Yesterday, I talked about my new iPad Pro M1. I love it and hate it at the same time. Today, I think I should talk about my vision of iPad OS. Apple may have something completely different in their mind but today, no Apple only me.
The first iPad I used was the very first iPad. It was nothing special but a larger and powerful iPhone. My mom used to watch videos on it and she is still doing the same today. For a user like my mom, it is indeed a great device. A powerful, large and portable device that can be carried around easily. The only thing missing is a kickstand like the Surface Pro but you can buy a case just for that. It is simply the best choice for a user like my mom.
User friendly and great software experiments are probably the main reasons why people are buying an iPad. However, this all changed when iPad Pro 12.9 inch was announced in 2015. It was the largest iPad ever made and targeted professionals. However, who is a pro? Is watching video pro? I guess not. That’s why it is not a device my mom should use but she is using it. In the end, it doesn’t matter because everyone can use it, not only pros.
Later, iOS was split into iOS and iPad OS. Now, it is 2021. IPad OS is still the same as iOS and it can be behind. App List wasn’t added until iOS 15.0. That’s why I said what’s the point? IPad OS is still just a larger iOS. I have a 12.9 inch iPad with me and the home screen is too empty. That’s why we have widgets now so that it is not that empty. Now, I am running the latest beta, iPad OS 15 Beta 5, and I can put everything in the app list, like on Mac OS. I can some improvements here and there but it is not enough.
IPad is not a MacBook and it shouldn’t replace the MacBook. Running Mac OS on iPad is not what I want to see. IPad should be running iPad OS but it needs to be different from IOS. It is in between Mac OS and IOS. For me, I want it to be like Chrome OS, running iOS apps alongside Mac OS apps while being an iPad. I want to run VSCode on it and compile my code to a native binary and run it natively. Clearly, this is not possible because the system is not open. I think it is fine to be closed but there should be a place where things are open.
The file app is where magic can happen. All apps should be able to read from the file app and write anything to it. When I launch VSCode on iPad, the only open place is the file app. I can git clone my repo and compile my source code there. I think the OS can still be closed but it should be an open space. However, this brings issues because how should the PATH work? How can I install packages? That’s why I think it needs to be more than just an open space.
A Mac OS container might be the solution, something like the iSH app but better. It should be integrated with the file app. One day, I want to run Android Studio and develop Android apps on my iPad Pro. When I can develop and install the app on my Android phone, I will then acknowledge that iPad Pro is not a powerful toy anymore.
I am waiting for that day to come. Something bridges between mobile and laptop. Not something with a larger screen and can only watch videos. That’s just a larger phone. Next year, we may see chips as powerful as M1 from Qualcomm. That’s when the new Surface Go will become my new favourite device with Android apps running on Windows 11.
If you don’t do it, someone else will.