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The iPad2 is announced

Friday, 04 March 2011 13:08

iPad 2

Thank goodness my bonus came in time from work, I can now afford to pick up the iPad 2 when it is released on March 11!

Many people were disappointed about the new iPad, expecting some type of huge upgrade. I kind of figured that it was going to be more like an “iPhone 3GS” level upgrade than an iPhone 3g -> iPhone 4 type of bump.

That said, Apple did address a couple of issues with the device, but only one of the improvements I was looking for in the iPad2.

Slimmer design? Less weight? Faster processor and 9x graphics speed? That all sounds good, and will be a very welcome change. People are hating on the iPad2 camera, but no one is going to use this as their main camera. I mean, the iPhone 4 does have a nice camera but it isn’t a serious replacement for your Nikon or Canon. The iPhone 4 camera is just really damned convenient to use. The camera on the iPad isn’t going to be convenient but it really isn’t intended to be. Facetime will be cool, but it isn’t a major selling point for me.

The comfort and ease of use of the device is what has me sold on plunking down $499 on an upgrade. The experience is what I am most looking forward to, not all the spec bumps. My current iPad runs great, looks great and is infinitely enjoyable to use. So, any improvement to the device makes the iPad2 worth it to me.

I really liked this quote from Engadget talking about the new iPad and Apple’s approach.

Josh Topolsky:

“It won’t be a debate about displays, memory, wireless options — it will be a debate about the quality of the experience. Apple is not just eschewing the spec conversation in favor of a different conversation — it’s rendering those former conversations useless. It would be like trying to compare a race car to a deeply satisfying book. In a post-PC world, the experience of the product is central and significant above all else. It’s not the RAM or CPU speed, screen resolution or number of ports which dictate whether a product is valuable; it becomes purely about the experience of using the device”

 

This is the thing that is hardest for people obsessed with Google, Android and other competing products to understand (hell, even PC users to an extent). Many of us chose the Mac, and now iOS devices due to the experience. Some call it the “ecosystem” that Apple has created. Apps which run on all of your devices. Apps which are beautiful and have an attention to detail and usability. When you design for experience sometimes you find that you don’t need the best processor, the most megapixels and the highest resolution screens.

 

What I want from the iPad 2

Wednesday, 23 February 2011 15:47

iPad2 Announcement

There have been many posts throughout the blogosphere and gadget sites about the unveiling of the iPad 2. At an Apple event on March 2nd, the world will get to see the sequel to one of the most exciting and revolutionizing consumer products, well, ever.

As you can see, I clearly have a great affinity for my iPad.

So naturally I’m excited to see what the iPad 2 will do. Here are a few things from my “wishlist” for the next iPad.

Forward facing camera – this one is basically a given. Unlike most, i don’t care about a rear camera. I think the iPad is too bulky to hold and use as a camera on it’s own. But, it would work great for video chat with a forward facing one. I think it will probably have both so no worries there.

More print resistance surface – might be tough to do because well, the screen is made of glass. If I have a gripe about my iPad it is just that its very smudgy. You can of course clean it, but that’s a pain.

Make it louder – this thing is great to watch movies on with headphones, just not so much with the internal speaker only.

Proxy support – until corporate environments drop their proxy servers (not happening) the iPad isn’t great at work, at least not getting onto the internet. The iPhone supports proxy servers but the iPad regrettably does not.

iPhone apps – they still look like crap on the iPad.

See? Not a ton of changes. I love my iPad just as it is and definitely do not feel like Apple has to reinvent the wheel with it. Just some small changes that will make it even better or more useful at work.

What Apple doesn’t do well – iBooks

Tuesday, 05 October 2010 16:01

iBooks

iBooks

Despite being a huge Apple fanboy, even I have to admit that there are certain things that Apple doesn’t do well at. I’ve got serious questions about the quality of several products that Apple has launched, anything from the Apple TV to Mobile Me. Even have a few gripes about little things like the Apple Remote that comes with your mac.

But the one product I feel like Apple has failed miserably at is iBooks.

Apple’s modus operandi is to look at the market for something and substantially revolutionize or improve it. They did it with laptops, with music, with phones and now with tablets. They tried to do it with selling and reading books online but have fallen way short of their primary competition, Amazon.

I’m not even talking about the device to read books, because I think the iPad is superior to the Kindle in about 1000 ways. No, my biggest complaint is the iBooks application and the iBooks store.

The biggest problem with iBooks is just the selection. I have about a 20% success rate so far of even finding the books I really want to spend money on while looking through the iBooks store. They simply aren’t there.

Secondarily is the way the bookstore syncs. I recently lost about 4 books from my virtual ‘bookshelf’ when i moved my iTunes library from one mac to another. No idea where they went. I suppose I could troubleshoot this a bit and get them again, but its very distressing to go to read something and find out you can’t (far more so than wanting to listen to a podcast or a song that has vanished, there is a much greater personal investment in reading a book in my opinion).

The Amazon kindle app, which runs great on the iPhone, iPad and even over the web, has worked well for me without a hitch. It is fast to buy books (if far less integrated than the iBooks process) and there is a great selection. I believe that titles on the Amazon store also are cheaper, at least in the few circumstances where I have been able to find the same book on both stores.

I just feel like iBooks is inferior to Amazon in every way, and it pains me to say because I really like the vast majority of Apple’s stuff. I guess they can’t be great at everything.

 

Playbook: iPad might finally have competition

Monday, 27 September 2010 16:37

iPad and Playbook

Blackberry Playbook

Not so much competition for my dollars, personally, but competition among tablet computers for non-Apple fanboys.

Blackberry’s Playbook looks like a pretty snazzy new entry into the tablet market. It is still aways off from being released, but it is sufficiently different that i think it could make a splash with the kinds of folks who are always tethered to their crackberry’s.

And this is the place where Apple is vulnerable – enterprise computing.

I always hear folks inside of large companies (including my own) talk about how the iPad will never be a supported “business device” even though our company does support both iPhones and Blackberry’s. I guess the iPad and iPhone are just not seen as being corporate. But Blackberry’s certainly are, and the fact that you will be able to do most of the things on the Playbook that you can also do on the iPad will make this a relatively dangerous product. I also appreciate that Blackberry did not completely rip off the iOS ui and went with something that to me at least seems more original.

 

On phones, tablets and app stores

Thursday, 23 September 2010 16:55

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Here is a trend I’ve noticed.

Company A (lets just call them Apple computer) designs a totally cool device or service (lets call it a phone, or an app store or a tablet computer). They have success with all of these products, and they all seem to play together nicely within an ecosystem of devices and services that are all integrated with each other.

Then, Company B, C, D – Z all decide that they too must have the same totally cool device or service. These companies create clones of Company A’s device or service, going so far as to replicate almost exactly the same form factor and functionality.

Some of these companies, not known for other products that fall into the category of phones, computers or application stores, even create their own second rate variations. They don’t belong to any ecosystem of other products, nor do these companies even attempt to create one.

Further, the products are priced low and/or given away free in order to establish some type of market share dominance.

Basically, I am describing Apple and “everyone else” which right now seems to include Google, LG, Samsung, Acer, HP, Microsoft and probably 2 dozen other less known companies.

Have you seen some of the knock offs out there of the iPad? They look nearly identical to Apple’s tablet, but run a crappy version of either Windows or Android.

Although I love Apple, it would be nice to see some real competition for them in terms of innovation. Ripping off ui and form factor from Apple doesn’t really move technology forward. Come on people, be a little original?

 

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