Apple’s “Let Loose” iPad event - M4 SoC already, dual-stack OLEDs, haptic (spatial?) Pencil, laptop-style aluminum keyboard

[saltycaramel]

Both on Windows and macOS there's an "underground city" of power user features that "moms" living on the surface will never know about. 

The same could eventually be true for iPadOS, no harm done to "surface level" users.

 

It is kinda true already, I doubt "moms" on iPads use Stage Manager, automate the crap out of their flow with Shortcuts, constantly cmd+tab and multitask, use an always-on clipboard like Yoink (with the PiP trick), use a shell like iSH, etc. 

 

But there are still a number of limitations that (if one insists in trying to use an iPad the same way one would use a Mac) make iPadOS feel like trying to pick your nose while wearing oven mittens compared to what a power user (or even just a user that knows his way around the system) can do on macOS. On the other hand I also can see the reasoning behind Apple's "one step at a time, slowly but surely" approach to adding complexity (and potentially clutter) to iPadOS. 2010 for iPadOS is like the early 80s for PC/Mac. We're still "only" 14 years into the history of this platform.

 

We'll see what they're adding this year at WWDC. In iPadOS 18 we trust.

[LAwLz]

13 hours ago, Obioban said:

I don't think they should change iPad OS to make it more professional friendly.

I would argue that iPadOS is already very friendly to professional work.

The amount of iPads I see being used for work-related tasks is quite high. Here are some examples just at the top of my head:

• Wi-Fi Site Surveys (especially the LiDAR-equipped iPads are great for this).
• Real estate brokers who use them at house showings (check off people who signed up, or add new people who showed up).
• Event planners use them for guest lists and checklists.
• Construction managers who use them on sites.
• Sports coaches use them all the time from what I've seen.
• Some of the doctors I've seen use them to access patient data.
• They are super popular with inventory management software in warehouses and manufacturing plants.
• I've seen plenty of guides who use them when on holiday and at museums.
• Some photographers I've seen use them for showing images, and quickly do light edits.
• Plenty of restaurants I've been to use them for self-ordering kiosks, or the waiters use them when taking orders.
• We had an interior designer at work a while ago and then used an iPad to take notes and show examples.

 

I think that when most people talk about how limited the iPad is for work, they are referring to a specific type of work that has traditionally been done on laptops. To me it seems more like it should be the programs that adapt to the iPad, rather than the other way around. The iPad has become so successful in a lot of areas because it works the way it does. There is a reason why the lines of work I mentioned earlier went to the iPad instead of a laptop or something similar. I think that morphing iPadOS into a more MacOS-like version would introduce some potential issues. A switch could be confusing, and app developers probably don't like the idea of having to adapt their apps so that they work on both a touch and a keyboard interface. 

 

I mean, it would be nice if I could just buy an iPad Pro and then have it run MacOS, but doing so introduces headaches for both iPadOS app developers as well as MacOS developers. At least from a usability and UI perspective. iPadOS apps are designed for the touch interface. MacOS apps are designed for the keyboard interface. As soon as you introduce touch screens to MacOS devices you run the risk of ending up in the same situation as Windows is in. Some apps support touch well, some poorly, and some not at all. It becomes hard to meet the users expectation, and every time their expectation isn't met they get disappointed. 

[Indian pc builder]

Coming from an iPad Pro, 10.5 inch which is slightly bent and the screen turn black with random lines if I hold It the wrong way, should I buy it?

[Neroon]

22 hours ago, Obioban said:

To the contrary-- whenever she accidentally triggers stage manager or any sort of split screen interface is PRECISELY when she does have a problem with the iPad. Every time they've added some sort of power user feature like that, it does make it worse for the dumbest use case. 

 

Similarly, iPad's default lack of file system is a huge part of what makes it so easy/idiot proof.

I'm a a bit confused by this. Does she have a pro or a M1 Air? Why doesn't she have the basic model? If you just want a no nonsense tablet, then the standard is the right way to go.

 

Anyway, stage manager can be disabled. So unless she also messed about in the settings, then this works perfectly fine.

[FlyingPotato_is_taken]

9 hours ago, LAwLz said:

I think that when most people talk about how limited the iPad is for work, they are referring to a specific type of work that has traditionally been done on laptops. To me it seems more like it should be the programs that adapt to the iPad, rather than the other way around.

I don't think all of those workflows would work on iPadOS and I doubt Apple would provide the changes to allow them to be done:

- How would I be able to fix config files/programms when I can't have read-write access to the filesystem?

- Is it even possible to provide toolchains on IpadOS? I don't think so and as such even if IAR or Keilh would want they couldn't build an ipad version of their IDE.

