Over the past few days , I ’ve follow Apple ’s iPad proclamation and take impression after mental picture of the equipment from the great unwashed who ’ve actually used it . ( Alas , I take out a short wheat this time around and did n’t get to go to the event . ) As I vicariously experienced Apple ’s late gadget , the one thing that struck me was that as awe-inspiring and luxuria - worthy as the iPad appeared , it also seemed utterly familiar and , well , normal .
It ’s not that there ’s nothing special about the iPad ; I ’m rather impressed by what I ’ve see and read . In fact , even take into account the unnumbered rumour that twiddle about for the retiring six calendar month or so , I was still pleasantly surprised by a number of aspect of the actual product . But — and I think this in the very right direction — thanks to the iPhone and iPod touch sensation , I feel like I already know what it will be like to use the iPad … which take a leak me want one even more than I wanted an iPhone when it was first announced .
What I mean here is that in the calendar month after the first iPhone was previewed , but before it was available , I remember Apple ’s first phone voice like an impressive machine and a cool gadget , and I was looking forward to trying it . But that was about it . The iPhone was so new , so different , and so untested that I was n’t sure how much I ’d like it in day - to - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. utilisation . ( It ’s turned out to be perhaps my best-loved gadget of all time . )
My iPad expectation is much different . While the iPad is a marque - new gadget , I , along with jillion of other masses , already have a very sound idea not only how it works , but how it will feel to utilize it . That ’s because at its meat , the iPad is using the same OS , the same basic port , and the same tactile sensation - sensitive stimulus as gadget owned by around 75 million people — and used , or at least tried , by belike tenner of millions more .
That does n’t mean we should ignore the iPad as “ just a large iPod touch . ” The two devices are hunt the same OS , so they demonstrate similar interface . But the iPad ’s blind is so much bigger than the one on the iPhone and iPod touch that you ’re going to get amuchdifferent experience , in terms of both what you could see and what you could do — different enough that discount the iPad as just a larger variation of the iPod touch is like can a full - sizing keyboard as just a larger variation of the midget buttons on a Blackberry . The iPhone atomic number 76 wasmadefor the iPad . Sure , we saw it on the iPhone first , and — in retrospect — made do with the restriction of the iPhone ’s much smaller silver screen , but with the iPad we ’re going to see what it can really do .
Familiar but bigger
It ’s that familiarity , and not the spectacles , that has me in person delirious about the iPad . Because I ca n’t count the identification number of times I ’ve been using my iPhone to take in a Web page , check a video , or show off pic of my kidskin , or I ’ve been using my iPod tinge to browse RSS feeds , do a crossword mystifier , or translate a script , and I ’ve thought to myself , “ I ’d love to see somethingjust like thiswith a larger screen . ” And I ’ve likely drive my colleague ( and more than a few Macworld lecturer ) nuts with my disordered - record desires to expend an external keyboard with my iPhone so I could leave my laptop at place on trip .
In other Word , I ’d be quite satisfied even if the iPad reallywasjust a really big iPod touch that lets me use a real keyboard when I need to . In fact , like my colleague Christopher Breen , I ’ve long been imagining how I ’d use such a gadget . Here are a few example :
shop photosiPhoto is fine for cope my photograph , but when I want to really show my album to folk and friend , even a laptop is a hassle to perpetrate out and deal ( let alone having to drag everyone to garner around my background computer ’s display ) . Sure , I can catch those photos on my idiot box via an Apple TV , or by connecting an iPod or iPhone , but doing so is nowhere near as convenient as just draw out my iPhone , exploit the Photos app , and go through it around . We ’re expecting household from out of township in April , and I ’m really looking forrader to being able to do the same matter but with a bright , clear , 10 - in screen .
browse on the couch or bedI love my MacBook ; I really do . But anyone who owns a laptop cognize the difficultness of typing well when you ’re reclining , consist in bed , or just trying to get comfortable on the couch . While I revalue the traditional laptop design when I ’m on a business trip or need to do wads of typing , much of my “ home plate computation ” time is pass browsing the Web and RSS feed and reading e - ring armor . And over the past twelvemonth or so , I ’ve spentmuchmore of that time on my iPhone or iPod touching than on my laptop .
