One Week with the New iPad Pro

I’ve been using the new 10.5 inch iPad Pro a lot over the past week and thought I’d share a few thoughts:

That Screen

Wow.

The screen refresh at 120 timer per second is immediately noticeable. Everything is snappier. Maps zoom faster. Apps and folders leap off the glass. It plays with your mind. As I write these words, it even seems the cursor is jumping across the screen faster than usual. The screen is also noticeably brighter than my existing iPad Pro. My best summary for this new screen is that it is hyper-real.

Maybe at some point I’ll get used to this but then again it may just delight me for years. (Retina screens still make me giggle.) Speaking of retina screens, I think the jump from non-retina to retina was a bigger deal than this, but not by much. This tech is pretty remarkable. One clever bit to all of this is that the screen isn’t always driving forward at 120 frames per second. Instead the iPad is smart and only amps things up when needed. If there is no movement going on with the screen, the frame rate slows down to conserve battery.

10.5 Inches

While the feel of the 10.5 inch iPad is about the same as the prior 9.7 inch iPad Pro, Apple managed to add some additional pixels. They did not, however, make the 10.5 inch iPad match the pixel count of the 12.9 inch iPad Pro. Doing so would have allowed us to see two full sized iPad apps on the 10.5 inch iPad but also make everything on the screen smaller. I used to make fun of people that didn’t use the smallest possible typeface on their screens. These days I actually prefer text a little larger. Apple’s decision to keep the same pixel size (so text doesn’t shrink) but just add about 20% more screen real estate with the 10.5 inch iPad works for me. However, 20-year-old me would have preferred smaller pixels and two full-sized iPad apps.

As for my existing 12.9 inch iPad, I have yet to determine its fate. The big iPad currently taking a sabbatical while I attempt to do all of my work on this 10.5 inch iPad to see how it goes. I’ll revisit and report back in a month or so.

There’s another piece to this larger screen: the keyboard. When I first started using the new 10.5 inch iPad, I didn’t feel the keyboard was any different than that for the 9.7 inch iPad. Now that I’ve spent more time typing on the Smart Keyboard and the glass, I can report this slightly wider keyboard is more comfortable than I expected it to be. Just that little extra width makes a significant difference.

The Pencil

In addition to a faster screen render, the new iPad also provides a faster scan for the pencil at 240 times per second. You won’t notice any difference when drawing quickly. The first time I tried it, I made broad fast strokes on prior generation iPad right next to this 10.5 inch iPad and couldn’t notice a difference. Then I got thinking about the times I try to use the pencil with precision and I started doing some tests. I use the pencil to make very small and detailed annotations on PDFs. I also use the pencil to write music in NotateMe. It was with that second test that I really got religion. NotateMe allows me to write music on my iPad with my pencil. It transcribes the music as I write it and even gives me a little preview. I like using the application to sketch of ideas for songs and solos. This task gets a lot easier with a higher scan rate on pencil. The application gets a better reading and, as a result, gives me better response. No longer do my eighth notes turn into quarter rests. One remarkable part about all this is the fact that I did not have to buy a new Apple Pencil. The iPad improvements were all that were needed in order to give my existing Apple Pencil these new powers.

Other Nerdy Bits

If you spend any time in Safari, you’ll notice the additional memory (4 GB).
The weight feels exactly the same as the 9.7 iPad Pro.
The speakers sound about the same to the 9.7 inch iPad Pro
There is no discernible difference in battery life. About 10 hours.

What about the Software?

For months I’ve been writing that the problem with the iPad isn’t hardware, but instead software. Apple fixes a lot of my complaints (and a few I didn’t even think of) with iOS 11. I’m currently running the iOS 11 beta on my 10.5 inch iPad and will have a lot more to say about that when it gets closer to shipping. The point, however, is that Apple has improved hardware and software. When iOS 11 ships, a lot of people will be able to get work done on iPad. September can’t come soon enough.

MPU 382 – Automation Update

The latest episode of Mac Power Users is up. In this episode we review the current state of Home Automation and the technology we use in our homes. We also talk about our new iPads and wrap-up WWDC.

Too much going on? Email reminders by MailButler are there to help you. (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by MailButler. Multitasking is bad. Nonetheless, in today’s world we’re forced to to juggle business meetings, calls and emails, deadlines, and family birthdays and more. It’s easy to drop the ball.

