Month: March 2016

I really love using my 12.9″ iPad Pro in my office.  I use it to review and edit documents, to do legal research, and to manage email — sometimes in connection with the computer on my desk, sometimes instead of using the computer.  The battery in the larger iPad Pro lasts a long time, but sometimes after using it all morning and then into the afternoon, I notice that I am starting to run a little low.  With prior models of the iPad, this was not a problem because I had a Lightning cable on my desk plugged in to a USB power adapter next to the desk, so I could just plug in the iPad and continue to use it, restoring power as I was using the iPad.  For the 12.9″ iPad Pro, however, that isn’t a great solution because the 12W USB Power Adapter that Apple includes with the 12.9″ iPad Pro just barely puts out enough power to keep a 12.9″ iPad Pro going, unless the screen brightness is turned down.  So if you plug in when you are at 17% and continue to use the iPad Pro, you are not going to get much higher than 17%.  Last week, Apple introduced a solution to this problem:  Apple’s USB-C to Lightning Cable, to work with the Apple’s USB-C Power Adapter.

A little iPad power history

When Apple first released the iPad in 2010, it included a 10 watt (10W) power adapter along with a USB to 30-pin cable.  In October of 2012, Apple introduced the iPad 4 and iPad mini, the first iPads to use a Lightning connector instead of the old 30-pin connector, and Apple included a USB to Lightning cable and a new 12W USB power adapter — a slight increase to keep up with the additional power needs of newer iPads.  Since that time, Apple has included 10W or 12W USB power adapter with every iPad.

The 12.9″ iPad Pro introduced in September of 2015 was the first iPad to support a feature called fast charging, the ability to charge more quickly by using a power adapter with more oomph than 12W.  It is still the only iPad to support this feature; even the 9.7″ iPad Pro introduced last week doesn’t support fast charging.  But for 12.9″ iPad Pro users, the fast charging feature was inaccessible because there wasn’t yet a way to get more than 12W of power to the 12.9″ iPad Pro.  Sure, Apple sold a USB-C Power Adapter with 29W of output, but it could only be used with Apple’s MacBook laptop (which has a USB-C port) via a USB-C to USB-C cable.

Last week, Apple announced its new USB-C to Lightning Cable, a way to use that 29W USB-C Power Adapter with a 12.9″ iPad Pro.  Apple currently sells two versions of the cable:  a $25 1 meter version, and a $35 2 meter version.  I bought the 2 meter version from Apple, and I also purchased one of the Apple USB-C Power Adapters that have been available on Amazon for a while now for $49.  (Although I paid $49 on Amazon last week, I see that they are currently selling for $58 on Amazon; I presume that the price will soon return to $49, or you can just buy it for $49 from Apple.)

USB-C Power Adapter

The 29W USB-C Power Adapter is square, just like the 12W USB Power Adapter, but is slightly bigger — about 2 1/8″ on each side instead of about 1 3/4″ on each side.  The thickness stays the same, about an inch.

Just like the old power adapter, the prongs on the new power adapter retract, making it easier to carry around without scratching something.

The main difference, of course, is the support for USB-C instead of USB.  I’ve never considered USB to be a big connector, but it is huge compared to the tiny slot required for USB-C.

USB-C to Lightning Cable

The new USB-C to Lightning Cable has on one end the Lightning connector that we’ve been using since 2012, and on the other end has the USB-C connector.  Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector is a little bit smaller than the non-proprietary USB-C connector, but the size is similar. 

Like the Lightning connector (and unlike traditional USB), you can plug a USB-C connector in either way, which is big improvement over normal USB.

Performance

The reason that many 12.9″ iPad Pro users will want to use the USB-C Power Adapter along with the USB-C to Lightning Cable is performance.  The 29W of power makes a big difference.

As I noted above, with the 12W adapter, and with my screen brightness at 100% or something close to that, I barely noticed any charging at all while I was using my 12.9″ iPad Pro.  Thus, the only way to increase the battery percentage was to either (1) turn down the brightness quite a bit, which still only increased the charge marginally if you were still using the iPad while charging it or (2) turn off the screen completely, and then wait almost five hours to go from 0% to 100%.  This was one of my biggest gripes with the 12.9″ iPad Pro.  If I used my 12.9″ iPad Pro for much of the day on Monday and forgot to recharge it overnight, it was almost impossible for me to increase the battery percentage on Tuesday while I was also using the iPad Pro.

With the 29W USB-C Power Adapter and the USB-C Lightning Cable, I don’t have this problem anymore.  I can use my 12.9″ iPad Pro with the brightness is at 100% and I’ll still see about a 2-3% battery increase about every five minutes that it is plugged in.  This means that in about an hour, I can get about an extra 25% or so of power added to my 12.9″ iPad Pro, even if I have been using the iPad Pro during that entire hour.  I can then pick up my iPad Pro to go work in a partner’s office or in a conference room and have enough additional power to go for hours.

The performance increase that I saw is confirmed by a test performed by Federico Viticci over at MacStories, described in this report which is a must-read for anyone considering buying these products.  Using special software that measures iPad charging, Viticci found that a 12’9″ iPad Pro that is in use with 100% brightness takes over 12 hours to go from 0 to 80% with the 12W charger, but only 107 minutes with the 29W charger.  With the screen turned off, charging from 0 to 80% went from about 3.5 hours with 12W charger to about 1.5 hours with the 29W charger. 

Viticci also found that, at 100% brightness, the 12W charger charged the 12.9″ iPad Pro by 1.1% every 10 minutes, but that was when the iPad was just on the Home Screen.  As indicated above, if I am actually doing something with my iPad Pro while plugged in to the 12 W charger, I don’t see any battery increase at all.  He also found a 7.5% increase every 10 minutes on the Home Screen.  In my tests where I was actually doing something with the iPad Pro such as read PDF documents in GoodReader, I saw about a 4 to 6% increase every 10 minutes.

Other devices

By the way, you can use Apple’s USB-C Power Adapter and USB-C to Lightning Cable to charge other devices, such as an iPhone.  They won’t charge any faster than they would with the older 12W charger, but they will charge.  So if you purchase this as a solution for your 12.9″ iPad Pro, you will also be able to charge your other devices with Lightning connectors.

Conclusion

The 29W charger is nice if your screen is turned off.  You can charge your 12.9″ iPad Pro more than twice as fast, useful if you are charging your iPad Pro while you are at lunch.  But where you really see the performance increase is when you are both charging and using the iPad Pro at the same time.

