iPad review by dreamtrove

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

iPad review

POSTED BY: DREAMTROVE
UPDATED: Friday, May 28, 2010 19:29
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Friday, May 28, 2010 4:14 PM

Okay, it's time to post this

1. What is the iPad?

A: a very large very expensive cell phone. It's about $500, and has the advantage that you don't have to buy a contract, in fact, you don't have to buy the service at all.

2. No, really, what is an iPad?

Okay, it's a ARM RISC based machine running apples own CPU, 32mb SSD, running iphone OS 3.2' wifi, 3G, a multitouch display, a lot of motion sensors like a Wii controller, it jas gravity, compass, GPS, and a very very long battery life.

3. Why does a tomato farmer need an iPad.

Okay, you got me, I don't, but it's very useful. It's much more of a computer than a cell phone, and it will give you internet access virtually everywhere, and a very decent speed too. Battery life is basically all day, on max battery probably about 24 hours.

4. What can an ipad do?

What it does is dependent on apps, much like the iPhone or other touch screen cell phone, not dissimilar from a blackberry or similar device. The advantage of the ipad is that the apps are closer to full computer apps.

5. Why buy apps?

Apps are small programs that do one well define task very easily, in an intuitive manner, without crashing except very rarely when the ipad is feeling cranky. Unfortunately, there is not yet an "end task" utility, so when something does crash, sometimes you have to restart.

Apps are cheap, usually $1-$10, and have the basic functions of fuller programs, so its not really expensive at all. You'll spend a lot more in data costs, about $30 a month if you use it full time on 3G, rather than wifi which is of course free. Theres a fifteen dollar service, but it doesn't really give you enough download, around 250 mb, which is enough if you only use it casually.

6. How fast is an iPad?

Fast, very fast for a RISC or mobile device. Not as fast as a serious computer, but faster than a netbook. It generates no heat or noise, and consumes almost no power, around four watts, similar to a kindle with wireless on. Kindle with wireless off lasts a week on battery.

7. What are the strong points of using an iPad?

The interface is very flexible. The on screen keyboard is serious, like a real kb, not like a cell phone, and can be customized to applications, if the programmer does it, more hopefully later. Also, there are a number of gestures that are recognized, and more with new programs. The gestures are simple and intuitive.

8. What are the weak points?

First, the screen is not invincible. It has some anti scratch coating which wears off, and then it scratches. I suspect it has a useable lifespan that's relatively short. Fortunately, it can be turned in for a new one for a hundred bucks. Hopefully there will be replacement components instead given time. The screen is a nice real glass, so you don't damage the screen, but the electronic parts will give way over time.

Second, there are a number of quirks that make for trouble for the user. Most of these are software related, but they have to be mentioned because this is how the unit ships.

A) the keyboard is not full enough. Apostrophe is not a default key on the main screen, which is symptomatic of keyboard limitations. I intend to try to fix this and many other limitations of this nature with my first app.

B) as touch screen scratches, multiple keys result. This is something which needs a software fix. Multiple registers within milliseconds are not normal, and can be clipped.

C) Due to the data entry limitations and the lack of a keyboard feel, you will quite likely need to leave the autocorrect on, which creates difficulties which you try to enter any string of text that is not a common word. If you don't notice it, you will quark a girth.

D) the standard select feature is inadequate, and very difficult to manipulate. I don't know the fix for this, it may require an OS update.

E) like macs in general, there is a lack of multiple types of click to the interface. This means that here is no rig click, control click, etc. I think that one should be worked into the OS with a multiple finger gesture.

F) there are no manual navigation controls. Home, End, and Arrow Keys would be nice, Also, Tab, etc. Not only would these be nice on the keyboard, they would make nice features for apps to work in.

G) the default browser, as well as its competition so far, does not have sufficient navigation and management. You cannot jump to the end of a page, open pages without viewing, return to pages without reloading (okay, there is a browser that does these last two) but this sort of thing, and there's no sort of cache, cookie, certificate management, etc.

H) there is no file management system. I can't see the disk, it's size, drag my files into a hierarchical folder structure, or do things that I could commonly do with my hard drive on a mac. It would also be nice to be able to end task and shutdown unnecessary processes, though the last is handled decently by the unit itself. It would be really nice if I could type size without having it automatically turn it into Sizemore, capitalized. Gee, thanks. ;)

Overall, it's a great machine. It will be better with a few fixes. It will be excellent if it can become a more user serviceable machine.

Who needs an iPad?

No one.. Its a gimmick, a gadget, but a very nifty one. It will actually help you a lot if you travel or do a lot of of computing not near an outlet or Internet line. Also, it you do a lot of simple tasks and want to do them in an efficient manner with something that you carry with you.

Or if you really like the iPhone and wish it was a computer. Actually, I forgot to mention that the iPad uses the iPhone zoom feature which is one of the greatest additions to home computing. Well designed apps don't require it, but it still is a lot of use. Poorly designed apps don't enable it.

Questions? Comments?

