Unless you’ve been disconnected from the Internet recently, you can’t have failed to notice Apple’s announcements on the new iPad tablet device. The most accurate one-line summary I’ve seen is – ‘a big iPod Touch that won’t fit in your pocket’. I’m not even going to mention the rubbish name and resulting trending topics on Twitter that arose because of it.
First things first, check out that form factor. For an innovative product, it is remarkably old-school. HP have had tablets out like this for years but, very few people bought them. The first question it begs, is how the hell do you hold it and use it? If I’m sitting in bed using a 135g iPhone, my arm will get tired after a while. You hold it up in one hand and drive it with the other. Just how long can the average person hold up an iPad? (It weighs 680g to 730g depending on the model). And then how exactly do you hold a something nearly A4 paper sized in one hand securely? For the record, the iPad is 9.56″/242.8mm high by 7.47″/189.7mm wide. If you have to hold it like a tray with your left thumb securing it against your hand, that is going to ache very quickly and obscure part of the screen. The iPhone has a very high rate of screen damage due to people dropping them and the iPad is going to be a lot higher. Make sure you have insurance against accidental damage.
In all the hype and discussion there is one feature of the iPad that kept a very low profile and that is the fact that with the iPad, Apple launched its own 1GHz A4 CPU. This A4 processor runs at a 1GHz frequency, which is high by mobile CPU standards. By comparison, Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon powers Google’s Nexus One phone. The A4 processor can play back HD video for 10 hours before requiring a full battery charge, which is a pretty impressive feat.
The provided memory on the iPad is simply too low for a media playing device. To add insult to injury, the increased capacity models suffer from Apple’s outrageous pricing policy on memory capacity. The price differential between the 16Gb model and the 32Gb model is $100! Who pays $100 for 16Gb of memory? In the UK this will most likely equate to £100. I can buy a 16Gb SD-card for less than £25 but Apple refuse to add memory card support to any of their products and why bother, when such a license to print money exists. I can’t see this policy changing any time soon. The top-end model comes with 64Gb of memory, not enough in my view but, more than most can afford at Apple’s prices.
Does it work as a media player?
The iPad screen is remarkable for by being so poorly specified. For media playing the 1024 x 768 pixel resolution screen (at 132 pixels per inch) is very low and is the wrong aspect ratio for modern media players. To put this into perspective, the Nexus One phone has a screen resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. At the very least I would want a 16:9 screen capable of playing 720p, which equates to 1280 x 720 pixels. What I was really hoping for was a full 1080p TV experience at 1920 x 1080 pixels. The screen is also using the standard LED technology, in order to keep the price down.
There are no USB ports or memory card slots to quickly and easily get media on and off of the device either. Essentially it is non-functioning in this respect and you need a computer to manage the media on it. It appears that Apple have added a ‘camera card’ reader accessory as some kind of after thought.
Battery life is the only positive that comes to mind right now.
Does it work as a web browser?
I can just about excuse the lack of Flash player in my iPhone 3GS, though truth be told it can be frustrating when you follow links on Twitter, to videos and web sites that simply can’t be rendered. The lack of Flash support is going to be a royal pain on a device like this though. Without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70 per cent of games and 75 per cent of the video on the web.
I’m depressing myself now but, the iPad won’t even work as a decent (if not slightly expensive) digital photo frame. The dock connector holds the device in portrait mode only, so unless you want to display all your photos in portrait mode, it’s not going to meet this purpose very well.
Connectivity?
In terms of connectivity and hardware features, the iPad offers yet more disappointment:
- Dock connector
- 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
- Built-in speakers
- Microphone
- SIM card tray (Wi-Fi + 3G model only)
With it’s built in microphone and speaker, Apple obviously intended this to be used more in the home. The dock connector is a standard Apple one and allows audio to be taken out to an external amplifier and speakers (in stereo only).
Location-based Services
The iPad supports Wi-Fi, a digital compass and on the 3G model it also supports assisted GPS and cell phone zone triangulation. The lack of GPS on the entry model is less of an issue to me. Location resolution by Wi-Fi hotspot resolution is good enough for a device that can’t be used away from Wi-Fi hotspots. The 3G capable model does support assisted GPS but I really can’t see many people carrying the iPad around and using it on the move.
Wireless Connectivity
If you’ve got an iPhone on a 3G voice and data contract, are you seriously going to fork out for another 3G data contract of an iPad? The 3G iPad will be contract free and unlocked but, don’t think your iPhone SIM will work in the iPAd. Apple have been very clever this and the iPad uses the micro SIM format. You couldn’t make this stuff up! Smacks of the unique headphone connector on the 2G iPhone.
Can I use it for communications?
Only if you use a VOIP service. The iPad has a built-in microphone which is a start. No indication as to whether the standard Apple iPhone-style headset+mic will work though, the spec implies this not to be the case though, mentioning a ‘3.5-mm stereo headphone jack’ only. This is a huge drop-off in terms of using the iPad for personal communications.
No camera on the front of the device rules it out as a device for video calling, which is another mistake in my view. Did Apple not learn from the mistakes made with the iPhone and camera/video support?
The proprietary micro-SIM format will restrict the device to data only contracts (more here).
eBooks
Apple have put a large focus on eBooks and are launching a new ‘iBookstore’ (how unimaginative is that name?!) store but, unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, iPad users will not be able to access ePub content with Apple’s DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers.
Can it be used as a shared family device?
Perhaps the biggest let down of this device is the lack of profiles or accounts. I could have just about justified having an iPad in my kitchen, if we could all use it occasionally to do stuff on the Internet, like checking mail. But how can you use it as a shared, family device if all your useful apps and accounts can be accessed by other family members. Would you configure the email app if anyone in your household could use it and only one person in the household could use it to do their email?
Other stuff
No multitasking, so smaller iPhone apps on screen are going to slightly look ridiculous. It will be like a windows desktop with only one window allowed at a time.
New apps for iPad will appear in store in time for launch. Not sure what will be the killer app.
Accessories
In order to keep the headline price down, Apple have done the usual trick and made a lot of the required essentials available as expensive accessories. It doesn’t even come with a pair of headphones.
The base level dock is inlcuded in this list and is pretty much essential if you want to have the device stored in a useful orientation adn not flat on a table. The keyboard dock is another one if you want to do any serious typing or text entry.
Summary
I really wanted to like the iPad. I view my iPhone 3GS as an indespensible device now and couldn’t imagine life without it. I wanted the iPad to fill a void in my life like the iPhone did but, it is simply flawed in too many areas to fill any kind of niche for me. I’m a huge Apple fan as my friends will tell you. Ask me what phone you should buy and I’ll always answer with the iPhone.
What I see with the iPad launch, is the start of Apple’s decline. It’s as if the engineers had one arm pinned behind their backs by the market strategists and accountants. They were not allowed to build the device they knew their customers wanted but, it had to be compromised to retain a high level of Apple control. The device has been compromised and crippled to retain this control and I bet the engineers behind it are gutted.
This approach has worked for the last few years but, it shows a remarkable level of arrogance by the Apple senior team, with a total disregard for the advances in the market and the competitors that are catching up fast. There are many competitors offering faster, cheaper and more open products. Android may be taking a little while to get of the ground but its moving forward at a huge rate. Apple appears to have peaked with the iPhone but, I’d love to be proved wrong.
The World Cup is the first major sporting event that will be 
