Sean Wallbridge
I don’t know how long I’ll do this (update) as I planned on doing the same for being a SharePoint User on a MAC” and I never got around to that either… but I did buy an iPad today (I was in Washington, so lucky me, as they aren’t in Canada yet). I got the non-3G version as I can’t get it yet and frankly, who knows when Rogers will get their act together on that anyways … I’m sure they would add no end of grief to an already expensive monthly investment. Do you hear me Rogers? I don’t like you and your fees…
By the way, I’ve been thinking about getting one for a while. But it was Dux video here: http://vimeo.com/10690956 that convinced me I had to have one. With SharePoint 2010 RTM’ing in about a week or so, I’m caring less and less about the plumbing of computers and focused more on the usability and comfort, my lifestyle and buying into the tools (SharePoint) to solve my business challenges.
On Walking into the Store
Ok. Cool place/environment. Everything is white and shiny. But, so were the zits on just about every employee’s face. Seriously, I thought the nerds were Linux users in darkened basements, not a fancy/glossy bright lit, import sports car store. MAC’s are sleek and sexy, but the people in this store were anything but. In fact, they were a rag tag bunch of 20 something’s, slouched over and disheveled … and ugly. Now, I’m no Adonis, but picture a Ferrari (much like a MAC), now picture Jared from the Subway commercials sitting in it, trying to give you a ‘hey there sexy’ type of knowing grin… Ugh, doesn’t work.
The place was packed. There were tables at the front where about 30 iPAD’s were setup. And there was somebody fondling each one of them. This was at 4:00pm on a Work Day. Either the unemployed from the recession got a sweet bonus cheque or people are skipping their real jobs to go and fondle iPads. I had an excuse. Class had ended early (I’m in Bellevue auditing a SharePoint 2010 Dev course).
On Purchasing the Unit
It was expensive. I’m worried about the buyer’s remorse. Though not that much (this iPad cost me a new kitchen dinette suite … have fun honey, don’t pick anything lame!). But I went for the 32gb option (I didn’t want bottom end, but I didn’t want top end either. And I couldn’t get the 3G … so my thinking is, this is a temporary iPad until the next one comes out in 18 months. By then I’ll want it bad … or I won’t. A decision for another day. I have access to WiFi most places I work, I have a Terminal Server where I can publish all the apps I might need that it doesn’t provide, so I should be good to go. Specs: http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
Whether it was a good, long term purchase remains to be seen. I can’t make that commentary this week or this month. Ask me in May. I have an iPhone, I have a MacBook (yep this is Sean here, you haven’t switched to some other website midstream) and I have two desktop PC’s, one with a 24″ and 20″ LCD (home) and one with a 30″ and 22″ LCD (the office). I’m surrounded by technology. Where this fits yet, I’m not sure. But I suspect it will fit in all the places identified in RED below.
As you can see from the diagram above, the iPad may just get used more than many of the other devices. Though 9 to 5, if I need to actually get anything done… I’ll be on my desktop, so that accounts for 30% of my day (see green box). As well, I expect I may use it heavier in the first week as the attention I will get, er it will get, will mean having it nearby … more.
The sale was kind of neat. The (stinky, sweaty, zitty, nerdy blue shirt sales guy) pulled out an iPhone (pretty sure it was) that had a credit card reader attached to it. He swiped my card, then had me sign my name on the iPhone screen (using my finger). He then asked me how I wanted my receipt. Printed, Emailed or both. I went for both. 2 seconds later my iPhone buzzed and there was my digital copy of the receipt. Sweet.
On the Packaging
Well, this is really where Apple has their shit together. On the cover of the box is the iPad. When you open the box, there it is, staring at you just like the cover did. Peel off the protective wrapper and you are good to go. The unit was already 80% charged. The only other items in the box were:
- The USB cable
- The little charger adapter
- A little folder, that contained 3 pages of warranty info a single page telling you to turn the thing on and personalize it and a couple of Apple stickers (no Apple, I’m not sticking those on my car. I like your stuff lately, but not THAT much)
Why is it only Apple that recognizes that the first impression matters? And that easy (to get going) means easy to adopt new customer. *sigh*
On the Experience
As I write this, I haven’t even used it yet. I’m amazed at my ability for the last 4 hours to not turn it on and play but alas, I had to submit another chapter edit to the publisher so I at least finally have my priorities in order.
Ok, I’m back…
First Impressions
- It is a little heavier than I thought it would be. Certainly I can’t see myself holding it with one hand for very long. I imagine though I could find a better sleeve/case for it with a wriststrap to make it more comfortable. I think Steve Jobs and friends must have been using those wrist strengtheners for the weeks leading up to the launch, to make it look so ‘light and fluffy’ to hold.
- The screen is beautiful and no matter which way I turn it, it is responsive. And if I don’t like it moving about, one of the few buttons on the thing can lock it in place
- All of my existing apps work on it. There is a 1x and 2x view. At 1x, they look polished (iPhone screen size) but of course stretched to 2x, they look pixelated. I think it is a matter of time though and vendors will be updating their apps to work and look nicely across both
- I can’t connect to the App Store. It tells me it isn’t available in my country and sure enough I guess, as I have an iPad in the US right now, ahead of it arriving in Canada, I guess I’m blocked until then – no worries, all my current apps came across from my iPhone and I can purchase new ones using iTunes on my laptop and then sync it up
- Configured wireless in seconds with the hotel – very slick/fast
- Apps are much faster. Noticeably so, with the bigger, badder processor
- Exchange email hookup was a breeze as usual and with the bigger screen, they have modified the inbox layout (in a good way) to make it easier to read
- Bluetooth – hmm, not impressed there. My iPad, iPhone and MacBook can’t find each other from 5 feet away – not impressive – was hoping to see if I could tether my iPhone for 3g faked access 😉
- Keyboard – ugh. Ya, not crazy about it so far. Single finger pointing works great but I can type … fast. This screen is too small to fit my fingers on it and holding it for typing is very awkward. I’m sure some apps or bits of hardware will make that easier but tonight I’m not impressed – then again, I was able to type 2 my bff’s on FB np
- Whoa, perhaps scratch #8. I found a (free!?) copy of Dragon Dictate on iTunes. Not only does it look slick but the first three tests I did, speaking (there was no training needed either!), it easily did better than 95% accuracy – and then there is a button for sending the voice dictated text to the clipboard or directly to email. In fact, this is cool enough to post a couple of screenshots (yep, iPad doesn’t come with a camera, but I can still screen capture on it, so here’s three shots of the Dragon Dictate in voice capture mode (cool looking), voice converted to text (got it almost exactly right, one word was off) and then the options to quickly send the text, etc. elsewhere. Interesting though, the screencap’s are PNG and not JPG, as the iPhone would do
Figure 1 : Dragon detecting my voice
Figure 2 : What it heard…
Figure 3 : Can this app really be free!?
- iBook is not on my iPad. Everything I have read suggests it gets installed with a first update but nothing yet. Again though, I think this is because my country setting is Canada and I bought this here in the US. I suspect this issue will go away around April 24th. That said, the Amazon Kindle app looks amazing and does the trick. Snooze you lose Apple!
- I downloaded a few “iPad” apps from iTunes including WeatherBug – that looks fantastic on the screen as it is properly sized, etc. The future (and the screen) is bright
Ok, that’s enough. 1:20am and I need to get up early. More tomorrow, but no promises…