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As phones grow larger, Apple’s new iPad Air 2 shines in a different light: as a PC replacement.
Fortune ^ | November 4, 2014 | by Jason Cipriani

Posted on 11/05/2014 11:19:24 PM PST by Swordmaker

When modern tablet computers first arrived to market, many people thought they would be primarily used to consume, rather than create, content. And who could argue? Without a keyboard or mouse, and only a stubby finger to flick, creation seemed like it would be troublesome at best.

My, how things change. My Apple iPad has quickly become an indispensable tool for work. For the last two years I’ve worked from an iPad on a daily basis. I often tout it as my favorite computer even when I’m asked to compare it to my iMac, a full-fledged desktop, or MacBook Air, a featherweight laptop. The iPad’s portability, day-long battery life, and built-in cellular connection—not to mention the broad selection of apps—only help.

As the winter holiday season approaches each year, I find myself more excited for Apple’s iPad event than I am for its iPhone event, which typically precedes it. This year was no different: right on schedule in October, Apple introduced an updated iPad lineup.

The improved iPad line comes at a time when Apple AAPL 0.24% has seen a decline in that product’s sales for three consecutive quarters. The decline itself coincides with a trend in which smartphones, including Apple’s own iPhone, are growing in size. The shift blurs the line between phone and tablet, and prompts the question: where should the iPad fit in our lives?

The new iPad Air 2 (the most notable model of the new crop) offers a display with improved color and contrast, a slimmer profile, and Apple’s fingerprint scanning technology. It also has a faster processor and more storage.

I spent two weeks testing the iPad Air 2, and at the end of my time with the device, I found myself equally impressed and disappointed. The tablet is impressively responsive and smooth when it comes to scrolling through documents or web pages and launching applications. Yet when I set aside the physical keyboard that I used with the device and attempted to use it strictly as a mobile device, I often felt as if the iPad was nothing more than an extra screen offering bigger pictures and larger text than my phone.

(It should come as no surprise that I have been using Apple’s new iPhone 6 Plus in recent weeks, which I’m sure helped contribute to the feeling.)

Instead of picking up my iPad to read an article or watch a video on YouTube, I would find myself remaining with the iPhone, the experience just as pleasant. Anecdotally, friends have told me similar scenarios: since upgrading to the iPhone 6 Plus, their iPad sits on a shelf, collecting dust.

The similarities are underscored by the fact that the latest version of iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, is exceedingly similar between the iPad, iPad mini and iPhone 6 Plus. For example, there is now enough room on the iPhone for two column-views in landscape mode, something only the larger iPad previously enjoyed.

But that’s alright. If the tablet is the new laptop, the blurred line between it and the phone matters less, and there may be room for growth at the other end—certainly from a productivity standpoint. I would love to see Apple release a physical keyboard built specifically for the iPad and with software support for custom interactions and auto-correct. I would love the ability to run two apps in a split-screen arrangement, for example. And going out on limb that’s sure to fall, I’d love to see Apple bring more information to the home screen using widgets. Yes, widgets.

Despite these shortcomings, I developed an appreciation for the iPad Air 2. I found the addition of the tablet’s fingerprint sensor for secure access convenient (it works with the handy password manager 1Password) and a productivity boost. The recently released Pixelmator for iPad, an image editor, combined with the new model’s improved graphics performance has helped reaffirm it as a PC replacement for me.

But let’s be honest: My use case is far from the norm. I’ve spent countless hours and dollars researching apps and accessories in order to make the iPad work for me. I have forced the iPad to fit into my life. The average person is less likely to invest that kind of time. For those people, that burden lies at Apple’s feet.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: crippled; lackofmemory; noharddrive; nosdcard
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To: chris37
If it can’t play the same games I play on my pc with same mods, which include extremely high resolution texture pacs, then it will never replace my pc.

If my bicycle can haul as many people as an SUV it can never replace my Mini Cooper.

My comment is more relevant to this thread than the nonsense you posted.

21 posted on 11/06/2014 9:27:31 AM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: Norm Lenhart
no apple tax,

Norm how do you feel when PDS'ers storm Sarah threads? We both support Sarah to the max, can't you just leaves us poor Mac users to our misery? Hate never looks good on a Christian.

22 posted on 11/06/2014 9:31:46 AM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

"Seagate - Wireless Plus 1TB Portable

Try one of these.

23 posted on 11/06/2014 9:37:31 AM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: itsahoot

I wasn’t aware Palin promoted all the things Christians hate as Apple does. Gay marriage, abortion, global warming, socialism.

And on a conservative site too.


