What we love and hate about the iPad
We have been using our iPad now for about four months, and so it is time to look back on what we most liked and really dislike about this device.
The first point is that we use the iPad for consuming and not producing; in other words we find ourselves reading emails, browsing webpages, and reading Twitter messages on the iPad. We have not moved to producing material, such as using Pages, Keynote or Numbers. We do tend to reply to emails, and will type out short messages but not any long messages or notes.
Some of our favourite widgets on Mac OS X have found their way to the iPad, as Package Tracker and iStat have iPad compatible versions, and in many ways we use the iPad as we use Dashboard on our iMac.
We are also not gamers- we have bought two games, but these were mostly to see what they would look like on the iPad, and we do not spend any significant amount of time gaming.
Overall we spend most time in Safari, Mail and Twitter apps. We like the new Twitter for iPad, and also have a fondness for Twitterific. We read articles posted to Twitter, and news items in Safari, and this takes up most of the time we spend on the iPad.
We have found though that we have become frustrated with the lack of iOS 4 on the iPad. The iPhone has had this versions of the iOS for a few weeks now, and once you see what it can do, it is hard to not miss it on the iPad. Unified inbox in Mail, folders for organising apps and multitasking are some of the items we miss, and having them on our iPhone just makes the iPad UI seem slightly out of date.
We have also found that we have moved back to our laptop for many tasks which we did on the iPad in the early days. We find that typing emails on the MacBook Pro’s keyboard is just much quicker and more comfortable. That’s not to give the impression that we expected the iPad to replace our laptop- we didn’t. But we found that once the novelty of the iPad wore off, we did slip back to using our laptop again for tasks which we could have performed on the iPad.
We also wish that at times, the icons, buttons and boxes on the iPad were larger. We find that some items are very small and fiddly to tap on or slide, and we frequently tap on the wrong item. Take for instance the new volume control in iTunes 10 on the Mac, it’s bigger and bolder than in iTunes 9, and we would love to see a bit more of this on the iPad.
Overall the iPad is a great gadget, although we are yet to see it as being essential to our daily routine. We use it and love its size and shape, but it has not yet done anything that we could not do on our MacBook Pro. The arrival of iOS 4.2 for iPad later this year, including wireless printing, will certainly help and boost what we can achieve on an iPad. We have also seen the way that FileMaker and Apple have introduced versions of their best software on the iPad, and as more of these arrive it will mean that the iPad is a real alternative to the Mac for serious tasks. Using Twitter is one example of how the experience on the iPad far exceeds any equivalent Mac app.
But the main point is that the iPad is only in chapter one of its history, and as we move into 2011 we will see just how powerful this device can be.
Dr. Simon Spence/2010
The first point is that we use the iPad for consuming and not producing; in other words we find ourselves reading emails, browsing webpages, and reading Twitter messages on the iPad. We have not moved to producing material, such as using Pages, Keynote or Numbers. We do tend to reply to emails, and will type out short messages but not any long messages or notes.
Some of our favourite widgets on Mac OS X have found their way to the iPad, as Package Tracker and iStat have iPad compatible versions, and in many ways we use the iPad as we use Dashboard on our iMac.
We are also not gamers- we have bought two games, but these were mostly to see what they would look like on the iPad, and we do not spend any significant amount of time gaming.
Overall we spend most time in Safari, Mail and Twitter apps. We like the new Twitter for iPad, and also have a fondness for Twitterific. We read articles posted to Twitter, and news items in Safari, and this takes up most of the time we spend on the iPad.
We have found though that we have become frustrated with the lack of iOS 4 on the iPad. The iPhone has had this versions of the iOS for a few weeks now, and once you see what it can do, it is hard to not miss it on the iPad. Unified inbox in Mail, folders for organising apps and multitasking are some of the items we miss, and having them on our iPhone just makes the iPad UI seem slightly out of date.
We have also found that we have moved back to our laptop for many tasks which we did on the iPad in the early days. We find that typing emails on the MacBook Pro’s keyboard is just much quicker and more comfortable. That’s not to give the impression that we expected the iPad to replace our laptop- we didn’t. But we found that once the novelty of the iPad wore off, we did slip back to using our laptop again for tasks which we could have performed on the iPad.
We also wish that at times, the icons, buttons and boxes on the iPad were larger. We find that some items are very small and fiddly to tap on or slide, and we frequently tap on the wrong item. Take for instance the new volume control in iTunes 10 on the Mac, it’s bigger and bolder than in iTunes 9, and we would love to see a bit more of this on the iPad.
Overall the iPad is a great gadget, although we are yet to see it as being essential to our daily routine. We use it and love its size and shape, but it has not yet done anything that we could not do on our MacBook Pro. The arrival of iOS 4.2 for iPad later this year, including wireless printing, will certainly help and boost what we can achieve on an iPad. We have also seen the way that FileMaker and Apple have introduced versions of their best software on the iPad, and as more of these arrive it will mean that the iPad is a real alternative to the Mac for serious tasks. Using Twitter is one example of how the experience on the iPad far exceeds any equivalent Mac app.
But the main point is that the iPad is only in chapter one of its history, and as we move into 2011 we will see just how powerful this device can be.
Dr. Simon Spence/2010
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