THE SOFTWARE
Reviewing the software that powers the iPad is a difficult thing to do. So far, if you were to believe the reviews of either the iPad 1 or the iPad 2, you’d think we were dealing with an entirely new interface paradigm that obsoletes the traditional WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointing device) paradigm, and that the iPad is, right off the bat, the best a tablet can be.
This makes reviewing the software hard, because the expectations have been set; criticism of the iPad will immediately be labelled as merely inspired by anti-Apple sentiments, and considering OSNews’ track record of not bending over backwards to praise Cupertino (or any other company, for that matter) and my personal aversion against ‘god-moves-in-mysterious-ways’-arguments, the labelling will only be harder and firmer.
However, after a few weeks of intensive use, I can firmly say that while iOS on the iPad is not bad in and of itself, its interface is not new. It’s not fresh. It’s not a new paradigm. In fact, this is about as WIMPy as any other interface I’ve ever seen. The consequence? iOS’ so-called tablet-inspired interface is nothing but a thin veneer under which lies the throbbing heart of a traditional, run-of-the-mill WIMP interface – and a mediocre one at that.
I’m first going to detail some of its strengths, then dive into its weaknesses – before moving on to a higher-level philosophical discussion about the iPad’s interface.
Life’s short. Talk fast.
The first thing you’ll notice when you use the iPad 2 is just how fast iOS really flies on this dual-core device. On my 3GS – and even during my short stints on the iPhone 4, but to a lesser degree – I often found iOS sluggish, unresponsive, and at times even stuttery. iOS felt ‘heavy’.
None of that on the iPad 2, however. This thing is fast. Animations are fluid, without any form of stutter or lag. Responsiveness is near-perfect most of the time, and applications launch and close without much delay, and scrolling really feels like you’re grabbing the content and dragging it around.
The only thing that really seems to be able to bog down applications as well as iOS itself is when they need to pull stuff from the web – Twitter, Facebook applications, the App Store, and so on. I wasn’t particularly impressed with download speeds to begin with (and I have 120Mbit/s down and 10 Mbit/s up, so that’s not it), but what makes it worse is that applications will often not accept input if they’re still waiting on network requests to be completed. The App Store is a major offender here – most of the time, the user interface is already all loaded up, but you won’t be able to type in the search box until the content in the window has been loaded.
These are minor annoyances, however, and do not apply to all applications, or even in all circumstances. I’m guessing it depends on how applications are coded if network requests can lock up UIs or not (we surely have some iOS developers in the audience who can clarify this). Overall, though, using iOS on the iPad is a delight for those of us who prefer zippiness, tolerate little lag, and just want to get on with it.
Battery life is top-notch, and I usually get about 6-8 hours of usage out of one charge, and this includes playing video using Air Video. Apple should start including longer charger cables though (but that’s nothing a USB extension cable can’t fix).
iOS App Store™©®
Another strong point for the iPad 2 is the immense variety of applications. Whatever you want to do, there really is an application for it most of the time, and if not, you can generally get by with the iPhone versions of applications if you really need to. Of course, having so many applications is also a problem, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Since it’s impossible to cover all the applications available, I’m going to focus on a few that have really become vital for me. First and foremost, Air Video. This is a very clever application that allows you to stream your video library from any computer to your iPad. You install a server on your regular computer, and the iOS client connects to it.
The cleverness here is that the server doesn’t just stream content; it will also perform live conversion if the source file is in a format iOS can’t handle (using ffmpeg). You can also select to permanently convert a file to an iPad-compatible format. Obviously, live conversion requires some serious CPU power, so don’t count on using your old trusty PII server for something like this. I’m using my dual-core Atom server, which can’t handle 720p and higher in live conversion. When I want to watch HD content, I simply temporarily transfer the video files over to my workstation which can handle it just fine.
Another gem is Instapaper, with which many of you will be familiar. You can send articles you find online to the Instapaper application from either your iPad or any other computer, which will format the text in a far more readable fashion than most websites do. Instapaper ignores embedded videos, however, which seems like a strange omission. Still, it makes the act of reading web articles a lot less unpleasant, and it’s already become one of my favourite applications.
Another quite fancy use of the iPad is as a secondary display using Air Display. You install a driver on your Mac or Windows PC which connects wirelessly to your iPad, turning it into a secondary display. It works just like a regular secondary display. The Windows driver is a bit buggy though, and doesn’t support Aero. It’s a bit gimmicky, and I haven’t really yet found a use for it – but it’s fun nonetheless. This application would immediately become useful for watching Justin.tv gaming streams if sound could also be routed to the iPad (Jtv has an iOS application, but it’s €12 – that’s a bit much for just watching streams).