[ARandomPerson]

The iPad's thinness is a safety feature. If someone tries to steal it, just bend the thing in half and let the lithium batteries do the rest.

[Obioban]

On 5/10/2024 at 2:43 PM, Neroon said:

I'm a a bit confused by this. Does she have a pro or a M1 Air? Why doesn't she have the basic model? If you just want a no nonsense tablet, then the standard is the right way to go.

 

Anyway, stage manager can be disabled. So unless she also messed about in the settings, then this works perfectly fine.

She has a Pro-- because outside of cost, the Pro is only better (screen, speakers, FaceID) and she has enough money that the cost difference doesn't matter to her. The iPad Pro doesn't come with functional tradeoffs vs the base iPad-- it's better at browsing facebook.

 

I have disabled stage manager on her iPad. That said, if they're going to roll out features the make the dumbest use case worse, IMO they should be off by default. The people that are the sort that should be using them are the very ones that understand that things like that can be turned on/off.

[Obioban]

On 5/10/2024 at 6:02 AM, LAwLz said:

I would argue that iPadOS is already very friendly to professional work.

The amount of iPads I see being used for work-related tasks is quite high. Here are some examples just at the top of my head:

• Wi-Fi Site Surveys (especially the LiDAR-equipped iPads are great for this).
• Real estate brokers who use them at house showings (check off people who signed up, or add new people who showed up).
• Event planners use them for guest lists and checklists.
• Construction managers who use them on sites.
• Sports coaches use them all the time from what I've seen.
• Some of the doctors I've seen use them to access patient data.
• They are super popular with inventory management software in warehouses and manufacturing plants.
• I've seen plenty of guides who use them when on holiday and at museums.
• Some photographers I've seen use them for showing images, and quickly do light edits.
• Plenty of restaurants I've been to use them for self-ordering kiosks, or the waiters use them when taking orders.
• We had an interior designer at work a while ago and then used an iPad to take notes and show examples.

 

I think that when most people talk about how limited the iPad is for work, they are referring to a specific type of work that has traditionally been done on laptops. To me it seems more like it should be the programs that adapt to the iPad, rather than the other way around. The iPad has become so successful in a lot of areas because it works the way it does. There is a reason why the lines of work I mentioned earlier went to the iPad instead of a laptop or something similar. I think that morphing iPadOS into a more MacOS-like version would introduce some potential issues. A switch could be confusing, and app developers probably don't like the idea of having to adapt their apps so that they work on both a touch and a keyboard interface. 

 

I mean, it would be nice if I could just buy an iPad Pro and then have it run MacOS, but doing so introduces headaches for both iPadOS app developers as well as MacOS developers. At least from a usability and UI perspective. iPadOS apps are designed for the touch interface. MacOS apps are designed for the keyboard interface. As soon as you introduce touch screens to MacOS devices you run the risk of ending up in the same situation as Windows is in. Some apps support touch well, some poorly, and some not at all. It becomes hard to meet the users expectation, and every time their expectation isn't met they get disappointed. 

I'd add to that, and counter myself-- my wife is a fashion designer and does 100% of her sketching on her iPad Pro, with an Apple Pencil at this point. The efficiency gain of this over the old process of...

Paper

scan

digitize

 

Is absurd-- probably 90% reduction in time spent.

 

... but as soon as the creative part is done, she switches over to doing the actual work of the thing on her MacBook Pro (which, thanks to Adobe's creative cloud, it automagically appears on).

 

Despite this, I still say let the iPad be iPad-- if you want a computer, don't get an iPad. Trying to make the iPad be a computer is going to make it worse at iPading.

[PocketNerd]

On 5/10/2024 at 5:35 PM, ARandomPerson said:

The iPad's thinness is a safety feature. If someone tries to steal it, just bend the thing in half and let the lithium batteries do the rest.

I am SO looking forward to the JerryRigEverything video for the new iBend.

[Obioban]

I don't feel like bend resistance matters much with an iPad?

 

As in, with phones it matters because they go in your pocket, when can create situations that places a bending force on them (e.g. phone in tight girl back pockets, and then sitting down).

 

I struggle to think of instances where an iPad has a bending force placed on it.

[leadeater]

3 hours ago, Obioban said:

I struggle to think of instances where an iPad has a bending force placed on it.

In a school bag, work bad, travel bag. Careless not looking when it's left on a couch/seat. When someone puts fruit ninja on it for their dog to jump on the screen 

[Obioban]

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

In a school bag, work bad, travel bag. Careless not looking when it's left on a couch/seat. When someone puts fruit ninja on it for their dog to jump on the screen 

Maybe I'm nuts/value my stuff, but I'd assume an iPad should be put into a bag like a laptop-- in a protected section.

