Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Expanded Mouse Cursor Support Coming to iPadOS 14 Alongside New Smart Keyboards With Trackpads

MacRumors said:
Code in iOS 14 allegedly contains references to two new Smart Keyboard model identifiers, which suggests that the Smart Keyboard with Trackpad will be available for multiple iPad models. That could perhaps mean the 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models.
Click to expand...
Yes, one for the 11" and one for the 12.9", but ONLY for the 2020 models.

cmaier said:
Except for us touch-typists. My ipad keyboard doesn’t even have all its letters anymore, and it’s fine!
Click to expand...
I'm a touch typist. I even took a secretarial typing course in high school back in the day and was clocked at around 60 wpm or so in that class.

I MUCH prefer having a backlight.
 
cmaier said:
Because windows sucks, and the surface is not a great tablet?
Click to expand...
Steve Jobs famously said if you don’t cannibalize your self, somebody else will do it for you. Better Apple cut in to their own market share than to wholesale lose it. I think its genius and inevitable to move the iPad more and more towards a total desktop replacement. For 95% of all tasks I need, both my iPad Pros replace my MBP. And since moving to the larger 12.9” with the Smart Keyboard folio, the only thing that I really miss is mouse support, which apparently is coming. If not for my exams being administered via computer in Med school I’d get rid of my MBP entirely.
 
  • Like
Reactions: QuarterSwede, smulji, cmaier and 1 other person
So I assume if you’re not using a physical keyboard none of this will exist? At least I hope so.
 
H3LL5P4WN said:
How's the action on them, given you've put that much mileage on the Type Cover?
Click to expand...
Still very nice. I hate the butterfly on my 2016 MBP and 2018 MBA, but it seems fine in the ipad cover.

I’d like to know why that particular cluster of left-hand keys faded, though :) I see the “L” key is losing its vertical, but other than that it’s just those keys. Wonder if my left hand secretes acid or something :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: GuruZac
EugW said:
Yes, one for the 11" and one for the 12.9", but ONLY for the 2020 models.
Click to expand...
Are you sure? That wouldn’t really make sense. However, even if that were the case, there is already an excellent alternative in the Brydge case with trackpad for 2018 iPad Pros.
 
Rogifan said:
So I assume if you’re not using a physical keyboard none of this will exist? At least I hope so.
Click to expand...

Probably not, though there are some indications that the capacitive center may be used to provide “hover” gestures, and two-finger tap may be “right-click,” even when not using a trackpad.
 
cmaier said:
Still very nice. I hate the butterfly on my 2016 MBP and 2018 MBA, but it seems fine in the ipad cover.

I’d like to know why that particular cluster of left-hand keys faded, though :) I see the “L” key is losing its vertical, but other than that it’s just those keys. Wonder if my left hand secretes acid or something :)
Click to expand...

Not exactly apples to apples, but that is a possibility. Legend has it that Zakk Wylde needs to swap guitars after about two songs to have them restrung because his sweat is so acidic that the strings "go dead."
 
cmaier said:
Still very nice. I hate the butterfly on my 2016 MBP and 2018 MBA, but it seems fine in the ipad cover.

I’d like to know why that particular cluster of left-hand keys faded, though :) I see the “L” key is losing its vertical, but other than that it’s just those keys. Wonder if my left hand secretes acid or something :)
Click to expand...
Same here. I’d rather type on my iPad Pro with the Apple’s folio Smart Keyboard case than my 17 MBP. That’s not saying a whole lot, but the SKF case is nicer than I expected to type on.
 
Can’t wait for this. Will kiss good bye to my MacBooks air. This does suggest. On iPads this month though
 
kamikazeeMC said:
Please don’t turn an excellent tablet into a mediocre hybrid.
Click to expand...
I don't anticipate the additional functionality when docked to detract from the tablet experience when not, why should it? If you don't plan on using it with the type cover it should work just the same as it always has.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mazz0
Over the long haul, this might spell the end of the MacBook Air and other ultraportables. There are still some programs not supported by the iPad, but the gap is closing. I am using my iPad with ASK more and more for mobile computing. My MBA usually sits in clamshell mode as a desktop. So, I wonder if more people will evolve to an iPad plus an iMac. Or, maybe, an iPad plus a shared desktop with multiple user accounts. My wife and I could probably go this route.

