iPad Initial Thoughts

Way back in the early turn of the century (probably about 2003) I had a Palm Treo phone, I believe it was a 180g, a monochrome device that was one of the earliest ‘smart phones’ around, although it wouldn’t look too smart now. I loved it, even though it was old technology even when I got it.

Around the same time a friend and work college of mine, John McDougall, purchased one of the early iPaq devices, a glorious device running a colour screen. It was amazing. Remember, the market at the time wasn’t concerned that these devices had no phone, phones were supposed to be separate from your PDA back then, despite the best efforts of a few manufacturers.

I remember one conversation where John derided my Treo (and I don’t mean that in a nasty way John) for running an OS which did not “properly” multi-task. “It’s a phone!” I told him, “Who cares?” “I can still have multiple applications running – or at least open, at the same time”. However his harsh words still lingered on toiling in the back of my mind...

Both our devices had hundreds of applications, both free and paid for, that we could source from a variety of locations on the web with little effort, and both were a joy to use in different ways.

That was about 8 years ago.

Soon after I bought an ordinary Nokia phone and an iPaq 4150, mainly as the Treo would often crash when answering an incoming call, and it was as uncomfortable as hell to hold against your ear for any length of time.

But that’s not the point I’m trying to make here.

This week Apple announced the iPad (apparently Version 2 will have wings!), a device running the iPhone OS. That means it currently doesn’t multi-task. That means it has no Flash support. That means you can only use Apple approved applications purchased via the App Store. That doesn’t mean rouge diallers and other nasties don’t already exist.

You may not even be able to buy ebooks for it in the UK (at least not initially). It hasn’t even got phone functionality (which would be odd I suppose), so in essence it’s an iPod touch with a very big screen. All this in a device that’s going to be “perceived” as a computer.

Don’t get me wrong, the iPad is a lovely piece of engineering from what I can tell, but it’s only an evolution in the hardware stakes. As far as the OS goes… well I didn’t want it on a phone, but on this, you’ve got to be kidding me! It is beautifully designed as far as presentation goes though, Very slick. However, I guess I’m not an average user. I think I’ll let Mr Stephen Fry buy, and keep, my one.

It’s not that I don’t even like this form factor, I really do. I loved my (now demised) HP Tablet PC (you know, one of those things that had a touch screen, a keyboard, and could be put into slate mode). This was however bulky to use and the battery life was only a couple of hours or so, 10 hours from this device will be very good and sets the benchmark for other devices to follow.

I think my ideal form factor could be something like the Apple iPad (and to me the big bezel around the screen could be a good thing) that slots into a keyboard or other portable type docking station to allow a real keyboard to be used (essentially like a laptop, plonk it into the bottom half of a laptop, with hinges and the additional ports!). How about if this was Bluetooth so I could use it or another keyboard wirelessly too?

It’s no secret that I’m a Windows man primarily, and in this rare case I actually feel a little pleased that the HP slate and others will be running Windows 7, you know, a real OS. Let’s hope the hardware measures up. If only Apple had seen fit to put OS X on the iPad. I still wouldn’t have got one, well, probably not, but I’d be more impressed.

Summary: Fail.

That’s possibly a bit harsh. Let’s just say it’s not what I’m looking for, it ticks the wrong boxes for me. It's a 'consumer device' not only in terms of market, but also in terms of functionality; it's designed more for consuming media than creating it. That's not what I'm after, but many will be, however even on this front I want to say "Must try harder".

Of course, Mr Fry and others will be snapping them up and I'm absolutely sure most people who do will be happy. It does look and will perform well, for what it does. It certainly doesn't deserve some of the accolades it's been getting, at least not in my eyes. Then again, some reviews have also been too harsh.

If you can’t wait to try one out I only have one suggestion to you. Get an iPod touch and put your face very close to it. It’s the next best thing to being there.

In the meantime if somebody brings out something similar, with the detachable wireless keyboard I mention above, and running Windows, well let’s just say I’m reaching for my wallet just at the thought.

Google is probably hoping the “Me Too” manufacturers will adopt either Android or Chrome, and I wonder where Windows Mobile 7 will fit into all of this. Any plans from Symbian in this arena, the last I heard the Nokia web device (MID, or whatever you call it) was running a variant on Linux, but at least this is a capable OS and can be made very pretty too. Not that Symbian isn't, in fact I do have a soft spot for Symbian as the underlying OS, but the UI plastered on top has let it down badly in the past.

I’d still prefer Windows 7 though, that’s where all my investment and knowledge is. Oh if only Windows 7 were multi-touch capable…. Hold on a moment ;-)