It’s been a while since I’ve written a post on GadgetStylist. The day job has taken up all my time in the past few months. Funnily enough its the day job – working for Review Centre – that has given me the chance to write once more, thanks to my chance to play with an iPad…
When Apple announced the iPad I was impressed by the gadget behind the hype and felt that I needed one in my life – but I was unsure why. I already have an iPhone and Macbook so what could I possibly use an iPad for? Perhaps playing with one for an evening would help me figure this out?
I was also concerned about the ergonomics. Laptops sit nicely on your lap with the screen angled pretty well whether you’re watching iPlayer or browsing websites. The iPad, whilst sexy and slim, needs to be held or propped up when in use. The Apple promo videos all seem to feature the demonstrator sitting with their legs crossed or hanging over the arm of a sofa with the iPad propped up on their knees – is this to be known as ‘the iPad position‘?
Anyway, Review Centre is giving away an iPad as part of a competition and that gave me the chance to play with the prize before it was safely locked away…
First impressions, the iPad really is a very cool, highly desirable piece of kit. Its ridiculously slim, feels wonderful in your hands and the build quality is simply ‘solid’. It oozes style. In many ways the iPad resembles a giant iPod Touch with the same single ‘home’ button on the front, simple volume controls, mute switch and power/sleep mode button – which is no bad thing.
One criticism is the lack of a built in camera. Several friends have mentioned this as something that would put them off buying a first generation iPad as they wouldn’t be able to have video calls with family and friends.
Switching on the iPad, you’re presented with the iPhone operating system that so many of us are now accustomed to – but on a huge scale. As you can see from any screen shot all your Apps and the main functions are again represented by those iconic rounded square icons. Business as usual. The addition of customizing the background image and a landscape version of the icons is a nice if frivolous feature that will surely come to the iPhone itself in OS4.
Web browsing on the iPad is probably the best feature when the product is fresh out of the box. Using the multi-touch commands to scroll and zoom around a website is so much more engaging and fun than using a mouse or touchpad. The large display makes a huge difference when compared with the iPhone. However the omission of Flash, which has been discussed at length elsewhere, means the experience of web browsing is compromised on some websites.
Where the iPad will live or die is by the Apps that are built for it. The handful of Apps I got to try where good if not ground breaking but this is just the beginning. App developers the world over will be beavering away at creating Apps that really define what the iPad can do.
The huge display means Apps have a lot more room to play with. For instance, the Mail feature is much easier to use than on an iPhone because you can have your inbox and messages open on one page. The beefy processor should enable multi-tasking in future software updates and will enable plenty of App innovation.
The handful of games I tried were fun and more engaging due to the bigger screen if a little gimicky. I think the iPad could be great for RPGs and strategy games as the multi-touch interface should be perfect for marshaling your troops or planning attacks on rival castles.
So, my first impressions are mixed. Out of the box it’s a super-sized iPod Touch, but without the portability. Hmm, so why would someone want an iPad? I think it would be great for keeping the kids entertained, awesome for watching movies on a flight (with the addition of a stand accessory) and it will find its place as a casual web browsing and entertainment device in the home. I quite like the idea of putting an iPad on a stand in the kitchen and letting Jamie or Gordon take me through cooking a recipe step by step!
Do I still want one of my own? Yes. Do I know why? Not really – but I’m confident that the Apps that come out will unlock it’s full potential in the coming months.
The iPad launches in the UK in late May with the Apple store taking orders from May 10. Orange, Vodafone and O2 have all announced they will launch the 3G version of the iPad too.
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