For the rest, most applications I use are frontends to websites, such as applications for NU.nl, Engadget, Hacker News, Reddit, CNN, the BBC, xkcd, and so on. These applications are of varying quality, but they get the job done. I’m not very interested in gaming on the iPad, but I do have to say that Trainyard – my favourite puzzle game – looks great in ‘double’-mode (it’s an iPhone game).
Moving on, there are also a few things the iPad doesn’t do well.
She ain’t perfect…
First of all, the iPad is not particularly suitable as a multimedia device – especially when it comes to video. Codec support is abysmal, rendering the device near-useless for enjoying media on the go. When you’re at home – where my iPad is most of the time – the situation can be resolved through workarounds like the already-mentioned Air Video, but this solution is not ideal for people who don’t have a computer running all night (like I do with my server), or for people whose computers can’t handle the live conversion feature.
While people living in America will be able to enjoy lots of content through things like iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix, this doesn’t apply to many people living in the rest of the world (like myself). iTunes is a barren wasteland in The Netherlands (no television series, no films, no music videos – foreign or local), and Hulu and Netflix are not available either. This means that in order to enjoy video material on your iPad, you’ll need to either resort to Air Video-like solutions, or convert your entire video library to an iPad-compatible format. Not particularly ideal.
While his seems rather obvious (this is Apple, after all), many other reviews fail to mention it, so I figured I’d bring it up. If you want a tablet to enjoy your varied video library, the iPad is not the right choice. You’re better off looking for a solution with wider – or extensible – codec support. I researched the Air Video solution before buying my iPad 2, and if you are hell-bent on getting an iPad, and consuming video is one of your intended uses for the device, you might want to check up on similar solutions as well.
The lack of codecs is somewhat related to another problem: the iPad is a walled garden. I’m not talking about the iOS App Store walled garden, but the walled garden that makes it difficult to get files – no matter the kind – on and off the device. I’ve now resorted to emailing stuff to and from myself, which really feels archaic and shouldn’t be necessary. The iPad should’ve been mountable, period. There is no excuse for not being able to. I appreciate Apple is trying to address the apparent issue with file systems (I never knew there was one, but alas), but this isn’t the solution – this is just annoying.
The whole iCloud internet service is supposed to address this somewhat, but this seems like a rather roundabout solution to a straightforward problem – and as I’ve said before, giving Apple access to my documents? Yeah… No.
Another persistent source of irritation is the keyboard on the iPad. I’m a Windows Phone 7 user, and I’ve grown accustomed to the letters on the keyboard reflecting the mode; if shift is pressed, the letters turn into capitals. The iPad only turns the shift key blue to indicate its mode, so if your hand happens to obstruct it, you will start typing in all caps. Kind of an odd omission.
When the keyboard is activated, the top-half of the screen is not de-activated. What I mean by this is that tapping the area above the keyboard will hide the keyboard, and for some reason, this happens a lot. This is especially annoying in the browser, where you might accidentally tap on a link and be brought to another page. The keyboard already sports a ‘hide’-key, so at least an option to turn off ‘tap-outside-of-keyboard-to-hide-it’ would’ve been nice.
I also find it mystifying that the keyboard lacks arrow keys. Navigating through text fields, or other sections of text when selecting, is a pain in the bum without arrow keys. The problem is that Apple expects you to put the tablet on its back when typing, but this means that when you are trying to select text or position the cursor, your finger obscures the magnifying glass!
Having a spacious keyboard like this – one that can adapt to any situation – makes it possible for the keyboard to sport a special layout with cut, copy, paste, and arrow keys to make manipulating text a lot easier. The touch screen way to copy/paste makes sense on an iPhone with a small screen, but on the iPad? Come on, Apple.
iOS also lacks a split keyboard, which would’ve made perfect sense on the iPad and the way you generally hold it. Luckily, this will be added to iOS 5, but as it stands now, you can’t comfortably thumb-type when the iPad is in portrait mode (let alone in landscape mode).
Mercy god. Thom gets tablets now. How much does he get them? 7 pages worth, bitch! Take it and love it!
I heard that his next big article will be a defense of patent law when it works in favor of Apple. Just kidding, just kidding!
But I agree with your sentiments, Thom. A laptop is actually more capable, but the iPad is just so… direct? It’s just there and not in the way. It’s not trying to replace my tower OR my laptop, but it just has an immediacy that makes it the go-to for surfing around the house, a lot of touchy games, etc. It’s just nice to use, even if the UI will advance (why in the hell will a 5-finger ‘grab’ not bring up an Exposé like app selector even in iOS 5, for example?).
