An iPad Review: No matter what the app, it just works well

Bill, Great post, first I've heard of the web-cam issue, but that definitely makes sense. Did you get a chance to read any books on it? I am very interested to see how it fares as one. I don't have any problems reading LCD's so long as they dim low enough - and I believe most people are the same, Amazon has just conditioned them to prefer e-ink. The Flash issue is so hyped there is not much to say - but I believe that almost every website that gets a lot of traffic (or has enough money) will shift to a HTML5 compatible version, or just jump to the App category. Your point regarding security for Apps hasn't been iterated very often, and probably needs some good hard thinking. But the fact that all these sites now have to build iPhone Apps and iPad Apps may lead some sites to start pushing Android as the mobile OS of choice. Adobe says that they'll have Flash Android compatible soon, certainly by this summer. I'm surprised by how quickly you were able to fill it, do those Apps feel like they should be 1GB each? What did you think of the cost to fill the iPad. I think this is a very under-reported issue, at $10-15 apiece, that cost will certainly add up quickly. Also, how many free apps will be out there - I'll admit, the amount of free apps available for the growing Android app catalog makes it a very attractive option for me. If you paid just $10 an app for 100 apps that would create a cost of $1000 - so I guess the real question is how many Apps did you pay for, and how many Apps are completely necessary? I've found that HD content really fills up devices - which is one thing that I don't believe the iPad should ever have. When an entertainment center dock is released, just using the Netflix app + your iPhone as the remote will be valuable - and just around the house (with consistent broadband Wi-Fi), Netflix is really all one needs for movies. I've looked at a lot of reviews, and they seem to all say the same: the iPad is a great toy. I don't think I've ever argued against it, but I know for my $500, I want to be able to work too. I want a tablet that can replace my ultra light laptop. I want to browse (the whole web - not just the flash free version), consume media, and create. I want my tablet to be able to give presentations as well as my laptop can. I want to seamlessly switch between programs with REAL multi-tasking, and be able to end processes that don't work. I simply don't think that this is too much to ask. That said, I don't think Windows 7 is the right OS for a tablet, it requires too much from the processor and too much from the battery. iPhone OS 4 should change some things, but it is just a drop in the bucket of wrong I believe. The iPad is surely a great toy, but until it is more than a toy, it's not for me. Please keep us posted with your thoughts! -Ryan

Agree Matt, Great input We also keep a Mac laptop in the kitchen for all to use (I used to have a wireless SunRay thin client in its place while I was at Sun and that was a great device for a "family PC" since it needed no maintenance). I will be watching to see which one gets used the most over the coming months. A couple of other thoughts on the iPad: 1) I found myself playing a number of games on the iPad, then I thought to myself, Gee, my PS3 has better graphics and more engaging game play, and we have an 8.5 foot HD screen with surround sound in our basement, why am I sitting here on the iPad? 2) Same thing with movies, why would I watch a movie on the iPad when I have a home theater. The only reason I can see I would play advanced games or watch a saved movie on the iPad was if all the better high resolution devices in the house were in use, or maybe its just because the iPad and new and cool. 3) I agree about playing games on the iPhone when I am out of the house waiting and there is no network for some reason (usually I am doing email). However, I just don't see me hauling around the iPad like my iPhone. I also have a lot of network scanning tools on my iPhone and often use them. I don't think the iPad will be used that much for gaming around the home, or watching movies. It will be used for web content video and other web based media, however, as TV sets have those features added, I am not sure the iPad would be used for that either. The iPad has set a new standard for the HCI, and you will likely see multi-touch laptops coming, but I can't see the iPad replacing the laptop until something like voice recognition gets better as a content creation / input to something like the iPad. On another note, I did find out from someone at Apple why they didn't put a video camera on the first version of the iPad. Steve made setting the 10 hour of battery life the #1 priority for all uses, and when they added the power budget of the video camera (if you ran it for hours), it took about three hours off the battery life. The screen, resolution, speed, and battery life took priority over all other requirements. They needed to be be the best eReader in the world for their iBooks, and they could not be that without the battery life.

Good post by Bill. I agree with most of his conclusions, but would like to highlight a few things. This device is definitely another game changer. I know that many will argue that we had a tablet computing platform before this, but the iPad will be heralded as the true introduction of consumer-based tablet devices. It resets the benchmark and all of our expectations going forward. The interface is fluid, intuitive and almost unrealistically responsive. As a consumption device, the iPad is unparalleled given its ability to access local content (music, movies, etc) as well as access content on the cloud. I can stream movies from anything in the Netflix watch instantly archives, access Pandora for streaming music, and even watch live programing like the TWIT.tv network. For content creation, the device also shines, just not as brightly. With the introduction of the iWork platform for the iPad, business users can now use it for document editing and creation. When you write a document in Pages (the MS Word-like application) and decide to email it to someone, it brings up a dialogue asking you if you want to mail it in one of three formats (Pages, Word, and PDF). Talk about a killer business application while on the road to be able to modify or create a document and send it off as a PDF. You can even join a GoToMeeting or WebEx event right from the device if you want. I often refer to my iPhone as my "never bored" device and the same is true for the iPad, but it's exponentially better. If you are a gamer, this is like having a Wii in your briefcase and the quality of the iPad games being released is quite impressive. Are you a sysadmin? The iPad has a great SSH application available and several good remote control clients for accessing Citrix, LogMeIn, or regular VNC services. If you use RackSpace, you can even use their application to manage your cloud server environment. I'd love to see more applications giving users reach-back into the cloud with R/W access to Google Docs, DropBox or Amazon S3 (all services I rely on heavily). I'm sure that we'll see applications for each of those services within 30 days. I'd also like to see more push capabilities in the applications to alert me when I should pay attention to them. The Acrobit SIPphone application (while not optimized for iPad) is a perfect example of an elegant push solution. My iPad is not a phone, but I can use it as one by connecting it to a $5/month CallCentric VOIP account and using the Acrobit softphone. Want to dial out? Just launch the application and dial. If I am not in the application and someone calls me, an alert pops on the screen and I can launch the application and answer the call. The same is true for some of the instant messaging applications. I also realized that the iPad is the perfect meeting device. In a recent meeting, I was able to take notes, post to Twitter and read my email while seated at the table and I did it all without having a laptop propped open in front of me. For long trips, I plan on packing my old-school bluetooth stow-away keyboard. It folds up the size of a cell phone and gives me a full-size tactile keyboard if I need it. For now, I've had no problems just using the onscreen keyboard. Don't be fooled by the marketing, this is full-featured device with lots of great capabilities and just think....things will only get better from here.

It is great getting thoughts from Bill Vass here. He is a perfect guy to highlight things that enterprise technologists should be focusing on regarding the consumer driven IT world, and his analogy to first use of the mouse to interact with IT really drove home and made me think. I remember it seemed a little strange working with the mouse for like the first minute. I also recall other good friends and allies who proudly proclaimed that they did not want to use a Mac because they refused to have to learn a mouse. Those are also great points about things working well together. We have all always tried for that but it is so hard to do... So congrats to Apple for that! Cheers, Bob