Masochist me? An Ars writer's iPad-only workday

How easy is it to complete a full workday while only using the iPad? One intrepid Ars editors learns that—surprise!—it's actually doable.

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/apple/news/2011/09/doable-or-not-my-experience-with-working-for-ars-on-the-ipad.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[davecadron]

Try the same with the Asus Transformer + laptop dock.

 

[pepoluan]

iPad + a large keyboard... how's that really different from a laptop? Granted, to give a similar experience, said laptop needs a touchscreen, but if we're talking form factors, you cheated ;-)

 

[Paul Hill]

Singletasking low-powered laptop still can be used for light wordprocessing shock!

 

[L4t3r4lu5]

You have a 27" iMac for IRC and posting HTML?

Jesus. I don't feel so bad about blocking Ars ads at home anymore.

 

[dfflick]

I'm guessing this is a result of the first modern tablet with a real OS (Windows 8) being shown off yesterday. Got to keep up Apple's reputation now that a device you can do serious work on (all the time, not just if you can find the apps) is on the horizon, right?

 

[amardeus]

Used a keyboard, does not count. And as mentioned above how is this different then a laptop once you include a keyboard? The only difference I see is the OS, nothing else.

You also had to buy a bunch of apps to do the same stuff you can do on any laptop without 3rd party applications.

 

[Exelius]

The command-tab thing would be a frustratingly easy thing for Apple to fix too -- it's one of those elegant changes that would have zero effect for people without a keyboard but make life a billion times easier for people with one.

 

[eJacqui]

You have a 27" iMac for IRC and posting HTML?

Jesus. I don't feel so bad about blocking Ars ads at home anymore.

Is there some reason why an article wouldn't be written in HTML to be put on a web page? Seems like you're choosing random, arbitrary things just to be a jerk for the sake of it. And it's working, so congratulations!

And if you hate our work here so much that you want to block ads, I'm not sure why you are still here.

 

[Benji XVI]

All kinds of things are different from a laptop – the entire interaction model of the system.

Apparently @jack of Twitter/Square fame does much of his work on an iPad in Pages & Keynote. I would think it’s be a lovely, focused writing environment, though with suitability somewhat depending on the task.

 

[KrazieF00]

edit:
Same general statement as Paul Hill, can't believe I didn't see it when posting.

 

[Derek Wildstar]

The command-tab thing would be a frustratingly easy thing for Apple to fix too -- it's one of those elegant changes that would have zero effect for people without a keyboard but make life a billion times easier for people with one.

Hey buddy, it's all about the user experience. Er, nevermind. ;-)

Seriously, I would have bet money that this wasn't possible. Even as an Apple hater I found this to be an interesting read.

 

[glitchc]

The command-tab thing would be a frustratingly easy thing for Apple to fix too -- it's one of those elegant changes that would have zero effect for people without a keyboard but make life a billion times easier for people with one.

They can't. iOS doesn't work that way. There is no real multi-tasking i.e. apps aren't sitting open in memory. Pressing the Home key saves the current app's state to disk, then closes it. So when you press Command+Tab, there's nothing to Command+Tab to.

 

[Stuka87]

I'm guessing this is a result of the first modern tablet with a real OS (Windows 8) being shown off yesterday. Got to keep up Apple's reputation now that a device you can do serious work on (all the time, not just if you can find the apps) is on the horizon, right?

A Windows 8 tablet is going to be in a different league of tablets. While powerful with its dual core Intel chip, its not going to get the same battery life, or be as thin and light. So there is a definite trade off there. Its also going to require a lot more storage as the OS itself is going to be much larger than iOS/Android are.

Don't get me wrong, I think Windows 8 with the Metro interface for tablets is a big step in the right direction. But Its still a minimum of a year away from GM (if we follow Windows 7 as an example). A lot can happen to Andoird and iOS in a year. And Apple has already added tablet features to OS X, not to the same level as Windows 8, but again, Windows 8 is a long ways from shipping. And by MS tipping their hat so early on, they are giving competitors a chance to match/surpass them before MS's product even ships.

 

[aliceyoung]

Jaqui,
Your work requirements are so low you could probably get by with a 20 year old '486 running Windows 95. Some of us need more power.

 

[Shalafi]

Now take away the keyboard and see how much you enjoy being an iPad-only writer.

 

[Jehos]

The command-tab thing would be a frustratingly easy thing for Apple to fix too -- it's one of those elegant changes that would have zero effect for people without a keyboard but make life a billion times easier for people with one.

They can't. iOS doesn't work that way. There is no real multi-tasking i.e. apps aren't sitting open in memory. Pressing the Home key saves the current app's state to disk, then closes it. So when you press Command+Tab, there's nothing to Command+Tab to.

