iPad Event Wish List

Just wanted to jot down a few things I’d like to see at Apple’s iPad event tomorrow. Quick background: I use my iPad 3 for academic research (downloading journal articles & annotating them with PDF Expert), editing photos, watching iTunes U videos, wading through my Safari Reading List and RSS feeds, playing games, and messing around with fun music-making apps. Occasionally my workflows get a little convoluted, but iOS 8 has certainly helped (hurray for share extensions!), and I’m eagerly looking forward to what Apple has in store for tomorrow.

Here’s my wish list:

  • Touch ID – confirmed
  • 2GB of RAM – not sure if confirmed?
  • No color gamut issues in either model
  • For the 64GB iPad Air to move down a price point
  • Better battery life (who wouldn’t wish for that?)
  • Some sort of better multi-tasking support
  • An anti-glare display – there were rumors about this; would be awesome if true.

If Apple is truly going down a list and checking off features that people have asked for (or that people tend to buy Android/Windows devices for), then I expect them to announce an upcoming software feature that will allow you to view more than one application at the same time. I would love to, say, be able to watch an iTunes U video on one side of the screen and jot down questions that I have about it on the other. Or simultaneously play a casual game and keep an eye on my Twitter feed. If they can make this feature somehow more elegant and better-named than Reachability, I will consider it a success.

I don’t think Apple is done innovating with the iPad. In fact, something tells me that many folks who have become disinterested or disenchanted with it will find themselves once again excited about the possibilities offered by this form factor.

Anyway, I’ll be attempting to watch the event live (ha, we’ll see how that goes…), with The Verge’s lovely liveblog as backup.