[NTLUG:Discuss] More iPad hands on

[Mike Hart]

Back when ricochet came out in DFW (1997), I jumped at the first opportunity and then went and put down $$$$$ on a 486 based tablet to upgrade from my pda to get my 'wireless web' working. Besides the headaches that ricochet gave me when it was in search mode, The wireless part worked great.  After only 30 minutes trying to hold my golden brick, I found that it was too large, too heavy, and the battery life on it sucked too badly to actually use the device in real-world environments.  

After 12 years and billions of dollars in redesign, all tablets and especially the ipad still seem to fail on the same basic counts. The ipad is lighter, but still too heavy to hold with your bad hand and tap with your writing hand for very long.  While you can hold it OK with your good hand, your other hand is clunky on the taps, and forget handwriting.  ipad's battery life is better, but still not long enough to take to work and use in a work environment throughout the workday, much less into the evening.  The ipad is still to big to be able to store it in any conceivable way that you can get to it while you are walking or standing, pull it out, use it, and put it back. 

Also, the price point is too high for the ipad's design, as it is clearly designed to break.  Also, the unservicability of the battery is in my mind criminal. Because of the missing battery panel, the ipad has a limited lifetime, and it isn't easily extendable.  If microsoft did something like that (say, like locking a browser into the OS) they would be called into court for monopoly tactics.  Apple's failing to provide a battery panel is worse, because they aren't trying to lock in the battery market for themselves, but eliminate it altogether and make it strictly a device replacement market.  Does your ipod still hold a charge? No? Just go get a replacement battery for it... not. Well then, send it back to apple for a new battery (at a slightly higher cost than another Ipod would cost you.) Make's sense to apple, but it leaves customers being the idiots (I own a battery drained iPod.) 

I can't see why anyone would try to sell a 'handheld' device like the ipad that can't be used with 1 hand.  Try holding an ipad with 1 hand for 30 minutes. I wouldn't attempt one-handed Ipad grip at all, even for a few seconds, due to it's slippery design. I had enough trouble with the ipod, much less a golden brick sized one.   I foresee lawsuits about the lack of handles. 

Any handheld device like the ipad comes with the risk of drops and loss. Most companies try to design the drops out.  Look at the ipad and tell me they did anything to provide grip points.  Look at the ipad and tell me they did anything to make it more likely to survive a fall.  Anything designed to be "hand held" should be designed to survive a fall from where it is used (about chest height standing) onto hard surfaces like a concrete floor.  I use fancy meters at work and believe me they are actually designed with this drop in mind, and you can count on them surviving a few.  The ipad, with it's 'to the edge' screen design, appears to be designed with the drop in mind, but not designed to survive it. 


Whatever hand held gadget you get, expect to lose or break it in about the same "clock hour" time frame as your last cellphone. With the ipad, count on fewer 'clock hours', because the screen is very likely going to die the first time you drop it, not the 5th or 6th; unless you have the special screen removal kit, you  won't be replacing the battery; and don't count on apple's specially designed finger gripping shopping bags keeping your ipad safe from thieves.   

When you factor in that many of the apps and media die at the same time as each ipad, I really don't see how anyone is being suckered onto this treadmill.  

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Back in 95, after my golden brick experience,  I spent a few weeks with mock ups trying to determine exactly what size I needed.  For me, something slightly larger than a palm was about right: something just about the size of a hardback book. (about 4"x6" and less than 1 pound).  The key for me was a screen large enough I can see with my less than 20x20 eyes, but still light enough to hold with my left hand, and tap with my right.  To this day nobody makes such a device that is open format.  Altho Kindle is very close in it's physical size, it is so closed to development and add-ons on it that it doesn't count.  If they put out a linux version kindle size device, I think it would take off like the palm did after newton died. 

However, size and weight are minor considerations. Battery life is paramount for me.  I got really spoiled with my visor and it's 2-4 week battery life.  Color screens are nice but not necessary. Being able to count on my device to work thru today and tomorrow without downtime is essential.   If getting today's  tech means it quits on me at 2pm , I'm staying in yesterday. 

The Nokia N810 is what I'm currently using, and It fits the bill nicely.  Well... it's what I would be using if I could convince my wife that even tho it's "her color blue", it really is a highly technical geek toy that she shouldn't be using, because it's....  it's hers now.  The battery life on the N810 is in days (originally got 4-5 days, and still gets 2-3 days with normal use after over a year of use.)  It runs linux, it runs skype, and it has wifi. Mikey is happy. Or he would be if his wife would let him use it.  It also has a fully functional palm emulator  on it, which means all my gadgets like plucker still work. :-)   However, The "upgrade" from the N810 is the N900 which is more phone than tablet.  It's even smaller than the N810, and the N810 fails on screensize already, being only a millimeter or two larger than my visor. (the Nokia linux tablet series got smaller with each generation.)  I'm not convinced I should spend money on the N900,
 altho it comes in black so my wife is less likely to appropriate it, and I may get to use it.  :-) .