I refuse to call it magical, though. Maybe when it has a Retina display?
Haha, I like this little blurb from the article:
No matter where I am – on the couch watching TV, in the yard playing with my cats and enjoying some coffee, at friends when everybody is doing stuff, and yes, of course, even while on the toilet.
For those who say that a netbook/laptop can do anything a tablet can do, I’d like to see you bitches try to use a netbook/laptop on the crapper. Or kicked back on the couch. Or lying in bed. Or on the bus. Or on a long car ride. Sure, you could use a smartphone in those instances, but a tablet gives you more screen real-estate to work with, making it easier to navigate.
Thing about a laptop is that you can’t hold it in one hand, while surfing the web with one finger on the other hand. THAT is why tablets are useful. Not a necessity to be sure, but nice to have around. I’ve heard people dismiss tablets as ‘toys’, while most of these same people own multiple game consoles and a giant-ass TV. Pot, meet kettle
In a way, you and Thom are saying it comes closer to pen & paper being “just there”.
This is what I thought web-tablets would also be like, but never caught on. The timing was wrong.
Uhmmm… I’ve done all those, except for the toilet (I have some dignity), and I’ve also tried using my iPad while kicked back on the couch, or lying in bed. I generally prefer the laptop if I have to do real work — um, type — and the iPad if I have to play games.
But Safari is a pain (not least for some of the issues Thom raises), Mail is a pain (unless you want merely to read, and even then it’s arguable), the App Store is a horrid nightmare with no memory on searches (go forward ten pages, select an app to read its description, return, and find yourself on the first page of the apps that meet search criteria — go forward ten pages again), and the machine is hostile to multitasking even when plugged in.
Honestly, I think the only reason Thom’s review wasn’t worse is because he hasn’t had it long enough. Tablet computing has to be better than this!
I’ve used my 10.1″ eeePC in all those places. Works quite nicely. When lying down, you just push the screen all the way open, turning it into a nicely curved “tablet”.
Not sure why you’d think a palmtop wouldn’t work in the crapper.
Uh, yeah, you can. Works very well. Even when lying down. They have a trackpad, which works with the same principles as a touchscreen. :rolleyes: Can even play games on it, so long as they only need mouse or keyboard and not both.
The biggest downside to an iPad is just how hard it is to get media, documents, files of any kind onto it in order to do anything with them. Thom mentioned this in the article. We had big plans at work to use iPads for board meetings to replace paper … until we actually tried to use them in that fashion. You’d think it would be simple to just put PDFs onto the network to access, but it’s not that easy to do with an iPad. We’re planning on building diskless stations into the desks instead.
I often use my macbook on the crapper. No problem.
I’d love for some biologist to see exactly what really nasty bacteria lives on your MacBook keyboard then.
At least with the iPad (other tablets are available) you can wipe down the screen with Anti-Bacterial stuff…
Actually the nasty bacterial transference is more likely to go the other way.
Generally, toilets are far cleaner than most peoples keyboards.
Close the screen before flushing and there’s nothing to worry about.
Or, close the toilet lid before flushing, which is recommended anyway, since microscopic urine/fecal matter mushrooms up when you flush, covering about a 6′ circle around the toilet.
I’d be more worried about what’s on the toothbrush, soap container, hair brush, anything on the counter, etc since they’re in the bathroom 24/7, instead of what’s on a keyboard in the bathroom once in a blue moon.
You can have it in your lap at those occasions, that’s why it’s called a laptop you know.
netbooks do all of this. Don’t you have one?? tablets are only superior for reading books, magazines and playing games in these situations.
How did that happen exactly? Was it still in warranty?
Since I’m into video and multimedia I’d like an HD screen (1280px wide by whatever), and an HD front web camera (to make my mom happy), so I’m waiting for the next model myself. Also an SDHC card slot would be nice, reading video — it would help me out when shooting digicam video on location (the iPad can already decode these).
Software-wise, the only things I need from iOS is a file management method, because some of the apps I use need to exchange files with another apps (in the 3D, music or video world, it’s not uncommon to need to load a processed file from one app to another for different kinds of processing — since not all apps can do everything). Right now, I need to copy files on my desktop PC, and then copy them back in to the device, to different apps, via iTunes. Hardly convenient, and definitely not a “post-PC” usability. Also, Bluetooth OBEX, since we’re into this file thing.
