Posted by David Fendley in The iPad.
So it doesn’t cure cancer, AIDS, and solve world hunger, but the Apple tablet was overhyped to begin with. Regardless, I am quite pleased with the result.
I feel like I did after I saw the iPhone 3G S — it’s cool, it’s in the right direction for tablets, netbooks, and readers; it is a tad underwhelming. I’d love to see an iSight on it. Perhaps Apple chose not to implement an iSight in order to keep the cost down. If so, good move on their part. Apple is known for pouring over every detail, and for whatever reason they chose to forgo an iSight on this iteration of the iPad, I have no doubt that the next version will have one.
I love that the iPad is unlocked, however, AT&T is still the only carrier in which 3G is supported. T-Mobile uses a different frequency for their 3G and is thus incapable of providing 3G speeds to the iPad. Notice how both AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM technologies, but 3G on the iPhone isn’t supported by T-Mobile. At the same time, the Nexus One has 3G supported by T-Mobile but not AT&T. T-Mobile is capable of delivering EDGE to both the iPhone and iPad, but EDGE is significantly inferior to 3G and undesirable. Verizon is implementing LTE this year, a GSM based technology. It’ll be interesting to see if this will support the iPad and iPhone’s 3G radio when it debuts.
What is truly great about the iPad?
Its potential.
While it does look like a large iPhone, I absolutely love how Apple is treating the iPad as a third medium. I was thoroughly impressed with how Apple did not merely port iWork to a super-iPhone-sized display, but took the time to creatively craft a UI and experience unique to the iPad. While it is easy to dismiss iWork as a “work app suite”, through iWork for the iPad, Apple has shown how the iPad’s screen and multitouch inputs can be taken advantage of from a usability perspective. This is important.
Address Book, iTunes, iPhoto, iBooks — these apps look solid. I love the tangible feel Apple is going for in flipping and manipulating pages and photos with your hand. Sure, the iPhone has had this, but flicking and flipping create two different experiences and emotional responses.
Over the years, the iPhone has exploded as a medium for creativity, engineering, and imagineering. The Wall Street Journal has demonstrated in their app that inline video can be displayed alongside text. Cool. I can’t wait to see this taken a step further with interactive media and textbooks*. The potential to impact education, the textbook industry, liberal arts and technology is here; and it’s in the form of the iPad.
The future has arrived.
*UPDATE: After writing this, I learned of a company called INKLING that is doing this very thing.
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