Federico Viticci of MacStories assembled an impressively thorough list of such desires earlier this year, ranging from a fix for the iPad’s surprisingly rudimentary file management capabilities to an improvement for its “fractured mess” of multitasking shortfalls:
iPadOS’s multitasking … could be so much more. I think several iPad users (and I was guilty of this, too) have convinced themselves due to Apple’s pace of updates that we’ve reached the peak of what tablet multitasking should do with Split View and Stage Manager. But look outside Apple’s stance on iPadOS, and you see that is not the case. Once again, I’m not arguing for macOS features on the iPad; I’m saying that, if Apple wanted to, it could design innovative, high-performance, delightful tablet-first multitasking systems. Sadly, iPad multitasking tells a very different story.
Six Colors founder (and frequent Computerworld sister site Macworld contributor) Jason Snell has shared similar sentiments around the iPad’s productivity boundaries:
Professionals multitask. Professional tools should, too. This is an area where the iPad Pro fails its users. …
I have such an affinity for my iPad that I have wanted to integrate it into as much of my life as possible. And for an increasing number of tasks, I can. But for many others, I am eternally bumping up against the severe limitations of the platform.
At the risk of giving Google too much credit, it certainly feels like this Android tablet expansion is a direct reaction to the void Apple’s creating with those decisions. It positions the Android tablet as the anti-iPad, in a sense — the productivity-forward powerhouse of a gadget Apple refuses to offer. You want a tablet that can actually act like a computer and give you a desktop-caliber environment for going beyond passive consumption and genuinely getting stuff done? The iPad’s not gonna give it to ya, pal. But hey, we can.