iPad Pro
apple.com
apple.com
Apple introduced a Files app that essentially works like the Finder app on Mac. Moreover it even allows you to sync with third party cloud providers besides just iCloud. Lastly, it's putting in an actual dock, multiple window layouts, easy copy paste.
I think it's a real game changer and all of these are features that I've been truly looking forward to. It's almost like a turning point in my mind. It's crossed the threshold to where iOS can indeed act as a laptop/desktop replacement for a huge number of people.
Also, in response to a sibling comment on this thread; I don't think it'll be too long now before we see full blown app development on iPads as well.
We'll see how well it works, I suppose. Remember that Apple thought this was a dumb, backwards feature (paraphrasing) when people were asking for it years ago.
> Also, in response to a sibling comment on this thread; it won't be too long now before we see full blown app development on iPads as well.
What are you basing the "won't be long" sentiment on?
I don't mean to get on you, but there's a lot of optimism in your post, and I'm not sure that's entirely warranted just yet. Yeah the hardware is a lot better, but it's yet to be seen if it's still just a giant iPhone from a software perspective. Of course, you may think my cynicism is unwarranted, that's fair too.
I'd love for this to actually happen, I'm just not yet sold that it will.
They also (rightly) saw that iOS, and the devices it runs on, weren't even close to replacing a desktop-class device. Now, we're about to cross that line.
Are we? I'm not seeing that. It may happen, but this iteration isn't it.
I'm really happy with every OSX product I've purchased. On the iOS side, there's a long way to go before I can bring only my iPad instead of my Macbook. I don't really want to carry both. If the iPad Pro can replace my laptop for the bulk of my work day, I'll be right there with you buying one. I'm just not sold on that as Apple's vision.
edit: People really dislike this comment. I'm not claiming desktop class devices are going away, I'm claiming that iOS is growing into a desktop class OS, and we are absolutely at that threshold. I hope anyone downvoting can explicitly address that.
It really doesn't make sense for me to travel with both a tablet and a laptop/Chromebook given that they're mostly similar hardware. Their sweet spots are different enough today that I carry both--and consider that, if I only carried one, I'd probably be carrying more batteries as well.
On the other hand, for the same reasons, it's not really in Apple's interests to discourage you from buying two separate devices. I do think we'll get to that point though.
Latency. Not all engineering tasks are based on static data.
Tools. Few easily allow you to farm out your simulations. Many tools have decades of development in them. You could in theory develop them for tablets, but there's not been a good business case for that.
You will be able to do that kind of work on something running iOS (or its successor) in 5 years.
Mechanical, civil, aeronautical engineering, these fields are notoriously slow at adopting the latest and greatest technology. A lot of our code is still written in Fortran, and C++ libraries might as well be considered state-of-the-art. Further, when you're doing a lot of work on code, you are also multitasking like nobody's business. I have three screens, one for code, another for documentation or something, and a third for my browser (for example). iOS specifically will need massively more multitasking capabilities, a proper filesystem, the actual ports of software like CATIA/ANSYS, USB ports etc. to even become part of the conversation. Not to mention the fact that I just don't see why an ipad would be useful in this context. I'm not constantly moving between offices, or from my home to office, as I do advanced simulations. My workstation stays plugged in, and so the ipad doesn't solve any existing problems for me.
As a final note, these fields are involved in most things that you and I use on a day to day basis, so it would also not be right to call them an outdated niche that can be neglected (not that you are calling them that).
The optimism is in framing the above as "not yet" and that's fine, but that is optimism.
If you want to 'get work done', sure you'd have to take Windows over iOS. But then Apple users would be reaching for a Macbook instead.
I get why people want 'both' from the Surface, but to an Apple user like me, Windows doesn't appeal for either use-case. I'll take macOS for work and iOS for casual use, and put up with separate devices for now.
I like iOS on my iPhone. I like OSX on my Macbook. The only thing I'm pushing back on is the idea that iOS (via the iPad Pro) is set to consume my Macbook.
Also I don't agree with 'over priced hardware'. I tend to find if you look for comparable hardware from other manufacturers the prices are similar (e.g. Samsung S8 vs iPhone, Dell XPS vs Macbook).
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-XPS-15-15-6-Inch-i7-6700HQ/dp/B0...
The screen resolution is much higher, they come with double the ram, not a "home OS" (whatever that is), and I'm not sure how an AMD 560m stacks up against an Nvidia 960m.
Not to say the MacBook will be cheaper, just pointing out discrepancies in your comparison.
Dell is $1,000 cheaper than a comparable MBP.
Edit typo contract-context
My mobile office has been reduced to a 12" iPad Pro with a 13" MB. All files are kept in iCloud and shared between the portable devices, a MBP, an iMac, and a custom PC.
The two portables together - inside a shared soft case with plastic protectors on each - weigh a lot less than my 15" 2015 MBP, and vastly less than a 17" Dell laptop I tried to use for a while. Having two big screens and one real keyboard is hugely more productive than trying to do everything on a single device.
