Impressions After a Few Days of Use

[TheRadBear]

Hi Gang,

I have finally decided to provide my (rough, for now) impressions about using the LTE iPad Pro as my primary, or go-to if you will, device. I will add the following disclaimers:

- This is work-in-progress, so I will be adding more detailed updates at later time;
- As of this writing (November 23, 2015) I do not have the Smart Keyboard & the Pencil, yet - pending shipment;
- I am an avid mobile user; if I can do anything on my mobile device first, I will. I have gone through some roles that required me to sit long hours in front of computer screens; no more of that foolishness - health & wellbeing should be our own first & foremost concern;
- I really like iOS and I want my tablet to be a tablet, not a an OS X machine;

Here we go, then:

1. This is an incredibly powerful/fast device; the Pro's performance has been nothing but a surprise; regardless of I have thrown at it, it maintains fluid and consistently smooth user experience. The apps included only those that have been optimized for the Pro; I have tried some heavy processing ones (iMovie), games (Lumino City & Alto's Adventure);

2. Multitasking with iOS 9 on such huge screen is a real boost to one's productivity. For instance, a moment ago I was editing an html document while viewing an instructional video on lynda.com; being able to implement the changes on the fly, with buttery smooth user interface is an absolute joy. Naturally, while you are at something a quick reply to email is more than doable, even if you are using just a small portion of your screen;

3. The screen(!) is just a pleasure to work with. The inner technical details (like the variable refresh rate) must be doing the difference; my Air's display looks bland compared to the Pro's and the former used to be a test reference model not too long ago;

4. Battery: there is no such thing like too much battery capacity, or too much RAM/storage - let's admit it - we are never going to appreciate it. That being said, I say 10 hours+ doing regular stuff (typing, watching some videos, using multitasking, etc.), easy. I could see this device running whole day and still leaving you around 15-25% of battery power (mind you, have not tried that yet, so this is a ballpark estimate);

5. Some folks have been complaining about the Touch ID; being the first-gen one like the one with iPhone 6, so it "must be" slow. Well, it is not; while it is not as fast like the 6s' unit, it is more than acceptable - I am pleased with it;

6. The on-screen keyboard has a reasonable layout & key spacing. I had no problems adjusting to it;

7. I know that with some users the weight is on the heavy side, especially considering Apple's diligence with reducing both the weight and the footprint of iPad models. I am a fairly big guy and it feels very comfortably in my hands, not on the heavy side;

Lastly, allow me to tell you as to what I typically do with it. First, I type using the on-screen keyboard (for now); I use iA Writer for that (also Pro-optimized). Then I jump into Coda for iOS & some Lynda.com training stuff (I'm on my skill-set upgrade run). Then I browse some news, and retouch my photos that I intend to post via Instagram. I run everything through iCloud (yes, have tried the others). Then, if I have the time, I'll watch a movie, or a documentary. I rarely read books with my iPads, so you'll have to ask someone else if it's fine doing that.

What I have not tested yet is the on-board LTE (will do at later time to test the speeds). Then, I hope to receive the missing accessories (scheduled for delivery between Dec 9 - 16). I feel it's going to be even better.

Alrighty, I think this take is a wrap, for now.

Cheers!

 

[kataran]

Nice Read 🏼

Thanks for sharing your experience with our community

 

[Nursedad]

Appreciate you sharing your experience. Sounds like the Pro is meeting and maybe exceeding all your needs thus far.

I agree with you that the Touch ID is perfectly acceptable, though as you note, not up to 6s speed. Would have been nice if Apple could have included that as a feature...but I'm sure there are only so many of those around.

Looking forward to hearing your experience with the keyboard and pencil. My pencil arrived yesterday and I have to say that it's living up to the hype. I work in a corporate environment and used it yesterday in a few meetings to take notes and annotate documents. A perfect, fluid writing experience.

 

[BobR1908]

It is getting better and better for me. Luckily, knock on wood I have no had any issues such as freezing or powered off after charging like some others. Really loving this Apple product! I think I will invest the $99 for the Apple Care - just for peace of mind. Great initial review, thanks for sharing.

