Meet:Mobility Podcast 47 is now available. Recorded on 9th April 2010.
Chippy, JKK and Sascha cover news about the iPad, the JooJoo, ICD Gemini, Hanvon Tablet, HP Slate and other consumer and mobile internet devices.
Full show notes, playback and download info at Meet:Mobility.
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One of the biggest differences between the iPad and the iPhone is the level of apps that it can utilize. iPhone apps are relatively simple when compared to iPad apps. I’ve made two videos demonstrating two different applications on the iPad. The first is a game called Harbor Master, and the second is a Marvel comic reading application. Both do a good job of showing how the larger iPad screen can enhance the experience, and how this differentiates the iPad from the iPhone. Despite the fact that these are definitely improved experiences over more simple iPhone and iPod Touch applications, I don’t feel that we’ve yet seen the ‘killer app’ for the iPad. Many applications still need to evolve further than just being larger iPhone apps, and really come into their own as iPad apps.
It’s only been two days since we got our hands on the iPad, but I wanted to get this out there early as there are a lot of questions. I’ve made a video to try to give you a sense of what it really looks like to type on the iPad in real conditions. I’ve also put together a chart using a simple web based typing speed test which I ran on the iPad and on my computer for comparison:
| Portrait (touch type) | Landscape (touch type) | Portrait (thumbs) | Landscape (thumbs) | Notebook keyboard | |
| Words per minute | 57 | 57 | 39 | 37 | 92 |
| Mistakes | 9 | 5 | 18 | 16 | 3 |
Don’t read too deeply into the Mistakes row, as some of the mistakes shouldn’t really have been counted due to the fact that the iPad does auto-correct some words (something that didn’t sit well with the typing test I used). What is significant is the WPM. While this test wasn’t scientific, I would say that the results do a good job of representing the experience in each given mode, but I was surprised to find that I typed at the same WPM in portrait and landscape touch typing. Landscape touch typing felt much more comfortable because the keys are larger than the portrait keyboard. For the touch typing sections, I sat the iPad flat on a table in front of me and I typed with all fingers, just like you’d do on a real keyboard. For the thumb tests, I held the iPad in my hands while typing with my thumbs.
I’m pretty impressed with the speed that could be achieved with the touch typing in both portrait and landscape modes. 57 WPM (and better than average accuracy due to good auto-correction and other factors) is pretty darn good speed for an on screen keyboard (OSK). The issue here is that top speed can only be achieved while you are sitting down and can sit the iPad in front of you. You won’t be walking around with the iPad churning out 57 WPM while on the go.
The iPad’s OSK is probably the best OSK yet implemented on a slate device of this size. I’m sure that there are some Tablet PC gurus pulling their hair out right now, but I definitely have never seen an OSK that is this effective on any other device of this size. This is due to a combination of good hardware (accurate and responsive capacitive touchscreen) and intelligent software (auto-corrections and invisible landing area increases based on the word that you are likely to type). It may be the best, but the experience really doesn’t feel quite right. It is especially uncomfortable when typing with one’s thumbs, but unfortunately this is probably the best way to have meaningful typing ability while being mobile with the iPad. The other alternative is to hold the iPad in one hand and type with the other, which works fine for short URL entries, but wouldn’t be my method of choice for writing out a few sentences. After typing a short paragraph for the typing test, with my thumbs in landscape mode, my wrists quickly started to become sore. I couldn’t see that being a viable method of input for more than a few sentences. I mentioned that the keyboard would be an issue in my article from February — The Big Flaw with Big Slates (Yes, Even the iPad), and I’m finding it to be the biggest challenge to the usability of the iPad so far.
What sort of solutions could Apple have considered rather than simply a big OSK? Well perhaps Apple could have looked into something like Swype which inputs words by recognizing particular shapes that one creates while dragging a finger around to letters on a keyboard. A multitouch capacitive screen such as the one on the iPad is also ripe for a Dial Keys split-keyboard implementation. I hope they at least tossed the idea around during the creation of the iPad, and I also hope that they are still considering it. I’m really dying for Dial Keys on the iPad right now!