If you own the 12.9″ iPad Pro, should you spend $49 on the USB-C Power Adapter plus another $25 or $35 for the cable, depending upon the length?  I think that the answer depends upon how you currently find yourself charging your iPad Pro.  If your solution is to charge every night and that works for you, then you won’t really care whether it takes five hours or three hours to charge.  You are sleeping anyway.  But if you want to be able to charge during the day, Apple’s USB-C Power Adapter and USB-C to Lightning Cable are an incredibly useful duo, and it was definitely worth $85 to me.  Hopefully, in the future, Apple will include these products in the box with the 12.9″ iPad Pro.

Click here for Apple’s 29W USB-C Power Adapter from Amazon ($49 or more?)

Click here for Apple’s 29W USB-C Power Adapter from Apple ($49)

Click here for Apple’s USB-C to Lightning Cable 1 m from Apple ($25)

Click here for Apple’s USB-C to Lightning Cable 2 m from Apple ($35)

Thank you to Drobo for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month.  Drobo appears to your computer to be a single external hard drive, but it actually has multiple hard drives inside of it, and it can continue to operate even if a hard drive fails.  You can also swap out the hard drives to larger versions, making it easy to expand your storage.  To read more about why I love using my own Drobo, check out what I wrote in December of 2015.

I got to experience the value of my Drobo just a few weeks ago.  I noticed that a hard drive inside of my Drobo was making a strange noise.  So I removed the front of the Drobo — it is just attached by magnets to make it easy to remove — and touched each of the hard drives.  Sure enough, I could tell by feeling it that one of my hard drives was shaking a little.

So I did something that made me nervous, even though I know that the Drobo is made for it.  I ejected the troublesome hard drive and yanked it out, without even turning off the Drobo.  The Drobo immediately sensed that I had done so, and busily started working with the other drives to make sure that all of my data was still protected.  The Drobo didn’t miss a beat and didn’t lose a file, even though it was suddenly missing 1/4 of its storage space.

If that drive had died, I could have just replaced it with a new one.  In this case, though, all I needed to do was put it back into place and snap it in more snugly.  It stopped making the noise, and the Drobo immediately started copying back the necessary data to that fourth drive.

Yanking out a hard drive from a connected device made me feel like I was performing brain surgery, but from my Drobo’s perspective the whole thing was rather uneventful.  The Drobo is made to keep on working even if a hard drive fails.  And even though in this case the hard drive did not fail but instead just got a little loose, I was glad to go through this fire drill so that I could see how the process works whenever I do have a hard drive fail.  And remember, all hard drives will fail at some point … the only question is, when will it happen.

My Drobo holds tons of large files that I don’t want taking up space on the internal drive of my iMac — such as home movies of my kids filmed in 4K video.  The Drobo gives me the security of knowing that these irreplaceable files are protected from a hard drive failure.

The model of the Drobo that I use, the Drobo 4 Bay, costs $299 if you get it with no hard drives included, handy if you already have some SATA drives that you want to use.  I bought it with four 1 TB drives included, and that model costs $549.  There are other sizes available if that one doesn’t seem right for your needs.  And for a limited time, if you buy a Drobo 4-bay, Drobo 5D, or Drobo 5N on the online Drobo Store, and use coupon code Jeff100, you’ll get $100 off.  So it will only cost you $449 to get the same configuration that I have, or only $199 to get that same Drobo with no hard drives included.

Thanks again to Drobo for sponsoring iPhone J.D.

Click here to get Drobo from the online Drobo Store.

Click here to get Drobo from Amazon.

Last week I attended ABA TECHSHOW, the ABA’s legal technology conference held in Chicago every Spring.  It was great to learn how other lawyers are using technology in ways that I had not yet thought of, or in ways that I knew about but had not yet taken the time to appreciate.  I’ll be sharing specific examples in upcoming posts on iPhone J.D.  Today, I am sharing some more general thoughts.

Whenever I attend TECHSHOW, my main interest is mobile technology.  Even though the conference did not have a dedicated mobile track this year — a strange omission that I hope to see remedied next year — the iPhone and iPad were a central focus of many aspects of the conference.  Indeed, the biggest theme of the conference this year was mobile security, a topic that could not have been more timely with the current FBI vs. Apple showdown over the government’s demand that Apple create a backdoor that would let someone bypass encryption on an iPhone.  Those proceedings are currently on ice for a few weeks; the judge granted the FBI’s request for a last-minute continuance after receiving a tip from an unidentified third party on a possible way to access the iPhone without Apple’s help — even though the government’s brief filed on March 10, 2016 asserted:  “Without Apple’s assistance, the government cannot carry out the search of Farook’s iPhone authorized by the search warrant.”  Of course, if the tip doesn’t pan out, the hearing may rescheduled.  And even if FBI stops pressuring Apple on this specific iPhone, there could be yet another request by a state or federal government with respect to another iPhone.

The keynote speaker was Cindy Cohn, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leading nonprofit organization aimed at protecting civil liberties in the digital world.  About half of her speach was focused on the FBI vs. Apple case, and she did a great job explaining the flaws in the government’s arguments.  I didn’t take notes, but I sat next to Victor Li of the ABA Journal who did, and he wrote this report on the speech.  For example, Li quotes this smart statement by Cohn:  “This isn’t really a question of privacy versus security.  It’s really about security versus security.  The question is whether security that keeps you protected but is flummoxing the FBI needs to be downgraded.”

I also enjoyed a security-related session that was moderated by David Lat (the founder and managing editor of the popular site Above the Law) with panel members Ben Wizner and Chris Soghoian of the ACLU (who represent Edward Snowden) and Marcia Hoffman, who used work for the EFF and now works in private practice focusing on electronic privacy.  Victor Li of the ABA Journal wrote a great summary of that presentation.  For example, while the panel recommended using the Signal app to text and make secure calls to clients.  That’s the app that they use to communicate with Snowden; I can think of no better recommendation for a secure communications app than to know that the ACLU uses it for attorney-client communications with Snowden.  They also noted that if you and your client both have an iOS device, the built-in FaceTime service also provides secure, encrypted communications.  Remember that FaceTime doesn’t have to mean a video call; you can also use FaceTime Audio to make what is essentially an encrypted phone call.

