10 months later, how do you feel about your 10.5/12.9?

[rui no onna]

I love my iPP 10.5 but if I'd know then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have bought it (or the iPP 9.7 that was my first iPad). I have the ASK. The footprint of the iPP 10.5 with the ASK is tiny compared to my Surface 3, which has a slightly larger screen. I've had to type on all sorts of oddball keyboards over the years so I find the ASK on both 9.7 and 10.5 to be excellent.

My first disappointment is that iOS 11's Files app is pretty much useless. A third-party SD card reader and app can show me the names of photo and video files on an SD card but iOS can't or won't. Every app seems to "sandbox" its files so you can't get to a video that's in Photos with VLC. You have to (try to) copy videos from one app to another so you have several copies of the same video. That's just plain stupid.

I haven't been able to put iOS 11 on my iPP 10.5 because I discovered that iOS 11 broke the photo import part of the Photos app. It doesn't happen for every SD card, but it happens with enough that I had to leave my iPP 10.5 (bought partly because of the larger screen but mainly because of the promises of iOS 11) on iOS 10.whatever. (I upgraded my iP Mini 4 first, then the iPP 9.7 and both choked repeatedly during the photo import process.) Given that my primary purpose for getting my first iPad was to import, view, and select photos, the iOS 11 mess is a big deal.

The crashing import seems to have been fixed with iOS 11.4, but then I discovered a much more serious issue that affects both iOS 10 and iOS 11, which means I've been losing photos for the nearly two years since I bought my first iPad. When importing JPG and MOV files from SD cards, the import process skips every 101st file. That's over 40 photos on an SD card with 4,000+ photos. Apple tech support has spent over two hours in three phone calls working through this and confirming the problem.

As much as I love the hardware, iOS leaves a lot to be desired for me, who has dealt with mainframe JCL, CP/M, and MS-DOS before Windows. I am particularly aggravated that my iPads don't perform reliably for the main task for which I purchased the first one, which is processing photos. Failing to import photos (very specific photos in a sequence, not random, and not damaged files) is a big, darned deal, and I've spent a fair amount of money on three iPads and accessories, only to discover that they are unreliable for the task they were purchased to perform.

I paid a premium price for these particular products from Apple and I expected to get a premium product, not ones with what I consider almost a fatal flaw.

For portability and usability, battery life, being able to keep up with email and forums at home and at our camp, I love my iPads, but I wouldn't have bought them for those purposes.

If I were you, I'd have cut my loss at the iPP 9.7. Unfortunately, your specific use-case isn't something that iOS is optimized for.

 

[LibbyLA]

If I were you, I'd have cut my loss at the iPP 9.7. Unfortunately, your specific use-case isn't something that iOS is optimized for.

I did not discover the missing import problem until last week... please explain how to cut a loss for a problem you are unaware of.

When I got the iPP 9.7, it appeared to be importing pictures properly. Then I got the other two, iOS 11 broke import on two of them, and I finally took the time to research why it seemed that the iPad was missing pics and figure out the pattern.

I never in a million years expected that the Photos app, when used with the Apple SD card reader, would fail to import all pics on the SD card. Would you have expected anything like that to happen?

 

[rui no onna]

I did not discover the missing import problem until last week... please explain how to cut a loss for a problem you are unaware of.

When I got the iPP 9.7, it appeared to be importing pictures properly. Then I got the other two, iOS 11 broke import on two of them, and I finally took the time to research why it seemed that the iPad was missing pics and figure out the pattern.

I never in a million years expected that the Photos app, when used with the Apple SD card reader, would fail to import all pics on the SD card. Would you have expected anything like that to happen?

Ah, misunderstood the part about your devices choking when importing from SD. I thought that had been an ongoing problem. You did write this:

"A third-party SD card reader and app can show me the names of photo and video files on an SD card but i'OS can't or won't. Every app seems to "sandbox" its files so you can't get to a video that's in Photos with VLC. You have to (try to) copy videos from one app to another so you have several copies of the same video. That's just plain stupid."

Personally, I wouldn't have trusted iOS + Photos app for importing thousands of images from SD card. Besides, I've always found the native Photos app awful for organizing pictures. Given how restrictive iOS is, I guess it's just instinct for me not to use iOS for tasks better served by an operating system with file system access. Mind, when I bought my first iPad (2011), I already knew about the sand boxing and no file system access. For one thing, I've had an iPhone since the original. For another, that's the most common complaint I've seen in Android vs iOS discussions.

 

[sparksd]

Ah, misunderstood the part about your devices choking when importing from SD. I thought that had been an ongoing problem. You did write this:

"A third-party SD card reader and app can show me the names of photo and video files on an SD card but i'OS can't or won't. Every app seems to "sandbox" its files so you can't get to a video that's in Photos with VLC. You have to (try to) copy videos from one app to another so you have several copies of the same video. That's just plain stupid."

