My First 24 Hours with the iPad

I was excited Saturday morning when Mike and I headed for the Apple Store in Cherry Hill, NJ – excited but skeptical. Mike and I were picking up our company iPad with which we will be sharing joint custody – Mike has to pay child support. I had fairly low expectations for the first iteration of the iPad. I figured it was, like most people assumed before trying it, a big iPod Touch. I have heard that comparison over and over, and though it isn’t real far from the truth, the iPad does have some redeeming qualities that I think make it worth having.

Upon unboxing the iPad, immediately you are greeted the following screen:

Of course you need to hook it up to your Mac before you can use it, Apple really wants to build the anticipation.

After finally syncing up some of my music, a video, and some iPhone apps (I wanted to see how our iPhone apps looked on the iPad) I was ready to roll. I set up my wireless internet which was as easy as ever and then immediately set up our company mail account. Mail looks real sleek in horizontal orientation and in portrait it looks just as crisp, though I prefer seeing the preview of my selected email. Also, in portrait mode, it utilizes the pop-over which is a little strange for a regular iPhone / iPod Touch user.

But to hell with that, let’s get into some of the specifics that I have noticed about this newbie in the Mac family.

App Omission:

I am kind of puzzled by the absence of the world clock / stopwatch / alarm. No alarm? REALLY Apple?! Not only that, there are other glaring omissions from the familiar springboard. No calculator, no stocks, and no weather app. Why would Apple choose to remove these from the iPad? It seems like a very odd choice.

Speed:

The iPad response is super fast. Much faster that my iPhone 3G and from what I have seen of the iPhone 3GS, I would argue that it is much faster than that as well. Apps load quickly, games run smoothly, and change of orientation and pop-overs appear extremely quick. The speed really improves the overall experience on the iPad.

Battery Life:

I am extremely surprised by this one. After getting the iPad home on Saturday afternoon, I plugged it in and took it to capacity. I unplugged it around 2PM used it most of the day. This morning (Sunday) I woke up, and it still had 84% battery. This is a huge change from my iPhone, which I have to charge every single night just so it makes it through the workday. I am not using 3G though, which might change my perception of battery life. Wifi has been constantly chugging along though.

Typing:

Easily the worst part of the iPad experience. It is just plain awkward – that is the best way to describe it. Holding it with one hand is awkward enough to begin with, but throw in trying to type with one finger, while not entirely hard, is just not cool. If you have a table to put the iPad down on, it makes things slightly more bearable. Even then, I find myself typing with my index fingers for fear of pressing other keys with my palms and because there is no where to put my palms. When I originally saw the iPad, I thought the increased bezel size was to alleviate the problem of typing. Well, it doesn’t. Typing isn’t hard, just weird. I need a peripheral. On a side note, I dislike Twitterific on the iPad for it’s lack of a photo upload feature. For shame. [EDIT: apparently you need to pay for the pro software to get that feature. Eff that. Tweetdeck FTW - Lutz]

The Screen:

The screen looks great. No doubt about it. Images pop and things look bright and crisp. What hasn’t changed is the same downfall that has plagued both installments of the iPhone, the super smearable, oil and dirt prone, glass screen. Sure, it makes things look great, but being neat freak, I find myself wanting to polish the touch screen every 5 minutes. For 2 years I have had a matte screen protector on my iPhone, and I already want one on the iPad. Another problem a lot of people are reporting is not being able to use the iPad outside because of the glare. This is another thing fixed by the matte screen protector. I find it odd that Apple hasn’t come up with a more creative solution to these problems. The video did look stunning on it though – Claudio looks great!

The Bizarre:

Well, after taking quite a few screenshots in horizontal orientation, I was trying to view them in the photo roll, and wondered, “Can I use multitouch to rotate this photo?” To my surprise, I COULD! But then my dreams were quickly dashed because the photo would not stay that way; it would automatically click back to the previous orientation. I don’t quite understand why this is implemented and why it functions the way it does. Very strange indeed. The addition of the slideshow of pictures on the lock screen was something I was expecting, but a welcome change. The iPad is surely better than any digital photo frame. Something else I feel like adding in this section is the weight. Mike thinks it’s way too heavy. I think Mike is crazy and that it is just right for being utilized as a combination of a macbook and a mobile device.

The Name:

The name itself is incredibly dumb, but using the name is either genius or lucky. Apple had to know that it would be compared to feminine products and that it would be made fun of. But boy did the name get coverage in the media.

The Apps:

The crowning jewel of the iPad, this is why you should be buying one. Based on the small number of apps that I have tried, many have changed the way I view mobile/mac apps. These are stuck in a limbo between the two. They are not mobile applications and they aren’t quite the full applications you would get for your macbook. They all have unique features that you haven’t experienced on your iPhone (typically due to lack of physical space on the screen) or on your mac (due to the lack of a touch screen). The Marvel Comics app amazed me. You can buy comics in-app and then flip through the pages. I really enjoyed being able to flip frame by frame, rather than just page by page. The iBooks app makes reading classics enjoyable, and I would argue that it gives any regular eBook reader a run for its money. And that is just one reader of the many that I am sure will be released for the iPad. Groovemaker was fun to play with. I made some phat beats. And TweetDeck for iPad looks, and functions, like an angel. Check out this pic of the App Store on the iPad, it looks pretty swell too.