On the Expo floor, I got to talk with representatives from lots of companies developing interesting software for the iPhone and iPad.  I’ll be reviewing some of these products in the future, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one particular effort that a vendor used to attract people to its booth.  Sure, lots of booths offered pens, mints and lip balm with logos on them.  Westlaw had an artist using an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil to sketch caricatures of attorneys — such as this one, which I’m picking at random of course.  But the award for most creative marketing has to go to the website HowToManageASmallLawFirm.com which brought puppies to their booth that you could pet and hold.  I’ve never even worked for a small law firm, and yet even I visited that booth several times last week.

For a look at some of the best swag from the exhibitor booths, check out this slideshow by Molly McDonough of the ABA Journal.

On Friday night, I hosted a Taste of TECHSHOW dinner and had a great time enjoying some wine and Italian food with others who use the iPhone and/or iPad.  The ABA kept these dinners smaller this year; unfortunately that meant that only a few folks could attend, but it did make the event more intimate, and I really enjoyed the evening with those who were able to attend:  Prof. Kenton Brice of the University of Oklahoma College of Law (who is doing a great job teaching law students how to use technology in their practice), Houston attorney Sally Andrews, my co-host Brett Burney (a litigation support consultant who was Chair of TECHSHOW 2015), California attorney Sean Cowdrey, Chicago attorney Lynn Ostfeld, Ian O’Flaherty (the founder of Lit Software which sells TrialPad, TranscriptPad and DocReviewPad), Kentucky attorney Beverly Burden, and Virginia (and Korean) attorney Hae-Chan Park.  We shared numerous interesting stories and had a lot of laughs.

On Saturday morning, I presented a session on recommended mobile apps along with Dallas attorney Tom Mighell (the author of many books including iPad Apps in One Hour) and Brian Focht (the publisher of The Cyber Advocate) in a session moderated by Natalie Kelly (of the State Bar of Georgia, who was the chair of TECHSHOW 2014).  This was a combined iOS and Android session, but the primary iOS apps that we discussed included (all links go to the App Store):

1. Westlaw
2. Fastcase
3. TranscriptPad
4. Picture It Settled
5. TrialPad
6. Fantastical
7. Moleskine Timepage
8. Todoist
9. FullContact
10. OneNote
11. GoodNotes
12. Evernote
13. Office Lens
14. Genius Scan
15. Microsoft Word
16. LiquidText
17. GoodReader
18. Spark
19. Outlook
20. Microsoft Send
21. Telegram Messenger
22. Signal
23. Keynote
24. Timeline 3D
25. Workflow
26. iFTTT
27. 1Password
28. Authy
29. 1Blocker
30. Cloak
31. Google Cardboard
32. Pocket Casts
33. Dropbox
34. LogMeIn
35. Google Photos
36. Feedly
37. Google Maps
38. ParkMobile
39. Uber
40. Hound
41. No More Voicemail
42. Lutron Home Control+
43. Elgato Eve

Those are not all of the apps that we mentioned.  For example, after Tom discussed PocketCasts, I mentioned that my favorite app for listening to podcasts is Overcast, and other scanner apps that we discussed included Scanner Pro and Scanbot.  Nevertheless, that list gives you a sense of the types of apps that we discussed.  If you were there at the session, here is what you looked like from the front of the room:

My favorite part of TECHSHOW was catching up with iPhone J.D. readers from around the country.  I met some people who I already “knew” from email, others who I had met at prior TECHSHOWs, and many who I met for the first time.  Thanks for all of the suggestions on topics to explore on iPhone J.D.  I hope to see you again next year!

Apple made a number of interesting announcements yesterday, but today I want to focus on just two product announcements:  the new 9.7″ version of the iPad Pro and iPhone SE.  Both of these offer the power of Apple’s top-of-the-line 12.9″ iPad Pro and iPhone 6s, but put that power in smaller packages, a size that many lawyers will find more attractive.

The 9.7″ iPad Pro

Before yesterday, the name “iPad Pro” was often considered synonymous with a large 12.9″ device.  But there was more to the iPad Pro than just the size, even if that was its most obvious feature. 

Most notably, there was support for the Apple Pencil.  I’ve only used the Pencil for a few months, but it has already become an important part in my law practice.  I use it to take handwritten notes during meetings, and it is far better than any other stylus that I have every used.  (No surprise, since Apple designed it to work perfectly with the iPad Pro.)  I use it to highlight cases and annotate pleadings, contracts, and other documents.  And sometimes I just use it to flick the screen to scroll through depositions.  I love that the Pencil is so precise, making it easier to tap a specific part of the screen.  And I love that digital ink appears instantly on the screen as I write.  Even before I got used to the larger size of the 12.9″ iPad Pro, it was the Apple Pencil that made me a huge fan.

I have also loved that the 12.9″ iPad Pro includes a very fast processor that Apple calls the A9X.  It makes the iPad Pro significantly faster than any prior iPad. This is the first iPad that I have ever used that virtually never seems slow.  The responsiveness makes you more productive, and adds to the delight that you get when you use this device.

The new 9.7″ iPad Pro announced yesterday lacks the larger screen, but includes the other advantages of the 12.9″ iPad Pro, including the fast A9X processor and support for the Apple Pencil.  And while I don’t use Apple’s Smart Keyboard — a case that includes a thin keys covered with fabric — Apple is also introducing a smaller version of the Smart Keyboard for the 9.7″ iPad Pro.

It took me a while to get used to the 12.9″ iPad Pro, and I still find it heavier to hold than I would like.  But I have grown so attached to the large, bright screen that now I would never consider returning to a smaller iPad.  I love that I can hold the 12.9″ iPad Pro in portrait mode and letter-sized documents essentially appear full size, so I can easily browse the entire page at one time.  I also love that I can hold the iPad Pro in landscape mode and exhibits, transcripts, pleadings, and other documents are larger and easier to read than they would be if I was dealing with the paper versions.

But again … that weight can be a drag.  At ABA TECHSHOW last week, I spoke with Florida attorney Katie Floyd — who many of you know from her Mac Power Users podcast — about the 12.9″ iPad Pro.  She bought one and tried it for two weeks, but then returned it because it was just too big.  She wrote extensively about her reasons in this post.  Note that Katie had been using an iPad mini, so it isn’t that surprising that the jump from a light 7.9″ device that fit in her purse to a huge 12.9″ iPad Pro was just too much.  But I’ve talked to other lawyers who own an older 9.7″ iPad and who looked at the 12.9″ iPad Pro in a store and just couldn’t imagine carrying around something that size — especially if they already carry around a laptop of similar size like the MacBook Air.  The 9.7″ iPad Pro is the same size and weight as the 9.7″ iPad Air and iPad Air 2, so if you like the size and weight of the previous mainstream iPads, you’ll like the size and weight of the 9.7″ iPad Pro.

