Posts Tagged → ipad

The iPad Pro: 10.5 vs. 12.9



I’ve spent a lot of time now with both the 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros. I’m hearing from a lot of listeners and readers who want some help choosing which iPad to buy. I have a few thoughts about that.

The Good News: They Are Both Great iPads

The first point to acknowledge is that Apple has largely leveled the playing field. A new 10.5-inch iPad and 12.9-inch iPad have the same internals. They have the same screen technology, processors, quick-charging capabilities, camera, RAM, and all the other internal bits. In the past, choosing one size over another usually came with compromises. One had a better screen than the other. One had a better camera than the other. That is no longer the case. Now you just get to pick which screen size is most appropriate for you, and you are going to have a great iPad.

The Case for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro

You would think that the difference in screen space between 9.7 inches and 10.5 inches does not add up to much. That would be incorrect. While the additional space and pixels do not bring the smaller iPad Pro into the same league as the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, that extra space significantly improves typing.

Typing is noticeably easier both on glass and using an attached Apple Magic Keyboard. Making things that much wider makes the keys just a little bit larger, which makes typing much easier.

I did not find the small increase in pixel count with the increase in size from 9.7 inches to 10.5 inches noticeable. The 9.7-inch iPad could not display two full-sized iPad apps next to each other in landscape mode. (The 12.9-inch iPad Pro can.) This remains true with the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. Instead, the best you can get is one iPad class view next to one iPhone class view. I took the 10.5-inch iPad on my vacation and did a lot of split-screen work with this setup. For a lot of tasks, it was all right, like iPad class Safari next to iPhone class Apple Notes. However, some other multitasking setups without two full-sized iPad apps, such as a PDF next to a word processor, were a pain in the neck.

One of the best things about the 10.5-inch iPad is its convenient size. It is a lot easier to carry around. When I’m holding up the 12.9-inch iPad Pro to read while in bed, I’m worried I’ll drop it on my face. The 10.5-inch iPad feels much more convenient. 

The Case for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro

In contrast to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro has a definite presence while you are holding or carrying it. I can even feel the width of the 12.9-inch iPad when I lug it around in my backpack, whereas the 10.5-inch iPad Pro disappears when I carry it around. “Carry it around” is key here. If your iPad is going to primarily sit at a desk with a keyboard attached, this isn’t a problem at all. Indeed, when setting up the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the Smart Keyboard while sitting on the couch, the wider stretch of the device is more comfortable in my lap than the narrower 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

Once you set up the iPad with that larger screen, there are some real advantages to the bigger screen. First, everything is just bigger. The larger screen allows you to see more pixels and more content. PDF documents show you more (or bigger words). Productivity apps have room for white space. Games are easier to play. The experience spoils you.

Second, multitasking is a great deal easier with the larger iPad. With the 12.9-inch iPad, multitasking allows you to see two full-size iPad apps next to each other when held in landscape view. This was not the case with the 9.7-inch and 10.5-inch iPad Pros. With the smaller iPad Pros, you get one iPad-size app and one iPhone-size app. For some folks, that’s a dealbreaker.

The 12.9-inch iPad also has some benefits in certain situations. For instance, I spend a lot of time annotating contracts with an Apple pencil. That job is made significantly easier with a few additional inches of screen real estate. The bigger iPad gives me more room to annotate, and the words are larger so it’s easier on my middle-aged eyes. Another example for me is reading sheet music. My iPad is my primary sheet music device. I have hundreds of songs stored on the iPad, and it makes practice so much easier than the old way of digging through piles of paper. With the smaller iPads, the notes are just small enough that I will misread them and end up playing a clunker. That doesn’t happen with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.



 

A Few Closing Thoughts

The conventional wisdom is that if you want to replace a laptop, you get a 12.9-inch iPad, and if you are keeping a laptop, get the 10.5-inch iPad. I think that is too simplistic. You could replace a laptop with a 10.5-inch iPad. Likewise, I use my 12.9-inch iPad alongside my laptop all the time.

I think for most folks the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is the starting place. It is big enough without being too big. The fact that the slightly larger screen now makes it even easier to type on than the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will make the 10.5-inch iPad Pro the most popular choice by far.

