smoketetsuo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smoketetsuo) wrote2010-01-30 02:11 am
smoketetsuo) wrote2010-01-30 02:11 am
Apple iPad... My Thoughts...
As you can tell from the video I posted earlier yes I have heard of the new iPad. I have mixed feelings about this device. On the one hand I like the idea of simple multitouch driven devices for on the go computing. I like the idea of curling up in a comfy chair with it like one would a book. Sc-Fi movies have been teasing us with this idea for ages and there are numerous examples....
iPad anyone?
The pad from the illustration above in action in the film. Dave Bowman and Frank Poole use it to view a BBC newscast of them being interviewed about the HAL 9000 supercomputer while eating lunch. I could see people doing the same thing with the iPad.
Click this picture to view an article about the Star Trek PADD.
On the other hand I don't agree with Apple that it is better than some traditional ways of "consuming" media. To me it's more of a luxury device that is good to have on the side rather than a replacement for a traditional laptop, desktop or iPod.
For one thing when I am at home usually l like using my media mostly on my big screened iMac with surround sound. Even though the screen is big for a mobile device of its type I don't see the iPad ever replacing this. If I where to go to a hotel I'd rather use a laptop in the hotel room as my computing device especially when I want to play a game like a FPS because keyboard and mouse are still the best ways to play FPS. Or chatting with friends while surfing around and listening to music which is one of my favorite activities... for me nothing beats a full computer in this type of situation. Some type of games are more suited to the iPad or iPod Touch than others... I could see me pulling them out for a quick game of Plants vs. Zombies for an example but other types of games are hit or miss.
It's also too big to be useful as an MP3 player while jogging. The only way that would work is if you put it in a backpack with a hole for the wire to come out of going to your ears and basic controls on the wire. But a smaller iPhone or iPod Touch would be more convenient because you could strap it to your arm and have the screen in more immediate view.
Where I see this being most useful is when one is reading any type of digital book... especially comic books. That's the biggest thing for me about it because of the size of the screen and the format of the device. I have a bunch of comic books\manga in comic book archive format ideal for reading on the iPad and I would like it better than other eBook readers because those only have B&W screens. Some people prefer this and say screens like on the apple devices hurt their eyes. But I have read comic books on my laptop and turned the screen on the side and that looked good to me but cumbersome having to use a notebook turned on its side. The iPad fills that niche quite nicely. All I would need is a good .cbr\cbz viewer for the iPad like this application for the Mac.
Another example of where it might be most useful is at your local Starbucks or other places like that and you might not want to bring out your notebook and want a quicker to pull out and use device. I could see me using it in the car on road trips with the family or on the sofa upstairs when in front of the TV. Those are a few times when a traditional notebook would be cumbersome but I would like a bigger screen than is provided on an iPod Touch. Or if I was watching a video full screen on my iMac... perhaps sitting at some distance from the screen and I wanted to look something up on the web but didn't want to exit the video to do so. Or the same thing with a game. I could use an IM application on it to quickly answer IM's while in a fullscreen game without having to cmd+tab out of it. I could setup my notebook on the side to do those things and I have in the past however I right now don't want to have two computers setup. I also want to keep my notebook packed for in case I may need to make a trip someplace like my parents house to help them out with their computer.
However, for me even just an iPod Touch would be fine to me and at half the price of an iPad... although the screen wouldn't be big enough for me to view a whole comic book page at once. I hardly use my current iPod or notebook though so I don't think have as much need for a portable device. Although that may be because I mostly listen to music on my computer at home and mostly use my iPod in the car on the go. I think a notebook is a little cumbersome setting it up everywhere the way I have to for it to be fully usable for me. The iPod I have is nice but it pretty much is only good for playing music because it doesn't have enough space on it to hold a video and have a size able music library and you can't install apps on it so I don't use it as much as I'd use a touch based apple device.
But I don't know whether the smallness and portability factor of the iPod Touch or the ability to read full sized comics or similar activities would be more useful to me in a device. Either way I see the iPad as a supplementary device to other more convenient\feature filled devices that one may have... not a full replacement.
It is however a part of the future of being able to view\listen to media anywhere and everywhere or be in constant communication... whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Like I have mentioned before it seems as though with more choices than ever many kids are boredom and ADD riddled enough as it is. It sounds counterintuitive but to me it seems that with more content available to them they are always unsatisfied with what they have and are always bored because their minds are already on the next thing instead of enjoying what they have.
Even adults can fall into this sort of trap with so much media available to them it becomes harder to choose what to experience in the free time they have. Just like how kids become boredom and ADD riddled it may make a person jaded and cynical having access to more media. A reason for this is because they find something that they believe is the best and then compare everything else to it. It's like the idea that something becomes less valuable the more abundant it is.
I believe that sometimes a person has to slow down and enjoy what they have. For example I have about fifty games installed on my computer but at different times I focus on completing a set of them before focusing on another set... otherwise I'd only play about five minutes worth of each one at a given time.
