iOS

I am admittedly an iOS guy. Let me just start by saying that.

I read with interest everything I come across about the next “iPad killer” and about how iPads are not legitimate laptop replacements. And I notice that many of the authors who post like that say something about how they could never get along without a (Windows based) laptop. They often challenge people to try to live their day-to-day technological lives with only an iPad and see how impossible it is having never done so themselves.

Well for about the past year, I have done just that.

My iPads (a 12.9 inch iPad Pro, and an an older 9.7 inch 4th gen iPad) are the center of my digital life, and the experience has not been unpleasant.

I consider myself to be a relatively average computer user. I pay my bills on line, I manage my budget with a spreadsheet, I watch movies, I play a couple of games. I don’t do a lot of presentations or things like that. I read (a lot) and write a fair bit.

I’ll be the first to admit that an external keyboard is extremely helpful, however, with the large screen on the 12.9″ iPad Pro the keyboard is big enough that it’s very usable. I can split screen on the iPad Pro and drag and drop things between apps easier than I can on a computer some times. When I’m working on one, I use the second iPad to watch on (news, weather, Netflix) and there’s nothing really on a day to day basis that I struggle to do.

The most awkward task I’ve encountered is working with my budget spreadsheet. It’s really nice to be able to click inside a cell on a spreadsheet and start typing in there, and because there are a lot of rows and columns I find myself swiping a lot. But that’s really more of an adjustment than anything else, and is one that wasn’t really all that hard to make.

So the the pundits who tell me I cannot live my life with an iPad only, what am I missing?


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