After almost two weeks with the iPad, I thought I would throw together my thoughts on the device thus far. Overall, it gets a high rating, but it’s not ready for deployment in schools just yet (for students anyway, more on that later). I should also mention that while the iPad wasn’t necessarily designed to compete with netbooks/laptops, I’ve reviewed it as if it was. After all, most of the laptop toting I do to meetings, conferences, home and back, etc., is because I simply need to take notes, create documents, and access the web/email, which this device can do.
The Good Stuff:
Instant-On
The instant-on functionality just kills the laptop. I had a meeting with a vendor yesterday and we waited 3-4 minutes while he fired up his laptop and connected to our wireless network. This alone precipitates so many other “pros” of the iPad, like visiting news aggregators to catch a quick update on the day’s events, or taking notes in a meeting. I have Google Reader on my BlackBerry but it takes too long to load and the text/screen size is too small to plow through a lot of news. In two minutes I can cover so much ground on USA Today’s app., and Newsy’s video recaps are a great way to avoid having to read at all (something I enjoy after a long day at work).
Note Taking
Finally, an easy way to type notes in a meeting w/out pen and paper. The basic notes app. that comes with the iPad is all I have been using, but I hear there are some nice, robust notes apps out there. Once I turned off the keyboard clicking sounds, my note taking was nearly silent, and in landscape mode, I can really fly on the keyboard.
Media Consumption
It’s what the device was intended for (according to Apple anyway). TV shows, movies, iBooks, music, Pandora radio…simply the best device so far to quickly access and play media. Major potential here for schools, especially in terms of e-text books, streamed content from providers like NBC and Discovery, and the list goes on.
The Apps
Tons of them, and even those that are available freely on the web (like Pandora) are almost always not as good as the dedicated iPad apps in terms of easy of use, and the overall user experience (you don’t have to worry about browser compatibility, pop ups, etc.).
Touch Screen
Apple continues to corner the market with their touch screen technology…sliding to flip pages, pinching to condense… makes life easier when compared to mouse pointing and clicking once you get good at it.
Battery Life
Not too bad for version 1. I can get through 2-3 days at my casual usage rate…add a power doc and home or work and users should never run low unless using it heavily all day long.
The Not So Good Stuff (for now)
Multitasking
I can’t even listen to Pandora while surfing the web…however, with the iPhone 4, looks like they have tackled the issue, so it shouldn’t be long before multiple apps can run at once on the iPad too.
Wireless Connectivity
The thing is really finicky on older wireless routers…it likes N…so my B/G router at home drops the connection frequently. No problems at work where we have a robust B/G/N network.
Web Browsing
Flash, Google Docs editing…gotta have ‘em. Also, with so many dedicated apps that build their content within the parameters of the screen size, you get pampered with a great user experience, making normal web page surfing cumbersome (pinching, spreading, tapping on small links). This raises the question; “Will I ever go to CNN.com again, when I have the CNN app?” It will be interesting to see how the development of websites and apps plays out over the next few years in an age where mobile devices (the hardware) are driving the market, and companies are developing multiple applications to accommodate multiple devices.
Projection
I’m basing this on second hand accounts, but I hear you can’t connect the iPad to an LCD projector and project everything you see on the screen…only certain apps. That has to change, especially for schools.
Multi-User Environments
One of my employees had the device prior to me…and his account ties to iTunes and other applications keep popping up. The iPad was clearly designed for one user…so buying a cart of 10 for a classroom may not be practical just yet. However, as a 1:1 device, it has real potential. It provides that needed, bigger screen to allow for desktop publishing/typing/surfing, and with an extended battery life and a slew of educational apps, it will have real classroom appeal. However, districts that want to centrally manage the devices in a large scale deployment will undoubtedly have concerns over imaging, app installation, and other tasks traditionally done en mass…none of which, to my knowledge, can be done on the iPad yet.
