I’ve been using two iPad Pros over the last week, trying to see which one I will end up going with for my next iPad. As much as I want to “settle” for the iPad Baby Pro, I keep coming back to the Big Pro, for a variety or reasons. With that in mind, here are a few nifty things I learned about using both iPads in the context of a primary work device.
1. TextExpander rocks
Textexpander really rocks on the iOS - as long as you’re working in an app that supports it, like the awesome Textastic editor for iPad that I’m typing this up on right now. It’s super easy, for example, to use the same “input-required” snippets I use on my Mac to fill out the post headings in Jekyll. Typing in that abbreviation simply shunts me to TextExpander momentarily, where I fill in the blanks on the form I set up for this. Once I hit “Done,” it then sends the fully formed snippet back to Textastic. Normal non-interactive snippets fill in immediately, which makes blogging or writing documentation super-easy with Textexpander.
2. Github is awesome with Working Copy
Anders Borum’s Working Copy Enterprise is a kick-ass Git client for iOS; in addition to the standard support for Github, it also connects to Git Enterprise, Bitbucket, or custom Git repos. I use it to blog with Github pages, and I’ve yet to encounter something that had me reaching for my Macbook, so I’m pretty happy with it.
3. Apple’s Smart Keyboard covers are awesome… to a point
Apple make Smart Keyboard covers for both the Big and the Baby Pro. Both are awesome keyboards;, even the Baby Pro’s keyboard, which has less surface area and is therefore smaller than a standard keyboard. The Baby Pro’s keyboard can feel a bit cramped, but only takes a few minutes to get used to, after which you’re flying.
Where things don’t go over so well is on the Big Pro’s keyboard. It’s large and somewhat unweidly, especially when you fold it back and try to use the iPad Big Pro one-handed. In your right hand, you’re able to press the loose keyboard end of the cover against the back of the iPad, and things are relatively steady, if a bit awkward thanks to the additional thickness and heft of the keyboard. In your left hand, however, the keyboard is out of reach and the magnets on the Big Pro aren’t powerful enough to hold the cover against the back of the Big Pro, so it flaps loose.
Honestly, this isn’t a fault; the size of the Big Pro’s keyboard is unavoidable and I do think Apple have made it as light and thin as I’ve seen any keyboard, but because it’s foldable, it’s not as rigid. Still, I’d rather have it than not.
4. The battery widget is very useful
Okay, to be fair, I don’t need to know what the battery level of my Pencil is, but having it is nice nonetheless.
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Yeah, I don’t have much to say about that. It’s cool. It’s usefull. Lets me see my Pencil battery level right in the Notifications Center.
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Right, moving along…
5. Handwriting is amazing
I’m the kind of person that likes to write in notebooks to flesh out thoughts in my head. With an app like OneNote, I can now have my written and sketched ideas right there in the same page as neatly typed thoughts that come from my stream of consciousness. It’s a win-win that has me firmly convinced I need an iPad Pro; at this point, it isn’t a question of “if,” just a question of “which one.”
6. Panic make nice apps
Venerable Mac app makers Panic make some great software for iOS too. My two favorites are Prompt (SSH client) and Transmit (SFTP client).
Transmit is actually much more than an SFTP client, however, and I’ve only just started to tap into the true power of this app. Here’s what Panic have to say about Transmit.
The first cool thing: in iOS 8 (and later), the system Share sheet can be extended by apps. So when viewing a photo, if you hit the Share button, you’ll see a brand-new choice: Transmit. That photo can be instantly sent to your own private file server, website, or S3 bucket. Second, Apple added an extensible Document Picker, enabling Transmit to extend the open & save capabilities of other apps. That lets you open files directly off servers for editing. And when you save, changes go back to your server, too. It’s seamless. Third-party apps will be upgraded to support this soon. In short, the time for Transmit iOS had arrived. I’ve already used Transmit to get some .gz and .zip files off to an AWS server; without Transmit, that would have been a far trickier proposition. I can honestly say that Transmit has become an integral part of my workflow.
