I am just curious why with that set up, you use an android phone? The reason I ask is that I have thought about doing something similar mainly because I would like to try a different phone such as the Sony or Samsung phones. I would just hate to lose the iCloud integration between all of my Apple devices.
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iPad Pro 12.9 or Surface Book
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I am just curious why with that set up, you use an android phone? The reason I ask is that I have thought about doing something similar mainly because I would like to try a different phone such as the Sony or Samsung phones. I would just hate to lose the iCloud integration between all of my Apple devices.
Well is about time to have Siri on the Mac, they are even too late to the party. Siri lives mainly the cloud, and does not depend much of iOS or MacOS. The Siri iOS binary does not very much. It streams audio to the cloud, and pipe commands/contents computed in the cloud back and forth to apps over their existing interfaces. Releasing Siri for MacOS is not ground breaking if you already have it working on iOS and the siri background cloud services running. In addition to this, Siri was just bought and modified. Ever tried "Hey Google..." ? Works much reliable than Siri, and does not exist so long as Siri exists. Apple is sleeping at this topic, too. When I call "Hey Siri" all devices here at home start to blah blah me, they need to fix this, too. Adding Siri to MacOS will just add another device that blah blahs me at the same time as my iPhone, iPad, etc. and disturb each other.
Yeah procreate is great, can't say anything agains it. What kinda sucks is, that i can't draw e.g. a game scene/character and let it auto export as slices with custom filenames to elsewhere(all slices at once), e.g to Xcode ./images directory. And this is not procreate fault, its Apples fault for not providing an local app shared storage location on iOS or system wide SMB/AFP support with filemanager.
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Nope, because they solved it by allowing you to customise "Ok Google" to something else.
You can set the activation phrase to e.g. "Ok Serban Phone" to the Phone, etc... what you like...
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Why an Android phone? Two reasons. First, is the phone itself. The Sharp Aquos Crystal is a very nice and unique phone. The main standout feature is that it is bezel-less. love the design. Second, the price. $150 flat price no contract. Even after I move on to another phone, I will use it as a portable media player.
As for cloud integration, I use iCloud for my iWork docs that I access between the iPad and iMac, OneDrive for MS Office docs, and Dropbox for everything else. My frequently used/accessed notes are plain text (some in markdown) that are stored on DropBox and accessed via nvAlt on OSX, Notesy on iOS, and Draft on Android.
I am considering the iPhone SE, but they're still out of stock for my prepaid carrier which offers $100 off the price.
Kind of on topic, kinda off, but I finally got the chance to test something out for myself today.
One of the biggest complaints I've heard about the SP3/4 is that it's SO much thicker than the iPads. It's like holding a brick!
Well, I bought my girlfriend an iPad Mini 3 yesterday, and I finally got the chance to put them side by side to compare and contrast. This is what I got. The actual difference of a millimeter. Saying it's scant is an overstatement.
I think the major part of Jony Ive's genius isn't that he makes things so thin, but that he knows how to design things so they look thinner than they actually are. If you were to look at the SP4 from a distance, you'd think it'd be twice as thick as the Mini 3 due to the fact it's got a more boxy design. It's those rounded edges that give you that impression.
Anyway, interesting bit of trivia for you all!
One of the biggest complaints I've heard about the SP3/4 is that it's SO much thicker than the iPads. It's like holding a brick!
Well, I bought my girlfriend an iPad Mini 3 yesterday, and I finally got the chance to put them side by side to compare and contrast. This is what I got. The actual difference of a millimeter. Saying it's scant is an overstatement.
I think the major part of Jony Ive's genius isn't that he makes things so thin, but that he knows how to design things so they look thinner than they actually are. If you were to look at the SP4 from a distance, you'd think it'd be twice as thick as the Mini 3 due to the fact it's got a more boxy design. It's those rounded edges that give you that impression.
Anyway, interesting bit of trivia for you all!
It's interesting to see that the Surface isn't that much thicker than the iPads, thanks for that pic. However, I don't think the design talents of Jony Ive is solely in creating an optical illusion of thinness. Like you say, in order to make the iPad look thinner, Apple uses rounded, tapering backs instead of boxed rectangular edges. Which means that iPads have less cubic volume than Surfaces. So the internal components have to be designed to fit in a more compact space. That requires more designing skills.
IPad is fan-less. A passive cooling system takes way less space than an active one.
Compare the internal design between surface pro 4 and ipad pro 12.9. There are quite a lot unused space in iPad pro. At least they can make it lighter or put a bigger battery inside; but you know Apple is Apple.