I think the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is the one you would choose for particular reasons. Maybe you do a lot of multitasking and getting two full-size iPad apps on the screen is important. Or maybe you just have less than perfect vision and need things a little bigger. Either way, if you plan to use the iPad on the go, the bigger one can be a pain, and you need a tangible reason to justify putting up with that.

For me, if my vision were better, I would be tempted to work with the 10.5-inch iPad exclusively. However, I do a lot of work on my iPad and being able to pull out the bigger one for certain tasks sure is nice. I won’t be upgrading my 12.9-inch iPad to the latest iteration, but I won’t be getting rid of my first generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro either.

iPhone JD’s 12.9″ iPad Review

I enjoyed reading Jeff Richardson’s iPad review.

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“The second generation iPad Pro is better than the first generation iPad Pro in the ways that matter most for attorneys using an iPad to get work done — how the screen looks, how fast and responsive the system is, and how it works with the Apple Pencil.”
— Jeff Richardson, iPhone JD

I’ve been using the new 10.5 inch iPad exclusively since I received it but I have occasionally missed the big one, which is particularly good for contract reviews and sheet music. I’m going to continue using the small one exclusively for a few weeks to see exactly how much I miss the big one. Right now I’m leaning toward keeping (but not upgrading) my 12.9 inch iPad for those special times where it makes sense and working primarily from my 10.5.

WWDC Reflections and Future Hopes

Now having returned from WWDC, I can’t help but take a few minutes to reflect upon the general mood in San Jose this past week. Developers were a lot less surly this year and I spoke with several developers inspired by Apple’s work to go and create the next big thing.

Why wouldn’t they? We got new Macs, iPads, and the software updates addressed many priority issues, like iPad productivity. I can’t really put my finger on it but it seems like Apple just has its eye on the ball better this year than it did last year. Talking to folks around San Jose, one explanation was that Apple had a lot of focus on the new building and the car project. I’m not sure if that’s the case. It may just be that the features they announced this year took longer than expected. 

Indeed, it really doesn’t matter why it suddenly seems Apple is addressing these issues so much as the fact that they are addressing these issues.

The iPad gets a lot better with iOS 11. I have a long list of critiques having used it under fire for several days but, fundamentally, the iPad gets more useful when iOS 11 ships.

The bottom line is people are generally happy with what Apple announced last week. Now let’s keep the the momentum rolling. I’ve got three hopes for the next year:

  1. I’d like to see that Apple is listening to feedback particularly on the iOS 11 iPad improvements. Beta users have some great ideas and I’d like to see the best of them make it in before iOS 11 ships.
  2. I would also like to see Apple continue to do incremental updates to the Macintosh hardware. The fact that they upgraded the MacBook Pro to the most current processor in less than a year is a great sign. That is, however, just one data point. I hope that they continue to upgrade hardware as soon as the appropriate upgraded chips are available.
  3. With the improvements of the iPad and the iPad operating system, we now need a healthy ecosystem where developers can spend the time necessary to make professional iPad applications and then sell them for enough money to justify the effort. Hopefully Apple can work with developers to find a way to make that happen.

A Little iPad Productivity with iOS 11

I’m writing this post sitting in San Jose Airport. I didn’t have any WWDC plans today so instead I arrived at the airport ridiculously early, found a comfy chair and did about a three hours of real work on my iPad running beta one of iOS 11. I did this not wearing my MacSparky hat but instead my lawyer one. I wrote contracts, sent and received emails (with multiple attachments no less!), tracked changes in Microsoft Word, scheduled meetings in Fantastical, took notes with my pencil in Apple Notes, and otherwise made myself productive.

It’s still early days. This is the first after all. I wouldn’t recommend loading this early beta on your production iPad. I know of at least one person that managed to severely crash his iPad with the beta. Also, the battery life running the beta is about half what it normally is. (That’s normal for early betas.)

What I can say is that once iOS 11 releases, people that want to be more productive on an iPad most certainly will be. iOS 11 is very kind to iPad power users.

