iPad Pro When will Apple attach a trackpad to the iPad Pro?

[temna]

Let me just put it this way: I would much rather Apple add trackpad support to iOS than try to bastardize OS X into a tablet OS. I don't know that trackpad support is inevitable, but I would bet big that they are working on testing it at the very least.

I could see them testing it, and the support IS there, just disabled. I just don't think it's a good idea. And I don't see Apple being foolish enough to include it. I can't help but think that that and file system access are two things Apple would be smart to keep out of iOS. I personally don't want iOS to become a desktop OS.

 

[temna]

It most definitely is similar to a laptop. It isn't identical. There's a difference.

Do you think that Zagg, Logitech, etc. also made mistakes by offering keyboard covers for the iPad? I get the impression that you think that the iPad Pro is the first iPad to have a keyboard option.

It is the first iPad to have a keyboard option, well, official keyboard option. The others are third party, so I don't consider them official. The Pro is the first iPad that Apple has officially said supports a keyboard because it's the first keyboard Apple released for an iPad.

Course, the Pencil is the first official stylus for an Apple product, but there are a ton of graphic table options for Apple, from the Modbook tablet to these Wacom drawing tablets.

 

[Night Spring]

mouse is simply better for some tasks (such as text selection

I just never understood why anyone would want to use a mouse for text selection. Fastest and most accurate way to select text is shift + arrow keys.

 

[Night Spring]

It is the first iPad to have a keyboard option, well, official keyboard option.

No, the first official iPad keyboard was the keyboard dock that was released with the original iPad.

 

[temna]

Oh, excuse me, forgot about that joke of an accessory.

 

[Phil A.]

I just never understood why anyone would want to use a mouse for text selection. Fastest and most accurate way to select text is shift + arrow keys.

It depends where the text you're selecting is in relation to your current cursor position: if it's close then shift+arrow is definitely quicker but if it isn't then mouse is easier IMO, not to mention double click for word selection, etc

 

[theluggage]

Imagine a mouse/trackpad pointer for MS office for ios. Total win--its just the nature of the task that lends itself to a curser

Yeah, using MS Office makes me a curser too

Seriously, though - for text-heavy tasks, the best tool is the keyboard itself, with arrow keys to move the cursor, shift-arrow to select, shortcuts for styles and other functions etc.

Maybe the iPad Pro is big enough to accommodate a keyboard with a trackpad up to the standard of those on MacBooks (which are the only ones I've ever found good enough to replace a mouse) but I still think that craving a trackpad or mouse for your tablet is natures way of telling you that you really need a laptop.

 

[Night Spring]

It depends where the text you're selecting is in relation to your current cursor position: if it's close then shift+arrow is definitely quicker but if it isn't then mouse is easier IMO, not to mention double click for word selection, etc

I just tend to use the mouse to move the cursor, then shift+arrows to select. I also never remember to double click to select a word -- that function must have been introduced long after I built up my text selection habits.

Maybe it's because I learned computers before there was GUI, but I just don't feel much attachment to the mouse. It was one way to get things done, but now that we have touch, I'd prefer it if we could get rid of the mouse. It is, after all, another device to carry, which isn't desirable for a mobile device. A trackpad built into a keyboard is better, but it still takes up space on the keyboard that could be used for extra keys, better key spacing, etc. So even if mouse is easier / faster for some things, is it worth having one on a mobile device?

 

[nightcap965]

I must disagree with the assertion that most people buying an iPad Pro also get the keyboard and/or Pencil. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on an iPad Pro (as soon as I can persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to approve the expenditure). I have no intention of adding either.

And to the idea, "Well, His Steveness said there'd never be a stylus," there really isn't. The iPad Pro is designed like all other iOS devices, to be used with the finger. The only reason there's a Pencil is for someone needing a much greater level of precision than a finger can afford, an artist, e.g. See the lovely examples of the fine line work done by graphic artists in this Forum. Me, I can barely be trusted not to eat my crayons. I have no need of a Pencil.

 

[Night Spring]

I must disagree with the assertion that most people buying an iPad Pro also get the keyboard and/or Pencil. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on an iPad Pro (as soon as I can persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to approve the expenditure). I have no intention of adding either.

I also didn't get the keyboard cover, but I do have a Bluetooth keyboard that I use with my iPad pro. Sure, I also use it sometimes just with the on-screen keyboard, but the fastest way to do text input is definitely with an external keyboard.

 

[Acorn]

I dont see why they couldnt add a trackpad to the magnetic keyboards they have. if ios had a mouse pointer setting you could toggle on or off it could simply act like a finger. everything on the screen is large enough for a pointer. its not like the reverse problem that osx has where there is places you have to click that is to small for a finger.

