Apple iPad Review

Introduction:

From its executive name alone, The Apple iPad leaves a statement of a high-end consumer electronic product. A product that presents a major idea put to test using creativity and innovativeness.

Upon its innovation, the Apple iPad was initially called by many names including the Apple Tablet, the Slate and the Canvas as it struggled to make a distinct identity that would fit perfectly its legacy but the very promise of a revolutionary product never changed.

And the re-launch of Apple iPad brought to the market a new breed of third-generation computers that the market has never before seen but were willing to embrace and welcome as a newborn as long as it would help solve the many problems in this existing market.

And the iPad has proven triumphant to its successor, the iPhone, and its bigger older relative the MacBook version which is the successful predecessor to the netbook laptop family. Apple has not minced its words by promising to give its customers not just a larger version of its ipod touch but a radical and delightful computing experience with the Apple iPad. And it’s no marketing gimmick or publicity stunt that Apple promises a complete overhaul of the Personal Computer market.  But we can only confirm whether these big terms that Apple iPad has been associated with, and even bigger ones like “magical” and “revolutionary”, are an overstatement, if we did a complete dissection of the product.

Let’s divide this review into Hardware Analysis, then Software Analysis and finally do a conclusion and recommendation.

Hardware Analysis

The Apple iPad is a beauty to behold. It has a design that leaves a hazy perception to the eyesight such that it’s even hard to make believe that you are actually looking at it. On its frontal surface, it has a touch screen that basically takes up most of this surface. The statistics of this capacitive screen will leave you dumbfounded if not outrightly surprised; read me here-it has 1024 x 768 mega pixels, a multitouch LED backlit display and it is 9.7 inches diagonally!  This highly sensitive screen is surrounded by a dark lustrous bezel that prevents the iPad from being activated involuntarily when in your carrycase or when you don’t really intend to use it but made a brush on its surface. The other notable feature on the front is the home button that gives you the leeway to your iPhone. A deeper synopsis of the back side of the iPad reveals that elegantly looking Apple logo inscribed on top of water-proof and rust-proof shiny aluminum.

The iPad has that smooth feel once it rests amiably on top of your palm though one can only make out how cold it would feel if it came in touch with your cheek on a cold early morning, you’d probably scream, wouldn’t you? With a device that promises that magical experience it came as no surprise that it was only ½ an inch thick but there were doubts with its being “revolutionary” when the weighing scale read 1.5 pounds!

The tablet also does has other peripheral support no wonder there is a headphone and the power jack and the hardware also does house a volume and screen position lock,  a power/screen button, and a solo slim speaker.  To add to the typing experience there is the 30- pin dock connector. It’s a bit hectic to try and type using the iPad while holding it with one hand and using the other one to type. It gets to the slow single-hand hunt-and-peck typing. Plus the iPad is a little bit weighty and you’d get a muscle-pool even before you finished with a single paragraph. But it gives users a wonderful experience when placed on their lap or tabletop and typed with both hands like they do with the MacBook. Of course this flat-typing requires some bit of training but you’ll soon get used to unless you are completely a slow-learner, of course.

Internals

The combo of a solo Cortex A8 and a PowerVR SGX GPU powers the iPad like no other computing device of its nature. It has a working memory of close to 512 MB (citation needed) and strong Wi-Fi system, a 2.1 reception radius Bluetooth and for travelers and navigators it has a powerful digital compass. Also in the offing to this package is an accelerometer, a microphone and an internal light sensor.

Some models will give you that all-round 3G experience and have an addition UMTS/HSDPA data and a Global Positioning chip. Some features like these look more at home with Rocket Scientist and the 64 GB internal memory iPads but Apple is dedicated to give you a complete device. You probably need the 16GB and 32GB cheaper versions.
The iPad employs the use of a powerhouse from its 1GHz speed A4 system that opens documents and processes files like a supercomputer. In fact with the speed and ease with which it renders WebPages and plays those high-powered videos and games you would not be wrong to make-believe that you were dealing with one. No hanging, no hiccups nothing like warning dialogue boxes and nothing like that ‘not responding’ that we all love to hate. From the Applications Icon, dealing with Photos and images was a brand new experience all-together; you can download and open photos with utmost clarity, rotate, edit and Zoom IN or OUT in split seconds. Other apps like games opened quickly and offered high resolution images with fine-tuned pixels.

The biggest undoing with the iPad is its inability to multi-task. This becomes painstakingly so with such an expensive product that can ironically open apps with so much speed. So, every app has to be opened only after the other is over. But the iPad adds so much functionality to opening downloads and it’s a clear indication of better things to come.