 

I suppose this will be less strong when sat on.

[leadeater]

2 hours ago, Obioban said:

Maybe I'm nuts/value my stuff, but I'd assume an iPad should be put into a bag like a laptop-- in a protected section.

Those don't really help for much other than scratch protection etc, inside a bag with other things in it like books when tossed about still impart force in to any laptop pouch.

 

But also, never underestimate carelessness haha.

 

Anyway, also will probably find the strength hasn't changed much, screen/glass adds a lot of strength and as long as there is internal bracing ridges that we can't see from product photos it'll be roughly the same as it always has been. I doubt there is much inside of these large/largish iPads, the MacBook Air is already mostly empty + battery and plastic baffles etc. I expect when we see internal pictures these iPads they will have tiny main boards.

[Neroon]

On 5/13/2024 at 2:22 PM, Obioban said:

She has a Pro-- because outside of cost, the Pro is only better (screen, speakers, FaceID) and she has enough money that the cost difference doesn't matter to her. The iPad Pro doesn't come with functional tradeoffs vs the base iPad-- it's better at browsing facebook.

 

I have disabled stage manager on her iPad. That said, if they're going to roll out features the make the dumbest use case worse, IMO they should be off by default. The people that are the sort that should be using them are the very ones that understand that things like that can be turned on/off.

So she bought a pro device, with pro options, pro options that can be disabled, and then you complain that the pro device has pro options that she didn't disable, because she doesn't understand how the device works.

 

It's like buying a Ford F650 and complain it's too large, and it's difficult to get in the cabin, but you got it because you like to sit very high.

 

Dumbing a device down because someone bought a device that isn't the key demographic, is a bad argument imo.

[Obioban]

17 hours ago, Neroon said:

So she bought a pro device, with pro options, pro options that can be disabled, and then you complain that the pro device has pro options that she didn't disable, because she doesn't understand how the device works.

 

It's like buying a Ford F650 and complain it's too large, and it's difficult to get in the cabin, but you got it because you like to sit very high.

 

Dumbing a device down because someone bought a device that isn't the key demographic, is a bad argument imo.

All iPads run the same iPad OS. None of the multitasking features would be off/missing if she had a base, cheap iPad. Nothing about it would be easier. 

[Obioban]

On 5/13/2024 at 4:39 PM, leadeater said:

Those don't really help for much other than scratch protection etc, inside a bag with other things in it like books when tossed about still impart force in to any laptop pouch.

 

But also, never underestimate carelessness haha.

 

Anyway, also will probably find the strength hasn't changed much, screen/glass adds a lot of strength and as long as there is internal bracing ridges that we can't see from product photos it'll be roughly the same as it always has been. I doubt there is much inside of these large/largish iPads, the MacBook Air is already mostly empty + battery and plastic baffles etc. I expect when we see internal pictures these iPads they will have tiny main boards.

Looks like they've at least considered it:

Quote

Apple's senior VP of hardware engineering John Ternus reveals that Apple has added a new protective "cowling" over the main logic board. This metal cover not only helps with heat dissipation, but also "effectively creates a central rib that runs through the whole thing and tremendously improves the stiffness of the products," according to Ternus.

 

[Obioban]

John Gruber put, much more eloquently, my point about iPad/iPad OS:

 

Quote

The consensus from product reviewers — including yours truly — has been remarkably consistent for the latter half of the iPad’s entire existence, especially when it comes to iPad Pros: incredibly powerful and beautiful hardware hamstrung by infuriatingly limited software. That was the consensus regarding the new iPad Pros in 2022, in 2021, in 2020, and in 2018. In fact consensus is arguably too weak a word. I’m not sure there’s any product in all of tech that has been so consistently regarded by product reviewers for so many years.

 

Incredibly powerful and beautiful hardware hamstrung by infuriatingly limited software.

 

But what if we’re thinking about this wrong? This conclusion — that iPad Pros are great hardware let down by underpowered software — starts from a hardware-first perspective. In the abstract, given this amazing hardware, what type of software should power it? What kind of OS? What metaphors for the UI? iPad Pros have been — since the debut of the Pro fork in the iPad lineup — portable-workstation-class computer hardware. iPadOS has never been a workstation-style OS. The obvious truth — reiterated in recent weeks by the EU calling bullshit (or perhaps, conneries) on Apple’s claim that iPad and iPhone are separate platforms — is that iPadOS is a souped-up tablet-oriented variant of iOS.

