Some thoughts on the history and future of the iPad
Since the introduction of the original slabby iPad, this little mobile-but-not-pocket device has been and remained my favorite computing platform. It’s the first computer I use in the morning, and the last one I use before I go to bed at night. I primarily read news on it, watch videos, browse photos, and stay in touch with social media. I also use it extensively at work for taking notes in meetings, though I still use the Mac heavily for development and “real work”.
Since that first model, every yearly revision has brought “must upgrade” benefits for me. The iPad 2 shed a good chunk of the weight of the original. The iPad 3 brought a retina screen but at the cost of adding back a lot of that weight and a little performance. The iPad 4 kept the retina screen but fixed those problems. The iPad Air slimmed down the bezel and dropped even more weight, and the iPad Air 2 took that even further. All of these revisions with the exception of the iPad 3 brought substantial (usually double) speed boosts.
Since I first laid my hands on the original, I’ve wanted a larger one. A larger screen is naturally a tradeoff with portability, but the benefits are worth it to me. I correctly predicted that the slimmer bezel of the iPad Air would herald the arrival of a larger iPad, which manifested two years later in the 12.9” iPad Pro. The first revision of that form factor performed nicely, but it was fairly heavy. After 18–24 months, the 2016 model (which I still have in rotation for watching movies, largely because resale values for used 12.9” iPads seem to have dropped to around 30% of original retail price after a year, compared to around 70% for smaller models, which is its own sort of annoyance) is still okay, but it lags noticeably in regular use and isn’t fast enough to be my primary tablet. The 2017 model as of now has no such problem. Along the way, other models have arrived for smaller sizes, but for me, I’ve always wanted the largest iPad I could get my hands on.
Which brings me to the 2018 revision of the 12.9” iPP. They’re in short supply, and while my internet order slipped from 1–3 business days into weeks for delivery, I managed to pick one up at an Apple store. I tried it out for a few days, and then went back to the 2017 for a few days. I’m somewhat sad to report that after a few days back with the 2017 iPP, I’ve made the decision to return the 2018, and this seems noteworthy. The 2018 may be a better computer, but I think the 2017 is a better tablet experience (and the 2018 is still not a great computer in any way that would make it a substitute for the Mac for me). This new revision is a dramatic change in a few different ways that may not be evident without using it.
One of the biggest problems is the inexplicable departure of eliminating a complete fullscreen mode for some older apps that haven’t yet been updated and may never be updated. I don’t think I really appreciated it until it was gone, but fullscreen mode without any surrounding chrome (in this case the status bar with the clock) is one of the standout features of the tablet experience vs. a traditional computer. Removing this possibility for a whole class of apps is a crippling change. There may be technical complexities I’m not seeing here, but it doesn’t seem that hard to simply hide the status bar when an app uses an older method of going fullscreen. Apple has always pushed forward into what they see as better interaction patterns without worrying too much about accommodating those who won’t keep up, and most of the time I’m along for the ride, but this particular change is jarring and poor.
The original thinning bezel of the iPad Air was welcomed — technical limitations and the weight of the original iPad made the original blocky square bezel larger than it needed to be and removing it made the holding experience better. Flat out — the bezel on the 2018 iPad is too narrow. This is not a tablet that wants to be held — the thinness of the bezel makes it difficult to hold without obscuring the screen and sometimes tapping or sliding erroneously.
The original Touch ID when introduced on the iPhone was hit or miss, but after several revisions, it grew into itself and became extremely reliable. Face ID isn’t there yet. On the iPhone, it’s a revelation, but almost always when you’re using your phone, you’re looking straight at the device. On the iPad, it works wonderfully… if you’re looking straight at the device, which I am about 40% of the time. It does not work reliably or well when lying on my side in bed or on the couch, with the iPad flat on the surface. Granted, this is a steep occluded angle and I’d be surprised if it did work, but that’s how I use it, and Touch ID has no such problems with it. Trying to fit Face ID into this results in having to move to accommodate my device when I’m comfortably reclining, and that’s not what I want my technology to make me do. It’s a dream when it’s sitting upright in the keyboard case on a desk and I’m staring straight at it — as I said, this is nice computer, but not a superlative tablet. Removing the home button is not as transparent as it was on the iPhone. It’s okay and I think I’d get used to it over time, but it does not feel as natural due to the much larger hand movements required. Navigating around the 2018 iPP involves a LOT of swiping. I guess here is also the place to put my complaint that Apple still seems to view this device as primarily to be used in portrait mode, but I almost never use it that way. The Face ID camera should be on the side.
Finally — while the keyboard cover is a massive improvement in feel over the previous model, I hate the folio case design. The smart covers are great, and I’ve always used a back case with my iPads as well — they are most vulnerable when falling off of a surface (like a bed or a couch), and cracking the edge on the floor. They need corner protection, and the folio case designs provide almost none. The device is simply not durable enough for me to feel confident slinging it around with a case like this, and I was constantly paranoid about dropping it in a way I haven’t been with the 2017. The Pencil seems like a nice improvement over the 1.0, but I have terrible handwriting and I rarely used the 1.0 Pencil for anything other than doodling with Amaziograph.
The 2018 12.9” iPP is a nice improvement over the previous models in slimming down the weight, but the size of the 2017 has never been an issue for me and if I have to give up the adequate bezel space I’d take a larger screen in the case size of the 2017 iPP instead, without hesitation.
The speed of the 2018 is definitely faster, but the 2017 doesn’t (until iOS 13, maybe) lag, and I don’t feel like any of my apps are waiting on the machine. This is the first time I’ve felt that a speed boost isn’t a welcome change — the software isn’t pushing even the 2017 device to its limits.
I… think they’re trying to turn the iPad into the computing device of the future, but I fear they’re sacrificing what made it great as a tablet. The big drawback for being productive on the iPad for me is the limited screen real estate and the cumbersome way multitasking works. It’s fine….ish for occasional uses. It’s terrible for the real-world scenarios where I’m constantly flipping between four or five or eight or sixteen apps at a time and need to refer to multiple browser windows at once. The 2018 iPad does nothing to address that. After several days back with the 2017, I have no longing for anything the newer one has to offer, and I’m finding a lot of relief from the things they made worse. At the prices they’re going for now, a fully loaded 2017 iPP at around $800 seems like a much better buy to me than a fully loaded 2018 iPP at around $2k.
The 2018 iPP is not a bad machine, per se — it’s just diminished from the 2017 in several ways that matter to me. I think if it was a choice between the 2016 iPP and the 2018 iPP, I would choose the 2018 and live with the things I don’t like — the 2016 is too slow and heavy, and does not have the 120Hz screen or true tone color matching. These are substantial feature upgrades that overpower the drawbacks of the 2018 compared to the 2017. I just don’t think the 2018 is a $2,000 upgrade over the 2017.
This makes me sad, and for the first time in the iPad’s history, I’m hoping that they fix some of these mistakes rather than being excited about what they come up with next.
