iPad Pro First Impressions

I bought an iPad Pro. It’s ridiculously huge, and ridiculously gold. I’ve had it for a few days, and here are my current thoughts.

• Notes in slide over and split view is awesome. I’m typing this in split view now.

• The expanded keyboard is great, but takes some getting used to. I’m still unnecessarily switching to the number/symbol keyboard instead of reaching for the top row.

• Trackpad mode is the best thing ever.

• The aging home screen layout is still terrible.

• Not exclusive to iPad Pro, downloading apps when setting up a new device still a pain. I have about 400 apps in my purchase history and there is still no way to filter the list. Even a button that says “show me the apps that are installed on my other devices” would save a lot of scrolling.

• Weight is noticeable. I don’t think it’s too heavy, but it’s not an iPad mini. I find myself resting it on my lap when I’m sitting. When I’m standing, I tend to cradle it between my hand and elbow-crotch (is there a term for that?) with the weight on my forearm.

• Split view is what this machine was built for. Two nearly-full-size iPad apps side by side is a real boon to productivity.

• Apps that are updated to use proper size classes look great. Apps that are not updated are fuzzy, scaled up, and use the old iPad keyboard layout. It’s very discombobulating when the keyboard switches layout when you switch apps. Then, there’s Twitter, who released a worthless update. Waiting on apps to update so I can put them in split view is inevitable, but still disappointing. I’m looking at you, Editorial.

• The keyboard is almost full-size. In landscape, I can easily type without looking at the keyboard. In portrait, I can still (barely) thumb-type, but my hands are ginormous.

• I may be returning this iPad to upgrade to the cellular model. I rarely activate the data plan on my iPad mini, but traveling with this iPad Pro instead of a laptop may be a huge part of my future.