Not true. You can already double-click the home key to see every app that has a saved state. How hard would it be to let you cycle through those using Cmd + Tab? Just have Cmd + Tab do the same thing as double-clicking the Home button, and if the command came from a bluetooth keyboard highlight the chosen app somehow. Releasing Cmd is the same as clicking the highlighted app.

Done.

As for productivity, one thing that helps bridge the gap with apps is having a Citrix environment. We have one at our office, and the Citrix client for iPad is pretty good. I don't know that I'd work on it all day (I'm a programmer), but I can get work done in a pinch. Citrix + iPad 3G means I can carry around a smallish device and know that I can handle any emergencies that come up as long as I'm near a cell tower.

 

[Paul Hill]

A Windows 8 tablet is going to be in a different league of tablets. While powerful with its dual core Intel chip, its not going to get the same battery life, or be as thin and light. So there is a definite trade off there.

The low-power Intel ones should be in the same ballpark though. Win8 on ARM definitely will be.

And that way you'll get more oomph that what's basically a big smartphone with a keyboard. Jeez though, I was using Pocket Word on a PDA and a cool foldy-out Targus keyboard back at the turn of the century. And that multitasked. Apple really lowers your expectations don't they?

 

[anormalgeek]

To be fair, you have a very atypical job. The vast, vast majority of enterprise software is not available on iOS and there are no equivalent applications on iOS. For those that do have an iOS alternative, very rarely is it as efficient or has all of the features of the Windows application.

At home, I primarily use my PC for gaming and web browsing. Then type of games I play do not run on iOS. The web browsing I do tends to use a lot of flash (for better or worse). Most mobile sites leave out certain functionality like searches or comments that I may want, and on the sites that do allow you to force the full version, Safari often renders it incorrectly.

For me, an iPad fulfills a single use case. Browsing the web on the couch while watching TV. That is it.

It is not a bad device, but it is not there yet.

 

[L4t3r4lu5]

You have a 27" iMac for IRC and posting HTML?

Jesus. I don't feel so bad about blocking Ars ads at home anymore.

Is there some reason why an article wouldn't be written in HTML to be put on a web page? Seems like you're choosing random, arbitrary things just to be a jerk for the sake of it. And it's working, so congratulations!

And if you hate our work here so much that you want to block ads, I'm not sure why you are still here.

I block ads because I hate ads. How many would I have to block before that $1699 27" iMac (http://www.apple.com/imac/) became a $600 just-as-capable-for-IRC-and-HTML-editing PC? I'm willing to bet you can't serve me that many ads during my life time.

Your vitriol is misplaced and undeserved. If anything would put me off coming here, it would beinfammatory ad-hominem attacks at readers.

FWIW, I don't block ads on AT.

 

[CodexDraco]

Wow what's the deal with all the hate? Chill out guys, you'll live longer.

This was a very interesting article and I have considered getting an iPad but I don't think it would work for me at all. I'm a programmer and use Eclipse and the command line a lot. Also, I would really miss my huge screen

 

[Hypopraxia]

The command-tab thing would be a frustratingly easy thing for Apple to fix too -- it's one of those elegant changes that would have zero effect for people without a keyboard but make life a billion times easier for people with one.

They can't. iOS doesn't work that way. There is no real multi-tasking i.e. apps aren't sitting open in memory. Pressing the Home key saves the current app's state to disk, then closes it. So when you press Command+Tab, there's nothing to Command+Tab to.

They could have the Command+Tab invoke the app switcher tray. That'd do it for me.

Edit for awesome idea:

They could even have it highlight an app icon in the app switcher tray which highlight would move to the next app upon subsequent Tab presses, and when the Command key was released, the iPad would switch to the highlighted app. Boom. Solved it for ya.

Edit for slow typing skills:

Beaten to it by Jehos.

 

[jonhern]

I still don't get way someone would buy a tablet with the intention of using it with a keyboard. Why not just get a much more powerfull and versatile laptop for the same price, or most likely less.

 

[Entegy]

Wow. This is a lot of hate for a proof of concept article.
Well, I found it interesting. Next time: No keyboard. That should be a fun day.

 

[krimhorn]

The command-tab thing would be a frustratingly easy thing for Apple to fix too -- it's one of those elegant changes that would have zero effect for people without a keyboard but make life a billion times easier for people with one.

They can't. iOS doesn't work that way. There is no real multi-tasking i.e. apps aren't sitting open in memory. Pressing the Home key saves the current app's state to disk, then closes it. So when you press Command+Tab, there's nothing to Command+Tab to.