For attorneys who want a top-0f-the-line iPad, with the fastest processor and support for the excellent Apple Pencil, but who don’t want something as large as the 12.9″ iPad Pro, now they have the perfect solution.  Indeed, notwithstanding Katie Floyd’s preference for the iPad mini, I am convinced that the iPad Pro is the best iPad for most attorneys to use today; they simply need to decide whether they want the “normal” sized 9.7″ model or the bigger 12.9″ model.

There are actually a few unique (for now) advantages to the 9.7″ model besides size.  First, it includes what Apple calls a True Tone display, which uses sensors to measure ambient light in the room to adjust the color temperature of the screen.  In other words, white will look white, regardless of whether you are in an area with more yellow light or more blue light.  Second, it has a camera similar to what is included with the iPhone 6s, a 12-megapixel camera that can take 4K video versus the 12.9″ iPad Pro’s 8-megapixel camera that takes 1080p HD video.  And the front-facing camera that you use for video conferencing or taking a selfie-picture is 5-megapixel, versus the 1.2-megapixel camera on the 12.9″ model.  The 9.7″ model can also take Live Photos, just like the iPhone 6s.  I rarely use the camera on my 12.9″ iPad Pro and I’m not sure how much I would notice the True Tone display — like most attorneys, I spend a lot of time just reading black-and-white documents; I’m not creating art that needs to be Pantone-perfect.  But I’m sure that these features will eventually make their way to the 12.9″ model, and for now they give the 9.7″ model something special.

Finally, the 9.7″ model comes in the same Silver, Gold and Space Gray colors as the 12.9″ model, but also offers a Rose Gold option — perfect if you have the same fashion preferences of Massachusetts attorney Julie Tolek of the Think Pink Law firm.

So as I said before, for most attorneys I think it really just comes down to size.  Do you want a larger screen for viewing documents and web pages, or do you want a traditional-size screen and less weight.  And if you do want to use a Smart Keyboard, do you want a full-sized keyboard, which the 12.9″ model offers, or can you live with a more cramped model that fits in the cover for the 9.7″ model.

The larger model is best for me, but I know it won’t be the best choice for others, and it is great that you now have a choice.  The 9.7″ version sells for $599 for 32GB, $749 for 128GB, or $899 for 256GB — plus add $130 to any of those if you want to add built-in 3G LTE.

The iPad Pro 12.9″ also got … bigger

Apple also made one small improvement to the 12.9″ version of the iPad Pro.  Previously you had to choose between a $799 32GB version or a $949 128GB version (plus another $130 for cellular).  But yesterday, Apple announced a new 256GB version of the 12.9″ model that costs $1,099 (plus another $130 for cellular).  I love the extra space that a 128GB iPad provides, but at this point 256GB seems like too much space even for someone like me who carries around lots of videos and photographs, not to mention a larger number of pleadings, exhibits and other huge documents from my case files.  But for those who want even more, now you can get it.

The iPhone SE

The iPhone has increased in size over the years.  From the first 2007 model to the iPhone 4s released in 2011, the screen size was 3.5″ diagonal.  The iPhone 5 released in 2012 kept the width the same but increased the height so that the screen was 4″ diagonal.  The iPhone 6 released in 2014 increased both the width and height to include a 4.7″ display (or 5.5″ if you went with the iPhone 6 Plus), and those same sizes are used today on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

I know that many people miss the iPhone with the 4″ display.  The smaller phone is even easier to grip in your hand, and your thumb can more easily reach all four corners of the screen with a 4″ display.  With my iPhone 6s, I need to hold my iPhone in my left hand if I want to tap the top left corner with a finger on my right hand — and that is even more essential for the largest Plus model.  Yes, it does mean that the screen is smaller, so you may need to squint more to see things or hold the iPhone a little closer to your face, but for some folks this trade-off of a 4″ screen is worth it.  Indeed, while I have grown to love the larger screen on my iPhone 6s, if you were ask me to pick my favorite iPhone to hold, without regard to how large objects appear on the screen, I’d pick the iPhone 5 design over the iPhone 6 design every single time.

So now with the iPhone SE, Apple is offering the wonderful design of the iPhone 5 combined with the insides of the iPhone 6s.  There are a few things that you don’t get with the iPhone SE, like 3D Touch (an iPhone 6s feature that I use all the time), the better front-facing camera, and the second-generation (faster) Touch ID fingerprint reader.  But you do get the same faster A9 processor as the iPhone 6s, support for Apple Pay, the same fantastic 12-megapixel camera on the back, the ability to film 4K video, Live Photos support, etc. 

The iPhone SE is also the least expensive iPhone, costing only $399 for the 16GB version or $499 for the 64GB version.  And those are off-contract prices, so with a carrier contract you can likely get at least the first model for “free” — or you could finance the iPhone SE for $13.30 a month (16GB) or $16.64 a month (64GB).

I doubt that the technical differences between the iPhone SE and the iPhone 6s will be of much consequence for most attorneys.  Thus, once again, the decision on which iPhone to get will for most come down to a personal preference on size. If you want a 64GB iPhone (which seems to be the current sweet spot), do you want a 4″ iPhone SE for $499, or a 4.7″ iPhone 6s for $749, or a 5.5″ iPhone 6s Plus for $849 — or cheaper prices if you are on contract or use financing.  There really is no one right answer to that question.  It all comes down to your personal preference, bigger and better screen versus easier and lighter to hold.

Conclusion

By introducing the 9.7″ iPad Pro and the iPhone SE, Apple is now letting its customers decide whether bigger is better.  You no longer have to opt for largest models just to get the latest features, such as Apple Pencil support on an iPad or the better processor and camera on the iPhone.  Now, you can chose the best size for you.

Note that having that choice isn’t inherently a benefit; it makes it harder on you.  One of the things that I don’t like about the Android market is that there are too many choices, the market seems chaotic and it can be difficult to choose a model.  This past Fall, if I had been presented with two sizes of the iPad Pro, I would have faced a very difficult decision.  I can now look back with 20-20 hindsight and say that the 12.9″ model was the best one for me because larger documents are so much easier to read, but I only know that by living with the 12.9″ model for many months.  You’ll have to draw on your own experiences with smartphones and tablets to decide whether a larger iPad or iPhone is right for you.

