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Things that have surprised me about the iPad

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For the last couple of weeks I've had access to an iPad Wifi (not 3G), here are some of my initial impressions:

  • The iPad adapter is not your regular USB adapter.  It's expecting 10v to charge instead of the 5v that your typical PC, and USB adapter delivers.  So whilst Steve Jobs talks about standards, he likes to tweek them a little bit.  Apparently on the Mac this isn't an issue, as it' recognizes when an iPad is connected and outputs 5v.  Now I have discovered though, that if you do plug an iPad into a PC USB port and turn the screen off it will charge, very slowly.  But if you turn the screen on it will say "Not charging", so a bit like wondering if the light in the fridge goes off when you close the door, you have to believe me when I say it is actually charging, just very very slowly.
  • I think they should have also put a connector socket on the side, this way you could put the iPad in a stand whilst it is in portrait mode, versus all the stands that have power which require the iPad to be in portrait mode, would make much more sense when using it to watch movies.
  • The VPN client works great with my witopia.net account, which means that I can VPN into the Witopia UK servers and watch BBC shows on the iPad.  Sadly ITV and Channel4 use Flash, and we all know Steve Jobs hates the idea of Adobe stopping them from making money on Apps, so blocks Flash.  One of the places I most miss Flash is on the Flickr website, Flickr Screenshow uses Flash so it can't be used on the iPad.
  • The iPad is still pre OS4 that is on the iPhone and iPod, it will be much better when it supports the mutli-tasking.  The thing I miss most though is the multiple mail account inbox.
  • The device has no way to lock applications, or to put password protection on applications.  So imagine you have the device in your house, people come over you let them use it, they can go read your email, check your Facebook account etc.  The device really needs a way to lock applications, or support multiple user accounts. Otherwise, don't let anybody get that hands on it.
  • No built in USB or camera SD card adapter.  This would be the perfect companion device for photographers, but you have to buy a separate adapter that can read SD memory cards.
  • I blogged a while back about how finger prints on screens really bug me, so I have to install an anti-fingerprint screen guard, which also has the added benefit that it's anti-glare, which is essential for using the Foreflight application when flying.
  • It's hard to go back to the iPhone's tiny screen after you use the iPad for a while.
  • No ability to install additional video Codecs, for things like playing DiVXs.  My solution was to install TVersity on one of my PCs, which transcodes files on the fly, it also has the added benefit I can use it remotely, and also use it on the iPhone.
  • Something I couldn't believe, but the iPad doesn't connect to the iPhone across bluetooth.  What I really expected, was if I saw a phone number in my iPads contact list, or within an email I'd be able to click it and have my iPhone make the call.  I can't believe that apple, the company that so many say is an innovator hasn't done something so simple.  If you jailbreak your iPhone and install something like MyWi that lets you use your iPhone as a wireless access point for your iPad, they are perfect companions, so I really wish they were setup to initiate phone calls, and in the same way, if I'm on the iPad and my iPhone rings, let a pop-up appear and let me choose to accept or send the call to voicemail.
  • The iPad Wi-Fi model doesn't have a GPS chipset, it finds it location via the wifi network, it works well, but obviously has no idea where you are if there is no wifi network in the area.  Only the 3G model has GPS, I imagine the GPS chipset is shared with the 3G chip or something (It means I have to upgrade this iPad to the 3G model as I really need that GPS)
  • Just after I got the iPad, I also received the Netbook which was my prize from the Twilio.  The Netbook is a Dell Inspiron 10N and has Ubuntu on it.  People that compared Netbooks and iPads (I wonder if I ever did that) don't get it.  The two whilst having some things in common are totally different, and their usage models are nothing alike.  It's a bit like comparing a bus to a car.  The bus comes pretty much as it is, it goes where it bus company wants it to go, and if it doesn't go to the place I want to, tough luck.  Don't get me wrong the bus goes to some great places, and more places appear everyday, but the bus company pretty much decides where that is.  The car on the other hand, well I can take that where I want, I can change the engine, repaint it, add more locks, remove locks, change the rims etc. Some of the places it goes to might not be as pretty as the places the bus goes to, but at least if someone wants to, they can try and get there.  Honestly, I think the Netbook would be more useful to me if it had Windows, I know Windows, I can connect to the network server without having to search Google, so would feel at home with it straight away.  If I was to give my mother a Netbook I'd be expecting support calls, if they didn't come then I know the netbook was sitting on a shelf somewhere not being used.  The iPad, just screams touch me, it's pretty intuitive for most things, and if I was to give one to my mother she'd love using it, I expect she'd be reading books with a larger font setting, checking facebook update, looking at pictures of the grand kids, watching BBC iPlayer and losing hours playing Solitaire and Spider and other card games.  Apart from the initial setup with iTunes I doubt I'd get any support calls either.


