iPad

Apple’s iPad has been out for a bit now, so what is it like? Does it really live up to the standards that Steve Jobs set for it?Well in one perspective, it isn’t. Hardware wise, it is a gigantic iPod Touch with a much faster CPU and a bigger battery. And of course, a bigger screen, better speakers, and… a bigger screen.

But that’s not how you should think of it.  The upgraded hardware on the iPad makes it incredibly different from the iPod Touch, and means it will be used more frequently and is able to do more than an iPod Touch can. It is like the difference between a Mustang Shelby GT500 against a V6 Mustang: sure they both look very similar, but that bigger engine makes all the difference in the world.

The iPad is worlds ahead of the iPod Touch in speed. Everywhere that the iPod lags behind, the iPad flies ahead. It loads webpages and opens apps much faster than an iPod Touch, and makes it more appealing. Some of the problems with using the iPod Touch or iPhone as a web browsing device or even using apps for a long time is that the screen is small and eventually the lag makes you too impatient and you jump back onto a computer.

And this is where the iPad succeeds. Because it’s much faster than an iPod Touch, you will want to use it more; because the screen is bigger, you can use it for longer periods of time and not feel frustrated or annoyed at the lack of screen real estate. On an iPod Touch, you have to zoom in to a tiny section of a webpage just to read it, while on an iPad, you can pretty much read everything from the 100% view.

Also, the iPad doesn’t just improve upon the iPod Touch; it’s bigger screen real estate means that it holds much more potential in its apps. The bigger screen allows app developers to create word processing applications and more useful apps that weren’t good on an iPod Touch because the screen wasn’t big enough. The iWork suite is proof of what the iPad is capable of: replacing many of the functions of a computer.

The iPod Touch and iPhone, as we all know, hold an incredible amount of functionality. The iPhone has improved the smart phone market unlike any other, and the iPod Touch is its little brother. However, the iPad does everything they do, and better. Yes, it doesn’t make calls, but that isn’t the purpose of an iPad. It possesses much more functionality and capability than the iPod Touch.

And the best part is that it’s extremely portable. Yes, laptops are thin and light but in the end, they are still a hassle to carry around. With most laptops, you have to carry the chargers with you, and using a laptop means finding a place to sit down or a surface to put the laptop on, and a power outlet to plug it in. With the iPad, you simply pick it up and go. It’s incredible battery life alleviates you of carrying a charger, and even if you need to, the charger is simply an iPod sync cable, which isn’t exactly hard to carry with you.

The flash debate is quite big, but think of it like this: Apple has decreed that the web should move on to HTML5 and H.264 video content. And many companies have responded. Youtube is completely accessible on an iPad, and many news websites have created HTML5 sites. The list grows larger as time passes, and many important websites are already iPad ready.

And think about it: flash’s main purposes on the web have been flash video, advertisements, and games. Video is pretty much covered, since Youtube and Vimeo are both capable of working on the iPad; adverts well… it isn’t like the end user wants to see adverts. And adverts can easily be converted into HTML5 or others. As for games, the list of games for the iPhone and iPod Touch grow in vast numbers constantly, and the iPad-native apps will grow quickly as well. Already there are good titles out, and because the iPad has a bigger screen, these games are better, more extensive, and run faster thanks to the iPad.

And then there is the iBooks reader. Now, there isn’t really anything revolutionary about this app, although the page flipping animations are incredibly addicting to do. However, the real point of this is that the iPad does this AND everything else. Comparing an iPad to a Kindle makes no sense: a Kindle lets you read books and it’s only advantage ( and in some ways, a disadvantage) is it’s E-ink screen, whilst the iPad can do the reading AND the web browsing, games, productivity apps, etc. On top of that, because of the iPad has a color screen, it’s capable of becoming a vessel for textbooks and other literature that needs colored pictures.

Typing on the iPad is an interesting experience. There is no feel whatsoever in typing on it, in fact it felt somewhat similar to a Forza 3 demo I played at the NY Auto Show, where the steering wheel had no force feedback, the pedals felt like sponges, and the wheel didn’t turn 900 degrees. I’m sure the settings can be adjusted so that it’s more realistic, but at that demo that’s how it was. And that is how the typing is like on the iPad: there’s no feel to it. You have to judge by your vision, and although typing works on the iPad, even the most experienced typer probably has a learning curve to type quickly on it. It isn’t really as bad as the Forza 3 demo though, proof shown through the many times I turned the wheel too much because it didn’t have 900 degree rotation.

The feature I like the most on the iPad, however, is the ability for it to connect to a project and play presentations created in Keynote. This, I think, is its best feature. Whenever I have to give presentations, I must carry my laptop around on top of the books and stuff that I already carry around. This makes my bag rather heavy, and while it’s livable, it’s an inconvenience that’s rather annoying. On top of that, a laptop is much more delicate than an iPad, and so I kept worrying about hitting something and breaking it. An iPad however, weighs 1.5 pounds, 4 pounds less than my Mac’s 5.5 pounds. That means I carry around all the functionality I need in a portable device for 4 pounds less and many times easier to access than on my Mac. And an iPad is around almost 4X cheaper than a MacBook Pro.

An iPad is also incredibly user friendly. Yes, that means it does have a very basic interface that seems redundant, but it is efficient and it works, and it helps users of all ages use it easily. And because it has a very similar interface to the iPhone and iPod Touch, there are already millions of users who will know how to handle an iPad from the moment they start using one.

As you can see, the iPad has a huge amount of positives. However, there are also some negatives with it as well. It desperately needs both a front facing and back camera, because a camera is an important feature that many people use. A front facing camera would allow for video chats, which, thanks to the iPad’s fast CPU, can probably run quite well on it. And a camera on the back is obvious, everyone wants one, otherwise they’ll need to bring another camera with them.

Also, while the CPU in the iPad is fast, it needs to be faster. Yes, it runs everything the iPod Touch and iPhone does at an insane speed, but it’s own iPad-native apps start to suffer. This is very apparently in the iWork suite, where it lagged dramatically while I was using it. As iPad apps expand into more sophisticated areas, this is a gaping hole in a wonderful device.

And finally, the storage space is not enough for the price. For 500 dollars, you buy only 16GB. That is too little; because the iPad is a larger device, it’s more likely you’ll fill it up with movies and photos, movies and photos that are of much larger resolution than ones you’d load up on the iPhone or iPod Touch. This means that they’ll fill up the tiny flash chip on the iPad incredibly fast, and you’ll be out of space very quickly. This is also a very big hole they need to fix; after all, you cannot just upgrade everything and then leave the storage space untouched.

Overall, the iPad is very positive. It is a very useful device because it is portable, has a long battery life, and does a huge number of things well. It is more than a big iPod Touch; it’s a device that you can and will use much more often. It does have drawbacks however, but they are likely to be fixed in the second generation. The overall idea/concept of the iPad, however, is excellent, and while the iPad does not live up to Steve’s standards exactly ( the web needs time to transition to HTML5) it holds the potential to be one of the most important devices of the future.

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