iPadOS wants to make you believe your iPads are as good as desktops

Apple really wants to drive the message that its iPads are just as good as desktops, and not mere tablets. This morning, WWDC saw the company announce a new operating system called the iPadOS — something that’s more powerful than the standard iOS but not as all-encompassing as the MacOS. 

It appears that Apple’s new operating system wants to take on Microsoft’s Surface tablets, which inherently run on desktop-class Intel processors and can easily utilise any Windows software. iPads are a lot different because the devices run on Apple’s mobile chipsets. The new iPadOS explores the middle realm between the world of mobile and desktop, which Apple illustrates by showcasing a couple of new tricks and capabilities. 

The home screen itself gets a major revamp. Widgets can be installed and expand next to app icons; the dock looks like a proper OS dock; multitasking gestures allow users to quickly shift between multiple apps; split-screen capabilities let apps operate concurrently. Hell, there’s even App Exposé, which lets you view, access and hide multiple app windows and documents if things get too cluttered. 

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f7fNLnwePI[/embed]

The Files app even works like Finder on the Mac. Column View allows users to smoothly navigate through directories, and files can be stored, zipped and unzipped. There’s also a feature that allows iCloud drive folder sharing with others. 

The iPadOS feature that got the biggest cheer, though? The ability to plug in external drives, so you can finally plug in thumb drives, SD cards and hard disks to transfer files via the Files app. Then there’s mouse support… kinda. Per The Verge, iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith found that iPadOS works with USB and Bluetooth mice as well as Apple’s Magic Trackpad if they’re connected to the iPad’s AssistiveTouch feature. 

Hello mouse support on iOS 13! It’s an AssistiveTouch feature, and works with USB mice. @viticci nailed this pic.twitter.com/nj6xGAKSg0

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) June 3, 2019

If you’re team Safari instead of team Chrome, iPadOS promises “desktop-class browsing” on Apple’s native web browser, so that means the desktop version of sites is scaled appropriately for iPad displays. Should you use Chrome or Opera on the iPad on the other hand, you might need to request for desktop versions of the site you’re visiting — and even so, depending on the browser, it might not be equally optimised. 

[[nid:449125]]

Other improvements include the ability to use swipes and three-finger gestures to copy, paste, undo, and redo text inputs, which is undoubtedly a godsend feature for writers on the go. Apple Pencil gets refined with a reduced latency of 9 milliseconds (down from 20 milliseconds), while artists can enjoy a redesigned tool palette. Don’t forget that with Sidecar, you’ll be able to use your iPad as a secondary display screen for your Macs. 

Apple promises that the iPadOS will be available for download this fall as a free software update for all iPad Pro models, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later.

ilyas@asiaone.com