Do You Need a Magic Keyboard?

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Apple announced the Magic Keyboard a few weeks ago and it will be available in late May. But do you really need one if you are using a Smart Keyboard already and you have a spare Magic Mouse lying around. Connecting the Magic Mouse to your iPad is pretty straight forward. Make sure you have upgraded to iPadOS 13.4. Then go to Settings > Bluetooth and your iPad Pro should detect your mouse once turned on.

Once its connected you’ll see the mouse cursor in the form of a grey dot. You can change its colour, size and speed in Settings > General > Trackpad & Mouse. Give it a try, it’s pretty cool, it makes your iPad Pro really feel like a MacBook and if your iPad Pro is your main device, it will be hard to give up the control of a mouse for editing documents and moving around the screen. It feels so natural plus Apple has made the cursor change shape based on context.

Covid 19 Staying at Home

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We’re lucky to have technology at our finger tips. Working at home is so easy with virtual connectivity to the office, colleagues and clients. We’ve been use to our iMac or MacBook but now armed with an iPad Pro and a physical keyboard, working at home is just as easy. Almost every app you need is iPadOS compatible. Tools like FaceTime, Skype, Zoom and other virtual face to face apps are all the latest craze in these Covid 19 times. Many of us could be working from home for up to six months. Kids are taking virtual classes till the end of the school year. For personal communication we like FaceTime (Apple to Apple devices only) but for business communication Zoom works across platforms.

Stay safe and enjoy your time at home!

Magic Keyboard

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Apple announced the Magic Keyboard this week and it will be available in late May. If you are using the current Smart Keyboard well you in for a treat. The Magic Keyboard is a full‑size keyboard with backlit keys and a scissor mechanism. It also has a built-in keypad with Multi‑Touch gestures and a cursor for iPadOS. This will make creating and editing documents so much easier and could make the iPad Pro a true business tool.

Compatible with

  • iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd and 4th generation)
  • iPad Pro 11‑inch (1st and 2nd generation)

iPad Pro 4th Generation

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Apple just released the new 4th Generation iPad Pro 11-inch and 12.5-inch and iPadOS 13.4. The new iPad Pros are marginally faster than the previous generation but have Pro cameras that could be used for film making. It has a new 12M ultra wide camera and a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) Scanner used for measuring how long it takes light to reach an object and reflect back perfect for Augmented Reality (AR). Apple is calling the new iPad Pro with the addition of the newly announced Magic Keyboard, A Computer that is not a Computer. The new Magic Keyboard is what will make the difference. Apple has indicated that the Magic Keyboard is backward compatible with the previous generation 2008 iPad Pro.

iPadOS

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This blog was created because we believed that the world is changing as Apple had created a bigger iPad Pro to challenge the MacBook. The question was is it a laptop replacement? Now Apple is planning to release iPadOS which is built on the same foundation as iOS. With powerful apps designed for a large Multi‑Touch display. Multitasking made simple with intuitive gestures and the ability to drag and drop a file with a fingertip. See a preview.

Microsoft Office for iOS

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Making a switch from a MacBook to an iPad Pro, you need to ensure you have productivity apps. Apple’s office apps like Pages, Numbers and Keynote are exceptional but if you work in a corporate environment with mixed platforms like PCs, Macs and iPads, the only way to go is Microsoft Office which has complete compatibility between MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. Also there is no need to worry when collaborating on a document that formatting will be an issue between Office for Windows, Mac and iOS.

Cloud File Storage

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You now have your MacBook replacement in the form of an iPad Pro, keyboard, pencil and headphones in front of you and its time to do some productive work. Question is how do you access your files? They’re stored on a network drive. You have two choices, buy a third party app like File Browser to access your network drive stored files since Apple’s Files App does not have the functionality or migrate all your network drive stored files into the cloud, which is how Apple envisioned you using the iPad Pro. Remember, the world is changing, so migrating to the cloud is now the norm. The benefit being you can now access your files from any device, iPad Pro, iPhone, Mac, Windows and any browser. Here are some options:

  • iCloud – You are probably already using iCloud for some of the functionality on your iPad and Mac like email, photos, browser shortcuts and music. Apple provides you with 5GB, so you will need buy additional iCloud storage to be fully productive.
  • Dropbox – You can signup for a free 2GB account and get additional storage for referrals. One you download the Dropbox app for iOS and sign in, your files will be available in the Files App.
  • OneDrive – If you subscribe to Office 365 you get 6 user licenses and each user automatically gets access to Microsoft’s OneDrive and 1TB of cloud storage per user.
  • GoogleDrive – When you signup for a gmail account you automatically get access to Google Drive and 15GB of cloud storage. If you use Google Docs then GoogleDrive is perfect for you as it work seemlessly.

Apple Pencil

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One more thing to decide on to make your MacBook replacement complete is the Apple Pencil. Question is do you need really need one? It’s not cheap so make your decision based on the type of tasks you perform regularly. Ask yourself, do you review documents and need to hightlight, markup and create annotations, do you think you’ll be drawing in any of the sketching apps or do you prefer using a pointer instead of your finger when interacting with your iPad? If any of the above is yes, then get yourself an Apple Pencil. Don’t forget when you order one online you get free engraving. Photo is care of Apple.

iPad Pro USB-C Hub

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You’ve switched to an iPad Pro and might need more than an USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack, you might also need an HDMI adapter to do presentations or an USB-A connector for other peripherals like a DLSR camera. Apple has an array of single adapters but an alternative is an USB-C hub. Satechi has a very cool Aluminum Type-C Mobile Pro Hub. It features a 4K HDMI display port, USB-A, USB-C and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

iPad Pro Headphone Jack Adapter

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You’ve switched to an iPad Pro and selected your keyboard. What about headphones? The iPad Pro comes with a USB-C port, so your choices are wireless headphones, either a pair of Beats or a pair of AirPods. You can’t use wired headphones that come with your iPhone X, it uses a Lightning connector. Well, if you still have a pair of headphones with a 3.5mm jack lying around, Apple has a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter for pretty cheap which is very handy. Too bad the iPad Pro does not come with a USB-C to Lightning adapter in the box. The world is changing so time to invest in a good pair of wireless headphones.