The Apple iPad, Impressions...

To save the impatient types some trouble, here’s my TL;DR. After less than 36 hours of ownership, my iPad has been sold on Craigslist. Why you ask? I wish that were a simple answer. I wish I could easily say I loved or hated it. Rather than give my two cents on polarizing issues such as hardware choice, OS choice, and Flash support I want to focus on my real world experience with the actual device. Despite what Apple says, it is for all intents and purposes, a bigger and faster iPod Touch, nothing more, nothing less. Over the last two days it has been a love/hate relationship with my iPad. I love the form factor, the super responsive touch interface, the beautiful screen, the fast processor and the astounding battery life. Handling it is a pleasure. At 1.5 pounds it has a heft to it, but pleasantly so. Never before have I described browsing the web as feeling ergonomic. Also, never before has browsing the web felt so frustrating.

I know I’m looking for trouble by pointing out Apple’s lack (and more specifically, Steve Job’s personal hatred) of Flash support but it is painfully obvious within minutes of using the device. Don’t get me wrong, Adobe’s proprietary content delivery method could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn’t shed a tear but today, right now, it is an integral part of the web. Regardless of how you feel about it, it’s the truth. It means I am unable to use some of my favorite web destinations on my iPad. Rather than feeling like I’m helping drive some sort of technological innovation it feels like Apple is just using me as a means to its technopolitical end.

In my time using the iPad, Safari crashed maybe a dozen times while browsing the web. I don’t remember what I was doing at the time of each crash but it sure wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I can’t remember the last time Firefox or Chrome crashed on me, especially under normal web surfing conditions. Also, major apps from ABC and the New York Times crashed several times. Maybe I should expect this sort of thing being an early adopter but I don’t really buy that excuse. While it is running on new hardware the iPhone OS is in its third major revision. I doubt the Safari code has changed much between the iPhone and iPad versions. Also, Apple and it’s developers have had a lot of time to prepare these applications for launch day. In my opinion this level of instability is unacceptable.

The iPhone and iPod Touch have been great successes because they do one thing very well and have a lot of fringe benefits. The iPod Touch is a fantastic mp3 player that also happens to have a good web browser and can play games. The iPhone is an awesome phone that is also a fantastic mp3 player which can browse the web and play games. The iPad is also all of these things (sans the phone) except it excels at none of them. It lacks focus and despite Apple’s marketing might, I don’t think many people are going to feel compelled to add a third device to their laptop and iPhone party. At most it will be a marginal success. At worst it will be relegated to the depths of the Apple TV. I wouldn't mind having an iPad. As an occasional light web surfer, ebook reader or media viewer it would be handy to have around. However, at $299 the iPad would be a superfluous luxury item, even for the most hardcore gadget geek. At $499 it is a blatant money grab by Apple. I’ll take an iPhone and a netbook for that price any day of the week.

Courier: Microsoft's Secret Tablet Project

Gizmodo has a piece on Microsoft's latest secret project, the Courier. While everyone is waiting for Apple to produce a tablet to be used with their latest OS Microsoft has been working with third party developers and consultants to produce something very different from what we have seen in the past.

The Courier has two 7 inch screens side by side that are capable of multitouch and pen input. It seems to be using an interface similar to that of the Microsoft surface. There is no physical keyboard. All signs point to this being a real device that is in a late prototype stage.

This thing looks pretty cool in my opinion. I await further details and most importantly, pricing information. You can read more about it and see a concept video by following this link to Gizmodo's site.

Traffic On Google Maps Gets Personal

Google has upgraded their traffic reporting service within Google Maps to include real time data from real people stuck in the rat race. If you have Google Maps open on your iPhone or Andriod device your heading and speed can be sent to big Google Maps brother. It aggregates this data from little minions all around the US and is supposedly is very effective. It even collects data on secondary roads so you can settle the age old debate of whether or not to take the back roads. Google calls this crowdsourcing. I thank those who are gracious enough to give up their privacy for my benefit. Check out the entry on Google's official blog explaining the feature in detail.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bright-side-of-sitting-in-traffic.html

Here is more information from Consumerist about the secondary road information.

http://consumerist.com/5346170/google-aims-to-answer-the-question-but-if-i-get-off-the-highway-wont-it-just-be-worse

Google-AT&T-Apple fight over Net calls draws FCC interest

It appears Google has apparently "Apple'd it up" in regards to the Skype application on Andriod. According to this article from USA today Skype's full blown application has been denied on the Andriod platform. Users are made to use Skype Lite which essentially connects the call via the traditional phone network and soaks up cell minutes. I don't have an Andriod device to test this with but it's an insteresting position for Google to take during the Google/Apple/AT&T battle.

"Android users get Skype Lite, a watered-down version of the original that routes calls over traditional phone networks — not the Internet. As a result, long-distance calls are still cheap or free, but cellphone minutes are gobbled up every time a Skype Lite call is made."

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-08-20-google-internet-calls-apple_N.htm

WSJ: Why AT&T Killed Google Voice

Andy Kessler of the Wall Street Journal has an excellent summary and commentary on recent events between Google and Apple. I agree with most of his views. It's time to change the way we think about communications (basically there is no such thing as voice, cable tv, text messages, etc because it's all just data) rather than try to cling on to the old way of doing things.

It is a very good read (i.e. did you know text messages cost $5,000 per megabyte?). Check it out here.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204683204574358552882901262.html