So I’ve finally had a chance to really support and play with the iPad and I have to say that overall, I’m impressed. It’s not quite for me yet since I can’t do quite everything that I want to do with it, but for 80% of users out there, it does 90% of what they do on a daily basis. It is especially good for senior citizens who are just getting their feet wet with technology. The touch screen seems to make immediate sense to them, and the pad does way more than they are looking to do at first with any computer. So let’s make this simple. I’ll break down my thoughts into pros and cons.
Pros: It’s lightweight, it has a ton of useful apps., like productivity suites, streaming apps., and, well, you name it… (well almost) and since the SDK is free, we can expect tons of new stuff all of the time. The A4 processor is impressive for its size (but this technically is both a combination of correct coding and power), the visual keyboard is big (espeically in landscape mode) and makes immediate sense even to novice users, plus the VGA adapter and bluetooth keyboard add-ons are awesome, especially the keybaord and dock combination for those who want to use it almost like a laptop replacement. Plus, the no contract 3G plans are pretty cool. I can’t complain much about the pricing either, which is rare for $pple.
Cons: It’s not quite a laptop replacement yet, and although the line between a laptop and the iPad is pretty gray for most novice to moderate users, it kind of sucks that the thing has only one crappy iPod port which requires an expensive accessory to get a USB port out of (the “camera connector”) which is only really expensive because it’s functionality currently sucks. I’ll change my opinion on this if the adapter gets used for USB printers, etc. in the near future. It also is rumorred that it will have wireless printer support in the near future as well. I should also mention that it basically requires a “master” computer to sync with to really be useful. This seems pretty lame since it could basically take care of itself with just a little bit of extra OS support built-in (and almost does already). The final thing is the “Jobs” attitude towards Flash on it. Sure, I’m not going to make an argument for the efficiency of Flash on the device, but what is up with the Apple Jihad against it? If Apple doesn’t want to build it in, fine, but users shouldn’t be restricted from content by their hardware manufacturer especially if Adobe, etc. want to make an app. that supports Flash for it. This is probably just Apple having another pipe dream about pushing their own standards down users’ throats through the iPad, but I wonder how they’ll feel when the HP Hurricane comes out and supports flash while using a non-Crappy Windows Mobile based OS. It will run Palm’s webOS, so it will be efficient and not screw you on watching southparkstudios.com because Jobs got another outdated philosophy shoved in his pee-hole and is releasing his vengeance on the world through his legions of Appleites that do whatever he says without question. Honestly, I love most Apple products, but Jobs man…. I don’t know…. that guy sucks. Oh yeah, actually one more thing. Although 1.5 pounds is light, you’re not really meant to hold the iPad in your hand the way it is designed for many hours. 1.5 pounds on the end of your hand still fatigues the old arm if used often during a normal work day in that position. Still, this should be common sense knowledge.
I actually despise the iPad with probably more furor than the MS Office “ribbon” of hate. I always thought the iPad byline: “at an unbelievable price” (quote from Apple.com) meant: we got you by the balls, Fanboys, and we’re hiking this price to the moon.
10/9 hr battery life time, and one thing I know from my experiences with the iPod Touch was charging the damn thing to keep it active was a chore. It didn’t come with it’s own charging unit and if you wanted to it was a 30 dollar unit “extra”. And those rated time don’t count for gaming, which is pretty limited on the iPad as it is.
The apps market? Awesome idea, but again Apple’s a dick about it. Starting again with my iPod experience there have been 3 OS changes. Any app that requires updating or network utility requires the latest OS to work, and will stop working until you BUY the new OS for $10 each time. You like your apps? You paid for them? Guess what, you’re going to keep paying for them every time Apple fixes something that should have been in the initial release.
Replaceable battery? Not a goddamn option. I have a laptop, got it on discount for roughly 400 from TigerDirect. Great buy, and I’m not even going to bother comparing the utilities of the machine vs the iPad. I am going to compare the fact that my battery is practically dead 2 years later. It’s down from 2hrs to 30mins max. Doesn’t bother me because in the world of laptops there’s two types: Desktop Replacement, and Mobile; and I bought DR.
Batteries have always been designed to be replaced because batteries die. And making a battery retain it’s charge year after year is a complicated process, which ideally occurs at 0 Celsius. If your device gets up to 30 degrees C you’re going to have a shorter life span. Could even be an 80% charge after only a year. Trust me the iPod gets incredibly hot while charging. I have to put it front of the air conditioning to keep it only warm to the touch.
The goddamn thing is going to break, and before it does that it’s going to run out of juice on the battery and it’s going to be an expensive replacement. And it’s because it’s engineered to fail, they don’t even tell you the volts per cell used on the batteries. Which you can find pretty much on any Laptop; 4.2 is ideal, higher is crap.
The iPad is all that is consumer and waste. Comically enough if you want to write an App for the iPad, you can’t do it on the iPad. If you wanted to do something like that, you’d buy a computer. Which you’d have to if you want to use the iPad anyway.
Well Nathan, as always, you’ve made some very valid points. I will say this for the iPad, it does come with a charger, but the programming point is hard to get around. I mean, you could program for a TI-86 on a TI-86 so how can the super hyped up iPad not have the functionality of the TI-86 when it comes to programming….? Still, most consumers can do what they need to do on a daily basis using it, and as Apple customers they don’t mind throwing their money away often on Apple products, and convincing themselves that it doesn’t have to do with Apple’s crappy hardware, but just “the industry.” In general through other manufacturers are making stuff that fails quickly too. If people really wanted quality they would build machines and/or buy stuff from Sun. They would be happy to carry around something that weighed a pound more, but lasted three times as long, but idiots that don’t understand computers run most IT departments, and other companies, and they buy what they’re comfortable with, meaning Apple and Microsoft, and I guarantee you that they can’t wait to put iPads on your campus, and in their offices, in the hands of your overpaid Dean’s, Tenured Professors, CEOs, “CIOs”, and over paid Union Mafia IT staff’s regardless of whether you really need them or not. They will find a way to waste the tax payer money on them, even in a time of financial crisis, because they think that they’re cool and will come up with some bullshit excuse to buy and use them “in the field.”
Did Mark ever tell you that there was (is?) an open forum to ask questions for the new CIO?
Wow, I wonder if he or she has read IT And Why You Need To Care Chapter 2, on this site, or seen the Job Vent postings, etc. Still Chapter 3 is going to be a more focused argument for Open Source, etc. and is not user/ institution specific. I’ve just been too busy to finish it.