Regular reader Mike Paterson wrote in with his initial Day 1 Thoughts. Thanks Mike.

…………

iPad Pro ~ Initial Thoughts On Owning The Pro

Having now opened the box and taken the Pro from the container the temptation to wait for the iPencil was just to much to bear.

As such I hooked my Air 2 to my iMac and performed an encrypted backup.

With that done I connected the iPad Pro which immediately asked if I wanted the device as new or restore from a previous backup.

Choosing the latest Air 2 backup off it went chewing through the 85GB of data it needed to place on the Pro.

Being connected to the iMac and having a decent 50Mbps connection on BT Infinity 2 did help on the time but I was amazed that after just 20 minutes iTunes was quite happy to let the Pro loose.

So, with the Pro now on my lap (boy that was different to the Air 2) I started to go through all the places which I knew would take time in settling down.

My oh my, all the photos, videos, music, documents, everything and I do mean everything was there.

The only omission was a few Apps that didn’t finish but fear not iOS was busy busy downloading them happily over my home Wifi.

Ten more minutes or a somewhat 35 in total and the brand new not switched on Pro was now mimicking my Air 2 byte per byte…… although obviously in a much larger scale.
So, how do I feel about all of this?

It’s size makes it feel colossal when compared to the Air 2 and the weight although obviously heavier I am surprised for such a large device it doesn’t reflect the same in weight, actually it is quite light in a weird but wonderful way.
So, what’s it like to use?

I simply adore the new digital keyboard. This extra space has been used very well and I am glad the developers chose to make most if not all of the keys available without having to resort to tapping on the [.?123] key.

Talking of this key’ it was again lovely to see they added both an ‘undo’ and ‘redo’ key.

This is brilliant for stepping back and forward through typed text. Nice one Apple.

I also like the fact the space gives every key visual without having to go digging for where it lays. In fact the only key that is not on the main keyboard page is a new added key which again is brilliant and that is the […] key. Tapping on this saves having to tap ever ending full stops to get a series of lines which I like to add in my writing as it forms an expression of asking the reader to pause before continuing to read, as in:-

This is simply awesome …………… truly it is.

Those series of dots took 5 taps on the keyboard as opposed to 15. It all adds up to time saving.
The rest of Pro’s uses I will be testing over the next week or so whilst I wait for Apple to sort out their stock levels on the accessories for this beast.

Talking of accessories this is a fitting shot at listing some of the not so nice things about this device.
Negatives

My main gripe is with Apple not sorting out the accessories for the Pro.

Now I am going to choose my wording carefully here so please form you own impression but suffice to say I simply do not understand why Apple did not have in place an abundance of the two main accessories available to purchase on day one. Those being the iPencil and the Keyboard.

Let me get this straight. I just spent £799 on a 128GB iPad Pro that Apple’s chief says could replace my Laptop, but I have no way of knowing until the keyboard is available?

I also purchased the Pro with a high degree in use for creative Art and Painting, but again I have no way of knowing until the iPencil is available? 

I’m sorry but this makes absolutely no sense. Remember, Apples return policy affords customers 14 calendar days to return an item from the date you received it.

So what happens if these two accessories do not turn up in time and you find either don’t perform to your standards, you now can not return the iPad Pro!
Another gripe is the Home Screen layout.

It was fine back in both 2007 for the small iPhone and 2010 for the iPad. But now we have a much larger phones and this tablet. The Pro screen has way so much space, it’s wasted.

Put simply iOS Home screen layouts and App launching needs to be looked at.

I would much rather have the look and feel of OS X on the Pro. I can see iOS changing especially if Apple are going to continue bringing iOS and OS X closer together.

The Pro is perfect timing to start this off with a bang.
My other main gripe is a lack of Apps.

I don’t mean Apps in general that are used on the smaller iPads (never thought I would say that). No I’m talking about Apps that are specifically coded to utilise the size of the Pro. 

Apple have had two months to ensure they got more developers onboard and there is little news of Apps being added. It’s quite funny when you think about it but the main developer who has contributed well is Microsoft with Word, Excel and PowerPoint taking advantage of the 12.9″ screen.

Adobe is pushing support but where are the rest?
Okay, rants over…………… (again I love that key), I’m back to loving the Pro.

All this typed on the gorgeous built-in digital keyboard. Bless you Apple you got that part right.