Never Say Never
posted by robert | filed under iDevices/iOS
So. I’d like you all to start off with this previous post, if you don’t mind…
Read it? Good. Now close that browser window/tab and continue:
The title of this post is a big clue: I now have an iPad.
“But you said you weren’t going to buy one because it doesn’t support Flash!” I hear you cry out. I did say that, yes. I also said that the screen gets messy and that I couldn’t see enough use cases for myself.
Well, now I’ve changed my mind. I have found some excellent use cases, have tired of the Adobe vs. Apple ego-bashing that I’ve witnessed all over the web and am indeed very pleased with the user experience that the iPad offers me.
There’s the key concept: USER EXPERIENCE
Apple “do” User Experience like no other company. I am sitting here, writing this on my MacBook Pro, next to me are my iPhone (still only 3G 
) and my iPad. Why? Because they are devices that I love to use. They work and are a joy to use.
I have replaced my morning iPhone routine (see that last post) with a morning iPad routine – a larger display and that much bigger interactive surface DO make a difference – and find Twitter, Things (my to-do manager of choice), Facebook (with the exception of those wonderful app I’ve written 
), BBC News and even the weather so much more usable on the iPad for my morning eyes.
Thanks to Air Display, I can even use the iPad as an additional monitor when working in Mac OSX (which I’m doing more and more, as I now need only wait a few more hours for my Adobe Web Premium CS5 Mac license to arrive before I kiss Windows goodbye for my daily work life).
Now. What about that “Flash thing”? I am still not happy that Steve Jobs and his merry men have this, frankly, very arrogant and childish attitude towards Flash. My opinion here hasn’t changed. I haven’t “accepted” this “Apple way”. I do know that, in time, others will find a way for some Flash content to be visible on the iPad and even the iPhone. I also know that it doesn’t really matter that much. There are ways and means of achieving anything.
I’m also, however, not impressed by a lot of the knee-jerk responses from the pro-Adobe camp and the sudden evangelical focus on Android. Android will not make it and will not pose a threat in the mainstream market. Have you seen the designs of the Android-based tablets coming out? I rest my case.
What I have done is made my choice based upon how a device fits my life and fits my appreciation of good design, attention to the User Experience and how it feels – something we should all think about constantly.
In addition to that, and to answer some of my previous criticisms:
- the volume is loud
- the video quality is excellent
- zero boot-time web browsing is fantastic
- the weight is really not so bad and the simple Apple iPad case is an excellent add-on and well worth the money, allowing the iPad to be held at a angle on your lap for easy viewing
- the usability and interface failings I mentioned really do seem to be issues with the Apps I was trying out. The Apps I have installed seem to be well developed and really do offer a great experience (with the exception of the BBC News App which shows me a green screen every so often instead of the matrix of thumbnails for articles)
Oh – and the screen does get messy and is far too reflective. In it’s defense, however, the colours are fantastic!
I wrote:
The iPad is not magic. It’s not a netbook challenger and it’s not really revolutionary.
Well. It’s not magic, but it is an excellent tool which has no doubt redefined many people’s experience of information consumption. In that sense, it is revolutionary.
I stand by everything I wrote before (as always) and can only say that I stand corrected on some points and am happy that I purchased the iPad – not only because I will be developing Apps for it!
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