On the iPad

[coraa]

I've had a few people ask me whether I want an iPad, and I've generally said 'no' without thinking too hard about it. Having now thought about it, I've figured out why.

(Note: This has no bearing on whether you should want, or get, an iPad. If you want one, get one! And I hope you enjoy it very much! I just don't. But people are different, you know, and that's okay. You can want one and get one even if I don't want one.)

1. E-ink. Having read on e-ink devices, I'm not going back to reading books on a non-e-ink screen. I get more eyestrain reading on my iPhone or laptop, especially in strong light, than I do with my e-ink ereader. (The iPhone, being a touchscreen, is particularly bad because fingerprints show up with astonishing clarity in strong light.) So there's that: the iPad is not a replacement ebook reader for me, becuase I want an e-ink screen on my ereader.

But more importantly....

2. I'm not getting a larger-than-a-phone multifunction device that doesn't have a real keyboard. Probably three-quarters of what I do on a computer relies on typing, often a lot of words, often very fast, via touch-typing, and for that I want a "real" keyboard. Otherwise I'll spend a lot of time going, "Well, I could do that, but it'd be easier to wait until I have my laptop with me...." Which defeats the point.

Which raises the question: what are your non-negotiables for portable electronics?

Comments

[coneycat.livejournal.com]

Your second point is pretty much what I thought as soon as I saw the device.

I have to tell this to someone: a friend of mine is a complete Mac junkie, which is not a problem since she doesn't try to evangelize me. (I have met a few...) Anyway, when the Kindle came out she shrugged it off, because she thought it was much too large to be practical. She didn't want a reader any larger than her phone. (She has an iPhone now, but does not make fun of my BlackBerry.)

Guess who wants an iPad and reckons it will be the greatest e-reader ever?

Yeah, I haven't said a word to her about it and I'm not going to.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Yes: for people who don't do as much, well, writing as I do, it probably isn't a concern. If you can tap out a search query, an e-mail, or a tweet on it, that's probably enough for a lot of people. But I write on my computer devices and I write a lot, and if they aren't optimized for that, it's going to be a tough row to hoe.

...And yeah, it's funny, I've heard how big and heavy the Kindle is (somewhere between paperback and hardcover weight, I think), but the iPad is both bigger and heavier (I think about twice as heavy). Which is fine! I'm not going to tell anyone they don't want it. But it's not exactly teensy for an ereader.

[coneycat.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to say anyone who wants one and can afford it should not have one, but it just looks far too large to be something I want. If I have to use it at home because it's too heavy for me to carry around, I might as well stick to my laptop. (Which is an Asus EEE and therefore very light.)

Mind you, I'm like you and do a lot of writing, thus the laptop. And now that I've discovered how useful a smartphone is for all kinds of stuff, I can't imagine carrying that as well as an e-reader.

But I'll be very interested in what my friend thinks of the iPad.

[paperclippy.livejournal.com]

I have a few opinions about portable electronics, but they should all be taken with a grain of salt because I am too cheap to pay for any of them, so I don't actually own anything beyond a standard cell phone and an iPod classic.

1) When I saw the ad for the iPad, I thought, why would I buy that instead of a netbook? It's basically the same thing but with fewer features.
2) I have used other people's iPhones, Droids, and Blackberries. None of them were particularly intuitive to me, although the iPhone may have a slight advantage there.
3) From my experience using other people's smart phones, the biggest annoyance of using them is that it just takes freaking forever to load a website. Slow slow slow. This is likely a problem of portable web-enabled devices in general though.
4) I hesitate to use any input device on any of these because I already have repetitive stress injury and anything that doesn't have an ergonomic keyboard pretty much is right out in my book.
5) IMO the most important things for a portable device are speed, ease of use, and weight/size/can it fit in my pocket/purse. However, all of those pale beside the most important consideration which is price.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my iPhone's Internet is not the fastest thing, especially when I'm using the 3G network instead of being on wireless. It's fast enough for things like looking up a restaurant's hours or checking something that's niggling at my brain, but for longer sessions of websurfing, I want something more efficient.