The MBP gets hauled out for anything that needs more power or a bigger screen - not often in practice, because the battery life isn't anywhere close to being good enough for a full day of work.
I moved to this setup from the MBP about six months ago, and it's been a big step up in productivity. With two fairly light devices I can do almost anything I need to do almost anywhere. It's at least as productive for coding, research, and social as my old non-portable dual-screen Mac Mini setup from a few years ago.
It's not powerful enough for content creation, but that needs extra music hardware and bigger displays, and for now I'm happy to leave the tools for that at home.
As a bonus, the big iPad on its own is also the best ereader I've ever used.
Not to mention, the knife in a Swiss Army knife is going to be way worse than a similarly priced knife. There's a number of things you can do with a $60 knife you can't with a Swiss Army knife.
Majority of OS X users outside that UNIX crowd, barely know where the Terminal.app is located.
My Surface 3 came with support only for Chinese without even an English option. I had to buy and reinstall a totally different SKU to make it functional for me (and this was an employee purchase program, grumble).
I get what you are saying, but when iOS can manage to support more languages than Windows, well, we are in a totally different world these days.
The thing Microsoft still doesn't seem to internalize is that 'wifi only' is a disqualifying feature for many people they would like to convert.
Sprint / T-mobile network, so not as good coverage, but $6 a month and just pay for what you use for data.
It doesn't add much cost. You can get an entire smartphone with LTE for less than $100. So maybe the LTE costs $20.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Now I have a dilemma: I'm forced to retire my SP2 and the SP5 is any day going to be debited unless I cancel.
This hiatus looks like just how I'm going to be reviewing the new HP Spectre tablet instead. I was seriously intrigued, especially by the 3000 * 2000 display. I guess I will find out soon enough. Something tells me that I have room for disappointment plenty here, tho'...
Have you considered an LTE mobile hotspot? It can be left charged (but off) in your laptop bag for days/weeks and only used for travel or as needed. I found it to be super useful and not much hassle at all. Also multiple devices can connect rather simply.
Lastly, a benefit of this sort of decoupling, is it allows for using a different network carrier to the mobile phone, thus effectively increasing one's LTE coverage.
This will definitely become a must-have feature in future machines for me. I would no longer have to worry whether or not my local coffeeshop's internet is running slow or takes 5 minutes to properly connect to some random public wifi at a new place.
Public WIFI is prevelant but still very hit/miss. A consitent fast LTE connection would be quite the luxury.
It'd also totally kill SMS and telephone plans which I'm looking forward to the most. Encrypted E2E crypto for both voice/text will be a great incentive for this too.
I use the Verizon LTE network on my iPad pro all the time. When I'm on the train, when I'm travelling hither and yon. I don't browse/read/search on my phone (which I use for actually calling and texting people). Not saying that I represent a typical consumer but I certainly represent at least a cohort of 1 consumers :-).
I had a MiFi for a while (company purchased), but found it consistently had lower performance then the native networking of my iPad and it was easy to lose if I wasn't paying attention. Twice I encountered times when it wasn't charged when I needed it. On analyzing it overall I found that because it wasn't forced to be charged when I charged my laptop/tablet, it suffered from sometimes being missed when it needed to be charged. That the radio is by definition charged when the iPad is charged avoids that failure mode for me.
When travelling with my SPro4 I would sometimes 'hot spot' it to my tablet. Awkward but it works. In the inversion that I still marvel about the software availability on the iPad has always been better than the availability of software on the SPro4.
The SPro4 has a better (to my taste) drawing experience than the iPad Pro does. And both the iPad Pro and SPro4 are way better than previous stylus attempts on capacitive screens.
The iPad has a much better 'tablet only' experience for me, and a much worse 'docked' experience. SPro4 with a Surface Dock and a couple of UHD monitors is literally indistinguishable from the NUC i7 box I use as a desktop. There is nothing (yet) that I can attach to my iPad Pro to make it work like a Macbook Pro (I know I know, different OS, processor etc.)
As a result I create more in general on my SPro4, consume more on my iPad Pro. I travel with my iPad in my hand and my SPro in my backpack.
Clearly I have been unable to leave one behind and just use the other so there is some more convergence to go :-)
But for me my company pays that anyway so I can get a new phone every year with basically free surfing in the whole EU, which is really nice.
This is another limitation of the iPad — like a computer, but with arbitrary limitations like non-standard ports.
That decision alone made them not viable to buy for our company. We rely heavily on Thunderbolt 3 Docks in our new offices that work for Windows and Mac. No such thing possible with the Surface Products.
It's such a game-changer to be able to just plug in your device wherever there is a free spot and have a full featured 2x 4k + Gbit Ethernet + Charging Workplace via one cable.
I suspect that the choice of whether or not to include Thunderbolt 3 is constrained by the available chip sets from Intel rather than a design intent from Microsoft. Looks like Intel is going to make that an option however (https://liliputing.com/2017/05/intel-thunderbolt-3-will-inte...) so I would not doubt to see it brought out on laptops that use chip sets that incorporate it.
