iPad Review 750
The packaging is minimal and sleek. Almost nothing comes inside the box: just a cable, power cube and some minuscule documentation that nobody will read. The iPad itself arrived fully charged. It is usable out of the box without any syncing, but I chose almost immediately to pair it with my laptop just to get all my apps and data on it. This syncing process took forever. It's kind of amazing how long it takes to sync 20 or so gigs of movies and mp3s. This isn't unique to the iPad of course, but I never really noticed it on the phone since I don't sync video there.
The UI and functionality is pretty much as expected: It's a big iPhone. There are some minor differences (like being able to drag different numbers of items to the sticky footer menu). The new calendar application is nice. But the star is the mail client. Reading mail on my iPhone has been the "Last Resort," but the speed and clean layout and usability of the iPad mail app makes me prefer it to my desktop. I need a faster way to mark spam, but that's not necessarily the end of the world. Writing mail on the iPad is a different story. More on that below.
The new photo app is decent, but if you have a large number of albums and events it gets tough to find specific stuff quickly. I can't figure out why the iPhone and now the iPad don't make use of folders. Their mac equivalents both let you create nicely nested hierarchies of albums or playlists, but those both get lost on their little cousins where screen real estate is even MORE important. The video app seems to do strange things with thumbnails: it seemed to want to give videos the same thumbnail icon if they share an "Album." This means navigating my home movies category is lame because all 15 or so videos have the same thumbnail. It shouldn't be that way.
My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS. But applications were constantly asking me for permission to use my location. This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask! Even the built-in Map app asked me for information that it could not possibly have.
Finally, time to test Safari: I tested out Slashdot first, and it renders pretty well. There are a couple of minor layout glitches and a few trickier functionality problems. The problems are mostly the same as the iPhone, but having the larger screen makes it a lot more obvious. I'll probably get some tickets into the system this week to clean up these bugs.
When I started browsing the net at large I noticed a few interesting problems: The first is that a lot of websites are serving iPhone pages to the iPad. So you get a number of ridiculously minimalistic pages on the big bright screen. It's laughably annoying to see these teeny tiny menus. Most sites seem fine, but I was surprised at the number of mainstream sites that thought I needed this. The lack of Flash is MUCH more noticeable than I thought it would be. The good news is that YouTube seems to embed cleanly and in-place, so a lot of video oriented websites still work fine. But the lack of Flash hurts. Apple has made their position known on the subject, so I'm not expecting anything to change. The lack of a real scroll bar make sites that make use of frames for navigation not really work properly. At the end of the day, I was surprised at the number of sites that actually had SOME problem with them. Most worked fine, but when something fails, I noticed more than I do on the iPhone. I think this is simply a user expectation thing: on my phone I expect things NOT to work and am happy when they do. On the iPad I expect things to work as well as they do in Safari in my desktop, and am irritated when they don't.
I tried out a good number of apps. The NetFlix app is really nice, but it doesn't let me rate selections using their little star system. Since I'm OCD about that, this bugs me. Epicurious is a fantastically elegant little recipe system that really shines on the system. ABCs app works but meh. The Weather Channel has a nice little app, and several of my old favorites have ports that make at least some use of the big screen. I suspect it'll be a few months before we really see what the unit has to offer since many of the most popular apps haven't been ported yet. I'm thinking Facebook and even the Apple Remote are very overdue. But hey, the old versions work, they just look like crap.
Let me talk about User Accounts. An iPhone doesn't have them, which is fine because one phone sits in one person's pocket. But your laptop is passed around, and the user account system on a Mac is necessary in any place where you want multiple people sharing a computer with any regularity. The iPad needs it: since this machine wants to be seen in a public place and be handed around, my wife shouldn't have to keep logging out of Gmail and Facebook. And I shouldn't have to leave my iPad on the coffee table signed into my mail. And I shouldn't have to sign out every time I put it down, leaving a brick on the table unusable by guests.
Finally let me talk about the device itself. It's heavy. I mean, surprisingly heavy. The specs say that it is 1.5lbs, which sounded very light on paper. For the first few minutes, I liked the heft; I felt that I was holding a solid, well-crafted item in my hands. But then I started trying to figuring out ways to type. I wrote a number of emails of moderate length and slowly realized that I just don't like typing on this thing. It's fine for URLs and names and passwords and a sentence here and there. But to actually sit down and write a thousand-word review well, there's just no way. I tried many different angles, but in order to hold it in your lap and type, you sorta need to prop it against your belly. Holding it up one handed made my arm kinda tired fairly quickly: unless I'm willing to squish my thumb against the center of the screen. When I do this, the center of gravity shifts and it's much more comfortable to hold, but there's a giant thumb blocking my screen, making it impossible to type. You can cradle it in your arm and type one-handed. That seems like the only way to use it while standing. But I just don't see myself writing anything lengthy. After a day of heavy usage, I felt a little sore. The size and shape is nearly perfect. But all that screen and battery sure feels heavy when it's spread out like this.