24 posted on 11/06/2014 9:37:59 AM PST by Norm Lenhart (Feet to the fire folks. YOU PROMISED!)
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To: Norm Lenhart
I wasn’t aware Palin promoted all the things Christians hate as Apple does

Apple doesn't either just because Cook came out of the closet. Care to guess how many Republicans in Congress are closet Gays? Or maybe how many Supremes and lesser judges are Gay? Not one of those people affect my choice in computer platform. All the hate filled diatribe you post on Swordmaker's threads change no one but you.

We are paying a price for our acceptance, as a nation, of the gay agenda, but hating an inanimate object is just senseless.

Maybe you would discover just how evil Bill and Melinda Gates are if you devoted some time to investigating how Common Core is promoting the Gay Agenda and Eugenics fake History and Science.

In my spare time, I have misgivings about a couple of forks in my kitchen so I am going to investigate the brand and see if anyone associated with the manufacture of them was Queer, if so I will melt them down, and start using sharpened sticks.(Organic Only)

25 posted on 11/06/2014 9:57:11 AM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: itsahoot

Buy and promote whatever you like. But Apple is known across the world outside fanboi circles as a leftist tool. Excuses do not trump reality.

When people promote Apple, they promote Apple’s social justice/liberal agenda. The only surprising thing is that it happens so often by supposedly right wing types.

And that includes Rush.


26 posted on 11/06/2014 10:05:52 AM PST by Norm Lenhart (Feet to the fire folks. YOU PROMISED!)
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To: Norm Lenhart
When people promote Apple, they promote Apple’s social justice/liberal agenda.

I don't promote Apple, I use Apple Products. I Pay taxes so I promote the Gay, Abortion, Marxist agenda as well, by your logic.

But Apple is known across the world outside fanboi circles as a leftist tool.

Yes they are but so is Microsoft, IBM, Google Facebook.....Wal-Mart.......None of which seems to bother you, because you have a personal agenda.

I read Swordmaker's posts because I subscribe to them, for information that may or may not be important to me, I don't subscribe to any list you may have going. I do enjoy your posts on Palin threads which I also subscribe to. I do not subscribe to any IBM/M$/PC threads because I don't want to read them. I also don't read the NYT.

The greatest barrier to the truth, is to believe you already have it.

27 posted on 11/06/2014 12:07:46 PM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: itsahoot

Shut up, man, I don’t give a damn what you think about my comment, and you can shove your irrelevant comment where the sun don’t shine, brah.


28 posted on 11/06/2014 12:51:55 PM PST by chris37 (heartless)
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To: chris37

Thanks for your interest.

We value all interested parties, and your post will receive an answer as soon as the sun shines where your head is, an event that is very unlikely to occur.


29 posted on 11/06/2014 11:27:13 PM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: itsahoot

Hey, dawg, at least my post was related to the subject of this thread.

Yours don’t seem to be.

You just seem to want to pick a fight with me from behind the safety and comfort your little computer monitor there.

So you can FOAD now, you clucking, little chicken.

Bwak, bwak.


30 posted on 11/07/2014 6:38:33 AM PST by chris37 (heartless)
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To: chris37
You just seem to want to pick a fight with me from behind the safety and comfort your little computer monitor there.

Just trying to point out how silly it is for Apple Haters to invade Mac user, informational threads, and tell us how stupid we are.

My tiny little monitor is a 70 inch Vizio that I have to use to overcome the warped retinas I have to deal with.

I have used Apple products for almost 40 years, and I have had exactly one break before I passed it on, it required a power supply which I installed and then passed it on.

I do not venture into MS/PC/IBM threads because they are of no interest to me. I also do not have any urge to visit gay porn sites just because Cook is a fruit loop. I detest homosexual behavior in all its forms, and resent the notion that I support them because Cook came out. I imagine if we knew all the Homosexual CEOs that were Gay we would have few products we could use without being charged with supporting the homosexual agenda.

31 posted on 11/07/2014 9:09:10 AM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: itsahoot

I never said anything at all to you until you butted your nose into a conversation that didn’t involve you and insulted me for no reason at all.

So yeah, I think you are stupid, and I have no interest in buying an Apple product, because it seems like Apple users are a bunch of uptight, stuck up dickwads.

The other person that responded to my post was kind enough to show me that, yes, they do in fact support gaming to such an extent that I could be interested in one.

Then you came along and made a complete ass of yourself and killed my interest in it.

Nice work.

Apple should hire you.

Goodbye.


32 posted on 11/07/2014 9:34:16 AM PST by chris37 (heartless)
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To: chris37
and insulted me for no reason at all.

It wasn't for no reason, and it wasn't an insult, it was however a little sarcastic.

33 posted on 11/07/2014 5:19:32 PM PST by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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