The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: The New iPad Edition
So, Apple announced the latest 1.4 pound object to burn a hole through your wallet yesterday but the general reaction around the blogospheres have been lukewarm to put it mildly. Personally, I didn’t see enough to motivate me to buy this iteration of the iPad.
To be honest, I didn’t have very high hopes for this iPad. I figured that there might be some kind of bump to the screen and processor but, I knew in my heart that I wasn’t going to be “wow’ed.” Forgive me all those people that were amazed at the horizon corrections.
I put together some bullet points for the good, the bad and the ugly bits to the iPad 3, iPad HD, iPad 2S, new iPad. Take a look below.
Good
- LTE present in the device. My theory: If market leader has leading technology = better competition for consumer dollars = better products for the consumer to choose from.
- Battery life is quoted at the same time as its predecessors.
- Bumped up screen resolution will make text, iBooks look amazing.
- This knocks the iPad 2 prices down across the board.
- So many bands. Great precedent set for this. More radios, please!
Bad
- No changes to LTE/ data pricing. Stream Avatar in HD on that iPad and you will go over your monthly allotment on AT&T or put you right at the mark for Verizon.
- Seems like there’s no 4G/3G data love for T-Mobile or Sprint.
- Looks like no NFC.
- Apps get bumped up look, sure, but not optimized unless the dev does more work to it.
- No changes in gestures, bezel.
- No announced changes to FFC.
Ugly
- It’s heavier (truthfully that’s understandable).
- There are still no other ports aside from the dock connector and audio.
- Still haven’t provided a compelling reason to get an iPad with a data connection!!
- Continues to alienate MacBook Air users.
- Looks like AT&T version and the Verizon version might be two different models 🙁
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
- What do you call this thing now? Won’t people who just bought the iPad 2 be disappointed that they don’t have the new “iPad?” (Only half-kidding)
- How the hell is this supposed to be a “Post-PC” device when the best experience you will have will come from loading content from a PC (referring almost exclusively to digital cameras)?
- Nothing about increased Safari performance?
- Still only one form factor?
- With a beefed up 5-megapixel camera, would you, the consumer, walk around with this to take pictures for an event?
- Now that there’s LTE, will you be able to FaceTime over data without jailbreaking?
My Quick Takeaways From the Conference
- Mike Capps (president of Epic Games) mentioning that the New iPad runs on a higher resolution than the PS3 and an Xbox 360 made me giggle. It’s a true statement, sure, but then again those video game consoles were made to display on a TV which only recently embraced “High Definition.” Comparatively, the same year that the Xbox 360 launched (in 2005), the Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX came to market and that also spit out QXGA aka 2048 x 1536 graphics…on two screens…at 85 Hz. But hey, welcome to the Post-PC era (hate that term but Apple is great at marketing)…
- With Jelly Bean and Windows 8 tablets looming at the end of the year, I don’t feel like I saw enough from Apple to influence my decision on which tablet to buy in the future. Of course, my opinion wont matter because the pre-orders are probably through the roof already. There’s an advantage to launching first and Apple has made full use of said advantage each and every time. I just feel like we’re starting to approach critical mass with their latest hardware revisions.
- No Siri actually made a lot of sense to me. Until Siri can launch apps, leave it out.
- The price drop for the iPad 2 might just have made me a believer. Now, I have a serious decision to make about a backup/chop-em-tablet. I’ve been waiting for a stable version of CM7/9 for the Nook Tablet but a jailbroken iPad 2 for around the same price might just be the move. Stay tuned.
- Immediately after the iPhone 4S conference, I felt like Apple was daring the competition to come after them. I had the exact same feeling here. Maybe Apple only truly innovates when facing stiff competition. Who knows?
Photo credit: IMDB
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thefight
9 Comments
You’ll take their one form factor and like it! They’re APPLE!
I’ve got a 1st gen iPad, an iPad 2, and I just ordered the 3rd gen iPad this morning.
Your opinion on these devices aside, the improvements that they focused on are all of the things that I personally think should have been done at a minimum, and anything beyond it is an added bonus..
I’m only going to comment on a few bullets..
The gestures are great, no changes needed.
Bezel gestures used by APPLE apps for the first time in iPhoto
NFC isn’t needed in an iPad just yet. The adoption isn’t there, and it’s more than likely to appear in the next iPhone before the iPad.
As for having to use a computer, that’s still not true – iPhone photos are transferred by photo stream, or like SLR cameras or SD cards, you can use the camera kit with an iPhone (or any powered USB device) and plug it into the iPad and transfer them that way.
ATT and verizon models ARE two different models, that’s Qualcomm’s fault.
MacBook Air users are alienated? I love my iPad and I love my MBA… I’m confused…
As for a reason for having the 3g/4g connection in an iPad, travel for a living like I do and get back to me on that.
And Finally:
The name.
