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Will it Wobble?

BWhaler

BWhaler

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 8, 2003
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With the camera bump, I wonder if the new 9.7 iPad Pro will wobble when you try to use it flat on a desk—drawing, etc. The iPhone 6 wobbles, but it's rare you use your iPhone in this context. The iPad is a different story.

It's interesting to me that Apple iPad video shows mostly—but not exclusively—people holding their iPad in the air while drawing. Only once or twice is it flat on the table. See for yourself: http://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/

Holding an iPad and drawing is a high fatigue technique.

I've ordered the new iPad, but I have a spidey-sense Apple may have blown it with the camera bump on the iPad. It may be the first "Apple Maps" moment the company has faced on the hardware front in many years.
 
I'm getting the silicon case so it removes any potential issues with the bump, even if it doesn't wobble, I wouldn't want to expose the lens like that. I would guess moving the front cover to the back would help too.
 
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This is from Mashable.

"
The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is the first iPad with a camera that sticks out about a millimeter from the back of the device. It’s a familiar look, one we’ve seen on the iPhone 6 and 6S devices. In this instance, the extra space accommodates a powerful 12-megapixel iSight camera. There are clear benefits to having this powerful shooter in an iPad, but I do wonder why Apple is getting so comfortable discarding its commitment to smooth lines and clean surfaces. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing about the 9.7-inch iPad Pro that’s sloppy, but it no longer sits perfectly flat on a table."
 
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Lobwedgephil said:
This is from Mashable.

"
The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is the first iPad with a camera that sticks out about a millimeter from the back of the device. It’s a familiar look, one we’ve seen on the iPhone 6 and 6S devices. In this instance, the extra space accommodates a powerful 12-megapixel iSight camera. There are clear benefits to having this powerful shooter in an iPad, but I do wonder why Apple is getting so comfortable discarding its commitment to smooth lines and clean surfaces. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing about the 9.7-inch iPad Pro that’s sloppy, but it no longer sits perfectly flat on a table."
Click to expand...

And this is from Ars Technica:

"In the iPhone 6 and 6S phones, that camera bump causes the body of the phone to wobble a bit when placed on a flat surface. A similar sort of wobble would be bad for the iPad Pro, particularly for people who want to lay the tablet flat on a table and draw on it with the Apple Pencil. Happily, the iPad is so big that it doesn’t wobble at all—the camera bump is just an aesthetic annoyance, not a functional one."
 
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I've read a few reviews and nobody is complaining of a wobble. My 6+ doesn't wobble when I set it on a table. The "camera bump" seems like a non-issue to me.
 
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I think Apple is as shocked as I am that people are even thinking lf using these devices naked. Unless you live in a bouncy castle or padded cell.
 
LiveM said:
I think Apple is as shocked as I am that people are even thinking lf using these devices naked. Unless you live in a bouncy castle or padded cell.
Click to expand...

Most people—not all, of course—I know use the smart cover, which doesn't fix the bump on the back.

I think the fact that the Apple promotional video shows almost all the people drawing while propping-up the iPad with their freehand is a tell. It's not how Apple has shown the larger iPad being used for drawing, so clearly they changed it for a reason. (Of course, the reason may be something other than a wobble.)

I am yet to find a review or comment where someone tries to draw or type flat on a table and whether or not the iPad wobbles.

But we'll know for sure later this week.
 
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BWhaler said:
With the camera bump, I wonder if the new 9.7 iPad Pro will wobble when you try to use it flat on a desk—drawing, etc. The iPhone 6 wobbles, but it's rare you use your iPhone in this context. The iPad is a different story.

It's interesting to me that Apple iPad video shows mostly—but not exclusively—people holding their iPad in the air while drawing. Only once or twice is it flat on the table. See for yourself: http://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/

Holding an iPad and drawing is a high fatigue technique.

I've ordered the new iPad, but I have a spidey-sense Apple may have blown it with the camera bump on the iPad. It may be the first "Apple Maps" moment the company has faced on the hardware front in many years.
Click to expand...

If the "artist" can not figure out how to leap the fact that the camera protrudes a tiny bit then he or she deserves their iPad to wobble!o_O
 
ZBoater said:
And this is from Ars Technica:

"In the iPhone 6 and 6S phones, that camera bump causes the body of the phone to wobble a bit when placed on a flat surface. A similar sort of wobble would be bad for the iPad Pro, particularly for people who want to lay the tablet flat on a table and draw on it with the Apple Pencil. Happily, the iPad is so big that it doesn’t wobble at all—the camera bump is just an aesthetic annoyance, not a functional one."
Click to expand...

Or if you rephrase that, we did not press it hard enough to cause it to wobble

Jeez, come on people, the question does not even have to be asked. Not of us are THAT stupid.

Take a perfectly flat sheet, place in one corner something that sticks out, what, between 1mm and 2mm, when you press another corner, it will wobble.
A chair with one leg longer would wobble, a table would wobble ANYTHING will wobble.

Now whether you notice this wobble in normal use is a totally different question.

