“With the new version of iOS 9 for iPad, announced at WWDC, the touch-sensitive QuickType keyboard now has the ability to transform into a trackpad whenever you set down two fingers on the keyboard portion of the screen. Simply move those fingers to the left and the cursor moves with them,” Jordan Crook reports for TechCrunch.This allows you to move the cursor around in a way that feels natural from years of experience with a computer, when cursor movements on the iPad used to be truly painful.”
“This is a significant update, mainly because it transforms the iPad into a better creation tool,” Crook reports. “And when you add in split-screen multitasking (also announced today), the iPad can truly transform from a consumption tool to a real computer.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We have to test it, but this potentially changes the equation for many – and for Apple in terms of Mac and iPad sales. If these major workflow improvements get a certain type of user to the point where they no longer immediately grab their MacBooks over their iPad Air 2 or *gasp!* even need a MacBook… Whoa!
When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks. But as people moved more towards urban centers, people started to get into cars. I think PCs are going to be like trucks. Fewer people will need them. And this transformation is going to make some people uneasy… because the personal computer has taken us a long way… But it changes. Vested interests are going to change. And, I think we’ve embarked on that change… We like to talk about the post-PC era, but when it really starts to happen, it’s uncomfortable. – Steve Jobs, June 1, 2010
SEE ALSO:
Apple previews iOS 9 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch – June 8, 2015
Eh.. It’s okay.
Just wondering aloud, “What is a MacBoos?”
Have I missed a new product category from Apple Inc.?
Yeah, now the sons-of-a-bitches are getting into the liquor business. I and Jack Daniels aren’t worried in the least bit. They aren’t gonna just walk in and make a decent whiskey, and we guarantee it.
Priceless.
1) How is two finger pointing more precise than one?
2) You are using a $800 iPad for a track pad?
3) The intuitive two finger movement does not compute for younger kids or aging ones who never used a computer – right?
does it go for iPhone too? I ould think some of the stuff would work on iPhone as well.
In the keynote, they did say that multitasking would work on the latest iPhone. Of course, I don’t see the point of it on a display of that size but I suppose someone will find it useful. I don’t know many people who multitask on their Android devices but maybe they’re not aware they can do it. It’s usually just one application at a time. It’s possible they’d need a high-end smartphone with plenty of processing power and memory to get decent use out of it.
Medium-tier Android smartphones tend to bog down over time which is probably the reason there are so many memory cleaners and optimizers for Android devices.
I enjoyed seeing the multitasking in the keynote and hopefully it may get consumers to upgrade their earlier iPads to the ones that are capable of multitasking. What impressed me the most was the News aggregator app. That will be a lot of fun for me to play with. I hope they have a lot more magazines or newspapers in the feed in the near future.
I see how it can be useful for a iPhone 6 plus.
It’s funny you mention android devices. The thing is with all they (android)supposedly do, which at best are poor attempts. The users are usually to stupid to understand or do anyways. The biggest determining factor in there purchase is screen size. Apple took that away. And price. They have to give them away. They sure as hell cant sell them
Picture in picture is what I even asked for in feedback. A little window on top so I can watch movies while doing other stuff.
Don’t you know that distracted computing causes accidents?
or pregnancy??
At last, this really does help take away the clunkiness from the experience and gives a far more natural approach.
Its not the best but id have to play with it in person to decide. There are so many things i couldn’t do with my iPad that i just use my MB air all the time and gave the iPad to the kids. I love my iPad but so much i do i can’t do. Im always emailing, chatting. browsing at the same time
No 12″ Maxi iPad! 🖖😀⌚️
I don’t think many people would be willing to absorb the cost of one of those.
There is not enough there, there.
This will certainly make the iPad more functional, as will split screen, but if Apple wants to sell more iPads they should develop hardware to insert old iPads into that would work as dedicated controllers of Apple TV, HomeKit, HealthKit, Gaming, so that people can dedicate older hardware to cool new tasks, allowing them to turn over to newer hardware that is unique in its functionality due to continued improved processor speed and functionality, not available in previous models. Look at musicians who use mixer shells that make the iPad their central processor and visual screen or Podcasters that turn them into video cameras. If Apple got into the act the creative juice could be turned up significantly and people would have a reason to make their old iPads the dedicated brains of something creative and useful, while purchasing the new versions to do things unique, better or faster than the old ones.
I’m turning my old (4th gen) iPad into a mini kiosk at work. I think you are spot on with the idea to turn older iPads into a killer (truly) universal remote of sorts. Maybe a kick-starter!?
I don’t think that the word “supercharged” means what you think it means, MDN.
Practically nobody’s going to suddenly drop their existing Android tablet that already has multitasking in order to get an iPad.
Nobody who has a Mac with a real file system and serious processing power is going to drop it in order to get a touchscreen that you spend all day sliding and manipulating in order to get it to do two things at once.
Existing iPad users will upgrade because it’s free, but their productivity will not rise. Probably because iPads are not really used for productivity — they are consumption devices and email/web appliances wrapped in very nice hardware. That’s all great, but it sure as hell ain’t supercharged by making the Home button do yet one more function. Looks like iOS9 is just delivering what was long overdue from iOS8, which itself was late in fixing some of the mess that the turd iOS introduced. Getting back to stable and usable is more like it — not really super charging at all.
My iPad Air 1 won’t support split screen.
So iOS 9 won’t supercharge my iPad.
If the new cursor control feature works as advertised it is potentially a huge game-changer: the clumsy finger-blocking-the-text-you-are-trying-to-select mode of editing on iOS currently makes typing a pain.