The tablet (r)evolution

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Jobs Unveils the iPad 2

Three months after a very sick looking Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad 2, I jumped on the tablet bandwagon as well. Yes, I now own an iPad 2. To be exact the white 16GB 3G version (I wanted GPS and for that you need the 3G version).

So far I can say that it is by far the best gadget I ever bought. It fills the gap between laptop and smartphone in a way I never dreamed of.

Last year I bought an Android powered smartphone (the Samsung Galaxy S) and I love it. It basically can do anything the iPad can do (actually even more as it does handle Adobe Flash and you can expand the memory with Micro SD cards), but it lacks the simplicity of the iOS interface and the big screen.

But lets take step back in my journey to get a perfect portable piece of hardware like the iPad 2.

Some years ago I bought an Asus Eee PC 900; a so-called ‘netbook’. It attempted to fill the gap between regular laptops and ultra-portable laptops that were just to expensive for regular folks.

I was looking for a small, lightweight and portable computer that I could take with me on my travels to stay in touch with the home front via email and Skype. Lugging around a big laptop wasn’t exactly my thing.

So when Asus came out with their first netbook in 2007, I was excited. However looking at the original Asus netbook, the Eee PC 701, I was not impressed with the specs. Especially the screen seemed not very handy with just a 800×480 resolution. The 900 series had a 8,9″ 1024×600 screen which seemed a lot more useful to me.

But I ended up using that Asus Eee PC900 a lot less than I anticipated. Even though it’s handy and not big at all, the major drawbacks were: battery life (3,5 hrs) and start-up time (a few minutes even with an optimized Windows XP version). In effect I hardly took it with me on holidays and such.

I had a few Windows smartphones for a while (see my article “Mobile Me”) but the big change came when I got my Samsung Galaxy S. That was a big improvement already.

But still not good enough.

So when the first model iPad came out in 2010, I was very exited. Even more after playing with one. But I also learned you should never buy a first generation Apple product. You pay too much and within a year they usually upgrade the device and you’re left with a feeling you’ve got screwed just because you wanted to be “hip”.

So the iPad 2 was more suited for me: a 2nd generation Apple product with better performance for the same price.

What I like most about the iPad 2 is it’s performance (both in battery life as in ‘snappiness’ and graphical performance), ease of use (no start-up time, it just works), versatility (e-reader, web, games etc..) and most important: portability. There is no excuse not carrying it around.

I also find myself sitting a lot less behind my PC. I have my iPad within reach and it fills 90% of my needs: e-mail, browsing, YouTube, casual games etc.. In other words: it fills the gap between smartphone and PC just flawlessly.

Now, it would be a lie to say I find iOS perfect. But there is hope.

iOS 5

In comparison with Android iOS lacks features and control in the field of personalisation. Why Apple hasn’t got widgets yet is beyond me. Widgets drive my user experience on Android. Want to know the current weather? On iOS you need to slide to unlock, start an app. With Android you just slide to unlock and look at the widget. Twitter or facebook status? Latest news headline? Same thing. I just check my widget.

Heck: I can have info at a glance on my Android lock-screen as well!

Widgets just save time and put you in the drivers seat. I wonder when Apple will catch on with that.

Notifications on Android are way more nice than on iOS 4. Something Apple has recognized and in iOS 5 they are overhauling notifications and are – no surprise – going towards the Android approach but less consistent (on the lock screen swiping a message will open it’s app, swiping it in notification window will erase it?).

And there are more nice features in iOS5. I am currently running iOS 5 beta and am pleased with what is in store. Notifications is just one. I like the split keyboard a lot already: it is made for using your iPad in portrait mode. Tabbed browsing in Safari is great. Multitasking gestures are cool too. iMessage will be a pain in the ass for telco’s (here in Holland I wouldn’t be suprised if they block it).

Reminders? Mixed feelings because I use Google calendar for that. Or else you should check out Wunderlist.

Off course the big change is iCloud: it will sync a lot of data between your Apple devices. That is: if you have more than one Apple device. Otherwise it’s only good for backups.

Using Google apps and Gmail with Google calendar already gives me sort of an iCloud. And using the sync option in Chrome keeps my bookmarks, setting and even my extensions synced between all my PC’s. Coupled with a free Dropbox or Wuala account you’re set. For free.

Maybe I missed something, but I don’t think iCloud syncs my bookmarks between devices (at least its not an iCloud feature mentioned by Apple).

So far I have run into a bunch of annoying bugs with iOS 5 already (heck: it’s a beta), so I probably will downgrade to 4.3.3 again this weekend (also because it seems a jailbreak for the iPad 2 is imminent), but all in all it looks great.

Bottomline: even with all the things I do not like about the iPad, it’s still king in tablet country. And in in my home.

Next year I probably will also get an iPhone (5?)…

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