Display

The only interface of the user with the iPad is the 9.7-inch LED backlit screen and Apple has worked particularly hard to ensure that this very interface is worthwhile. It’s capacitative, has a multitouch capability and just like the iPhone it has human-like responsiveness that handles inputs efficiently. It has high resolution of colors such that blacks are true blacks and the bright colors appear brighter and better. There is also a feature that allows users to control the brightness. The IPS (in-plane switching) also allows for safe angle viewing. And even though the iPad is not as efficient as the e-Book reader as reading device it’s not that bad either and doesn’t cause much eye tire. Plus it also incorporates an application known as iBook that allows you deal with reading e-books.

Peripheral Devices

There is the signature Apple Home Button that you use to launch basically all iPad’s features, the volume control keys, the rotation lock switch, the solo speaker with surprising clarity and sound controls ability and the 30-pin connector a distinct addition feature with apple products. The biggest disappointment in the peripherals is the lack of a card reader or a USB slot. In this technology age where sharing, swapping and back-up is a must and where the word flash-disk is the in-thing it’s a failure on the company’s side to deny its customers the USB slot. Subjecting customers also to the inconveniences of having to purchase an extra Card Reader is an abomination, not with the possession of a device of class like an Apple iPad! You would also impress and leave a statement if you were chatting on a video conference to your employees using the iPad, wouldn’t it! Or imagine chatting to your friends abroad and inviting your course-mates for a cook-out on Skype or iChat not in a cyber but using a sleek device! Sorry, not the iPad. It will deny you this very fantasy since it doesn’t have a webcam! It’s one of those omissions that makes you hate someone but not the ‘innocent’ device. “How could you?” is all you can ask.

But then there is that old school line of ‘room for improvement’ but with technology that seems to change overnight, this was surely anti-Apple to do. Something else that was a complete failure of the design was putting the headphone jack at top of the device instead of the standard side position. You know what? Am tired of all this headphone debate. Why can’t they just come up with a perfect wireless creation that will not make us technologically redundant but technology savvy?

Software Analysis

If you’ve used the iPhone then you probably have noticed that it has grids of icons, a display for time and status and a dock for up to six of your favorite Apps. The iPad is no different in many senses and employs the use of an Operating System for mobile devices known simply as OS X. Basically speaking there is little change to the User Interface except the addition of a few machine-user interacting tools.

They include the Pop-overs, Cascades, tap-and-hold, Toolbar drop-downs, tabs and virtual keyboard.

Pop-Overs or modals: These are windows or menus that are displayed on top of the main content you were dealing with to give you more detailed information of the sub-menus or sub-folders contained in a folder or an icon. Like if you tapped on music albums and you’ve stored different genre say reggae, Rnb and Pop, Pop Overs will display the list of artistes say Bob Marley, Peter Torch, etc. A further click will display another modal showing the track by these artistes and so on.

Cascades: these are simply split screens that divides the screen with various contents of an application. In other words you can view other sub-menus on your screen while you work on the main menu.

Tap-and-Hold: think of how a long press works with your power button on your PC. Apple have now expanded this use so that you can dig into menus and sub-menus of a particular file or application by tapping and holding on it

Toolbar drop-downs: Improvements to the iPhone, Toolbars in the iPad are menus with more functionality and options that allow you edit your pages.

Contextual Menus

Contextual menus are different from tap-and-hold in that it displays a series of momentarily appearing screens that displays menus and sub-menu’s as you scroll through your iPad. Tap-and-hold gives you only context specific menus but in contextual menus you only perform a single tap.

Tabs (Cover flows): Tabs are also called Coverflows and enables one to scroll into menus and sub-menus very much similar to Safari applications.

Virtual Keyboard: I’d advice using the virtual Keyboard in Landscape Mode as opposed to Portrait mode because then it’s bigger, better and more functional. In fact it makes typing faster and surprisingly accurate.

What is the Inference of using the Apple iPad?

• The iPad looks like a computer but feels like an iPhone.

If you don’t know what I mean then you’ve probably never used an iPhone. But once you get an iPad going it just seems to be operating like a laptop,  in fact do not be surprised if a novice called it a laptop but its functionality is what makes it a different device altogether. From the use of a different operating system to use of different names for normal files and folders, the iPad provides a completely different device from your conventional computer. No wonder Engadget and other technology editors refer to it as a tablet because it would feel like sand in the tongue to call it a computer.

An iPad has so many additional User Interfaces and those new words you’ll get different from your conventional interfaces will provide the links and keywords that will open you up to your brand new experience and help you perform wonders.

