I was chatting with Rod over the weekend and mentioned to him that I am again considering the iPad. He asked what I would use it for, and I told him that I had two main and one minor use in mind. First, I am still looking for the perfect platform for my Zinio digital magazine subscriptions. I have the Zinio client on my iPod Touch, and it does OK, but it is really hard to say what I would look like on a bigger screen. I thought that my Lenovo S10-3t convertible tablet would do it, but the 1024×600 screen just doesn’t work. At church on Sunday, a friend showed me the “prize” he had won at work in a raffle to raise money for a sick colleague: A 16MB iPad. We didn’t have a lot of time and the venue was totally inappropriate for anything further, but I was repulsed by the look of his apps. So, on Monday, after another appointment, I scooted to the nearest Apple Store, with the intent to spend an hour or so with the iPad and see if it was as bad as I had believed the day before.
iPad in My Hands
Thankfully, I very quickly realized that my friend had boosted the size of text on his iPad, to help his eyes, and to the total detriment of the look and feel of, well, everything! I found a very helpful employee at the Apple store, who let me install the Zinio app and download a couple of my magazines (which I of course later deleted!) and play around with the app. Very nice! I was worried that the Zinio adaption for the iPad would require an Internet connection all the time, as opposed to the download and use anytime model on a PC. Luckily, it works just the same. I spend a LOT of time in airplanes, and working offline is crucial for me.
One of my newer subscriptions, the National Geographic Interactive, took a LONG time to download and I was beginning to worry. However, after the fact, I saw that while a normal magazine download is 18-25 MB in size, this particular issue was 105 MB in size. It contained a LOT of video and it all worked perfectly on the iPad. Actually, it works very well on the iPad, even better than a PC, with the touch interface. I cannot, however, pass up the irony of all this. Zinio is currently beta testing their new Desktop client version 4 and it is moving the entire client to Adobe Air. Obviously, this is not what is going to be used on the iPad.
My Other Use of the iPad
For many years now, I have used a slate Tablet PC as the host for scriptures and manuals for Church. 10 years ago, it was some matter of stares and yes, even a bit of scandal. However, when the LDS Church released the “official” scriptures as digital content, it sort of all died down. However, my 10 year old TC1100 is no long able to keep up. In the short term, I have been using the Reveal reader on my Android device, which has the ability to use all the books created in the YanCEyware format, which has been on Windows Mobile for a very long time indeed. It’s hard to pass up being able to carry some 1500 books, covering the Scriptures, manuals, reference material, conference notes, etc. with you all the time, which I do. But, the screen is just too small on my Droid to really be effective. And then there is cut and paste on the Android platform. For many years I have been able to attach notes to scripture verses, referencing other verses or quotes, or even personal observations, that I could then access on a desktop version as well and use for personal study. This, however, is just not possible on the Android platform due to cut and paste issues (really total lack thereof).
First available on the iPod Touch and iPhone, apps are now available for the iPad that would allow me to do much the same, but on a much larger screen and have it automatically synced so that it is available on the desktop, the Touch, and even the Android (if I could afford the 35MB necessary to load the app!). With the iPad, I can even load a full-size version of the Hymnal, complete with music, as well as a myriad other things that just clamor for use during my Sunday meetings. Connectivity, should I need it, is just not an issue with Wireless Tethering on the Droid that I always have with me.
Impressions of the iPad
As I was reviewing the iPad at the Apple Store, I had a couple of questions. I caught the eye of one the staff and he came over to see if he could help. I asked my question and he looked me in the eye and said “Have you ever used a Touch?”. Yes, I have one, I replied. “Well, this is just a big Touch. Other than the obvious difference in the size of the apps, the layout and functionality is identical”. I had to laugh at that, and my questions were immediately answered. I mention before that I also had a minor use for the platform: Games. I have some games that I just love on my Touch, but it’s such a bother to have to carry yet another device that I rarely pull it out. These could move to the iPad. So, my only question is this: Am I willing to fork out a LOT of money for these tasks? Frankly, no or at least not yet. I am firmly convinced that we will see a price drop in the not too distant future, and I am not totally giving up on an Android-based tablet that offers the same size screen, but which would give me a lot more flexibility in what I choose to load. So, for now, I will watch and wait and see if anything pushes me to move. How would you answer this question?