It's more about the interaction metaphor than the actual nuts and bolts of the process. When you launch an application it gets entered into the Application Drawer. Even when you return to the Home Screen that app stays in the Application Drawer until you long press on its icon and select the 'x' to remove it. At least for my iPod Touch it even stores the app drawer state over reboots.

So Cmd+Tab would work if they used it to open the app drawer and select through the recent apps run.

Note: I'm a Windows user with limited Mac experience so I'm approaching this from the Alt+Tab functionality of Windows. If the Cmd+Tab functionality of MacOS is sufficiently different from that then the previous poster's statement stands.

 

[Puddle Jumping]

Interesting article, in a lot of ways it seems to mirror the editorial on RSS feeds.

The lack of screen real estate and the limitations of iOS make it tough to multi-task, but for a lot of people the push and pull of multi-tasking is actually counter-productive. Focusing on one job at a time improved your productivity, and (in a positive way) the iPad's limitations helped you do that.

There's certainly no reason why a sufficiently powerful tablet couldn't fully replace a workplace desktop within the next five to ten years. We just need to see some gains in hardware, and operating systems that can switch between portable and a desktop usage on the fly. It seems like the biggest barrier to that would be issues of security, with the move towards portable and cloud-based computing making it harder to secure sensitive projects, documents, etc.

Interesting article.

 

[glitchc]

I'm still skeptical about content creation on the iPad, and I think this is not a particularly balanced attempt.

So, Jacqui, you typed up the article on the iPad. Good. Did research for it on the iPad as well. Great.

Now, what about the graphics used in the article? That picture of the iPad, did you use a desktop/laptop in any way to manipulate it? How about taking it off the camera? Was that done exclusively with the iPad? Was it painless? I can see Aurich having a frustrating day at work using only an iPad.

How about generating a proof? What about posting the HTML to the server? A laptop can do all those things, as can a netbook. Modern day content creation is multi-modal. Running only one app at a time is a severe bottleneck.

More details/insights please.

 

[vrDrew99]

"In fact, I produced slightly more the day I worked on the iPad than on a normal day, and I didn't miss any significant news"

I hope that people who constantly barber on about the benefits of pre-emptive multi-tasking for "productivity" will think about the implications of this revelation.

Pre-emptive multi-tasking might be a neat trick for a computer to pull off, but numerous studies have shown that it is essentially counter-productive for the PERSON doing the work. Every time you switch from one task to another, your brain needs a certain amount of time to re-focus on what it is supposed to be doing.

 

[Baeocystin]

Jaqui,
Your work requirements are so low you could probably get by with a 20 year old '486 running Windows 95. Some of us need more power.

You joke, but in a lot of ways, the old, DOS-based WordPerfect 5.1 was the best pure writing environment I've used, mostly because its search/replace functionality was (and still is) better than anything the modern crop of word processors has to offer.

 

[benptooey]

I've been trying this experiment myself recently. Verbs for IM, iA Writer for text/documentation, Screens and Prompt to access remote machines via VNC/SSH (most of my work), Textastic for remote editing on those same servers. Works great and the battery lasts quite literally all the working day.

Obviously it doesn't make sense as your primary machine, and only if your particular workflow allows, but when portability and battery life are your primary requirements, it's nice to know that in my case at least, it's perfectly possible to work.

 

[whquaint]

Interesting article, but I think the 11" MacBook Air beats this iPad/keyboard combo in every possible way. For one, it goes all the way to eleven.

Regarding WOS 8, don't waste time comparing future-ware with current-ware. Plus, since Apple is adding iOS features to Mac OS, I expect the MacBook Air to get touch before too long.

 

[glitchc]

The command-tab thing would be a frustratingly easy thing for Apple to fix too -- it's one of those elegant changes that would have zero effect for people without a keyboard but make life a billion times easier for people with one.

They can't. iOS doesn't work that way. There is no real multi-tasking i.e. apps aren't sitting open in memory. Pressing the Home key saves the current app's state to disk, then closes it. So when you press Command+Tab, there's nothing to Command+Tab to.

Not true. You can already double-click the home key to see every app that has a saved state. How hard would it be to let you cycle through those using Cmd + Tab? Just have Cmd + Tab do the same thing as double-clicking the Home button, and if the command came from a bluetooth keyboard highlight the chosen app somehow. Releasing Cmd is the same as clicking the highlighted app.

Done.

As for productivity, one thing that helps bridge the gap with apps is having a Citrix environment. We have one at our office, and the Citrix client for iPad is pretty good. I don't know that I'd work on it all day (I'm a programmer), but I can get work done in a pinch. Citrix + iPad 3G means I can carry around a smallish device and know that I can handle any emergencies that come up as long as I'm near a cell tower.

Didn't know this. Thanks for clarifying.

But I'm curious as to how this works. Technically every app ever opened must have a saved state. There's no reason to ever close an app since it never occupies system RAM in the saved state. How does iOS determine which apps to show? Only lists the last n apps used? If not, over time wouldn't every app on the iPad appear on that list?

Edit: krimhorn's post makes it slightly more clear. I still wonder what happens if you don't use the X.

 

[SupahCoolX]

iOS 5 will help the multi-tasking quite a bit, as a simple swipe will switch between apps (or swipe up for the app tray).

 

[TheWerewolf]

For me, the core problem with this entire idea is that it's backwards.

You don't (or shouldn't) start with "I have an X and I want to see if I can shoehorn my workflow into it", it should be "I have a workflow - what's the best way to do it." If the iPad honestly was the BEST solution, then you should use it - but clearly, it's not: it's a compromise and an awkward one. Equally clearly, there are better solutions.

Unless you had just one and only one choice, and it was 'iPad', then I honestly don't see the point of this exercise other than 'can it be done'?

To which I reply - 'Why?'

 

[Derek Wildstar]

Your vitriol is misplaced and undeserved.

Wow, I'm amazed it was you who typed this and not Jacqui. Makes no sense at all.

 

[Gameboy70]

Spend a few weeks learning to type directly on the virtual keyboard. I used the TapTyping typing tutor app to get myself to 65 wpm in about six weeks, and there are users on the TT community's leaderboard that have scored over a 100 wpm. Leaderboard high scores tend to be 20 wpm higher for external keyboard users than OSK users, but they're different users. My physical and virtual keyboard typing speeds are almost the same at this point.

IMO, external keyboards are clutter. I bought the Apple keyboard thinking I'd use it, but I was always apprehensive about putting it in a bag with the iPad. The keyboard's sharp edges and non-flush, asymmetrical bottom looked like a serious scratch hazard. More importantly, adding the bulk of an external keyboard negates the one-piece elegance and portability of the iPad itself.

I like Writing Kit, especially for it's markdown preview mode. I just wish it had a fullscreen mode like Simplenote. If Simplenote had the same MD preview capability (which it does for its web client), I'd just stick to the latter. I still have WK set to store everything in my Dropbox/Simplenote directory.

The only drag in my writing workflow that really keeps me from using the iPad exclusively is the inability to quickly toggle between Safari and a text document. WK's embedded browser should work in theory, but it's too limited (e.g. no default Google search). Once iOS 5 hits the street and allows me to swipe between apps, I'm all in.

 

[lookmark]

The command-tab thing would be a frustratingly easy thing for Apple to fix too -- it's one of those elegant changes that would have zero effect for people without a keyboard but make life a billion times easier for people with one.

Agreed.

iOS 5 should make this better, at least - the multitasking gestures for app-switching are *much* better than double-pressing the home button, which gets very, very tiresome on the iPad.

Nice article, Jacqui (and I chucked at your description of command-tab insanity, I've had the exact same thought). The iPad isn't perfect, and still far from a full PC, but it's definitely growing up.

Also, to those sputtering in the comments: title of this article is "an Ars writer's iPad-only workday." That's what this about. Not programming. Not design. Writing.

 

[kray28]

You have a job with software tools which are:

1. Apple based
2. Fairly generic (email, word proc, IM, web etc)

What if you're a programmer? What if you need to interact with a website that uses any measure of Flash. What if you use proprietary tools which only work on Windows?

Simple stuff I can't do on an iPad:
1. Reorder my Netflix disc queue (srsly....wtf?)
2. Check my daughter's math progress on a paid math practice site (IXL.com)
3. Watch most (non-YouTube) flash video.

 

[Galeran]

Hmm... my work this week has included editing a podcast (Audacity), breaking down a 400-row, 60-variable dataset into about a dozen different reports (Excel), grading students' PHP/MySQL assignments (with Apache/MySQL running on my computer), and editing a PDF (Acrobat Pro), and evaluating three source-code management shell extensions (Tortoise for Subversion, Git, and Mercurial).

I have also done email (Outlook), web browsing (Firefox, IE, and Chrome), and viewing PDFs... but I don't think I'll be switching to a tablet any time soon.

 

[Paul Hill]

I hope that people who constantly barber on about the benefits of pre-emptive multi-tasking for "productivity" will think about the implications of this revelation.

It implies there's nothing Apple can take from you without some guy YAGNIing you. wanting to singletask is a world away from needing to singletask. There's bunches of work that I just couldn't do if I was stuck on a singletasking system like DOS or the iPad.