First off, this is not a hate thread about the iPad Pro or anything of the sort. They are great devices, I just had some small issues that were causing annoyances that were turning into frustrations.
The screen is SUPERB, including the viewing angles as well as outdoor viewing with lack of glare. It is very quick and responsive. While a bit cumbersome to hold and use, the camera is one of the best features and something I applaud Apple on including in this model. Great for Photos all the way up to 4K video. Split screen is one of those "ABOUT TIME!" features and it will be nice when more developers update their apps to support it. Picture in Picture is also nice (though being able to resize the video would be a bonus feature). Another feature that was REALLY COOL was the Apple SIM and how it handles multiple data plans. Setting up the free 200MB t-mo plan was a breeze and a great "backup" to have at the press of an onscreen button.
The speakers are also VERY nice. First iDevice that has good enough speakers to use.
At first I thought the Pencil would be a gimmick, but actually found it useful as an input device.
But all was not paradise.
The first time I set it up, it would error and fail to sign into iCloud. I ended up having to go into settings and manually sign into iCloud, App store, Messages, etc.. Thought that was odd, but whatever~ happens occasionally. Noticed some other interesting behaviour this first time, so figured it would be worth doing a restore to defaults and try again. Same thing. This became a pattern for each subsequent reset and restore from scratch over the past 3 weeks (upwards of 10-15).
Another annoyance was with Messages- Any time I would send an image to someone, from ANY of my devices including the iPad Pro, the image would report "Failed to send" with the red icon... ONLY on the iPad Pro. Sometimes it would have already gone through, sometimes not. This behaviour persisted since day one and through every reset. This might have been software or iCloud related and might have been fixable with tech support, but instinct said it would continue.
Also of note during the first day, when the iPad Pro 9.7 is working hard.... it sucked the battery down faster than the stock charger could keep it powered. Other people had noticed that over the first few days. I will admit that this settled down and wasn't really a problem after that other than when playing games. Overall, battery life was about what I expect out of my iPads, not really better or worse than the others.
The Pencil, while being better than expected, doesn't seem to work well at the edges of the screen, and gestures around the edges just didn't work (pulling notification center or control center, moving icons from one screen to the next, for examples). Battery life seemed random. One day I could charge it up and it would keep going for days... another day, charge it up and it would suck down 40% of the battery in 2-3 hours of light use and sitting on the desk.
The last "reason" that was bugging me was the size. I'd been using "full sized" iPads since the iPad 1, 2, Retina. But when the iPad Mini Retina came out... I fell instantly in love with the form factor. Small enough and light enough that I can easily hold it in one hand. Larger than an iPhone so easier to use for "content intake" iPhone 6+ might be a suitable replacement for many users, but it was just the wrong size for me (too big to be a pocket device, too small to be a usable tablet. Sadly, the iPad Mini is the "redheaded stepchild" of the iPad lineup. It always gets the hand-me-down clothes that the big or smaller siblings have been using for a year or two. I understand the argument that it's a "budget" device, but I've found it to be the most useful iDevice I've had in YEARS. an iPad Pro 7" would be a near perfect device for my uses. With Apple's latest releases of the iPad Pro and iPhone SE that actually use "latest gen" pieces out of the parts bins, we will hopefully see this happen.
After getting used to this form factor, the "full sized" 9.7" iPad seems huge and cumbersome as far as portability. It and it's larger Pro sibling are designed for offices, desk use, presentation use. They WANT to be set on a stand, they don't really want to be held in the hand. For these use cases, they're near perfect iPads for what corporate users had been asking for since the first one came out.
Anyway, I finally got around to returning it today. Discussed the good and the issues with the guy. Still think it's a fantastic iPad and I might try one again in another month or two.
I sincerely think that the iPad Pro 9.7 IS a great device and would still recommend one to people. But it's not without some kinks that need to be worked out.
The screen is SUPERB, including the viewing angles as well as outdoor viewing with lack of glare. It is very quick and responsive. While a bit cumbersome to hold and use, the camera is one of the best features and something I applaud Apple on including in this model. Great for Photos all the way up to 4K video. Split screen is one of those "ABOUT TIME!" features and it will be nice when more developers update their apps to support it. Picture in Picture is also nice (though being able to resize the video would be a bonus feature). Another feature that was REALLY COOL was the Apple SIM and how it handles multiple data plans. Setting up the free 200MB t-mo plan was a breeze and a great "backup" to have at the press of an onscreen button.
The speakers are also VERY nice. First iDevice that has good enough speakers to use.
At first I thought the Pencil would be a gimmick, but actually found it useful as an input device.
But all was not paradise.
The first time I set it up, it would error and fail to sign into iCloud. I ended up having to go into settings and manually sign into iCloud, App store, Messages, etc.. Thought that was odd, but whatever~ happens occasionally. Noticed some other interesting behaviour this first time, so figured it would be worth doing a restore to defaults and try again. Same thing. This became a pattern for each subsequent reset and restore from scratch over the past 3 weeks (upwards of 10-15).
Another annoyance was with Messages- Any time I would send an image to someone, from ANY of my devices including the iPad Pro, the image would report "Failed to send" with the red icon... ONLY on the iPad Pro. Sometimes it would have already gone through, sometimes not. This behaviour persisted since day one and through every reset. This might have been software or iCloud related and might have been fixable with tech support, but instinct said it would continue.
Also of note during the first day, when the iPad Pro 9.7 is working hard.... it sucked the battery down faster than the stock charger could keep it powered. Other people had noticed that over the first few days. I will admit that this settled down and wasn't really a problem after that other than when playing games. Overall, battery life was about what I expect out of my iPads, not really better or worse than the others.
The Pencil, while being better than expected, doesn't seem to work well at the edges of the screen, and gestures around the edges just didn't work (pulling notification center or control center, moving icons from one screen to the next, for examples). Battery life seemed random. One day I could charge it up and it would keep going for days... another day, charge it up and it would suck down 40% of the battery in 2-3 hours of light use and sitting on the desk.
The last "reason" that was bugging me was the size. I'd been using "full sized" iPads since the iPad 1, 2, Retina. But when the iPad Mini Retina came out... I fell instantly in love with the form factor. Small enough and light enough that I can easily hold it in one hand. Larger than an iPhone so easier to use for "content intake" iPhone 6+ might be a suitable replacement for many users, but it was just the wrong size for me (too big to be a pocket device, too small to be a usable tablet. Sadly, the iPad Mini is the "redheaded stepchild" of the iPad lineup. It always gets the hand-me-down clothes that the big or smaller siblings have been using for a year or two. I understand the argument that it's a "budget" device, but I've found it to be the most useful iDevice I've had in YEARS. an iPad Pro 7" would be a near perfect device for my uses. With Apple's latest releases of the iPad Pro and iPhone SE that actually use "latest gen" pieces out of the parts bins, we will hopefully see this happen.
After getting used to this form factor, the "full sized" 9.7" iPad seems huge and cumbersome as far as portability. It and it's larger Pro sibling are designed for offices, desk use, presentation use. They WANT to be set on a stand, they don't really want to be held in the hand. For these use cases, they're near perfect iPads for what corporate users had been asking for since the first one came out.
Anyway, I finally got around to returning it today. Discussed the good and the issues with the guy. Still think it's a fantastic iPad and I might try one again in another month or two.
I sincerely think that the iPad Pro 9.7 IS a great device and would still recommend one to people. But it's not without some kinks that need to be worked out.
