My Early iPad Review
so far the iPad has been a pretty interesting and although i’ve had only for a week i think it’s still to early to tell on how useful a mobile device it will become. instead of trying to read the tea leaves of what it might become, i’m going to break it down in some smaller chunks:
Things I Like
- great to read magazine length multimedia content on the interwebs
- i also prefer it as a newsreader and really a perfect couch computer
- great for viewing photo slideshows and movies
- at the end of the day it shines as a media consumption device
Limitations
- not really great for content creation
- iWork is buggy, editing rich text documents without a mouse is a pain (although it’s been shown you can easily hack a Bluetooth mouse)
- it’s a pain in the ass to type on (in relation i prefer to type much more on my iphone) i have pretty big hands and i have to peck out words one letter at a time
- using it with a bluetooth keyboard makes you miss the mouse even more
- no good Twitter client yet (twitterific is ok, wish they had echofon)
- to heavy to read comforably in bed or on the couch
- iBooks are too expensive. no reason not to continue using amazon and their very good kindle app for the Ipad
- multitasking would make many programs much more useful (textexpander, pastebot, 1password)
- screen glare is a problem, although works better in landscape
- not many must have iPad specific app yet (i assume this will change by the end of the summer once developers have adequate time to create and test their iPad specific apps)
iPad vs. iPhone
- after using it for a week i was surprised to discover that my iPhone is better for messaging and typing short notes and email. i think the form factor of the IPad makes it really a tweener mobile device. to big to do the basic mobile tasks, and not robust enough to do more than basic word processing.
- on the other hand i have found when teathering to my iPhone it makes the iPhone/iPad combination very compelling. one device for the mobile bits and a more robust device for the larger more complex tasks (reading, basic word processing, basic music composition/improvisation)
- like i said above i prefer to day most text entry on the iPhone. the iPad is too big and heavy to even write a long email.
My Favorite iPad Apps
- Instapaper i use basically as a tool to read most of the content i find interesting on the interwebs. it’s fundamental function is to strip out all the excess pictures and adverts to leave you with a text only version of whatever article/blog you were wanting to read
- simplenote is my basic plain-text word processor on the iPad and iPhone. i’m using it right now to write this article. the best thing about it is that it easily syncs between any mobile device your desktops. kinda like what google docs and pages should eventually be doing. although i used to be a big evernote user, the ease of use and the quick syncing has made simplenote my main tool to keep jot down quick notes on the go
- comiczeal is a very simple and effective pdf/comic reader. and have finally been able to enjoy reading graphic novels on my ipad
- Todo i have been using todo on the iphone for quite a while and it’s Ipad cousin is well worth the upgrade. i wish they would eventually have an OSX version (like things), but i’m very happy with the iPad and Iphone versions
iPad Case
Netflix
Kindle iPad app
- i really like that you can easily sync books and share your bookmarks and annotations publicly. i find that it’s to heavy for reading for long periods of time and think my kindle 2 overall is a better bookreader. i also noticed today that it doesn’t have the % read line at the bottom of each page, which for some strange reason i seem to prefer.
iPad apps that show promise
SkyGrid
- it’s kind of a curated newsreader. i don’t have any clear idea how it works, but if i just want to catch up on the news it’s great place to start. i wish it had instapaper support or would let me open another browser to save an article for later, but for now all you can really do is email a link to yourself.
textexpander, pastebot, and 1password
- i’m starting to use these more and more between my macbook/iphone/ipad and i can see them becoming more useful when multitasking comes to OS 4 later this summer (and they release an iPad specific app)
iPad as a Music Controller
PatternMusic
- so far it’s the most interesting music performance app. it’s a pattern based looper (similar to the session view side of ableton live) one of the great things about it is that it starts to show the possibilities of using the ipad as a stand alone musical instrument (instead of just a controller) right now its sound pallete is limited and would be great if it offered midi out and the ability to internally record it’s own performances
ChipPad
- mp3 based sequencer in which you launch your own loops. it offers an interesting alternative to the session view and arrangement views in ableton live
Electrify
- seems like a ipad specific version of the Electribe/Groovebox, andcould be useful, but still haven’t figured out how to make it sing
Eliss
- really not a music controller, but a interesting generative music game that was pretty cool on the iphone, but is much cooler (b/c of the bigger size) on the iPad
also if you haven’t tried this out for your iphone/ipad, your really should.
Bookmarks for the week: June 22nd through June 26th [del.icio.us];
Bookmarks from June 22nd through June 26th:[del.icio.us]
- The history behind Ricci v. DeStafano, the Supreme Court case that will decide who gets the good jobs in cities across America. (1) – By Nicole Allan and Emily Bazelon – Slate Magazine – “The story behind Ricci is just one example of an entrenched conflict over municipal hiring that extends back in time and across the country. For at least two generations, competition for jobs in many cities has been framed as a battle between one ethnic or racial group and another over who is an insider and who is an outsider”
- The Soulvine: Kobe and Antonio on the bus | LA Wave Newspaper | The Soulvine – the mayor is so unpopular kobe doesn’t even want to be on the victory bus with him.
- L.A’s mayor getting schooled – Los Angeles Times -
Teachers at eight of the 10 L.A. Unified schools run by Villaraigosa’s team give him a resounding thumbs down.
- Charter’s upheaval provides some progress for Locke High – Los Angeles Times “A year ago, Green Dot Public Schools, which runs 12 charters serving the city’s urban poor, took over the school. The effort to transform Locke has been a nationally watched test of whether such a large, deeply impoverished urban high school could be transformed by a charter operator. Charter schools are publicly-funded but operate beyond the direct control of school districts, exempt from many regulations and union contracts.”
- In C and Me: listen – Steve Hicken talks about In C and its impact on academia and tonal music.
- Consumerist – How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb – Customer Service -Here’s a classic tactic for rattling the corporate monkey tree to make sure your complaint gets shoved under the nose of someone with decision-making powers. Let’s call it the “EECB,” or Executive Email Carpet Bomb…
- Wooster Collective: Shit We’re Diggin’: Improv Everywhere’s MP3 Experiment 6 -an interesting flashmob in nyc
- Driving on L.A.’s Westside: 10 miles in 60 minutes – Los Angeles Times what it’s like to drive on the westside of LA (i live on the eastside and commute to CSUF by train)
- Daring Fireball: Regarding the WSJ’s Report That Steve Jobs Had a Liver Transplant john gruber has an interesting theory (really 3) about who and why the Wall Street Journal would print an unsourced article about steve job’s liver transplant.
- Buying A Book For The Kindle Is Digital Russian Roulette – Podcasting News – “According to Gear Diary’s Dan Cohen, DRM is the Kindle’s Achilles heal. Cohen upgraded his iPod touch and bought a new iPhone 3GS recently, and found that he couldn’t download much of his substantial Kindle library to the supported devices”
- RIP: A Remix Manifesto -In RiP: A remix manifesto, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.