 

[engineerben]

Just off the top of my head, three differences between direct (touch) and indirect (mouse/trackpad) interface:

1. A mouse allows you to hover. No such function in a direct interface system.
2. A direct interface system has at most one cursor on the screen at time: the text cursor. A mouse-based system has possibly two cursors: the mouse cursor and the text cursor. Believe it or not, this is confusing for beginners ("I put my cursor on it, but when I type the stuff appears over there!)
3. A direct interface (touch) system allows multitouch: you can directly manipulate two (or more) objects on the screen at a time. While trackpads and the Magic Mouse support multi-finger gestures, with an indirect interface, you can still only manipulate one object at a time because there's only one mouse pointer on the screen.

There's probably more, but the upshot is that if you're building a truly hybrid app, you'll need to take these factors into consideration. For example, you can't use hover for critical functions because you can't depend on a mouse pointer being available. You also can't use two-object manipulation (move this thing left while moving that thing up) because it's not supported if your interface is a mouse.

Having said that, I'm doing a bunch of work in Keynote today - on my rMBP, not on my IPP, because I have a trackpad on the rMBP. When I have some time, I'll move the project over to the IPP and see how it works, but I'm guessing it'll be much tougher to get pixel-precise moves with the touch-first interface. We'll see.

 

[Robnsn2015]

Personally, I think a trackpad partially defeats the purpose of having a touch screen. After all, what can a touchpad do that you can't do by just touching the iPad's screen? I tried to write a review yesterday on the iPad Pro using the "two-finger touchpad" method and I found that just selecting on screen with my finger worked better.

And I wonder how many people will be buying an iPad Pro with a keyboard in the long run. It seems like early adopters were led to believe that a keyboard is absolutely necessary, but people over time might not.

 

[tpluth]

Seems like a huge disadvantage when comparing it to the Surface. Is Apple afraid of crippling the MacBook market?

Either

a) Buy a surface

or

b) Buy a MacBook

The iPad Pro was not designed as head to head competition for either of them.

Of course, if you really feel this would make the iPad Pro the Surface and MacBook slayer, then ;

1) Raise a few $Billion in Capital.
2) Design your own large tablet with all the features you think are lacking
3) Have it manufactured
4) Market it and get retailers to sell it for you
5) Profit!!!

Do you really think Apple designed the iPad Pro and the keyboard without market testing and focus group testing of the features include and excluded? They probably found that only a small percentage of keyboard users wanted a trackpad, so they didn't include it.

 

[rowspaxe]

Do you really think Apple designed the iPad Pro and the keyboard without market testing and focus group testing of the features include and excluded? They probably found that only a small percentage of keyboard users wanted a trackpad, so they didn't include it.

Well, they had 5 years to think about the pencil! Ipad pro feels--imo--like a rushed product. The keyboard is so bad, I can think of no other explanation. I expect to see significant evolution in ipp and ios for ipp. There are so many examples of apple backtracking on designs--its how progress happens. Posters here may not get what they want--but there is no harm in expressing aspirations for the ipp

 

[sracer]

It is the first iPad to have a keyboard option, well, official keyboard option. The others are third party, so I don't consider them official. The Pro is the first iPad that Apple has officially said supports a keyboard because it's the first keyboard Apple released for an iPad.

No it's not. Apple produced a keyboard dock for the iPad 1, 2, and 3. It was available on day-1.

Oh, excuse me, forgot about that joke of an accessory.

Oh, so now things don't count if you don't want them to count. Got it. Once again, this topic stirs up emotional responses. THAT I don't get.

 

[rowspaxe]

Microsoft has been trying to mix touch with mouse input for some time and Windows still looks like a combination of two worlds apart.

What does this comment even mean? Does adding a keyboard make the ipad pro a "combination of two worlds apart"? On the surface pro, desktop apps are trackpad/mouse optimized and modern apps are touch optimized. And you pick the type of app best for needs. It takes about 2 minutes to figure out. Why do posters here find that confusing or hard to use?
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Well, they had 5 years to think about the pencil! Ipad pro feels--imo--like a rushed product. The keyboard is so bad, I can think of no other explanation.

My theory us apple is ambivalent about how much laptop functionality to bring into ios and the ipad. That ambivalence is expressed in all these threads: some people want more productivity others fear the undermining of ios simplicity.

 

[Night Spring]

What does this comment even mean? Does adding a keyboard make the ipad pro a "combination of two worlds apart"? On the surface pro, desktop apps are trackpad/mouse optimized and modern apps are touch optimized. And you pick the type of app best for needs. It takes about 2 minutes to figure out. Why do posters here find that confusing or hard to use?

I haven't really used Windows 10, but in Windows 8, you had some system settings in old-style desktop style dialogue boxes, and other settings in tablet style setting app, and you kept having to switch from one style to the other to configure your preferences. It also had a desktop version of IE and an app version of IE, and you could install the app version of Dropbox AND the desktop version. I've heard that a lot of these things got cleared up in Win10, but some of it still remains, where vestiges of the desktop OS creep into tablet mode.