We're eyeing the ones from OWC/Elgato/Belkin too, but they are simply not available until later this month.
I wouldn't be so sure regarding the design constraints, the Dell XPS 13 has very similar parts to the Surface Pro, but has been offering the Thunderbolt Port ever since Skylake.
The XPS 13 is a nice laptop, it isn't "all in the display" though, which when you talk about volume and battery time it counts. Currently from what I can see from teardowns (https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+4+Tear...) there isn't enough space for the current Intel discrete solution (but there is in the XPS 13 and there would have been in the Surface Book if they put it in the keyboard half.)
You are probably right now when I look at the teardowns. It makes one wonder what the custom Surface Docks use to push all that I/O out. The ASUS Transformer 3 Pro T303UA somehow managed to cram it in though.
We need more compatibility, not less.
That's huge for content creators.
for some users.
For this user, who was enthusiastic to finally get a Mac it was tragic.
I have used and liked
Gnome and Mate in a number of configurations including Gnome 2 and 3.
KDE 3 and 5.
Elementary.
Windows 3.1, 95, 98, xp, 7, 8.1 and 10.
Mac OS X was a productivity nightmare to me for three years.
I still belive that others like it and are more efficient with it but
... please stop talking like this is generally established facts.
My criticism is against mindless repetition of the idea that it is somehow always better or more userfriendly than other modern OSs.
[0]: I swap a lot between programs. I swap using alt-tab. I frequently used to/will have some web-based tool running in in one browser window and the docs for the tool running in another browser window. I prefer keyboard. If I hit the mouse or trackpad I often feel I (or the OS) has failed to learn / adapt.
From what I saw people who enjoy Mac OS X worked at a slower pace than me (although possibly more efficient). They had multiple overlapping windows. They enjoyed using the trackpad and didn't feel the pain of the hunt for the global menu bar.
It is either alt-tab-tab or you lost me.
But you smart and patient guys should feel free to continue using whatever you prefer :-)
- Awkward switching between screens. Waiting for the animation reminds me of those spinning scene transitions in the old Batman TV show [0]. At one point I learned to set the screen animation to be almost instant — there was still an annoying flicker — but the hack stopped working, I looked up another hack, then I got a new Macbook Pro and the notes I had didn't work, and realized I should just stop fighting it. I guess the thing about a "snappy" transition is that you don't see what's happening and could get confused. Makes sense, but very frustrating if you know what you're doing. Now I just amuse myself by mentally playing the Batman transition sound when I switch between workspaces.
Funny thing: early film editors initially thought that cuts needed to be extremely gentle, with explicit cues to help viewers understand that one scene had ended and a new scene was starting. They didn't stick with those techniques for long; it turns out that people are smarter than they anticipated, and they get bored with filler that doesn't move the movie forward! Even a fraction of a second of boilerplate filler to show that a cut has happened (as opposed to moments that serve an artistic purpose) decreases engagement.
- Awkward switching between program windows. If a program has multiple windows, and there's one I really don't care about right now, like an email or document I was working on a few days ago, I don't want to see it randomly popping to the foreground just because I switched to an email or document that I've been working on today. OS X occasionally gets really pushy with me like OH YOU SHOULD REALLY FINISH THIS EMAIL TO YOUR MOM or I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU WORKING ON THIS APP LATELY. Shut up, OS X, I know what window I asked for, and that wasn't it.
- No way to avoid collisions between my keyboard shortcuts and application shortcuts. It's really easy in Linux, thanks somewhat ironically to that Windows key that I cursed when it first appeared. Turns out it's perfect: it's a key that you can bind to window manager shortcuts in full confidence that it will never collide with application keyboard shortcuts. It's a logical division that worked really well with my brain: my window operations and system-level shortcuts all used the same modifier key, and application shortcuts used different modifier keys. You'd think Apple would have something equally elegant, but they don't. You set up key bindings, get attached to them, and then the next program you learn might require you to redo them (or customize application shortcuts to something that makes less sense than the defaults.)
- Menu bar at the top of the screen. I admit this is cliche and somewhat arbitrary, but I was a years-long Apple user, using Apple GUI operating systems all the way back to the Mac Plus and Apple IIgs days, and the instant I saw that Windows programs had menu bars attached to their windows, I realized that's the way it should be. I'm sure other people have the opposite reaction, but I'm an Apple "native speaker" who used Apple GUIs for many years before I saw a Windows machine, and who has used Apple on the desktop almost exclusively for the last six years, yet the menu bar thing still seems weird to me. Why is the menu bar for my program so far away? From a productivity standpoint, on Windows or Linux, if I can see program window, I can visually target the menu. On a Mac, first I have to click the program window, then I can visually target the menu and click on it. It's a small annoyance, but the small annoyances add up.
