Yesterday came iOS 13.4, an update quite expected (mostly) for users owners of an iPad. And is that this update provides support for mice and trackpads external, something that promises to change the way in which we use this device.
Apple is famous for separate your lines of devices, trying not to compete with each other (and well buy the maximum possible). This update about a little more to the iPad to the world of computers, and is becoming more diffuse the boundary between a MacBook and the Apple tablet.
Apple is also famous for implementing things “late”, but do it their way, or do it in a way that it appears to have reinvented the wheel. This is a new example, and we can see this in the way that they have integrated the cursor in iPadOS 13.4.
Instead of having an arrow shape, Apple has opted for a cursor circular (as if it were the tip of a finger), and calls the attention that seems to have a character “sticky”: when you approach an icon of an application it seems that it is attracted by a gravitational force and takes its form.
It’s those little things that, leaving aside personal tastes, make bets Apple will feel a bit special. That is also what we can see in the transition of the cursor when hovering over a text:
Other functionality is quite eye-catching, we can see in the following video posted by @MKBHD, and that is that the cursor in iPadOS changes color depending on your background:
Something I noticed about the new iPad cursor pic.twitter.com/Q9YJqbFSpN
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) March 24, 2020
It is a first interesting approachbut to many of us to leave them with a taste of bittersweet. On the one hand, it is great to be able to use an iPad with a mouse or external keyboard (especially if you’ve connected to a screen), but on the other there is still a lot of work to do.
For example, I believe that the window management and multitasking leaves a lot to be desiredand let’s hope that Apple implements a more intuitive way and help that the iPad is becoming a tool more productive.
In the same way that there are gestures (multiple fingers) to be able to return to the home screen or switch between apps, it would be appreciated if you implement something like when you’re using a mouse.
I am using the iPad with a mouse, both with and without external monitor, but I imagine in the near future, when they have added more options and settings within iPadOS.
Apple being Apple: incompatibility with its own products
Although, to be isolated in your house you don’t need equipment too portable, I was very curious to test the deployment of the cursor on iPadOS. So yesterday I upgraded my iPad Pro as soon as it is released iPadOS 13.4.
I ran to connect my Magic Trackpad and I scratched my head when I saw that I could not do scroll. I didn’t understand anything. I connected the Magic Mouse, more of the same. Each time I understood less.
I tried then to connect my Logitech MX Master and…eureka!: I can do scroll on my iPad. What is going on? A Google search gives me as a result more and more users with the same problem, something that can be checked in different threads of Reddit.
The answer is to be found in the support page Apple has dedicated to the use of mice or trackpads external. Apple indicates that both the first version of the Magic Mouse as the first version of the Magic Trackpad are not supported to make scroll, or other gestures.
Apparently, it could be an incompatibility in terms of Bluetoothbut it is quite ironic that a mouse of the “competition” to function properly, and two devices of the own company do not have access to these features.
And that is, very useful to connect a mouse or a trackpad if you can’t do scroll (in the settings, browsers, or different menus). In fact, there would be a message on the iPad you avisase that is incompatible, so you save be navigating through settings or doing Google searches to find out what is happening.
it was originally published in
Engadget
by
Santi Araujo
.
