Okay, I know I railed on the iPad a few weeks ago, but I have to give credit where it’s due and realize what reality truly is.ADHERER
The points that I made are still certainly valid. The iPad is a big disappointment in what it could (and probably should) be. Among the list of things people really want are a camera and multitasking. Others believe that pen input is really needed.
I think the camera would be pretty lame, but who knows? I rarely use the camera in any laptop-type device, so I don’t see much point. But there may be a good use for it after all.
Multitasking is a true no-brainer. I can see why Apple doesn’t want to allow multitasking. Many computer crashes happen when applications don’t play well together. So, by only allowing one application at a time, Apple minimizes the problems, and hence the customer service calls.
But again, my point is that crashes still happen on my iPhone. Pretty frequently. In fact, far more frequently than on my multitasking Macbook Pro. So what’s the problem? The processor in the iPad is far more powerful, so it can surely handle it. And Apple surely can build an application manager that will kill any apps that take up too many resources as well as killing the least-recently used app when too many get into memory. In the end, I don’t see any problem with apps governing themselves… a game: no multitasking needed nor allowed. But an email client or chat client: multitasking should be allowed.
Pen input is pretty obvious… many people, myself among them, wish to use the iPad as a note-taking device and also for other productivity uses. Pen input is a must. Then again, my handwriting is so atrocious, maybe I’m better off without.
As for getting an iPad, well, that jury is still out for me. But here are the factors that I’ve recently been grappling with.
First off, there are more than 140,000 reasons to get an iPad… the current iPhone app store has that many apps, with more coming every day. And most all of them will work on the iPad, so there’s a great reason right there, particularly if you don’t already have an iPhone or iPod Touch.
Second, the App Store will prevail! As long as Apple doesn’t get too draconian with their approvals for the iPad platform, we will see the market determine what the iPad can really do and then provide for it. Which leads to…
Third, 3rd parties love Apple products. One reason the iPod is so much better than other media players is the incredible 3rd-party support. I have a clock by my bedside that will allow me to plug in my iPhone and play video, audio, whatever through it. There’s no similar product for any other media player or cellphone, I can assure you. So, I predict that there will be all manner of 3rd party add-ons and products made specifically for the iPad, which makes it a far-more-attractive thing.
Fourth, Apple will make good. One thing to really note is how many updates there have been for the iPhone and how many user complaints/wishes have been fulfilled. Sure, many say that copy/paste should have been in iPhone 1.0, but the point is that Apple eventually added the functionality. Online apps weren’t enough, so queue the App Store. Notifications. Voice Memos. iTunes purchases. In the end, Apple is quite a bit more responsive to users’ requests than most any other offerer in this space.
Fifth, user experience. I am looking seriously at the EntourageEdge. But I am concerned about it. What I saw demonstrated at CES was abysmal… slow, clunky-feeling, and just downright the opposite-of-delightful. It has promise, but clearly needs a stronger processor. Of course, that raises the price considerably, doesn’t it? And I have some concerns over the availability of Android apps for this device. But out of the box, it seems to scratch the itch that I have (I just wish it were a smaller form-factor). But reports from people who’ve actually held and used an iPad are that it’s an incredible experience, very intuitive. And in the end, it’s this type of experience which makes a product that is useful over the long haul. If the EntourageEdge does everything I want, but is just difficult to use, then it will end up on a shelf, next to my Tablet PC.
Sixth, Evernote. Yep, Evernote. I am looking to take notes… and Evernote is planning to have an iPad app. ‘Nuff said.
So I think this is my plan. I’m going to let the iPad come out, gauge what apps are being created for it, read some user reviews, and then make my decision. I really don’t care about much of what the iPad will do out-of-the-box (media, book-reading, etc.). But the interface might spark a new revolution of some things that really need to be digitized. Magazines, for instance. But that’s a topic for another day.
I’m fairly certain that they’ve found beta software for “pen input” on the iPad SDK. Look it up.
I agree about the camera. I use the cell phone’s camera more. Also would be harder to use if installed on the iPad, i.e. what are you going to do, hold it vertical, try to aim it?
There is some talk that cell phones will put an end to wrist watches. I think low resolution webcams are now the domain of cell phones. The lack of “flash” on it, is a good move. I have an old laptop, 64MB memory, puppy linux, and firedog web browser. It, firedog, has flash disable as a default. Good move, flip it on and you will see what a hog flash is. Really wish they would stop bloating web sites. This is single reason you can’t convert an old laptop as a email, document, web-browser machine only. My laptop performs ok. I would go with one with more memory if buying one. I carry it everywhere leaving my good laptop at home. Multitasking? Trust me, the OS is doing it somewhere, it just isn’t going to let you do it. 
Maybe this was a worry about 3th party apps misbehaving. Wasn’t the old Novell systems round-robin? If you had one bad app it would not release the system for the next task? This was the responsibility of each app and not the OS. There was no joy in that.
@marshzd: I’m not finding anything about pen input in the SDK — provide a link if you find one. It would be a hardware issue, though, wouldn’t it? I mean, if the hardware only takes capacitive input, and there’s nothing that detects a stylus, then no amount of software can change that.
I did, however, find this: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10443415-233.html
Looks like a little brush-type thing. I think this is what the Apple Store employees are using with their iPod Touch-based checkout gadgets (which used to be Microsoft PocketPC-based devices… hmmmm). Not sure if this would be accurate enough to allow real pen input (read: writing)… but one could hope!
