Keys That Click - Minding your own design business and other observations

Posted in Gadgets, on January 27th, 2010 by Carlos.

So it’s finally here. After oodles and oodles of speculation, rumours and hype, the Apple iPad was announced today. I was glued to my screen following the Engadget and Gizmodo live blogs as Steve Jobs and company were showing off their latest toy… and well… to be honest… I wasn’t completed impressed. GASP. Really? Why? I just didn’t find that there was the “wow” factor that accompanies most Apple product introductions. Let me explain.

Throughout the keynote presentation I was getting an odd sense that Apple was showing off an incomplete product, running incomplete software. And perhaps this is quite true (more so than they still have 60 days before it ships) and they are just waiting to unveil more at a later date … more on that later in this article.

The Bad

Here’s a list of things I found odd, wished Apple provided more information on, or just didn’t like:

No multitasking. Seriously – it’s something I grew to live without on the iPhone, understanding that there may very well be processing/battery power limitations, but the iPad is suppose to be something more than the iPhone, with productivity apps, multimedia, and more. Ignoring multitasking is just as dumb as Microsoft’s original plan of limiting the number of apps running on Windows 7 on a netbook… except its even dumber. Dumber than Microsoft. Yikes.

No Flash. Again, yet another thing that I learned to live without on the iPhone for reasons stated above. In fact, I’m quite the anti-Flash advocate myself when it comes to using it extensively in web design. However, I do know that Flash does have its place and, like it or not, it’s a big part of the web as we know it. Ignoring this is on what should be the web browsing device available seems like a mistake. I understand Flash provides developers the option to circumvent the App store and provide applications to the masses, but you can already do that with web apps, so I really don’t think this should be the main motivation for Apple not to include Flash on the mobile platform. Both the processing power and battery life are there now, and Flash should be as well.

Odd UI Elements. Two things stuck out about the UI when viewing the keynote presentation today. For starters, the homescreen looks a little goofy. The icons are small, and seem to be oddly spaced on this large screened device. The icon dock also seems too large given the size of the icons. It’s nice that the icon size allows your customizable wallpaper to show through, but there’s still something odd about it. As with the Mac OS desktop, I’m hoping you’ll be able to make the icons larger.

The other UI element that struck me as odd was shown in the screenshot below, displaying album art while music appears to be playing while in landscape mode. You’ll notice that both the album art and UI elements (stop, rewind, forward, volume, etc) are all shown in a square area leaving black bars on either side of the screen. Now I understand that since the days of yore, album art was presented in squarish format, thanks to vinyl record sleeves and CD case booklets. I’m not suggesting that it has to now change to accommodate wider displays, but to float all this in the center, which effectively wastes a lot of screen real estate, looks bad. Why not push it to the right side and have related information, playlists, or whatever on the left hand side? Use the screen space Apple! It’s something I would expect from Windows Media Player, but not from a product running iTunes.

[Image Credit: Gizmodo]

Connectivity. We know that the iPad will run on WiFi and/or 3G networks. AT&T, as the first carrier signed up, will offer some pretty competitive plans, and I’m sure, internationally we will have other carriers do the same (at least that’s what I’m hoping Rogers, Bell and Telus will do here in Canada). Here’s the problem. A lot of us already have iPhones. The thought of handing my wireless provider more money on a monthly basis to support the iPad when outside of WiFi range gives me the willies. What I was hoping Apple would provide is an option to tether to your iPhone to use its 3G capabilities for those who already paying for data usage. Think about it… at home, you can use WiFi, easy peasy. When you leave the house and plan to use the iPad, you’ll no doubt have your iPhone on you, given that you still need a phone, so it would be great to just use it as your link to the cell network. Maybe the carriers will be nice and let you share your data plan across the two devices, but I’m not counting on it. That makes too much sense, and would be far too pleasant for the consumer.

A note on Apps. To be honest, I am excited to see what developers will come up with when developing apps for the iPad, but I did want to comment on something from the presentation today. I found it very strange that they first showed off iPhone apps running on the iPad before showing some of the examples of native resolution apps. Although still useful, it looks weird to have an iPhone app running on iPad, and I figure it would only be a matter of time when you realize that it may be quite unusable to use many iPhone apps. I know they did it to give people immediate access to apps upon launch, and let the Apple marketing machine tout 140,000+ apps available on launch, but it’s a stretch (literally when in zoom mode). The focus should have been on native resolution apps, with the iPhone apps feature as a side note.

