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Comment by npmaile | Hacker News Reader

One of my biggest gripes with apple mobile design is the fact that the camera sticks out from the back of the device, making it unable to sit flat. On a phone it's much less of an issue given the usual one handed use and the fact that the vast majority of people use cases(which I don't so it's still annoying to me) but on a tablet, it's basically a deal breaker for me. If it's meant to be drawn on with a stylus, it should sit flat on a table like a piece of paper.

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Did you encounter this in practice? I never noticed it as an issue when working on my ipad pro.

The camera bump is pretty benign. You can add a protective case which solves the problem. Also, I prefer to work with a tablet at a slight angle when drawing -- not completely flat -- so having a case makes double sense.

It's a paradigm shift from paper.

It's so close to laying flat that I can't even notice. It doesn't rock back and forth or anything. The incline barely causes the Apple Pencil to roll if you lay it on top.

I find camera bumps annoying on principal. Those extra two millimetres could have been used to fit a bigger battery, but no, it has to be as thin as possible.

Then again, Apple phones tend to be really heavy, so maybe its for the best? But that doesn't excuse other phone manufacturers from making ridiculous camera bumps.

Apple really needs to be called out on this:

The thinness of the device is determined by the thickest part (aka inclusive of any camera bumps).

You cannot say you have the thinnest device by ignoring the bump.

A benefit of that is that since it does not sit fully flat with its back against the table - it does not get scratched as much

I know the lens isn’t touching the table, but doesn’t that also mean the lens does get scratched easier?

The lenses are covered in sapphire[1], much harder than the metallic aluminium of the case.

[1] or at least they were years ago, I guess they still do that.

I've got the iPad Pro 12.9 and the keyboard portfolio which makes the back flat (and generally non-slip). On my previous iPad pro (the 10.5" one) the 3rd party case did the same thing.

That said, the bump in cost from an iPad Air 2020 and an iPad Pro makes the Pro a lot less attractive. You get wide angle, face id, and larger "top end" in storage.

What's peculiar to me is that Apple hasn't released a premium accessory for artists to angle their iPad for drawing.

They did. It's called a case.

You mean the Smart Folio? Which has only one angle and flexes under pressure as you draw? That doesn't smell like a premium drawing story by Apple, and definitely not very Pro.

What do artists usually put their paper on? Can't they use the same thing for the iPad?

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