But I'll tell you what I like: Having a casual PC at arm's length for a quick lookup of something. Working within the screen size of the iPhone often makes simple internet tasks unwieldy, but provided whatever you need doesn't use Flash, this is a great little web browser. Fast and pretty.
Since the announcement of the iPad, I've wondered what its role could be. My first big question was whether it be a complete replacement PC for "Grandma." Like many of you, I'm occasionally called upon to do little tech support tasks on PCs that do very little, and I was hoping that this might be the solution. After just one day I know this is not going to work for them. The difficulty of using the keyboard. The missing Flash. And the lack of video camera for chatting with the grandkids make this device simply not ready for them.
My other big question is how much of a replacement PC it could be for a power user. Now I can work around Flash and rarely need a camera, but what is clear to me is that a huge percentage of my screen time is spent staring at iChat. While I don't usually need a camera or microphone, my iChat is connected to 4 different networks, and I simply can't do my job without the steady stream of co-worker notes and bot notifications that I rely on. I've yet to find an app that lives in the background and is capable of connecting to the 4 distinct networks that I use. (AIM, SSL'd Jabber and Non-SSL'd Jabber)
I'm not expecting a WoW client or anything, but Chat? Seriously, Apple: You're on iPhone 3.something-or-other and you can't give us a chat client? I can only hope that the end of the exclusive AT&T era means that Apple will no longer be tied to some secret back room deal that forced iPhones to try to shove users to the crap SMS network to pad a telco profit margin despite the fact that our devices are living on a Wi-Fi network.
So, what does Apple need to fix?
- Lose several ounces. PLEASE.
- Video Camera
- iChat
- User switching (or at least an Anonymous mode)
I used it for a day and a half and think that it will be an excellent couch companion PC. I'm also certain that on planes, long car rides, and vacations it will be a great little machine. The battery life is pretty dang amazing. But this is a 1.0 piece of hardware running 3.0 software. The size/shape is great. The speed is wonderful. And 2 years of Moore's law might make this a device to be reckoned with if Apple sells enough of them to continue heavy development on the software and hardware. This version isn't a replacement PC for anyone yet, but future versions might be. You probably want to save your cash until then.
iNough! (Score:5, Interesting)
I can't think of anything that has gotten this type of media hype
Location without GPS (Score:5, Interesting)
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that the iPhone, and therefore most likely the iPad, can get location without GPS via Skyhook and the known locations of wireless access points. So apps asking permission to use your location is not a bug.
Bluetooth keyboard (Score:3, Interesting)
Has anyone tried it with a bluetooth keyboard? Does that integrate well?
Interesting that it gets the iPhone web pages... that would be irritating.
Also, any reports on how that second-monitor app works on it?
Would be 100% more fun with a camera (Score:4, Interesting)
Good points, CmdrTaco.
I walked into the Apple Store in NYC on Saturday and bought one on a whim, in and out the door in 5 minutes. It's a nice piece of gear but my first thought was, holy crap this thing is heavy. From the iFixIt teardown we know that it's basically all battery under there, and the battery life is great. But if there was an 8-hour version it would balance better in your hand.
It would be 100% more fun to play with if it had a camera. There are so many photo editing/retouching possibilities already, and being able to take and then watch home movies on the iPad would be a lot of fun because of the large display. Alas, we will have to wait for that.
I thought it was okay to type on. Just small enough to use thumbs, but large enough to put in your lap or on a table and touch type. It also makes a decent remote controller (VNC client) for a living room PC or media center.
Comment removed (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It's not a computer, it's a living-room applian (Score:5, Interesting)
Reading the newspaper, watching TV, playing games, finding recipes. Stuff that we did before computers, just an electronic version of such stuff.
But we like doing those on a computer. Now Apple is trying to introduce a new paradigm that's backwards from previous trends, where daily tasks are being pushed to our home computer. No wonder many (especially geeks) are resisting.
On the other hand, smart phones are increasingly being used as entertainment devices (a concept that always seemed strange to me), so maybe this isn't quite a shot in the dark -- maybe the new paradigm is already coming, and Apple is just ahead of the game. It certainly explains the design.