The keyboard. I forsee the iPad to be an ergonomic disaster. I don’t think the problem will be the typing experience itself, but the fact that you will need to look down to see what you’re typing. Think about it, on our laptops and desktops, we are use to looking straight ahead, or even just slightly down but on the iPad you’ll need to look way down. Sure you could prop it up a little more on your legs, but then that will make typing more awkward. Now I suppose that the keyboard attachment accessory alleviates these issues, but I see that more for purposes of using the iPad in the kitchen, or having it be your kids’ homework computer, more than your typical use accessory. I was hoping Apple would have a better solution for touchscreen typing on a device this size.

iBook. I can’t really comment on this too much as I haven’t seen the device itself, but I was hoping that Apple would describe the steps they took to make reading on a LED backlit screen as little of a strain on the eyes as possible. For all its limitations, e-ink at least makes it comfortable to read with minimal eye strain. Perhaps we will learn more about this in the weeks to come.

Industrial Design. The large bezel around the screen seems a tad too large. It may be done on purpose to avoid mistakenly hitting the screen while holding the device, but I think it makes the screen itself look smaller than it is.

No SD Card Reader. This is a weird one. I really wouldn’t have complained about the lack of an SD card reader  on the iPad, except for the fact that Apple is selling an SD card reader accessory. It’s just one of those things you know will be built in to the next version, making you wish they just put it in there from day one. Sigh.

The Good

Now I don’t want to sound completely negative about this product, as I do think that there will be some really cool stuff coming out of it in the next several months, so here’s some of the things that I really liked about the product:

iWork. I particularly liked iWork and saw the great potential to make this a perfect ‘homework’ device, providing parents with a relatively inexpensive option when it comes to giving their children their own computers. Apple must have designed this with school work in mind, more so than for business workers. I am an avid user of iWork, but I still think I would opt to use it on a laptop or desktop, before choosing to use it on the iPad.

iPhoto. This is going to be a GREAT way to share photos with family and friends either at home, or when you are travelling. The screen size, resolution and multi-touch features will just make this so much fun. I’m really looking forward to this. I was always frustrated that you can’t sync iPhoto galleries between Mac’s (or at least now without annoying workarounds). I have my photos on my desktop where I can work on a larger monitor, but always wanted to load the photos on my laptop so I can bring it places to share with family and friends. Given that the iPad will be able to sync with your computer, it makes sharing your photos on a portable device much easier.

WiFi and 3G options. Connectivity issues aside (as mentioned in list above), I like the fact that Apple is offering the choice to go with a WiFi only option. I think this will really expand the reach of this product, and gives the opportunity to use it without being tied to a monthly bill.

Industrial Design. Yes, I commented negatively about the bezel, but the device itself continues on Apple’s history of designing beautiful products. It looks great (mostly).

Calendar and Contacts. In the usage scenario where this is the family computer that is used in the kitchen, this can be a great way for families to keep tabs on upcoming events, as well as addresses and phones numbers of friends and family. I would like to see what type of MobileMe syncing options will be available here.

Safari. I use my iPhone for browsing a lot. In fact, it’s probably what I use the iPhone for the most. Where do I use it the most? At home while watching TV, in the morning while eating breakfast or just before bed to catch up on the day’s news. Sure I can grab my MacBook and do the same thing, but it’s more awkward when you just want to check something quickly without having to put it down, pick it up, put it down, pick it up. I know that makes me sound incredibly lazy, but the iPhone is much more convenient in this regard than a laptop. With the iPad’s larger screen size, I can see the use of mobile web browsing increase even more. It’s still small enough that it makes it something that’s easily in reach, and not a pain to put down and pick up. What’s more – there’s no “booting up”, so its always on to start surfing. I’m really looking forward to what news sites will do to customize their sites and/or apps for use on the iPad.

It’s not a netbook. I never did like netbooks, and I’m glad that the iPad doesn’t resemble one.

What’s in store for the future…

I eluded to the fact that I though that the iPad appears to be an incomplete product. I think/hope there is a pretty good reason for it, and I’m hoping it will address some of the issues with the device (such as the lack of multitasking) within the next 6 months. What’s that reason? The iPad is still running iPhone 3.2. I’m sure Apple did not want to take any of the spotlight away from announcing this device by also announcing a new version of the iPhone OS, so they launched it with software that we are familiar with. The next iPhone OS will likely bring a slew of new features for the iPhone (if not new hardware), so that is a large enough announcement in itself. I expect the new features will also relate to the iPad given that they devices are running the same software. I think there may even be a change to how Apple refers to the iPhone OS given that the name ‘iPhone OS’ no longer seems to make much sense. The iPad is very much NOT a phone. Perhaps we’ll see Apple move towards a new OS name, something such as Mac OS X Mobile. That would better encompass the mobile devices Apple is producing, and even makes more sense when including the iPod touch into the product mix.

I think that the iPad will be successful, and despite my comments, I’ll probably still get one. Ok, no, I’ll definitely get one. I have a feeling that shortly after the device launches (if not before) we’ll be learning about new features about the device that will make us say “wow” – at least, I hope so.