So I got the ipad yesterday, and ive been playing around with it a bunch and I think I figure out some of the things that make it an awesome piece of technology. The reason I want to explain it is because I have heard such opposing opinions on the device.
I have heard people say that it’s amazing, and i have heard people wonder why you would ever get something thats just a big Itouch and is worse than a computer.
(i think my typing is an indirect review of the keyboard… It definitely works but it takes somr getting used to)
So for me, the reason the ipad is an amazing new device is because it represents a fundamentally new category of technology. People who criticize it say that it doesn’t really do anything your laptop doesn’t do, in fact it does less. People say the music and other apps exist on the iPhone– and both of these claims are true. But the real point i want to make is that its a different category of device which means that although people are doing the same things on the iPad, they are using it in different ways.
For example, when the laptop came out, it really was not better than the desktop computer. Actually, it was probably worse because it had less computing power, and a smaller screen, no mouse, and a small keyboard. So it would be fair to wonder why anyone would ever get a laptop when a desktop does what you want and does it better. However, a laptop offers mobility, and this alone makes it useful as a whole new category of product. Suddenly it can be used in schools by students, and in hundreds of other cases, and it really makes it a new type of product. It really becomes silly to compare its shortcomings to the desktop because is a different product with different goals,
This is how I see the iPad. It looks like a big iphone and a small laptop (and it is), but these differences make it a new product made for different situations. It is the right size to be a book and a hand held web browser. It is the right size to be a game board or a video screen. It is made to go on airplanes, it. Has your books, music, and video all in an easy format to access. It is made to be used in groups.
While computers feel like they are made for productivity, the. iPad seems to be made for casual usage. It is like an interactive coffee table book or your newspaper as You relax And eat breakfast in at the morning.
That’s my take on the iPad. It’s made to be used differently. The features it lacks actually seem to demonstrate what it was made for. Its not for coding and its not for power usage. It meets basic modern day computing needs ( music, video, email) in a simple and beautiful design. I say if you’re a person who gets angry with computers, this may actually be the “computer” you are looking for.
great review. love the analogy comparison to the desktop/laptop, and I have a better understanding of what the ipad is now. makes me want to get one. Sounds like it might make my kindle obsolete pretty quickly (or maybe it already is).
ya i agree with dad. You really clearly explained everything. Is it really starting a new category of technology? Are other companies making similar things? Sounds really cool
see also, the Charlie Rose interview with the CEO of a German media company, who says the ipad just saved the journalism industry, so easy to use, he said, that his grandma could use it. He agreed with your assessment that its shortcomings are not shortcomings at all, that its designed for people to be consumers of information in an amazing new (and larger than the iphone) cool, platform.