In fact , small sieve aside , I ’ve witness the iPhone to often be more convenient and more flexible than a laptop for the particular job of browse the Web . There ’s something about the lineal connection between your fingers and the “ page ” that feels more visceral than using a black eye and a keyboard . Having a equipment that offers the same benefits with a larger screen will for sure make my MacBook experience a bit lonelier . ( Case in point : When browsing RSS feeds on my iPhone , I often “ sensation ” longer articles for later meter reading on my computing machine . I distrust that with the iPad , I ’ll scan them right aside . )
I should also add that while I frequently find out video on an iPod speck , rather than the TV , late at night so as not to disturb my better half , more than a few times I ’ve wished my viewing screen was a chip bigger .
travel by planeUnless you ’re fortunate enough to be able to regularly vanish first class — and I ’m not — using a laptop on a sheet sucks . If you ’ve got a 13 - inch MacBook or a tiny netbook , and if the mortal in front of you forgets to recline their seat , you might be able-bodied to open your laptop amply , and perhaps even typewrite for a while . But if you ’ve got a larger notebook computer , or a tired soul in front of you , these days it ’s not even deserving taking your laptop computer out of your carry - on .
An iPad , on the other hand — now you ’re talking . There ’s no palpebra to care about opening — the iPad just sit on your lap or on your tray table , or you oblige it in your hand . If a magazine fits , the iPad will fit . And unless you were planning on crunching numbers in Excel , you ’ll be able-bodied to do most of what you would do with a laptop : bask your media , go through your electronic mail , roleplay some game , or take advantage of in - flight WiFi to surf the Web . Heck , if you ’ve set about iWork for iPad , you could even scraunch some number . And with a ten - minute battery , you may do all these thing for the duration of any domesticated flight of steps , and even many external ones . ( Along these lines , I screw more than a few hoi polloi who purchased Kindlesjustfor vanish . Think some of them wo n’t be trading those in for iPads ? )
educate and entertain the kidsOur kids rarely watch TV , and we specify their “ iPod time , ” so no one would accuse us of using an i - twist as an electronic babysitter . But it ’s undeniable that the interface on the iPhone and iPod tactual sensation is ideal for making technology approachable to children . Instead of having to learn how to expend a shiner or trackpad , kids can interact directly with apps by just touching the screen . And there are hatful of timber educational apps available for the iPhone OS . The iPad ’s bombastic screen door will make these apps even easier to view and use , and will let developer make even better interactive experience .
And , of course of study , for those times when we do let the kids enjoytheir current preferred video — during long car or planing machine trips , for example — they’re going to love determine everything so much bigger .
Yes , cooking . These twenty-four hour period , when I ’m fake something from a formula , I forego 3 - by-5 notecards in favor of put the formula on my iPhone and shore up it up on the return . The job is that I often have to incline over and squint — and sometimes scroll with oily workforce — to see everything . It will be groovy to be able to translate my recipies from across the kitchen .
Controlling our home audio systemA few months back , we covered several systems for stupefy audio all over your house . One thing all those system have in rough-cut is that you could control them using an iPhone app . As good as those apps are — and they really are effective — having four times the screenland real estate when range my music from the couch will make them that much better .
Replacing the cheezy “ digital photo frame ” I mistakenly bought at Costco three class agoWe jazz that thing at first . But we realized , around the time our toddler started preschool , that we were still looking at her baby pictures . An iPad sit down on a commit dockisa digital photo systema skeletale , and since it syncs with iPhoto , it will always be able-bodied to show our latest picture and albums .
Learning to share
Do n’t get me wrong : the iPad may have some restriction . But thanks to the fact that I ’ve been using an iPhone for two and a half years , I ’m fairly surefooted Apple ’s pill is going to significantly change my house ’s Clarence Shepard Day Jr. - to - day technical school natural process .
In fact , give the number of scenario where an iPad would be utilitarian for my family , its biggest limitation just may be that it does n’t support multiple accounts , so each family fellow member can have his or her own home screen , circumstance , email account , and the like — while people do n’t by and large share their iPhone with other people , I surmise that wo n’t be the case with the iPad . Then again , we saw the iPad for the first fourth dimension just a few days ago ; mayhap Apple ’s already got such a feature in the works .
