So for all those who don’t know yet, Apple released the “tablet” that has been causing insane amounts of hype, rumors, and speculation for the past few months(read: long time). Here are some pictures I grabbed from Gizmodo and Engadget:
iPad
iPad
iPad compared to the Kindle and the iPhone
Now for some specs(Taken from the Apple Website):
Okay. Now I can get on to my analysis for this big screened more powerful than an iPhone but not an iPhone-iPod Touch thing. I can’t call this a tablet computer. Simply put, it runs the iPhone operating system so you are limited to the amount of multi-tasking, running more than one app, and apps that you can actually run. This does not run a full fledged version of OS X. I guess that last statement would be redundant seeing as I already mentioned that the iPad runs the iPhone operating system(OS 3.1.(whatever)-soon to be 3.2). This is the iPad’s first limitation. You cannot multi-task on this device because it does not allow for applications running in the background. The biggest area I see this affecting is the gaming aspect and internet browsing experience. In a game on the iPhone, if you get a text message or an e-mail you have to exit the game, ending your current progress, then switch to the “messaging” application, then switch back. Same goes for the internet browsing experience. If you are social and receive more than one text message or e-mail a day, I could see this posing an annoying problem. I know that the iPad does not support text messaging, I just used that as an example. The fact that the iPad uses the iPhone OS also limits you to the apps available only to the iPhone. Yes, yes, I know there are 140,000 apps(yes, you can buy then from the app store, just like the iPhone/iPod. Commence freakout)available, and there is pretty much an app for everything, but think about something simple like a word document. If you get a word document as an attachment and need to edit it, what do you do? I mean you have this “tablet computer” but you cant edit a word document and e-mail it back to the sender or forward it on to someone new? That could pose to be a massive problem for a lot of people. The screen looks absolutely astonishing in all the videos. It’s about 10 inches(9.7 to be exact and nerdy) and displays a 1024×768 resolution, not bad. From the videos and comments, everyone can and does agree that the screen is awesome. It’s also got a 1GHz Apple A4 processor to handle all the iPhone OS needs. Plently of power for what it does, seeing as the OS runs on a small ARM processor and does alright on there, so I can imagine that it is pretty responsible and “loads” things/apps/videos/movies/photos very quickly. Did I mention it’s sexy? Oh, I almost forgot. It’s sexy. The whole front of the iPad is glass, while the back is aluminum and very iPhone 1G style. This thing will turn heads when you whip it out in public(if you ever actually buy one, getting to that).
So now that I have highlighted what this “thing” is I can start with my thoughts(in no random order). This is the fun part.
- Is this revolutionary? Yes and No. Yes because no one has ever tried something like this; putting the iPhone OS on a device other than the iPhone/iPod and sending it into the mainstream. That is pretty much the only reason it is revolutionary. Others may argue that it is setting a new standard for “tablet” manufactures and that makes it revolutionary, but I just call it normal since Apple has been doing that since the MacBook era. Plus this really is not a computer! It is just a device. A overpowered iPod with a big screen! There really is not anything like it(more on this below). It’s not revolutionary for the same reason it is revolutionary(if that makes any sense). I can already do this on my iPhone, iPod, MacBook, and PC, so whats the point(more on this below). I guess it could also be argued that it is revolutionary because its the first of its kind. But what is it?
- What is it? Netbook? No. Tablet PC? No. iPhone? Kinda. Laptop? Definitely not. I am going to dub this a media slate. I mean, you can almost do everything you can do on a netbook on the iPad, but you cant do everything. Like flash. You can’t view flash web pages or play flash games! You can’t edit word docs on the fly. You can’t edit your photos. You can’t edit music. You can’t write on it with a stylus. But you can watch movies, play games, view photos, e-mail, and browse the web. So it is a netbook, but its not. The iPad is not a tablet PC. There is no stylus, multitasking, heavy processing, or anything else that you can do on a tablet running Windows 7. Granted, there are not many out yet, but I have a feeling everyone was waiting to see what kind of bomb Apple would drop today, and it seems like it was just a small grenade. Give the PC manufactures some time to figure if there is even a market for the tablet. I mean there is nothing like the iPad on the market and that is a good thing because it is the only player for what it does. I think that once PC manufactures start spitting out Windows 7 tablets, apple will change their approach or just phase out the iPad. Who knows. I do know that Apple always has a plan. I guess that I really don’t know what to call the iPad other than “the iPad.” There is nothing like it, and that is good and bad.
- Why do we need this?Who is it for? I feel like these two questions are closely related only because they have to do with the demographic of the customer base. These are two questions I really have no answer for. It scares the hell out of me. I have no idea what I would do with an iPad and I think that the majority of consumers are asking the same question. If I were to buy one I would sit it on my nightstand so I could check my e-mail, update my calender, post to twitter, check my facebook, check my stocks, and read the top news stories of the day before I go to bed. Am I willing to pay $500.00 for that? I don’t know yet. I don’t understand the point of this device. I have a laptop, desktop(2), and an iPhone. So really I have 4 devices that can do what the iPad does, each one offering a different way and style of doing the tasks mentioned. I get my e-mails, stock quotes, news stories, twitter, and facebook on all 4 devices already, so what do I need a fifth for? Again, I have no idea. I know college students and business people cant use it because you can’t really take notes with it efficiently without a stylus, and you cant really write up your lab reports/word documents in an efficient way. So in the end you end up buying a MacBook(I think I just struck gold here) to do all the things you can’t do with the iPad. Is the iPad just a filler for the price gap/void between the iPhone and the MacBook line? Maybe! Maybe this is just a way to introduce people to the Apple line without them having to spend a full $999.99 to get the full “computing” experience. You don’t get the “computing” experience with the iPad, but I am sure that most consumers will draw that conclusion and think that the iPad is a tablet computer. I was expecting Steve Jobs to make me want the iPad in his keynote, but in reality it just made me wonder more about what the heck the thing is for and why I need it! This same idea has sparked a ton of debate on forums, message boards, blogs, and news sites and I feel like everyone is just waiting. Waiting to see what this shiny new “tablet/slate/pad/notepad/whatever” iPad thing can be actually used for.
So what is my verdict? I don’t have one. The iPad has confused me. I can’t wrap my head around why anyone would need something like this and why Apple would even want to produce this. I am genuinely stumped. I love Apple(and think that the team that they have is just amazing, truly, awesome. I strive to be like Jobs, Jony, and the other members of the Apple executive team every day.) and I am a fanboy, but if the iPad is stumping a fanboy(not just me, check macrumors.com for more examples of people like me) then how is the average consumer supposed to figure out if he or she wants an iPad? If you need something to just access your media, and do the most basic tasks(I mean the MOST basic) then you can drop the $500.00 on the iPad and feel good about yourself. Otherwise I feel like a lot of people are only going to feel remorse and confusion when they open one of these sexy little piece of glass, aluminum and silicone up and press that little black clicky button on the top to be greeted by the iPhone/iPod OS.
“Did I mention it’s sexy? Oh. I almost forgot. It’s sexy.”
lolololololololol.
Netbook is better. That is what it boils down to. Apple has failed to make any points with this device. In the end, the market that iPad was intended for can’t really use the device because it isn’t capable of the tasks they need it for. Netbook does more, costs less, and has a stronger OS. Like it or not, iPad will be compared to Netbook, and not favorably.