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Notebook users have It's been a long time since we've focused on whether the iPad Pro will be imposed on them as a replacement device.
Depending on who you believe, Apple included, it was considered at one point, or a pure tablet with functions to be decided completely by the application development community, or something of its own.
But with the iPad Pro, the smart keyboard and the new version of the pencil of Apple, some things are finally starting to become clear.
The new hardware, coupled with the ability and willingness of companies like Adobe to finally provide full versions of Photoshop, capable of handling huge files, as well as all the tools and brushes of the desktop version, opens up a new door about what could be possible. with iPad Pro – if Apple is ready to kiss it.
Pencil
Is the double strike gesture natural? Yes. I use electronic drawing surfaces since the first generation of Wacom, with a serial port connector. Over the years, many of them have implemented a sort of "action button" that allows you to switch or click to change drawing mode, call up erasers or palettes, and generally avoid you to keep away from your drawing surface as much as possible.
This is also the declared and obvious goal of Apple's new double-click. Many internal components are very similar to those of the first generation, but one of the new ones is a capacitive band that covers the bottom third of the pen from the tip. This band is what allows the double strike and is very sensitive. You can call it organic and smooth, and you can adjust the rate of the tap in the pencil control panel.
The panel also allows you to move from eraser to mouse on the other and disable the "Tap Notes" feature that allows you to touch the pen with your screen to instantly launch the Notes application. When you do this, it is isolated from the current note only, just like the photos. One day, I would love to see other functions of the Pencil-to-Awakening Pencil function, but it makes sense that it is this one.
I never accidentally doubled it by chance and it was nice to switch to an eraser without leaving the working mode – the default behavior.
But Apple also gave developers a lot of latitude to propose different behaviors for this double fuss. Procreate, one of my favorite drawing applications, offers many options, including radial menus reflecting the current tool or mode and allowing to switch directly from one tool to the other . Apple's guidelines advise developers to be cautious when implementing double taps – but also encourage developers to think about how logical implementations of the tool resemble users.
The new pencil offers no improvement in terms of accuracy, speed and tracking detection. It basically works with the same tracking system that used by the first Pencil on the old iPad Pro. Unfortunately, the Pencil models are not compatible with each other. The new pencil do not works on the old iPad Pro and the old pencil does not work on the new model. This is because the process of matching and charging is completely different.
Unlike the first, however, the new Pencil combines the pairs and wireless charges, which represents a considerable improvement. There is no little cork to lose, you do not need to plug it to the base of the iPad as a rectal thermometer to charge and the coupling occurs simultaneously while you are charging.
The upper edge (for lack of a better word) of the iPad Pro in horizontal mode now has a small opaque window. Behind this window are the loading coils of the pencil. Inside the pencil is a complementary coil, flanked by two rows of ferrite magnets. These companions with Halbach magnetic boards inside the chassis of the iPad. Through the use of shaped magnetic fields, Apple here pulls a bit of alignment deception, forcing the pencil to attach exactly to the point where the charge coils are perfectly aligned. This allows you to type the pencil quickly without even thinking about alignment.
The magnetic connection is solid – almost, but not quite, enough to hold the big iPad Pro in the air by the pencil – and it should hold well, but it's pretty easy to remove it if you're not. grab by the side, as you would pulling it from the front.
There is also a nice indicator on the screen that now indicates the level of charge.
When the pencil was launched, I brought it to my father, a talented artist who draws more than anyone as part of his creative process. He liked locating and accessing digital tools, but he pointed out that the glossy finish was inferior to the matte finish and the fact that there was no flat edge on the finger.
The new pencil has a matte finish and a new flat edge. Yes, the edge prevents the pencil from rolling and allows it to attach to the edge of the iPad for loading, but it is very difficult to save an edge of your drawing instrument against the inside. of your control finger. appreciated by anyone who is not an artist. This is extremely important for controlling sketches. Many pencils are well rounded, but many of them must be held in a handle – like a pointing device that you use to shade most of the time. The standard tripod handle is much better for having at least one flat edge.
