iPad Follow Up

After getting my hands on Apple's newest mobile device, I have some opinions of my own.

Apple was right in that they already have a market of consumers who know how to use the iPad.  Once I picked it up, I knew right away how to manipulate it.  However, I'm also the same kind of guy who can learn how to use most foreign electronic devices in a short period of time.  But it definitely felt familiar, yet somewhat new.


User Input:
Yes, obviously the screen is much bigger, but it was no longer my thumbs that did most of the input.  On the iPhone and iPod Touch, one could hold the device in one hand and use the thumb on the same hand, or hold it with one hand and use the forefinger of the other hand.  With the iPad and its size, using it with thumbs is impractical: the reach they have relative to the entire device's size makes the experience awkward and difficult.  I ended up using my forefinger the whole time.  Typing on landscape mode wasn't as awkward as I had thought: within a few minutes, I was typing as fast I would on my iPod Touch.  Yet I was using my full hand on a somewhat smaller sized touch keyboard rather than two thumbs on a tiny screen.  But hands down (no pun intended), typing on portrait mode was horrible.  The keyboard was much too small to try to use your whole hand with the QWERTY set up we've all learned in typing class, yet it was not small enough to use with simply two thumbs from either side of the device, as most people do with their iPhones.

Verdict: It's decent on landscape, but I can definitely see why Apple decided to market a keyboard for the iPad.  The iPad keyboard could definitely use some more ergonomic work.


Display:
Yes, the screen is much bigger, but so what?  To me, I don't know if the extra spacing between icons on the springboard was necessary.  And for some reason, I couldn't drag and move the icons on the demo device I was using.  Having only four columns of icons on each page of the springboard and dock is a definite waste of space.  I used a five icon dock hack with my jailbroken iPod Touch and I loved it, I'm sure the iPad can comfortably accommodate five or six columns per page.

There happened to be an episode of Battlestar Galatica on the iPad demo device and I promptly had the device play it.  I'm not sure if it's the file itself or the iPad, but the video quality did not look superb.


User Interface:
However, I will say that the UI does look refined.  It does retain the familiar iPhone feel, but the Calendar and Contacts apps have a nice iPad touch (awesome word choice there) to them.  Apple really made use of the extra space.

This brings me to the point of being able to use iPhone apps on the iPad.  Apple claimed that from day 1, the iPad would have access to the tens of thousands of apps that were originally written for the iPhone.  I used the Engadget app and right when I loaded it, I was disgusted with it.  The resolution was so poor, it felt the need to scale it back down to the iPhone size just to use it comfortably.


Physical Design:
I'm glad Apple decided to put a rotation lock on the device, the little toggle next to the up and down volume buttons.  The iPad did not feel too heavy in my hand, but unfortunately I did not get to experience what it would feel like to carry it because the demonstration device I used was tethered to the table.  However, as I was using it, for some strange reason, I felt that the device was too thick.  Yes, I realize it is a tablet and Apple is known for making the devices thin, but I would probably attribute my discomfort with the thickness as poor ergonomic design.  In terms of physical design, the iPad really is just a giant iPod Touch.


Price Point:
$499 for the 16GB, $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64 GB.  It's a bit absurd, but so was the iPhone's price when it first came out.  I realize that the iPad does not have the commitment subsidy that the iPhone does, which might actually justify its higher price, which is also why I think the data plans for the 3G models (add an additional $130 for 3G capabilities) is actually pretty fair.  $14.99 for 250 MB a month for $29.99/month for unlimited with no contracts.  This is essentially the iPhone plan without the voice or 250 MB a month option.  I feel that Apple should do the same data pricing plan with the iPhone because I would have seriously considered being a loyal iPhone customer if they had done this from the beginning.

Yet the iPad's price point is too high for it to be ubiquitous.  If there was an iPad in every living room, lounge, social area, then the world would seem much more futuristic.