This is the one reason why I use Android right now as my phone and not iOS (I don’t own a tablet). If Apple were to fix this problem, and offer an iPhone with a bigger screen too, I’d jump ship in no time. Regardless, tablet-wise, I’m waiting for the iPad 3, I do not like any Android tablet, and iPad 2 is not exactly there for the things I need. I dislike Android tablets not just because of hardware, but because I hate the Honeycomb UI. I don’t mind the Gingerbread UI much, but Honeycomb’s 3D cheesiness and incohesiveness (feels like it sprang out of a Michael Bay film), I can’t stand. Pisses me off in no time.
Edited 2011-07-03 22:53 UTC
But, but, but… Transformers are cool
And so is the past:
http://eugenia.queru.com/2010/01/27/the-itampon-misses-the-mark-sin…
Whatever I wrote in that blog post still stands. Since then Apple HAS added multi-tasking, webcams, resizable keyboard, and there were rumors for an SDHC slot too. So most of what I wanted when I wrote that blog post, STILL stand. It’s just that overtime, Apple has provided most of it, and I expect more on the iPad 3 too. I mean, that’s why I don’t have a tablet yet. I’m still standing by my writings on what I need from hardware that I pay. Unlike others, I don’t buy whatever’s on the market spending money for fun. The product either does most of what I need, or it doesn’t.
I loved your own comment to the above blog post regarding the iPad:
But it’s not going to be a game changer as the iPhone was.
Not everything Jobs touches turns into gold. Apple has released products that failed in the market. But the iPad sure sells like hotcakes.
I don’t own an iPad myself. Waiting for the Retina display…
indeed ! (eee pad transformer)
http://gigazine.jp/img/2011/03/28/eee_pad_transformer/eee_pad_trans…
Edited 2011-07-04 05:16 UTC
I’ve wound up using my iPad strictly for music. Sadly, Android isn’t going to move into that space anytime soon. What I see the developers saying is that the latency for the response of touch-screen music is too inconsistent and the underlying layers too undeveloped. It would be a wonderful thing to fix that, as that would help Linux along too, and I’d love to have a musical touchscreen with Arduino development right there. But for now, Garageband and Thumbjam on the iPad are my digital sidekicks.
That would make it unwieldy. The iPad as it is is probably as large as it needs to be for the intended use. It’s not a replacement for a laptop.
Though it’s likely to be in the next model, it’s a web cam after all 😉
Pay the ~$30 and get the connection kit. I transfered over 8GB of video this way direct from a couple of 8GB SDHC cards on Friday. It works flawlessly,
No you don’t. You just need to install any app that universally accepts “open in” requests (most download managers do this, drop box does this and a bunch of others) and then your editor needs to be able to “open” the file in another app. That’s it. I read a lot of online PDF’s and some Manga (that generally comes in ZIP/RAR files, otherwise ready to view) and I open the PDF’s in Safari and “open in” iBooks – job done. For the Manga, it’s slightly more convoluted, but basically: I bought iCab, this has a download manager. I download the file. I rename it to “.cbz” or “.cbr” depending on the original extension, then click “open in” and it transfers to ComicBookLover, ready to read. I haven’t manually synced a file for either of those apps for about 2 or so months now.
A more perfect solution would be something like http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/usb-disk-pro/id412588865 but with “open in” for the files it contains and also a reciprocal universal file open in ability as with many of the downloaders or Dropbox.
All it would take is for Apple to create an app that supports USB mounting with the “Open in” functionality described above and you would have most of what you are wishing for. That would also fall in line with the post PC remove tethering mantra.
I don’t see an iPad 3 this year – likely January announcement.
All Apple have to do?? It is not something they have to “do”, it is something they have to stop doing, Apple are actively putting resources into making file-transfers as difficult as possible, enabling it would be a cost-saver.
Strategy tax, you know?
Yes Apple. Because it should be a first class citizen of the iOS, free and fully sanctioned. iTunes sharing is “okay” and works fine, but if you are not tethered, and iTunes free, how is that going to work again?
Ah, no.. this would actually make file transfer *simpler* without breaking the sandbox ethos of iOS. It’s basically using your own storage to play the role of iCloud.
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With the processor speeds in tablets (currently) rendering time might also be a irritation for any serious work.
Edited 2011-07-04 16:26 UTC
Thom, I know you didn’t get to buy the HP Touchpad, but I keep seeing people mention it has a much better (touch)interface than any other.
To bad I didn’t get to try it out yet either.
I wonder how much better it really is and actually solved some of the things you mentioned.