THE VERDICT:

The price is what ultimately makes or breaks the purchase of the iPad for me. Personally, after trying out the iPad, I am convinced I would buy one for personal use – but not for $500. I think the price point is way too high for the iPad. If it were around $300 (or $350 at the most) I would suggest everyone go out and buy one. Unless you have $500 to blow, for the low end model, I would suggest waiting for a price drop or until they upgrade to the next generation. It is definitely an awesome piece of technology and I can’t wait to see the flood of new apps. Where is the next-gen iPhone? I am ready to write a review.

I hope this will help people decide if the iPad is right for them. Perhaps it just makes the decision that much harder. Oh well, I tried my best!

Late!

Patrick

Dropbox – My Stuff Where I Need It [Review]

This post/review is courtesy of guest contributor, Jerry of mochaSync.com

I will be the first to admit it—I drink the Apple flavored Kool-Aid. Still, there are things I just can’t seem to justify; like the cost MobileMe. There seems to be plenty of free or low-cost alternatives to cloud computing and file management. Today, I will be talking about my favorite: Dropbox.
First, here’s a little about what kind of user I am. I have two laptops: one Mac Book Air and an HP that shall remain nameless (because it sucks). I also have a Blackberry and an iPhone. I work in an IT department which has no less than 32 projects going on simultaneously, I run my own wanna-be software development company and I manage my own band. So I have a lot going on in an average day. I need to be able to reference documents, songs, or ideas from anywhere, on any platform. Dropbox accomplishes this without missing a beat (no pun intended).

At work, I uploaded the most needed document – a monthly report – that I constantly need to modify. If I get a few minutes between tasks, I try to update the report as best as I can (hope my boss doesn’t read that). Having my report ‘in the box’ helps me avoid version conflicts between both laptops. It also comes in handy when I need to deploy a package to a user—no matter if I am at my desk or at home.

With my band, the very first thing I did was upload the newest idea we’ve recorded. Not only can I reference this at home when practicing, but I could use the Public Folder to share it with the rest of the band. Bam! A new collaboration method! No need for long email chains, emailing attachments and cluttering my inbox. This feature also works really well with photos and families! I take pictures of my daughter all the time—like every other parent does. By uploading those precious pictures that I took on my iPhone, I am able to share the whole lot of them with others like that relative I never remember the name of but somehow I have an email for. Of course the email doesn’t contain any hints to her name… oh and she barely can operate the computer, so why she has an email, I will never know…

Anyhow, the sharing is one of my favorite features. This feature alone sold me as a ‘home’ user. I needed a free alternative that doesn’t cloud up the user experience with “buy this as a print for $0.99 – limited time offer” BS. This is perfect for the minimalist in me, and that nameless relative of mine – damn it what is her name?!

Which brings me to my last big selling point – the user experience. Dropbox has made it so easy to share, from any place in the world that has an Internet connection, that it should be a crime to not check out this service. There is absolutely no clutter to the website, the Public Galleries, or the iPhone app. They’ve managed to turn a fairly intimidating service for most people into one that actually makes you feel welcomed – no matter your experience level. Yet, at its core, Dropbox is extremely powerful. Initial setup was a breeze and synchronizing the file changes is instantaneous and transparent on each platform.

Document management and photo sharing is only the tip of the iceberg. With the paid subscription options, which yield larger capacity accounts (50gig / 100gig), power users could use scripts to backup critical files and projects. Team sharing for work environments becomes easier and less tedious—users of SharePoint should identify with this point.

Whether you just need to share a few files here and there, or whether you are on the go at all times, Dropbox is a solid choice. With cross platform support, mobile access and a superb user interface, Dropbox is at the top of the list.

Dropbox can be downloaded here: http://www.getdropbox.com/

mochaSync Reviews LoveBot: Robot Pickup Lines

LoveBot is getting some love of its own over at mochaSync. Let me give you a little excerpt from the review:

“The artwork for the icon is cute, very light hearted and just what you might need if you’re a productivity junky like me.

… I think it will provide laughter to those of us who unfortunately are surrounded by pc’s and mac’s all day long.   I say give it a whirl and share in the fun with your co-workers.”

mochaSync does knock LoveBot for not having more variations of the robot, which is a very possible addition to it in future updates. And “command lines,” why the hell didn’t we think of that!? Please check out the review at mochaSync here. Thanks to mochaSync for the review.

Make sure you get your copy of LoveBot: Robot Pickup Lines through the link below, at a reduced price of $.99 now!

Image courtesy of Kitty Genius