iPadOS review: The iPad is dead, long live the iPad
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
Standard stuff.
Plus the apps can re-activate the feature automatically in other screens where it does make sense (e.g. de-activate it on the virtual piano screen, but re-activate it for other Garageband panels), which would soon get old for the user.
If Apple gave a customizability toggle for every BS like this, they'd end up with Emacs.
Their whole value proposition is that they try (and they're not perfect, but better than other OSes in that) to give you sane options for those things without too much customization.
[1] Heck, tons of users use Google search and enter "Facebook.com" and click the result to go to facebook, and you're expecting to figure how to disable a gesture?
The problem is that "our way or the highway" only works when your way is actually good. They have a responsibility to their users to never break things, if they intend to provide no means of workaround.
In cases like this, the responsible thing to do is to make potentially-breaking functionality opt-in instead of opt-out. That way, until the app gets updated, the user sees no change and nothing breaks. The clean way to do this is to make the app have a version manifest that says "I am built for iOS version <x>", and then the OS can be smart enough to disable functionality that might break it. That way apps don't have to opt-in to every new feature - they just certify "not broken on iOS <x>".
The wrong way to do it is to break the world, and punish the users for upgrading while expecting thousands of third parties to pick up the pieces.
(I don't know why this versioning technique isn't used more in general - if all programming languages required version declarations then breaking changes needn't be a thing.)
Yes, but seeing that no human endeavor is 100% perfect, it's enough that they don't often break things, or that they get it right a lot more than they get it wrong -- I wouldn't really expect them to never break things.
In the end, we get to vote by using another OS if they fail at this too far...
And we can of course complain when an individual feature or other is badly implemented.
But my point is, if one adopts macOS, they should agree to the general idea ("we think of the better way for most things so you don't have to") -- and not complain on that level (which is basically amounts to wishing macOS was not macOS as opposed to being better in X or Y).
That used to happen to me all the time, but it's feels like it's gotten better in 13.
Usually if I want to make sure a video stays active I'll put it in PiP mode. You can throw it off to the side, but then it's easy to pull back up and start if something interrupts it. Not ideal, but not a huge inconvenience either.
The whole Page Visibility API was a mistake to me. Under no circumstance I can think of I want a website to know if I am looking at it or not. In this case, I consider it to be plainly abused and turned user-hostile.
[0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-backgro...
TLDR: corporate greed
If someone made something that'd let me play YouTube in the background, I'd jump on it! Was thinking of using Pythonista and youtube-dl, but that got sidetracked.
I switched completely to Windows last month and built a PC. It's incredible the kind of hardware you can get for a third of the cost.
Just a theory. Not sure why Cook wants to test it.
My question is the question they should be asking themselves.
The other part of his argument is that the operating system is increasingly poor, without really saying why he thinks that is the case.
If the features don't aren't worth it to your or you're unwilling to back up your data, then you don't need to update it. It's not forced on you. Security patches will still be pushed to Mojave at least until the next major version.
I just find it remarkable that you create a dichotomy of either people 'who actually use their computer' or see their computer as a 'fashion accessory.' That's simply not true and is a bad take.
(Also, comparing anything favorably to windows should be considered damning with faint praise. Windows is notorious for being trash.)
A data scientist reliant on CUDA cores on nvidia hardware won't find a mac very useful because there aren't any current apple computers that have an nvidia card in it. Still, a musician or film editor might find a great workflow with mac hardware.
The term "power user", used originally upthread, is contrasted with "starbucks crowd", e.g. people who stare pensively at their computer without actually touching it, trying to look cultured and sophisticated with their luxury computer. It's not about programmers or any programming specific tasks. Power user in this context is very broad.
The premium you pay for Apple used to be precisely to safeguard against these OS screwups.
I still think Apple makes some great hardware. But the massive premium isn't really worth the trouble anymore.
I dual boot Windows and Pop OS (basically Ubuntu) with my new machine. So far the only thing I miss is the seamless messaging experience that iMessage brought to the table and Logic Pro (I'm using Pro Tools now and I hate it). A MacBook pro of similar specs to what I just bought cost over 4 grand. Double what I ended up paying in other words. Worse, what I get is a broken keyboard, "features" I don't want (touchbar, usb c for all the things, thinness for the sake of it) and a total lack of repair-ability. I specifically picked hardware that is upgrade-able and repairable. My new machine can be broken down and built back up, parts swapped out, etc all without voiding the warranty. All the screws are standard size and easy to replace if you lose one. Stuff like that. Contrast that with Macs with their glued down batteries underneath the motherboard. Its just upsetting to see it go this way after being such a fan for so long.
I'd be fine with paying a premium if I was actually getting a premium experience but that's not the case anymore.
I don't know, weren't iPad sales stagnant for years? [1] Peak iPad was from 2013-2015. It may be that (only) Apple believes that iPad is the future computing platform.
> ― Steve Jobs
https://www.cultofmac.com/562307/a-full-version-of-photoshop...
Hopefully, Xcode or a good web development tool will turn the iPad into a coding device.
Long press on the dock works though exiting Safari entirely to close a window I opened by accident is just incredibly awkward and annoying.
My iPad is my only computer. iPadOS 13 is full of little bugs - especially switching back and forth between Google Docs in Safari and another window.
Often times, sites are frozen and not even a refresh fixes it: have to copy the URL, open a new tab, and paste it.
Using the iPad used to be fun; now it's had a bunch of stuff bolted onto it. I'm not your average user, but I find iPadOS confusing.
