iPad iPad Pro 12.9 incher

[meeera]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Just a comment: You are in Australia and I was referring to the American (USA) school system.

Yep. HarryT was asking me directly if my Australian 12yo needs to bring his device to school, and you went off on a rant about Americans, and then about American mothers. I'm not the one veering off into the ether here.

Most kids have two parents. Funny how just one cops all the blame for everything.

[harriska2]

Meeera, thanks for your comments. Very informative. American schools are still learning that math fact fluency is important by 3rd/4th grade.

As far as cases are concerned, our schools in town handed out hundreds of ipad putting them into binders along with loose leaf paper and folders. It was cheap but I questioned protection. Apple still has a way to go as far as stylus/accurate input. I also find cases with keyboards are in limited selection. I just use a $15 fintie case and separate apple keyboard.

[fgdas]

Lovely, new info (this time iPad Air Plus12.2 inch) is out:
http://9to5mac.com/2014/11/28/report...grade-details/

[Jessica Lares]

Hmm. It would be interesting if they're targeting the back-to-school crowd by getting it out there early.

[Penforhire]

While I could see the value of a larger iPad if I was a student I think it faces an uphill battle on price and durability for most students. Maybe they're aiming more at the medical professional markets, like for viewing MRI or X-ray images or record keeping on bedside rounds.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by meeera

That's one of the ones that made it to my desultory shortlist - good to have a personal recommendation. Is it quite light and usable when you pick it up and fold it back?

ETA - hang on, I think I remember why I crossed it off - it doesn't actually protect the iPad, does it? Bear in mind this has to go into a 12-year-old's schoolbag every day.

I kept these comments of yours in mind, when I went to get a cover for my new Air2. When faced with the option of having one or the other I ended up going with a folio style case which includes a keyboard, for additional protection. it would work well for a schoolbag, I think. Its very solid and the keys are really good to type on

http://www.logitech.com/en-au/produc...air2?crid=1240

[meeera]

Thanks kyteflyer. I ended up grabbing a Belkin Yourtype, because it came up as a good deal as a credit cards reward point redemption. I like it that the keyboard is detachable, so for longer typed work the iPad can be placed up on some books (ergonomically good) and the keyboard put down where it's comfortable.

[fgdas]

My dream:

Apple's next launch event on 9 March will reveal iPad Pro/Plus with JDI low power consumption display.

Originally Posted by fgdas

My dream:

Apple's next launch event on 9 March will reveal iPad Pro/Plus with JDI low power consumption display.

Dream on. I suspect this will be an iWatch event and doubt we will see much else. There have been no hints from Apple about anything much other than the iWatch.

Personally I don't see the allure of a 13" iPad unless it includes the ability to use a stylus and have minute detail and accuracy with same and pressure sensitivity. A larger iPad as we know them now will be of little use to most. Give it the ability to be used in engineering and architectural drawing and design, then a niche market appears. Give it the ability to replace a Wacom for artwork and photo processing, then a fairly big market will appear. Give it neither and you just have a big, heavy iPad that won't do anything more than the current ones.

[tomsem]

You can get reasonably good resolution and pressure sensitivity with Wacom Creative Stylus or Adonit Jot. They use Bluetooth to add more pressure/position data. Applications have to integrate the respective SDKs to add support, and there are only a few dozen that do. But these include offerings from Adobe, Autodesk, and others - both vector based and pixel based - so there some good options available. At least it is better than just bare iOS.

Apple could add this to iOS easily enough, then it would be up to Wacom and Adonit to supply 'drivers' for their hardware. I think apps would still have to specifically work with new iOS APIs, but it would probably just be an extension of existing ones with additional parameters and events. Of course, Apple would want to sell you their own overpriced stylus. And they would have to invent a story about how Steve Jobs always wanted to do this, except the technology just wasn't mature enough.

The interesting thing would be if they added mouse/trackpad support (i.e. introduce the concept of a cursor). Then you could (as with Android or Windows tablets) have full control over things without having to touch the screen, which may not have the most ergonomic placement. Apple is not so much into 'hybrid' devices but obviously there are a lot of people with iPads with keyboard covers, etc. and it would be more productive still with a built in trackpad.