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What would make your iPad a real Pro?

El_Capitan

El_Capitan

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 16, 2015
47
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I love using my iPad but to make it a real Pro machine I would need it to do some things that can be done only on my Mac as of now.

For instance - I would love to have Xcode on my iPad, the ability to use it for coding would be really awesome.

I know everyone has different needs so I'm wondering what yours might be? What do you need your iPad to do in order to have it become a true computer replacement?
 
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I see some of you posted about the mouse support. Personally, I don’t miss it. Wouldn’t pencil work fine instead of a mouse?
 
Mainly a well designed and efficient file manager. I would prefer the iPad kept its distinctiveness. As Steve Jobs is reputed to have said, there is a space for a middle device - between the phone and the desktop. I find that I enjoy using the iPad in precisely that way.
 
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El_Capitan said:
I see some of you posted about the mouse support. Personally, I don’t miss it. Wouldn’t pencil work fine instead of a mouse?
Click to expand...
Depends on the task. I think fingers are the default, most practical input for 50% of my work. That's why i like my iPad and use it. Pencil is great and better than anything else when drawing or doing photo editing. However, a mouse is better than anything else when the screen is vertical (like when using a smart keyboard) and for tasks like word processing, data input (excel) and data analysis. A mac cannot be that versatile, but an iPad could. It could be the perfect travel device and the implementation would require minimal work, unlike making Mac OS touchscreen-friendly
 
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I personally think the pro could evolve.

The pro could become the equivalent of the surface for example.

In time it could evolve to run osx with a usb-C port that will allow a hub much like the new MacBook Pro.

keep iPads as it still has it's place but the pro could become an osx tablet in time.

I highly doubt this will EVER happen though.
 
Full-featured apps like Office. Word is gimped in unexplainable ways with regards to ToC support and editing styles.

Pages the same way.

Not many of the problems I have are on Apple or iOS, but developers. For example, I'm waiting for OneDrive to support the Files app. Today's update doesn't include that support.
 
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Having been an iPad convert and then going back to the Mac as my main productivity machine, I guess for me what I want is iOS for the iPad to be a much more closer relative to macOS for the reasons why Mac heads love macOS: the fluidity of tasks but also the obscure and esoteric tasks themselves. I'd want more macOS apps ported over to iOS (Preview, Color Meter, Automator) with their corresponding features. I often use Keynote but the iOS counterpart isn't as feature-rich. Photos is a great example. Photos on iOS lacks the editing tools found in the Mac app, and it lacks creation support. I might be the only one but I do use the Photos app to create cards and photo albums for special occasions but iOS doesn't have this feature (and Apple dropped the Cards app). And my main productivity app is Pages and despite the multi-touch features, editing on glass display isn't nearly as fast, fluid, and easy as using a trackpad. Or consider iTunes editing. Easy on the Mac but trying to edit a playlist on iOS is too cumbersome.

macOS feels like home because of nostalgia but also because of its more esoteric features like Substitutions or even browsing through an app's content packages for whatever reason. It's funny, the iPad more than any Windows machine I've used makes macOS feel so valuable as a creativity/productivity tool. And yet I do want to ditch the Mac (or at least the MacBook). The iPad has a superior display, (True Tone is definitely a feature I cared nothing about during the Keynote but after using it, it's a valuable addition), runs Apple's A-series chips, has better mobility (bathroom use is easier), supports LTE, supports Apple Pencil.

Drag and drop is a good first step for the iPad being a "pro" machine. Other than complete UI overhauls for certain apps, I'd like to see contextual menus next. I think iOS in general could benefit from macOS-like context menus but the iPad desperately needs context menus.

And one last ironic observation: I completely trashed the idea of full-screen spaces for the Mac but full-screen app experience on MacOS feels more natural, easier, and productive than on the iPad.
 
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I already use mine as a work machine (prompted by ios11) and do most of my work on it. I use as a hybrid. I love using fully as a touch device when I can. Sometimes when doing lots of typing or I need all the screen real estate, I add a keyboard. When I add keyboard I’d love to have a mouse, as touching the screen when vertical isn’t nearly as natural. And some actions suck without a mouse. Again though, I want to use my iPad primarily as a touch device; would just like to have the other options, like a surface pro.