Initial Thoughts on iOS 11 iPad Improvements

I took a lot of notes this morning watching the WWDC Keynote right up until the point they started talking about iPad improvements. At that point I was completely absorbed by the presentation. That’s a good sign. I’ll be writing/podcasting more about this in the coming days but in the meantime, here are a few thoughts:

  • It’s a Mac … in a good way. So many of the features were very Mac-like. Spaces for instance is very similar to what we already have in macOS but probably even more useful with a touch interface
  • Selecting between multiple pre-arranged spaces is a feature I’ve always wanted without verbalizing.
  • The redesigned control center is a significant improvement over the iOS 10 three-page version. I still would have preferred to exchange stock apps for better third party alternatives, like switching PCalc for calculator.
  • Files. Amen. My biggest white whale on iOS is dealing with multiple files. Often I’m required to work with multiple documents and until today this was a huge pain point on iOS. With the Files app and Drag and Drop, my iPad got a lot more useful.
  • They only demonstrated iCloud in the Files app. Will we get “favorites” from third party cloud document providers like Dropbox?
  • Does the existence of the Files app indicate they’ll make it easier to open and save files to cloud services directly in Apps? That’s still pretty clunky.
  • The new 512GB iPads may make sense if you can locally store massive amounts of cloud data locally on your iPad.
  • Multiple file selection with gestures? Yes, thank you.
  • The Dock is another super-useful feature for power users. I need to get hands on this before saying more but that won’t be long now.
  • I have a feeling we are going to be wanting app suggestions in our iPhone docks before long.
  • They went through the multitasking stuff very quickly. There’s a lot there but it looks like a much-needed improvement.
  • I like the semi-transparency on drag-out multitasking. It really makes the old system feel pedestrian.
  • I am impressed with the scope of Drag and Drop but want to get my hands on it before saying more.
  • Interesting how much focus there was on Apple Pencil. It looks like we’ll also still be able to use the Apple Pencil to navigate but we’ll know soon enough as the beta gets out.
  • There were significant new improvements to Notes. I didn’t expect that.
  • Scan and Sign looks really clever. I hope it works as well as demonstrated.
  • The new QuickType keyboard looks pretty useful. How much time have you spent switching between keyboards on your iPad? Related – the 10.5 iPad software keyboard does not quite appear to be the awesome monster that the 12.9 iPad software keyboard is.

iOS 11 Musings

As Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) approaches, a lot of folks are thinking about what Apple will do next with iOS 11. I am particularly interested to see if they can push the ball forward for iPad. It has been two years since the iPad got any significant love, and an iPad-heavy iOS update is long overdue.

I’ve been writing about this a lot here at MacSparky, and I’m not alone. Federico Viticci at MacStories wrote an interesting “wish list” for new features in iOS 11, and it is primarily focused on iPad. Viticci and Sam Beckett put together a remarkable concept video for some of their favorite ideas for the new operating system on iPad.

I like nearly all of their ideas. One in particular that makes sense is the idea of the shelf. They’ve created a drop-down shelf where you can temporarily store files and data. I do something like this already on my Mac with an app called Dropzone. This idea makes even more sense on iOS where moving data between applications is harder than usual. Something like this could alleviate a lot of the bottlenecks that come from working with multiple files on iOS.

Either way, it’s been two years, and I sure hope Apple is as ambitious as Viticci and Beckett were. I’ll be at WWDC in a few days and will report back here.

Glad I Brought the Laptop

A few weeks ago I wrote about my little nerd-crisis as I prepared to go on a trip. It was largely a trip for fun and I was hoping I could get by with the iPad but I had a few things cooking at the day job that made me ultimately decided to bring the laptop along. I thought I’d report back on that.

I got by just fine with a 9.7 iPad Pro for most of the trip. It’s an excellent computer to use on an airplane and combined with the smart cover, I can type pretty damn fast on it. Moreover, despite my constant grumbling about file management on iOS, I got a significant amount of work done between Microsoft Word, Apple’s Pages, and Numbers. Likewise, the day-to-day management of email and OmniFocus was just fine.

As expected, as I tried to rely on the iPad, I found a few areas that could use automation improvements and the experiment resulted in a couple clever new Workflow recipes.

Overall, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself about not needing the Mac … until the last day. 


