Steve's Ramblings

The intertubes have been swarming with discussion about Apple’s latest product; the iPad. While there is no doubt a lot of people talking about the iPad in a positive way, it is impossible to deny that there is an overwhelming negative attitude towards Apple’s latest creation. The question is whether or not iPad is deserving of the negative barrage it is getting.

Lets take a sample of some comments people have made about the iPad:

Engadget

…how many more ”definitive” posts/editorials do we need to see to further explain how crappy this thing is. i think we got it

Ok, so people are mad that engadget is covering the iPad because they think the device is “crappy”? Engadget covers all device releases, yet the audience of the site (which is anti-Apple to begin with) get pissed about the coverage. You would think engadget is somehow forcing these people to read their site.

The iPad is basically a giant iPod touch. In my opinion, it is missing a lot of essential components/features that deter me from purchasing one myself. For instance: The iPad has no multitasking, no cameras, a touch keyboard, no hdmi out, no flash, lots of adapters, and it ‘s not widescreen. Just a few things that make me say… no thanks.

Then they are upset that the iPad has no camera, physical keyboard, hdmi out, flash, and not widescreen. Well lets think about this, it is a tablet computer. I do understand the multitasking and camera comment so I will ignore those. But physical keyboard? This is a tablet device, it is not a tablet PC. It is designed for your hands, but you can get a keyboard if you really want one. While this person did make some good observations there was still some pretty far off complaining and critiquing of the device. It is not a tablet PC, and it was never touted as one, thus no attached keyboard.

I’m sorry engadget but this is the last I’m ever visiting your site. Your coverage of a medicore product is completely overboard. If you decide to give the HP slate this much coverage when it comes out let me know and I’ll be back, until then, peace out.

Calling an unreleased product mediocre and saying if they cover the HP Slate in the same way they will come back is just childish. This user makes no attempt to hide their total bias. If Engadget covers a PC device they will be happy, but covering an Apple device is not ok. A typical comment from the Engadget commenting crowd.

Yea. HP Slate better be awesome coverage. And the Courier. That’s a slick piece of tech. If you go this bananas over a giant iPhone, I’d better see an entire server dedicate to those.

Same for this comment, covering something Apple makes isn’t alright, but the same coverage for a PC based device is more than ok. Bias galore. Anyone who has watched the keynote in its entirety knows that the iPad is much more than a giant iPod. All you need to do is watch the iWork section of the keynote to understand that.

But fear not, in the flak of negativity there are still people with some good reasoning:

Constant negativity gets old pretty quickly. As someone who enjoys constructive debate and is looking to get some apps developed, I’d like to see everyone take a step back and a deep breath.

None of the more prolific commenters have given Apple the benefit of the doubt on multi-tasking. Really, is that a feature that would make it into a .X release? And is there any reason to assume that the A4 can’t perform similar to whatever’s in the Pre Plus with its demonstrated 50 apps at once ability?

Then there’s the bitching about the bezel, when other devices in the same form factor have pretty much the same thing going on. A thin bezel is great for anything that doesn’t require a firm, one-handed grip; I don’t want to continually move my hand to read content that is obscured by my thumb.

No full OS. Umm, until a full OS can be made that is designed from the ground-up to be touch-friendly, and doesn’t take forever to boot up on tablet/slate hardware, I’ll happily live without the extras.

With 8 out of 10 comments here shredding the iPad, it’s all become sort of a blur, so I can’t come up with anything else off the top of my head. But, I hope you see my point that for the vast majority of the negative commentary, it’s been nothing but the same knee-jerk reactions posted over and over again.

And if, as you say, these represent the voices of the “power users” who beta test the devices, then how is Apple going to get anything of use out of coming here? Virtually every person who has criticized the iPad in the comments has done so without any actual time using the device, and have sworn to never purchase it and experience it for themselves. I fail to see how this qualifies as beta testing.

This is a rare comment from the Engadget community, and I’m sure this user will get buried for a comment like this. The fact is that there is a strong vocal internet trend right now that involves bashing the iPad, and it isn’t just limited to Engadget comments. Heck, Gizmodo wrote an entire article on “8 things that suck about the iPad” which simply rehashed the same old crap: thick bezel, no multitasking, no keyboard.. blah blah blah.

And Digg.com is always a good place to go for non-bias Apple commenting… right? Ha, no, not at all. Digg is another site that is filled with Apple hate. Top comments include:

I’m really digging the internet backlash. All that hate towards NBC is being channeled now towards Apple. The fact that they’re arrogant enough to suggest that this rivals a netbook in any way is only going to lead to further scrutiny.

Suck it, Apple.

Oh? I haven’t talked to anyone who can say they love their $299 netbook. Maybe when you get in the 11″ $500 price range people start to enjoy their netbooks a little more, but anyone who has the most common type of netbook would probably gladly trade it in for an iPad. As someone who has owned 3 netbooks let me tell you, the experience with them is terrible.

No multitasking in a NEW device that is meant to be a replacement for laptops? Pandora shuts down just because you left Pandora to do something else? Nice going, Apple. You should have waited till version 2 was ready to release.