I'm sure I could go on, but I shouldn't invest more of my morning in complaining :-(
(which is to say, iOS 11 makes Surface look archaic, IMHO)
Then, in June 2004, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was releasing its new operating system, called “Tiger.” And inside Microsoft, jaws dropped. Tiger did much of what was planned for Longhorn—except that it worked.
E-mails flew around Microsoft, expressing dismay about the quality of Tiger. To executives’ disbelief, it contained functional equivalents of Avalon and WinFS.
“It was fucking amazing,” wrote Lenn Pryor, part of the Longhorn team. “It is like I just got a free pass to Longhorn land today.”
Vic Gundotra, another member of the group, tried out Tiger. “Their Avalon competitor (core video, core image) was hot,” he wrote. “I have the cool widgets (dashboard) running on my MAC right now with all the effects [Jobs] showed on stage. I’ve had no crashes in 5 hours.”
That's like a parody of what a Microsoft hater would say, yet it's an actual quote from Microsoft. Makes me feel sorry for them in retrospect.
The only thing I came away with was an amusing question about how Apple is going to reconcile iOS with Mac OS someday, like Microsoft has already been working on / done for years
Case in point: I'm an IT guy meeting another vendor in the field mid-day. He pulls a dead surface from his bag and is now looking for an outlet, I pull my iPad, which hasn't been charged in a week, and it's at %20 but still good for the rest of the day.
What good is a mobile computer with a dead battery?
Not to mention, the surface takes weeks to die while hibernating
Should MS reconcile the XBox with the PC?
I think because the overlap between the usage of a tablet and a PC is so great, people think there should be some sort of convergence.
So long as everything uses the same methods of communication, file formats, protocols etc everything will be ok.
For most people, software is also solved. Everything is a web app. So what's really missing?
Uhh. We have. A while ago. The Xbox One ran Windows 8 until IIRC last year when it got upgraded to Windows 10. UWP apps are just that, universal across PCs, phones, Xbox One and HoloLens.
You don't buy an Xbox and then write essays or do your taxes on it do you?
You play games and maybe watch some movies. Doesn't matter that Excel will launch.
It looks pretty similar. There will be people that will think that the Surface is a Microsoft's copy of this device.
iPad Pro, even with iOS instead of a full-fledged OS, looks waaaay more appealing.
I really want to use my surface more, it is really nice. Just it straddles the worlds between PC and tablet too much.
Seriously though, Surface is built on Windows, iPad on iOS, so two entirely different approaches to a tablet device.
You see, I can USB-plug almost any Android device into any Windows or Linux machine, and transfer any files either way without installing any software. It just works.
Even with Dropbox, what if it's a 10GB file? Are you going to upload and then download it? Do you not see how ridiculous that is?
I don't, but it sounds like my use case is different from yours, so I guess what seems absurd to you is normal to me and vice versa.
As usual Microsoft thinks it's Windows everywhere strategy makes sense - it doesn't. Tables are tables and computers are computers and they cross but they don't work the same and need considered and individual interfaces to make best use.
I think the Surface is just not meant to scratch the same itch as iPad. iPad has always had an interface, like the rest of iOS, oriented towards anyone competent enough to point at things. Power users could try to work past that, but it wasn't intended for that.
Surface Book seems to me like it was built for the more tech-competent demographic.
The issue isn't with "windows everywhere." It's that "surface book probably wasn't meant for deployment in a public library."
Your comment shows a very common view among us techies that being a member of "tech-competent demographic", is somehow a badge of honor, or at least of accomplishment. It's an accomplishment to be sure, but an accomplishment of little more than our willingness to sacrifice untold man-hours on learning the intricacies of near-universally bad UI inflicted on us all (usually in our youth, when time we are willing to puzzle out the details in something that interests us is nearly unlimited).
This experience molds our perspective on what is "normal" and "usable" UI, because our minds are already bent into the kitten-bonsai shapes that make it mostly-intuitive to us, and where we can use pattern matching to make a reasonable guess at a solution, iterating quickly with each failure. This process of "encounter unfamiliarity, guesswork, random clicking, reading docs, google other mentions of error, guesswork, final solution" is so quick and natural for us that we forget that most people do not have this mental toolkit ready. When a user with no previous exposure to it comes along and is confused, we tend to dismiss their concerns as trivial, because the answers to their bafflements are obvious to us through previous experience, and the process of searching out unknowns is so ingrained.
The actual fact that "tech-competent demographic" is a reasonable term to use in a conversation at all is in and of itself a bit of a tragic commentary on the sad state of our UX design as an industry.
----
I'm exaggerating above, perhaps, but not by much. Apple's accomplishment is that they actually manage to make UI that is intuitive to normal humans at best, and mostly not too terrible at worst. There's still a lot of failures even in their designs, but I think it's unfair to say that Apple's goals are to intentionally frustrate power users, as you seem to say. I would say, when power users hit those limitations, it's really just another reminder that intuitive and powerful UI is a really really difficult problem with no single correct objective answer for any given problem.
