Gadgetory

hey this is still just an iPad yep turns out iPad OS still does not make the iPad pro a laptop replacement but there is some good news because what it does do is make it both a better iPad and a better computer so let's talk about what we mean by that and what it's like to use it speaking of using I'll use this opportunity to tell you about our sponsor Origin PC customized an Origin PC desktop with an NVIDIA GeForce r-tx graphics card at the link in the video description it feels like every time Apple releases a new iPad they seem to be making the case yet again that tablets or specifically their tablet are the future of mainstream computing and you know what that might end up being true at some point but as we said in the conclusion of our iPad Pro review in order to lead us to that future Apple needs to make iOS much more robust well I guess Apple watches our videos because it looks like they listen to us along with hello every other tech reviewer so at WWDC 2019 Apple announced that iPads would get their own specialized version of iOS called iPad OS with new features that bring the iPad experience closer to the one that you'd expect from a laptop or a desktop including multitasking improvements external drive support finally and even Mouse support but before you guys get too amped up watch the rest of the video because it's not quite what you'd expect or rather it might be exactly what you'd expect I mean this is still Apple we're talking about so let's start with the homescreen app icons are now smaller so you can fit more on one page that's cool and you can now slide the today view with its list of widgets in from the left side now let's talk multitasking split view and slide over have gotten a big upgrade you can now place two instances Apple is calling these spaces but to simplify our lives we're going to refer to them as Windows so two instances of some apps side-by-side like here you can see we fired up two file windows or two notes windows within the Notes app now you could already bring up iPhone with apps in slide over mode on iOS 12 but now you can add more apps to slide over and you can switch between them just like you do with your full screen apps now as I mentioned not every app supports spaces right now I couldn't open two word documents side by side for instance but for the apps that do support it this better use of the screen real estate on the iPad is an absolute godsend I mean I think it's fair to say that it's easier than it has ever been to work on a document reference a webpage and message someone at the same time on an iPad it does take some getting used to especially once you find out that there's now essentially a multitasking expose menu for each space and abled app and then that to see it you've got to open the app then bring up the dock and tap the apps icon again but once you get all of that through your thick skull it's completely intuitive now let's move on to external storage support I was tempted to not even give Apple a point for this because its absence was so dumb to begin with kind of like copy paste that they shouldn't get praised for implementing it but that would be petty so I'll say this better late than never here's how it works you plug in fire up the files app then using the new columns views you can easily browse and transfer the files on your external storage device both of these features we're much needed on a device with the pro moniker and I couldn't be happier that they're finally here another much-needed feature is the ability to load the desktop versions of websites by default so you can access desktop versions on iOS versions prior to 13 but you need to tap and hold the refresh button every time a page loads so now browsing the web on an iPad does feel more like using a laptop or a desktop making our writer for this video wryly want to smash the iPad pro into the wall far less frequently next up we've got some more minor changes that make the iPad easier to use these include new gestures requiring three fingers so you can pinch to copy spread your fingers to paste and you can also tap three times or swipe to the left to undo pinching the on-screen keyboard will shrink it down to phone size making it even easier to use the new swipe to text feature that Apple finally added and you can scroll through pages using the scroll bar rather than swiping down endlessly now the Apple pencil where is it notice also get some major improvements it has even lower latency which is impressive considering it was already not imperceptible you can now easily screenshot and annotate in any app by dragging from the bottom corner and with pencil kit developers can natively integrate the pencil palette into their apps so the pencil experience will now be consistently great across iPad apps not just in Apple notes so now let's address the greatest fear of the elephant in the room nice let's talk mouse support it's finally here but it is very unconventional and looks like this so what they've done here is rather than implement this much requested feature in a predictable or conventional way is well it appears that Apple has begrudgingly added it in as part of their assistive touch accessibility feature so from their perspective it's meant then for folks who have difficulty touching the screen or who require an adaptive accessory also known as a mouse so okay then once assistive touch is enabled you connect your adaptive accessory via bluetooth or a dongle just like you would any other device but the thing is is that it's meant to emulate physical touch not behave like a traditional mouse and that becomes clear the first time you try to use the scroll wheel in certain apps or right-click for a context menu now assistive touch has quite a few customization options available which would seem to