Edit: Prompted by turn.self.off from the comments, I just did a quick test to see how many keys the keyboard would allow to be pressed at once and the answer is 11 — one more than the natural number of digits on one’s hands… unless, of course, you are Antonio Alfonseca.
Google somewhat quietly released Google Reader Play early last month. Reader Play is essentially an alternate way to view Google Reader and is designed to present interesting and relevant items in a simple and pleasing way — it seems particularly suited to large screened devices. While several people, upon release, noted that Reader Play would probably work great on large TVs, the first thing that came to my mind was how well it could work with the iPad. Of course, that was only a theory because we didn’t have an iPad at the time for testing. Now that the iPad has been released, we can give it a try.
To my delight, Reader Play works pretty darn well on the iPad. Part of this is because YouTube videos can be played directly inside Reader Play, without having to launch out to the external viewer. Note that this isn’t Flash, it’s simply the iPad recognizing the video as a YouTube video and playing it with it’s own special YouTube player right inside the frame. Have a look at Google Reader Play in action on the iPad in the video below:
I was about two minutes away from hitting the publish button, on a post about how I was frustrated that the iPad wouldn’t be delivered today, when I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize. It was the UPS driver, he asked me to meet him outside to grab a package. I was told by not only Apple, but also several sources from UPS that iPad’s would not be delivered, here in Hawaii, until Monday because UPS didn’t do Saturday delivery in my area. This was frustrating because we of course wanted to bring our readers coverage of the device from day one (and who isn’t excited to get a new gadget!) but it was starting to look like we wouldn’t be able to do that. Despite the email from Apple and several confirmations from within UPS, the iPad got here on April 3rd, as promised, and the box had a nice big “Saturday inch sticker on it. Well played UPS — thanks for getting it here on time even if there was some sort of miscommunication!
Apple iPad Product Page (specs, news, links, and more)
So we’ve got our iPad and we’re ready to start checking it out. I’ll spare you are lengthy unboxing as the whole thing is relatively simple, and has been covered to death by the rest of the world by now. I’ll just drop a few pictures and a very short video, and that’ll be that for the unboxing and we’ll quickly move on to the more exciting stuff!
I was about two minutes away from hitting the publish button, on a post about how I was frustrated that the iPad wouldn’t be delivered today, when I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize. It was the UPS driver, he asked me to meet him outside to grab a package. I was told by not only Apple, but also several sources from UPS that iPad’s would not be delivered, here in Hawaii, until Monday because UPS didn’t do Saturday delivery in my area. This was frustrating because we of course wanted to bring our readers coverage of the device from day one (and who isn’t excited to get a new gadget!) but it was starting to look like we wouldn’t be able to do that. Despite the email from Apple and several confirmations from within UPS, the iPad got here on April 3rd, as promised, and the box had a nice big “Saturday” sticker on it. Well played UPS — thanks for getting it here on time even if there was some sort of miscommunication!
Apple iPad Product Page (specs, news, links, and more)
So we’ve got our iPad and we’re ready to start checking it out. I’ll spare you are lengthy unboxing as the whole thing is relatively simple, and has been covered to death by the rest of the world by now. I’ll just drop a few pictures and a very short video, and that’ll be that for the unboxing and we’ll quickly move on to the more exciting stuff!
Written, 29th-31st March.
When the iPhone launched, it entered a pre-existing smartphone market. It was a great event for consumers because manufacturers in that market were forced to play catch-up which meant great options and deals for customers. In the Consumer Internet Device space of the iPad, the landscape is different. This time round Apple have stepped into a relatively new market and set up shop alone. There they sit with their complete product offering (at a great price) and wait for competitors. They’re likely to be waiting a long time because the iPad outshines anything we’ve seen in prototype form from anyone else by a huge margin and it would be safe to assume that every financial director responsible for a consumer handheld product has put the brakes on their own products. It means that instead of manufacturers increasing their efforts to put new devices out there, many of the new products will get held up, or even canned. For the smaller companies like ICD, Fusion Garage and Notion Ink, this could be catastrophic as investors re-asses the opportunity. If they are lucky, some of the prototype products will end up going back to the drawing board where the system integrators will be pondering long and strong over their app-stores and content offerings. The big problem here though is that there isn’t an OS or application ecosystem out there that can compete. I can’t think of any worthy alternative to the iPhone /iPad OS right now.