It's actually rather amusing how vocal the power users are when they hit limitations of the unfamiliar systems, and how dismissive they are when normal humans hit the limitations of the systems they are already familiar with. The problem is with UI/UX in both cases, they are two sides of the same experience, but it seems difficult for some people to recognize that.
And of course, when new UI/UX is designed by people whose minds are already shaped by the existing UI conventions, it will tend to follow the same patterns. Software UI is a near-monoculture currently, and the huge infrastructure of existing code and libraries makes it difficult for anyone to explore new concepts, and it takes time for any new concepts to grow into their strength.
iOS took many releases to really hit its stride in terms of features and usability, and a lot of the speed of progress is really limited by time and resources available. Throwing more people at the problem doesn't speed it up or make the quality better - most things really do need to be worked out by a small/medium team, so it does take time and experience.
(PS: I think Surface is an awesome piece of kit, and I can't wait for Microsoft to keep making it better and better - but I think it's silly to pretend that the Windows touch UI is good as it is because it's targeted at power users - no, it's just still really really young, and needs to grow and improve more. I'm certain there must be very smart people at Microsoft working very hard on making the UX better)
Heavy use of Ulysses for text / markdown, Safari, Microsoft Office suite especially PowerPoint, Omni suite, Readder PDF Expert w/ Documents manager, Working Copy, Textastic, iSSH, Screens, Citrix, OneDrive, Box, and Good/BB Enterprise.
If your code flow is a Git commit to trigger CI/CD then web or SSH to view, you aren't lacking much if anything.
In a way I'm unhappy about Files, I was fine with paradigm shift to 'per app' view (file workspaces) and ok with ability to see those as 'folders' via iCloud Drive on other devices.
I believe you mean "tablets are tablets..." otherwise the comparison between tables and computers is a bit odd. ;-)
Operating file explorer by touch is a right pain, too many overlapping interactions (mark, drag&drop, scroll).
And right now if i want to use a UWP file manager outside of some designated folders require me to fiddle with the win32 file picker, that share problems with the age old file explorer.
Gosh, I hope. Seems very much tied to "cloud," though. I hope I don't have to turn on iCloud Drive to use it.
Currently, Transmit for iOS does file management, including attaching files to emails, https://panic.com/transmit-ios/
[1] https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Ge...
Hopefully they will be able to add the same iOS11 drag-and-drop features as Apple Files.
On the last app though, did you see the demo of Serif's app!? That looked incredible!
(Please don't say lynx. I'll despair if you say lynx.)
Naked filesystems are intuitive to us as power users because we are in a mindset which many more casual computer users aren't. We understand that it's a hierarchy and that files have formats and extensions and file type associations and a whole list of technical details as to the how and why.
On the other hand, there are plenty of people who have no idea about this stuff - they will be thinking about the application they were using at the time and will expect that things they have "saved" are somehow associated with that application. They might not even associate a contact card or a photograph with being a "file"!
I feel like the iOS Files app makes a decent attempt at bringing features that we power-users enjoy - like tags, search, online storage - into an ultimately simplified model that is cognitively compatible with a much wider spectrum of users.
The ideal user interface to a filesystem is one that actually foregoes the idea of "files" (because formats and file type associations and extensions and things aren't intuitive to everyone) and instead treats photographs like photographs and contact cards like contact cards and emails like emails and webpages like webpages. It seems Apple are striving towards that. Did you notice in the keynote that, when dragging and dropping photos into an email, they were actually represented as photos and not as file icons?
The president of my company is one such person as you describe. He has no idea. He puts everything on the desktop, because the only way he knows of opening a document is to launch the corresponding application, and then File, Open the file on his desktop. In other words, he treats his Mac like an iPad. We have tried to break him of this habit, to no avail.
I think this is the correct long-term view, as persistent solid state memory gets better and cheaper. The old 20th century memory hierarchy, with nothing between RAM and spinning platter hard drives should fade into the past. As technology changes, this is sure to be an obsolete model of the world that no longer fits.
I look forward to the new device showing a new day... but I'm not holding my breath.
So the additional UI functionality announced today is great news, but yes, lack of RAM undercuts performance one might expect from a Pro product.
A lot of the gestures they showed for multitasking require multiple fingers on both hands, so you can't also be holding the device.
I suppose with it propped up via a kickstand it might work fine, it just looked awkward to me to be fully flat like that. I also don't draw on an iPad so maybe I'm just not the target user for that orientation.
I do find myself using the pencil for stuff you'd do with a finger (clicking buttons etc.) as well as writing/drawing though, maybe in subconscious deference to those ergonomic issues.
Microsoft appears to be doing the same thing with their Surface Pro, so it's not just Apple.
Look at Lenovo's site, e.g. for an X1 Carbon, and it tells you we're now on Gen 5. Thank you, Lenovo. And Dell doesn't try to hide that their latest XPS 15 is the 9560. Thank you, Dell.
I don't know. I bought an iPad (Air?) a few years ago for my son. It may have been in September 2014; it's one of the slim ones (perhaps "2nd generation slim"??), and it looks pretty much the same as the newer ones.
