firelock

I hung onto my iPhone 6 until just a few weeks ago when I finally bought an X. Wonderful phone. Certainly the best that Apple has produced. However, I paid cash and won’t be upgrading again for several more years I suspect. Apple builds these devices to last so why would I want to upgrade it every year? The last time I updated an Apple device after just one year was when I upgraded to the iPad Pro 10.5 from my less than 1-year-old iPad Pro 9.7. I use my iPad much more than my phone and I felt justified for that reason.

The notes ad is accurate. My iPad Pro 10.5 with Apple Pencil, Smart Keyboard, iOS 11, and GoodNotes 4 has transformed the way that I take notes. The built-in document scanning with the Apple Notes app is also a huge help to my note taking. I tend to use the Apple Notes app for note taking that involves mostly typing. And then I use GoodNotes 4 for my handwritten note taking using Apple Pencil. I do a lot of process schematics for work, and I will now sketch those out in GoodNotes first. Being able to sketch out workflows using the stylus as if I was working on paper, but also being able to make changes easily because it is digital, has truly fulfilled the idea of “digital paper” in my case. Once I get the process worked out on my iPad I’ll redraw the diagrams in PowerPoint on my Mac so that they are clean. I find it easier to build the initial diagram on the desktop, but I frequently make changes to the deck using the PowerPoint app on my iPad. I also prefer presenting the deck (using a projector in a conference room) on my iPad because I can use the Apple Pencil to mark up my diagram like John Madden and also add notes to the diagram as people comment and add input.

I had purchased a Brydge keyboard for my iPad Air a year and a half ago (before I got my iPad Pro). Found that they had a problem with keys making repeated entries (commonly known as sticky keys). I’m a touch typist and type very fast, which may have contributed to the issue with the Brydge keyboard, but I’ve not had this problem with any other keyboard before or after. After the replacement keyboard had the same problem I tried to return the keyboard to get my money back. They gave me the runaround for several months until I got my credit card company involved and THEN they agreed to give me a refund. Caveat emptor.

I am extremely happy with the Apple Smart Keyboard on my iPad Pro. Not having to sync or charge batteries is fantastic, and the keyboard is lightweight and responsive. I’ve tried several third party keyboards for iPad and none are better than Apple’s Smart Keyboard in my opinion.

Gaming has been the biggest missed opportunity on Apple TV. I have two ATV 4s and one ATV 4K, plus an ATV 2 and 3 sitting in drawers, so needless to say I am a fan of ATV and deeply embedded in Apple’s ecosystem. But as the earlier poster mentioned, games on ATV are awful for the most part. There are some stand-out titles like Skyforce Reloaded and Skyforce Anniversary which are both beautiful and work great with the Nimbus controller. In fact I far prefer to play Skyforce on my ATV with a controller than I do with touch controls on my iPad. However, most games are simply conversions of mobile titles that do not translate well to the TV interface. Lara Croft GO, for example, is a great game and while I welcome it’s appearance on ATV, it is far easier to play on a touch screen. The interface was designed for swipes and taps, and trying to do all of this with just your thumb on the ATV remote’s touch pad is both exhausting and frustrating. 

And as the earlier poster mentioned, the vast majority of games in the ATV App Store are of really poor quality. I’m not sure Apple can recover and turn this into something better given how badly they have fumbled with ATV gaming.

I recently sold my iPad Pro 9.7 on eBay and bought a 10.5. Extremely happy with the purchase. This screen size is just about perfect. Additional RAM and processor speed is also noticeable. I use a desktop iMac for most of my professional work including Adobe Photoshop (I'm a professional retoucher) and MS Office, but my iPad is my main portable computer now that I use in meetings and when traveling. I am using the Apple Pencil more and more for note taking, sketching diagrams, and markup. Also a big fan of the Smart Keyboard. Beginning to use my iPad more for light retouching and color correction of photos. About my only complaint is that with the smaller side bezels I occasionally have trouble with "thumb rejection" not working as well as Apple claims. In other words if my thumb is resting partly on the screen I sometimes have issues with the multitouch not responding as expected. It actually took me a little while to figure out what was happening. Now if it seems like the touch screen isn't responding like it should I adjust my grip to make sure my thumb is not touching the screen area.