7. Side-by-side multitasking is ridiculously usefull
Until I started using the iPad for more “serious” work, I hadn’t given the newer iOS 9-style multitasking much of a workout. Since I started, it’s been an incalculable asset. Admittedly, things are better on the iPad Big Pro, but even on the Baby Pro, it’s super useful to be able to pull up Working Copy in a side window to quickly import an image and check on a filename, or to grab something from 1Password, or a half-dozen other things. If I end up going with the Baby Pro, it won’t be as comfortable as the Big Pro, where I could leave two apps up side-by-side all the time; on the Baby Pro, the second app just comes up long enough to get what I want and then I close it. Still, the Baby Pro isn’t unusable for multitasking by any measure; in fact, it’s part of what’s letting me use the iPad for “serious” work.
8. Leveraging cloud tech to compensate for local storage is much more viable.
I use Box as my primary cloud storage, and because the Box iOS app is a full-fledged Document Provider, I can actually work with and save back files to my Box account. This means that I minimize local storage; whereas I can’t work with anything smaller than a 512GB SSD on any of my Macs, I’ve yet to encounter any warnings on this 32GB iPad. Of course, that tiny drive will fill up nicely once I sync some video to watch on BART/Caltrain, or get a bit too crazy saving magazine issues or other documents, but my 128GB Air never ran out of room, so I suspect that tier will be fine for me when I upgrade. — So that’s what I’ve encountered so far. My Big vs. Baby choice is still pending, since I can’t bring myself to give up the large scren of the Big Pro, yet love the portability of the Baby Pro. Having the larger canvas of the Big Pro is often way more comfortable than the small one, not to mention the full-size keyboard does feel more comfortable.
Yet having the large screen isn’t going to be particularly useful if I don’t reach for it as often as I reach for the Baby Pro right now. The Big Pro is anything but discreet; pull it out to do anything with it and it gets noticed. Pull out a Pencil and start writing on it in the middle of a meeting and it’s as far from subtle as you get. It kind of makes me feel like the Glassholes of yesteryear, and that’s a factor that may eventually discourage me from using it as much.
Portability matters in this case, and I’m trying very hard to not let the large size of the Big Pro dissuade me from reaching for it as often as I need to. Once I start using it, I’m reminded of just how much I enjoy doing work on it.
Yet when it comes to using the iPad Big Pro for non-productivity tasks, like reading books and magazines, watching videos, etc., the Baby Pro wins by a decent margin. Magazines look a bit “off” when viewed on the larger screen of the Big Pro, especially if they haven’t been up-rezzed yet. If the video you’re watching is lower-than-HD, which you encounter often on YouTube or when streaming something over a less-than-stellar connection, or an old DVD rip made at 480p, it really shows on the iPad. And forget taking that thing to bed; it’s just not comfortable.
If I needed a laptop replacement, I think it’d be an easier choice. The Big Pro would win hands-down and I’d just deal with its shortcomings as a personal entertainment device (yes, I realize how peevish that sounds). But I don’t want to resort to using my iPad Mini in place of my old Air 2 for reading magazines and watching 480p video, so the Baby Pro has gained back much of the edge it had lost.
Then there’s cost; for every storage tier, you go down $200 with the Baby Pro. That’s not bad, especially when you realize that I’m looking at a $1500+ price tag for a Big Pro, Pencil, Keyboard, AppleCare, and tax. That is not an insignificant amount.
That said, I have another week of constant use to decide on which way to go. I’m waiting eagerly for a OneNote update that adds Pencil and Touch Drawing support to the Baby Pro. I’m not particularly optimistic of an update to Texture and other magazine apps that take better advantage of the Big Pro’s extra screen real estate, however. That’s a pity, because I think the Big Pro can actually be better suited for magazine reading. It’s likely just too much of a niche device dedicated to satisfying artists and those looking to replace a Mac with an iOS device, something that I do see as definitely viable for certain groups of users.
I’ll check back towards the end of the return period for the Baby Pro; if I decide to go with it, I’m definitely swapping this out for a 128GB LTE version. If I decide to go with the Big Pro, well, that will be a much more expensive proposition, so we’ll see :-)