Context
We all perceive the usefulness of these devices differently depending on our lifestyle, so let me tell you where I come from. I spend most of my time using a powerful desktop computer (a PC) with a very large display. If I need to get some real work done outside of the office, I use a laptop (Sony Vaio, or Macbook Pro + Win7). On the go, I keep track of emails with a smartphone, but I tend to reply only moderately from a cellphone because typing long emails is painful (even more so on a touchscreen phone). I check news websites a lot, and I often use a laptop in my couch. Now you know...
External design (Beautiful)
iPad Review
I won't spend a whole lot of time describing what the device looks like (check our iPad unboxing photo gallery). There are a few highlights:
The build quality is excellent. The aluminium back feels great under the finger and nothing feels cheap. There is an audio jack connector for headphones, and a microphone for apps that need it. The speaker is on the bottom of the device where the "Home" button is. The audio quality is so-so and the maximum speaker volume is too soft for my taste. My advice: use headphones whenever possible. The volume button is accessible and active whenever the iPad is playing something.
Other than the standard 3.5mm audio jack, the only external connector is the proprietary Apple connector, which seems similar to the one found on the iPhone.A number of accessories can be connected to that, and this is the only wired way to connect to the outside world. Update: I've spotted an iPad to VGA connector at the Apple Store.
The iPad is heavier than most people expect: at 1.5lbs to 1.6lbs (3G), it is heavy enough so that my wrist would get tired after less than 30mn of firmly holding it. $499 is a good amount of money, but making something with this build quality at that price is not easy. iPad technical specifications on Apple's website
Display (Very good)
iPad Review
Apple has made sure that the display is a high-quality one
The display deserves its own section: with a resolution of 1024x768, it has a seemingly low pixel density compared to select high-end smartphones. That said, everything looks sharp and colorful. The contrast and colors are very nice (dare I say "Amazing"?). Plus, the brightness distribution is very stable regardless of the viewing angle.
iPad Review
The iPad display in an "outdoor" simulation
In direct sunlight, you will get a good amount of reflections, but overall, the iPad display does OK, especially if you are looking at an image with bright colors. If you are watching a dark movie, only a trans-reflective display could help you in that situation. Note that the iPhone 3GS display is slightly better in direct sunlight.
iPad Review
The thick bezel is useful after all
I've heard many complaints about the thick bezel around the screen. There's no question that thinner is better, but the bezel is currently needed because your thumb or another finger will land on it while firmly holding the device. If it wasn't for the bezel, your fingers would be on an active touch surface and that would interfere with the user interface (UI).
iPad Review
Does the iPad cause eye strain? Not for me
Eye strain: some fear that reading from an LCD display would cause headaches and eyestrain. I can only speak for myself, but I have not experienced any eyestrain, and you can imagine that I've been spending a lot of time on the device to write this review. However, remember that I'm looking at a computer LCD most of the time anyway...
User Interface (Easy)
iPad Review
Looks familiar?
For those who have used an iPhone or an iPod touch, there is no learning curve whatsoever. It's the same look (with many additions) and feel and you'll be productive right away. If you are not familiar with it, this is arguably one of the best touch interface out there, and I expect most people to be able to ramp up fairly quickly.
There is a lot of: "grand parents would love it". May be so, but this is largely unproven. I think that most people who believe this have never actually tested it on their tech-averse relatives. If you have, feel free to drop a comment at the end of the review. Anyway, if you are thinking about getting one for an elderly person, just keep in mind that: 1/ it might not be as easy as you think it is. 2/ A computer is still required to register and setup the device. As a side note, Gartner forcasts that by 2015, the majority of computer purchased for kids under 15 will have a touch screen.
Media Consumption (Very good)
The iPad promises to "revolutionize" how we consume media, in a "magical" way, according to Apple. "Magic" is an exaggeration, but yes, this is going to shake some habits.
