A Lawyer Reviews the (new) iPad Pro with iOS 11
A game-changing update
A year and a half ago, I first reviewed the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard. I predicted that a lot of lawyers would ditch their bulky Acer laptops and rush to adopt the iPad Pro as their primary computing device. While many lawyers and other professionals did just that, I think my prediction may have been just a little premature. iOS 10 lacks important features that many lawyers and professionals simply cannot do without.
Times they are a-changin’, though…….
The New iPad Pro
The new iPad Pro is a great device. I got the 10.5-inch model, which I think is the perfect mix between the 9.7-inch model (just a little too small for my middle aged-eyes and large fingers) and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which is a little too big and bulky for as far as I was concerned.
While the small size differential doesn’t seem like much, to me Apple has finally nailed the perfect size screen and keyboard for the working professional who wants to use an iPad as their primary (or only) computing device.
The new iPad Pro is fast as hell, gets 10+ hours of battery life, the screen is amazing, and it’s more powerful than most laptops and many desktops in every single way that matters for the working lawyer.
Simply put, if you’ve tried the first versions of the iPad Pro and liked them, you’ll like the new versions just as much, if not more.
But the real game changer isn’t the new hardware. The real game-changer for lawyers and other professionals is iOS 11.
Lawyers, iOS 11 will change your life
Okay, maybe a mobile operating system won’t necessarily change your life entirely. But it’s going to change the way you work for the better.
It is hard to overstate the importance of iOS 11 for Apple’s iPad and iPhone lineup. It is easily the most ambitious upgrade to Apple’s mobile operating system in years, maybe ever. Apple quite obviously designed iOS 11 with the iPad Pro primarily in mind. iOS 11 changes the experience of working on an iPad dramatically, and dramatically for the better.
I’ve been using iOS 11 on my 10.5” iPad Pro for almost two months now. I downloaded the Apple Developer Beta version of iOS 11 onto my 10.5 inch iPad Pro as soon as it was available. I’m one of those odd people who actually enjoys finding the bugs in early Apple software. Apple is all about polish and perfection and it’s refreshing to see some unpolished stuff coming out of Cupertino. It’s like seeing your favorite movie actor or actress right after they’ve gotten out of bed after a hard night of drinking. It’s still them, but they don’t look nearly as good and you can see their flaws clearly.
As usual, my review won’t get bogged down in technical details and specs. Instead, I’ll focus on the ways that iOS 11 will help you get more stuff done and highlight some of what I consider to be the most important new features.
The Best Features of iOS 11
The new operating system is packed with changes, some obvious, some less obvious. Here are few of my favorite things.
Customizing Your Dock & Your Control Panel
iOS 11 lets you place apps into the “dock,” the space at the bottom of your screen, and you’re not limited to 7 apps like you are in iOS 10. It looks like this:
When you swipe up from the bottom of the screen, the dock appears, and all your frequently-used apps are right there, ready for instant launch, or you can grab an app with your finger and move it to the right-hand part of the screen and have two apps open at once. This saves a lot of time trying to switch between apps you use a lot. Pretty slick.
You can also customize your control panel, putting more frequently used widgets in your dock for easy access. Again, another way to save you a little time and allow you to customize your iPad experience. Here’s an example of what a customized control panel looks like. Notice also the new multi-tasking screen, which allows the user to switch between open apps much faster than before.
Seeing a pattern here? Apple has gone to great lengths to ensure that you can switch between apps quickly and efficiently, without the usual “app switching fatigue” that can get you off track when you’re working on important stuff.
I’ve been using these new efficiency features for over a month. I can tell you from first-hand experience they save a lot of time and make the entire working experience on the iPad more seamless and enjoyable.
But for lawyers, that’s not even close to the best part……..
My Two Favorite Changes to IOS and…..Every Lawyer’s Dream?
There are a lot of great features in iOS 11. But two new features will stand head and shoulders above the rest as far as lawyers are concerned.
First, though, a question for you Mrs. Lawyer: What do you do most often on your computer professionally (playing Words with Friends doesn’t count).
Manipulating documents, right? Either looking for, reading, editing, marking up, or some combination of these four things. Am I right? I think I am.
Say Hello to PDF Markup
Lawyers are going to love the new PDF markup feature. Essentially, when you receive just about any type of file (photos, texts, documents, etc), you can open the share sheet and chose “Markup as PDF” and whatever you’re looking at turns into a PDF that you can edit right on the screen. It looks like this:
Once you’re done marking-up the PDF, you have the option of discarding the PDF or sharing it in a million different ways, or saving it to your Photos.
Super cool.
Files and the Apple File System
Apple has a new file system called AFS or “Apple File System.” It’s a new way of organizing and saving items across apps in one central location. AFS and iOS 11 come with a new App called “Files.” Files is still a little buggy right now but the potential is clear.
Here’s what Files looks like:
Remember the days when your documents were spread across a bunch of different apps, requiring you to constantly go digging around trying to find that important document? Those days are almost over, folks. Now, with the new Files app, you can connect most cloud-based storage services (iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, etc) and you have a central repository of all your files in one place, searchable, shareable, editable.
No more digging around aimlessly searching for that document you can’t find. No more storing documents across multiple services in multiple locations. Now, you just go to your Files app and all your documents are there, ready to read, edit, share, etc.
Nice.
I don’t think PDF Markup and Files is getting nearly enough attention from reviewers. To my mind, PDF Markup with Files makes the iPad Pro a complete computing device for any lawyer who wants to go that route.
iOS Goes to 11
Back in December 2015 I predicted that lawyers would start ditching their laptops in favor of iPads / Surface devices. I may have jumped the gun a little bit, both because iOS 10 wasn’t quite ready for the Big Show yet and also because lawyers are slower to change than just about any creature on Earth.
Now, though, with iOS 11, the iPad Pro lineup is ready for the Big Show. (What the heck is the “Big Show,” anyway?).
Seriously, fellow lawyers, if you want to get rid of that bulky Acer laptop with a whopping 5 hours of battery life that makes you look like someone circa 1998 in favor of a device that’s actually designed for your professional needs, then the iPad Pro + iOS 11 is your rig.
