Once you get a chance to play with the iPad, you will never look at using a computer the same way again. It’s as simple as that. Apple released its much hyped product over the weekend, and with its introduction comes a major shift in how the general public perceives its relationship with computers. If that sounds like hyperbole, hold your cynicism until you’ve had the chance to play with one.
It’s no mistake that the device’s dimensions are identical to a high school composition notebook. As a reader, the device is nearly perfect. Book, magazine, and comic producers are lining up in droves to provide entertainment and educational content for the device. And thanks to Project Guttenberg over 30,000 books will be available free of charge.
What about television and movies? At the distance you’ll naturally hold an iPad, it will be larger than your big screen television. Don’t believe me. Sit on your couch with a ten inch pad of paper in your lap and then hold it at the same distance between you and your flat screen. My television’s about twelve feet away from the couch, and the iPad offers a bigger screen at close range.
Much has been made of the iPad’s lack of flash support, but in the two months since its announcement Netflix, ABC, and CBS have all restructured their content so it can be viewed on the iPad (Hulu is working on an iPad application and that will bring NBC into the fold). Soon, the bulk of video content will be available on demand.
Entertainment aside, I wear a lot of hats in my daily grind. I’m a writer, editor, grad student, and small business owner. The iPad will let me take notes, read fiction submissions, check email, surf the web, update social media, and keep my business calendar. Light content creation and heavy content consumption.
And did I mention phone calls? AT&T quietly lifted its VOIP (voice over internet protocol) restrictions for the iPad. So you’ll be able to make internet based phone calls. Google Voice, Skype, iCall, and several other providers are ready to turn your iPad into a phone. Spring for the more expensive 3G model and take the conversation anywhere.
The jury is still out on whether the onscreen keyboard is comfortable enough to write at length. I’m a touch typist, and it took me about an hour to get used to it. Once I did my typing picked up to a respectable level, but it never felt natural. If a wireless keyboard is my only concession to a pound and a half computer that’s half an inch thick and sports a ten plus hour battery life, I’m ready to make it.
Steve Jobs has found the future of personal computing, a lightweight take-it-anywhere device cool enough to make Captain Kirk envious. The iPad will undoubtedly spark competition and further innovation. As this new platform matures, I suspect laptops will eventually take their place alongside eight track tapes.