 

[TheRadBear]

It is getting better and better for me. Luckily, knock on wood I have no had any issues such as freezing or powered off after charging like some others. Really loving this Apple product! I think I will invest the $99 for the Apple Care - just for peace of mind. Great initial review, thanks for sharing.

Hey,

Absolutely, $99 and it's so worth it. My recent experience: my Air had collapsed just before its last month of AppleCare+. Now my Son is using a looks-like-new iPad Air replacement of the same specs with me paying $0 ($329 CAD otherwise).

Cheers.

 

[scorpiczech]

Unfortunately, I have experience that out of the box I found a fault in the bottom of the display, around the home button. After touching the display strange she clicked. I therefore claimed the iPad in the APR, and today I received a new piece, which seems to be already without problems

 

[Peligro911]

i agree with everything you said... i really want to try the pencil !

i have noticed the touch ID slower than 6s .. i find it strange considering the specs of the pro are better then the 6S so maybe a software thing.

I had a issue yesterday it told me i had to use my passcode because touch id was not used in 48 hours .. but i used it just the night before maybe 24 hours or less.

Only other thing i wish is that i was able to adjust the screen resolution so the icons were not so big.
This thing is a power house though

 

[TheRadBear]

i agree with everything you said... i really want to try the pencil !

i have noticed the touch ID slower than 6s .. i find it strange considering the specs of the pro are better then the 6S so maybe a software thing.

I had a issue yesterday it told me i had to use my passcode because touch id was not used in 48 hours .. but i used it just the night before maybe 24 hours or less.

Only other thing i wish is that i was able to adjust the screen resolution so the icons were not so big.
This thing is a power house though

Agreed, mate.

With respect to responsiveness of Touch ID, I think it was posted somewhere @iMore that the Touch ID unit in the Pro is the same gen one as the one in iPhone 6, and that is why it is slower than the current 6s' one.

Thanks.

 

[Martholemew]

I am enjoying my iPad Pro. The screen is big, as my son keeps telling me but the unit is not as heavy as expected. I do seem to have issues scrolling through web pages on safari where the screen goes white until I stop and it shows the web page again.

 

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

I am enjoying my iPad Pro. The screen is big, as my son keeps telling me but the unit is not as heavy as expected. I do seem to have issues scrolling through web pages on safari where the screen goes white until I stop and it shows the web page again.

thank you for better explaining my issue. that happens to me too

 

[TechnologyTwitt]

I am enjoying my iPad Pro. The screen is big, as my son keeps telling me but the unit is not as heavy as expected. I do seem to have issues scrolling through web pages on safari where the screen goes white until I stop and it shows the web page again.

Which websites? Also please tell us whether you're on LTE (which carrier, how's the signal?) or WiFi (which one & what's your avg d/l speed?).

 

[TechnologyTwitt]

Here we go, then:

Alrighty, I think this take is a wrap, for now.

Cheers!

Absolutely perfect First Impression.

For me, I'm going to say that so far, right out of the box, the only difference for me is that my daily apps are much more useful to me and I find working in them easier. Why? I've got more room to work with & it's faster than the Air 2 I upgraded from.

Primary apps are - AltaMail (Email), Evernote, Safari & Chrome, GoodNotes, ToDoist and Dropbox.

I just started mind mapping - the app I chose is Simplemind (the name seemed tailored specifically to me). With all the screen real estate to work with, laying out thoughts, actions, etc really helps me keep all the things I need to focus on in perspective.

 

[TheRadBear]

Absolutely perfect First Impression.

For me, I'm going to say that so far, right out of the box, the only difference for me is that my daily apps are much more useful to me and I find working in them easier. Why? I've got more room to work with & it's faster than the Air 2 I upgraded from.

Primary apps are - AltaMail (Email), Evernote, Safari & Chrome, GoodNotes, ToDoist and Dropbox.