That’s one of the reasons I write here at MacSparky. Technology can help. If you feel overwhelmed with constant multitasking, it’s time for you to check out MailButler. It’s a multifunctional email extension, time-saver, and productivity game changer.

With MailButler you can compose emails beforehand and schedule them to be sent on a certain day in the future. It’s a good solution for planning birthday greetings for the entire year in advance and getting them off your mind. Also, you might want to reduce the risks of forgetting about some of the open conversations you need to follow up on in case you don’t get any response. Once you’ve written your email, just tell MailButler when you want to be reminded to follow up, and the notification will appear at your preferred date and time. With MailButler you can schedule a reminder about any kind of task for each of your emails – just attach a short note to it and turn on the notification.

MailButler doesn’t stop there. It also helps you with attachments. With the “Attachment Reminder”, you will get reminders about possibly omitted email attachments. MailButler super-charges Apple Mail and helps you process your emails faster and more effectively, saving hours a day to complete other tasks. Check it out today.

Road ID for Apple Watch

For people who are active or have special needs, Road ID is a great product and service. Road ID is a wearable doodad that lets emergency responders know who you are and who they should call. There is even an option that allows you to keep an online profile with lists of your medications, allergies, and more.

Best of all, they now support the Apple Watch. They’ve got several products that will work with Apple Watch bands. If you’re active without identification or have a medical condition that you want to make sure first responders are aware of, check these out.

MultiMarkdown Converter Pro

Fletcher Penney, who has put years of work into MultiMarkdown, has a new app: MultiMarkdown Converter Pro. If you write in Markdown or MultiMarkdown, this one is worth checking out. With MultiMarkdown Converter Pro, you can drag and drop text files from anywhere and convert them into the format you desire. It includes support for HTML5, EPUB 3 (including images), LaTeX, and Flat OpenDocument.

The New Glif

I backed the new Glif iPhone tripod mount and mine showed up a few weeks ago. Studio Neat has come a long way with this product. The newest Glif is spring loaded and pulls back easily around your phone (any size, in a case or not). You then just press down the quick release lever and you’ve attached three tripod mounting points to your phone. The whole thing easily fits in your jeans’ pocket. Quick. Secure. Portable.

If you want to go crazy, Studio Neat also sells a wooden grip with a tripod screw on top and wrist strap. You can combine this with the Glif to have a nice comfortable handle for your phone. I used it in this configuration recently at Disneyland while walking in a crowd. Combined with the iPhone camera stabilization, it took some great video for something I just pulled out of my pocket. As an aside, you’ll see some cranes in the background at the end of the video. You’ll never guess what those are for.

This third iteration of the product is so good that I’m not sure where they can go next. If you have any desire to put your iPhone on a tripod, look no further.

Free Agents 23 — Hard to Get on a Different Train

The latest episode of Free Agents is available for download. In this episode, we talk about what business forms make sense for your new venture. Topics include sole proprietorships, corporations, LLCs, and what seems like an episode-long disclosure that you really need a local attorney to help you out with these things.

Sponsors include:

Freshbooks: Online invoicing made easy.
Storyworth: A new way to bring the family together.

Hazel 4.1 Update

I’m a little late on this story but Hazel got a very nice update over the last few months. The new version 4.1 adds several useful features including:

Better date matching
The ability to make a match based on file attributes of another file in the same folder
There’s also a new token for “any non-blank character”

These and other additions make this a nice improvement to an already useful Mac utility. I’m working on some new video content based on the updates. It will get added to the Hazel Video Field Guide when it’s finished. I’m not making any promises on a release date just yet.

Subscription Database

Several months ago we did an episode on Mac Power Users about managing subscriptions. During the show I explained that I have an Apple Numbers spreadsheet where I keep track of all of that information. I’ve finally gotten around to posting it. Below is a screenshot and at the bottom of this post is a download link.

The spreadsheet allows you to enter the name of the service and then whatever fee you’re paying. When you click the checkbox as to whether or not it’s an annual subscription, the spreadsheet does some conditional computations to figure out the monthly cost and annual cost in the following two columns. Those are the key locations that you’re going to be getting information about how much you’re spending. At the bottom of those columns you’ll see how much you’re spending per month and per year.

After that it’s just further information concerning the specific service like website, account number, contact information, and email. The point is you want to keep whatever you need in this database so you can cancel a subscription whenever you feel like it. The one thing I don’t keep in this database is passwords. For that I go to 1Password.

Feel free to download, use, and modify. Let me know how it works for you.