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Friday, May 28, 2010 4:49 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Comments:

I'm horribly jealous, because I've wanted one from Day One. I was that geek who actually tuned into the live press conference to watch the introduction of the iPad. I know it has limitations, but so does mortality. :)

Get a screen protector. Actually, anybody who's looking at an iPad, an iPod Touch, or an iPhone, buy a clear screen protector WITH your purchase, not after. I put mine on my iPod before I ever turned it on, because I knew otherwise I'd end up scratching the screen.

The protectors take a *little* of the sensitivity out of the touch screen, but very little, from what I remember it feeling like on a friend's Touch without a protector.

Stay tuned for iPhone OS 4.0, which will be out this summer. It should have some handy upgrades and features, including multitasking (more than one app running at a time), which will be handy for someone like me, who likes to keep lots of things open and running at once.

Apps seem like a logical extension of programs. You can build functionality around what YOU want and need, not around what the developer decides to cram into the next upgrade. And cheaper is better. At this point, with GoogleDocs, I don't miss MS Word at all. But I do miss Excel. GoogleDocs' spreadsheet app isn't up to the task on that front.

I love, love, LOVE my iPod Touch, and I still want the iPad 3G, because I want its usefulness and connectivity in places that don't have WiFi.

One place it would be very handy is on junkyard runs. I have taken one of my old MacBooks to the junkyards with me, complete with PDFs of factory workshop manuals loaded onto it, just in case I need to see exactly what connectors go where, how something comes apart, etc., on whatever car I'm working on on that day. Again, a screen protector and a hard case would be a must for me, because I can be rough on computers in the field! I've dropped my iPod several times, and my latest MacBook twice. Both are more robust than I expected them to be under such circumstances.

I think the biggest impact the iPad will have will be in the educational realm. Think about it: No more book bags full of textbooks. Access to the full library, at your fingertips. Educational tools galore via apps and the web. Hands-on, "show me" interactive learning experiences like the astronomy app that uses the accelerometers, GPS, and 3G capabilities to show you the night sky right now, where you are - and moves it around when you move, and shows you every star, planet, comet, constellation, point of interest, etc.

Is it perfect? Nope. Is it a wonderful thing? Surely. And a wonderful time to be alive. I can't wait to see what's next.

By the way, I tried one of the neoprene roll-up USB keyboards that I found for cheap on the web. It's... well, it's cheap. In every sense of the word. It slowed me from 75wpm typing speed to something like 40wpm. Keys don't feel right, and they're not positioned quite right in some instances (the backspace key, for instance, is about a quarter the size it needs to be, when it should be TWICE the size of a normal one, because you spend a LOT of time going back to fix mistakes, since the keys are very inconsistent in the amount of pressure it takes to operate them. Most of the keys are fine, but the @ sign kept giving me a "2", unless I stopped and was VERY deliberate and forceful with my keystrokes. Same with the quotation marks key, and some others. Return/Enter was a mess, too - too small, and slightly off-position, and not sensitive enough. I tried it for 3 days and tossed it aside, to be used by someone else in the office, and only as an emergency backup!

I actually went back to my old keyboard, which has no less than 6 dead or dying keys, and a new one almost every week. :)

Sorry to tack my review onto yours, but this might be the thread for such things!

Oh, and did I mention I was jealous of you for your iPad? :)

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Friday, May 28, 2010 7:29 PM

DREAMTROVE

I actually am not an apple fanboy.

My first computer was an apple ][e. My dad gave it it's first positive review, actually, probably it's first ten, probably sent apple towards it's first billion.

There was nothing wrong with the machine, I loved it, had a lot of fun. I was a little miffed tom find out that it was less powerful than the TI99-4A and yet cost 10x as much, but that wasn't it and it wasn't that in spite of our help, apple never gave us a discount or special service, though these things nag, as did the leaning towards proprietary ports and shutting down private independent equipment makers. But mainly, over many years, macs failed to keep up with the cutting edge on a lot of things because there just wasn't the same level of competition.

Anyway, so I'm fairly objective on the subject.

Screen protector is a good idea. Thanks

3G is essential, without it, this would be a fairly ordinary device.

I'm not sure it was meant for the clumsy consumer. Ipad is breakable. I have it in a rubber case that came from apple.

I don't remember presentation, I read a story about it coming out as somewhat of a rush just in reaction to the success of kindle. Clearly they had some tablet ideas, and they had shelved them, and they just ordered the tablets and made the iPad overnight. There's very few OS changes, indicative of this not being a long term project. The funny thing is apple pretends it's a long term secret project, even my ipad programming book keeps that up, just as apple pretended it was shipped from apple in California and not direct from Foxconn to me, which it was.

I agree with you about the educational applications of iPad.

Ipad is also great for trafelling. Even with a "v" ;) vie been house hunting with it. I can find the auction, get the parcel map, click through and map it, see the local and aerial views, etc. The gps shows me my little blue dot that is my iPad traveling toward the pin that is the house.

I want an iPhone now tied to my ipads account so I can take it when I want to leave the ipad home and put it's baby sister in my pocket.

Then i want to be able to track my ipad on my iPhone, and Vice versa, and summon them once I'm in range.

Damn nice machine for the speedy dev they did on this. Apple has a fairly kick ass team now.

Small problem with the web browser: not flash, and nothing similar, any decent web app is unlikely to work. Even Ajax apps fail pretty bad.

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