be very useful to people who are actually using it as an accessibility feature but they're just honestly not that great for laptop users who are just trying to use a freaking Mouse on an iPad to be clear the experience wasn't horrible it definitely saved Riley some arm strain from reaching up and tapping when he could just move the mouse an inch and click but it definitely does not suddenly make the iPad pro just as good of a desk or a lap based computer as a laptop would be in fact adding a mouse almost made it more apparent that trying to treat iOS as a desktop operating system is a bit of a masochistic endeavor Apple is plainly making it clear that using a mouse on iPad is just not part of their vision for the platform which got me thinking you know when I heard that Apple was adding things like mouse support external storage I thought great the iPad is going to be more like a normal computer but I was wrong because Apple isn't trying to make the iPad pro more like a computer they're trying to help the iPad which is still very much an iPad be more useful as a computer now that might seem like I'm saying the same thing but let me explain here I as a power user expect to have certain features on my computers a high precision mouse or trackpad I expect a desktop which I can populate with Windows that I can move or resize at will I expect a file manager that lets me see all of the contents of my machine and anything that I've attached to it the way I want to see it so to me the computer experience is about giving the user the tools and the freedom to use the machine the way that they want to use it but the cold hard truth is that is not what the iPad is about and that's clearer than ever with the iPad OS update while iPad OS certainly gives users more freedom than iOS 12 the iPad experience is still very much about embracing the machines identity as a handheld Touch powered or excuse me pencil powered as it were device but here's the thing maybe just maybe that's the right decision okay okay wait hear me out guys I think up until now we've been actually going about this video entirely the wrong way like it's we always go through the same song and dance Apple calls the iPad a computer that's a computer we laugh review it against a laptop and scoff at its lack of mouse support and pitiful file management etc etc etc but while Microsoft's dream was having one operating system across phones tablets and PCs and Samsung is meanwhile trying to get their users to use their phone as a desktop machine Apple isn't trying to make the iPad into a laptop they already sell laptops and they've been just as resistant to adding touch support to Mac books as they've been to adding desktop features to iPads they clearly have no desire to unify the experience of what it's like to use an iPhone an iPad and a Mac so someone who keeps comparing iPads to laptops is never really going to be satisfied until Apple releases an iPad that's basically a MacBook with the touch screen which is a great idea and they should do that but instead of doing that Apple has chosen to add a new category of productivity machines tablets that aren't just giant phones that you use for watching Netflix playing mobile games and skyping sir excuse me facetiming grandma and that aren't just a harder to use and less capable laptop so iPad OS is a vision of a future where an artist or a business owner or a family buy an iPad as their sole computer because while it is certain less efficient for some tasks a lot of tasks if you only use your computer once in a while why would you buy a bulky awkward laptop instead I mean it does say something that once Riley started thinking of the iPad pro as less of a bad laptop and more of a better iPad he went and finished writing this review sitting on a beanbag using the mini swipe detects keyboard with word safari and notes open on screen at the same time and it wasn't bad like at least it was more ergonomic so in conclusion then we think that with iPad OS the iPad can be someone's next computer but what Apple needs to do between now and then is to clarify their messaging because it's been kind of a confusing mess so far they'll say things like the iPad pro can be your next computer so like wait it's a computer but then they'll say it's like a computer but unlike any computer so wait it's not a computer then they had this other campaign describing the iPad as a new way to take notes or make music or create a presentation which i think is actually the most accurate the ipad is especially with ipad OS a new way to use a computer a worse way for some people like myself but perhaps a better way for others speaking of grabbing at anything that i could possibly turn into a segue our sponsor ting ting is a different kind of mobile carrier focused on customer service and satisfaction with ting you can stop paying for data and airtime that you don't use and you can see how much you'll save on ting by heading to their calculator at linus dot ting dot-com ting is risk free since there are no contracts they've got nationwide coverage from coast to coast in the US they won't block throttle or interfere with online access and if you're stuck in a contract ting will cover 25% of your cancellation fee up to $75 so try it out today and get $25 in ting credit at Linus ENCOM we're gonna have that linked below so thanks for watching guys if you dislike this video you can hit that button but if you liked it hit like get subscribed or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link in the video description could this be your new computer also linked in the video description is our merch store which has super cool hoodies like this one they're finally in stock this is our stealth hoodie LTT store calm as well as our community forum which you should definitely join