Thanks for the comment.
-Mike
@James N: well, another multitasking point to consider is that that’s how many hacks take place. Someone plugs in their program which monitors memory spaces, and then uses other software… what they learn from their program allows them to hack the device. I can see Apple not wanting to make this easy.
But then again… the iPhone has been easily hacked since its inception, hasn’t it? So, there will always be a way.
Your point about misbehaving apps is well-taken. But I still have to say… the iPad is not a phone, which phones have a critical function: being a phone! Imagine needing to dial 911 and not being able to because your Twitter app is locking up your iPhone. That makes sense! Or also imagine not getting the phone call that your father is in the hospital because your Facebook app won’t let it come through.
I’ve often thought that smartphones shouldn’t have their phone functionality as part of the “smart” part of the phone, but should rather be isolated and able to function, whatever the OS is doing. But that would involve more hardware and would make the dang things more expensive, wouldn’t it?
But the iPad doesn’t have that critical function, does it? And Apple is very used to having an OS (OSX, that is) that multitasks and has misbehaving processes hanging it up. So I really don’t think that app-based multitasking shouldn’t be allowed. At least not on the iPad.
You are right, though… there is multitasking that Apple controls. I’m sure it will be like the iPhone where playing music continues while you do other things. But I really don’t think that will satisfy the masses
Thanks for the comment,
-Mike
I really should’ve sourced it to begin with but was in a hurry. Here ya go:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/02/ipad-sdk-holds-hints-of-video-calls-handwriting-keyboard.ars
“There is also a prototype of a “handwriting” keyboard in iPhone OS 3.2, which may use some combination of Inkwell and FingerWorks technologies; we may yet see stylus input for the iPad after all.”
It would have to use the kind of stylus you’re referring to, finger gestures would be a waste of time because pressing the keyboard would be faster I’d imagine. I don’t know. But just because it exists in the SDK doesn’t mean it will actually happen. Just saying that it’s there…And it makes complete sense, particularly if you take your iPad to a meeting and want to get a digital signature or like you said, use them at a store to get signatures.
No argument here (I’m going to get an iPad – having done consumer communication work on the Netpliance iOpener, I think we’re going to be surprised how valuable it is despite the snarking).
My only question is: Doesn’t this mis-state the multi-tasking? There is some multi-tasking already executed on the iphone (and the iPad by implication). I can listen to music while doing anything. I can talk on the phone while looking things up., etc, etc.
What’s missing is the ability to run 2 apps at the same time.
Me, I don’t care. Many appear to. But, not me. Life’s complicated enough already without trying to turn my convenience device into a PC…
I think we can safely define “multitasking” in this venue as “running 2 or more apps — ANY apps — simultaneously.” The ability to play music in the background of other apps is not all that important to this, I feel. Or perhaps it would be better to call it “user-defined multitasking” since Apple has defined iPod and phone functionality as the only two important enough to be allowed to multitask.
Let me run down a typical use scenario that I think will be all too familiar to some and also very likely to happen.
Frequently, a Project Manager will send out meeting notes in .doc, .xls, or .pdf format prior to a meeting. I like to be as green as I can while still being productive, so I’ve gotten into the practice of detaching those documents to my DropBox and then calling them up on my iPhone in the meeting.
I’m not sure how I will or will not be able to do this, while adding in note-taking, on the iPad, but it sounds like I will probably need to get 3G. In any case, let’s assume that the iPad will work pretty much like the current iPhone… let’s also say I’m in a meeting where the document is a long-ish PDF, say 30 pages or more. I can call the PDF up on the iPad, no problem. But then when I want to take notes, I have to shut down the DropBox app (or whatever I am browsing the PDF on) while making a note of what page we’re on. Next I open up the note-taking app, say Notes or EverNote, and write open up the note for the current meeting and then tap in whatever I wanted to remember. Then, I have to close that app, re-open DropBox, re-download the PDF I was browsing just a minute before, and then flip to the page we were on before.
That’s a big headache. I guess Herr Jobs would tell me that I obviously need 2 iPads.
But I am hoping that the 3rd parties will handle this. Perhaps I can put the documents into an EverNote note and take notes right on them. That would be wonderful!
Or, failing that, I am also hoping that the masses will cry out for multitasking and that Jobs and Co. will listen and realize that they’re not helping anyone by keeping multitasking out of the iPad.
I will draw some ire for this next remark… but it seems like Apple can learn a lot by looking at OneNote. I’m just saying…
-Mike
@marshzd: that’s an interesting article, although I am sure some of that functionality is there for the iPhone and not the iPad. However, it does bode well for the iPad that it has some aces still up its sleeve.
FWIW, I could probably get on board with no stylus input… I can type notes and draw rudimentary shapes with my fingers. But if I have to have 2-3 iPads to be able to keep a PDF open while also taking notes, well that might be a deal-breaker for me. I don’t need a couch-surfer… I have my iPhone for that, as well as several laptops.
Thanks for the link… it was good reading…
-Mike
Well, it appears that DropBox has made a change to their iPhone app that helps me out in what I want. They are now saving your place in documents so that if you close the app and restart it and re-open the document, it goes back to where you were before. That’s awesome news!
Of course, I’m assuming that the iPad DropBox app will have the same functionality. In any case, it’s really great news!
-Mike