Re:To sum it up: (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem with netbooks is that they suck... unless you stopped growing in kindergarten.
Even then they suck. They're slow, and have horrible battery life.
And that's where the iPad comes in.
My eee 1005HA lasts 10 hours, loads web pages much faster than an iPad (and is able to use adblock, making the web useable, and flash, making the web...well, at least adblock is good). The advantage the iPad has in battery life doesn't mean much when the competition lasts 10 hours - that's long enough and in the same ballpark. The iPad's only advantage is form factor. For me, that's easily overshadowed by the fact that my netbook runs Windows 7 very smoothly, giving me vastly more capabilities than an iPad.
Since form factor is the only thing the iPad has going for it and it's still too big to be truly portable, I have an iPod Touch instead. An iPod Touch barely lags behind the capabilities of the iPad (unlike the vast gulf between the iPad and the netbook) but is immensely more portable. I think this is really a case where, if you can afford it, having two devices are better than the poorly designed compromise in between them.
Car analogy: I'd rather have a sedan and a pair of glasses than a fifty pound magnifying glass on roller blade wheels.
Re:To sum it up: (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not sure who the iPad was aimed at, but as a gadget hound I'm always an easy target.
I think that primarily the iPad offers quick and easy access to entertainment. Music, video, web, books, and games. It is good for commuting and as the "couch computer" that the reviewer stated. It is fast - click the home button, swipe the unlock, find your icon and boom - there you are, looking at your movie, checking email, or calling up a search on the web. I find it much faster than a laptop in terms of waking up from sleep mode and starting up an app that isn't already loaded.
They are an anti-laptop format: iPads are easy to hold and operate single-handed but awkward trying to work with it on a table. Laptops are great on tables but are nearly impossible to operate while holding. So when you are in a situation where you think, "man, it would suck to try to use my laptop now", I would guess that an iPad might be just the ticket.
I knew going into the purchase that the iPad is more of a larger iPhone/iTouch and that was fine with me since my only complaint about my iTouch was that it would be nice to have a bigger screen. I am not disappointed - yet neither am I thrilled or surprised. I like it and have no regrets.
Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground (Score:5, Interesting)
Who is iPad aimed at then?
I'm waiting for the first review of using VNC on this thing. I see it as the perfect remote console for all my "real" systems.
Flash/No Flash (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:iPad (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground (Score:4, Interesting)
He does a fine job. Better than some reviews I've read over the weekend. He addresses usability and portability which are the two key factors to the device's success. Because it isn't glowing I'm sure it will set a lot of new owners off (or even those expecting to purchase one). Hopefully they take something from what he wrote beyond the towing of the line of these Apple extended PR houses.
I read engaget.com after hearing they'd blocked all comments on the JooJoo. I didn't go there to read the comments. I wanted to see what they had said about it.
They justified taking down the comments in their own unique way. They then put a slight intro video up and basically used negative words without even having reviewed it. Taking into account the reviews they did over the weekend of the iPad, and the reviews from other sites, clearly some of the issues with the iPad were the same as those with the JooJoo, though not all.
After reviewing the engaget.com site again this morning I noticed a 6-7 articles on the iPad with no other articles on the JooJoo. The justification they made to not review it and to lock out and delete all the comments was because there was too much going on over the weekend, along with the iPad and other news so they wouldn't have time. Then I read one of the intro paragraphs to another article where the writer claimed that people had to be getting tired of reading about the JooJoo so he'd write something about the iPad. I took that as disrespect for those that posted their thoughts in the comments--that were ultimately deleted by engaget.com.
One thing to remember is that engaget.com is actually AOL. That means the they have motivation to publish positive reviews of certain products that will or do advertise for them. I always take what I read on engaget.com with a grain of salt, and have noticed over the years how they weren't always looking out for the best interest of the consumer, instead rallying behind the almighty dollar.
My point is that this review seems honest and talks about those things that people should be hearing. Right now everyone that purchased the device did so based on the merits of the PR rather than the actual usability, viability, and comfort level of the devices. Yes, the iTunes store plays a big part.
I've heard the iPad has only mono sound from the speakers. I know this is appropriate for the iPhone and iPod, but should that be the case for the iPad. I also am unsure whether I will have to pay to move my content from the iPhone to the iPad--apps and music. I'd hate to be forced to purchase them again, which would ultimately eliminate this as a purchase for me, even if I could find another use for it.
Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground (Score:3, Interesting)
None of the examples you use, with the exception of the business use case, are handled better on an iPad than a netbook. In fact, they're pretty much all handled worse, because tablet computing input still sucks. Not to mention that grandma's arthritic hands aren't going to enjoy this thing. And are you seriously telling me you want to type tricky cli commands on a no-feedback slick-surface touchscreen keyboard? Please.
The business case is irrelevant, because no business is going to spring for an iPad when they could have a Blackberry instead. It's cheaper, lighter, and makes phone calls. If even the iPhone isn't making major inroads against the Blackberry, you can bet the iPad won't.
The iPad's "killer functionality" will be mobile videos, ebooks, and generally media playback. I don't expect that to revolutionize the computing world, however. It will likely compete with existing Apple products, like the iPod Touch.
This is a device without a purpose. Many hundreds of thousands of advertising dollars will be spent to create one, but in the end there isn't really a niche for it, doubly so when Apple tries to use it to remake the web. Ultimately, it is not a computer replacement, and until it is, the kind of stuff it's good for is a niche application for people who already have a computer.
Yes, yes, change is important. That doesn't mean every change is a good idea.
You're the first person I've read that gets it (Score:3, Interesting)
Everyone wants to call it a fucking computer; it's not. It's not a laptop. It's not a replacement for a laptop or a desktop.
It's something to grab on the couch to look up a movie in IMDB, check the weather for tomorrow, send/check a simple email, play a simple game and so on. Sure, you CAN do all those things with a netbook/laptop/desktop, but not as conveniently or attractively as an iPad seems to make them.
Yes, you can even do them on phones, but the iPad makes it easier to do without going blind.
The haters seem obsessed with what it's not without seeing the value of what it is. Sometimes the value in something is not in what it is but in what it is not.
Now if I can only convince my wife it's something I need...
Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground (Score:4, Interesting)
I've decided not to buy one, and I have no regrets, either.
I have a real need for a portable PDF reader with an SD slot and/or USB port. If Apple had included either one of those, I'd probably be looking forward to buying the 2nd or 3rd generation iPad, but now I've got to wait until the knockoffs start.
At some point, I'll want to replace my Monome for music production with something with a touch screen. However, I'll need something with an OS that is more friendly toward open source development and is not tied to a single source for apps. Also, I've got to have that USB port because bluetooth just doesn't cut it for music production controllers for the same reason that you don't use wireless mics in the studio.
To be an "early adopter" requires a constant vague dissatisfaction with the technology I currently have. I don't know why, but sometime last decade that vague dissatisfaction left me, so now I'm not so inclined to jump for some new tech item until I have a need for it, or to buy something just because it's new. This requires me to studiously avoid marketing, since its purpose is to implant in us a need that did not exist before. Plus, marketing gives me a headache. I also lost me taste for sleek and shiny. Most of the tech in my life tends to look more like mil-spec or DIY with wires hanging off it than chrome and glass jewelery that's hermetically sealed. I like it that way, but that's just the sort of hairpin I am. No knock on Apple, but I like tech that I can use without having to get permission, too.
I'm glad to hear that people are excited about their new iPads. I'm glad that they're buying iPads because I still own some Apple stock. Most of all, I'm glad that this new device will spur other manufacturers to compete with Apple and come out with their own devices, with hopefully will be more appropriate for me needs. Everybody wins, except for the people who require the validation that comes from everybody else wanting the thing you just bought.
It has a lot of issues that could be improved (Score:3, Interesting)
I've written up a considerably more detailed summary of the iPad's present shortcomings right here [fyngyrz.com].
But eyestrain definitely isn't one of them; the Kindle is where you get eyestrain. That screen is darned near unreadable, with its low contrast, and the achingly slow change from one page to the next; the way it completely fails in readability as the light dims; the inability to show color... the Kindle is an awful reader, with the single exception of battery life.
I can read for many hours on the Kindle *app* on the iPod touch, because the screen is so much better than the actual Kindle. The iPad is worlds better yet, and I know I'll be reading constantly on it.
Which is not to say the iPad doesn't need work. I honestly think it is the least well thought out product Apple has put out. Oh, very well marketed, of course, but it needs a lot to even begin to stay in people's hands after the "new" wears off. Right now, unless you're a reader... it's just too feature poor.
I definitely expect competition to arise from the likes of Android plus a tablet design with a decent feature set that trumps the iPad -- and that won't be difficult to do, considering that the iPad is missing quite a bit. At that point, we'll probably see a significant iPad upgrade. It's just too bad it didn't come out of the chute with a decent feature set already in place. The saving grace is, as always with this whole line of hardware, the apps. Presuming there will be as wide a selection of them as those for the iPod (which work, but look kind of poor), the software functionality of the iPad combined with the responsiveness is its one and only strength. For an iPod/iPhone owner, though... we've already got a lot of that, and it fits in our pockets. Which is why the iPad will see a lot of table-sitting time.