Here’s my wants in order of importance:
1. Mouse support for reasons explained above.
2. Real file system. (Files app is a good first step but just go all the way. Make it just like MacOS)
3. More pro app development.
4. Better text editing when using device as touch screen only.
5. Improve voice to text dictation. I have an android phone and it’s far superior in this regard. I end up doing way too many corrections when using it on my iPad. That being said, this is a great option for text input when it works.
6. Expand the slide out windowed app feature. Would love to have 2 instead of 1. Or maybe 3.
7. Allow multiple windows of the same app in split or full screen. My OnePlus phone does this and it’s brilliant.
 
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From the sound of it, people want Macs, not iPads. Luckily, Apple also sells Macs.

To me, it would be better if Apple revert to iOS10 style side-by-side. The way it is in iOS11 is very confusing, and there's no easy way to quickly glance into supported app via slide over. My productivity level on my iPad mini 2 with iOS11 has dropped because I can no longer do a quick slide over for apps like email, messages, etc. I have to go back to the home screen, find those apps, run it, go back to my previous apps, then drag the app from the dock. It's pure insanity, when it's as easy as finding the app on the slide over selection screen on iOS10.
 
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Final Cut Pro and true Adobe Applications. Mouse support is pointless with an Apple Pencil (no pun intended)... but it wouldn’t hurt to have it for those who use mice. (They’re just so much less accurate than a Pencil.)
Also a real file system and more RAM (yes even for iOS I want 8GB minimum) and a better Smart Keyboard wouldn’t hurt.
Honestly they took a huge step in the right direction with iOS 11, but they need to further differentiate the iPad line from the iPhone. Apple needs to add in more Mac OS features... (not a clone of Mac OS, that’d suck) no they need to make iPad’s iOS a true hybrid. They should separate the OS from all their devices except iPhone and iPod. Apple already markets the iPad that way so they just need to pull the trigger and fully commit to doing so.
TV OS
Watch OS
Mac OS
iOS
We need...Pro OS. ;)


Kallum.
 
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pika2000 said:
To me, it would be better if Apple revert to iOS10 style side-by-side. The way it is in iOS11 is very confusing, and there's no easy way to quickly glance into supported app via slide over. My productivity level on my iPad mini 2 with iOS11 has dropped because I can no longer do a quick slide over for apps like email, messages, etc. I have to go back to the home screen, find those apps, run it, go back to my previous apps, then drag the app from the dock. It's pure insanity, when it's as easy as finding the app on the slide over selection screen on iOS10.
Click to expand...

There is no need to open the second app first and then go via the dock. Just grab the icon and while still holding it open your first app again (just tap on its icon with your other hand or finger or swipe up for the app switcher). If it‘s just one app you want to glance at now and then use the slide-over view and push it out on the right side of the screen when you don‘t need it. Then you can swipe from the right edge to get it back on screen.
 
s7q said:
There is no need to open the second app first and then go via the dock. Just grab the icon and while still holding it open your first app again (just tap on its icon with your other hand or finger or swipe up for the app switcher). If it‘s just one app you want to glance at now and then use the slide-over view and push it out on the right side of the screen when you don‘t need it. Then you can swipe from the right edge to get it back on screen.
Click to expand...
But you still need to go to the home screen right? And what if the app is in a folder?
The implementation in iOS10 to me is better as I didn't need to even leave the first app.
 
pika2000 said:
But you still need to go to the home screen right? And what if the app is in a folder?
The implementation in iOS10 to me is better as I didn't need to even leave the first app.
Click to expand...
You are right of course, it‘s a bit cumbersome if you use lots of apps. For me it works out, because I have pretty much everything I use on the dock (and I never used IOS10, so I don‘t know what I‘m missing).

Whether or not an app is in a folder doesn‘t really matter for what I described. The only way to open apps that aren‘t on the dock without going to the home screen (at least that I know of) would be if you are using a keyboard, since you can drag apps out of the spotlight search as well. But yeah, let‘s hope they improve this with IOS12.
 
-Option to "Open In" music app for .mp3 files (like seriously, wtf?)
-Recovery mode on the iPad similar to what macs have to restore iOS without a computer
-More 2D/3D CAD app development for iOS
-The ability to run windows on a virtual machine would be nice, but I could do without it if Solidworks would just develop for iOS already...
 
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