So the reason I linked the keyboard & software complaints together (aside from the practical reality that the new keyboard got me thinking about this again), is that I think their problems are related: advances in both areas feel slick, refined, and... broken (follow up thread)
The new windowing UI on the iPad is clearly way “cooler” than windows on macOS. They demo great. It *looks* well thought out. But beyond not actually being easy to use, it’s made my existing iPad experience worse since I constantly accidentally initiate some strange window mode.
This is the important trifecta: shiny, missing the mark on its intended purpose, and actually a step backwards for existing usability. The new Magic Keyboard feels very similar in this regard.
There’s no denying that the Magic Keyboard is well made. It demos great, just like iPad OS windows. In fact, it might even pass the “try it in store test” with me. The hinge is seriously cool. It reminds me of the old iMacs.
Aside from a few gripes here & there (and making the keyboard software issues obvious), I didn’t notice much amiss until I tried to do something that wasn’t typing I’m with it. I took it to bed and was like wait a minute... what am I supposed to do now? Take it out of the cover?
And then I realized I also wouldn’t be able to use it with the Pencil (unless the idea is to treat it like a paintbrush and have the Keyboard be an easel???). You have to take it out of the cover to be able to actually write notes on the thing.
In fact, using the touch interface isn’t fantastic when in the cover either. Which would be *conpletely acceptable* if I could flip the cover and put it into “tablet mode”. But I can’t. I have to physically remove it to use the iPad like an iPad.
(Short break, have to put baby to bed)
Anyways, I agree that the problems are primarily in iPadOS — but it’s clear that a lot of the the latest software updates were made for this keyboard push. Which is part of the problem, iPad software updates seem like these frantic bursts in confusing and competing directions.
In “From the Earth to the Moon”, there’s this scene where they’re like “if we actually want to do this, here’s what we need to learn: orbit, dock, get there & back, land”. With the iPad, it not only feels that Apple hasn’t figured out the key steps, it feels like there’s no moon. 
It’s heartbreaking to feel that there’s no vision for this device. Because at the end of the day if no one at Apple is closing their eyes & really imagining an iPad only world 10 years from now and believing it, the software is never going to improve the way we all know it could.
