April, 2010

technology — 9 Comments
6
Apr 10

iPad hits the road

The timing was perfect. After spending a day with iPad, I found myself taking a 36-hour trip out of town — so it was sink or swim for the little fella. I was determined to put my iPad through the paces in airports, planes, hotels and bars.

No incidents at security, though the guard did demand that I turn it on just so she could play with it.

No incidents at any of my other stops, aside from the fact that everyone wanted to get their greasy fingertips on it.

Not unexpectedly, everything worked as advertised. On the plane, I listened to music, watched a movie and did some reading. Perfect. I roamed the Internet and did my email pretty much everywhere. Sweet. If I had to sum it up, I’d say that iPad is one of those rare bits of technology that just makes you smile. So many things are right about it.

A few things I should highlight. First, typing on iPad is more than usable. It’s actually pretty good. I never warmed up to typing on iPhone, but doing email on iPad is a surprisingly happy experience.

Interestingly, the thing that felt most like the future of computing to me was our old friend, Safari. I never really thought about how much I had to mouse around a web page to navigate before — until I no longer had to do it. Directly tapping links with my finger was so natural, and so fast, by the time I got home iPad had become my favorite way to browse. The fact that I can do it anywhere is icing on the cake.

Last, I think the disappearing OS is one of Apple’s greatest accomplishments here. With iPad, you just do what you want to do. No OS to mess with, no file hierarchies to navigate. Why should an app even be able to see files it can’t open? iPad truly is the computer for the rest of us, and in time will probably become the computer for most of us.

Obviously, iPad is not the device to use for serious creating. But only a fraction of we earthlings create content, and only a fraction of the content creators do their creating on the road. Given my experience on this trip, I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to recommend iPad to anyone as a mobile computer or, depending on your needs, even a laptop replacement. You barely notice it in your briefcase, the battery seems to last forever and it does all of its jobs beautifully.

Of course when I returned home I once again had to confront iPad’s horrendous flaw — the total disdain for privacy I mentioned in my previous post. I had to delete my email account, though I was able to keep my Address Book, Calendars and Bookmarks. I know it’s not Apple’s normal policy to acknowledge such deficiencies, but in this case I wish they’d just fess up and give us the plan. I’d cross my fingers for this week’s iPhone OS 4.0 event, though it’s hard to believe they’d schedule a fix one week after the product’s release.

But let’s not let one flaw rain on our parade. No doubt there will be many improvements to come, privacy included. As it stands, iPad is incredibly fun and incredibly useful. If you have a family, you may need more than one.

technology — 10 Comments
5
Apr 10

iPad finally comes home

Saturday morning, a very jolly UPS driver pulled up to my house. He said he felt like Santa Claus, because his entire truck was literally filled with goodies. Delivering iPads was his only mission for the day.

My mission, of course, was to suppress my giddiness and experience iPad like any new customer. Here’s how it went.

The packaging was beautifully simple, though not nearly as jewel-like as iPhone. I was pleased to find that my iPad came with a full tank of Chinese electricity. When I powered it up, my heart sank as I saw a series of horrible scratches on the screen. False alarm. They weren’t scratches, they were part of the home screen photograph Apple had chosen for me. Don’t scare me like that, Apple.

From the moment I turned it on though, one thing was clear: it’s every bit as fast as the reviewers have been saying, especially in the screen orientation department. I found myself wishing iPhone would take a few lessons from iPad.

It took only minutes for iPad to melt my heart. It takes no effort to see the mega-potential in this device. There isn’t a single medium iPad doesn’t handle well. I do, however, have one complaint. And it’s a biggie.

Following the launch, I had wondered how iPad would handle “user switching” in Mail. The answer is: it doesn’t. This will be highly disturbing to the many who loved the idea of a “family iPad” that would be used all over the house.

You can have multiple email accounts, but there’s no switching. All accounts are seen by everyone. To make it worse, you can only sync one set of Contacts, Calendars and Bookmarks. So it will work fine for one person, but everyone else will have to write emails without the convenience/necessity of an Address Book.

Obviously, iPad needs its own approach to privacy. Its music, movies and photos are meant to be shared by everyone, and you’d set it up with that in mind. But email is a different animal. It’s too personal. Little Suzie’s best friend shouldn’t be reading mommy’s email. No doubt there is a technical reason why there’s no email privacy in iPad right now. But this needs to be fixed asap. It will be a deal-breaker for some.

Zooming back up though, I’m extremely happy that my UPS man showed up and I’m sure the other boys and girls on his list are pretty darned happy too. iPad is lighting the way to a very interesting future vision of computing, and I’m already anxious to get there.

technology — 8 Comments
2
Apr 10

iPsychology 101

Well, that was fast.

Now that the confidentiality restraints have been lifted, there’s been a flood of super-enthusiastic, “new era in computing” reviews for iPad. This, of course, completes a total reversal of momentum following the iPad launch event — at which time the loudest voices said, “woeful name, just a giant iPod touch, no breakthroughs, major letdown, overhyped, flop in the making.”

Surely the Apple executive team is thinking “we told you so.” My big question is: why such a negative reaction in the first place?

As a near-psychology major in the pseudo-psychology division of an agriculture-based university, I feel eminently qualified to offer an opinion.

I think there is a sizable group out there just determined to see Apple fail. Interestingly, this group falls into two categories: friends and foes.

The foes are easy to figure out. They’ve held a grudge for years, and their dislike of Apple simply grows with each new Apple success. They often dislike the users of the technology as much as the technology itself. To them, Apple is a cult of mindless sheep. Smart people prefer things faster, cheaper and more customizable. It’s galling to see Apple manipulate the world into another revolution, and dammit, they will do what they can to derail the train.

Not a lot of people in the middle on this one

It’s the friends who are more befuddling. There are hundreds of journalists and bloggers covering the Apple beat, all of whom use the technology and love it. But opinions are their livelihoods. If they can’t prove themselves to be smarter and more insightful, their stock goes down. Since Apple doesn’t make many mistakes, they eagerly dive in when they think they’ve found one. Just as eagerly, in fact, as the Apple haters.

Whatever their motivation, we have people who are willing to judge in minutes what a lot of very smart people have been working on for a year or two.

While I disagreed with the naysayers, I do believe Apple gave them the opening. The iPad launch event was long on function and short on vision. It may have been a perfectly fine presentation, but it fell short in context of the hype. Now that we know what we know, it’s easy to imagine a more convincing launch event. The fact is, Apple did know what we know now — and they still crafted the event as they did.

But who cares. All is forgiven now. If things go as they appear to be going, Apple will once again prove that it truly understands human technology. Its fans will be delighted. Its detractors will celebrate their independence by jumping on board with one of the many imitators to follow. We’ll all meet again in three years for the next revolution.

In the meantime, I will be doing my finger exercises in preparation for tomorrow’s special delivery.

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