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Saturday, April 3, 2010

iPad?

I pad?
Feb 15,2010

ipad2.jpg

it seems that as of yesterday I was the only one in the world who didn't know what an ipad is.  Ok so I don't watch TV and I don't really get out much. But, I'm a multi level Mac user. I love my 27" imac and can't live with out my iphone which retired my ipods. I'm on the internet daily and I live in NYC yet still; Ipad ipad everyone's talking, blogging, texting, tweeting about it and I've not a clue. My best guess... oversized ipod? Or maybe a charger like this wireless charging pad that came out last fall.  I key in apple.com, it opens up with revealing the talk of the global town, an oversized iphone more specifically iPod touch.  

Immediately my mind is flooded with questions
Will it run OSX/ Jaguar or ipone OS3 some thing new?
Will it sync content with your ipod/phone vice versa?
Will I be able to email multiple photos?
What about my apps?
What about wi-fi and 3g? How much will it cost?
Will I be able to access and edit my notes on my Mac with out emailing back and forth
Am I gonna get more than an hour and a half of battery life?

In another tab a google search reveals  this quote:
"Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some conmmandments written on it."
- The Wall Street Journal

Still I wanted to hear it straight from the horses mouth. I click on the Keynote. Steve's back great good 4  him. Now about this ipad! Steve described the iPad as a 3Rd category product situated between a lap top and a smart phone. That is "far batter at doing some key tasks...otherwise has no reason for being" The key features he described: Browsing, email, Photos, Video, Music, Games and Ebooks .

GENERAL KEY NOTE SYNOPSIS:
HARDWARE: 
Specs
.5' thin 1.5lbs
16GB-32GB -64GB FLASH 
WIF 802.11n
Bluetooth 2.1
9.7"IPS COLOR DISPLAY 
MULTI TOUCH SENSOR 
1GHZ APPLE A4 CHIP
ACCELERMETER 
30 PIN CONNECTOR 
10 hr Battery life ex; video  from SF TO TOKYO  THE WHOLE WAY 
1 moth standby life
 and its green 

COST
The ipad will  retail for 
WiFi MODELS 
16GB $499  32GB $599  64GB $699
3g MODELS
16GB $629  32GB $729  64GB $829
Apple Care? My estimate is around $99

3G MODELS  (US To ship Late April)
 (ATT Service in the US)
250MG DATA/ MONTH $14.99
UNLIMITED PLAN $29.99
FREE USE OF WI FI HOTSPOTS
ACTIVATE ON iPAD
NO CONTRACTS 
Ipad arrives unlocked 
Uses new GSM micro SIMs so should work on any carrier.

SOFTWARE
iphone OS 3.2 ?
iPhone SDK will support iPad development complete with ipad simulator. 
While demoing his  "Brushes",  app Steve Sprang, stated " Brushes takes full advantage of the new interface elements available in the iPhone OS 3.2." My iphone runs 3.1.3 and as recently as Today itunes says "Your iPhone software is up to date. iTunes will automatically check for update again on 4/3/10." Ironically, this is the official release date for the ipad. It's my guess that apple will release the OS 3.2 on 4/3/10 along with the ipad. Will iphone users have to pay for this upgrade? We will have to wait and see I imagine not or is it just wishful thinking. 

IPad comes with revised versions of the standard pre-installed apps you'd expect to find on your iphone. Don't let the familiar app icons fool you all iPad apps sport new looks and interfaces.

Photos: Photos are shown as stacks and has built in slide shows new features include events, geo tagging  and new slide show features that take advantage of the new screen real estate. 
ipod- 
Calender- 
Contacts / Address book 
Maps- uses googles "back end"  street views 
Itunes Store with itunes U visually reflects the style of the itunes store on a mac. 
Youtube: including HD
Videos: also resemble  itunes menu with floating cover Icons & split screen chapter break downs as in DVD menus. 

What about my old apps?
Ipad also runs most iphone/ ipod touch apps unmodified right out of the box. Users have the option of running the app black boxed at the iphone screen size or use pixel doubler to run full screen. 

iBooks
iBooks Store built in to the app. You can  preview and purchase e-books stored on a book shelf in the ibooks app. also includes Ny Times Best Sellers list. 

i work 
Apple demoed completely redesigned versions of Keynote, Pages & Numbers  with a clever new interface for ipad. The Ipad versoin of Iwork looks great and is compatible with Mac versions, easily connects to projectors, heres a synopsis.

