of this issue and is investigating.

Connected my iPad for its first charge when I went to sleep. Got a black screen. Had to force a restart. Not cool.