It’s just ‘iPad’. Yes, it’s the NEW iPad, but just ‘iPad’. Not ‘the new iPad’. They do this on all of their other products:
iPod
MacBook Pro
MacBook Air
Mac Pro
Mac Mini
Only the iPhone and the iPad had numerical iterations, and this should open the door for them to remove the number from the iPhone too. Looking forward to the next iPhone 🙂
“Immediately after the iPhone 4S conference, I felt like Apple was daring the competition to come after them. I had the exact same feeling here. Maybe Apple only truly innovates when facing stiff competition. Who knows?”
No, they need everyone to catch up so they have something to steal. Apple is good at stealing great but ugly ideas and making them look beautiful.
There is nothing wrong with perfecting the ideas of others. Perfect execution is a very important form of innovation
First, Hi Marti 🙂
Next order of business, I’ve missed you iChris! Honestly!
Lets go do the things that we do so well, argue:
I don’t care what usage scenario you provide, you are not the average consumer. At least I hope the average consumer didn’t spend upward of $ 2,100 – $ 2,500 on iPads alone. For which you get a solid 11 – 12 months out of then pass along. Bah. Let’s move thru what you said like you did for me.
1. Increasing the rear shooter but doing nothing to the front is a mistake, no matter how you dress it up.
2. Any 4 finger gesture on a device that you can’t use and operate with one hand is functionally retarded. That changes the usage scenario for someone who is sitting down with the iPad on their lap or using a stand. Yet, that doesn’t account for someone who is standing up, which of course is a mobile scenario.
3. I brought up the bezel gesture because of it’s use in iPhoto in no where else, so thank you.
4. Bull on NFC. If they wanted adoption, that would have driven it. If it goes in the next iPhone, that’s even worse. That means you would have to wait for the next iteration (which you probably are going to buy anyway), to use the tech. That’s a stretch and you can do better. Spare me.
5. I said the best usage scenario is the computer. The best experience with iTunes is still with a Mac, no matter how many strides they make on the mobile or PC side of things. It’s far easier having a hub that all devices connect to that can pass and alter content (like iPhoto on a MBP) than an add on adapter. Especially if there isn’t NFC. I’ve used photo stream before, I’ll pass (remember where I work my man).
6. They are still different models. Verisimilitude isn’t the argument. Moreover, Apple still had to sign off on it.
7. Consistently referring to this time in tech as the Post-PC era then loading a mobile device that’s about the same size and weight as a MBA with a better screen resolution and arguably a better processor configuration doesn’t clash at all with one another at all. What am I saying?
Sarcasm aside, the difference between a 64 GB iPad (that’s again, a Post-PC device), and a 64GB MBA is $300, a SD Card slot, a gig of ram and 3 ports. And the iPad trumps in resolution, graphics and battery life.
8. Travel for a living, yes I’m aware. I see that Verizon & AT&T did change up their data plans today so I have some strike-throughs to do but, the only worth while plan is on Verizon @ 10 GB for $80 bucks. Especially if you tether and I know you carry multiple devices with you. The purpose of the question still relates directly to the example that I provided. If you use high def content, you will be at or around your monthly limit by the time your battery dies. Period. Makes a whole hell of lot more sense to just walk into a Clear brick & mortar store, get the wifi modem, stick it in your pocket and enjoy unlimited data for 50-55 bucks a month on your WiFi only iPad.
9. If they set a naming convention, then adhere to it. Simple. Naming their product line doesn’t do your side of the argument any justice if they broke their own structure. But thank you for making my point, once again.
perfecting others ideas, eh? lol. that’s nice. too bad they sue anyone that gets even remotely close to their IPs. I suppose you have a point though. the fast app switch ui on my beloved WP is a dead ringer for that in WebOS. Then again, I have no problem being a happy hypocrite 🙂
I’m not really in the mood to argue (vodka does that to me) but I will address the argument that iTunes makes the difference. If you’re trying to load a lot of content (MOVIES in particular) you’re gonna need iTunes.
Photos. No, and iPhoto introduces ‘beaming’ from other devices to your iPad/iPhone.
And what’s wrong with photo stream? I use it every day and I love it.
And I’ll agree with you that I’m by no means a ‘normal’ user or consumer, but I also have stopped monitoring network traffic on my local LAN, writing code all night long, and debugging/reverse coding apps. I’m using these devices for ‘regular’ purposes. And I love them. Can’t recommend anything else.
Aww, vodka makes me wanna fight.
Movies would be on of the driving forces to use LTE in an iPad, no? At least it would be a selling point.
Pictures are another thing, I hate using photo stream. If I need to get something into this blasted iPad, I’ll use it. The preference is still using (last years) MBA.
Personally, i think MBA’s are usable (this one is growing on me), but, not @ 1,000 bucks to start. Especially when I know I’m going to use parallels. A UX31 seems like it would serve a better purpose.
The 13″ at $1600 was a hard sell for me, but I don’t regret it at all now that I’ve had it for a while. Best computer I’ve ever owned.
I just uninstalled parallels. Found that I wasn’t using it at all.