Your range of motion is limited on a tripod, but it can offer greater accuracy. When indirect support is more efficient and versatile, it is also more difficult to use with precision. The new pencil is now better used in these two widely used handles, which should make the artists happy.
These tedious notions of grip may seem minor, but me (and my calligraphy design) can tell you that it's much more than it looks like. The grip is all in drawing.
The pencil is one of the most impressive devices in Apple's version 2. This solves all the major problems experienced by users with the V1. A very impressive performance here that really improves the usability of the iPad Pro, as well for drawing as for quick notes and sketches. The only drawback is that you have to buy it separately.
Drawing and drawing with the new pencil is charming and remains a totally out of the ordinary experience that even carries out dedicated devices like the Wacom Cintiq and stays well above the stylus experience in Surface Pro devices.
Beyond that, interesting things are already happening with the double touch of the pencil. In Procreate, for example, you can choose a different double tap action for many tools and needs. It's malleable, depending on the situation. This is related to the context you are working on, or not, depending on your choices (and those of the developer).
One minute, you open a radial menu that allows you to manipulate entire layers, another draw and replace an eraser, and it still seems easy to follow because it is based on the type of tool you use at the moment .
Especially in vertical mode, it's easy to understand why finger touch is not ideal for laptops or hybrids. The pencil offers the delicate precision and touch you need, which differs enormously from peeking on the screen with your snuff when trying to press a small button. Achieving, too, can be a problem here and the pencil solves a lot of problems by hitting targets that are within 10 "of the keyboard or more.
The Pencil really moves in the hierarchy of a drawing accessory to a really useful pointing and pointing tool for iPad users. This is not yet the case, but there is a great potential, as shown by Procreate's super-flexible options.
There is a lot of high level execution with Pencil and, by extension, iPad. Pencil and AirPod contradict claims that Apple can not offer users magical experiences based on its willingness and ability to own and take responsibility for more computer hardware and software than any other manufacturer.
Speakers and microphones
There are now 5 microphones, although the iPad Pro still only records in stereo. They record two by two, the mics being used dynamically to cancel the noise if necessary.
The speakers are solid and produce high quality stereo sound for such a slim device. The speakers are also used smarter now, with the 4 active calls for FaceTime, which was not possible before without the 5 microphones array due to the returns.
Let's talk about ports, baby / Let's talk about USB-C
I'm not a big fan of the USB-C format, but it has some interesting structural advantages over previous USB formats and even compared to Lightning. It's not ideal, but it's not bad. So it's a pleasant surprise to see Apple concede that people wishing to use an external monitor in high resolution, charge an iPhone or transfer photos at high speed are more important than sticking to Lightning.
The internal and external rhetoric about Lightning has always been that it was compact, useful and perfect for iOS devices. This rhetoric now has a hole the size of an iPad Pro and it suits me. A professional platform that is not easily extensible is not really a professional platform.
It's no coincidence that Apple's laptops and iPad Pro all work on USB-C. This flow may continue, but for the moment, it stems directly from what Apple thinks users expect from these devices. An external monitor was at the top of the list in all of Apple's messages on the stage and in my discussions afterwards. They believe that a number of Pro users will benefit greatly from running an extended display (not just mirroring) up to a resolution of 5K.
In addition, many musical instruments and artists' devices will be directly connected. There is even a chance (but do not official) that the port could provide externally powered accessories with enough juice to operate.
The port now provides 7.5W for connected devices to charge, and you can connect microphones and other accessories via the USB-C port, although there is no guarantee that they will get enough power port if they needed it before. external power supply.
By the way, virtually all MacBook dongles will work on the iPad Pro. Thus, all the combinations of things that you propose will have additional uses here.
