Apple

I've loved every iPad I've had (still have). Really looking forward to the Pro! Going from a mini now - it's gonna be HUGE when it gets here.

Looking forward to your review of the iPad Pro. While I like my 3rd gen iPad I have some doubts about the Pro. Have you bought also the accessories (pen, keyboard etc)?

I have four iPad gen 1's - got one for each of the family. A gen 3 - now my wifes, a gen 4 - used in the studio, and a mini retina with a Zagg BT keyboard - my all around favorite.

The Pro won't be here until early December, and the keyboard and pen will arrive first week in January - so expect some delay :-) I got the pen so my son (and daughter) could gauge it's drawing capability. They don't like drawing with their fingers. I'm not much for drawing. I also got the Pro to see if the extra 3 inch diagonal would help my mom read. Her sight is so far gone giant font's on a mid size iPad is so large you can only fit 7-8 words on the screen. Reading is difficult under those conditions, perhaps this could help her. So, besides wanting an upgrade for myself - which isn't that big a deal - there are other reasons for me to get one.

skywriter wrote: I also got the Pro to see if the extra 3 inch diagonal would help my mom read. Her sight is so far gone giant font's on a mid size iPad is so large you can only fit 7-8 words on the screen.

My mom had the same problem due to cataracts, so she had cataract surgery that was entirely unsuccessful and only made things worse. She had abnormal interior eye pressure that had to be treated with eyedrops for the remainder of her days. Hope your mom does better...

OMG! It's so huge! I love it!!!!!!

Very cool, let me know what you think of the pen on that. I've read that using the Astropad app you can even use it as a remote display for Mac Photoshop and have pressure working, much like a Cintiq.

The pen and keyboard are due late December - eraly January. But I have my hopes up, the iPad came a week early :-) It's friggen awesome! Just finished watching Kaisha Monogatari: Memories of You on Hulu. Such a switch from my little mini iPad - wich I still love/use because of the BT keyboard. The soft keybaord has some bugs in it, like can't start a post with @ sign. Weird!

I sold my thinkpad x220 and am now iphone 5s- only (have a mac @work tho). Probably going to start bugging IT for a 6s or 6s+... I have an original ipad still kicking around for my tr1's (supporting app doesn't work ios >8 ) but it's not very useable... Maybe a classic!?

Ipads still seem like big iphones to me. Not that there's anything wrong with that but I can type just as fast on the phone so...

From what I've read the hardware is great but the software (specifically keyboard support) could use a lot of spit and polish still! It would be neat to get one for the pencil but I would need a coloring book app!

So, and reported in another thread:

1) I'm not happy with the apple keyboard - at least the way I use iPad's; reclined in bed, typing in my lap. I have used Brydge and Zagg keyboards with iPad's before and find they're much easier to deploy and are just as effective in protecting the screen. I don't like the mystery-folding keyboards that Apple implemented - although the zero latency on first use is OK. I hardly ever use a table.

2) the pen thing though is a bit more harder to decide on. Firstly, I much prefer using my fingers for everything. And the thing that Apple got right and Jobs insisted on is no stylus/pen/stick. I've put up with years, and years of wonky pocket PC's and tablet PC's running Microsoft Windows Tablet edition, WinCE, or Windows PocketPC (whatever their branding was. And they consistently got it wrong, they were err idle, and just another reason I will not willingly buy another Microsoft product if there is an alternative. However, Apple Pen, and a drawing device - depending on the software - has more in common with Bamboo tablet's, for instance. Beyond just pointing, drawing, and clicking there is a lot of context sensitivity dependent on how you hold the pen that is advantageous. Unfortunately, my dance park is completely punched when it comes to learning a new skill, and spending time just drawing for the fun of it. Microsofts pens were mostly dead plastic sticks, with the exception of some of the HP/compaq tablets which had smarter sticks, but they were clumsy with the resistive screen tech they had back then.

So in summary: I like the Apple version on the Pen, but not the keyboard - so much. And I've no time to use the Pen with applications that would benefit from them. I would prefer a Brydge or Zagg over the Apple keyboard; which benefits most from being easy to detach when you don't want it.

I also have to say, the size and quality of the Pro is fantastic for watching movies and doing music/synth/mixing work, etc... The quad speakers are very nice too. This is one of the best iPads besides the mini w/retina for different reasons, of course. And I got the 128gb w/cellular - sweet!

I just came across an interesting video that ran through a few of the iPad and MacBook models, ending with the iPad Pro, and concluding that the iPad Pro is really a new kind of...desktop computer! Worth a look -

Interesting video. I bought my iPad-Pro and Pencil about a month ago. I had an original iPad before, however as I had no real need for it, I just gave it to my brother a few years ago.

I had quite low expections about the iPad-Pro, but I needed a recent iOS device for some development. Strangely enough, the iPad-pro did really grow on me. Whenever I read intricate stuff, I need to have a sheet of paper and a pencil to scribble my notes and my interpretation about the stuff I just read. That's just the way I transfer information into my brain. Your method may be different, but for me this approach works.