Right now I use an iPhone for random on-the-go needs, a Kindle for ebook reading, and I have a fairly lightweight laptop for everything else. Between the three of them, most of my needs are met.

[coneycat.livejournal.com]

"Random on the go needs" are my main reason for having the BlackBerry. I'm always stopping in mid-conversation to look something up. Apparently reference librarians, like rust, never sleep.

[geekjul.livejournal.com]

I can't figure out what I would need an iPad for that I can't currently do with my iPod touch, my smart phone, or my laptop. Also "portable" to me means I can stick it in my pocket or in my (small) handbag. The lack of an actual keyboard is a big sticking point for me as well.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Yeah: with an iPhone, I can do most of what I'd want to do without a keyboard/dedicated device anyway, and my laptop is fairly lightweight so for anything else I just bring that. I think the iPad just fills a niche that I don't need filled.

(Which isn't to say that other people don't need that niche filled, of course. Notably, I don't think most people do as much touch-typing on the go as I do.)

[ckd]

I wonder how long it'll take for there to be good-but-compact Bluetooth keyboards available; the iPad may be enough of a tipping point to bring that market segment forward.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Actually, when I first got an iPhone, I looked long and hard for a Bluetooth or other keyboard that would work with it, precisely because of the typing issue. If they were available and compatible, that would make a difference.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

It existed before the iPad. http://www.apple.com/keyboard/

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see.

Well, at an additional $70, and at that size, I think I'm not too disappointed I didn't realize it existed until now. :)

EDIT: Hmm, that page doesn't confirm iPhone compatibility....

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

I don't think it works with the iPhone. It does with the iPad though.

[ckd]

Bluetooth keyboard support is one of the announced features in iPhone OS 4.0, so it'll work with the 3G and 3GS (and the whatever-they-ship-next) once that's available.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo!

FWIW, I find mine to be pretty portable in terms of size/weight. It's extremely light. It's packing it so you don't smash it that is more of a problem; and you do have to take the batteries out because there's no way of turning it off such that tapping keys won't auto-wake.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

Looks like you can blame Steve for lack of a keyboard: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-10279971-82.html

[ceph.livejournal.com]

There isn't currently a keyboard for the iPhone at all? That's mindboggling.

(I just found a Palm wireless keyboard for $17 at the U Bookstore yesterday. It's not the most comfortable thing ever to type on, but it folds up quite neatly. I am very excited.)

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my old Palm keyboard (not wireless, but maybe better because it was a dock that sat the Palm up so you could see it while you're typing) folded into a neat little brick. It really does boggle the mind that Steve hasn't let that happen for iPhone yet.

[ckd]

I'm not quite sure I'd consider that one small enough to qualify as something I'd want to haul around on a regular basis, though anything smaller is unlikely to be very good for touch typing. Tough call.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

If there was one that was hinged and foldable, it'd be tempting.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

The most tempted I've been to get an iPad is when I realized it can use the bluetooth Apple (physical) keyboard that I already own. Because I <3 my Kindle, but taking notes with it is just as impossible as on my iPhone. Especially for PDFs, because, well, it's just a PDF *viewer.*

I'm not sorry I got the DX (cf. your point #1), but I do wish (a) you could use a real keyboard with it, and (2) they wouldn't hobble its potential functionality. You should be able to highlight and annotate and do everything else with an OCRed PDF that you can do with a Kindle book. I'm willing to bet that these functions aren't enabled not for technical reasons, but because they want people to buy a Kindle book instead of obtaining a PDF... this is just ridiculous if they really want the student market--students need to be able to work with PDFs that they're given.

Well, that was an unexpected rant. :) I must be procrastinating.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think in the long run I'm happier with my version (which converts PDF to Kindle-compatible ebook) than I would have been with the DX... but that's not something I would have realized at the time.

The main thing I want in Kindle is foldering, damn it. I'll buy a new one if they introduce folders!

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

No. Kidding.