Day one, the learning curveDay One. I woke up this morning and wondered if I could possibly train myself to only use my iPad Pro for the next few days. The idea seemed easy enough. Especially given that Apple in the recent months has touted the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement. Features like Bluetooth mouse support and a better file management system got me thinking that this may finally be a possibility. I have been trying to make this happen since I bought my first iPad mini about 7 years ago. A little background. The iPhone XS Max is my daily driver. It’s with me 24/7. I do almost all of my emails, web browsing and media consumption (YouTube & Netflix) on the iPhone. What I am unable to perform on the iPhone gets picked up by the 2019 15” MacBook Pro. I need to be able to run the full desktop versions of some programs, such as a virtual machine on Citrix. Between the iPhone and the MacBook Pro there is little need for the iPad Pro as it is halfway between each device. So there sits the 12.9” iPad Pro. I carry it with me everyday yet I rarely touch it and I feel guilty. So lets stretch its legs and see how far it can get us. I’m a trained seal. Right off the bat there is an obvious problem, the iPhone. It’s come a long way and has become such a versatile device that I instinctively reach for it without a thought. Even if I am sitting at the iPad Pro I still reach for the phone to respond. The phone is going to have to go into a drawer. Set up of the Magic Mouse was very easy as it is a Bluetooth device, and connects as such. Same with he Xbox controller and the Apple Pencil. All that was left to do was to download Microsoft Office and I was good to go and get started. First impressions. It will take some time to get use to not going for the iPhone and the MacBook. They do their jobs so well its hard to not want to use them. I can tell you that I am nowhere near as fast at multitasking as I am on the other devices. I typically run the MacBook with 2 additional monitors, so I am really scaling myself back but that’s okay as I need to focus on the iPad experience. I am happy to report that Word functions just like it should. That may be obvious to a lot of you but until I started working as a Compliance consultant with a boss that uses all Windows for work, I had been using Pages for the last 7 years. I will say this version of Word is scaled down to look and function much better on the iPad, much like Pages. I like it, so far no complaints. The multitasking gestures will take a bit to get used to. Using split screen to answer email and text pop ups is nice but I am constantly fumbling with getting the screens set up correctly without closing them on accident. Overall I am confident that this set up will fulfill most of my demands. Gaming. It was a long hard day at the office watching endless reviews on the Apple AirPods Pro so I needed to kick back and enjoy some gaming. Usually this means sitting in front of the tv playing Call of Duty or Forza on an Xbox One X. But I am even making the iPad Pro my go to gaming machine for the next couple of days. Fortunately Apple as introduced controller support for the iPad. Now I can play Call of Duty Mobile with the Xbox One controller. And because I am using an iPad Pro I can max out all the graphic settings and still have a fully playable experience. I also gave EA’s Real Racing 3 a go and it was a much improved experience over the screen and tilt controls. Overall a not fully console like experience but a lot of fun for a mobile device. Day one conclusion. Its going to take sometime to get used to. Most of you are not going to toss your iPhone in the drawer and carry around an almost 13” iPad all day, when most of what we do is scroll through Facebook and text. Don’t lie that’s mostly what you do on your phone. But I wanted this to be an extreme case, to really see the mileage you can get out of an iPad, a mouse and iPadOS. As with any tech your mileage may vary based on your specific needs. For a lot of consumers, like my wife, a standard iPad checks all of her boxes as she uses it for primary media consumption and social media. For others who need the high horsepower of a laptop or desktop an iPad Pro could be a more portable solution for on the go work. No matter where you fall on the scale Apple has done a fantastic job of creating a product line up that has a solution for everyone. Something we are seeing rivals like Microsoft trying to emulate with their Surface line up, if you can figure it out… It is almost as confusing as the Porsche 911 line up.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorI am an everyday person who has a passion for technology. I am not a technology guru but rather a everyday user of technology. #techwithtyler is focused on technology that is used by everyday non tech people. I hope to pass along my knowledge to help you better live with and through todays technology. Archives
April 2020
Categories |