I struggle to tell the difference between them; as long as it works I really don't feel an incentive to upgrade it. (Protip: The thick child iPad cases are just about bulletproof).
And no, this is not an "Apple is evil" rant, it's simply they are making more money this way.
First you respond saying that the problem with the Surface is it's not touch-friendly, then when pointed out that it apparently is you reply saying that if it's used in touch mode then its power is irrelevant, and you seem to be missing the point that being able to operate as a powerful machine OR a touch-friendly machine, with the user being able to choose between them, is a double win, not a double loss.
Basically, your comments on this subject come across as biased in favour of iPad over Surface. And I say that as somebody who has never owned a Surface and who hasn't owned an iPad for several years.
- check my emails;
- manage my todo lists (previously with Wunderlist, now with Microsoft To-Do);
- watch Twitch with Livebeard or Unstream;
- watch YouTube with TubeCast (could use a better app for this, but I haven't looked in a long time);
- rent and watch movies from the Store app;
- read and manage my notes with OneNote;
- listen to music with Groove;
- use Twitter with Aeries or Tweetium;
- read my Pocket articles with Latermark;
- listen to podcasts with Grover Pro;
I make liberal use of the window snapping feature to do most of those things side-by-side with my browser open.
When in tablet mode I'm primary consuming content, and I've found that my Windows device is just as good at that as an iPad or Android tablet. If I'm in tablet mode I'm sticking to the apps that were built for touch, i.e. apps from the store and Edge, not poking around in VSCode or other apps meant for a mouse or keyboard.
What really sold it for me was that I can just flip it over into full laptop mode whenever I want and have 16gb, core i7 dev laptop ready to go instantly.
For reading PDFs, I'd recommend taking a look at Edge again. It's pretty great for reading PDFs and ebooks with the new Creator's Update.
Already does fluent design (acrylic) and is very actively supported. Just days ago it added 360 support for example which I think no other app does. It's really good.
I'm incredibly conflicted, because I need a new portable computer, and I love the Surface, but I do not love Microsoft.
Alternatively, are there any other laptops like the Surface Book (i.e., have a detachable touch screen) that work with Linux?
TL;DR: You can install and run it, but touch, pen, and the dGPU do not work, which makes it kind of pointless compared to e.g. an XPS 13.
I actually like touch screens, but they do not work well in Linux. I didn't 'get' Windows 8 until I got my Surface, and I really enjoy using the touch screen when browsing the web and just screwing around with my computer. Touch/pen is a lot more convenient than any other mouse replacement while on the go.
I will be surprised if the Linux community does anything meaningful with touch in the next 5 years though.
As for WiFi, I hate how finicky it is, but it isn't really the developers fault. I spent an entire week trying to get a "Linux compatible" WiFi dongle working before I gave up and returned it. The drivers had been written for Linux 4.1 or maybe even 3.xx. Once I took care of all of the errors and got the driver to compile, I learned that the USB 3.0 version never worked on Linux, despite the fact that the manufacturer had compiled a driver.
At least every new install of Linux doesn't start from the command line, unless you are looking for a distro like that.
As for the WiFi, that's probably more Microsoft's fault. For some reason they insist on using these godawful Marvell chipsets for all the Surfaces. Users have been yelling at them to pick anything else, but it hasn't stuck.
As far as I'm aware, there are no WiFi dongles that support 802.11AC. I think your only option is internal. So if you want to connect to a 802.11ac network on a Linux desktop your only option is connecting through a wired connection with a bridged 802.11ac router or something.
I don't personally mind, but I do think it's bad for the adoption of Linux. Most people I know only have Laptops, and if people can't get their WiFi working they aren't going to use Linux.
Does this library not work with newer chipsets?
The app we develop has quite a few users on iPad minis. Apart from the fact that it's only for iPad, I don't think we would get many users moving to using an iPhone, firstly because of cost, and secondly because it's just a bit too small.
It's too bad that for Apple, form factor (i.e., size) is tied to premium status.
Maybe in 6-12mo they'll release an iPad 2017 mini version?
If "iPads seen in the wild" are anything to go by, they're still the best-selling model, too. My best guess is that the usability gurus have decided that it's just no good for "getting work done," and they're willing to sacrifice some sales to get more professional traction.
Perhaps it might not be pleasant, if the hardware isn't very powerful - looking at 20 lines of code on a netbook screen, or waiting for the serial communication to catch up to my terminal on the embedded board - but it makes it a tool with which you can do real work. Tablets and phones don't count yet.
Edit: Yes, I am aware of the SSH clients, with which you can connect to a remote server, do the development there, and download the resulting app. But the remote server is the general-like computer there, just as the PC running the terminal is not the primary machine in some embedded development.
You've been able to develop on Android for years now. See AIDE (http://www.android-ide.com/) and Termux (https://termux.com/), for example.
