This week on The CultCast: Our reactions to Apple’s new hardware! Plus, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Apple’s new Mac mini, MacBook Air, iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard.
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Buyers already snapped up the Apple’s initial supply of one version of the 2020 iPad Pro. A 12.9-inch model ordered now won‘t ship until early April. The 11-inch model is still available on launch day, however.
In what’s likely an attempt to prevent hoarding, Apple put a restriction on how many iPad Pro units each customer could buy.
Anyone who longs for the days when MacBooks came with tons of ports can look to the Doqo, an iPad Pro keyboard case that includes a pair of USB-A ports, HDMI, memory card readers, and more. There’s also a trackpad and full-size keyboard. This could be the touchscreen laptop you’ve been hoping for.
I’ve extensively used the Doqo keyboard with a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and explore its advantages and problems in this review.
Huawei has often been guilty of introducing products “inspired” by Apple designers, and it’s apparently doing so again with an upcoming tablet. Leaked images of the Huawei MatePad Pro show it looks almost exactly like an iPad Pro. Even the name is copied.
The newly-unveiled Surface Pro X is a 13-inch tablet that seems designed to take on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Apple dominates tablet sales but Microsoft clearly wants a bigger piece, is hoping this slim and light Windows device will accomplish that.
Microsoft also finally added a USB-C port to the Surface Pro line in the seventh-generation model.
DoBox is looking for funding for a desktop docking station that gives the 2018 iPad Pro an array of additional features. A keyboard and trackpad are the most obvious, but there’s also a built in hub with HDMI and other ports.
On top of all that, the proposed DoBox Pro will have a slot capable of adding up 2TB of additional storage.
Libra is angling to be the first-out-of-the-gate iPad Pro case that includes not only a keyboard but also a trackpad. This wasn’t possible before, but the just-released iPadOS adds support for mice and trackpads.
The designers are looking for backing on Kickstarter to defray the costs of developing an accessory that lets an iPad mimic a MacBook more closely than any before.
The iPadOS beta Apple introduced this week offers something none of its predecessors did: reliability. Stability, even. After days of testing on an iPad Pro, I found it close enough to the final version that an average person can access a mouse or thumbdrive with their iPad nearly hassle-free. That hasn’t been true of earlier betas.
Less rigorous testing of iOS 13 on an iPhone XS Max indicates it’s also relatively stable.
Some third-party case makers have begun treating the iPad Pro with a Smart Keyboard Folio attached as a single device. Urban Armor Gear is the latest to introduce a lightweight protective case that goes around both, adding drop protection and an Apple Pencil holder.
Don’t miss our hands-on review of the UAG Scout Series, which is available for the most recent 12.9- and 11-inch iPad Pro.
The unveiling of iOS 13 is expected in less than a month, and a new report spills details on many of the improvements supposedly coming. For iPhone users, iOS 13 is bringing refinements to already existing features. iPad users, on the other hand, are supposedly getting plenty of new capabilities.