Personally, I wouldn't have trusted iOS + Photos app for importing thousands of images from SD card. Besides, I've always found the native Photos app awful for organizing pictures. Given how restrictive iOS is, I guess it's just instinct for me not to use iOS for tasks better served by an operating system with file system access. Mind, when I bought my first iPad (2011), I already knew about the sand boxing and no file system access. For one thing, I've had an iPhone since the original. For another, that's the most common complaint I've seen in Android vs iOS discussions.

I was tied in to LibbyLA's thread on the import issue and the problem is that every 101'st image was being missed, so if you had 210 images, two were not imported. The problem isn't with thousands of imports at a time.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ader-loses-1-of-photos.2122077/#post-26141188

I think the Photo's app sucks and I don't use it but that is a pretty fundamental and serious problem and it amazes me that Apple missed it in its testing.

 

[Clix Pix]

The way I handle importing images to my iPads or iPhone is to set up a folder on the Mac’s desktop, put any images that I want in there, arranged appropriately in folders and categories, and then sync the iPads to that by plugging them into the machine and firing up iTunes. Works for me....

I don’t use Photos (nor its predecessor iPhoto) and instead import images from the memory card (CF or SD) via a card reader into a folder on the desktop, which I then sort through and cull before moving images that I am actually going to process into Aperture (yes, I’m still using Aperture!). When on the rare occasion I do some shooting on my iPhone, I plug it into the computer and transfer all the images from Camera Roll via Image Capture into the computer and again sort through and cull them before doing anything else.

 

[sparksd]

The way I handle importing images to my iPads or iPhone is to set up a folder on the Mac’s desktop, put any images that I want in there, arranged appropriately in folders and categories, and then sync the iPads to that by plugging them into the machine and firing up iTunes. Works for me....

I don’t use Photos (nor its predecessor iPhoto) and instead import images from the memory card (CF or SD) via a card reader into a folder on the desktop, which I then sort through and cull before moving images that I am actually going to process into Aperture (yes, I’m still using Aperture!). When on the rare occasion I do some shooting on my iPhone, I plug it into the computer and transfer all the images from Camera Roll via Image Capture into the computer and again sort through and cull them before doing anything else.

I always transfer to a Windows laptop myself but in the case above, LibbyLA does not have that option and wanted to import directly from SD cards into an iPad - which you should be able to do without concern that images will be completely missed.

 

[Clix Pix]

I always transfer to a Windows laptop myself but in the case above, LibbyLA does not have that option and wanted to import directly from SD cards into an iPad - which you should be able to do without concern that images will be completely missed.

Actually, LibbyLA does not mention whether or not she has access to other devices -- i.e., either a Mac or a Windows machine -- so we don't know whether or not the option of using a computer is available to her. I suspect that it actually is, though......

 

[sparksd]

Actually, LibbyLA does not mention whether or not she has access to other devices -- i.e., either a Mac or a Windows machine -- so we don't know whether or not the option of using a computer is available to her. I suspect that it actually is, though......

In the thread I linked to he mentions that a laptop is not an option he can use in his field application.

 

[LibbyLA]

Ah, misunderstood the part about your devices choking when importing from SD. I thought that had been an ongoing problem. You did write this:

"A third-party SD card reader and app can show me the names of photo and video files on an SD card but i'OS can't or won't. Every app seems to "sandbox" its files so you can't get to a video that's in Photos with VLC. You have to (try to) copy videos from one app to another so you have several copies of the same video. That's just plain stupid."

Personally, I wouldn't have trusted iOS + Photos app for importing thousands of images from SD card. Besides, I've always found the native Photos app awful for organizing pictures. Given how restrictive iOS is, I guess it's just instinct for me not to use iOS for tasks better served by an operating system with file system access. Mind, when I bought my first iPad (2011), I already knew about the sand boxing and no file system access. For one thing, I've had an iPhone since the original. For another, that's the most common complaint I've seen in Android vs iOS discussions.

The iPP 9.7 was my first iOS device. I'd had no desire to own one until I thought about the form factor for viewing pics. The ASK was a nice bonus and I like the form factor.

I use the iPad for importing, viewing, and favoriting, not for organizing. The Photos app works great for scrubbing through a bunch of photos (most of which I don't want to keep), "favoriting" the few I do want to keep (typically 300-400 of 10-20K). I transfer the favorites to my Windows desktop (where they are organized into folders by date) then wipe all the photos off the iPad. (These are trail camera photos. Most cards have from 150 to a little over a thousand pics on them, most in sequences of 3 or 5. I don't have to look at many pics closely to determine whether they are keepers or not.)

I have used a 13" Windows laptop, a Surface Pro 3, a Surface 3. All of those are too big, not to mention the "joy" of dragging and dropping with either track pad or touch when riding in a bouncy pickup truck. The Dell 8" Windows tablet was too small.

I haven't tried Android, but I think dragging and dropping would be the same PITA.

The ease of "scrubbing" through hundreds or thousands of pics, stopping on the ones that look interesting and viewing those in more detail, then "favoriting" the ones I want to keep, is the least annoying way that I have found to go through a ton of photos. It's so much faster than clicking or flicking from one to the next like I have to do in Windows (and probably Android). It cuts way down on the time I spend, which is important to me since dealing with photos takes hours each time we run cameras.