I just started mind mapping - the app I chose is Simplemind (the name seemed tailored specifically to me). With all the screen real estate to work with, laying out thoughts, actions, etc really helps me keep all the things I need to focus on in perspective.

Exactly what I have discovered so far - usability boost all the way. As a consequence, the boost in productivity, even compared to my Mac, is really noticeable. The fact I can juggle two things at the same time, especially while reading, or learning new stuff - that's just it, right there! For example, yesterday I was coding some basic stuff while working with a training video, and the very fact how quickly I could implement the changes to the code was amazing.

I am at awe with this device, almost every day; with the right audience, you can do awesome things with it.

Cheers!

 

[Martholemew]

Which websites? Also please tell us whether you're on LTE (which carrier, how's the signal?) or WiFi (which one & what's your avg d/l speed?).

It was on WiFi and for a couple of websites with longer pages, news sites I seem to remember. Now I can't get it to happen at all so I suppose it was memory related. The pages would load but scrolling would just show white until I stopped. Then the content would flash up. This wasn't like loading parts of the page, it was just screen redraw.

 

[TheRadBear]

Hey Gang,

Can't believe it's been nearly six months since I posted this thread; after going through several projects, as well as regular routine, I would like to update my impressions, if I may. DISCLAIMER: this is all personal opinion and my own impressions only, so please take it with a grain of salt here it goes...

THE THINGS I LOVE

1. Apple Pencil: it's super-accurate, feels very sturdy and responsive, as well as allows you for very fine adjustments, most of the time;
2. 12.9" iPad Pro screen: it just screams colours at you; I have been working on a number of design projects and I cannot stress the importance of the quality of this screen;
2. Smart Keyboard: it's designed for a fast-typer like me; I love the layout, shallow key strokes (controversial, I know), and the fact that it folds so nicely. While it is a bit soft and flexible, at its base (precluding it from being a permanent stand, say for a reading session in your bed), it performs admirably well as a desktop setup accessory;

THE THINGS I DID NOT NECESSARILY LOVE

1. Smart Keyboard support: two things I would like to ruminate on, technical issues, & insufficient software support.

First, as an early adopter, I happened to be impacted by this issue. Long story short, the so called App Wheel (or the app switcher, if you will) would start to work erratically not allowing me to pick the application that I wished to switch to. From the technical standpoint, the keyboard would simply drop & reconnect the iPad multiples times making the experience of using specific apps impossible, except for the simple things (iTunes, Notes, etc.). Unfortunately, the problem extended far beyond that. For example, I could be working in Coda doing some CSS, and suddenly the type sensing, or highlighting would stop working, or the clipboard, not to mention the app crashing, quite often. In my particular case, the problem was so severe that I had to halt using my device as some of the projects were lagging beyond reasonable amount of time. My issue was handled by Apple rather nicely and as of 9.3.1 it has been resolved. I have been using the device daily multiple times and can confirm that it performs like a champ.

Secondly, even the Apple's own apps don't seem to embrace the keyboard presence sufficiently to fully streamline your workflow. Some apps have it done really well (Safari, yeah!), some have it non-existent. I like working with a keyboard a lot, and ideally I would want to see the whole process of using Apple's own apps a bit more polished. I know that they are working on it, so I'll stop here. Something to be wished for, thats for sure.

2. No Rose Gold option: I love that colour and I can only wish to have it in giant slab of rose gold (pink?);

THE APPS THAT I HAVE BEEN USING

I have been using all of the stock apps with an exception of Photo Booth, I think; they are either great, or good, most of the time. Typically, my workflow would entail running a few hours in Panic's Coda for iOS (love it). So far, I have deployed a full website (from design to server run) with using ONLY an iPad Pro and can confirm that I did not really struggle. I knocked the design part by using Pixelmator, and Graphic (love both of them, they are phenomenal, especially with Apple Pencil), as well as Coolors (colour palettes selection), and Adobe's Capture & Comp CC (I do design sketches, and wire-framing with both of them). Naturally, iTunes running in the background, or a video tutorial running in a split view. The latter is a killer future for visual testing where you can live-preview your changes while editing the code on the same screen (Coda allows you doing that). Based on my experience, if you are a designer who can code, you will NOT be disappointed by the features that the 12.9" Pro offers - it is a complete package.