1) I've lost all my open Safari tabs twice due to crashes. Holding on URLs usually results unintended actions. Even rearranging tabs is a pain now.
On the plus side, Firefox works better than Safari on iOS/iPadOS for the first time.
2) Running apps usually can't be launched from the dock. You need to close the app and open again.
3) The PDF reader of Files doesn't keep track of its position most of the time.
4) I had to lost screen keyboard once. Needed to restart the iPad.
- a real browser with a fully functional ad blocker like uBlock origin
- the ability to see MAC addresses for network troubleshooting
- a VOIP app that alerts reliably to voice calls and text messages and that doesn't get killed when backgrounded
- an SD card slot for expandable and transferable storage
- an extremely low-latency analog audio interface
- full USB C support
https://www.imore.com/how-use-mouse-or-trackpad-your-iphone-...
Or perhaps because the OS is not optimized for a pointing device?
However I often read web / watch YT lying on the bed so I have to lock the screen orientation. And to switch from portrait do landscape mode you have to: 1. open quick settings 2. toggle lock screen orientation 3. close quick settings 4. position iPad correctly so sensors cen detect orientation and switch screen mode 5. open quick settings 6. toggle lock screen orientation 7. close quick settings
Huawei recently added a feature to EMUI which automatically sets correct screen orientation using a selfie camera. I hope that Apple will copy that feature. But how many years it will take?
Moving the control panel to the upper right despite this making no sense on the massive iPad screen as compared to the iPhone X this feature was developed for.
Making the new floating dock ... and then making the gesture both to raise the dock and to open the app switcher the same gesture, with only fractional timing between them.
And that's not all. There's an additional context menu on Dock items now if you hold them, but ... you also need to be able to hold on a Dock item if you want to drag it up and make a floating window. Once again, fractional timing differences: hold too long and you get the menu instead. Hold too little, and instead either the app switcher comes up, or worse, it tries to drag the whole dock up, even though the dock is not a movable element. So about half the time when I try to drag up to create a window, instead I wind up moving the actual dock a fraction of an inch, and then it bounces back and nothing else happens.
There's also new "cleverness" about how windows are organized, and by cleverness, I mean "Why in the nine hells would I want this?" Previously, if you made a floating window, it was just that app, and you could swipe it in and it would always be the same app regardless of whatever full-screen app was currently open. For example, I commonly would make my IRC client the current floating window, so I could swipe over to it while watching Youtube or reading in Firefox to check chat.
Except now, the current set of windows is app-specific. If I'm in Firefox and I make a floating Discord window, and then go switch to Youtube ... that window is gone. Swiping in will instead bring either nothing, or whatever window I happened to create the last time I was in Youtube. This constantly results in confusing surprises and manually having to reopen windows.
Oh, and they redesigned the Reminders app, and in the process managed to screw up my notifications and delete or corrupt several important medication reminders, so thanks for fucking with my health, Apple.
The rest of the changes are mostly useless or cosmetic. The only vaguely useful thing is something they should've done years ago, which is expanding the app grid dimensions to something more sane for this resolution. The rest just feels like overblown marketing hype, a push for a new "desktop-like" iPad feel ... without any features that actually make it feel like a desktop.
Pointless.
As a content creator, the changes in iPadOS unblock the sense of being constrained within a modal UI. It now feels multi-tasking, yet without being a distracting clutter of unrelated tasks.
Once past the natural "something is different" discomfort, the removal of several constraints feels like a big step to a new kind of mobility: upgrading from tablet, making a laptop into an appliance.
PS. On the couple of your notes that aren't just bugs:
- There's a setting for the short or long press timing, try lengthening it.
- Apps (and their windows) are now organized into the concept of workspaces. Idea is that for a given kind of work on a primary window you'd most likely typically have a given set of correlated windows. Different mental model from the prior series of app cards, and fixed set of overlay applets.
While I appreciate the new capability, I struggle with this newness too, unclear when I'm shifting spaces vs. windows, for instance. Haven't yet found a well done summary or reference on interacting with the new model (Spaces + Expose) holistically.
https://macdailynews.com/2019/10/11/ars-technica-reviews-app...
Jesus yes. That one frequently enrages me.
Also some apps that previously supported multitasking (like Mail) don’t seem to support it anymore.
As for the rest, I throughly enjoy the new multitasking. It was the reason I ran the beta since the start.
I feel like nobody at Apple actually uses the multitasking part of iPadOS, because if I wanted something intuitive and simple and easy to use, it wouldn't look anything like it does now.
TL;DR: If you upgrade Reminders database (optional on iOS 13, you can also keep the old DB), don’t create reminders on non-upgraded databases.
There’s a scenario where after you upgrade Reminders database on an iOS 13 or Catalina device, you can create non-upgraded Reminders on a non-upgraded device Reminders db that will not exist on the upgraded Reminders dbs. If you then upgrade that one into new, those reminders are lost.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210220
FTA:
Here's what you can expect after you upgrade your reminders:
- iCloud reminders created on a device that's running earlier software are visible only on other devices running earlier software. When you update that device to the latest software, those new reminders will be lost when you open the Reminders app.
And it only took 7 years from when Microsoft first copied it for Windows 8 for Apple to invent it.
That said, iPadOS on an iPad Pro is almost everything I wanted from a Linux tablet a decade ago, so I'm decidedly pleased.
Previously it was just Spotlight, but when Photos added Faces and object recognition, kept locally on every device and not sharing among them, the length of time it spends re-learning ballooned.