Reasons why i returned my iPad

Here is a list of the main reasons I returned the iPad. I am not the target audience as I was hoping this would be less of a third device, and more of a watered down laptop that was portable and allowed me to be productive, simple tasks well. The iPad, for now, is more of a toy.

Examples:
The iPad is not a good reading device for two points:
1) you can't alter the brightness of JUST the reading application, it affects the whole interface, and applications you would prefer to see brightly like games,
2) its fine as an e-reader until I try to read in bed, this is impossible with the iPad as, light as it is, it's just too heavy to hold for long periods of time. The Kindle wins hands down here.

The iPad is not very good at writing for the following points:
1)You can't lie it flat on a table and type. The curved back means it rocks as you type.
2)Pages is an ok application for writing, but the lack of a desktop concepts means keeping and transferring files between devices is not intuitive. The work does not follow me as easily as it should.
3) I have to buy too many peripherals, keyboard, case, to make it work as a typing device.
4) It's not bad as a keypad, but eventually hitting glass with your fingers at speed, while typing, hurts your fingertips.
5) Screenwriting software is poor at the moment - I can not use short cut keys on the keypad to navigate to various functions, which becomes tiresome very quickly.

Other points:

The iPad is dependent on the consumer having a laptop. A customer cannot throw away their laptop by buying an iPad, as the iPad has to sync to something. This is acceptable with an iPhone, but when it comes to the iPad, it feels like a cop-out.

The lack of flash really is an issue , I'm not sure why Apple underestimated this one. You only get a very underwhelming subset of Youtube videos because of this.

The iPhone 4 is leaps ahead in functionality and hardware, so waiting for iPad v2 makes more sense.

I really hope they rethink the interface and not go the iPhone route. I would love to look at the iPad Pro, a professional extension of the iPad. In my next posts I will be looking at what the iPad Pro might look like.

Why I am returning my iPad after one day of use

I thought that would catch your attention.
Read why i will be returning the iPad after just one day, coming next week.

Feedback on iPad

So I have decided not to give feedback until I interact with the product. My only comment was the lack of creating content and emphasis on absorbing content, but that may be a business plan to get 3rd parties to develop such applications.

Watching live event----ehm

So its a giant iphone meets kindle...............initial reaction is disappointment. Will watch the whole thing and give my feedback

More concept images... T - 1m to reveal!

I've included some more images of the rendered concept just before the launch of the real, will be interesting to see what the reality will be! Can't wait!

Presenting the MacProTouch...or the iPad!

Here is an initial concept rendering of the iPad (due to be unveiled for real in two days!). You'll notice a few features:

The two way camera described in the post below is shown here, with the camera facing down. I thought this would be a perfect place to show the apple logo, which is slightly raised, and gives the user grip to quickly turn the camera over to face them.

We described the ports and buttons before, so I quickly highlighted them here. The key is minimal. Two USB ports, one power cable port (see my concept about a wireless plug) and only one socket for a mic/headphone combination (why do you need both anyway?).

The home button and power on/off button are combined. How? Simply holding the button for more than a few seconds will call a command on the interface to verify shutting down the iPad.

Also note the aluminum backing of the iPad (I will render the back of this tomorrow to show some potential features)

Last but no means least, note that the iPad interface rotates as you rotate. You can type/paint/draw in landscape or portrait mode. The interface is so sensitive it can pick up the lightest stroke of a brush, as well as changing the nature of the drawn stroke depending on pressure.

This is my initial rendering. Over the coming weeks, I'll be posting renderings of how I think the interface might work!

Till January 27th!

iPad camera.......AND video chat

While currently modelling my idea of what the MacProTouch (or the iPad) might look like, one thing really struck me, having a camera at the back and at the front might seem messy. So i came up with an idea of a dual function swivel camera. The image below shows the iPad in profile. Imagine you are video chatting to your friend and suddenly you see something in the street that you want to share with your friend, real time. No problem, simply touch the camera, and swivel it to face the back of your laptop. They can now see exactly what you're talking about, while you can enjoy their reaction on your iPad!

I really love this idea because its simple, multifunctional and has a relevant affect on people's lives in how they interact with each other. It also combines a camera and video chat, two tasks typically treated separately, because one faces the user, while the other faces what the user is looking at.

Now your Apple swivel camera can do both!

Only 3 days left!

When I started this blog 6 months ago, it was simply a design excercise for me. I certainly didn't think an a tablet version of the iphone would be ready so soon, but rumors are spreading that on Jan 27th, Steve Jobs will unveil such a device.



Here are some of the things I hope to see:

• A camera that can swivel to either face the user and help with video conferencing, or face the back to take large pictures and videos.
• An interface that has zero buttons, or physical keyboard. I really want to see a true tablet that i can type on, paint on, and sketch on.
• A simple elegant form factor, with minimal port and plugs. (however i dont want to see a form factor with absolutely no chance to plug in peripheral)
• I do NOT want to see a large scale version of the iPhone, I think this is very unimaginative.
• A wireless plug. Tethered to the socket because of the charger cable seems dated now, we receive information wirelessly, why not energy?
• Gestural commands. I should play 'charades' with my laptop - make a typing motion on the iPad and the keyboard comes up for example. No more F5 or F10.

These are just some of the thing I hope to see. Above is an image from a concept from iLounge. Personally I hope they don't go this path - it seems to be peripheral hell!

Cannot wait, in the meantime expect a concept of my own over the next few days.

Collaborative sketching

Sketching, and white-boarding, are great techniques for creating entirely new concepts. But brainstorming always seems to need people in the room.

Ok, so we have LiveMeeting, but it usually involves a tag team approach (i add content, then you do, then i do, then you do, etc etc). If everyone in the live meeting, in different places in the world, could add content to the same document (and by document this could be excel, word, or a painting, or a sketch. Suddenly conceptualizing becomes a team effort. There is no concept of individual control, everyone can contribute.

I think about personally how i would use this in my world. A great example is having my writing reviewed by an editor. We can work together on the same app to edit at the same time, speeding up our work. Or I am brainstorm a new product idea with a client, the client can now get involved in adding his own input to the sketch.

In a touchscreen world that users can interact with using pencils and paintbrushes, suddenly talent can be shared and vision expressed more intuitively. Precision white-boarding allows all users to connect their brain to the task at hand, without technology enforcing a new way of doing a basic task - collaborative sketching.