OK..so update here...I've chosen the iPad Pro 12.9, despite the Surface Book being on 10% discount here in the UK.
My Primary reason being the pencil/drawing experience on iPad pro v the Surface Book.
I got to draw on both devices and for me, the iPad pro came out tops by a fair margin...my drawing (on the whole) is line based with often quick, loose, fluid marks and the pencil came out tops here. The feel holding the pad v the Surface just seemed more solid and 'sketchbook' like also. I'm 6'2 so the 12..9 is a nice size for me to work on/handle.
Secondary reasons were, as @Skika pointed out, I'll be using the iPad as a companion device to my mac's, this will be my 'drawing device' which is quickly and easily accessible, like a sketchbook, has good battery life and is silent.
The transfer of files and cloud based storage is fine for my needs at the moment.
The Surface Book is certainly an interesting product, a good 'all-rounder', but as @Capt T pointed out, it won't be able to replace a quad core rMBP on site with After Effects/C4D and it is nice having a device purely for one purpose.
Regarding software, early days, but I'm really enjoying Procreate. It feels modern, fast and fresh in comparison to the adobe products I've used...I'm sure this will enable me to create the look I'm after.
...hopefully these guys will get their vector product on IOS soon also...looks good.
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/designer/
Thanks for the interesting views and comments...all helped in making the decision.
Cheers.
My Primary reason being the pencil/drawing experience on iPad pro v the Surface Book.
I got to draw on both devices and for me, the iPad pro came out tops by a fair margin...my drawing (on the whole) is line based with often quick, loose, fluid marks and the pencil came out tops here. The feel holding the pad v the Surface just seemed more solid and 'sketchbook' like also. I'm 6'2 so the 12..9 is a nice size for me to work on/handle.
Secondary reasons were, as @Skika pointed out, I'll be using the iPad as a companion device to my mac's, this will be my 'drawing device' which is quickly and easily accessible, like a sketchbook, has good battery life and is silent.
The transfer of files and cloud based storage is fine for my needs at the moment.
The Surface Book is certainly an interesting product, a good 'all-rounder', but as @Capt T pointed out, it won't be able to replace a quad core rMBP on site with After Effects/C4D and it is nice having a device purely for one purpose.
Regarding software, early days, but I'm really enjoying Procreate. It feels modern, fast and fresh in comparison to the adobe products I've used...I'm sure this will enable me to create the look I'm after.
...hopefully these guys will get their vector product on IOS soon also...looks good.
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/designer/
Thanks for the interesting views and comments...all helped in making the decision.
Cheers.
This is where Apple could have made the iPad Pro live up to its name. An in house app that allows remote access to your desktop, and the keyboard cover include a trackpad on par with the macs.
Captain 'Tard? Is a MacBook an iPad? Does a MacBook make the iPad Pro a better laptop replacement?
No need to be rude. But if you want a mouse or trackpad then you really are not looking for a tablet. So no a MacBook is not an iPad but a tool that has what you say you are looking for, a trackpad.
Personally, I'm happy with my combination of iMac + iPad. But then, I almost never travel. When I go to the office, my 12.9 iPad does everything I need to do during the day. In fact, for trips of less than a week, the 12.9 would be sufficient, FOR ME. But if I needed a mouse or trackpad while on the go, AND I also wanted/needed a tablet on the go, then I can see how I might want a all-in-one device instead of carrying both a tablet and a laptop.
Well. If you own many apple products mac, ipad, iphone, buying IPAD PRO instead of surface is no brainer.
We have both here. The differences for us (photographers) is the IPad Pro is crippled in what it can run, the Surface Pro is a computer capable of running Photoshop. I find the stylus on the SP much more to my liking. I don't like W10, but have found I can live with it.
This common refrain in ipad and surface threads: "why not get a laptop". Mostly, it because people want to use the pencil/pen functionality. Seems obvious.
Neither, I would go for the new Thinkpad Tablet, M7, 16GB, 256GB model.It's incredible, paid around $1300 for it and it included the keyboard and stylus. I'm running Windows 10, Solus (Linux) and Remix OS in a triple boot. This thing is the very definition of instant computing as in I haven't experienced a single hint of lag. Though I'm not a professional artist I do enjoy drawing and the included Wacom stylus doesn't dissapoint and works flawlessly within all three OS's without the restrictions of iOS 9. I'm actually using Remix OS the most as it's a really good mobile OS. I'm using ArtRage, Sketch Pro, Infinite Painter, Infinite Design (Illustrator Clone), Artecture, ArtFlow (love this app), just to name a few. Just a suggestion
This is what I asked myself when I bought a Surface 3 and returned it because of all the issues.