iPad

I am excited about the iPad. I am excited about the iPad in a way I was not excited by the iPod Touch or iPhone. I'm a long time Mac user that uses a Nokia Internet Tablet (N800) and while many of my peers in the Internet Tablet scene are skewering the iPad, I am very excited about this product. Let me explain why.

When I was a kid, I used to come home from school and watch Inspector Gadget. I was supposed to be doing homework but, there I was. And while Mr. Gadget was amusing with his umbrellas and long arms and feet. I wanted Penny's Computer Book.

I wanted it bad.

I wanted it so badly that I set out to make my own. I was an inventive kid. I made a computer book from a cassette tape case, a solar powered calculator and a set of headphone speakers. Since I didn't want to see wires all over, I used aluminum foil to trace leads along the cassette case. I was proud of my work. I also got odd looks from people when I whipped it out in public.

Going further I took a quiz-wiz and made a larger model of my Computer Book with a better calculator and better speakers.

Then I discovered Star Trek the next Generation. I wanted one of those pads. I wanted to touch a screen and make shit happen. I didn't want to flip open something. I didn't want to type at a keyboard. I didn't want a little scroll ball. I didn't to find somewhere to perch a mouse. I wanted to tap a screen and have shit happen. The iPad is my Star Trek pad.

It is the future of casual computing and all the people moaning about what it doesn't have and can't do are missing the point entirely. This is not about having a terminal (though I'm sure there will be an app for that). It is not about what low level file IO you can do. It's not about installing every codec known to exist.

This is about doing away with what we commonly think of as The GUI Experience. It is the removal of unnecessary tool bars and mice pointers. It's about making your program act intuitively so that menus, when needed only show up for the task at hand. It is about the OS getting out the way so you can do stuff. Think about it. It is a computer where you never have to say to yourself: Where's the mouse pointer?

So do I need to flip out a laptop to check the news websites? Do I need to log into a computer and load up a desktop to check Facebook? When I'm on my couch do I really want to flop open, and make space for my laptop being careful to not block the vents? No.

You know what blew me away? When I saw the presentation on Google Maps and they jumped to street view. That blew me away. It was my Penny's computer book experience. Yes, I can access street view on my Nokia N800. Painfully. It's probably faster on the N900. But it's nowhere near as polished.

Nowhere as polished.

The other things that got my attention was the Brushes application. Again I have an app on my Nokia that does the same thing. But to have that on a 9.7 inch screen? All touch? Again this is the WACOM tablet a lot of artists have been waiting on.
I foresee drum machines and the like. All touch interfaced and polished.

And that is the point. This is not a point and click, use the stylus, crammed down desktop OS. I did that when I installed KDE on my N800. You know what? I got really tired of trying to hit miniature menus and menu-items. I got tired of menus and preference panes that literally fell off the screen. I'm sure some people like it. And they can feel free to not buy an iPad.

Are there problems with the iPad. Certainly. I noticed that the special event presentation excluded any mention of iChat. Makes sense since the iPad is not a primarily typing device but we all know that iChat can do video. So the lack of a front facing camera is a problem. It should be there and in my opinion should have been there from launch.

Another thing is that I'd take GPS built in. If I'm traveling I'd love to have the tablet show me where I am. I use my N800 as my Travel GPS device.

I don't want another data plan to pay for. I have a phone that can tether. I want tethering on the device. I know Apple is playing nice with ATT (for what good reason I don't know) but iPad owners ought to be able to tether with any phone capable of doing so and reach the internet. I do this with my 2007 Internet Tablet. It's 2010, enough with the "do not tether" and the extra tethering fees.

Really.

I'm going to get the 16GB WIFI version not just because I'm cheap but because I don't intend to move all my music to it. I'll keep using my 20GB iPod for that (yes I still have and use it regularly). I don't intend to do much video or gaming on it (prefer my DS and consoles for that). I do intend for it to do the things I generally lug my laptop around for: calendar, e-mail, books and internet reference material all the things Steve Jobs mentioned at the beginning of the presentation. At the cost of the 16GB model (roughly the same as a Mini) That is a bargain. I'll do my video editing and other development stuff on my larger and more appropriate machines just like they do in Star Trek.

I'm very excited about this product. I think there are a lot of people who simply do not get it. Many of these individuals are very bright but are too wedded to the current relatively complex means of computing. There will be laptops and desktops for them. And they can sit and bask about what new trick they did on their device while at their day jobs. The rest of us will be using the new paradigm and making paid applications to run on it and content to show on it and the ones that will surely come after.

Ultimately you'll know if an iPad is the device for you when you evaluate what you do with your current computer that absolutely needs a KB and mouse.

Then you'll look at what absolutely needs a KB and consider the accessory KB.

Then you will understand.