On the last day a client contacted me with a new contract that they needed to turn around quickly. In the law game, most contracts are provided to you in Microsoft Word and sometimes even Apple’s Pages. The real rare snowflake is a contract provided to you as a Google document. Lawyers just haven’t adopted Google documents very much. Its track changes features (which Google calls “suggestions”) are fairly recent and still a little clunky. Something I didn’t know until the fateful day is that the Google Docs app for iPad doesn’t include support for Google document change tracking. You can see other people’s suggestions. You can even accept or reject them. You just can’t add your own. If you go to the Google website they explain that the way to suggest an edit on the iPad is to “open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation on your computer.” That’s right. If you want to make suggestions with your iPad the trick is to put it down and open the file on your computer. 

So on the last day of my trip I was forced to pull out the MacBook and do some work. My grand experiment was struck down by Google.

That’s the thing about trying to get by with your iPad alone. It works great until it doesn’t and then it doesn’t work spectacularly. Over the years the percentage of work you can complete and iPad has steadily increased. I’m at about the 90% range. That doesn’t mean I can work just as fast on iPad but I can work on an iPad. The trouble is, however, that last 10%. It’s not a simple problem that Apple can fix with a single software update. In this case, it was Google’s delay in adding a feature that is common on every other platform for their software except the iPad.

I don’t know how long it’s going to take us to travel that additional 10% but I expect it’s going to be an uphill climb for a while. As much as I’d like to have the freedom of using my iPad only on trips, for the time being I’m still going to have to bring a laptop. That won’t, however, stop me from continuing to try.

Packing the Laptop

I’m about to take a little trip. Packing for me is usually pretty easy. If I can get by on a trip with one pair of shoes, it makes my entire day. I can, however, get hung up when it comes to technology. My current nerd crisis is the decision of whether or not to bring the laptop.

For this trip I’ve really been struggling with this question. There’s a part of me that would love to leave it at home. I do a lot of computing from the iPad and I can often go days without needing a Mac. However, some days I really need a Mac. If I can leave the laptop at home, it means significantly less gear and weight. 

There is also the intangible part of this equation. I just enjoy working on the iPad. I like the relative simplicity of it. I like being able to use the Apple Pencil when the mood strikes me and I particularly like the way using (essentially) a piece of glass as my computer makes me feel like I’m living in the future.

Finally, there’s a certain degree of geek thrill from putting yourself out on the ledge like that. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention and leaving the iPad at home may lead to some interesting discoveries.

Against this inclination to leave the laptop at home I always have to stop and think about what work I intend to get done and whether the iPad is up to the task. On this particular trip I’m worried because I’m still in the process of finalizing a large client transaction which means I may need to spend time with a significant number of files and some complex Microsoft Word documents. Microsoft Word is great on the iPad except when it comes to making changes to style formatting, which it can’t do. When I work on big transactions, there is lots of style formatting.

I do have the ability to remotely access my iMac at home so, in a pinch, I could perform any Mac-specific work from the road so long as I have an Internet connection.

The real problem is that we all have this list of things that are either impossible or a lot more difficult on the iPad than they are on the Mac. When deciding whether you are going to use a iPad for 10 minutes or a five day trip, we still have to go through the same calculus. Until the iPad can get closer parity to the Mac where we don’t have to go through this mental journey every time we take a trip, the iPad will never reach its full potential.

As for me, because the friction points relate to client work, I’ll end up bringing the laptop along. What kills me is how close I am to not needing to bring it. If only the iPad filing system were just a little bit more robust and if only Microsoft Word were just a little bit more powerful. I hope people at Apple and Microsoft are getting the message.

 

JD Powers Tablet Survey

in the most recent JD Powers survey, the Microsoft Surface edges out the iPad. This is not entirely surprising to me. I’ve been paying a lot attention lately as I go out into the public and work with my iPad about what other devices are in use. As I write these words, I’m at Starbucks with a person using a Microsoft Surface sitting next to me. That’s not unusual. 

This is yet one more data point in my argument that the big problem with iPad is software. If being productive on the iPad is too fiddly, users are going to revert to their MacBook (or Microsoft Surface). WWDC can’t come soon enough.