Apple’s new iPad comes fully customized: There is a review for every taste, from Rave! to Bah, Humbug! For Slate’s Farhad Manjoo the iPad is ‘the computer I’ve always wanted.’ To Adam Frucci of Gizmodo it has ‘backbreaking’ shortcomings, and after listing eight things to hate about the iPad he added three more.
Rachel Mets of Associated Press declares that the iPad is more than just a bigger iPod Touch. Meanwhile Ryan Kim of the San Francisco Chronicle says, ‘You mean it’s a big iPod Touch? Basically.’ Which, Kim adds, is just fine.
As noted previously in this blog, there is a long back story to the iPad, an industry fascination with devices – call them slates, tablets, or now presumably pads – that are bigger than a smartphone but smaller than a laptop. Michael Malone of ABC News calls it a Holy Grail quest, even speculating that this size corresponds to a deep rooted human impulse going back to the first data processing technology, the Sumerian clay tablet.
Opinions on the iPad may be all over the map, but digging a bit under the surface reveals a pretty consistent underlying topography. Love it or hate it, the reviewers identify much the same strengths and weaknesses. The differences in opinion come from how they weigh them.
The iPad is not ‘a computer.’ It runs a version of the iPhone operating system, and like the iPhone it completely hides the file structure from the user. If you like simply using a functionality with a minimum of fuss that is a plus; if you like knowing where your content is, and being able to move it, this hidden-ness will be a minus.
Likewise, all reviewers seem to agree that Apple has not solved the keyboard problem. If you only expect to use it to send the occasional instant message or tweet, this won’t be an issue, but if you want to write paragraphs, this is probably not the device for you.
Put another way, based on the early reviews the iPad is a good device for consuming online media while on the go – reading the news or an e-book, surfing the Web, watching video, and the like. But for interacting with online content – playing with it, mashing it up, creating it – the iPad’s limitations are more serious, perhaps fatally so.
In short, if you wish your iPhone had a bigger screen, the iPad may be what you are looking for. If you wish your laptop were lighter and easier to carry, it probably is not.
Tags: Apple, iPad, mobile devices
The iPad WILL find a niche with users; not everyone, to be sure, but as a device that gives the user a measure of freedom in certain situations…just like the iPhone, the laptop, or WiFi. All of them have wonderful capabilities, but they aren’t an ‘everything’ device; neither is the iPad, but it is another tool for expanding our freedom of movement in the cyber-world while in the realworld.
Good point about ‘everything’ devices. There’s a fascinating with ‘everything’ devices, especially since the computer processor is inherently an everything device. But our tools need to fit US, and combining a real keyboard with real portability is like trying to combine a bicycle and a surfboard.
Couldn’t agree with you more. I’m stoked for the iPad news though!Thanks!
I just saw the new Ipad. Is it good for games?
Apple’s a company I’ve enjoyed for some time, they produce gadgets that is aesthetically gorgeous while working like a champ. That can’t be said about alot of companies, it’s usually one or the other. Companies don’t usually take aesthetics seriously like Apple. With that being said I’ve got to say that I’m very excited about the new iSlate. One thing I question though, is it too soon? I’m afraid that this may be ahead of our time. What do you think?
The ipad is the next generation of gadgetry to replace the netbook, but lets face it, it is no kindle and thus the only reason to replace my netbook with it would be the battery life and apps.