• Inability to Hold up to the Challenge of multi-tasking

Reviewers of technology are often very hard when it comes to new devices that don’t support functions that were present in earlier innovations, not as long as those innovations have not yet been phased out. They’ve thus not minced word to point out that the iPad failed significantly here by omitting this very vital function. It’s true that Apple has come up with a different computing experience with the widely reviewed and user-friendly iPad that has left application developers rushing to catch up and create apps that can be supported by the different OS of the iPad. So they’ve built Marvel app, TweetDeck and Sketchbook Pro but that is no reason to deny users ability to compose a mail while at the same time updating their settings or chatting on Twitter. Of course a Smartphone OS only allows one task at any single time but to call the iPad a Smartphone would be understatement. Painstakingly so, even though that does not mean you won’t continue using and loving your iPad, those of you who are fond of listening to music while chatting and typing at the same time, will have to get used to finishing typing fast, then chatting while all through pausing their music player.

• Dealing with notifications

The problem of multitasking is amplified further by how the iPad deals with notifications.

If you were typing an email and you get a notification say from someone chatting to you, the iPad freezes your functionality to your mail and pops-up the notification message that you must either first respond to or dismiss. These can be irritatingly interruptive especially so if they are many. Apple should just be content enough and accept what  Other OS’es like Android and web OS that allow you to handle multitasking are doing, to be the most efficient and acceptable way.

On the contrary, where the iPad fails there always seem to be a consolation to augment this and the User Interface is very User Friendly with easy to grasp steps coupled up with power to perform tasks. Perhaps what is driving iPads more than what critiques had thought is its ability to blend well with other third party applications that are simply brilliant.

Built-in Applications

The iPad has some notable applications that make it so. Most are new and are integrated into it and can be summarized as below:

Mobile Safari

The word Safari is a Swahili word that loosely translated means “travel.” Of course tourists are taken on a Safari to experience; To experience the white sand beaches, the wildlife, the expansive grasslands of Savannah, the amazing Mara and of course the beauty. I don’t know whether this was what Apple’s C.E.O had in mind  as far as browsing is concerned but the legendary Steve Jobs talked of the Mobile Safari as “The best browsing experience you’ve ever had”  Apple lives up to this futuristic challenge quite handsomely and browsing is silky and fast. You can rotate your screen either landscape or portrait mode, the finger based browsing is overly enjoyable and you can make do of the bookmark bar for your favorite pages, the scrollbar and the Coverflows with few if any technological hitches.
But to say it’s the best like Job proposes is quite debatable. You’ve probably used the normal browsers and let’s say you want to download some MP3, for instance, directly from the net. If you had not earlier downloaded a Flash reader, it would be impossible to install your MP3 and an Adobe dialogue box will likely appear advising you to first install the Flash Reader so that you can download your applications thereafter. Then Adobe will guide you to install the Flash Reader. Now Flash (not the normal flash disc) is the web standard that Adobe created to allow web users get the full display of web contents. That has been the industry norm and the reception of Flash on Web browsers has been overwhelming- in fact it has been almost a MUST. Apple on the other hand think otherwise and to them Flash should not remain as the sole standard. So they came up with HTML5 their Standard to all Apple products including the iPad. Considering that Apple isn’t as old as its older competitors, one would say the HTML5 has been a success. In fact it has converted one percent of the websites on the entire internet. But is one percent sufficient to call it the best? Probably it’s a denial to its customer the ability to enjoy the standard for rich media in web- browsing.

The implications are far-reaching especially if you’ve never tried web-browsing using the iPhone or any other Apple product. Try opening sites like HBO and you will get a rude shock. Others like Hulu, NBC and Apples new acquisition Lala will open but you’ll be disappointed not to be able to access everything. The good old Dialogue Box that ‘demands’ of Flash will always appear or otherwise you will have to contently live with half-baked information. So whether Apple derivers on Jobs promise of “the best browsing experience” which is very brilliant indeed can only are countered by comparing between the alternatives. I think the only other superior alternative which is Flash has carried the day.

iBooks

The very design of the iPad makes it scream as an e-reader. In fact e-readers just want to try out the tablet as an e-book. And Apple seems to have got it right this time with disallowing the sleek big LED backlit screen to be put to waste. What better way to celebrate this beauty to behold that to utilize it as an e-reader. The iBook application just allows you that with simple but functional features like the brightness adjusting button to protect your eyes, a library search button so you can dig into your saved e-books, a chapter button that allows a quick jump to the chapter you stopped last time, a font size option to allow change your e-book characteristics and face option, and of course the search drop down.