Until then, 10-11" chromebooks are scratching that itch for me. They usually have 360-degree flip keyboards with touch screens, and they'll run a full ARM Linux stack with dev mode on. Plus, the UI and Android app support are great.
I went on a trip last week and left my workhorse macbook pro at home for the first time on a trip and brought my iPad mini.
It just isn't that useful for dealing with photos taken with a separate camera. It was nice for browsing the web but that was pretty much it. I couldn't work on my learning new graphical js on my downtime, not beat making (ableton). The iphone was great on the trip while on the go.
It just doesn't feel like a creative device. Even though the pencil is amazing, I just don't see it.
I recently went on a trip with no laptop -- only my "real" camera, my iPhone, and a Western Digital MyPassport Wireless Pro: https://www.wdc.com/products/portable-storage/my-passport-wi...
It worked out surprisingly well. I mainly bought the MyPassport for the extra storage space so I didn't have to bring a million SD cards, but it also worked well as a backup battery pack for the phone, and for transferring a few of those images to the phone for immediate access. Admittedly, I shot in RAW + JPEG and the app only recognizes the JPEGs (from what I could tell quickly) but it was good enough for the few photos I wanted to share right away after taking them.
I don't have an iPad but I've been considering one just for photo editing with the pencil. I hear Lightroom on iPads is getting better, and I just got an e-mail today about Affinity Photo being released for iPad.
But yeah, consider the WD MyPassport if transferring/storing photos without a true laptop was a problem.
probably won't work for a professional but is fine for photo hobbyists. it's nice not having a laptop or an external drive in your camera bag.
I tried the wireless sd cards at one point, but it gets hard as the photos get pretty big and the interface never worked quite right.
Assuming that you mean Javascript, there are a few environments like Coda [1] which let you code and play around.
I can't do Mac app dev, but I can certainly play around on my servers via SSH (keyboard really helps here).
> not beat making (ableton)
There may not be Ableton for iOS, but there are loads of music apps covering the spectrum. I'm a total amateur, but have been experimenting with Garageband, some synths, and an app that does tone-detection and spits out MIDI.
Then there's this creative technique: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R98esPRPb60/UG8k0zB1dAI/AAAAAAAADi...
That said, the Surface also works because it can run full versions of programs like Photoshop. I don't know how that plays out on iOS.
It was the first time where it genuinely felt natural - like I was writing on paper.
Wacom has nothing to worry about from Apple.... MS on the other hand though.
[0] https://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/
Is that really the best that state of the art can do?
If someone has a positive experience doing on an iPad I'd love to hear about it because while I would rarely do it it would be nice to be able to quickly change something when I'm on the go. But in my experience so far it's no good.
Two ways I get it done: 1. ssh into a remote vm in the cloud and use that. Emacs (or vim if you are that kind of person ;) ), tmux, and zsh shell are all I really need.
2. Use Coda or another on device editor. This one is a little harder as it's not quite as good as you desktop editors like VS.Code or Atom. That said I do it often and enjoy the experience.
EDIT: do you use this as your primary device or alongside a MacBook?
On the non-Pro iPads, keystrokes were intercepted and not passed properly to the remote vm.
Is that bug fixed on the iPad Pro?
For long flights I've been experimenting with Pythonista app, but so far haven't hit anywhere close to the same productivity as with the SSH setup.
Another big plus for SSH is ability to literally pickup where you left off without any warm up/resetup - everything is still running when you reattach the tmux session.
I use the SSH machine as the control center, with the actual code running on AWS or Heroku (for APIs/web apps).
That's not even counting it's usefulness for music making, etc.
I've never seen it as a replacement for desktop software - it's a different class with different user behaviors. I'm generally bullish on the form factor over the long term, and see no reason why it needs to be a zero sum game between tablet and desktop.
[0] Well, during meetings...
https://blog.readdle.com/drag-drop-between-readdle-apps-fd07...
The lack of a cursor on iPad makes something like programming or writing on the iPad insanely frustrating. Have you ever tried selecting a precise amount of text with your finger?
They work reasonably well for web browsing and development, but I would not use them for photo or video stuff.
From his previous remarks (Why would you buy a PC? etc), Tim Cook seems to want everyone to move to iOS, and the neglect of the Mac line seems to support that idea. But he's yet to show he can move the market in that direction....
Apple Quietly Acknowledges the iPad’s Staggering Decline http://fortune.com/2017/03/21/apple-ipad-decline/
It's been two and a half years of decline – tablets aren't coming back https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/05/tablets_arent_comin...
In an interview with The Telegraph, Cook said, "I think if you're looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?" He continued: "Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones." http://uk.businessinsider.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-why-would-y...
Has Apple lost interest in the Mac? http://macdailynews.com/2016/09/11/has-apple-lost-interest-i...
Has Apple Lost Interest in the Mac? http://www.kirkville.com/has-apple-lost-interest-in-the-mac/
Uncharacteristic design mistake for Apple...
It is so late because Microsoft has Surface pro which runs windows long time ago. It is funny to see Apple adding file app, drag-n-drop features as improvements.
