I am not going
to get into why I dislike iOS devices. This is simply an unbiased and objective
look at Apple’s largest tablet, the recently unveiled iPad Pro.
The Good
Display/Screen
It has a larger
screen: 12.9 inches. Also there are more pixels. Not that I am impressed by
that sort of thing. Personally, 720p is more than adequate for mobile hand held
devices; 1080p at the most. Anything higher is superfluous. But that’s another
matter.
Speakers
It has 4
speakers. That’s nice. I don’t know how well they sound but even if they are
really good, I would still prefer headphones. And as this is being labeled as
an enterprise device, I think headphones are more essential. I have personally
bought headphones for other colleagues out of my own pocket just so they can
stop disturbing the peace. While on the subject, I find it puzzling that OEMs
see it fit to ship phones with headphones but for some mysterious reason,
refuse to do so for tablets and laptops. I don’t know of any tablet that ships
with headphones. – I stand to be corrected.
Processor
It also has a
newer and faster processor – the A9X.
However, until a paradigm shift occurs, most processors for mainstream
computing devices (desktop and mobile) are already quite fast. Like automotive
horsepower, any speed increments in newer processors are to most users,
perceived rather than observed.
The Bad
No Built-in
Stand
It also doesn't
have a built-in stand. It is for this reason that I prefer the Microsoft
Surface series of tablets to the likes of cheaper and equally capable tablets
like the Dell Venue 11.
No USB Port
Many are calling
the #iPadPro a proper enterprise device but the fact that it has no USB port is
to me, an inexcusable omission and is indeed, for now, a requisite component
for mobile enterprise devices.
No Backlit
Keyboard
This will be
less of an issue because other accessory manufacturers like Logitech will
surely make one.
The Ugly
The Stylus
Forget that
Apple has christened the iPad Pro’s writing/drawing accessory as as the Pencil.
Let’s call it what it is – a stylus. The stylus is the real fly in the
ointment. In one word: bewildering. Why does it need a battery? It doesn’t seem
to be capable of anything the styluses of the Microsoft Surface and Samsung
Galaxy Note devices aren’t capable of. Even then, the battery lasts for only an
hour. It would even have been a bit better if the tablet had a built-in space to
charge the stylus when not in use alà Samsung Galaxy Note series (sans
charging). Though, like I said, I don't know why it needs a battery in the
first place.
And as MKBHD pointed out, plugging
the stylus into the tablet to charge it will surely make it very easy to break.
Furthermore, unless the stylus can bend and rotate at the point after the
connector (and no mention has been made of that), it seems the only safe place
to charge it is in a Lightning Dock. And since the battery lasts for only an
hour, you would have to tote a dock everywhere you go. And this is supposed to
be a mobile device. Plugging it into the tablet makes the tablet itself near
unusable and unsightly.
Also, the cap
that covers the stylus's lightning connector is also likely to be lost. Though
since Lightning charging cables have that end exposed anyway, losing it cap
will only be an aesthetic problem and not a functional one.
Now, Sir
Jonathan Ive likes to stand in front of every hardware design (and now user
interface) that comes out of Apple. That being the case, it only seems
appropriate that he takes the flak for the iPad Pro's stylus. Its execution is horrible.
The idea for how it has been executed should never have left the labs.
With all
respect, it also shows Tim Cook's shortcomings. I assume nothing gets released
or unveiled without his approval and yet he approved this stylus with its
clumsy charging mechanism. I've said it before that that the problems
bedeviling Apple Maps were his
fault and no one else's.
All in all, the
iPad Pro is simply a larger iPad and nothing more. Comparing it to the likes of
the Microsoft Surface 3 series is just wrong. They are not in the same league. However,
the emergence of the iPad Pro has caused me to revisit the idea of what
features or attributes qualify a device as pro or enterprise. Such features
include full compatibility with and the ability to run desktop software (in
this case, OS X) and that’s something iOS9 just can’t do. This in turn brings
another problem to the fore. Mobile devices are (for now) better with
touchscreens and OS X isn’t designed for touch. So Apple will either fully redesign
OS X or continue down the path of Continuity and Handoff. The former seems the
better choice.
Update 17 September 2015
It seems the touchscreen of the iPad Pro doesn't use an active digitizer; hence the need for the battery-powered stylus. Activer digitizers are a superior technology. Part of its advantages is palm rejection. I recall that the first iPad Mini had some form of palm rejection and so I assumed the screen had an active digitizer. All iPads apparently use normal digitizers. Even then a battery-powered stylus such as the Intuos
Creative Stylus 2 is stated to last for 26 hours but it's also considerably bigger than Apple's. So the question is why did Apple not use a touchscreen with an active digitizer?
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