So I spent some time on a cousin’s iPad this past week, putting it through it’s paces & watching movies, playing a few games & reading comics. At the end I asked myself, is this thing really worth it? It costs $500 to buy just the basic version of this gadget, & for that price I can easilly buy a full scale laptop, which would run all kinds of software & all the peripherals I use, with no compatibility issues whatsoever.
I’ve asked myself whether I’m rebelling against my gadget loving nature & becoming a hypocrite by downplaying the iPad’s significance. And the answer is, yes, maybe. But my engineer’s brain also has to consider what the iPad brings to the table for serious power users, folks like me who use MATLAB, Hysis, CAD based softwares etc on an almost daily basis, and also for those folks who tend to draft more than a dozen articles a day.
So now Apple is selling a physical keyboard to go along with the iPad. This can mean either one of two things:
a) Apple is actually being emphatic and realizing that not many people are able to tap away on the iPad’s screen with one hand & keep it stable with the other for long time periods.
b) Apple realizes that no matter how cool a touch screen keyboard sounds or how good it works, it’ll always be a pale imitation of the real thing to serious power users.
Now the one thing that’s remained constant over the past 30 years or so since the first computers made their way into people’s homes is the TYPING. CRT screens came & went, architectures improved steadilly, new peripherals found their way into the machines & even gfx & sound cards demanded discrete components. But the one thing that stayed with us since the beginning is the keyboard.
So here’s the thing; if you actually plan on doing any work on an iPad, you need to get Apple’s integrated keyboard-and-dock.
Hopes are raised…:
Mercifully, once you plug it in, no further setup is required. Hook it up, & you can start typing away in virtually any app that supports text fields: e-mails, URL addresses, documents, etc. As a plus you can plug your iPad power cable into the back of the dock to charge your iPad while you type…or not. It works either way.
The transition from a virtual keyboard (which admittedly turns typing in stuff like numbers & addresses into a major turn off ) onto the physical one, is like going from 2 wheel drive to 4 wheel drive; more power, more control. This is when the fancy rectangle turns from overpriced media device into a full fledged work station. Sort of.
…and we come back down to earth again:
However, the sense of added flexibility is quickly ruined as you realize that the iPad & the keyboard don’t see eye to eye on some very BASIC functions, like simply using the arrow keys to traverse left & right or up & down in the menu won’t work. Oh no, you have to shift from your comfy postion & actually tap the damn screen to get things moving. THAT is where you start asking yourself AGAIN whether the price is right.
That’s not to say that it’s completely useless; keys for Homescreen & Spotlight are included onto the keyboard. But when such a high level of exclusivity is attached to this device, it’s the little things that boil your noodle.
Any hopes for the future?
Apple mentioned during its iPhone OS 4 event that improved keyboard integration will be forthcoming in OS 4.0, so I’m hoping these little things will be taken care of by then.
You really didn’t think this through, did you Apple?
Another slightly baffling detail is that you can’t dock the iPad horizontally onto the keyboard to view the screen in landscape mode. The iPad’s one & only docking port is placed right beneath its Home button, so the only way you can actually use it is in vertical mode. I’m thinking the keyboard was added as an afterthought.
A lot of apps could have benefited from the landscape mode…AIM, writing etc. I mean landscape mode has been the way people have been doing things since the first computers; you now have 16:9 screens purpose built to increase the width & enjoy all sorts of media like games & movies.
Which brings me to another point. The iPad screen has a 4:3 aspect ratio, so when you’re watching stuff it kind of makes you feel quite dated when you have to notice two black bars on the top & bottom of the screen. A minor issue perhaps, but if you’re positioning your device to cater primarilly to the multimedia consumer then the 4:3 aspect ratio thing just defeats that whole purpose.
Not really a deal breaker:
Now it’s a given that the keyboard will allow you to do some serious work on the iPad, but it won’t completely solve the device’s shortcomings as a work device. Any open app takes up room on the whole screen, so you can’t view any other apps running in the background, like notes or whatever. That problem’s still there. However, as mentioned before, the upcoming iPhone OS 4 is expected to rectify this little drawback, & then switching between apps will become less cumbersome. Hopefully.
Conclusion:
I’m thinking the that for all its purported awesomeness & its very real shortcomings, the iPad keyboard is too expensive at $70. But if money is no object then this is definitely a must buy for anyone wanting to do some heavy typing work on their iPad, although exactly why anyone would prefer it to the traditional laptop or desktop experience, is beyond me.
Techniculture 