I know it sounds weird to use an iPad the way I do, but for that one task, the experience is far better and easier than with anything else that I've tried. I've learned to adjust to the other things that bug me. I've just now realized that if I move the "last import" photos to a temp album, I can easily delete everything from temp (to clean off the iPad) once I've transferred the favorites to the Windows desktop.

I think that Apple will fix the missing photos problem now that they are aware of it. I'm probably far from the only one who has experienced it but most people would never notice. I just happen to be curious and detail-oriented and I have the programming skills to be able to ferret out the differences in the photos on the card vs. the photos that were imported. Apple tech support has confirmed the problem, the tech support guy seemed very concerned.

For now, I'll import the photos, then manually check the ones that I know are missing using the other card reader. I won't have many SD cards the next time we run cameras and maybe the problem will be resolved by the time we get more cameras out in the field.
[doublepost=1528854237][/doublepost]

In the thread I linked to he mentions that a laptop is not an option he can use in his field application.

She.... (Libby for Elizabeth)

 

[sparksd]

The iPP 9.7 was my first iOS device. I'd had no desire to own one until I thought about the form factor for viewing pics. The ASK was a nice bonus and I like the form factor.

I use the iPad for importing, viewing, and favoriting, not for organizing. The Photos app works great for scrubbing through a bunch of photos (most of which I don't want to keep), "favoriting" the few I do want to keep (typically 300-400 of 10-20K). I transfer the favorites to my Windows desktop (where they are organized into folders by date) then wipe all the photos off the iPad. (These are trail camera photos. Most cards have from 150 to a little over a thousand pics on them, most in sequences of 3 or 5. I don't have to look at many pics closely to determine whether they are keepers or not.)

I have used a 13" Windows laptop, a Surface Pro 3, a Surface 3. All of those are too big, not to mention the "joy" of dragging and dropping with either track pad or touch when riding in a bouncy pickup truck. The Dell 8" Windows tablet was too small.

I haven't tried Android, but I think dragging and dropping would be the same PITA.

The ease of "scrubbing" through hundreds or thousands of pics, stopping on the ones that look interesting and viewing those in more detail, then "favoriting" the ones I want to keep, is the least annoying way that I have found to go through a ton of photos. It's so much faster than clicking or flicking from one to the next like I have to do in Windows (and probably Android). It cuts way down on the time I spend, which is important to me since dealing with photos takes hours each time we run cameras.

I know it sounds weird to use an iPad the way I do, but for that one task, the experience is far better and easier than with anything else that I've tried. I've learned to adjust to the other things that bug me. I've just now realized that if I move the "last import" photos to a temp album, I can easily delete everything from temp (to clean off the iPad) once I've transferred the favorites to the Windows desktop.

I think that Apple will fix the missing photos problem now that they are aware of it. I'm probably far from the only one who has experienced it but most people would never notice. I just happen to be curious and detail-oriented and I have the programming skills to be able to ferret out the differences in the photos on the card vs. the photos that were imported. Apple tech support has confirmed the problem, the tech support guy seemed very concerned.

For now, I'll import the photos, then manually check the ones that I know are missing using the other card reader. I won't have many SD cards the next time we run cameras and maybe the problem will be resolved by the time we get more cameras out in the field.
[doublepost=1528854237][/doublepost]

She.... (Libby for Elizabeth)

Apologies.

 

[LibbyLA]

The way I handle importing images to my iPads or iPhone is to set up a folder on the Mac’s desktop, put any images that I want in there, arranged appropriately in folders and categories, and then sync the iPads to that by plugging them into the machine and firing up iTunes. Works for me....

I don’t use Photos (nor its predecessor iPhoto) and instead import images from the memory card (CF or SD) via a card reader into a folder on the desktop, which I then sort through and cull before moving images that I am actually going to process into Aperture (yes, I’m still using Aperture!). When on the rare occasion I do some shooting on my iPhone, I plug it into the computer and transfer all the images from Camera Roll via Image Capture into the computer and again sort through and cull them before doing anything else.

I currently have a Windows desktop at home, along with a 13" Windows laptop, three Windows tablets, and several Android devices. However, when I'm dealing with the SD cards, I am at our camp, where we have no electricity unless we run a generator, or I'm riding in one of three bouncy pickup trucks. I have tried all four Windows portables, plus one I had before, in laptop and tablet modes, and the experience sucks.

I don't want the photos on the iPad. I use the iPad for viewing and selecting photos and when I get home, I transfer the "keepers" to the desktop and wipe them off the iPad.
[doublepost=1528854652][/doublepost]

Apologies.

Not a problem. I'm bigger than most guys, have really short hair, and wear jeans and men's shirts most of the time because that's what fits. I get called "sir" more than I care to admit .

 

[Coolpher]

I have had the second GEN 12.9 iPad Pro since launch on T-Mobile previously having the first GEN on Verizon up till then and before I upgraded to iPhone x I was planning on keeping this second GEN 12.9 pro now if they come out with a iPhone X version of iPad Pro Meaning it has no home button and with Face ID etc. I will use the jump feature in T-Mobile and trade up to that new iPad Pro