You mentioned they didn’t, but using it is the best test obviously.
I do notice the notifications are at the top and they sometimes can be interacted with.
A more general question about touch interfaces, I really think they are stupid. There is so much which is NOT discoverable.
If there is one thing which I leared about UI people, it is that things should be discoverable. Usually it should only be on the screen if you need it.
I don’t see that on most touch UI, most of it is so dummed down you can’t find what you are looking for…
Edited 2011-07-03 23:06 UTC
I am a that point where i also want to take the plunge of getting a tablet. I REALLY didnt want to get an iPad but honestly, the competition is making it hard for me.
What I liked most about your piece is all those idosyncratic like/dislikes that normal users have. For example, giving me a sunspider benchmark score is lovely, but would rather know if it ‘feels’ fast.
Summary:
• Apple was not first
• Microsoft wasn’t first either, but seriously, Apple was not first. I Promise!
• Hardware feels solid
• It may be the lightest but its too heavy
• I said the bevel was too wide. No, it’s not wide enough!
• The smart cover is a ripoff. The cover is not good.
• There’s lots of great 3rd party software. That’s good but maybe also bad?
• Apple’s operating system is inconsistent and WIMPy
• I can’t play my videos
• It might be the post PC device… please no!
• It’s better than a laptop in some ways
• I’m clairvoyant
I would love if all articles would be summed up like this
it’s actually accurate
The problem is that Apple expects you to put the tablet on its back when typing, but this means that when you are trying to select text or position the cursor, your finger obscures the magnifying glass!
I don’t get this. When you hold your finger down the magnifying glass is above your finger. Unless you have some sort of upside down grip you’re not going to obscure the magnifier.
On the filesystem thing. I think Apple made the right choice in leaving out the filesystem precisely for the reason you fault them in other areas. They didn’t just want to slam the desktop idea of a filesystem, which is so painfully obvious on Android onto a tablet. It took longer to come out than it should have, but I think iCloud really is a smarter way to do this. I don’t want my iPad to be a glorified USB stick, I want it to be smarter than that. iOS 5 makes it smarter.
As for consistency, I’m a big fan of it normally, however the fact is I don’t think it is that important on the simplified UIs of tablets. You go on for a whole page about how jarring it is to use the iPad interface, but I have not once had that feeling, nor have I ever seen anyone that hasn’t been able to pick it up within 30 seconds.
When you have a complex interface with hundreds of possible actions, consistency is a big deal. When the whole interface is overseeable at a glance, it doesn’t really matter if a button has a gradient or not. Of course there are still some hideous examples of UI design, but actually I find the average iPad app is extremely simple to use, and I think the majority agrees.
In the end, it really is quite mystifying why a tablet is better than a laptop. There is no real good reason for it, but when I had the iPad around I used it way more than any other computer in the house. It’s just.. better somehow.
However, I’m also waiting for the iPad 3 or something better before I spend real money on it. After the iPhone 4, the iPad’s screen is just not nearly sharp enough. Also better cameras would be welcome. The bits on the iPad 2 are pretty budget. Maybe next year.
Interresting you should mention that, as I mentioned above. You say you like the minimalistic design of it.
But always with these interfaces, when I actually want to get something done. It turns out it is some kind of swipe-action-thing.
That really sucks discoverability-wise, especially if it is combined with what Thom mentioned inconsistency.
My biggest beef with iOS (running 4.1 on an iPod Touch 2G) is the lack of a simple “push here for help” or “push here for a menu” option. At least with Android, you always have a the “menu” button, which leads you to options and help and whatnot. There’s simply no in-app help system that’s easy to access across applications (or even anywhere in the OS).
Yes, I was thinking menu too. But that just doesn’t seem to fit this whole POST-PC-era. 😉
Think about the line of sight when you lay the iPad down on a table. Your finger will be in the way. Thom’s absolutely right; it’s a huge hassle mitigated only by a stand that props the iPad at an angle.
– iPhone/iPad: walled garden
– iCloud: no encryption (same with ChromeOS ?)
I don’t see them solving this any time soon.
As I have no problem with a post-PC-era, as it seems to resolve to much around Windows anyway. I do think webapps are the solution to atleast the first part.
I know it sounds counter-productive. But it very much depends on the implementation. I want control of my data and thus I think efforts like http://www.unhosted.org/ http://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/ need a lot more attention. They may be new projects, but they do solve this.
