This smaller size is great. If you have decent sized hands you can type with two thumbs on the iPad in portrait, something I wasn’t really able to do with the last generation iPad without a lot of stretching. Clearly a full-size iPad is not something you will be thumb typing with all the time, but it does give you an idea of how much smaller the iPad Air is.
Jim’s review addresses a point that I was curious to know about, and he also talks about battery life with the LTE model he reviewed.
When recommending products to consumers I always encourage them to look at it as an investment. Whether someone is buying a PC, TV, smartphone, or tablet, it is best to get one that is worthy of your money and will last. What makes the iPad Air interesting–from the view of personal computing–is the A7 processor.
Much has been written about the power of the A7. Creativity apps like iMovie and GarageBand run extremely smoothly and fast on the A7. I made a 4-minute high definition movie on the iPad Air and it exported in just under one minute. When I attempted the same on the iPad 4 it took just over three minutes. When it comes to exporting movies or even compressing video or a photo to upload to the web, send in an email, or even using AirDrop the A7 does it all faster.
Ben’s review of the iPad Air is different from the ones that have been published this evening, and he offers some practical advice.
I had the pleasure of being on this week’s episode of The Menu Bar with Andrew Clark and Zac Cichy, who are some of the most laid back guys I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to in recent memory. I haven’t been on a podcast in a long time, and I’m glad they put up with my scatterbrain and ramblings. The show is 2 hours long… I’m sorry Andrew (who had to edit it all) and Harry. My fault.
Some of the things we chatted about:
I had a good time and needed to get some things off my chest, and I’m glad they gave me the opportunity to talk about some of the topics I’m interested in as of late. I do feel bad for talking over them sometimes: group chats are hard and I’ll get better with experience. I’m looking for feedback regarding things I could work on as far as speaking on a podcast, so shoot me a Twitter message or use our email and it’ll get to the right place. (Subject: Menu Bar if you go the email route.) Be nice tho!
Spoilers: Andrew bought a 2DS.
Tim Cook:
In terms of new product categories, specifically, if you look at the skills that Apple has from hardware, software, and services, and an incredible app ecosystem, these set of things is very, very unique, I think no one has a set of skills like this, and we obviously believe that we can use our skills in building other great products that are in categories that represent areas where we do not participate today. So we’re pretty confident about that.
But where Apple has disappointed recently is in novelty, or surprise. Perhaps this is unfair, but it’s real. Apple became the company that delivered “new”. People got used to hearing about new stuff all the time — iPod nanos, iPhones, MacBook Airs, iPads — and now it seems like it’s been a while. The more people got, the more they wanted. And then you have to work even faster.
What really happened? Steve Jobs spoiled us with two mind-altering substances in quick succession — the iPhone and iPad. Meanwhile, the majority of people who have ever owned Apple products likely bought their first (and second…) during this period. So all of a sudden, a bunch of people who didn’t really pay attention to Apple before — people who never had to boot up a Performa with Extensions off, or upgrade RAM in a Power Mac 8500 — are now expecting some crazy new toy to appear every few years, whether it’s realistic or not.
This is certainly an honest perspective by Dan Frommer. Being the “Apple guy” among my friends, I get regular questions about “what’s really next for Apple” or “when is the watch coming out”. There is a natural tendency for humans to want “new” – imagine by customers who got the iPhone and iPad in the past five years alone.
The software and products Apple released this year are great, but many of them (game controller API, Touch ID, and even iOS 7 itself) seem to suggest Apple is laying the foundation for interesting new things to come.
Judging by the marketing copy, Apple seems pretty excited about the new Mac Pro. Jeff Carlson posted more photos at TidBITS.
From the Evernote blog:
We believe that the best technology experiences happen when software and hardware are built together to achieve a shared goal. Penultimate was already a great handwriting app, but it needed a hardware complement that didn’t exist. In working closely with Adonit for the last 18 months, we’ve co-created the stylus we always wanted: the Jot Script Evernote Edition, the first true precision-point stylus on the market. Together, we’ve developed the first app and stylus combination that finally makes digital handwriting the experience it should be.
Does that sound familiar?
I wish that I was enough of an artist to truly appreciate apps like Penultimate and Paper and use them on a daily basis. The Adonit Jot Script seems like an interesting device, and the new features that have been added to Penultimate (zoom and drift) should make for a more natural handwriting experience. Maybe I should use Penultimate to create sketches site redesign ideas (I already keep website screenshots in Evernote).
From the Logitech blog:
The three keyboard products each feature a built-in Bluetooth keyboard with maximized key size for a fast and fluid typing experience. The Logitech Folio Protective Case offers tablet protection without a keyboard, and is Logitech’s thinnest and lightest folio for the iPad Air. It has a water-repellent skin for two-sided protection against bumps, scratches sand spills, and doubles as a stand, adapting to hold your tablet at the right angle for reading, viewing or playing games.
The FabricSkin Keyboard Folio looks nice. Personally, I’d just love if the old special keys started working again on iOS 7 with my Logitech tablet keyboard.
Our thanks to Agile Tortoise for sponsoring MacStories this week with Terminology.
Terminology is an app for anyone who loves words. A Universal app for iPad and iPhone, Terminology is part dictionary, part thesaurus and part research tool. Terminology starts with a great offline dictionary with concise definitions, and extends the dictionary with deep word relations. Find the right word by browsing more and less specific words, and more. If what you need is not in the dictionary, Terminology offers customizable actions to integrate with other reference website and apps.
Get Terminology today for $2.99 on the App Store, or find out more at agiletortoise.com.
Federico’s note: I use Terminology on my iPhone and iPad, and I’m a fan of the design changes and actions that were introduced with version 3.0, which I reviewed here. Gabe Weatherhead has some great examples of how you can make Terminology work for you with custom actions.