Today at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern, Apple will announce new products at a special event.  Instead of renting a larger facility in San Francisco or elsewhere for the announcement, which is what Apple does for major updates to the iPhone and iPad, today’s event will be held on Apple’s own campus in the Town Hall auditorium in Cupertino, California.  Town Hall is a small forum with a capacity of about 300 people.  It’s the venue that Apple used to announce the iPhone 4S in October, 2011 and the iPhone 5s in September of 2013. 

What will Apple announce today?  Apple itself is keeping that a secret, but Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac, who has a great track record for predicting what Apple will announce at its events, purports to have the inside scoop on today’s announcements.  First, he predicts that Apple will once again make a 4-inch phone, the size of the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s.  He thinks it will be called the iPhone SE, and will pack many of the features of the iPhone 6s into a smaller device.

Second, and continuing on the theme of smaller devices, Gurman predicts that Apple will introduce a new version of the iPad Pro that is the same size as the current iPad Air — a 9.7″ iPad Pro.  If true, this will be good news for folks who want to take advantage of a much faster processor and have support for the amazing Apple Pencil, but who don’t want a larger and heaver iPad.

Apple is teasing the event by saying “Let us loop you in,” and Gurman’s third prediction is that we will see new Apple Watch bands today.  One prediction is a NATO-style Nylon band.  Last week at ABA TECHSHOW, I saw that California attorney David Sparks was using an Apple Watch Sport with a NATO-style band that he bought from a third-party.  I see that there are a ton of NATO-style bands for the Apple Watch on Amazon right now, most selling for $25 or less.  The version that David Sparks was using had plastic lugs in it, which I’m sure won’t be the case for any band that Apple introduces today, but it did show me that a NATO-style band looks good with an Apple Watch, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Apple introduce something like this today. 

Gurman also believes — and I agree — that we will see updates to iOS for the iPhone and iPad and watchOS for the Apple Watch.

If you want to watch the event live, you can do so on many devices, such as iPhone, iPad or Mac, by clicking here.  You can also watch it on an Apple TV.

I am in Chicago right now for ABA TECHSHOW, where there have been lots of interesting presentations on how to more effectively use technology in the practice of law.  It was fun (and informative!) to watch a session yesterday afternoon that was essentially a live version of the Mac Power Users podcast with California attorney David Sparks and Florida attorney Katie Floyd.  One topic of news right now, of course, is that in just a few days, on Monday March 21, Apple will introduce some new products.  I look forward to learning all of the details.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• One of my favorite app publishers (and a current sponsor of iPhone J.D.) is Lit Software, creator of the great TrialPad, TranscriptPad and DocReviewPad apps.  This week, TranscriptPad and DocReviewPad were updated to support the larger screen on the iPad Pro.  I noticed the update when I was reviewing transcripts earlier this week to prepare for a hearing on a motion for summary judgment, and it was great to see the TranscriptPad app look even better on my iPad Pro.  And by the way, I won my summary judgment motion, using deposition testimony that I selected in TranscriptPad.
• The day after Apple’s new product announcement on Monday, March 22, Apple will have a federal court hearing on its dispute with the FBI on Tuesday, March 23.  A few days ago, Apple filed its Reply Brief on this issue with the Central District of California.  You can read the full brief at the bottom of this article by Greg Kumparak of TechCrunch.  It’s a well-written brief.  I like what Apple did in footnote 14 to respond to the government’s footnote 9. 
• Apple’s footnote 15 in that brief is also interesting, responding to the claim that Apple embraces encryption just as a marketing stunt by stating:  “Since passcode-based encryption was first introduced in October 2014, Apple has produced 627 separate ads in the United States and approximately 1,793 ads worldwide” and “[n]ot a single one advertised or promoted the ability of Apple’s software to block law enforcement requests for access to the contents of Apple devices.”  That footnote made me wonder how Apple advertised Touch ID (the fingerprint sensor) when it was introduced with the iPhone 5s in 2013. Touch ID is not the same thing that is at issue now, but it is related.  I came across this introduction video, and the closest statement I found to Apple promising that encrypted data was not accessible by others is when Apple talked about storing your fingerprint in the “secure enclave” in the new A7 processor, saying:  “Here, it is locked away from everything else, accessible only by the Touch ID sensor.  It’s never available to other software, and it’s never stored on Apple’s servers, or backed up to iCloud.”  I, for one, really don’t think that this is about marketing for Apple.  I think that Apple’s true intention is to protect your private data, and the only way to protect it from the bad guys is to protect it from everyone, including the government.
• Lev Grossman of Time magazine interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss the FBI situation, and wrote one of the best articles that I have seen on the subject.
• Houston attorney Greg Baumgartner recommends good technology blogs for lawyers.  The list caught my eye because iPhone J.D. is mentioned (thanks!), but if you don’t read the other sites listed, you are missing some good stuff.
• South Carolina attorney Bill Latham of The Hytech Lawyer discusses using an iPad Pro in his law practice for the past four months.
• Florida attorney Rick Georges reports that smartwatches such as the Apple Watch now outsell Swiss Watches.
• The Sun reports that an Apple Watch saved a man’s life by altering him that his heart rate was very high and he needed to go to the hospital.
• Kwame Opam wrote an interesting article on First Lady Michelle Obama’s effective use of social media, including iPhone apps like Vine.
• That article is neat, but perhaps even more interesting is the video interview of Michelle Obama by (attorney) Nilay Patel of The Verge.  The video was shot using 360º technology, so if you click this YouTube link and watch it on your iPhone or iPad, you can look all around the room during the interview, helping you to feel like you are there.  The Verge did a great job creating this video.
• Tom Warren discusses using his Apple Watch to make payments in an article for The Verge.
• How can you not love this new Apple commercial featuring Cookie Monster?
• And finally, I’ve been wondering for a few weeks if John Oliver would weigh in on the Apple v. FBI topic, and he finally did so this past Sunday night.  He offers a humorous but also smart take on the situation.  Worth watching if you haven’t seen the video yet.  I love the last “Join us…” line.