Which is why the market is still wide open.
Otherwise, the long-term plan is to transition between the old Win32 API and the new Windows Runtime (which are both part of the same OS).
The transition to the UWP isn't going very well at the moment, of course, but Microsoft didn't know how it would go when it started. However, it's a long-term play so ask me again in 10 years.
If Microsoft hadn't made the move then it would clearly be a legacy OS. As it is, Windows 10 is a cloud-integrated, continuously-updated mobile OS with sandboxed apps maintained from an app store, just like iOS and Android. It just has rather too much of the old stuff hanging around as well...
While Microsoft is trying to pare down their desktop system while maintaining legacy code, Apple is able to add core features based on usage and demand. The iPad and Mac are like testing grounds for each other where both OSes can borrow good aspects from the other. Sometimes it’s easier to start from scratch and rethink the fundamentals rather than modifying existing ideas under constraints of the old paradigm.
Apple has MacOS already as a “fallback”. If Microsoft one day realizes that Apple’s tablet interface is the way to go, they would be seriously behind.
Under jobs, Apple has vision clarity, iOS was going to be primarily consumptive, and MacOS was production. The two were not to meet.
MSFT on the other hand had grown too many OSes to deal with capably, an example being that xbox, windows, windows CE all had their own implementation of TCP (iirc).
So MS decides to fix their architecture, unifying and ordering all implementations. It's a huge under taking.
Apple without jobs is meandering towards the same ideas. But iOS is not designed for these use cases. The iPad Pro and Mac OS will not converge. The best that the iPad Pro will become is a power android variant.
Microsoft will keep making surface and surface like devices, which will be not face that limitation.
If anything, Apple will have to imitate the entire Microsoft style, and include a touch screen on the mac, along with stylus support.
Their product vision is lost without jobs.
For actual work, selection, dragging, drawing - the arm/wrist do a very good job, better in more complex use cases than fingers.
Not upgrading. Not interested.
I love Apple trying to relate to young people
I recently saw Ken Bone tweet "Savage" in a serious context. It's funny how fast 'youth'/'urban' culture is being swallowed up by mainstream typically out-of-touch demographics.
But I guess it's all part of this obsession with authenticity recently. This puts a lot of pressure on the youth to adapt quickly and develop new slang.
Not sure I feel comfortable with this development though. I'd rather be okay with big corporate marketing firms not being lame by using old slang, focusing on interesting but neutral copy, rather than them constantly keeping up with the latest slang and memes to seem in touch with 'millennials'.
They should know how defeating this feels to people 'in the know' aka people who pioneer what is cool.
The images make little sense. And then I got to the point where paragraphs referenced photo animations and the images were still, and realized they probably wanted to make some fancy animation that's not working on firefox.
I tried on chromium, and then on Safari on my iPhone. Same results. Not sure if they screwed up or what, but even the "Live Photos" images are stills that make no sense.
Maybe you just have a crap internet connection and can't download the video animations?
* Firefox on Linux
* Chromium on Linux
* Firefox on iOS
* Safari on iOS
These are speed holes. They make the car go faster.
https://www.quora.com/Was-Steve-Jobs-right-when-he-said-that...
Further that link commits the usual sin of ascribing the invention of tech that apple popularized to apple for no reason. Multitouch and gestures goes back to the 80s see
https://inventhelp.com/archives/11-12/inventhelp-newsletter-...
Quora is kind of a low value source. I would refute author on quora but they want access to read and manage my google contacts to create an account. Kind of one step up from malware I'm pretty sure they intend to use it to spam my contacts.
I would make a slight but important modification to your second sentence:
concluded that interacting with a handheld device's *UI* with a stylus
sucks on principal.
I agree with respect to Quora in general, but that link summed up my feelings on the subject so I included it instead of writing it out myself.
The fact that Jobs said this can't be ignored: he would diss anything Apple did not (yet) have without needing a better reason than making Apple look good. He's the man who said "No one wants 'Hummer' 5-inch phones" (remember when that counted as huge?) and "You will need to file down your fingers to use 7-inch tablets" yet 3.5-inch iPhones could handle full-sized fingers just fine. I still remember the bogus[1] comparison shared by Apple fans that showed 3.5 inches as the perfect size for thumb reachability.
As you know Apple later entered those product categories without Apple adding anything significant to the formula.
1. Bogus because the phone sizes were not to scale. The thumb radius was larger on the smaller iPhone.
FWIW, I use an iPhone SE because I still think the 5" phones are too annoying to use in one hand.
But yes, Apple has done this. I think the stylus thing has been beaten to death already, and I should have known better to be baited into a comment thread that isn't very useful anyway.
Point to another device that only allows Stylus input or expects it to be the primary input.
There's not. The Surface is a primarily multi-touch device that also allows for Stylus input.
What's good for the goose, good for the gander.
Best example: the original Mac had no cursor keys (to force developers to build mouse-based UIs). Steven Levy writes about it at length in "Insanely Great".