As I had indicated earlier the iPad uses good use of the long press ability and there is probably nowhere else where you can make good use like when using the iBook. You can long press for your edit options (copy/ paste), get an e-dictionary or the synonyms, bookmark or even search options. And you are not alone when turning those pages, there are the page turning animations that add into the experience though there are not functionally useful. This e-book reader from Apple is very intuitive and as a user you’d probably not ask for more when reading using this iBooks.

Calendars/ Contacts

These are not a pioneer of the iPad but they give users the ability to keep proper schedules using a split screen format though at interval (remember it doesn’t allow for multi-tasking). The calendar App gives you a full month view that helps in your activity organization, all in a deep satisfying experience.

Mail

Though you can work on a split screen, speedily and rapidly, the Mail in the iPad is a failure especially so with the disability of the user to export a .txt file not just into the device’s email system but also to other applications on the device. The other undoing is the reversed roles of having to export a file into the mail system instead of just importing one into your e-mail. Which comes first, the composing or importing?

iTunes/ iBookstore/App Store

The iTunes, iBookstore and the App Store are a success with Apple and are generating sales like none has done before. It’s an efficient experience to dig for those titles you want, preview them and make a purchase. The iPad enables you to view many titles in an easy to identify with; long list and those Pop overs that show you the sub menus, are just a bomb. And with that legendary iBook, the iBookstore promises you have enough materials to keep you occupied for a very long time unless maybe you are not a fan of Philip Dick and George Martin. Apart from the paid for downloads there are also numerous free titles so that you can get a feel of the waters you are trending on.

Video app/ iPod/ YouTube

The video app is nice and functional with impressive capabilities. The iPod app is an improvement but it’s a little of a disappointment considering it does make good use of the iTunes app and all the multi-media it has to offer. YouTube app seems to utilize the split screen better and allows you view those coveted videos while still enables you comment on them.

iPhone app

It’s necessary though it’s an app you can do without. It allows you to have an interface with that coveted cousin of the iPad and you can run most if not all of the over 150,000 apps in the iPhone. The impressive thing is you can run these apps in either the full mode or restored mode.

The iWork suite

In the iWork suite there is the Numbers, Keynote and Pages. Not everybody who owns an iPad, though, uses them but if you try them out you will love the idea. It’s just like those “to do” notepads found in offices that makes work somehow easier and reminds you of pertinent issues but just because you don’t use them doesn’t mean you get fired. The only improvement that needs to be done is a more defined saving format with a complete furnished database

Other Third Party Apps

Apart from the above in-built stuff, there are also other numerous apps compatible with iPad that provide for a greater experience:

There is the marvelous Marvel, the ABC video player(an imitation of that Adobe’s Flash we mentioned earlier), the movie solution Netlix, the e-newspapers the USA Today, the wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the Yahoo! Entertainment shocker, Twitter’s iPad solution the Tweet Deck and Sketchbook pro and Brushes that allows for page-making capabilities

Battery Life

The incapability of any device to hold up power and prolong the battery life and lifespan can make a great device lose its market and go under. Talk of other devices but not the iPad. 10 hours and more of non-stop high multimedia apps running, high powered games and lots of twisting and turning and the iPads battery won’t disappoint you. It’s a great feat from the company and all one can say is kudos. Play those videos, check those mails, get your music player banging, and do some 3D games and you’ll be assured the battery will be resilient enough and hold-up to these challenges

CONCLUSION

The iPad is surely a revolutionary product though with many shortcoming on the part of the design. Whether it’s a success or a failure is hard to just say. In fact, the true picture can only be laid bare with comparing between the alternatives in the market, especially so with the PC.

1. a. PC and iPad: The PC maybe irreplaceable and unbeatable but the iPad is un-ignorable. You just have to love the new propositions that Apple have brought into the computing world with this revolutionary product.
2. b. Laptop and iPad: the most distinguishing thing that iPad marketers have emphasized on is that an iPad is not a laptop, neither is it a substitute to the laptop. This is so since the iPad doesn’t have those Excel spreadsheets, Word or other applications found in the laptop or Mac apps. Therefore, you don’t purchase the iPad as a substitute rather as a supplementary to the laptop.

RECOMMENDATION

The iPad is made for people who love exciting challenges, more of an adventure. Those who love upping their technological game and want an experience out of the norm. It’s for the computer whizz kids and technological geeks who will find a blemish in any product in the market but will none-the-less embrace all ideas incorporated in these products, because to them as long as someone slept late innovating something there must have been some inspiration, there must have been a hidden agenda and sense of feat; they want to be part of this.