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Two clarifying quotes from Nilay Patel's review[0] on which this shorter article is based: 1. "Apple says third parties can write apps to talk to external stor

by miles 8y ago

Two clarifying quotes from Nilay Patel's review[0] on which this shorter article is based: 1. "Apple says third parties can write apps to talk to external storage, but out of the box, this $1,899 tablet simply won’t talk to a flash drive." 2. "I tried a handful of USB-C hubs with an assortment of USB-A, HDMI, card readers, and Ethernet ports, and everything worked as intended." [0] https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/5/18062612/apple-ipad-pro-review-2018-screen-usb-c-pencil-price-features https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/5/18062612/apple-ipad-pro-r...

tinus_hn 8y ago
Clearly, Apple doesn’t want a solution where you keep a usb stick attached to your iPad as external storage. Not very surprising.
zaroth 8y ago
So it does work with card readers (as in SD cards?) but not with USB sticks or external drives? I don’t really get the distinction. Is it that the card reader only used in photo apps for photo/video storage and an external “drive” should store apps?
- dpkonofa 8y ago
  SD cards only work to download. I doubt you can manage folders and whatnot on them.
  - zaroth 8y ago
    If you plug in USB storage, does it work just like a card then? Or are SD cards specifically a special case? So weird when their business model depends on limiting external storage functionality.
    - dpkonofa 8y ago
      I doubt it's the business model. I would bet that they just haven't figured out a good way to deal with external storage on a device like that. The best approximation I've seen is storage cards on Android devices and even those aren't great.
TillE 8y ago
It's odd not to support them natively when they finally added the Files app in iOS 11 to support a kind of generic file interface. An external drive would fit very easily into that UI.
- dpkonofa 8y ago
  I think that might be true on the surface but, when you actually think about how most people use an iPad, it kinda falls apart. Most applications on the iPad function through the use of some kind of Library system where the app handles its own files and shares them in common pools of apps that use the same filetypes. Throwing external storage into that mix natively would allow for the possibility of situations where multiple libraries exist, one external and one internal, for example, and where libraries could become inaccessible. I think that would complicate things enough for the majority of people who use iPads that it would disrupt the experience. People who really need external storage aren't going to be relying on an iPad until the devices really catch up more with full personal computers.
  - dpkonofa 8y ago
    Glad to see the powerful arguments against my statement from those voting me down.

by miles 8y ago

tinus_hn 8y ago

Clearly, Apple doesn’t want a solution where you keep a usb stick attached to your iPad as external storage. Not very surprising.

zaroth 8y ago

So it does work with card readers (as in SD cards?) but not with USB sticks or external drives? I don’t really get the distinction. Is it that the card reader only used in photo apps for photo/video storage and an external “drive” should store apps?

dpkonofa 8y ago
SD cards only work to download. I doubt you can manage folders and whatnot on them.
- zaroth 8y ago
  If you plug in USB storage, does it work just like a card then? Or are SD cards specifically a special case? So weird when their business model depends on limiting external storage functionality.
  - dpkonofa 8y ago
    I doubt it's the business model. I would bet that they just haven't figured out a good way to deal with external storage on a device like that. The best approximation I've seen is storage cards on Android devices and even those aren't great.

TillE 8y ago

It's odd not to support them natively when they finally added the Files app in iOS 11 to support a kind of generic file interface. An external drive would fit very easily into that UI.

dpkonofa 8y ago
I think that might be true on the surface but, when you actually think about how most people use an iPad, it kinda falls apart. Most applications on the iPad function through the use of some kind of Library system where the app handles its own files and shares them in common pools of apps that use the same filetypes. Throwing external storage into that mix natively would allow for the possibility of situations where multiple libraries exist, one external and one internal, for example, and where libraries could become inaccessible. I think that would complicate things enough for the majority of people who use iPads that it would disrupt the experience. People who really need external storage aren't going to be relying on an iPad until the devices really catch up more with full personal computers.
- dpkonofa 8y ago
  Glad to see the powerful arguments against my statement from those voting me down.