Diminished Capacity

If you’ve suffered through my commentary on any new software or gadget before, you know I’m liberal with criticism, even for things I truly love. In fact, on the rare occasion that I can’t identify a substantial shortcoming or missed opportunity, I can’t help but feel I’ve overlooked something… Or that I’m deluding myself. It irks me to come close to perfection only to fall short. Perhaps it’s a matter of expecting more of those (things) you love. In any case, I now find myself in that situation, unable to find anything substantial to complain about with a device that many others are openly criticizing.

Prior to the iPad announcement in January, there were a number of questions involving the rumored device’s specifications and its capabilities. Much speculation centered around whether or not it would run the full version of Mac OS and thus be a “real computer”. When it was confirmed at the announcement that the iPad would in fact run the iPhone operating system, criticism seemed to come from all directions. For various reasons, it was claimed that without a web camera, USB ports, multitasking, and the ability to run existing mouse-oriented applications, the iPad could never be more than a pricey toy.

I can’t help but think that the fault with many of the critics’ thinking is that they instinctively compare the iPad to existing tablet PCs. While understandable, it’s a faulty comparison as there’s simply none to be made. That’s not my way of saying that the iPad blows them out of the water, (it does) but that the devices are fundamentally different. As a prominent writer and early reviewer recently said, “This is not a tablet PC. This is not a computer. This is an iPad.” It runs software, connects to the Internet, and has wires and circuits inside. It contains things we’ve seen before but they add up to an experience we haven’t. This is truly something new.

I had high hopes for Windows-based tablets when they first emerged nearly a decade ago. I was an early adopter, purchasing a Compaq TC1000 shortly after release, and trying a Fujitsu P1510D several years later. In both cases, I was sorely disappointed by the combination of unimaginative, ill-conceived hardware design and a desktop operating system with incomplete stylus enhancements shoehorned-in as an afterthought. It’s from this point of view that I offer the following observations after my first day with an iPad.

It’s fast. No, not the kind of fast that you can measure. It’s the kind of fast that you don’t care to measure. It’s the kind that you don’t want to measure because you don’t even notice. It’s so fast that it gets out of your way. This is the first time in my life that I’m not finding myself waiting in frustration for a computing device to respond to my input. It’s fluid. It’s like glass. It’s an extension of me, the user… and I can think of nothing greater for a device to aspire to be.

The screen is incredible. Yes, it’s LCD but it’s not typical of the displays you find in notebooks and other portable devices. This LCD is of the IPS variety, which means it offers astounding viewing angles. You can pull up a page filled with small text and read it flawlessly with the iPad held horizontally at arm’s length. Unlike the displays in previous tablet form-factor systems, you do not have to hold it nearly perpendicular to your line of sight to read effectively. In fact, the readability at even the steepest of angles is very close to that of paper.

The battery life is as-advertised. While I’m certain there are a number of usage scenarios where one could consume a fully-charged battery in under Apple’s claimed ten hours, my near-constant usage at half brightness with mostly non-video content is proving to be no challenge. Oh, and don’t think I’m sacrificing something by running at half brightness. This thing is freaking bright. Full brightness hurts. It might come in handy if you’re the type who wears your sunglasses at night, but I’m not sure of its necessity otherwise.

The on-screen keyboard is surprisingly usable, particularly in landscape mode where it’s larger than the physical keyboards of many netbooks. The light touch required due to the capacitive touch panel, combined with the incredibly wide viewing angle of the IPS display makes it a breeze to lay down on a table and tap out a quick email or even something larger… Such as a long-winded, wandering, pseudo-review.

It’s easy to look at the iPad as a bigger iPhone or iPod Touch. In fact, that’s the way I often find myself starting-out when attempting to explain it. In the end, as with so many things, it’s the details that differentiate it. It’s the fit and finish, the whole and not the parts. For the iPad, the whole is not the device itself, but the experience it provides. There’s still a place for a notebook computer in my life and I’m sure that’ll be where a significant portion of my work continues to be accomplished. Still, fewer than twelve hours in, I think a significant change is underway. There was a gap in my computing and entertainment experience that I didn’t know was there. iPad fills it, and even better, it’s the first of its kind. This is only the beginning.