This seemed strange:
“This also isn’t something that only applies to the iPad or iOS – no, other mobile operating systems, whether on smartphones or on tablets, suffer from the same issues.”
http://www.osnews.com/story/24915/Apple_s_iPad_2_Conservative_Incon…
This image does not load fully for me:
http://osnews.com/img/24915/collection.png
Who is Gruber?
Apple fanboi #1 – Mr “Daring” Fireball.
Hey Thom,
With full-screening of apps one could argue that the UI of the individual application is more important than the overall UI of the operating system and surrounding ecosystem. This could herald an empowerment of application developers to specialize the UI towards a particular task given the full-screen immersion. Much like a gaming console – the UI for games are wildly divergent and do not match the console interface – but at the same time are intuitive and highly effective for their intended task.
The other thing I wanted to post was a recommendation to try Pulse new reader – I started using it a month ago – the interface is a fun take on reading news sites.
my favorite app for my ipad is Procreate. it’s a drawing app. and if you like to draw, it’s amazing.
right now i wouldn’t buy anything else than an ipad, because this software is on it. and i think that’s where apple is going to win. they are developing a software ecosystem, and they are getting there first, so they will win the tablet area because of the software.
im not sure if microsoft has the right idea with windows 8. they are going to try to put all their old software and all the old windows apps by turning windows into their fresh new tablet os. old windows apps are not tablet friendly. also they risk alienating their windows desktop/laptop users by making it so tablet oriented. and they risk their new windows 8 tablet not having tablet software for it. who’s gonna write tablet software if their tablet can just run regular windows software?
people want to develop for the ipad right now because it’s so new. it reminds me of the commodore 64 hand me down i had. there was tons of software on the disks. and it was just fun to play with. the ipad has captured people’s imaginations.
Er, B doesn’t follow from A here. Being first somewhere doesn’t mean squat these days.
My (long term) prediction:
Microsoft will win over high end tablet market with Windows 8. This gives Apple more than a year to rake in the money though. iPad won’t be “dead”, but it won’t be the most desired tablet anymore.
I’m really not so sure about win8 winning the tablet space. Microsoft has historically made money on a per license basis, a lot of money. If they try to continue this they will have a huge uphill battle against apple who controls the hardware and store and android who mostly just controls the store. I just don’t see how MS can be profitable considering they have zero market now and it won’t just automatically materialize for them.
The deal with Microsoft is, they don’t need to make money on Windows 8 tablet edition. They can give it out for free for years to come, to secure their position in the tablet space.
Microsoft is insanely profitable, so any problems they might have won’t be because of money.
Are they? I thought they were going to use the ARM version of Win8 for that, which basically means no backwards compatibility.
As much as I love the iDevices and tablets, why can’t Apple give the option of buying one without a camera? I’d rather have no camera compared to the weak ones they have.
Cameras will get better as time goes by. The ones used on the iPad 2 are the same as on the iPod 4, which are indeed pretty bad (especially the back camera). But they will get better with time, so it makes more sense to have them, than not. Some other tablets that were released without cameras got bad reviews because of it, so there’s no chance Apple releasing a version of the iPad without cameras.
Interesting thoughts overall.
Just to nitpick though, Thom wrote:
“Innovation is when people come up with new ideas for the first time, which is incredibly hard.”
I don’t really associate “innovation” with new ideas for the first time – that’s better left to “invention”. Dictionary.com gives the following root for “innovate”:
Origin:
1540–50; < Latin innovÄtus past participle of innovÄre to renew, alter, equivalent to in- in-2 + novÄtus ( novÄ ( re ) to renew, verbal derivative of novus new + -tus past participle suffix)
So innovation has some sense of “renewal” in it. You can innovate even if you aren’t the first at anything. Which is why one definition of “innovate” is:
–verb (used without object)
1. to introduce something new; make changes in anything established.
I have no problems with companies, like Apple, claiming they “innovate”. Heck, even Steve Jobs has idols… which includes Alan Kay… check out the following comment:
“When the Mac first came out, Newsweek asked me what I [thought] of it. I said: Well, it’s the first personal computer worth criticizing. So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world.â€
(Source: http://gigaom.com/2010/01/26/alan-kay-with-the-tablet-apple-will-ru…)
I suspect Apple and Steve Jobs know they are innovators… as distinct from inventors in the Alan Kay sense. I also suspect they know better than most the history around tablets.
Wow, I’m in even more awe of Alan Kay. Not only did he predict the ipad, he intuitively knew that they must have come up with it before the iphone. I wish I had a billionth of that guy’s insight into computational devices and their uses.
“iOS on the iPad is inconsistent, confusing and jarring with no sense of direction, purpose, or logic.”