Overall, I am a happy camper. To me the 12.9" Pro Is A FULL-BLOWN notebook/desktop computer substitute, period. Your mileage may vary, but I am a pleased, so called pro user.

Cheers!

 

[TripleOne]

Hey Gang,

Can't believe it's been nearly six months since I posted this thread; after going through several projects, as well as regular routine, I would like to update my impressions, if I may. DISCLAIMER: this is all personal opinion and my own impressions only, so please take it with a grain of salt here it goes...

THE THINGS I LOVE

1. Apple Pencil: it's super-accurate, feels very sturdy and responsive, as well as allows you for very fine adjustments, most of the time;
2. 12.9" iPad Pro screen: it just screams colours at you; I have been working on a number of design projects and I cannot stress the importance of the quality of this screen;
2. Smart Keyboard: it's designed for a fast-typer like me; I love the layout, shallow key strokes (controversial, I know), and the fact that it folds so nicely. While it is a bit soft and flexible, at its base (precluding it from being a permanent stand, say for a reading session in your bed), it performs admirably well as a desktop setup accessory;

THE THINGS I DID NOT NECESSARILY LOVE

1. Smart Keyboard support: two things I would like to ruminate on, technical issues, & insufficient software support.

First, as an early adopter, I happened to be impacted by this issue. Long story short, the so called App Wheel (or the app switcher, if you will) would start to work erratically not allowing me to pick the application that I wished to switch to. From the technical standpoint, the keyboard would simply drop & reconnect the iPad multiples times making the experience of using specific apps impossible, except for the simple things (iTunes, Notes, etc.). Unfortunately, the problem extended far beyond that. For example, I could be working in Coda doing some CSS, and suddenly the type sensing, or highlighting would stop working, or the clipboard, not to mention the app crashing, quite often. In my particular case, the problem was so severe that I had to halt using my device as some of the projects were lagging beyond reasonable amount of time. My issue was handled by Apple rather nicely and as of 9.3.1 it has been resolved. I have been using the device daily multiple times and can confirm that it performs like a champ.

Secondly, even the Apple's own apps don't seem to embrace the keyboard presence sufficiently to fully streamline your workflow. Some apps have it done really well (Safari, yeah!), some have it non-existent. I like working with a keyboard a lot, and ideally I would want to see the whole process of using Apple's own apps a bit more polished. I know that they are working on it, so I'll stop here. Something to be wished for, thats for sure.

2. No Rose Gold option: I love that colour and I can only wish to have it in giant slab of rose gold (pink?);

THE APPS THAT I HAVE BEEN USING

I have been using all of the stock apps with an exception of Photo Booth, I think; they are either great, or good, most of the time. Typically, my workflow would entail running a few hours in Panic's Coda for iOS (love it). So far, I have deployed a full website (from design to server run) with using ONLY an iPad Pro and can confirm that I did not really struggle. I knocked the design part by using Pixelmator, and Graphic (love both of them, they are phenomenal, especially with Apple Pencil), as well as Coolors (colour palettes selection), and Adobe's Capture & Comp CC (I do design sketches, and wire-framing with both of them). Naturally, iTunes running in the background, or a video tutorial running in a split view. The latter is a killer future for visual testing where you can live-preview your changes while editing the code on the same screen (Coda allows you doing that). Based on my experience, if you are a designer who can code, you will NOT be disappointed by the features that the 12.9" Pro offers - it is a complete package.

Overall, I am a happy camper. To me the 12.9" Pro Is A FULL-BLOWN notebook/desktop computer substitute, period. Your mileage may vary, but I am a pleased, so called pro user.

Cheers!

Thank you for updating your impressions on the iPad Pro! Glad to hear that you're a happy camper.

I just received my iPad Pro last week and I'm in love with it, such a great device.