The port is USB 3.1 gen 2 compatible, allowing transfers up to 10GBPS. In practice, this means for most people a faster transfer of cameras or SD card readers for photos. Although the iPad Pro does not support mass storage or external hard drive support directly in the Files application, applications with their own built-in navigation can continue to read directly from discs hard. Now, transfer speeds will be faster.
There is a USB-C to headphone adapter, available separately. It also works with Macs, if you are passionate about it. The basic answer I had about earphone plugs, by the way, is that we do not even stand in the distance between the edge of the screen and the cache, and that they had anyway need room for other components.
The new iPad Pro also comes with a new charger brick. This is a new USB-C AC adapter for iPad Pro.
A12X and performance
The 1TB model of the largest iPad Pro and, I believe, the 1TB version of the smallest iPad Pro, have 6GB of RAM. I think, as far as I can tell, that models shipped with less than 1TB of storage have less than that – about 4GB in total. I do not know how it will affect their performance because these models are not provided to me.
The overall performance of the A12X on this iPad Pro is, however, excellent. Running many applications in both split screen spaces or in slide show mode is no problem and transitions between applications are incredibly smooth. Drawing and drawing in huge files in ProCreate was very easy, and I had no problem with buttery smooth applications, common iPad applications, and heavy authoring tools. This will be very satisfying for people who are putting up big pictures in Lightroom or big video files in iMovie.
The GeekBench benchmarks for this iPad are, of course, foolish. Check out these single-chip / multicore results:
iPad Pro 12.9 "5027/18361
MacBook Pro 13 "2018 5137/17607
MacBook Pro 15 "2018 6-core 5344/22561
iMac 27 "2017 5675/19325
As you can see, the era of waiting for ARM desktop-class processors on the iPad Pro is over. They are here, and they are tightly integrated with other silicon systems designed by Apple in the system to achieve Apple's goals.
There were essentially two dominant camps on the ARM switch. One side is sure that Apple will start slowly by launching a MacBook model (perhaps even the literal MacBook) on ARM and distributing it to other models. I've been steadily in this camp for a long time. After working on the iPad Pro and found the performance, both vivid and durable, many professional applications, I have developed doubts.
The results obtained here and the performance of the iPad Pro well illustrate the fact that Apple can ship ARM processors across its range as soon as it wishes.
Too often we expect new Apple hardware due to the vagaries of Intel technology. supply chain or focus on silicon. Apple is fed up, I've been cringing for years, but they're stuck with Intel as a partner until they make the jump.
At this point, it's a matter of time and time is running out.
Camera and Facial Identity
The camera in the iPad Pro is a completely new thing. It uses a new sensor and a new 5-element lens. This new camera had to be built from top to bottom because the iPad Pro is too thin to use the camera from the iPhone XR or XS or even previous iPads.
This new camera offers excellent picture quality. It offers Smart HDR, which requires support for the A12X's fast sensor and Neural Engine. It's worth noting that Apple's camera team decided to do the extra work necessary to deliver a decent camera experience, rather than reducing the size of the sensor or returning to an older model which would work with the thickness or not.
Interestingly, this new camera system does do not transmit in portrait mode from the rear camera, like the iPhone XR. It only gives you the portrait of the True Depth camera on the front.
IPad photography has always had a bad shot. We tend to make jokes about fathers holding tablets at football games and in theme parks. But the fact remains that the screen of the iPad Pro is probably the best viewfinder ever designed.
I hope someday it will get a real feature parity for iPhone, so I have an excuse to become a full-fledged dad.
It should be noted that hardware and software updates have been made to the True Depth matrix located at the front of the iPad Pro in order to operate it in a thinner case. These changes, along with additional work in the areas of neural network training and adjustments, also enable Face ID to work in the "four" orientations of the iPad Pro. Whichever mode you choose, it will be unlocked and will be so fast – just as fast as the Face ID system of the iPhone XS generation, no doubt.
I also believe that it works now at slightly wider angles, although it may be my imagination. By nature, you are often further away from the screen of the iPad Pro than your phone, but I feel that I can be much more "off" with the camera and that it always unlocks. This is good news for iPad because you can be in any work position and everything is fine.