Woah, wait, what? A replacement for laptops? Steve specifically said during his keynote that this device is designed to fit between a smartphone and laptop, not replace either one! Another case of someone commenting when they never even watched the keynote. This is further reinforced when you realize that this is one of the top promoted comments for the story on Digg, meaning that over a 500 other people agreed with this observation enough to promote this users comment. Wow.

Then we have the Microsoft fanboy chiming in:

If Microsoft releases the Courier, it will destroy the iPad.

Just like the Zune did to the iPod and the ZuneHD did to the iPod Touch… right? Sigh.

Netbook Comparisons

A lot of critics on the web use the argument “why not just get a Netbook, it has more features and its cheaper.” It is important to realize the differences between a netbook and the iPad, as they are two completely different types of devices. The iPad is thin, has a 10 hour battery, and offers a form factor and OS that is very friendly for short-use situations, like waiting for a bus. A netbook is thicker, has a shorter battery, longer startup and shutdown time, and a full OS which can perform more tasks but in a longer period of time to do application startup/shutdown times and the fact that the full blown programs have more features and are intended to be used on full laptops and desktops.

Also, netbooks generally have cramped keyboards and tiny trackpads which makes navigating and interacting with the device more of a chore than a pleasure. The iPad turns the entire display into a trackpad of sorts, and allows for simple navigation and interaction with objects, like websites. If you have ever browsed the web on a netbook you probably have experienced the underwhelming feeling you get when constantly scrolling to view content. The mobile Safari browser allows you to see much more of a page, and you can easily zoom in and out of the content you wish to focus on, a feature you can’t easily do in Firefox on a netbook without lots of scrolling. It is an entirely different yet efficient way to browse the web. I am to the point where I would rather browse the web on my Nexus One or iPhone than my netbook because pinch-to-zoom is a lot easier than using those tiny trackpads and widescreens.

As Steve Jobs said:

“Netbooks aren’t better tat anything. They’re not better than a laptop at anything, they’re just cheaper. They’re just cheap laptops.”

Yet we still have critics saying:

$629 with 3G/Wifi? THAT’S INSANE.

I’ve got a Lenovo $300 netbook with Windows XP, FLASH, JAVA and a KEYBOARD !

Let me start by saying your netbook doesn’t have 3G on it (so why did you bother comparing it to the 3G/Wifi iPad?). And thats fine, you can enjoy the heck out of your tiny netbook all you want. A netbook is still a small computer with a small screen made from cheap components. If that makes you happy, so be it. Many people are turned off by netbooks because of how small they are, how underpowered they are for the software that runs on them, and the overall less-than-stellar hardware they are made from.

The Bezel from HELL

Based on reactions found on the web you would think this was the first device to ever have a bezel.

Here’s two of the Many things that piss me off. #1 bezel – it’s NOT neccesary. Are you telling me apple cannot come up with a software solution so the system would know your just holding the edge of the screen?

Oh really? The iPhone multitouch technology already blows away all of the competition (including the Nexus One) and yet this user wants software to tell whether they are pressing or just holding the screen edge. Seriously? How annoying would it be trying to browse the web but having part of the screen blocked by your thumb? That sounds pretty annoying to me. The bezel is there because this device is intended to be held with one hand and interacted with using your other hand!

Lets understand why the bezel is necessary by using an example. Look at the picture below, and focus on the area I highlighted in green. That green area is the most important area of interaction when deleting email. On the left side you will notice that there are red check boxes, clicking the email flags the check box red and marks the email for deletion.

Now imagine having your thumb covering those red check boxes. You would need to set the device down, or find a way to palm the back of it to allow you to uncover those deletion ticks (which are currently being covered by your left thumb). That is a hassle. Having a bezel to hold onto eliminates the need to juggle the device so you can perform tasks that require interaction with the edges of the device.

Lets just look at one more example. See how the removal of the bezel would move your hand right up to the edge of the words when reading an eBook? People with larger hands could easily have their view of the pages effected by holding the device this close to the actual text. Not to mention the device reads this as input which could cause a shift of the hand to result in a page turn.

No flash?! Do not want!

With the Ipad’s omission of flash, it becomes pointless as it will not be able to deliver you content that 98% of websites use.

98%? Oh? I can pull numbers out of my ass too. 110% of this users comment was bullshit. See, its that easy! Me being snarky aside, this is yet another prime example of a user being overly critical in an attempt to make a product seem worse than it really is. I don’t know about you, but aside from advertisements (which I block using AdBlock anyway) I interact with maybe two flash based websites on a weekly basis, and that is including YouTube which does have an application on the iPad to stream YouTube videos. So where are all of these flash websites hiding? I read reddit, digg, endgadget, and the rest of those popular sites, so tell me where are these popular flash-based sites? Which sites are so reliant on flash that it is required to view the content? Ok ok I hear cries of “Hulu”, so lets ignore video streaming sites. Anyone? Anyone? Exactly. Most of the sites out there do NOT rely on flash to view the content. FFS.

It doesn’t run a “full” OS!

Yes, it does. Sure it doesn’t run OS X, but that is not a bad thing. Why? Because thats not the point of this device!

The iPad is supposed to be a device that is between your iPhone (smartphone) and your MacBook (laptop) for web browsing, email, photos, games, and reading. It is not a laptop replacement. It is not a phone replacement. It is easier to use than a smartphone, but less feature-packed than a laptop. It is a easily portable device with a long battery and great capabilities.