 

This has never been more true than now — the M4 iPad Pros are, by some practical measures, the fastest computers Apple makes. But iPadOS is not the sort of system that the typical power user would think to run on super-powerful hardware.

 

But let’s invert our thinking on this. Instead of starting with the hardware and pondering what the ideal software would be like to take advantage of its power, let’s start with the software. A concept for simplicity-first console-style touchscreen tablet computing. A metaphor for computing with smartphone-style guardrails, with tablet-specific features like stylus support and laptop docking. A tablet OS that is unabashedly a souped-up version of iOS, not a stripped-down version of MacOS. What type of hardware should Apple build to instantiate such a platform?

 

Obviously Apple should build affordable iPads for the mass market: iPads that are pretty thin, pretty lightweight, with very nice displays, good performance, and great battery life. The original 2010 iPad — offered in only one size, 9.7 inches — had an entry price of $500. Inflation adjusted, that’s a little over $700 today. The new 11-inch M2 iPad Air starts at just $600; the 13-inch iPad Air at $800. The very nice no-adjective 11-inch iPad (officially marketed as 10.9-inches) costs just $350 — effectively half the price of the original iPad in inflation-adjusted dollars.

 

Those are excellent devices at compelling prices to fit the good (iPad) and better (iPad Air) slots in a good / better / best lineup. But what about best? What should Apple offer for the iPadOS user who is willing to spend more?

 

For the sake of this argument, let’s posit that there exist tens of millions — perhaps 100 million — users who love the iPad for what it is. People who feel empowered, not hamstrung, by how it works, and who have no or very little need for a computer that exposes the complexity of a desktop OS like MacOS or Windows. And that there exist tens of millions more people who enjoy having an iPad to complement, not replace, their desktop computer. That in broad strokes there exist two types of iPad user: (a) those for whom iPadOS, as it is, suits them well as their primary “big screen” personal computer; (b) those for whom an iPad, due to its very deliberate computing-as-an-appliance-style constraints, can only ever be a supplemental device to a Mac, Windows, or Linux “real” computer. Neither group needs a more powerful iPad, and so because of this, everyone — power-user nerds and typical users alike — tends to use iPads until they break, wear out, or age out of software support.

 

Personally, I fall squarely in group (b). I feel severely hamstrung trying to use any iPad for my day-to-day work. My personal iPad is a 2018 11-inch iPad Pro, and it’s still very much fine for my needs, even after spending the last week testing this new 13-inch M4 iPad Pro. And so the power-user thinking is that if I’m fine with 6-year-old hardware that is utterly blown away, spec-wise, by this new M4 generation of iPad Pros, then, ipso facto, something is profoundly and fundamentally wrong with the software platform. That if the iPadOS software platform were what it should be, it would compel users — like me, perhaps like you — to upgrade to this latest and greatest hardware to “take advantage of” the hardware’s extraordinary capabilities.

 

But what if that’s misguided? What if the iPadOS platform is great? Or at the very least, the software is very close to the mark of what it should be and how it should work? What then should Apple apply its hardware engineering resources to, to create a best tier in the iPad lineup?

 

In that case Apple would prioritize things like optimizing the hardware for thinness and lightness, while maintaining long battery life. To those ends, they would apply the extraordinary performance-per-watt of Apple silicon not so much to making slow things faster, but to making everything the iPad does more power efficient. Twice as fast for the same energy consumption is the Mac way of thinking. Same performance with half the energy consumption is the iOS way of thinking. But those are two sides of the same performance-per-watt coin.

 

From this viewpoint, going from better (iPad Air) to best (iPad Pro) shouldn’t be about power and performance and the ability to use the device for any and all complex computing tasks, but instead about being just plain nicer. Like going from a Toyota to a Lexus.

 

[snip]

 

Apple clearly sees these two platforms from an entirely different perspective. Sure, there’s no denying that Apple is in the business of selling devices. But the idea that Apple deliberately hamstrings the iPad in order to sell more MacBooks makes no long term sense. Apple thrives and truly only succeeds when it makes the best devices possible. If iPadOS is fundamentally deficient why does Apple sell so many iPads? Why are so many iPad users so happy with their iPad as their only computer other than their phone? “I want to work in ways that iPadOS does not support” does not mean “Everyone wants to work in ways that iPadOS does not support”.