Due to the size of the iPad-Pro, using 50/50 split view to read a PDF and using notes app to scribble my notes works very well. I tried to do this before on the smaller iPad, but because of the size I was always forced to switch apps between the PDF and the notes app. Which was just a tiny bit to much context switch to make reading stuff on a smaller iPad cumbersome. On the iPad-Pro I really enjoy reading and scribbling on the same slate of glass without app switching.

I share the authors opinion that the iPad-Pro has just reached a size which makes it possible to use it as a serious device. It has literally grown beyond being primarily a content consumption device.

tomvos wrote: On the iPad-Pro I really enjoy reading and scribbling on the same slate of glass without app switching.

I share the authors opinion that the iPad-Pro has just reached a size which makes it possible to use it as a serious device. It has literally grown beyond being primarily a content consumption device.

Hmm. You've nearly convinced me to buy one!

Joe, that guy in the video - while misrepresenting a lot of stuff, such as one model replacing another is wrong; they were meant as alternatives, and all were sold concurrent with other models of iPhone, and iPad - is just plain annoying with all the pauses in speaking.

So far, I still use my iPad Mini w/ Bluetooth folding portfolio case most of the time. When I do use the iPad Pro I don't use the Pen; I don't draw much if at all, or the keyboard; would rather use the iPad Mini. What is does come in handy for is watching videos - love those speakers(!), with the nice big screen, or lots and lots of Synthesis and Music oriented apps in my studio; DAW's, compressors, effects, app remotes, etc... where lots of touch screen space is always appreciated.

Thanks for the follow-up, sky. I agree the guy was loosey-goosey with the facts; it was his "desk" use case that I thought was interesting.

I've been curious about how your iPad Pro was settling into the skywriter ecosystem, now that you've had it a few months. Strangely enough, I've found myself gravitating to smaller devices for watching video. The Pro just strikes me as being a little bigger than I'd like. (I picked up a 7" Kindle Fire on a whim on one of the days that Amazon was blowing them out at $32 each. It's better than I expected, and I do most of my video watching on that, these days.) I definitely can see the advantage of the Pro for the music apps, especially if you start split-screening them.

josehill wrote: it was his "desk" use case that I thought was interesting

i agree. at that size (of the pro), the lines blur too much between handheld and desktop.

skywriter wrote: However, Apple Pen, and a drawing device - depending on the software - has more in common with Bamboo tablet's, for instance. Beyond just pointing, drawing, and clicking there is a lot of context sensitivity dependent on how you hold the pen that is advantageous.

did you try any quick+dirty tests on exporting the drawings from the pro to anywhere else?

i guess there’s the standard apple app + a gazillion more in the app store but are the export options standard formats? could you export a drawing to something which say illustrator could read/open?

i remember talking about export peculiarities regarding documents back when we were both testing the (then latest) iPad but things may have changed till then?


edit: trilingual auto spellers suck and my eyesight is getting worse

Many years ago I ditched everything except Apple for all my computer networking needs - mostly, except for Networks - not counting Apple WIFI Access points- and Network Storage; I have a NETGEAR ReadyNAS 6GB RAID6 array, a Direct attached Drobo 5 disc RAID5 E-STAT Array for Final Cut projects, and Mac Pro fronted Drobo 8 disc RAID6 iSCSI array. Also a NETGEAR 24 port 1gb switch, and a NETGEAR router/firewall.

yeah that rings a bell, i remember you looking for some configuration for a zyxel back when i had a kid in the crew that used to work for them. you might remember that a single aebs was enough for me, they’re dead silent, i hide one on my bookshelf and that’s it.

but then, there’s no such thing as a one/steady base/home for me and i have to make do with a trillion of isp/vpn/storage servers for my designs and dailies. that drives me nuts. so a whizz-kid in the crew came up with a solution for one of those tiny ugly things. as long as its small enough to fit in my pocket and does what i need, i’m fine. now i can focus on my work and go for walk later :)

back to the iPad, if the pro plays nice with the drawing part it may serve as a tool for me. if it takes a marathon of exporting+converting to a format that illustrator could open then it stays in the apple store.

Hey fu! Yeah, that zyxel is still sitting on the shelf. I decided to just get a better NETGEAR than the model I had. I went through two of them that eventually would randomly hang the gateway to my cable connection that everyone here. I ended up with the NETGEAR FVS318v3; a nice step up from the FVS318g :-) no problems at all with the v3! NETGEAR is the one other vendor that has done fairly well in this house, and it's the only other company I will consider other than Apple. Printers are a crap shoot though I go with HP - the devil I know.

hi sky! tried to ping you but something’s stuck in my profile

the devil and lernaean hydra together, i once managed to find a decent xerox then i had to hunt down toners left+right. threw it out the window and now do all of my printing @ specialized shops; same for pretty much everything, if my laptop can’t cut it i’m off to a post house to wrap things up. man, i’ve had enough, it either works or it’s out, simplicity über alles

if you get a chance of doodling with the iPad pro and check how it exports from itself to the rest of the planet, please post back. i see that pete might take it for a spin as well. one of my wacoms is slowly dying so it may serve as a replacement.