My theory us apple is ambivalent about how much laptop functionality to bring into ios and the ipad. That ambivalence is expressed in all these threads: some people want more productivity others fear the undermining of ios simplicity.

That's very true about the ambivalence. Back in iOS 3 and 4, when my relatives got new iPads, I could go over the settings with them over the phone, to make sure they've got everything configured to optimise the experience for them. Now the settings are too complicated to do this over the phone. Today's iOS is more powerful, but that comes at the cost of more complexity.

 

[Beavix]

What does this comment even mean? Does adding a keyboard make the ipad pro a "combination of two worlds apart"? On the surface pro, desktop apps are trackpad/mouse optimized and modern apps are touch optimized. And you pick the type of app best for needs. It takes about 2 minutes to figure out. Why do posters here find that confusing or hard to use?

Yeah, this thread is 8 months old and I was talking about Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is better now.

 

[aevan]

Apple will never add a trackpad to the iPad. Just take it in, accept it and move on. Their goal is to make touch better (they keep improving the tech, from increased scan times to 3D touch). Their whole approach is to do more with less and adding a trackpad to the iPad would be like adding two more seats to a sports car. You don't have to like it, but deal with it.

 

[Beavix]

Apple will never add a trackpad to the iPad.

I'm not so sure about that anymore. People used to say Apple would never add a stylus to the iPad and then the Pencil happened.

 

[goobot]

Apple will never add a trackpad to the iPad. Just take it in, accept it and move on. Their goal is to make touch better (they keep improving the tech, from increased scan times to 3D touch). Their whole approach is to do more with less and adding a trackpad to the iPad would be like adding two more seats to a sports car. You don't have to like it, but deal with it.

Pretty sure both Apple and others said they would never release a stylus either. Saying Apple will never do something is silly. The fact is they have been testing it so if anything it's actually a decent possibility.

 

[rowspaxe]

I haven't really used Windows 10, but in Windows 8, you had some system settings in old-style desktop style dialogue boxes, and other settings in tablet style setting app, and you kept having to switch from one style to the other to configure your preferences.

There is something to this. Most settings are now in the touch menu "Settings" but there are some things like desktop app uninstall are best resolved in the desktop-ish "control panel". You can double install desktop and touch versions of some programs--but this is not a big deal. I use both touch and desktop versions of sketch book pro, for instance. Its clear what version you are installing since the windows store is the exclusive seller of touch apps

 

[sracer]

Apple will never add a trackpad to the iPad. Just take it in, accept it and move on. Their goal is to make touch better (they keep improving the tech, from increased scan times to 3D touch). Their whole approach is to do more with less and adding a trackpad to the iPad would be like adding two more seats to a sports car. You don't have to like it, but deal with it.

They might not add it to the iPad, but I could see them making it an exclusive to the larger sized iPad Pro. Some of us (and this number is growing) use remote desktop software with mouse support for accessing desktop operating systems on the iPP.

This capability in no way compromises the iPad tablet user experience but offers special/niche capability for those who are pushing the envelope.

The introduction of the Apple Pencil didn't compromise the tablet experience. To the best of my knowledge there are no iOS apps that REQUIRE the Pencil. There may be apps that won't be able to demonstrate the full capabilities without the Pencil, but those apps are still as useful as they are on non-Pro iPads. (eg. I can fire up any drawing app in the iPad Pro and use a capacitive stylus easily... giving up palm rejection and fine controls which is identical to how it works on my Air 2)

This is typical Apple mode of operation... let 3rd parties take the risks to see what works and what doesn't. They did it with keyboards (after their one and only keyboard dock back for the iPad 1), did it with the stylus, and they seem to be doing it again with pointing devices.

As the iPad Pro (especially the 12.9 model) makes more inroads into the enterprise, Apple may very well come around and include mouse/pointing device support native to the OS. Android has had optional mouse support for years with no ill effects. I don't see why iOS would be different.

 

[jamesrick80]

Pretty sure both Apple and others said they would never release a stylus either. Saying Apple will never do something is silly. The fact is they have been testing it so if anything it's actually a decent possibility.

Exactly, if they really want this to become a true laptop replacement...I don't see why they wouldn't add trackpad/mouse support. Simply, it gives users more options...if you like using your fingers go ahead and do so.....but some us will prefer the trackpad/mouse option...it doesn't hurt anything to have both options. It will make my workflow much faster. I'm not sure why some people are against it. The Apple Pencil still feels like an after thought or half-baked idea unlike samsungs implementation of the s-pen that has so many pop-up functions as soon as you remove the pen out of the device.......