This doesn’t explain kids, elderly people and everyone in between is able to pick up an iPad and use it with almost no learning curve.
If the iPad is all this what you claim I wonder what your would make of, let’s say, any Linux distribution/software running on it.
> the MacBook Air has these very nice
…but it will not have them for too long, trust me.
If there is any flaw in the current generation Apple laptops, it’s the rubber feet..
I just got myself a tablet a week ago and so far I am loving it. I went with Android however, not Apple: it’s a 10″ Honeycomb tablet with 32Gb internal storage, 32Gb SDHC card, 720p native resolution, 720p/1080p HDMI output, and not only a regular USB client port but also a normally-sized USB-host port meaning that I can plug in USB keyboards, mice, storage, gamepads etc. on it!
The hardware is great, but software… well, Android doesn’t make it easy to multitask, like for example it doesn’t show which apps are still running when you tap on the recently-opened list – button. The Market is a horrible mess with crapware, Google not enforcing the categories meaning that stuff is all over the place, and so on and so forth. Ther is also no help-functionality unless an application provides such itself, there are no explanations for all the options in the settings… basically, it feels really raw and very non-geek hostile.
you really have to use the internet to find reviews of best in class applications to figure out what is worth downloading.
That being said i tried honeycomb a few months back and hated it. I’m much happier with gingerbread.
thumbs up for the accurate review. google COULD get its shit together, it IS possible. but we’re alone in the cold right now… apple is doing a much, much better job.
it could be years and hundreds of millions of ios devices sold before we say android has caught up with ios. and that is kind of depressing
if GRiDpad was first (prototype) tablet with MS DOS, than STPad was first tablet with GUI !!!
http://www.maedicke.de/atari/hardware/stpad.htm
Frayed knot on the STPad being the first tablet with a GUI.
The first tablet with a GUI was probably the Sony PTC-500: http://homepage3.nifty.com/Denemon/sony_ptc.htm The PTC-500 was released in 1990. The STPad was first shown in 1991.
“This is not very surprising. Contrary to what fancy gadget blogs and forum commenters want to believe, neither Apple nor Microsoft are very innovative companies. Both of them are businesses, which means they take other people’s ideas, assemble them, and turn them into something that can sit on a shelf and earn money. That’s called business sense, and it’s a very, very valuable skill – but it’s not innovation.”
you totally mis point (as half of ‘net user these days…) – it is not important who was first at all!
PROBLEM is that Microsoft (Bill Gates) peddling second-hand, second-rate technology, for more than TWO decades !!
Microsoft was MOST important and influent company with 95% of GLOBAL OS market share! – they had power to innovate, to bring NEW technologies to the MASSES but they done completely opposite for TWO decades! they stall IT by peddling second-hand, second-rate technology !! they try so hard to hold monopolistic position* by any means that they eventually ended up in court.
*they did not earn it with good products over time but IBM simple granted Bill Gates monopoly (they overlook army of PC clones).
“The interesting thing here is that I actually bought my iPad as a replacement for my MacBook Air, which someone accidentally wrecked by bumping a remote control onto the display (it was… Weird).”
or what really happened;-)
UI induced duress.
or you left it open with an article in progress.
No one seems to explain WHY tablets are seemless, and laptops are not. It’s just, its tablets, its magical.
Kind of annoying Appleish talk don’t you think?
The truth of the matter, in my eyes that is, is that the tablet is:
– light
– always on
– long battery life
– no need to unfold stuff
– easier interface due to the touchscreen (minus for actual typing) – keyboards ain’t natural
Now then again with powerful laptops that are nearer to the tablet design:
– <1kg
– 10 to 13″ screen
– long battery life
– always on
it’s closer to the same feeling, except:
– they could still be lighter
– you still have to unfold
– no touchscreen only UI / keyboard is always there /UI is mostly moused based (trackpads sux)
I own such a laptop which is not a mba (its not powerful enough and small enough to fit my requirements) and it’s mostly replacing both the tablet and the desktop, although it still doesnt replace both completely.
Finally the main thing you do on tablets is surfing the web, checking news and weather. It’s slightly annoying when you get to carry both tablet and phone, or worse and add up the laptop also, and none of these 3 devices fully replace the other properly.
Interesting article.
One inconsistency point though :
you seem to castigate Apple and its competitors at large for not trying enough to depart themselves from the WIMP user interface,
yet, at the same time, you castigate any application that do not strictly respect UI guidelines.
Well, choose your side.
