Erstellt am: 9. 6. 2010 - 18:20 Uhr

whyPad

A completely subjective look at what might just be The Next Big Thing.

You have all heard of the iPad, right? It's been all over the media, and the noisier net types have been screaming for and against it for several months now.

I was lucky enough to get one as a somewhat belated birthday and Christmas present. I've been working with it for a couple of weeks now, or rather, I have been trying to. A lot of time is spent trying to get it out of the hands of non-geeks and kids who really want to play with it.

Since the thing has been reviewed by everyone and their dogs, I will leave the cold hard facts to them. I'm just going to provide a few thoughts based on other peoples reviews and my short time with the device.

What’s the big deal? It’s nothing new.

Nope. It’s not.
Well, not really. Various companies have been trying to make tablet computing the Next Big Thing for decades. I know this because I have been waiting at least 15 years for this form-factor to actually find it’s way into my backpack.

jailbird

Although I had to skip the Newton in 1993, and Pen Computers were well outside of my spending limit, I did give the Siemens Simpad a go a few years ago. It had almost the same size as the iPad, a decent battery life, no built in networking, limited storage, and it ran WinCE 3 or something like that. I loved the size, shape and battery life, but hated almost everything else about it. It’s been collecting dust since I bricked it while trying to update the firmware to a system that could actually deal with WiFi, bluetooth and the internet.

That machine was just one of many tablet computers that were so near yet oh so far. After using my iPad for a week or so, I think I can say Apple has put a bunch of existing technologies into a product that makes tablet computing accessible to a wide range of users. Tablet computing isn’t just here, it’s going mainstream.

It’s just a giant iPod touch!

half_empty

Yes, it is. That’s sort of the point.
Based an an entirely unscientific survey of friends and people who will talk to me who also own iOS devices, almost every single one has, at some point, wished their device were just a bit bigger.

Actually, in the beginning there was the iPad. Apparently, while developing it, Jobs and crew looked at what they had made and realized it would make a great phone. But in order to make something the size of a phone browse well, some things had to be changed.

Mobile Safari made surfing the web from a small screen tolerable. Not just tolerable, but almost fun. It has changed the way we approach browsing on a small screen device. Many of the user interface changes have since been incorporated into other mobile browsers, and that has been a very good thing indeed. Swiping, pinching and double tapping are part of what made mobile Safari better than Pocket Internet Explorer, and they are user interface elements that translate well to bigger screens and slate devices.

I actually like the size of the device. It feels like a book, provides enough screen real estate to satisfy that need a big screen feeling, but doesn't take up any more room in my bag than a paper notebook.

It’s not a Computer, it’s a toy!

Fisher Price

Right again!
That’s actually what makes it such an interesting device. The iPad manages to take a fairly complex piece of hardware and make it as accessible as Legos. I don’t know if it’s the touch based interface, the big shiny icons, or the other eye-candy on the iPad, but people like to play with it. And playing is a great way to learn.

Kids dive right into it, and even tech-shy types who ask permission to click on a window on a normal computer end up trying out all sorts of things much quicker than I have ever seen before. Apple’s shiny shiny touch touch approach to iOS seems to take some of the fear out of computing that many people have.

It invites people to play. Exploring the device through trial and error. One of the biggest advantages of the iOS system is that your average user can’t actually do anything that will break it. You have to go out of your way to mess it up. It’s one of those things that is a point of frustration for wish-I-were hackers and power users, but a breath of fresh air for those of us who have to take care of less tech-savvy family and friends.

I suspect that lack of fear also let’s people feel in control of their device. In my experience, feeling secure and in control actually encourages playing and exploration.

And of course it’s not just A toy. It’s a whole mess of toys. It’s a whole toybox in your backpack.

But you can’t actually DO anything with it!

randgris@hotmail.com

This is one of the critics points I don’t quite understand. I have been using my iPhone and other smartphones to actually make things for quite some time, and the iPad has proven to be an even better platform than the iPhone.

My current app collection includes a handful of useful photo editing apps, multiple word processors, note taking and annotation software, several painting and illustration apps, music software ranging from individual instruments to complete audio production suites, and one or two personal information managers that have finally found their perfect home.

Of course, I don’t code. I produce content, and once I get the camera connection kit, I will have almost everything I need to do the same work on the iPad that I have been doing on my laptops. Yes, Apple could have made life easier by simply including a USB interface from the start. No, I’m not really going to worry about it.

The only thing I can’t do yet is video editing. Not because it’s impossible, but because I haven’t bought the app yet.

The screen keyboard is actually more comfortable to use than the physical one on my net-book, and when that isn’t enough I can hook up my bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I can actually produce more with the iPad than with my net-books, but that has more to do with older processors, cranky audio drivers and a video editing suite that can suck a quad-core dry.

You can’t read it in sunlight.

Actually, you can.

David Dempsey

It’s not the best screen for sunny beaches, but it’s better than my MacBook and Nexus One. The iPhone actually has the best outdoor viewing of any of my electronic devices, but they all sort of suck in the bright glare of high noon. You might say the paperback novel hasn't lost its place in the sun.

Of course, that's only really a problem I am lucky enough to face a few days a year.

It’s not for everyone.

Right again.
It’s not going to replace most power-users main computers any time soon. It’s also not the cheapest, fastest, or best equipped tablet available.

But for people who want a hassle free tool to play games, watch video, surf the web and maybe make some stuff, it might be a pretty good solution. It could easily function as a primary computing device for most of my relatives.

It certainly fits my needs. It has cut down the size of my workbag by more than half, and it has taken some of the strain off of whatever smartphone I happen to be using.

Speaking of smart phones

I have the basic iPad. That means I need to find some other way of getting on the web while I am out and about. The iPad can do a lot of the things my smartphones do, but it can’t replace the joy of having a complete communication device in your pocket.

This is actually a good thing for Symbian, Windows Mobile and Android. They all offer hack-free methods of creating a mobile WiFI access point, something you can’t do on a standard iPhone.

I’ve only had a chance to test the Android solution so far, but it works pretty well. I can leave the access point up and running throughout the day and enjoy on-demand internet on the phone or iPad wherever I happen to be. It’s a bit of a battery hog, but the Nexus needed to be charged in the afternoon anyway.

Flash?

Doesn’t have it, don’t miss it. I have Flash on my phone now, and it’s more than enough. I won’t go into details, but I hope Adobe gets serious about providing a mobile solution. Until then, I’ll just do without.

Yeah and?

I’m stoked. The iPad might not have been the first tablet computer, but it was the first to generate a lot of excitement about the format. The competition has only just begun, and I hope it will be as fruitful as the recent developments we have seen in smartphones. I can’t wait for all of the alternatives that will be hitting the market in the next couple of years. Who knows, maybe someone will finally get around to making the perfect portable computer.