There will always be a market for powerful laptops with larger screens like the 16in MBP. But, an iPad with a keyboard/trackpad really does start to overlap with a less powerful laptop with smaller screen.
 
APPLE WE ALREADY HAVE THIS FOR YEARS...its called MACBOOK...so Apple uses its money to make a clone of an macbook but with iOS ?? Instead of leting the ipad be just an brilliant media consumer device and place all this money in R&D for the mac they spending money to make just a mac with limited OS and touch
 
  • Haha
Reactions: mazz0
GuruZac said:
Are you sure? That wouldn’t really make sense. However, even if that were the case, there is already an excellent alternative in the Brydge case with trackpad for 2018 iPad Pros.
Click to expand...
We won't know for 100% sure until they're released, but it would make perfect sense.

It's very likely the camera configuration on the new 2020 iPad Pros will be different from the 2018 iPad Pros, which would mean the 2018 Apple Smart Folio keyboards would not be compatible with the 2020 iPad Pros. So how about a 2020 keyboard on a 2018 model? That wouldn't work properly either, because the magnet configuration would be different. Thus the way to bring the trackpad keyboard to the 2018 model would be to create an entirely new keyboard line for the 2018 models, but it's extremely unlike Apple will do that.

IMO the Bridge is a non-starter, because it's a Bluetooth keyboard, and the trackpad is a non-standard implementation. It's basically a hack. If it doesn't use the Smart Connector, I'm not interested. YMMV.
 
fokmik said:
APPLE WE ALREADY HAVE THIS FOR YEARS...its called MACBOOK...so Apple uses its money to make a clone of an macbook but with iOS ?? Instead of leting the ipad be just an brilliant media consumer device and place all this money in R&D for the mac they spending money to make just a mac with limited OS and touch
Click to expand...

Well, we don’t have a touch screen or pencil support for MacBook. No Cellular capability. No back camera. Portability: 3 lbs vs 1lb. Battery life: less than 8 hours vs 10 hours. 1 million Apps.

So, I would not say that an iPad with keyboard/trackpad is the same thing as a MacBook. While there is considerable overlap, they are different beasts with unique advantages and disadvantages.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jpn and GuruZac
I'd rather see a port of MacOS to ARM with touch input support rather than more lipstick on iPadOS pig.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jpn
now if there was only a real file system to save documents and projects locally instead of the cloud like Macos
and USB C to connect external drives for more storage
Then IOS becomes a REAL operating system
Android Tablets have a real File system and a file explorer . Also USB C and SD Card slots
 
  • Like
Reactions: jpn, HappyIntro and mi7chy
Sethal said:
This news while great for many is troubling to others. Not everyone wants mouse support on an iPad. The main reason being that when mouse support it welcomed by Apple some developers will end up having apps that only function well when using a mouse. Thus encouraging users to have to use a mouse which is exactly the opposite of why many bought an iPad in the first place. This isn't blurring the lines between an iPad and an MacBook, this is bringing an iPad closer to becoming a MacBook and thus rending the iPad useless to people who don't want to have to carry around a mouse and keyboard.
Click to expand...

Apple controls the SDK just like they do their entire ecosystem (which many believe is why they're so successful). Touch controls could be enforced to always be a required input method. On the other hand, some games on Apple TV require an MFi controller to function. Let's just wait and hope that's the only app genre that can dictate input method.
 
Mainsail said:
Well, we don’t have a touch screen or pencil support for MacBook. No Cellular capability. No back camera. Portability: 3 lbs vs 1lb. Battery life: less than 8 hours vs 10 hours. 1 million Apps.

So, I would not say that an iPad with keyboard/trackpad is the same thing as a MacBook. While there is considerable overlap, they are different beasts with unique advantages and disadvantages.
Click to expand...
thats why i said , that apple should invest all this ipad money to the macbook....by now we had all that you mention, an lte mac, with pencil support on that big trackpad and so on...probably promotion displays etc and so on
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back