Keyboard
Like the pencil, the Smart Keyboard Folio is an optional accessory. And, like the Pencil, I do not think you'll get all the functionality of the iPad Pro without this one. I have sometimes written more than 11,000 words on iPad for very targeted projects, and its ability to be a machine for producing words without distraction is actually very badly sung, in my opinion. There are not many more powerful electronic devices than the iPad with a good text editor.
Editing, however, has always been more of a mix. I'm not sure that the latest iPad Pro is already developed, but the scenario is much better for mixed activity sessions. With the help of a pencil and a physical keyboard, the situation becomes very liveable for someone whose work requires a quick change of context and a variety of different activities that require a call back and answer.
The keyboard itself is fine. It seems almost identical to the keyboard proposed by Apple for iPads and is not ideal in terms of keyboard support and pushback, but is an interesting option that you can get used to.
The folio design is something else. It's very cool, super stable and shows Apple's willingness to become really stupid with smart implementation.
A collection of 120 magnets inside the case are arranged in the same Halbach paintings that hold the pencil. Basically, sets of magnets arranged to direct their force to the outside. These bays allow the case to open on the iPad Pro with minimal hassle and automatically manage the necessary micro-alignment to make sure the smart connector contacts make a good connection to power and communicate with the iPad. the keyboard.
The grooves for two positions of vertical use are also magnetized and coupled to magnets located inside the body of the iPad Pro.
The general effect here is that the smart keyboard is a lot a lot more stable than previous generations and, I am happy to report, approved for the use of the knees. It will still not be as stable as a laptop, but you can absolutely put it on your knees in a train or plane and work. It was almost impossible with his floppy predecessor.
A big wish for the folio is that it offers a more user-friendly tilt for drawing. I know this is not the specific purpose of this device, but I found that it worked so well with Pencil that there was no arrangement that would keep the iPad between 15 and 20 degrees for better leverage and greater utility. drawing and drawing. I think adding another furrow and magnet placed somewhere on the lower third of the back of the folio would allow it. I hope to see it appear in the future, although third parties will probably offer many such cases early enough for dedicated artists and illustrators.
Design
Although much has been said about the curved corners of the iPad Pro case and the curved corners of its screen, the fact is that the device feels much more aggressive in terms of form. The edges all fall straight down, instead of going back and forth, and they mate with rounded angles.
The shocks from the camera to the back do not shake the iPad if you lay it flat on a counter and draw. There is a basic tripod effect that makes scribbling very pleasant for those who are worried about it.
The overall aesthetic is much more professional and less "user friendly" on the part of this highly curved Apple way. I like it a lot. The flat edges are clearly designed in this way to allow Apple to use more interior space without having to give a few millimeters around the edge to create an unusable space. In each curved iPad, there is a little space around the air that is rather airy. Cutting the chin and forehead of the iPad Pro has helped a lot to balance the design and make it more resistant.
There will probably be, and I think rightly, comparisons with the Microsoft design Surface Pro and the new blockier design. But iPads still manage to feel more polished than most of their tablet rivals with details such as matching corner rays, a premium aluminum finish and a very smart use of magnets to keep the outdoors clear. hooks or latches and to attach accessories such as the smart keyboard.
If you are discussing between larger and smaller iPad Pro models, I can give you here only one hint because I could only test the new 12.9 "model. It feels absolutely better balanced than the previous big iPad and is certainly smaller than ever for the size of the screen. It makes the decision to increase or not the size much narrower than before. It was nice to support the little Pro in person at the event last week, but I can not tell you how to live. This one feels pretty good, and very portable, as the last big iPad Pro never did – it was a bit like a whale and it was hard to justify its import. This one is smaller than my 13-inch MacBook Pro and much thinner.
