Came across this fascinating blog post from Fraser Speirs who is a recently promoted head teacher at a school in the States, Fraser is making the Switch from Apple to the Chromebook (specifically, the Pixelbook) and he lays out some of the reasons why. I’ve highlighted some of my favourite points below, but I highly recommend you check out the full article here.
…although I could make a strong case that every change made to multitasking in iOS 11 worsened the experience in every way.
Bingo! I 100% agree with him here. This way of thinking seems to go completely against the usual grain if thinking in the tech/iPad user community, most people welcomed the changes made in iOS 11/12 with open arms and whilst yes, it was a step in the right direction, it definitely made a lot of stuff more difficult for me. For example, to open an app in split screen you’d simply have to select it from a list of all apps (this did need to be improved, the list made a terrible use of space) but now (and someone please correct me if I’m doing it wrong) you seem to only be able to choose from an app in the dock which is a pain in the ass!
It seems that as laptops get more tablet-y, tablets are getting more like laptops
Another spot on quote, and it was highlighted so much with this years iPads Pros. The prices are now competing with laptops (I.e. going the wrong way) and we are adding these hideous keyboard cases, basically making them a touchscreen laptop.
One other thing that hurts to say but I believe is true is this: ChromeOS is getting better faster than iOS on iPad.
I think this is an observation even the biggest Apple fans have been making recently. Apples schedule is all over the shop at the moment, not that they’ve ever been predicable, but we are now left guessing year-to-year whether we are going to get a new Mac mini or a new MacBook etc.
I think 2019 will be a very interesting year for software on the iPad, it’s like Apple has laid the groundwork with the Pro hardware in 2018 and the only thing holding it back now is iOS, which still feels like a larger version of the iPhone software.