Except for those who drive a car that has a built-in system for charging an iPhone, most everyone can benefit from a charger that plugs into a cigarette port and has a USB connector at the back.  Better yet is a charger that has two USB connectors.  That way you can use one port to charge your iPhone and have another port for your passenger, or perhaps another port to charge an iPad or Bluetooth system or some other gadget in your car.  ZUS is a two-port charger that adds one more cool feature:  the ability to remind you where you parked your car.  The developer sent me a free review unit, and I’ve been using it for three weeks.

The basics

ZUS is a device that you plug into your car’s cigarette port / power port.  It has two USB ports.

 

Find your car

The neat and unique feature of ZUS is the location function, so let’s discuss that first.  The way it works is that the ZUS device talks to the ZUS app on your iPhone.

 

When you turn off your car, and thus cut the power to the ZUS device, the app recognizes that you must have just parked.  It then uses the GPS on your iPhone to figure out where it is, and remembers that spot.

Later when you are ready to return to your car, if you don’t remember where you parked, just launch the ZUS app.  The app will figure out where you are and where your car was when you parked, and then give you directions for finding your car.  First, there is a compass-type device that points you in the right direction and lets you know how far away your car is.  This feature is pretty useful because you can just walk in the general direction indicated by the arrow, and the distance indicator changes as you get closer.

 

When you get very close to your car — too close for GPS to really distinguish between where your car is and where you are — the app tells you that your car is nearby.  By that point you should be able to see your car.

 

Second, if you swipe up from the bottom of the screen, you can see a map that shows you where you are located and where your car was parked.  Your car is marked by a pin with a P and a picture of a car at the top.

 

Technically, what ZUS does is not all that different from you manually opening up the Map app on your iPhone immediately after you park and then dropping a pin in your current location so that later on you can see where that pin is located.  But of course, few folks will remember to do that every single time they park.  If you are anything like me, at the time that you park you always think that you will have no trouble remembering that spot later on. Only later, when you can no longer remember, do you wish that you had done something to remember the spot.  Fortunately, ZUS remembers every time, so it is there to help you whenever you need it.

Well, at least ZUS tries to remember every time.  You see, if you are parking on the street, or if you are parking in a large parking lot, then ZUS works quite well.  However, ZUS requires the use of GPS at the time that you park, and thus it doesn’t work if you park in a parking structure and your iPhone cannot see the GPS satellite.  And if you are in multi-level parking structure, even if ZUS can get a GPS reading, it is unlikely to be accurate because GPS does not work well if you are not at ground level.  (My office is on the 46th floor, and the GPS always thinks that I am many blocks away from my building’s true location.)

Fortunately, however, if ZUS doesn’t know where you parked, the app notifies you (if you have notifications turned on) and gives you the opportunity to take a picture to help you find your car later — such as perhaps a picture of the floor and/or zone of a parking structure.

 

 

Note also that because ZUS depends upon your iPhone being close to the ZUS device when your car turns off, you cannot use ZUS to track your car if someone else parks your car without you in the car.  Thus, if your spouse has your car or a thief steals it, ZUS won’t help you.  Having said that, this means that ZUS doesn’t have any monthly service fees, unlike theft-protection systems in cars that have their own GPS and can help you if your car is stolen.

You can also use the ZUS app to send someone else the location of your car.  Just tap the sharing button at the top left of the screen and select an option such as Mail or Message.  ZUS will create a message that includes a link to the ZUS website and the longitude and latitude.  The recipient simply taps that link to see a map with your car location on it.  And by tapping one button, the location can be opened in the native Maps app on the iPhone, which lets that person use the iPhone’s Maps app to get walking or driving directions to your car.

Charge your devices

Hopefully you won’t lose your car very often, so as useful as it is for ZUS to help you find your car, you may not use that function all the time.  But ZUS is also a very good car charger, and you can use that feature every time you drive.

I like that the back of ZUS is split so that the USB ports face the driver and passenger seat.  This makes it a little easier for both people in the front of the car to access their USB port.

 

ZUS appears to be very well constructed.  The ZUS website boasts that it is one of the best constructed car chargers on the market, with titanium coating and German engineering.  It just feels like plastic to me, but that’s not a criticism — the design feels nice and sturdy.  The site notes that ZUS is “[t]he only car charger to meet US Military MIL-STD-810G High Temperature Standard.  Temperature as high as 100º C.”  I hope that I never have the opportunity to test the ZUS when my car gets up to 212º F, but as someone who lives in New Orleans where it gets pretty hot in the Summer, especially inside of my car, that sounds like a nice feature.

The website also claims that ZUS has 2x the charging speed of some other car chargers.  I believe that the ZUS outputs 2 Amps on each USB port.  For over a year now, I have been a happy user of the SCOSCHE USBC242M, which costs only $12.28 on Amazon and which outputs up to 2.4 Amps on each USB port, which is as much as an iPad can (currently) take.  So I didn’t find the ZUS to be any faster than what I had been using before.  However, I know that there are slower car chargers on the market so perhaps the speed will be an upgrade for you.  Suffice it to say that you get a fast charge with the ZUS, although other car chargers also provide a fast charge.

In my car, I always keep both USB ports filled all the time — one side with a USB to Lightning cord that I use to charge my iPhone and the other side charging the Bluetooth hands free device in my car.  But if you have one or both USB ports open at night, the ports have tiny LED lights in them.  The lights are so tiny that they won’t distract you while you are driving.  However, the lights make it easier to find each USB port in the dark, useful if you are driving at night and someone in the passenger seat needs to find the USB port to plug something in and doesn’t want to distract you by turning on the car’s interior dome or courtesy light.  It’s a useful feature, and shows the attention to detail.

Conclusion

At $35.99 (on Amazon), ZUS is certainly more expensive than other car chargers, even ones that offer two USB ports and high-speed charging.  But it offers the unique feature of helping you out if you forget where you parked your car — so long as you parked outside where the GPS function was working.  If you are the type of person who would find the find my car feature to be useful, then I suspect that you’ll consider ZUS to be well worth it.

Click here to get ZUS from Amazon ($35.99).

Later this week, I’m flying from the Big Easy to the Windy City for the 30th annual ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago, a great technology conference for lawyers who want to get the most out of technology.  The use of mobile technology has been a focus of TECHSHOW for many years, especially since the iPhone and iPad were introduced.  I was surprised to see that (unlike recent years) there is not a specific mobile track in 2016, but I know that many of the speakers will be integrating tips on using mobile technology into their sessions.  And on Saturday morning, I will be recommending mobile apps along with Dallas attorney Tom Mighell (the author of many books including iPad Apps in One Hour) and Brian Focht (the publisher of The Cyber Advocate) in a session moderated by Natalie Kelly (of the State Bar of Georgia, who was the chair of TECHSHOW 2014).

