I want to add some thoughts here, without repeating the issues that have been raised already or the ones I’ve raised in the past, which I link below for convenience.
I want to gush about the iPad without being too gushy: I think this computer is amazing. I have so much fun using it and it does so many things perfectly it’s really wonderful. This is especially true for someone who started programming computers on an Apple IIC as a second grader and who has gotten to enjoy watching how computers have evolved.
I’ve tried cases to a jury with nothing but an iPad. I take depositions with my notes and documents only on an iPad. I have my entire trial notebook for every case on my iPad. I once did three hours of work on my iPad sitting in an Uber from L.A. to San Diego and back. I didn’t even bring a charger.
That’s just for work. My whole life is accessible to me no matter where I am because of iPad.
Tell me, please, that the promise of this device is not absolutely awe inspiring?
On the “how do we improve” iPad side of the equation, there is much to be done. Rather than repeat what I and so many of my friends here have identified. I wanted to try to organize my concerns into broad themes.
The overarching one for me is that I should be able to take a task from start to finish on an iPad without needing any other computer. This cannot be done right now because the OS has too many restrictions/limitations and because many third-party app developers are not investing in making fully functional iPad apps. I’ve experienced the promise of iPad using the few third-party apps that I have that are professional grade. This theme covers things like e-mail processing, file management/browsing, and even having a desktop-class web browser.
The second theme is that doing things on an iPad should be as efficient or more efficient than working on a macOS computer. There are lots of things that are already so much better to do on an iPad. But there are plenty of things that take 20 steps on iOS but can be done in three on macOs. What we need are the powerful utilities and efficient workflows we have on the mac. We need Hazel. We need better Siri Shortcuts that are more fully integrated–I agree with John Siracusa’s analysis about scripting from his guest appearance on The Automators – Automators 18: Terminal Automation with John Siracusa - Episodes - Automators Talk. We need things like mission control and spaces for when we connect to an external display or two. We need more robust and reliable text selection and simple things–problems that have been solved on desktop for decades.
I’m not one of the people critical of multi-tasking on iPad or on the absence of the mouse. I hope a mouse never comes. I want the smart engineers at Apple to find a more appropriate way to solve the type of problem a mouse solves on a desktop/laptop in an iPad-specific way. As far as multitasking, I would love things like tabbed views/split view and multiple instances of apps (I’d like to be able to have different pairs of apps that I could switch between). But-generally speaking–the combination of spit view and slide over enable me to get my work done without challenge.
The third theme is freeing up the iPad to be a “complete” computer. You should be able to do everything on device. That includes having a compiler so you can develop software for the device on the device. As it stands, iPad is just like an Arduino board. You need to plug it into another machine to build the software. Until that changes, I think iPad will always be limited.
In a single sentence: iPad is great, but it needs to be unshackled.
THV Prior Posts