iPad has probably had the most dramatic shift of all of Apple's platforms, since its inception. It began as doing very few things to a very high quality, but now it does almost everything, badly. I hope history finds it to have been more than just an incubator for Apple's Mac silicon during the wayward years
People telling me the iPad is the best ‘light computing’ platform are kinda proving my point. It’s not called iPad Light (and it’s not priced like one either). The Mac is a great light computing platform too, but it also does everything else too. iPad has just never lived up to its potential, and 14 years in I think it’s safe to say never will
@stroughtonsmith disagree. A) light computing isn’t just about price. B) You can get an iPad for less than half the cost of a Mac.
For casual computer users an iPad does pretty much everything they need to. My 70 yo father would rather spend £1k on an iPad vs any computer for the same money because of its ’lightness’. There are plenty of people who don’t need the complexity of a Mac, including its hardware complexity.
@mttsmth@stroughtonsmith I think the ship on saying iPad was only ever intended for media consumption and “light” couch computing sailed when Apple decided to launch an “iPad Pro” and market it as a computer replacement for the next gen (“what’s a computer?”).
Apple themselves made promises that the product simply hasn’t lived up to. Retroactively saying it was never supposed to be a touch-first productivity device is, in my opinion, ignoring Apple’s own messaging about their product.
If Apple had kept the iPad as just “iPad” then I don’t think there’d even be conversations about its capability. We’d all accept it for being a bigger, more capable iPhone-like device. And probably all be happier for it!
@rowan_johnson@markv@mttsmth I don't think that's true at all. iPad debuted with a port of Apple's full office suite, and soon got Garageband and iMovie; even then it felt like their chance to rethink the Mac. It was on a trajectory, sales included, that had so much potential. That's why it expanded into larger screens and multitasking — there was so much low hanging fruit
@stroughtonsmith I think my issue was more with your quote “It began as doing very few things to a very high quality, but now it does almost everything, badly.” It still does everything well that it did well at its inception, but now also has a ton more features/capabilities (i.e. significantly better displays/speakers, multitasking support, pencil/keyboard/trackpad/mouse support, cellular, USB C/peripheral support, resizable windows, etc. But I do agree it has not lived up to its potential.
@stroughtonsmith Totally agree! iPadOS is the problem. It’s a waste of time putting an M4 processor in an iPad. If Apple doesn’t make iPadOS more capable like macOS the hardware will never live up to its potential.
@stroughtonsmith Apple still might have a chance though - but it needs a will from them!
Hardware is here - only software is the issue, they could really "fix" most of the most important roadblocks within one OS update cycle 🤷♂️ They just don't want to.
I remember when they introduced Face ID for iPads Pro in 2018 - I thought: "ok, so this time we'll REALLY add multiple users support and it'll be AWESOME experience!”
@stroughtonsmith I think “never” is a long time.
It’ll get there eventually, but Apple is wholeheartedly a “shareholder-first” corporation these days - they’ll do everything in their power to keep us all buying 2 devices instead of 1 for as long as they can get away with.
@stroughtonsmith I really think Apple needs to let loose in iPad OS
Fix up the file system (stop trying to be cloud first, I am constantly dealing with iCloud sync crashing apps while I am in the middle of working on a file).
Let apps run for longer in the background before suspension and make it easier to implement long running background tasks.
Allow more kinds of Apps so we can have full Xcode.
If we just got 1 and 3 I could use iPad as my only device.
@stroughtonsmith Well, I still love my iPad and use it every day for “light computing” and consumption. It does this very well, never ever crashes, has a beautiful display and a very good (magic) keyboard. Could not be happier with it.
Multitasking options w/ split screen/slide over/stage manager (ignorable if you want)
The best display Apple makes in the 12.9 (MacBook Pro caliber but w/ touch screen)
Cellular connectivity
Keyboard/trackpad/pencil support (also ignorable)
Most people have basic computing needs (email, notes, calendar, web browsing, watching media, etc). I’d argue iPad now does all these well, and is best in class for some (modularity/media/notes).
For plenty of things, it still seems to me like a better device on the couch or around the house than a phone or a laptop; the original promise proven by time.
What are a few examples of things it once did to a high quality that it now does badly?
@stroughtonsmith I disagree, it’s still great for watching videos in bed, listen to music, light and easy to carry around. Great for casual web browsing and email. Also, if I need a little more screen real estate from my MacBook Pro, sidecar is an excellent extended display feature. It’s just when you try to use it as a Mac replacement it comes up short. #Apple needs to add a Mac optimized mode: window management, multi-tasking in context.
@adacosta I think you just confirmed the initial point.
It’s depressing that after 14 years this platform is only good for consuming media and doing causal work
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