Forget any unknown (outside geek circles) Linux distributions because they lack a reputable app-store or focused developer community. Forget Maemo, Moblin or MeeGo because they won’t be ready until much later in the year. Forget any new unknown proprietary OS because the customer won’t trust it and the developers won’t be interested. Forget Windows 7 because it’s a big fat heavy blob that can’t keep up with finger-driven social, photo and location-aware applications. Even Android isn’t good enough and it’s worth discussing why.
I use Android on a daily basis and enjoy it a lot. The Archos 5 is a fantastic internet device but it highlights why Android is useless. Android doesn’t have a marketplace. The Android you’re thinking of is ‘Google’ Android and it makes a huge difference to the product.
The Marketplace and other closed-source, approval-required Google apps is what makes Android tick and any Android tablet that tries to enter the marketplace without it is committing suicide. The disappointment experienced by people when they can’t sync their mail or even populate their contacts application, access Google Maps, Buzz and other key apps will kill any momentum a device ever had. The problem is, these manufacturers are finding it difficult to get the marketplace and add it into Android. Google don’t appear to be ready to expand outside the smartphone arena. Maybe they’re scared of splintering Android. More splintering of the platform could upset developers and cause more application incompatibility problems and that would be an even bigger problem.
Mobinnova Beam, Archos 7 Home Tablet, Compaq AirLife 100 and other devices that I can’t talk about here are all going to hit a brick wall if they don’t get that app-store sorted out.
Right now, there isn’t an easy solution unless you’re a huge company with influence. Someone like Dell can make an oversize phone called the Dell Mini 5 and invest in the carrier deals, licensing, firmware support and certification processes that make Marketplace possible. That’s one product out of, what, 50 or so tablets, MIDs and smartbooks that we’ve seen at Computex, CES, CeBIT, MWC, CTIA and other shows. Even HP Compaq haven’t been able to achieve it with the AirLife.
If I was building a tablet I’d be praying for Google to free-up that marketplace and app-suite and I would be praying that my investors didn’t pull out during the waiting period. That waiting period is unknown right now and investors really don’t like broken critical paths without a fix date.
The iPad has already conquered this new market and consumers looking for an alternative handheld device will have to wait and pray that Google, Nokia and Intel; with their Marketplace, OVI and AppUp stores, accelerate their work and get a solution to the integrators before time runs out. Palm’s WebOS could be an option to look at too.
Watch out for Archos in the summer because their PMP, MID and tablet strategy hinges 100% on Android. If it comes with Marketplace, we can all breath again. If not, we might as well all buy an iPad and have some fun while we wait for 2011.
CID = Consumer Internet Device.
As we watch company after company announce that they are bringing a slate to the market, it is clear that gadget makers are pushing this form factor as the next big thing. There is plenty of noise out there, but so far there are very few solid devices that are actually reaching consumers. Soon we’ll be looking at a storm of tablets hitting the market, and here is a roundup of the three that I think will have a significant impact on the future of this category and may end up going head-to-head in this emerging device space.
If you didn’t see this coming… well you should have. There is evidence out there that Apple’s mythical slate is the impetus behind this surge of slates. People we’re juxtaposing it with the Joojoo before they even knew that the iPad existed. Apple has the tangible lead on the touch experience on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and now they will be working their magic to translate that to a 9.7 inch screen. The iPad will run a modified version of the iPhone OS (which is in itself a stripped down version of OSX). Apple has two a distinct advantages over the other two companies producing the devices listed below. 1) Huge content library and content partnerships. 2) Lots of money for marketing.
Price: $499-$829
Availability: April 3rd
Official Site: http://www.apple.com/ipad/
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
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