Screen
The pixel masking technique of the iPhone XR also applies to the iPad Pro screen, giving it rounded corners. The LCD has also acquired a wake-up feature that is used successfully in pencil, but can also be used with a finger to bring the screen to life. Promotion, Apple's 120hz refresh technology, is here the best asset on the market, and works well with the faster processor to keep a touch experience as close as possible to 1: 1.
The color rendering and sharpness of this LCD screen are more than satisfactory, and its black levels only display very poorly compared to an OLED due to the laws of physics. It also presents the problem that I noticed for the first time in the iPhone XR, where it darkens very slightly at the edges due to the localized gradation effect of the pixel gating used by Apple to get an end-to-end LCD. Otherwise, in my opinion, this is one of the best LCD screens ever designed. It now has less frame and rounded corners fun, without notch. What's not to like?
Conclusion
In my opinion, if you want an iPad to do light work as a purely tactile device, get yourself an ordinary iPad. The iPad Pro is an excellent tablet, but really shines when it is associated with a pencil and / or keyboard. Having the ability to crush a long passage of text or scribble on the screen is a really interesting addition to the capabilities of the iPad.
But the power and utility of the iPad Pro stand out with the greatest relief when you associate it with a pencil.
The role of keyboard tablets in the pantheon of computing devices has given rise to much debate. Are they replacement computers? Are they tablets with dreams of grandiosity? Will someone ever stop using the 2-in-1 phrase to refer to these things?
And the iPad has not done much to dispel the confusion. During different periods of his life cycle, he has taken on many of these roles, both by the features provided and by Apple's marketing department messaging and through well-presented live performances.
A basic summary of the arena is that Microsoft has been working to turn laptops into tablets, Apple to turn tablets into laptops and all the others have done weird crap.
Microsoft still has not been able to figure out what they needed to start by cutting their heads off their operating system and first building their tablet and then going back. I think now Microsoft is probably much more capable than then Microsoft, but that's probably another discussion.
Apple cut the head of OS X at the very beginning. Since then, he has been walking very slowly in the other direction. Still, Surface Pro has never offered a tablet experience as satisfying as that of an iPad.
Yes, it can offer more flexibility, but this is done at the expense of reliable unit and functionality. Just some toasters all the way down.
THAT SAID. I still do not think Apple uses enough software to support the speed and versatility offered by the iPad Pro hardware. The division of screening applications and the creation of "spaces" that allow bouncing is a nice evolution of the iPad OS, but it's really only a fraction of what is possible.
And I think that even more than the hardware, Apple's iPad users are underestimated here. We have 8 years of iPad and 10 years of iPhone. A whole generation of people are already using these devices as only computers. My wife has not owned a computer outside of an iPad and a phone for 15 years and she is not even among the first users of the most aggressive mobile phones.
Apple must free itself from the channels of a unified iOS. They should not feel exactly the same now because the user base is not infantile. They have been weaned – give them solid foods now.
The pencil, for me, is the bright point of all this. Yes, Apple is starting to slow down predictably with its options for the double-tap gesture. But third-party applications such as Procreate show that there will be incredible long-term opportunities to make the tablet generation mouse pencil.
I think the stylus has never been the right choice for the first decade of iPad and is still not required for many of its uses. But the added power of a contextual radial menu or a good option at the right time means that the Pencil can absolutely be the key to unlocking an interface that somehow blends the specificity of computer-driven by the mouse to the gestures and the fluidity of the tactile functions. interfaces.
I'm sure there are Surface Pro users who roll their eyes while holding their Surface pens, but even if they are, they are not pencils. And more importantly, they are not supported by the senseless work that Apple has done on the iPad so that the Pencil feels better than the first part.
And, because of the route (sometimes winding and languorous) that Apple borrowed to get here, you can still detach the keyboard and fix the pencil to get an amazing tablet experience with the iPad Pro .
If Apple manages to let go and runs better by ensuring that the software is as flexible and "advanced" as the hardware, the iPad Pro has legs. If this is not possible, the iPad will remain deadlocked. But I have hope. In the form of an expensive donkey pencil.
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