Keynote- Slides  runs in landscape and uses a media navigator to select images. Keynote features multi slide select,  guides, resizing, one touch match resizing, rotating masking, animations, transitions and more.

Pages-Use templates, Edit texts, Place images, auto text wrap around a graphic, format, create 

Numbers- Create spreadsheets, add photos link charts to tables save multiple spreadsheets in one document. Rearrange columns tables charts etc. Add data and do calculations. Numbers also sports multiple soft keyboards for ease of data entry. 

I work is available as individual programs or a suite. $10/ app  totaling $30 bucks for the whole suite.  i always get upset when manufactures make a product that is so advanced but then make you pay for basic features that should be included as part of the preinstalled package. Especially disappointing for this product considering its most likely potential users are students beautiful as is may be it's still a little pricy. Although we love our note pad a key feature missing from both iPad and the iPhone is a word processor.

Consumer market
Many have argued that there is no market for such a product. That may be so but I also recall the same argument about a little product called the ipod. I can think of a host of uses for such a product. 
Students- this product makes total sense for a student. 
I can access the internet my school's website & digital black board download assignments pdfs  and email my professors. 
For the last year I've been taking notes exclusively on my iphone and recording lectures. I've even written entire papers, later to be revised in an actual  The problem with that is the tiny keyboard and lack of battery life. My hands cramp from holding the phone and the battery is dead before the lecture is over. I always have to make sure my phone is fully charged then I leave and find a seat in the front of the lecture hall near an outlet. The ipad's slim design almost full sized keyboard and extended battery life would resolve those issues. 

Artists Photographers Models  I can think of thousands of applications for business surveyors and so on and so forth.
Other markets may not want to talk about at product launch are education and Health Care industry applications alone are endless. 


Reservations:
Keyboard lacks #s on the top row that still sucks.
Still no flash.
ipad, come on Really?

1st i-mpressions:
Steve is a great orator and I was easily excited by his keynote speech. As the demo went on I became less impressed. 

Personally for me this IS an in between product i'd love to have but, probably wouldn't purchase for my self unless i had a few extra bills lying around. I have greater demands for my mobile computing and the ipad doesn't seem to offer much more than a larger screen. Perhaps future apps and accessories will address this. Still as far as I can see there's no way to connect say USB device or camera.  When the iPod photo came out there was a peripheral that allowed you to transfer files from a card reader but it worked via the pin port and  took forever and killed the battery before large transfers were completed. Also you couldn't view the files and forget about raw files. Again maybe a software update could resolve that. I'm not optimistic.

 It's perfect for my mom who hasn't a clue how to use my iphone much less a computer. The computer is a bit daunting but the iPad icon based, visually familiar, less daunting and easier to learn how operate. In the end while a great product it leaves much to be desired  if you're a tech whore. As for the general public, I expect consumers will consume ravenously.

"It needs to do everything... better"
Experience, speed and a large screen are going to be the iPad's greatest features. Yes it browses the web faster and games and video look better duh the screen is bigger and it's the latest piece of technology, of course it will browse, launch and operate faster. Don't we all expect the next ipone to out match the first gen ipad? Further frustrating was the noticeable absence of flash. Yes as Steve showed us how beautiful the internet was,  the "REAL"  internet as promised with the original iphone: the ominous blue lego cube appeared more than a few times on the NY Times site especially designed for the ipad as well as Time Magazine. Beyond that I'm afraid my worst fears are confirmed. it's just a big ipod. Bigger and faster maybe even more fun to use but a big iPod none the less. Still is that such a bad thing

What's next?
Apple has been historically tight lipped about future projects so your guess is as good as mine. However, I'd put my money on a new iphone late June/ July 2010.  According to Apple history this is the time they typically introduce new products. Some say an iPhone redesign is past due. Let's face it phone 3g was not much of an upgrade.  I was mentioning this article to a friend of mine and he replied..

"What's an ipad?"