A Week With the iPad

There has been a lot of discussion in the tech community about whether the iPad is a significant new computing device or simply another digital toy that will run it’s course and end up sitting in a closet collecting dust. Although I can’t really comment on the device’s long-term viability, I can comment on some significant realizations I’ve come to in the week since the iPad launched.

Believe it or not I’d say that I’ve used my iPad as much or more that my laptop or desktop for daily computing. Since it’s small and light enough to literally take everywhere, I find it’s just easier to browse the web, check my email and even do things like IM with the iPad. The display is awesome for all applications so I always have a great viewing experience, and much to my surprise typing with the virtual keyboard is a breeze (I’m using it to write this post in the iPad WordPress app). In fact, when the device is in landscape mode I can basically touch-type, and even if I do make a mistake it gets corrected automatically 9 times out of 10.

Watching movies, reading books and listening to music on the ipad are all great experiences. In fact I’d have to say that the iPad is the ultimate content consumption device on the market. One of the biggest surprises I had while first using it was the quality of the built-in speakers. They’re totally listenable and I never felt the need to plug in headphones while listening to music, playing games or watching video.

Another happy surprise was the battery life. When Steve Jobs said you could get 10 hours out of this thing most people expected that would be a best-case scenario and actually expected more like 8. That’s not the case though, the iPad lasts a very long time and if you’re only using it lightly it could easily last multiple days.

All that being said the iPad isn’t perfect. First off I think the pricing for apps has been inflated a little too much. I came from the iPhone app store where I was used to paying 5 dollars at most for applications, but on the iPad 10 or 15 dollars is the norm. I think the higher prices are somewhat a result of apple themselves pricing the iWork apps at $10 each, and I’d even say the iWork apps are worth that, but there are several apps that were mostly ported from the iPhone priced just as high. I’m hoping that the marketplace will somewhat self-regulate over time, but as of right now the pricing is unrealistic.

I also wish the app store in general had an official trial system. As I mentioned on twitter, spending 0.99 cents on a bad iPhone app is one thing, spending $15 for a bad iPad app is another. If I could preview apps, even if just for a matter of hours, my experience with buying apps would be much more pleasant.

Additionally, The iBook store doesn’t have nearly as many titles as I wish it did. I’ve already searched for 3 different titles that weren’t available yet. I’m sure this will be remedied in the future, and there are alternatives like the Amazon Kindle app, but it’s still slightly annoying.

In the end I think the iPad does signal a change, or as Steve Wozniak put it a reboot of computing devices. Using this thing is fun, easy and it just makes sense for 90% of my daily computing tasks. It’s the perfect device for any casual user and would probably serve well as their primary computer, and it’s an excellent netbook or even laptop replacement for power users. I am a total geek and I use it for several hours a day everyday, and aside from being able to do development work it meets all of my needs. Plus, as developers get a better handle on creating iPad applications in the future it’ll only get better and become even more useful.

Apple updates!

Yesterday Apple updated a bunch of products.  Most were just hardware updates (CPU speed bumps, graphics card updates, more RAM etc.) and there are so many to mention that I’ll just have to refer you to Apple.com or MacRumors if you want to see the nitty-gritty details.  Just know that if you were in the market for an iMac, Mac Pro or Mac Mini now’s probably the time to take the plunge.  I’m just happy because the iMac wasn’t significantly updated, no aesthetic redesign or anything, so I’m still pleased with my 24″ 3.06ghz iMac from last July.

What I did find interesting was a lesser-noted addition to Apple’s product line: the new wired wireless keyboard.  It’s basically a wired version of of their wireless keyboard which means that it’s shrunken down and has no number pad.  To me this is pretty odd.  The justification of forgoing a number pad on my wireless keyboard was that it was exactly that: wireless.  Who’s going to buy the same keyboard but now it has a wire and no numpad?  Dunno, like I said, it just seems goofy to me.