Books
iPad Review
Colorful books are nice...
iBooks: I like the user interface of the Apple book reader, it's simple and readable, it has a search feature and most importantly, most books (if not all) come with a free sample. Overall, I don't think that there is such a big difference between the Apple book reader and the Kindle reader when it comes to the act of reading but... Amazon seems to be a better book provider.
Kindle for iPad : Amazon has done a good job of making its Kindle app available on many platforms. As a result, it is possible to buy a book from Amazon on the iPad (on amazon.com) and bypass Apple completely. The great thing about the Kindle app is that once you own a book, you can re-download it on as many devices as you want (PC, iPhone, etc...). Kindle also lets you take notes, if you care about that. Finally, Amazon has about 450k book versus Apple's 60k - oh and Amazon eBooks are getting cheaper too.
iPad Review
But comics are Amazing!
Comics: the Marvel comics look fantastic! This is really a great demonstration of what's possible on a nice color display and why black and white is not a sustainable value proposition. The Marvel app is a must-see and there are free comics for you to try it with. Now, I would *love it* if Marvel would make the old comics available...
Reading colorful comics and magazines on the iPad (Watch in HD)
iPad Review
GQ: I've never seen a magazine with so much ads in it
Magazines: I'm a big fan of magazines and I had high expectations for them on the iPad. At the moment, it's promising, but I don't think that I'll buy them by the dozen each month. First, you don't know what you're getting before you pay. Secondly, some are really overpriced. Time Magazine (which has a 2.5/5 rating in the app store) sells for $4.99 while you can get the 12-issues subscription for less than $10 on amazon: this is lame. Others (3D Artist) will sell you the app that is needed to download the magazine itself... For the sake of this review, I bought GQ and one issue of 3D Artist (this one is messy). Overall, they are visually very promising but not quite there yet: it's buggy and often slow. Also, while there is only one way to read a paper magazine, each e-mag has its own set of user interface rules... not good.
PDF files: the iPad has great support for .PDF files. It is much faster than the Kindle to handle those and the rendering is much better. If you are reading complex PDF files, this is a no-brainer.
The iPad crushes the Kindle at handling PDFs (Watch in HD)
News
iPad Review
USA Today is my favorite news app: clear and fast
The arrival of the iPad got many publishers excited. Thanks to the "pad" form-factor, many have dedicated applications to access their content. There are many out there, but I tried three to give you a sense of what was out there.
This is what e-Newspapers look like (Watch in HD)
USA Today: This is my favorite implementation of a news app. It is well laid out and very fast to load and navigate. Unfortunately, it does not offer video playback. Content is free.
BBC: BBC is fast and clear. It looks more like a mobile website than a "newspaper", but I don't think that the "newspaper feel" is really what I'm looking for. I want good and readable news, that's it. BBC features video as well. Content is free.
Wall Street Journal: WSJ is mostly a subscription/paid content service. They arguably have a great design that looks the most like a "newspaper", but I was disappointed after using it. It's slow, seem buggy and freezes for a few seconds after each page turn, this is annoying.
Bloomberg: I usually go to Yahoo Finance to keep track of the markets, but the Bloomberg App is very well done and lets me follow a bunch of things (indices, news, currencies..) better and more clearly than I would on their website. Because there is less display surface, the developers had to prioritize the important content. The result is a no-nonsense information access. It's free too.
Video
An episode of "V" from iTunes (Watch in HD)
Netflix: I tried watching a few movies on Netflix and it worked beautifully. The streaming movie resolution is slightly inferior to the iPad's 1024x768 display, so things are not as sharp as they could be, but it's enjoyable enough to have a good time.
YouTube: Youtube has more high-resolution content, so we tried watching a few movie trailers and they all came out looking smooth and sharp - much better than anything we've seen on Netflix anyway. Can't wait for the Hulu app...
Movie Trailer from YouTube ( in HD)
DLNA: If you don't know what DLNA is, skip this paragraph. Apple doesn't support DLNA network access out of the box, but I spotted at least one app that brings DLNA support to the iPad: http://plugplayer.com/. Remember that you are still limited to whatever formats the iPad player supports.