You *could* say that this is not in contradiction, first set the UI innovation, then enforce it into HIG, but obviously, you can’t expect a well-polished UI innovation to come out from nowhere. This is just forgetting how innovation works : by trials and errors.
You can’t have both : opening the field to new ideas, most of which will ultimately fail, while a few ones will open new possibilities, cannot be done by forbidding any attempt at doing UI differently.
I thought that was a very good article and pretty much summed up my thoughts on the iPad. Im an apple fan and when the iPad was first released i didn’t see the point in it, it looked like a large iPhone without the iPhone, too big to be portable and not powerful enough to be useful, a void between the netbook/laptop and the smart phone.
What changed this for me was a change in job location, my new job took me on the train for about 3 hours a day (1 1/2 each way). I wanted something light, portable, good battery and connected to the net. The iPad ticked all the boxes and with good resale on eBay i thought why not.
It’s only after owning the device you truly appreciate how useful they really are. As the article summed up there are negatives, however the complete package just overwrites these. The iPad is an incredibly useful device and many friends and family members comment on how easy and natural the device is to use.
I really liked the comment regarding how a perfect fit is pen to paper, the iPad shares a similar experience. It’s very versatile and the apps are good, apps like iThoughtHD, Penultimate, Things!, Bento and the Apple apps like Pages, Numbers covers my work/productive needs.
The biggest problem for me and i agree with the comment earlier in this thread is the file system. The iPad desperately needs a revamp in this area, it’s very frustrating have files/data saved within an app and not in some common area. For example working in pages to edit documents and share these is possible but annoying with far too many roadblocks making it less productive.
Personally the only way around this ive found is to use DropBox. It allows you to store and sync files via the cloud to the iPad, iPhone and Mac/Windows PC’s. This is the perfect technology that Apple needs to get a hurry on and implement. A central, sync’d storage system, in which files can be added on any device, sync’d with the cloud and other devices, with easy access for apps.
Apple people crack me up. They salivate in anticipation of the latest Apple gadget, then evangelize it to the Nth degree. Then, they drop the gadget like a hot brick the minute the next model appears. No wonder Apple is so rich!
Infinity Blade & Rage
Thom
Please try one of these games and let us know how the experience was.
Just some guesses:
Would’ve been better on a console.
Will be better on a console.
Edited 2011-07-04 16:53 UTC
– I think the UI consistency thing is a lost battle, and nobody cares. My 20 month old daughter can navigate the iPad and launch apps and play them.
– The bezel is indeed too small. Amazingly I once thought it was huge. It could be twice as wide and I’d be happy.
– It’s heavy, but I’ve actually gotten used to using it with one hand while lying down to read.
– The magic magnetic cover is clever, but not clever enough. It flops around when open, and is pretty much useless in “prop mode” on your lap.
– The back of the iPad is slippery. Do I need to explain to Mr. Jobs why this is a serious design flaw?
– I’ve found it to be an almost total replacement for my casual surfing/email needs. I no longer use a laptop around the house, I use a laptop for working.
– Requiring a desktop computer is lame. I recently deleted a season of TV shows I purchased from iTunes to make space. I was told “since you have not synced these with iTunes on the desktop, you will have to pay for them again if you want to view them in the future”. WTF. Seriously? Also requires a desktop before you can even start using it. Lame.
– Thom hits in on the head with his complaints about desktop like UI design. Please please please put the UI controls where my thumbs are. Far too often I find myself reaching up to the top of the device. Heck, how about putting the home button within thumb’s reach.
“Apple has a history of choosing cheap, sub-par components”
Boy, my experience has been exactly the opposite!
I have 2-PowerMac G4s MDD(~2003) Email, DVD rippers & browsing; 2 first gen iMac (~2000) used as glorified iPods in my office and bedroom; An early 2006 iMac (first gen intel); 4 iTouchs (mine and 3 kids, one lost); ~5 iPods… 1 classic given to mother in law and 4 nanos used for audio books in cars and exercise; & 1st gen iPad (used by all 5 of us, fell off my car roof doing ~45mph and only small dents in 2 corners thanks to 1st gen iPod case, I despise the new ones)…
All still working great! (except for the lost itouch which I can’t vouch for anymore).
The only hardware I’ve had fail are a mother board in the G3 iMac which was replaced under warrantee in ~2001 and still going, 3-4 keyboards due to kids food and drink (alright I spilled a beer on one if you must know). Other then that, Apple’s HW has been absolutely bullet proof. This is one reason why I’m willing to spend the extra money for Apple products! I feel they are superior to anything else I’ve seen out there!
My $.02
KRR