The iPad is a productivity failure.
>> POV—you tried selecting text with a mouse on an iPad
Apple’s efforts have been monumental in trying to push the perception that an iPad is a full laptop replacement. However, these efforts seem to be entirely in vain. Because despite the narrative they are trying to push, the iPad is still a convoluted mess that hampers real productivity.
What is productivity to me? Sheets, docs, writing for my blog and book, and sometimes simultaneously. The iPad does not handle these things well. Can it do it? Yes. Does it do it in an efficient, non-frustrating way? Absolutely not.
I stand in awe at the mish-mash of Frankenstein hardware and software that Apple puts into their tablet devices. Bar none, they look up to no one when comparing their hardware. But as a productivity device, it needs software with the same level of prestige to make that hardware useful.
The biggest pain point is that butchered thing they call a cursor. It is a huge circle with zero precision. Truly, Apple invented the greatest ruler to measure human suffering. The fact that it is so difficult to drag to select text, select within a word to fix a typo, or stop it from getting hitched to every button you accidentally hover over, is insane.
They released an update recently promising an option to make the cursor behave more like a sane desktop would. When I heard this, I was elated. I hated the cursor more than anything in the OS. So when I downloaded the update and saw that beautiful pointed arrow of a cursor, I knew life was going to be okay. That was—until I realized it was the same fucking thing, just with a different skin.
All of the previous issues were still here. While it seems like they toned down the magnetization a little bit, I still cannot select within a word to delete an extra letter across the OS. When I wanted to drag to select a word, I had to long-press the word, then move the little tabs it provides as if I was using my nasty stump fingers. Absolute insanity.
I’ve recently acquired an Android tablet and my God, the difference is amazing. The cursor functions like a cursor. I can eat, breathe, and sleep once again. Android has its own qualms, but being a better laptop replacement tablet is NOT one of them.
I didn’t even go into the other issues I have with the iPad OS, but it’s plainly obvious Apple is scared to eat into their MacBook sales by giving their tablets more juice in their software.
I also want to be clear: the iPad is quite possibly the best tablet you can buy. That is—if you want it for entertainment, or if you’re an artist who utilizes the Apple Pencil. I even would recommend it to most people, outside of the few who want actual productivity or some Android-specific features (like installing outside the App Store).
Apple, please fix your shit.
/squawk <~
by untitled_operator