So in conclusion, the iPad is a good device for reputable company's first attempt at a tablet computer, but it is in no way the pioneer or revolutionary icon of a new age of computing.  If someone were to give me one as a gift, I would kiss the ground they walk on for a week, but I would definitely not drop $499 from the base model. If the price was lowered to $300 for the 3G version, then I would consider it.


Dear Apple,

You may be able to revolutionize the computing industry with a large multi-touch tablet, but you have to redesign the casing that comes with it.

Signed,
Apple Mobile Device User
iPod Nano 1G, iPod Touch 1G, and soon iPhone 3GS or the newest model


Sent from my PC.

Post-iPad Release

Saturday, April 3, 2010 – Apple’s iPad Launch

The long anticipated release of Apple’s tablet computer, the iPad, finally reached the hands of the mainstream consumers.  Many friends of mine lined up for the iPad release at midnight and some even got a picture with Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple Inc, who was also waiting in line with the other customers.

Now that a week has passed and people from pundits to little kids have taken the device for a spin, their feedback has made their way to the Internet.  The main concern with the iPad is the kind of situations and locations that the iPad would be perfect for.  Of all the reviews I have read, a commonly agreed upon area to use the iPad comfortably is the couch, having the device propped up against one’s legs with the knees bent at an approximate 90 degree angle.  

Yet of all the reviews I have read, Gizmodo decided to post a review of an inevitable place that all gadgets end up: the bathroom.   Although people don’t like to talk to about it, they take their electronic devices with them into the bathroom and use them while they take care of their business.  In our attention deficient disordered society, simply sitting on the toilet isn’t stimulating enough, we have to be making phone calls, returning text messages, checking Facebook or Twitter.  Although engineering these electronic devices have come a long way, their mortal enemy remains to be water, a substance that is ubiquitous in a bathroom.  For that very concern, I have seen far too many friends drop their mobile devices into the toilet (hopefully an unused one) and it poses a huge risk for something as large and potentially slippery as the iPad.  Alas, the iPad and bathroom Internet surfing were not meant to be.

So that takes care of WHERE the iPad should and should not be used.  But who is Apple’s latest and (hotly contested) greatest intended for?  I can tell you right now, diehard tech enthusiasts do not like the iPad for its lack of features and poor design.  If these diehard tech enthusiasts, who are the type of people who would still use computers and gadgets even if they weren’t cool in mainstream culture, don’t like the iPad, who is expected to love it?

How about the expansion of the computing market?  The current hurdle in computing is the learning curve.  Sure, for you to be reading this, using a computer may be second nature to you, as is riding a bike or driving a car.  But to explain the concepts of computing to the uninitiated seems like a daunting task for the teacher and a vague and arbitrary subject for the pupil.  How do you explain the concept of “windows” in which programs run in, that you can have multiple iterations of these “windows” to run the same program, but you can’t have multiple programs run in the same window?

In comes the Apple iPad.  Its aim is to simplify computing and ease the learning curve for those uninterested in learning how to interact with a computer.  The main target audience: children and the elderly.  A two year old has little difficulty learning how to manipulate the Apple iPad because she knows that she can just TOUCH what she wants and move it.  Try to have her use a mouse on a computer and it may be difficult for her to grasp the concept of moving the mouse and having to click a certain button in order to manipulate the computer.

And now, WHY?  Why should people care about the Apple iPad?  As I was outside enjoying lunch with a friend yesterday, I sat next to a group of girls who were talking about the iPad.  One girl believed that the iPad and tablet computing in general will completely replace the laptop within five years. 

While I may not completely agree with the timing or the statement itself, tablet computing is slowly making its way into the consumer marketplace.  Take the laptop, for example.  It was somewhere between 2000 and 2010 that the price and functionality of laptops had finally hit an equilibrium that was acceptable by consumers.  Prior to the ubiquity of laptops, desktops were all the rage.  Prior to desktops, people simply didn’t have computers.  Following the trend, it seems as if tablet computing will do the same to laptops.  The only question is when.