Re:Why doesn't it run OSX? (Score:4, Interesting)
Note that there's an X11 server [apple.com] available for the iPad in the Appstore. That way you can run any application you like over wifi.
Re:He didn't address suitability of it as a ereade (Score:1, Interesting)
All fair points, but I'd add a few thoughts. First, people are reading more now then they've been reading in years - unfortunately, they're not reading books, they're mostly reading blogs and facebook pages. Sure publisher's have handed a few bloggers big advances for books, but does anyone really think that's the direction this is going? What I think is most compelling about the iPad is the fact that it is a more traditional "medium" - which is to say it's about the same viewable size as book or a magazine, a naturally comfortable size and medium for us humans - but it delivers the words that people are actually reading, right now. So that's my first point.
The second point - and this is coming from someone who, like yourself, reads actual books - is that, if, when you think "book", what you actually think is "literary novel", then you are forgetting that these aren't the books that make money for publishers anyway. On the other hand, the industry's golden calfs: educational texts, children's books, pretty much any trade paperback or casual illustrated non-fiction, could all benefit from delivery on a screen instead of a page.
The iPad presents opportunities for major publishers to actually dynamically alter the *editorial* content of books, to enhance it so to speak. In the world of non-fiction, I'm sure its obvious that if a college student can carry all their books on a 1.5lb device, and enjoy rich media that actually enhances the content they're studying, this kind of device is a no-brainer. Toss in surfing the internet and entertainment apps, and I think it's appealing in ways that the Kindle (in current form) simply isn't.
You can argue that the publishers will save costs on distribution, and they will, but they're going to have to hire scads of software engineers to replace them, and engineers are more expensive than printing press operators, unfortunately. You can argue that books are over-priced now, and I'd probably agree with that to, but then I look around and see publishers going bankrupt left and right - and this is all while they're model has not been pulled out from under them, as it was with the record companies.
Re:He didn't address suitability of it as a ereade (Score:3, Interesting)
I emphasize that because few people actually read. I've read about studies indicating that only 10% of people who buy books read them to the end. I read almost all my books to the end. I like to read, thus I am in the minority of readers.
Most people like the idea of reading, but rarely actually read. These people are in the majority. They often buy books, but not in the quantity of the people who read. I certainly see them buying more iPads than Kindles, but how many books are going to actually be purchased by them? Kindle owners buy books all the time - a blog I follow linked to a short book being sold by a community member for $4 on Kindle, and a few days later the author thanked the community for downloading and reading his book in measurable volume.
What? You read about studies. You like to read -- why not read the actual studies? Does this alleged majority that only reads 10% of books read the same number of books? Do you know that they don't read 10% of the books they start, but they start 20x as many books as people who read 100% of books and thus actually read twice as much? Were these figures adjusted for page count?
A blog you follow mentions a book that Kindle users downloaded in "measureable volume"? And this proves your point? And how do you know that the downloaders read the book. Oh wait, they are Kindle users -- of course they read it.
Y'know, most people like the idea of being better read than everyone else. . .
Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground (Score:3, Interesting)
The first iPods did virtually everything I do with my iPod today: Sync MP3s from iTunes and play them thru my headphones.
Sure, now I use my 3GS at the gym since someone stole my nano. But frankly, the classic iPod interface is better than the touch interface anyway.
Re:It has a lot of issues that could be improved (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, I owned a Kindle 2 - 6" screen. It's just that dark grey text an light-medium grey background that drives me nuts. I wish the "paper" on e-ink was white. At least newspaper have black text. (They darkened the text here a bit imo, but otherwise a good photo showing difference between white and grey):
http://www.breakitdownblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/kindle2-front-2.jpg [breakitdownblog.com]
Re:This where I have a problem with reviews... (Score:3, Interesting)
I personally, love my iPad, and have convinced 2 other ppl to purchase iPads since I got mine.
If you like it, get it. If you don't like it, don't get it, but don't let someone else to tell you to save your cash. Read their (lack of) usability points, go play with one, and make the decision yourself.
In other words, it's acceptable to talk people into buying an iPad, but it's not acceptable to talk people out of buying an iPad?
No, no, no, a thousand times no. You can't have it both ways. You need to either accept that people are entitled to have and express their opinions, or else do as you say and let your friends make buying decisions for themselves rather than convincing them to buy something they otherwise wouldn't have bought.