What most excites me about these updates is what wasn’t updated.  This smacks of “clearing the road for WWDC” to me.  With these updates they can get all of their spec-bumps out of the way and save the flashy stuff for WWDC.  After all, announcing a new iMac that looks just like the old iMac but is slightly faster doesn’t really excite audiences at a keynote.  Instead they can roll out the new version of the iPhone, which I’m hotly anticipating.  We might even see something a little more over-the-top like the iTablet everyone’s talking about these days.  Honestly though, if at WWDC they just spend a whole 2 hours talking about a new rev of the iPhone and how cool all of its new features are, I’ll be happy.

If you think about it, the iPhone is the perfect product for WWDC.  At a developers conference you should talk about what developers are developing for, right?  Increasingly that’s the iPhone.  How many millions of applications have been downloaded from the App Store?  Sure, standard desktop applications are still important but iPhone apps are the new hotness right now.

Windows Mobile 6.5 – the new WinMo user interface

This is interesting.  Everyone knows that Windows Mobile has been looking a little long in the tooth as phone manufacturers race to compete with the iPhone’s touch interface.  I’m happy to say that with 6.5 Windows Mobile will also enter the manual touch market.  The new homescreen does a horizontal scroll to move through the user’s day (whether you’re navigating through emails, appointments, text messages, or photos) – it sort of reminds me of the Xbox 360’s interface in ways.  It’s a unique way of navigating though, and from what I’ve seen it’s my favorite part of the OS.

From there you can go to the new start menu which houses your applications.  The applications are now arranged in honeycomb-shaped bubbles making each a little more accessible with your finger.  That’s cool because anyone who has used an older WinMo phone can attest that they’re difficult to navigate without a stylus most of the time.

The only thing I’m a little concerned about is that the scrolling seemed a little chunky at times.  It didn’t flow as well as the iPhone’s scrolling.  They’ve also worked in the classic “snap-back” for menus, so that when you reach the top or bottom of a menu the content will snap up or down.  I think Palm is in some hot water for incorporating that feature because Apple has a patent on it, so I wonder if Apple will go after Microsoft now too.  Here’s the video:

Windows Mobile 6.5 Running on HTC from Jesus Diaz on Vimeo.

Photos of the next-generation iPhone?

Just a quick post, I thought this was interesting.

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/02/12/leaked-photos-of-next-generation-iphone/

I’d like to see a switch to matte in the design of the phone.  Otherwise there isn’t much info to be gleaned from these shots, whether real or fake.

Steve Jobs, Windows 7 and the Palm Pre

CES 2009

Today I’m going to continue our trip through early-2009 conventions by talking about some of the announcements from CES that I thought were interesting.

Let’s start with the keynote.  This was the first year that Bill Gates wasn’t the headliner, but I think Steve Ballmer did a good job as far as Microsoft keynotes go.  They didn’t really announce much, and a lot of the cool stuff was just review of what we’ve known for a while.  It seemed like a sort of “State of the Union” Microsoft style, where-in the crew informed the crowd about all of the great things the company has been up to for the past year.  The highlight was definitely the demo of Windows 7, as well as the (predictable) announcement that the Windows 7 public beta would be out soon.  It’s out now and I’ve had an opportunity to play with it a bit, but that’s for another day.  To see the demo, you can check it out here:

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/events/ces/default.aspx

The other major announcement that’s caught a lot of people by surprise was the “rebirth” of Palm in the form of the Palm Pre.  I have to say I met this bit of news with a great deal of anticipation, but then I watched the presentation and I was stunned.  The Palm Pre (running Palm’s new Web OS) is, in my opinion, the first true competitor to the iPhone.  Of course this is all speculation right now because a device looking cool in a demonstration and actually being cool in your hand are two different things, but Palm seems to be the first company since Apple to use the “Apple approach” in creating a touchscreen smartphone.  The OS looks great, featuring an easy-to-manipulate interface and some features that might even have iPhone users drooling.  I’ll save the details for a later post so I can dedicate enough words to the device to do it justice.  Just know I was impressed.  You can view the Palm presentation here:

http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/palm-pre-ces.html

Other than that most of the announcements were hardware and gadget-based.  It’s impossible to do a complete rundown of all of the devices that were announced, so instead I’ll just mention a couple of the things that caught my eye.  Firstly, the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds is worth mentioning because it has a freakin’ slide-out screen!  Pretty cool.  Also pretty expensive.  This new laptop is meant to be a desktop replacement, and finally solves the conundrum of enhancing a laptop’s monitor size without sacrificing portability.  It’s obvious you can hook most laptops up to an external display, but as I mentioned, you lose the ability to roam because your computer is tethered to that display.  The W700ds solves this problem by having a 10″ slide-out display, giving the user a whole lot of LCD goodness.  It’s a little niche, but apparently the W700ds has been targeted towards artists since it has built-in Wacom functionality.  Not to mention a $3,663 starting price tag.  Ouch.

Camera and display technology was also a big hit this year at CES, but I’m going to stay with notebook computers.  The Dell Adamo looks quite stunning.  It’s a very thin machine sporting an almost Macbook Air-like quality to it.  The Adamo has been branded a “luxury laptop.”  It’s extremely thin and has some industrial design that’s only rivaled by Apple’s line of notebooks.  Dell was kind of sketchy on the details but it seemed to me that the notebook wouldn’t be the only computer or device in the line, perhaps they’re looking to debut some multimedia devices with it as well?  At any rate this is a product to keep your eyes on, if only because it looks so cool.

Now Playing:
Flogging Molly – Laura
Prince of Persia

Flip Mino HD review

Here’s my more formal review of the Flip Mino HD, in video form of course.  Check out my previous post by clicking here if you’d like to see the video quality.

Flip Mino HD Review Part 1

Flip Mino HD Review Part 2

Flip Mino HD – Down By The Bay

Happy new year!  I  know we agreed not to get each other any gifts this year, but I just couldn’t help picking up this beautiful HD video for you, my dearest reader.  Remember to click the HD button on the right after you start the video to see it in true high definition.  Enjoy!

Flip Mino HD – Down By The Bay from David Kemick on Vimeo.

I wish you all the best in the new year!

To HD or not to (Flip Mino) HD, that is the question

I’ve been thinking about getting a Flip Video camcorder for a while now, pretty much ever since I started uploading videos to YouTube.  It seems to be the perfect mobile pocket recorder, a device I could take with me anywhere to record a quick little something.  When their Mino version came out the purchase became a necessity.  The thing is just too damn small and sexy to not own.  Then, to add to the heartache, the folks at Pure Digital put out an HD version of the thing.  What’s a geek to do?

The cool thing about the normal Flip Mino is that it’s relatively cheap.  For the 2GB (60 minutes of video) version you pay around $160.  Not bad at all.  It’s also got around 4 hours of battery life, slightly older editing software, and a smaller CMOS sensor.  The HD version is practically identical, but has 4GB of memory (also 60 minutes, but 60 minutes of HD video) and the battery life is cut in half.  Now, the battery life doesn’t bother me.  If I can only record 60 minutes of video at a time does it really matter if my battery lasts 2 hours instead of 4?  The biggest issue is that the Mino HD can cost as much as $230, and as you approach the $300 mark you might be better off picking up a higher-quality camcorder or a digital camera which shoots video.

So you might be asking yourself why even bother with the HD?  Well, as I mentioned I like to put my videos on YouTube.  YouTube has recently moved to a widescreen format, allowing HD-quality video uploads.  Unfortunately the original Mino doesn’t have a setting for recording in widescreen and the HD does, so unless you’re into black bars and low-quality video, the HD is the way to go.  That’s the only difference between the two, really.  As the names suggest the Mino HD is meant for taking HD video and the Mino is not.

So which is better?  Is it worth ponying up an extra $60 for widescreen and 1280×720 resolution video, or should you save some cash and go with 4:3 with a resolution of 640×480?  I’m leaning towards the former.  The way I see it, no one has ever wished their camcorder shot lower-quality video.  It might be worth the extra investment now so that I don’t end up spending money on another device down the road.

