I was not immediately excited about the iPad announcement and I still have my reservations. After some good arguments with friends regarding its place as a Netbook or an eReader I have my thoughts in line. I do consider the iPad to be of its own class, but it does handle some of the same tasks as the Netbooks and eReaders currently on the market. As a comparison, let’s handle both perspectives separately.
As an eReader:
Cons:
10 Hours of battery compared to 1 Week on an eReader.
No free 3G internet connection compared to free 3G on Kindle/Nook.
Missing some major book publishers like Random House.
Pros:
Color display well suited for text books.
More capable web browser than experimental/hidden Kindle browser.
Instantaneous, interactive method of manipulating content on screen.
The battery life will only get you through one day. Solution: charge it overnight. You’ll have to pay for 3G, but this isn’t exactly a device you’re gonna have in your pocket anyway, when you’re using this it will likely be at a cafe, home, hotel, friends house, or cruise – all of which have WiFi. If you’re on the road and want to look up movie times you’re probably going to use your mobile phone over this if you had both. The selection of publishing houses is limited, but so were TV and film studios as well as record labels at first in iTunes. If history repeats we’ll see Random house and others join soon after.
The double tap to zoom, drag to scroll and tap to click navigation present in the iPhone should translate well to the bigger screen. The zooming will allow pages with larger resolutions than the device feel right on the screen, in comparison to Netbooks which resort to vertical and horizontal click and hold scrolling. The color screen will finally allow text books to be represented digitally without the loss of diagrams and illustrations.
Price difference between a Kindle DX and the iPad is a mere 10 dollars. Unless you really need that long battery life and are a big proponent of eInk, there isn’t much of a compelling argument for the DX.
As a NetBook:
Cons:
No Adobe Flash in Safari.
No webcam, removable storage, or ports standard to the average Netbook.
No traditional multi-tasking support.
No traditional “desktop” operating system.
Pros:
iTunes Syncing.
iWork is only about $30.
Unlimited 3G mobile broadband for $30.
Battery life is about 4-6 hours longer than average Netbook.
Adobe has every desire to make Flash for iPhone, in fact it may exist, but the word is that Apple isn’t letting it happen. There is no arguing the fact that it doesn’t have removable storage and a webcam. The question is if it is needed. With Gmail and MobileMe it’s free/cheap to store your data in the cloud. While some people argue there is no need for a cam, there is almost no doubt it will end up in a future revision to much avail of the crowd.
Lack of multi-tasking is bewildering to people who are not used to the iPhone OS, but you can still browse the web while listening to music and keeping up to date with AIM through push notifications. It multitasks, but not the traditional way of running applications in the background. Because you can only attain apps through the App Store, you are limited to what Apple allows on the device.
Netbooks are meant to be a companion to an existing computer, because they are underpowered. However you never really feel in sync with the content at home. iTunes allows your iPad to be a companion with your Photo, Music, Video and Document libraries synced to the device, as well as Contacts, Calendars and Mail accounts.
Pages, Keynote, and Numbers will all be available on the iPad as alternatives to Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. The iWork apps are also a great deal at $9.99 each. The cheapest method of getting Office on a Netbook is $150. That raises the price of a $300 netbook to $450. Antivrus for the first year immediately brings the cost up to the price of an iPad. That said, there are free alternatives, but the average consumer in a retail store won’t opt for them.
Lastly a big advantage is cutting the price of Mobile Broadband in half. It may be unlimited compared to the 5 GB cap of an Aircard, but you also won’t be downloading 20 GB files from Bit Torrent on your iPad as you would on a Windows based computer.
Other:
Name: Yes, your puns are funny. The name is unfortunate. But so is the Wii, we got over that, so will the rest of the internet.
Bezel: Yes it looks huge, but it also seems to be about the size of a thumb vertically… you need to have your thumb off the screen and be able to hold it, it could work well.
Do I like it: I don’t know, I don’t have one. But I will definitely be considering this and digital text books instead of buying hard cover books for college.
Am I a fanboy: Probably! But I also really love Zune and Zune Marketplace, Xbox 360, am glad that Windows 7 is stable and recently built a Quad Core AMD that runs Windows. So yes, I’m a fanboy but I’m not ignorant of the other side of things.
Giant iPod Touch: Yes, it’s got all the capabilities of an iPod Touch, runs the same version of OS X, is bigger, faster, and has a better screen. So?
Gaming: It will run current App Store games, and given the raw power of the machine there will be plenty of games coming out to take better advantage of the iPad. The keyboard peripheral may help offset the issues with onscreen controls, but without a Mouse gaming will remain a secondary feature.