The only way it would not wobble is if the flat item in question was flexible enough so that, when pressure was applied, the item bend down before another side was able to lift up.

I suspect the truth is, in normal typical use, you won't be pressing hard enough to cause it to wobble, plus Apple hope you will buy a nice $50 case from them :)

Let's wait and get a PROPER honest review.
Perhaps the weight of the device, combined with the flex in the thin body means that the case bends down before the other side can lift and display a wobble. This may well be true.
We'll have to wait to get someone to test this close up.
 
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Piggie said:
Or if you rephrase that, we did not press it hard enough to cause it to wobble

Jeez, come on people, the question does not even have to be asked. Not of us are THAT stupid.

Take a perfectly flat sheet, place in one corner something that sticks out, what, between 1mm and 2mm, when you press another corner, it will wobble.
A chair with one leg longer would wobble, a table would wobble ANYTHING will wobble.

Now whether you notice this wobble in normal use is a totally different question.

The only way it would not wobble is if the flat item in question was flexible enough so that, when pressure was applied, the item bend down before another side was able to lift up.

I suspect the truth is, in normal typical use, you won't be pressing hard enough to cause it to wobble, plus Apple hope you will buy a nice $50 case from them :)

Let's wait and get a PROPER honest review.
Perhaps the weight of the device, combined with the flex in the thin body means that the case bends down before the other side can lift and display a wobble. This may well be true.
We'll have to wait to get someone to test this close up.
Click to expand...

I trust Arstechnica as an "honest" place to read about technology...

As for your thought experiment... you are only thinking of the case where the device is perfectly rigid. If the device is large enough and made of a pliable material (maybe aluminum?) then it is actually possible for the device to "bend" slightly (you won't even notice it with the tiny size of the bump) so that the other three corners can all be touching the table at the same time one corner is sitting on the lens.

Personally: I still think it was a dumb design decision... but it doesn't sound like it's a deal breaker.
 
friedmud said:
I trust Arstechnica as an "honest" place to read about technology...

As for your thought experiment... you are only thinking of the case where the device is perfectly rigid. If the device is large enough and made of a pliable material (maybe aluminum?) then it is actually possible for the device to "bend" slightly (you won't even notice it with the tiny size of the bump) so that the other three corners can all be touching the table at the same time one corner is sitting on the lens.

Personally: I still think it was a dumb design decision... but it doesn't sound like it's a deal breaker.
Click to expand...

iPads so bend slightly. Put your naked iPad on a flat surface, you will notice one or two corners are curling up slightly, very slightly. I've had all versions of minis except the 3, the the iPad 2m Air 2 and Pro. They all have this.
 
Piggie said:
A chair with one leg longer would wobble, a table would wobble ANYTHING will wobble.
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't think I've ever noticed a chair or table with one leg longer. When a chair/table wobbles, it's because one leg is shorter than the others, and the solution is to stuff things under the short leg.

Also, the size of a table/chair matters. If a leg differed in length by 1 or 2 mm on a table, it wouldn't cause a noticeable wobble because the difference is so small compared to the overall size of a table.

Actually, anyone with an iPad can check this. Fold up a piece of paper until it's about 2mm thick, put it on top of a desk, put the iPad down so one corner is plopped up by the folded paper. Then press down on the iPad. Take a stylus or pen and pretend to write/draw on it. Does it wobble?
 
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In reality this is what I think may well be the case.

The fact the iPad is so thin and the metal is itself so thin means given the mass of the device against the strength, it will flex.

So you have a lump in one corner, press the other, and the whole device will flex to the point of this pressed corner touching the flat surface, before it lifts from another corner.

This all being said, I think we'd all prefer no bump :)

Not idea of course for spirit level type apps either I guess.
 
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I saw it not wobbling in the verge review video and that makes sense. For a tiny surface like an iphone, the bump makes a difference. But for something as large as a 10" ipad, it seems like a negligible bump that won't cause it to wobble.
 
Piggie said:
Or if you rephrase that, we did not press it hard enough to cause it to wobble

Jeez, come on people, the question does not even have to be asked. Not of us are THAT stupid.

Take a perfectly flat sheet, place in one corner something that sticks out, what, between 1mm and 2mm, when you press another corner, it will wobble.
A chair with one leg longer would wobble, a table would wobble ANYTHING will wobble.

Now whether you notice this wobble in normal use is a totally different question.

The only way it would not wobble is if the flat item in question was flexible enough so that, when pressure was applied, the item bend down before another side was able to lift up.

I suspect the truth is, in normal typical use, you won't be pressing hard enough to cause it to wobble, plus Apple hope you will buy a nice $50 case from them :)

Let's wait and get a PROPER honest review.
Perhaps the weight of the device, combined with the flex in the thin body means that the case bends down before the other side can lift and display a wobble. This may well be true.
We'll have to wait to get someone to test this close up.
Click to expand...

I bought one today.
It doesn't "wobble".
Honest review.
Still I have a feeling you will not believe me so, please, do me and everyone else a favour and pop into an Apple Store and try by yourself.
Take care.
 
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