But getting back to the subject. This actually is a dream device for me and I wouldn't mind having one It's more convenient looking for simple tasks than a laptop but bigger than an iPod Touch. But again it'd be a supplementary device and not a replacement for all my other gadgets. Although I know I'd probably all but forget my Gameboy Color if I had one. I hardly ever play it anymore as it is.
iPad anyone?
The pad from the illustration above in action in the film. Dave Bowman and Frank Poole use it to view a BBC newscast of them being interviewed about the HAL 9000 supercomputer while eating lunch. I could see people doing the same thing with the iPad.
Click this picture to view an article about the Star Trek PADD.
On the other hand I don't agree with Apple that it is better than some traditional ways of "consuming" media. To me it's more of a luxury device that is good to have on the side rather than a replacement for a traditional laptop, desktop or iPod.
For one thing when I am at home usually l like using my media mostly on my big screened iMac with surround sound. Even though the screen is big for a mobile device of its type I don't see the iPad ever replacing this. If I where to go to a hotel I'd rather use a laptop in the hotel room as my computing device especially when I want to play a game like a FPS because keyboard and mouse are still the best ways to play FPS. Or chatting with friends while surfing around and listening to music which is one of my favorite activities... for me nothing beats a full computer in this type of situation. Some type of games are more suited to the iPad or iPod Touch than others... I could see me pulling them out for a quick game of Plants vs. Zombies for an example but other types of games are hit or miss.
It's also too big to be useful as an MP3 player while jogging. The only way that would work is if you put it in a backpack with a hole for the wire to come out of going to your ears and basic controls on the wire. But a smaller iPhone or iPod Touch would be more convenient because you could strap it to your arm and have the screen in more immediate view.
Where I see this being most useful is when one is reading any type of digital book... especially comic books. That's the biggest thing for me about it because of the size of the screen and the format of the device. I have a bunch of comic books\manga in comic book archive format ideal for reading on the iPad and I would like it better than other eBook readers because those only have B&W screens. Some people prefer this and say screens like on the apple devices hurt their eyes. But I have read comic books on my laptop and turned the screen on the side and that looked good to me but cumbersome having to use a notebook turned on its side. The iPad fills that niche quite nicely. All I would need is a good .cbr\cbz viewer for the iPad like this application for the Mac.
Another example of where it might be most useful is at your local Starbucks or other places like that and you might not want to bring out your notebook and want a quicker to pull out and use device. I could see me using it in the car on road trips with the family or on the sofa upstairs when in front of the TV. Those are a few times when a traditional notebook would be cumbersome but I would like a bigger screen than is provided on an iPod Touch. Or if I was watching a video full screen on my iMac... perhaps sitting at some distance from the screen and I wanted to look something up on the web but didn't want to exit the video to do so. Or the same thing with a game. I could use an IM application on it to quickly answer IM's while in a fullscreen game without having to cmd+tab out of it. I could setup my notebook on the side to do those things and I have in the past however I right now don't want to have two computers setup. I also want to keep my notebook packed for in case I may need to make a trip someplace like my parents house to help them out with their computer.
However, for me even just an iPod Touch would be fine to me and at half the price of an iPad... although the screen wouldn't be big enough for me to view a whole comic book page at once. I hardly use my current iPod or notebook though so I don't think have as much need for a portable device. Although that may be because I mostly listen to music on my computer at home and mostly use my iPod in the car on the go. I think a notebook is a little cumbersome setting it up everywhere the way I have to for it to be fully usable for me. The iPod I have is nice but it pretty much is only good for playing music because it doesn't have enough space on it to hold a video and have a size able music library and you can't install apps on it so I don't use it as much as I'd use a touch based apple device.
But I don't know whether the smallness and portability factor of the iPod Touch or the ability to read full sized comics or similar activities would be more useful to me in a device. Either way I see the iPad as a supplementary device to other more convenient\feature filled devices that one may have... not a full replacement.
It is however a part of the future of being able to view\listen to media anywhere and everywhere or be in constant communication... whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Like I have mentioned before it seems as though with more choices than ever many kids are boredom and ADD riddled enough as it is. It sounds counterintuitive but to me it seems that with more content available to them they are always unsatisfied with what they have and are always bored because their minds are already on the next thing instead of enjoying what they have.
Even adults can fall into this sort of trap with so much media available to them it becomes harder to choose what to experience in the free time they have. Just like how kids become boredom and ADD riddled it may make a person jaded and cynical having access to more media. A reason for this is because they find something that they believe is the best and then compare everything else to it. It's like the idea that something becomes less valuable the more abundant it is.
I believe that sometimes a person has to slow down and enjoy what they have. For example I have about fifty games installed on my computer but at different times I focus on completing a set of them before focusing on another set... otherwise I'd only play about five minutes worth of each one at a given time.
But getting back to the subject. This actually is a dream device for me and I wouldn't mind having one It's more convenient looking for simple tasks than a laptop but bigger than an iPod Touch. But again it'd be a supplementary device and not a replacement for all my other gadgets. Although I know I'd probably all but forget my Gameboy Color if I had one. I hardly ever play it anymore as it is.