Now Playing:
Korpiklaani – Spring Dance
Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Castle Crashers

Google’s Android takes the stage

On Tuesday, T-Mobile had their event to launch the first Google Android phone on the market.  Coming to the US on October 22nd, the T-Mobile HTC G1 will be available in most T-Mobile stores for $179 ($20 less than the iPhone 3G) and, of course, will feature Google’s Android operating system.  So, what does that mean?  Well, aside from having great compatibility with Google’s applications (they described a normal Gmail experience – labels, email search, even Google Talk) they’re pushing the open sourced nature of the Android operating system.

Most people, whether fair or not, are looking at Google’s Android as a competitor to Apple’s iPhone.  It’s a hard justification to make since Android is just an operating system while the iPhone encapsulates both hardware and software, but given the nature of the two companies it’s an easy conclusion to jump to (both are traditionally tech companies now trying to make a bid in the mobile phone industry).  The only reason I mention this is because, as I said, Android is open source.  That’s a completely different approach than the one Apple took obviously.  Android will have the benefit of having developers making 3rd-party applications from day 1 as opposed to Apple’s delayed delivery of the App Store this year.  My only question is the certification process with Android applications.  Sure Apple’s system is generally a closed one, but that enables certification of applications so the store isn’t filled with garbage that no one wants.  Of course you could assume that Android apps will basically be regulated by users.  If you go to download an application and everyone is saying it’s terrible, chances are you’ll stay away from it.

Anyways, back to the G1 and the T-Mobile event.  When I started watching the stream one of the first things the representative from T-Mobile mentioned was that they were offering a $25 limited data plan and a $35 full data plan.  This news made me very excited.  After all, a $35 phone plan with unlimited data?  What’s not to love?  When Android was first announced there were a lot of musings about Google maybe giving free service with some ad placement, but cheap service was fine for me.  At least it would have been – one of the attendees was smart enough to ask whether their $25/$35 plans were standalone, or if they required a standard voice plan as well.  They require a voice plan.  So then, the T-Mobile plan is only slightly cheaper than the iPhone’s data plans.  That’s too bad, because I think if they had come out with cheap 3G access they could have gained a lot of interest from consumers still on the fence about getting an iPhone.

Some of the specifications of the G1 I noted while watching the stream were that it’s compatible with Microsoft document formats, it does have wifi built-in despite being meant for 3G, and it has a fully-functioning web browser (like Safari) based on webkit.  Webkit is the base for Google Chrome so that’s not entirely unexpected, and the representative from T-Mobile even referred to Android’s web browser as a sort of “Chrome Lite.”  The device also supports most audio file formats, even the default iTunes AAC, but it won’t work with iTunes DRM-locked songs.  There’s built-in GPS, an accelerometer, an application store (called the App Market), a touchscreen, and of course a camera.  So, at a glance, the G1 is comparable in features to the iPhone.

The question really comes down to user interface I think.  I’ll give Google props for not going the obvious route and blatantly copying the iPhone, but instead taking their own approach.  It looks kind of similar to a PC desktop to me…not necessarily a variant of Windows, but it definitely has a ring of “this is your PC desktop on a phone.”  The icons look like standard desktop icons.  The applications don’t have that same uniformity as iPhone applications share with the rest of the phone’s user interface.  Still I can’t comment much on the UI because I haven’t used one, I can only go off of what I’ve seen in videos like this:

So then, is the G1 important?  Yes.  It gives a lot of promise to people looking for an alternative and open source variation of the iPhone.  As I mentioned it shares a lot of the same features, just maybe not in as pretty of a package.  Given the open-source nature of the project there’s no doubt in my mind that many of the issues I have with the Android operating system will be worked out in time, and for an initial release Android and the G1 are looking pretty good.  I’m hoping that Google works on bringing an Android-enabled device to Verizon sometime soon, because who knows – I might just get my own Google Android phone in the future.

Now Playing:
Deftones – If Only Tonight We Could Sleep (The Cure cover)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky