Well, it’s been JUST OVER two weeks of using the first Developer Beta version of iPadOS
16 and a few days of using the Beta 2… there are issues.
In my previous video where I compared Stage Manager with Samsung Dex, I promised to keep
you up to date so this is an update to that video.
And let me put a disclaimer here right off the bat in case you haven’t watched that
other video.
It IS early!
And Issues ARE to be expected this early in the development phase… of course they are!
But some of these issues… to me anyway, are quite fundamental and I am not convinced
they can be fixed.
Or even… if Apple wants it… to be fixed.
I am Alex and I do down to earth tech reviews.
So let’s talk about what I discovered in iPadOS 16 that…
I believe really needs fixing for the next Beta version (hopefully in the next few days)
and ultimately in the FINAL beta version that goes to the public.
**Starting with Stage Manager** Because that is the BIGGEST change, the most
impactful to the majority people.
I won’t be comparing it with Dex today - I have done that on this video over here <point
to left shoulder> but I will be doing another comparison with Dex once the latest Beta is
released, so stay tuned for that one.
Starting with the positives.
There’s a couple!
I like the gestures concept here.
They took something that was already working really well.
I use the three finger swipe A LOT in previous iPadOS versions.
So they took that and made it slightly better for Stage Manager.
Sometimes we don’t NEED a crazy change.
A small improvement is all its needed.
But like many things with Stage Manager, it’s not flowing nicely just yet but I really like
how this particular feature is going.
It’s the sort of thing we expect from Apple.
Intuitive… nice animation, no time wasting looking for stuff.
As you can see here, it’s s bit clunky still.
But I am confident this will be fixed before the final version is released.
In general it’s crashing a lot more though.
It feels to me that Beta 2 is crashing more OFTEN than the previous Beta.
Very odd.
Could be my perception as I am using more trying to find problems, you know?.
Before I go into the negatives, there is something ELSE I really like with Stage Manager which
is the ability to keep it hidden.
So even when you are using Stage Manager, you can still make the most of the display!
In my case the whole POINT of buying the 12.9 inch was to have more space.
The Stage Manager multitasking view kinda takes that space away a bit when you’re
not connected to a monitor.
So it’s nice to be able to go full screen…
And ONLY then when you swipe to left, you get the stage manager look.
Again, intuitive enough, very Apple like.
**Negatives** Like you probably did, I got really excited
when I heard that Apple were finally bringing the ability to use the iPad with an external
monitor AND the introduction of Stage Manager, it’s all great.
But…
There’s always a but right?
**Extending the display** Let’s say… you don’t want to extend
the iPad display but instead, you want to mirror it.
Maybe you want to save space on the desk…
I don’t know use your own keyboard and mouse….
Well, forget that!
If you close the lid you lose the signal to the monitor.
That’s a minor issue, maybe there’s not many people out there who would try to use
the iPad in clamshell mode.
You may as well get a laptop right?
No wrong!
I am fed up with making apologies for Apple.
I bought this expensive product, let me use the bloody thing in whichever way I like!
Another minor issue happens when you click a link inside an email and try to open that
link in a browser that is already paired with another app in Stage Manager.
In my case Gmail trying to open a link in Google Chrome - which I guess is quite common
thing that people will do.
At the moment it struggles.
I also noticed that if you have Stage Manager on and you decide to watch a movie.
The iPad Pro Retina display…
Remember the blooming issue.
It’s really noticeable with Stage Manager.
This little thing in the corner here….
It doesn’t matter what you do, it won’t go away.
You would think that Apple TV after a few seconds would just assume that you are now
watching a bit of content.
Maybe if I touch the screen, that could appear and again, if I don’t do anything, it should
go away.
That’s really annoying because you gotta keep turning Stage Manager on and off, and
that doesn’t feel very…
Apple.
It’s poor UI/UX.
We can blame developers for 3rd party apps, but this one
is iPadOS and Apple TV.
As I said, surely they’ve been trying this themselves right?
Those were minor issues…
There’s a biggie coming.
Actually let me know in the comments by typing the word CLAMS if you agree with what I said
earlier about using the iPad in whichever way we like as customers.
This also tells me that you watched this far which makes you a legend thank you!
And while you’re down there make sure you are subscribed because YouTube you know…
sometimes will make it hard for videos like this to be discovered.
So yeah, hit that notification bell too, I am here once a week with a new video and I
will be following this iPad development very closely!
Moving on then…
I gotta be careful now not to swear here…
For some reason, someone at Apple decided that it would be a good idea to have these
black bars on the display.
Still in 2022.
They clearly showed us that it is possible to use an external monitor with the iPad.
(Only took them 12 years!!)
So why is it that when you mirror the display onto…say a 4K monitor.
Why do we still get those bars?
I said I wasn’t going to compare the iPad with the Tab S8 Ultra.
But that does it.
On any display, wirelessly too!!
I mean…
can you imagine Steve Jobs still being around?
I don’t see the logic with Apple sometimes you know…
The other thing that’s not quite right is
the resizing of windows in Stage Manager.
Resizing the Windows is possible but its not as smooth as it could be.
The system DOES allow you to do it but it kinda decides FOR you where to put the windows.
I know there’s probably quite a bit of development not just from Apple but the 3rd party app
developers to go through… and make this better…but I can’t see this changing too
much in the final version.
This to me is typical Apple.
It’s hard to explain, but if they were to allow the windows to be resized as we want
it…
I think we would have seen that on this first beta versions.
But to me… this is like they want to admit that they would be copying others.
So they have to make it different, even if it’s painful for customers.
OK so we can’t resize the windows as we
like it, but at least we can drag them around and move them freely no?
Erm..
no.
Again, you can move them about but once you let go, it goes wherever iPadOS thinks is
best.
And here is another issue that I think is
quite…
fundamental.
I just don’t like how Stage Manager looks.
I think it’s trying too hard to look cool, but every time I tried to work in this setup…I
ended going back full screen mode.
As I mentioned in the positives…
It’s nice that you can sorta hide it.
I’d be quite happy if they just left it at that!
It’s almost as if they want to show us…
“LOOK WE’VE BEEN BUSY, PROMISE” See these pretty things on the side?
So yeah.. when you are NOT “hiding” it, you lose quite a bit of screen real estate.
It will look great…
on the new (rumoured) 14 inch iPad.
You can just see it coming can’t you?
It will make sense on a much bigger screen.
That’s probably gonna cost a pretty penny too.
Probably I don’t know…
US$ 2 grand by the time we get some upgrades.
And it’s still gonna be just a tablet.
Let’s not kid ourselves here…
Unless Apple pulls it out of the bag and delivers something amazing with the new iPad…
Who knows.
I find it unlikely at this point.
But hey, we can connect the iPad to a monitor!
If you get an M1 iPad.
Yes, that’s the other thing that is getting me slightly pissed.
I am not afraid of sharing my opinion here..
But turns out I am not alone!!
A lot of you commented on my last video about this.
I think it’s an outrage.
Its…stupid!
There is no technical reason why Apple can’t allow older iPads from 2018 or 2020 to push
an external monitor.
As some of you already told me, some phones from back in 2017 with 4MB memory were able
to do this.
So if any Apple fanboy tells you… oh, it’s because it hasn’t got enough RAM.
Just call BS on them ok?
Where was I?
Sorry to rant a bit there.
Look I know it’s Beta.
But I find this whole set of features I don’t know…
They’re cutting a bit fine here.
There’s a huge amount of known issues.
Lots of issues where they are providing..
Workarounds..
But yeah, to me it feels like a rushed bit of software.
Surely they haven’t just started working on this right?
Anyway, maybe they have.. who cares?
All we care about as consumers… is that it works when it actually ships.
I am not hating on Apple by the way.
This whole video is tough love.
I’ve just seen far too many people glossing over some of these issues, because is Apple…
I am a consumer first.
Sure I probably get more views if I just say how Amazing Apple is.
Maybe I’d get invited to Apple office and sit in a nice chair with Marques to say how
amazing Apple is and how crap everyone else is.
But we both know..
Those guys don’t trick us…
The only reason we buy some of the Apple products is because we think they’re best in class.
I just think the iPad could be so much more….
If it’s given the right software.
And there’s so much more content over here for you.
And YouTube reckons you will like this video over here.
See you soon!