If you run into me in the conference — you can click here to see what I look like — please stop me to say hello.  I always love to meet iPhone J.D. readers in person, and the fine folks at MOBiLE CLOTH were nice enough to give me a bunch of cleaning cloths to hand out to any iPhone J.D. reader who asks for one.  (Don’t be shy in asking; I’ve got plenty!)  I’ve reviewed MOBiLE CLOTHs before on this site (1/11/11, 5/31/11, 2/13/12, 6/5/13), and they are by far my favorite cloths for keeping my iPad and iPhone clean.  They also work great for cleaning your eyeglasses or other optics like a camera.  I like to keep one at my desk at work, one at home, one in my briefcase, etc. so that I always have easy access to one when I need one.  The ones that I will be giving out at TECHSHOW have an iPhone J.D. logo on them, but you can order one with your own logo on them if you are looking for marketing items that are much better than a pen or a coffee mug.  I have some with my law firm logo on them that I often give out to clients so that they can use them with their own mobile devices.

Click here for more information on custom logo MOBiLE CLOTH for your business.  In fact, if you use the promo code “irish” during the month of March, you can get 40% off of all custom packages.

TECHSHOW also has a large exhibit hall — the TECHSHOW EXPO — which is always a great way to see some of the latest legal-specific products that relate to the iPhone and iPad.  This year, exhibitors of interest to iPhone and iPad users include Lit Software (maker of TrialPad, TranscriptPad and DocReviewPad), Westlaw, Lexis, Fastcase, Bellefield (maker of iTimeKeep), Citrix (maker of the excellent ShareFile service and app), and many others.

And of course, there are lots of opportunities to socialize with other attorneys who enjoy using technology.  On Friday night, I am hosting a Taste of TECHSHOW dinner along with Brett Burney, who was the Chair of TECHSHOW 2015.  Our dinner has been sold-out for a while, but sometimes people cancel at the last minute so put your name on the waiting list at the TECHSHOW concierge desk if you want to try to join us.  On Wednesday night, I see that Florida attorney Katie Floyd and California attorney David Sparks are organizing an informal meet up for listeners of the Mac Power Users podcast. 

If you cannot make it to Chicago this year, the official ABA TECHSHOW Twitter account says that you will be able to watch certain TECHSHOW events live and for free using the Periscope app on your iPhone or iPad.  Follow @ABATECHSHOW on Twitter for more details.  But if you can make it, I look forward to seeing you there.

Apple has confirmed that it will announce new products on Monday, March 21.  The rumors are that Apple will announce a new 9.7″ iPad, but instead of calling it the iPad Air 3, the rumor is that it will share the iPad Pro name that is currently reserved for the 12.9″ iPad.  There are also rumors that Apple will announce a new 4-inch version of the iPhone called the iPhone SE (a size that Apple hasn’t used since the iPhone 5s in 2013), and new bands for the Apple Watch.  And now, the recent news of note:

• In the ongoing battle between Apple and the FBI, the FBI filed its reply brief before the Magistrate Judge (available here).  Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell issued a scathing response during a call with the media, which is quoted by Kif Leswing of Business Insider.  For example:

For the first time we see an allegation that Apple has deliberately made changes to block law enforcement requests for access. This should be deeply offensive to everyone that reads it. An unsupported, unsubstantiated effort to vilify Apple rather than confront the issues in the case.

Or the ridiculous section on China where an AUSA, an officer of the court, uses unidentified Internet sources to raise the spectre that Apple has a different and sinister relationship with China. Of course that is not true, and the speculation is based on no substance at all.

To do this in a brief before a magistrate judge just shows the desperation that the Department of Justice now feels. We would never respond in kind, but imagine Apple asking a court if the FBI could be trusted “because there is this real question about whether J. Edgar Hoover ordered the assassination of Kennedy — see ConspiracyTheory.com as our supporting evidence.”

• John Gruber of Daring Fireball was also on the call with Bruce Sewell, and offers this perspective.
• Apple created a page on its website to provide links to the numerous amicus curiae briefs that support Apple’s position.
• Florida attorney Katie Floyd reviews the SIKAI Silicone Case for the Apple TV remote.
• California attorney David Sparks reviews the Amazon Echo.
• In an interesting article for the Washington Post, Todd Frankel reports on the roots of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s activism in the rural town of Robertsdale, Alabama.
• Also in the Washington Post, Apple VP Craig Federighi defends Apple’s position against the FBI in a well-written article.
• Speaking of Federighi, Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that Federighi has confirmed — albeit just in a private email — that force-quitting apps doesn’t improve battery life on an iPhone.
• Serenity Caldwell of iMore, who has reviewed even more iPad styluses that I have, created my favorite review of the Apple Pencil by using the Pencil to review the Pencil in a cartoon.  It’s fun to read, but also full of information.
• Workflow is a powerful automation app for the iPhone and iPad, which I previously discussed here.  In an article for iMore, Federico Viticci offers tips for getting started with the Workflow app.
• If you have a question about using Apple hardware or software, you can now tweet your question to @AppleSupport on Twitter.
• And finally, kudos to Florida attorney Rick Georges for finding the most ridiculous alternative to the Apple Watch that I’ve ever seen.  According to the Mashable article by Stan Schroeder, it is just intended to be a tech demo, but even so… yikes!

After using an iPad Pro for four moths, I would never want to go back to the smaller 9.4″ iPad because the larger screen is so much nicer for working with documents.  But the iPad Pro is heavier than other iPads, and this makes it more awkward to hold.  One way to make the iPad Pro easier to hold is to add some sort of a handle to it.  For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying out two products sold by LapWorks that add a handle (and also a kickstand) to an iPad Pro:  The Tablet Handler Pro and the Gripzilla Pro.  (LapWorks sent me free samples to review.)  These two products take different approaches, and have different advantages and disadvantages.

Gripzilla Pro

The Gripzilla Pro is a long, sturdy brace that has spring-loaded brackets at each end.  Both the flat surface of the brace and the brackets are covered with rubber so they won’t scratch the iPad Pro.

