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I’m taking a short trip so, on a whim, I’m using an iPad+keyboard as my ‘computer’. There is clearly a need to ‘get with the program’ and learn all of the proper tricks but I have to say, the overall experience is quite horrible.
Text editing using the trackpad is tedious, the browser often defaults to the ‘mobile site’, using Safari-in-Chrome sucks, and iPhone apps don’t use the full screen so feel very odd, and it just occasionally locks up?
It’s all survivable, I’ll learn to cope but… why?
Honestly, a ChromeBook (which I’ll admit has limits) would be a far superior device for this type of light travel work (email, social media, word processing, and video conferencing)
Even an entry level MacBook Air would be the same price as this setup, which could do even more. The king has no clothes…
@scottjenson I swapped my 10yo iPad Mini for a more recent base model this spring and traveled with that + an old non-recommended bluetooth Apple keyboard and…I think it’s a great setup if you want to pare down your usage to a few things—because outside of those the experience is terrible. Zotero, Obsidian, and Books were all great, but text editing remains awful on iOS—the worst part of the whole experience.
@scottjenson (Crucially, I spent only $250 on the new iPad when my ancient one ceased to load anything, which made the economics appealing for a travel rig—I can’t justify a laptop these days.)
@kissane can't argue with that! For basic survivability I agree with you that's a great price/value combination
@kissane @scottjenson what apps are you using for text editing? I swear by @ia iA Writer on iPad, plus standard Apple iPad keyboard, to push out a lot of words.
@luis_in_brief @kissane @ia WRT text, it's not about the apps themselves, which are fine, but the low level issues with editing the text. Placing the cursor, selecting text, etc. I've written about this previously (https://jenson.org/text)
It's just far different from the desktop experience.
But more than that, the entire experience has been buggy, the keyboard goes dead, the trackpad doesn't register taps or the entire os just freezes. Very odd
@scottjenson @luis_in_brief Yeah, it's the built-in affordances that are the problem, alas.
(It honestly sounds like a 15-year-old bluetooth keyboard might be better than the purpose-built iPad one, though it pops up a warning whenever I connect it.)
@scottjenson I find myself relying heavily on keyboard commands for working with text. Shift + arrow keys for selection, option arrows for jumping words, etc.
@scottjenson @luis_in_brief @kissane @ia I enjoyed your linked post but it's focused on touch-based editing and doesn't really fit the iPad/keyboard/trackpad combination.
What you seem to be saying is that you're somewhat new to, or unpracticed with, an iPad and attached keyboard/trackpad. iPadOS is a bit different and there are subtle differences in experience, like anything in life it gets easier with practice.
I've not had a problem with the bugs you describe.
@dennyhenke it has everything to do with touch-based editing. Slapping a trackpad on top doesn't affect the underlying problems
@scottjenson @dennyhenke Also it's not just *possible* for interfaces to be bad in ways that are obvious even to less practiced users, it's usually the case that newer users are best source of data on usability problems.
"Use it more and it won't be a problem" is a fine coping mechanism for end users stuck with a system, but the opposite orientation from UX research.
@kissane @dennyhenke so, you thought subtooting just made more sense than actually engaging on the issue? Baller move
@scottjenson @kissane Your post was interesting so I wrote about it on my blog. Is that subtooting? I did engage with you this morning but Mastodon is restricted to 500 characters and I wanted to write more than that so I posted it on my blog. Is that not fairly common?
@dennyhenke if you're going to use my name in your post, it's just polite to use my handle so I at least know you're talking about me (and your followers can find me as well).
@scottjenson Ah, yeah, I see, gotcha. I have micro.blog set to cross post to Mastodon. It doesn't tag/link handles but just posts an excerpt with a link and I didn't think to edit the post to tag you. Sorry about that. The original post on the blog links to you twice, I'll edit the Mastodon post to add a proper link to your handle. Thanks for the correction.
@scottjenson I do not personally subscribe to the myth of the iPad as a productivity machine — unless your workflow is more art-focused, the interfaces for text-based workflows just aren't there.
@scottjenson It’s not great for native web apps, as you are experiencing. I had better luck with native apps over the years. The trackpad case is, I agree, unpleasant. I ignore the trackpad. Instead, I tend to use the keyboard first. It’s faster to switch apps, search, and trigger actions in native apps (revealed by ⌘).
A few years ago (before the M1 won me back to laptops), I used to plug a nice mechanical keyboard into my iPad. For “mouse” functions, I would use the touchscreen (or suffer).