Music
The user interface is a little different from the iPhone version, but music playback basically works well, there's not much to report on that front. it's an iPod after all.
Productivity (Below average)
iPad Review
At 60 words per minute, this is much better than a smartphone,
yet, less than a netbook
Virtual keyboard: after typing on it for some time, here's my feedback: it is so much better than a smartphone in either portrait or landscape mode. However, this is not as fast as a 10" Netbook keyboard, or a full-sized keyboard. Here's my own typing speed: 60 words per minute (wpm) with the iPad, 70wpm on a Netbook and around 80wpm with a full-size keyboard. Personally, I think that the iPad is great for casual typing (one paragraph email replies), but I don't like sustained typing (10mn+) on the virtual keyboard.
iPad Review
Email is comfy is efficient, I like it a lot
Email: The email experience is comfortable, in some ways, more so than on a Netbook. Because the Mail application user interface is tailored to a small display, it is better than it would be on a 10" Netbook with Outlook or Gmail. Emails are easy to read and it's also easy to switch from one account to the next.
iPad Review
The calendar are easy to glance at and very readable
Calendar: the calendar is another element that benefits from an increased display size. Looking at a week's worth of appointments can be done easily. In two taps, you can ener in Edit Mode and change the time and other properties of an event. Cool stuff.
iPad Review
I use Memeo Connect to check on Google Docs and to sync files (free)
File management: Outside of iTunes, there's little to no way to manage files. Apps are so sandboxed that their access to files are severely limited. If you email yourself a PDF file, you will be able to open it, but not save it. I don't think that you can even create a folder to dump stuff. Photos from emails can be saved in the "photos" directory, but not elsewhere. Whether it is for security (sandbox) or simplicity reasons, I don't like it. I want a "user" folder that I can organize the way I want, and access it like a USB key - most other devices work that way. In the meantime, I use Memeo Connect Reader (free) and Google Doc files to work around this. It works pretty well, but it's a little more work than just dragging and dropping to a folder.
iWorks: Microsoft has announced that there would not be a version of Microsoft Office for iPad, but Apple has its own productivity suite, that is getting rave reviews. In the end, I think that the question is: how much typing can you really do on this platform? For me, the answer is "not much", so regardless of how good the software is, you ultimately are the limit.
Gaming (Getting better, but...)
Gameloft's Asphalt 5 for iPad (Watch in HD)
Hardcore gamers might consider the iPhone platform to be a sub-par gaming system, but commercially, it is quickly becoming huge. I'm probably a hardcore gamer but I try to stay open-minded: recent 3D games do look great on the iPad and this is only the beginning. The thing that I dislike about iPad gaming is the tactile controls. I just prefer a game controller, a keyboard+mouse or a wheel. You might or might not like it better - there's only one way to find out: try playing on an iPhone or an iPad.
Ipad Advantages
The iPad comes with it's ups and downs. For some people it might be a better option than a netbook although they still have their advantages over the iPad as well. What are some things the iPad might be better for?
The iPad is much lighter than any other netbook on the market. It's designed is made in such a way that it's easy to carry around your house, put in a book bag, or hand to another person quickly and easily.
It comes on much faster than a netbook. If you need to quickly check something with only a few minutes of time, you can have completed your task on the iPad before most netbooks are booted and ready to go.
The iPad has the advantage that the screen can be horizontal or vertical. Even with the same sized screen, one can use their iPad to get the best viewing angle for that specific web page or application.
By default the iPad has an all day battery that is good for 10 hours. Many netbooks out of the box only have about 3 or 4 hours of battery life although this can be upgraded.
One can get a 3g connection data plan with the iPad meaning this device could be useful in most places where you travel with it. Some netbooks do have this feature but most of them do not.
Some netbook users will disagree because they use their netbook differently and make some good arguments because the iPad is lacking in many areas. But there are some significant advantages for those who want a simple, easy internet and media device.
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