Attaching the Gripzilla Pro is fast and easy.  Place one bracket on one corner, then pull the other bracket to reach the other corner.  That’s it.  The whole process just takes a few seconds.  Springs in the brackets keep a very firm grip on the iPad Pro so it is not going to fall out of the Gripzilla Pro.

A soft Neoprene holder in the middle of the brace has Velcro so that you can adjust the size of the holder to fit your hand.  And that holder spins 360º so you can hold your iPad Pro in any position, portrait or landscape.

If you press two buttons on the side of the holder, it converts into a kickstand.  It can hold the iPad in either a portrait or landscape position.  Unfortunately, the bracket that is on one corner of one side means that the iPad Pro isn’t perfectly level.  I found that to be more annoying in portrait position than in landscape position.

While I love how easy it is to attach the Gripzilla Pro, there are a few things that I don’t like about this product.  First, the brace is so large and prominent that it gets in the way.  And as you can see in the above picture, it sits back quite a bit from the back of the iPad Pro.  As a result, I didn’t find it very comfortable to keep my hand in the Neoprene holder for long stretches of time.  Instead, I often found myself just griping the holder instead of using it with my hand inside.  To be fair, if I need to hold my iPad Pro for a long period of time, I’d rather do so with the Gripzilla Pro than with nothing at all.  I just found myself wishing for an option that was more comfortable to use.

A related problem is that the Gripzilla Pro seems heavy.  It weighs 8.1 ounces, and that number doesn’t seem much higher than the Tablet Handler Pro, which I measured at 5.7 ounces.  But in actual use, it seemed to noticeably add to the weight of the iPad Pro.

Another drawback to the Gripzilla Pro is that the large size makes it awkward to carry with you.  Attached to the iPad, it considerably increases the size of the iPad Pro.  And even if you carry it on its own, because it doesn’t fold up or come apart in any way, it takes up significant space in a briefcase, and I suspect that it won’t fit at all in many purses.  If you intend to keep the Gripzilla Pro at your desk all the time, this is no big deal.  But I wouldn’t want to have to carry this around very often.

Tablet Handler Pro

The Tablet Handler Pro solves all of the problems of the Gripzlla Pro.  The Tablet Handler Pro is lighter, it doesn’t add an awkward brace to the back of your iPad, and it comes apart in a way that makes it much smaller and easier to carry.  Unfortunately, it introduces new problems:  it is difficult to attach to the iPad Pro, and once attached you need to be very careful about its placement in relation to the buttons on the side of an iPad Pro.

To attach the Tablet Handler Pro, you first need to attach the four silicone loops to the hub.  In theory those could stay attached to the hub when the device is not in use, but the loops come off so easily (when not attached to the iPad Pro) that I found that I had to reattach at least three of the loops every time I went to use the Tablet Handler Pro.  Doing so is not difficult, just line up the notch on one end of the loop to the hole on the hub, but it is a task that you need to do. 

Next, you stretch the end of one loop to one corner, then stretch another loop to the opposite corner.  Sometimes when you do so, one loop or the other will pop off, so you need to be careful.  Then you attach the third and finally the fourth corner, again trying to stop them from coming off as you attach them.

I usually save for last the corner of the iPad Pro which has the power button on one side and the volume up button on the other side because that one is tricky.  You need to place the silicone loop in a location where it will grip the corner but not cover a button.  Otherwise, the loop will hold down on the button.  It is possible to get it in the right place, but it takes some time to do.  And invariably when I am done, my iPad Pro is asking me if I want to shut it down because the loop always seems to end up holding down the power button for a few seconds while I try to get it into place.

The good news is that once all four loops are attached, in my tests they have always stayed in place.  I was worried about loops slipping off and shooting like rubber bands across the room, but that has never happened.  Each loop has a small tab on it that keeps it in place.  The tab doesn’t look like much, but it seems to do the job.

Once the Tablet Handler Pro is attached, it works quite well.  There is no obnoxious brace.  Yes, there is a hub in the middle that holds the four loops, but it has such a low profile that it has never bothered me.  Likewise, the loops are so close to the back surface of the iPad Pro that they never get in my way.  And I never noticed the iPad being heavier with the Tablet Handler Pro attached.

Just like the Gripzilla Pro, The Tablet Handler Pro has a Neoprene holder on the hub which spins 360º and which you can wrap around your hand.  I don’t find it terribly comfortable to put my entire hand in the holder, but I frequently put my left thumb in the holder and grip the holder with my left hand, which works well.

Also just like the Gripzilla Pro, you can press two buttons to turn the holder into a kickstand.  It works great as a kickstand, and there are two reasons that it works better than the Gripzilla Pro.  First, you don’t have to worry about the slight angle that results from having one side a little higher than the other.  Second, the silicone loops at the bottom act like feet that don’t slide on a desk.  I could see someone buying Tablet Handler Pro just to serve as a really good kickstand.

One downside of the Tablet Handler Pro is that it isn’t very attractive to see the silicone loops on all four corners of the iPad Pro.  They don’t cover the screen portion so they won’t get in the way of you tapping in the corner of the iPad screen, but aesthetically it is not the best look.  It wasn’t a huge turnoff for me, but maybe it would be for some of you.

The Tablet Handler Pro is sold to work with a variety of larger tablets, not just the iPad Pro.  I wish that this device was designed only for the iPad Pro, and instead of loops used something else that better matched the corners of the iPad Pro.  Perhaps this would make it easier to attach to the four corners, plus would make it look more attractive.

When you are finished using the Tablet Handler Pro, the loops remove easily.  The hub and the four loops (once removed) take up very little space so you can easily carry them in a purse or briefcase, or perhaps even in a large pocket.

Conclusion

Both of these holders do make it easier to hold an iPad Pro for a long period of time.  I love that the Gripzilla Pro is so quick and easy to attach, and I really dislike how cumbersome it is to attach the Tablet Handler Pro.  But once attached, I prefer the feel of the Tablet Handler Pro so that is the one that I recommend.  The Tablet Handler Pro doesn’t seem like the perfect solution, so I will be on the lookout for other options from other companies — especially if they are designed specifically for the iPad Pro.  Having said that, there is a lot to like about the Tablet Handler Pro, and the fact that I find myself wanting to use it almost every day is about the best praise that I can give this product.

Click here to get Gripzilla Pro on Amazon ($44.95)

Click here to get Tablet Handler Pro on Amazon ($44.95)