IOS 9 Really Makes IPad Fit for Work
Since the launch of the iPad in 2010, people have argued over whether the iPad is an awesome productivity tool or a toy for games and movies. With iOS 9, however, the usefulness of the iPad has become a little clearer.
iOS 9 (coming September 16 and available in public beta right now ) offers a new multitasking system, improved keyboard shortcuts, simplified text selection, and picture-in-picture mode for watching videos while working in other apps. Apple even announced a brand new iPad built specifically for work. None of this is revolutionary, but these are features that people have been asking for on iPads for years. So I spent a week working with mine to see if it was a truly enjoyable experience or not. And they make the iPad a little better as a laptop replacement … for some people.
IOS 9 multitasking is fantastic (if you have a new iPad)
Apple’s new multitasking is very useful on a regular human-sized iPad, and I imagine it will be even better on the Pro. There are three kinds of multitasking in iOS: slide-by, split-view, and picture-in-picture.
Slide Over lets you swipe from the right side of the screen to open a second app in a small overlay, just like in the Control Center. Here you can quickly jot down a note or find something while keeping another app full screen. It’s mostly handy for taking notes, but I also used it to find something in Safari when I was typing somewhere else.
Split View is more of a traditional multitasking feature. With it, you can open two apps side-by-side at the same time. I found this most helpful when researching the material and getting quotes (you can use and edit both applications at the same time, so copying / pasting from one side to the other is as easy as you think). It also came in handy when comparing notes or browsing online. I believe that artists working on various source images will find this useful as well. I mean, there’s nothing overwhelming about it (and it’s available on other tablets); this is the same as having two open applications on the desktop, but useful nonetheless.
Picture-in-picture zooms out the video and plays it at the bottom of the screen. If you are not watching lectures or something like that, it is quite difficult to imagine how this can be used while working. I didn’t bother with this, but I also never watch a video on my iPad.
But here’s the catch: Split View only works on iPad Air 2, Mini 4, and iPad Pro. Slide and Picture-in-Picture only work with Air, Air 2, Mini 2, Mini 3 and Mini 4. Old users are out of luck with most of these features. In fact, I had to borrow a friend’s iPad for this experiment because mine didn’t support any of the new features, and they’re definitely not revolutionary enough to warrant a new purchase.
With keyboard shortcuts, you don’t have to touch the screen
Multitasking is fine if you have a new iPad, but if you don’t, all you get from this update is a few keyboard shortcuts. The good thing is that some of them are actually pretty cute.
There are different types of keyboard shortcuts: on-screen and hardware. Hardware keyboard shortcuts are the real star here. Each application has several shortcuts, and most of them are similar to their desktop counterparts. Some are new, some are not. For example, you can press Command + T to open a new tab in Safari, or Command + N to open a new message in Mail. But you can also hold down the Command button to open an overlay that shows you all the available keyboard shortcuts in the app you’re using, which is very useful. They were slowly implemented in iOS for a while, but now you will find a lot of them.
More useful is the new app switcher shortcut: Command + Tab (yes, it’s the same shortcut for Windows and OS X). When you press Command + Tab, you get an overlay with the last open applications, and you can use the arrow keys to select the application to switch, like you can in OS X. You never have to touch the screen, which makes using the hardware keyboard wherever more useful.
The new keyboard shortcuts on the screen are less useful. A big innovation in the keyboard is the new Quick Access Toolbar located just above the keyboard. Here you will find buttons to quickly copy / paste, bold, italic and underline, or add an attachment. It seems to be handy, but I’ve rarely used anything on the Quick Access Toolbar because it has never been easier to use than just pressing a word to open the same menu.
iOS 9 also adds a new “simple text selection” for selecting text and moving the cursor. Just touch and hold the iPad keyboard with two fingers and you can move the text cursor anywhere in the text. Once you’ve positioned it where you want, you can double-tap to select the current word, or thrice to select the entire paragraph. This is good, but not much better than the old text selection.
All in all, the onscreen keyboard improvements seem pretty gimmicky, but the addition of keyboard shortcuts and application switching to a hardware keyboard makes it a lot more viable as a laptop replacement. For the first time, I really enjoy using the iPad for writing and working. I used to deal with it when I had to, but touching the screen was always uncomfortable. Now I don’t need it.
Who really benefits from iOS 9?
After trying it, I feel like students will get the most out of this update. The iPad has always been a decent note-taking tool in the classroom because it’s so small and light, but now it’s really useful. Thanks to multitasking, you can now keep a book open in the Kindle app along with the notes you take in class. Or you can leave the lecture video open in a small window while you work on other tasks. Even the simple task of printing a research paper is much more doable when you can place your article and notes side by side on the screen. However, when it came to writing about Apple’s big event yesterday , I went back to my desktop. Of course, you can work with iPad in this capacity, but it’s not always pleasant.
For the rest, the benefits are less obvious. Writers of all types will surely appreciate the new keyboard shortcuts along with the new multitasking features, but time will tell if casual users will like it. The iPad has always been great as a distraction-free writer, but now it’s even more powerful. So if your job involves a lot of writing, note-taking, or other basic typing skills, iOS 9 will do it that much better. However, if you never guessed what you need an iPad for at all, nothing has changed.