Scribbles

While the basketball gods hate me, the tech gods tend to take a kinder view on me; I lucked out with a loaner iPad so I gave it a good spin for the past 24 hours. My verdict so far: Apple’s marketing department is pure genius. To win me over, it has to either be a netbook with the perfect form factor or run a truly killer application.
 
Some background to establish my point of view. As you know, I’ve been using the Nexus One for over 3 months now, so you can call me a touch screen smart phone user. I can also boast my credentials as a hardcore reading device user since I read avidly on my Kindle DX, the large eReader from Amazon. Finally, I’ve been using a tablet laptop, the X61 Thinkpad, for more than 2 years now, so computing with a touch interface isn’t a brand new experience to me. From the Apple universe, the only Apple products I’ve ever owned are the last 3 generations of the iPod. You could hardly call me an Apple fanboy.
 
The iPad’s functionality clearly overlaps all of the above and is designed to be a multifunction device. Unfortunately it doesn’t stand to replace any of them for me, with the exception of the laptop for short trips, as I do see the iPad as a fantastic airplane device.
 
My largest source of complaint and disappointment comes from the iPad’s inability to run applications in the background. I envisioned it to do most of what I need while sitting in a coffee shop or watching a game, simple things like chatting, Twitter, web browsing, you know, teenager stuff. So imagine my disappointment when I tried to replicate those activities while watching the evil NCAA tournament final. As a computing device, due to its inability to multitask, it’s really a joke. Since I’m not your average grandma, my usage patterns for a computing device are much more stringent. Still, what I wanted to do wasn’t remotely demanding. The moment I switched away from Safari browser, say to play the next round of scrabble with my friends, I’m logged out of Google Chat. I really cannot understand the thinking behind this handicap. The moment of truth this past weekend: As I helped navigate while my friend was driving using my Nexus One maps, I used Yelp concurrently to find some interesting spots nearby, and right then I realized the iPhone couldn’t do that, and neither can the iPad.
 
I still remain open minded and made an effort to check out all the new apps. While there were no game changers, I did find some stellar ones. The NPR app for consuming news really shines. The NY Times Editor Select app also has a great interface, but due to its extremely limited content, I can’t see myself using it too much. The iPad version that Google put out for GMail is really superb. Web browsing was also very good, with the exception of not rendering flash, which made many sites and Apple look odd, given how flash has established itself as a web standard for years now. As for the normal iPhone apps running on the iPad, I found them unsatisfying for not utilizing all the extra real estate. The blown up versions looked grainy and unpolished, not to mention some of them, like Facebook in particular, were already bad to begin with. Finally the gem of an app, Marvel Comics, blew me away with its stunning color displays and natural navigation interface. For comic book readers (not collectors) the iPad is truly the perfect device, this is your killer app, hands down.
 

To Die for Comic Reading

Continuing on my content binge, I watched a full length movie via Netflix Streaming and a couple issues cropped up. Halfway through the movie, it stopped on its own, and then quit the app entirely, sending me back to the home screen. (It didn’t appear to be a crash since it seemed to take its natural sequence of exiting the app. I have no idea why that happened.) Despite that, the movie streamed fine enough with minor hiccups on the buffering (Netflix fault). What I did not like about was mostly hardware related: the device is too heavy to hold and watch comfortably on a couch and the glossy screen created too much glare for a movie with relatively dark lighting. I suppose a solution for the weight is to buy an accessory to help the device stand on its own, say on an airplane tray. That and buying extra couch pillows.
 
Both of those problems extend to reading eBooks. I already find the Kindle DX too heavy to hold with one hand. At 1.5 pounds, this is much worse. The glare will make reading under sunlight unpleasant as well. Note I don’t fall under the group who complain about a lack of backlight for the Kindle since I like other light sources, so this isn’t a trade-off I’d be happy with. Granted for some of you who read books for long periods of times on your iPhones, the iPad provides a respectable upgrade in real estate, it may still not be suitable for the subway or gym due to its weight.
 


Same Book on Kindle DX versus iPad

The one hand thing also affects the typing. For those of us used to holding the device with one hand and typing with the other, the larger keyboard doesn’t help much. Having the full qwerty layout is only effective when putting the device down and typing with both hands. Most times I found myself longing for Swype or at a minimum better word completion.
 
And finally onto the dreaded Apps store. For the money gateway for Apple and all the hard working developers, one would expect a much better interface. Searching and navigating on the iPad is not very different than doing it on your computer using iTunes. It really shouldn’t be that difficult. After all, there’s an existing paradigm that works great – it’s called web browsing. And on top of that, I have to constantly log into my iTunes account. It prompts me for my password almost every time I download or update an app, which wouldn’t be so annoying if the input method allowed for numbers and characters without having to invoke the software keyboard swap. (iPhone users, you know what I’m talking about if you have any semblance of a respectable password.)
 
While it sounds like I hate the iPad, I don’t. Apple’s marketing was simply too good and overhyped my usually tempered expectations. At the end of all the hoopla, it’s a giant iPod (and not even an iPhone) with the trade-off of extra real estate for extra weight. Its inability to run multiple apps annoys me to no end because it would otherwise make for a perfect device to accompany tv-watching and casual coffee shop afternoons. I still believe it a great airplane device which I’ll put to the test taking it to Vegas in a couple weekends. Until then, I will protest the hyperbole from the bought off media: revolutionary? Hardly.
 


Brothers of a Pod