 

I have observed numerous times that Apple uses the adjective pro in a multitude of ways. Sometimes it means professional, but sometimes it just means deluxe. This difference is exemplified by the iPad and MacBook lineups. With MacBooks, the Pro models are more professional. They have nicer displays and nicer speakers, yes, but primarily they’re about doing things faster. They are thicker and heavier than MacBook Airs. iPad Pros go the opposite way: they are thinner and lighter than the iPad Airs. Yes, it’s ironic that with iPads, the “Air” models are neither the thinnest nor lightest. But this really does explain the philosophical differences Apple sees between the iPad and Mac platforms. A better Mac is faster. Nicer too, but primarily faster. A better iPad is nicer. Faster, too, but primarily nicer. These new iPad Pros are just incredibly nice. And optimizing for niceness is underrated.

 

I’ve seen it suggested by the “amazing hardware hamstrung by iPadOS’s limitations” crowd that everyone who likes or even loves using an iPad should settle for the iPad Air or even the just-plain iPad. That the iPad Pro’s power is going to waste, and thus there’s no sense paying the premium price for it. But how is it a waste to put that power to use in ways that can’t necessarily be measured objectively? The new iPad Pros sport the M4 not just to accomplish more powerful tasks but primarily to make everyday tasks as nice as they can possibly be, starting with how it feels to simply hold an iPad Pro in hand.

https://daringfireball.net/2024/05/the_m4_ipad_pros

[Obioban]

Also from that article:

 

 

 

Bigger jump than I was expecting.

[GoStormPlays]

On 5/7/2024 at 2:23 PM, Commodus said:

Apple does need to clean things up. It sounds like that's what we'll get over the next year, but it does mean that Apple might go into 2025 with high-end desktops using M2, the MacBook Air using M3, and everything else using an M4 variant.

Nah their naming scheme fits right in both Intel’s absolutely amazing and not confusing naming scheme /j

[saltycaramel]

 

Looks like the new metal spine works.

The new ones are just as rigid, if not even more resistant to bending than the old thicker iPad Pros.

The survivability of the OLED is superior to the LCD miniLED, the OLED stays functional all the way, even after extreme bending.

The whole computer stays functional all the way.

Apple’s thinnest iPad ever may very well be the most resistant to bending.

 

Now, there’s a way to make a tablet even more resistant to bending than that.

And that’s a trick Apple will use on the 20.25” tandem OLED iPad Ultra next year.

That trick is: making it a foldable across the major axis.

Well, unless you try to bend it backwards. But in a backpack the 20.25” iPad would be stored in folded state, closed.

[saltycaramel]

By the way RetroArch is now available on the AppStore, for iPhone, iPad and AppleTV.

Christmas morning vibes for people unwrapping their new OLED iPad today and immediately trying some retrogaming on the best display ever. (some nice pixel response improvement over previous iPads as well)

[Obioban]

Quote

iPadOS is what it is. Whatever you (or I) think of it as a productivity platform, you’re a fool if you think it isn’t beloved by many. It’s popular, even for some “professional” use cases, not despite iPadOS’s guardrails but often because of them. Those guardrails feel limiting to me, often very much so, but those same guardrails are liberating to others. There is tremendous power in having a computer that is simple not merely by suggestion but by hard and fast technical constraints.

 

Should you only buy what you need, or splurge for what you’d most enjoy? A Lexus instead of a Toyota. A first-class seat instead of coach. Craft IPA instead of Budweiser. In other aspects of life, few question the mere existence of premium-priced superior experiences. But with the iPad, those unsatisfied by the nature of iPadOS seem to think those who do love iPadOS don’t deserve a premium tier of hardware.

More from Gruber, that I think it 100% on point.

[Commodus]

27 minutes ago, Obioban said:

More from Gruber, that I think it 100% on point.

I do think there's a certain amount of simplicity that's refreshing — I just think Apple ought to improve iPadOS so that it's easier to complete more pro workflows. If I could get all my work done on an iPad, I'd probably have a Pro sitting on my desk right now.

 

As it stands, I can certainly see the appeal of the latest iPad Air or Pro as a "commuter laptop" where you're getting a few things done on the train or in the coffee shop. You don't have a full desktop environment, but you do have something you can easily pack up and carry anywhere... and when you have a moment, use it as a tablet.

 

Now, Microsoft ostensibly has the Surface line for that, but those have always struck me as PCs that just happen to be useful as tablets in a pinch. You can easily get an iPad Pro and never need a physical keyboard; I can't imagine that with a Surface Pro.

[ARandomPerson]

Which will break first if I slam it against my knee? Plywood sheets or a kidney's worth of an iPad.

[Lightwreather]

16 hours ago, ARandomPerson said:

Which will break first if I slam it against my knee? Plywood sheets or a kidney's worth of an iPad.

Your knee /jk