I'm not at the stage where I'd give up my laptop for an iPad, and to be honest, the iPad gets most usage in bed, where I use it to check email, catch up on google reader, and maybe watch a show before going to sleep.  I haven't really used it for any kind of note taking and haven't taken it to any customer meetings yet, to be honest for that kind of thing I still prefer a pen and paper.  But I can say it's a great device, it's well engineered, although has room for improvement, but it is a version one product so room for improvement is to always be expected.  So I don't use the iPad as much as many of my colleagues, but I do use it and am very grateful some kind considerate folks gave it to me as a very generous gift.

So with all the above comments would I recommend one?  Well it depends, what do you want to do with it?  As I said, I think this is the perfect device for people that find the computer a pain with too many menus and well it's just too easy to break, so for my Mum this is a perfect device.  If you want to run business productivity apps, and you don't want to run them by accessing a regular PC remotely then this probably isn't for you.  Maybe if you're only go to customers and present and only show Camtasia type movies for your demos then this could well be a replacement with a suitable, but if you need to show live apps, tweak things in apps etc. then probably not.

For pilots, this could be the killer device, for the same cost as a few charts you can buy an application like ForeFlight HD which brings sectional, IFR charts, IFR plates, weather and flight planning to the iPad.  A great application and hooks into the iPad GPS if it has it.

What are the apps, that I use most on it?

Netflix, BBC iPlayer*, TVersity Media Server*, Google Reader*, Facebook (actually still an iPhone app), ForeFlight, Civ Rev, FlightCtrl HD, LogMeIn, Scrabble, Enigmo Deluxe, SoundHound,

* These are all web browser apps, with iPad looking front ends.

Comments

Gravatar Image1 - Carl, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I don't have an iPad, but I think my use cases would be very similar to your's in that I'd mainly use it around the house to check email, twitter, work, watch downloaded shows, digital photo album, a few games, etc. I do that on my iPad Touch today and obviously the larger screen would be nice. Maybe next year.

Gravatar Image2 - Carl, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I don't have an iPad, but I think my use cases would be very similar to your's in that I'd mainly use it around the house to check email, twitter, work, watch downloaded shows, digital photo album, a few games, etc. I do that on my iPad Touch today and obviously the larger screen would be nice. Maybe next year.

Gravatar Image3 - I had the use of one for a few days, and I totally agree with you that it's hard to go back to the smaller screen on the iPhone. I love the calendar interface improvements in particular. However I found that it is actually a little heavy for reading books in bed, if you are lying down trying to hold it, not resting it on your knees - for that I did switch back to my phone. My conclusion was that for a desk-bound person who is front of a computer all day, it makes a great home entertainment device. Great for web access, portable, etc.

But I think for mobile workers such as sales people who just need to access their PIM apps and maybe the company intranet, it could pretty much replace their laptop when on the road and with customers. Great for quick access and lovely screen for showing product info.

Will I go and shell out my own hard-earned cash for one? I'll probably wait until they support iOS 4 - I didn't think multi-tasking and folders made that much difference until I had to go without.

Gravatar Image4 - Carl, get your reading glasses. The fine print says 10 Watts, not 10 Volt. It is 2A at 5V. USB 1 delivers 0.5 W, USB 2 delivers 1 A. Lots of power supplies deliver more than 1 A. I have one Belkin that does 2.2.

The iPad has a pretty large 'fuel tank'. You need some current to fill it up. And you need tp fill it faster than drinkinge from it.

Gravatar Image5 - WOW 2amps ! That's a lot to ask of a USB port and way out of spec for the standard. The iPhone 4 seems to be on the same path. I have a very nice YiYi radio dock and the iPhone 4 bocks at it and won't charge. The iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G are fine with it.

As for iPad - more screen realestate is very nice. I am definitely following your comments and experience with it for flight operations. I can't deal with paper charts in an open airplane Emoticon

Alan is right that for reading in bed, the Kindle is the right weight and size. Now that the Kindle has a WiFi version for $139, it's easier to justify it as a "unitasker" - especially if you put multiple people on one account.

Thanks for the review and I do hope you get a chance to comment more on the flight SW and experience!

Gravatar Image6 - @4 You're right Volker and my Dad will kill me for making such a simple mistake. If you plug the 5v iPad into a 10v socket, pretty sure bad things will happen.

My point still stands though, the USB standard doesn't call for more than 500 mA (I think USB 3 spec increases that a little), so apples requirements are not to the standard.

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