Archive for April, 2010
I want a folio.
Apr 13th
I bought a cheap case on Amazon. It’s the Premium Leather Flip case for iPad. It’s great for concealing my iPad but it isn’t how I intend to protect it in perpetuity.
It’s made of fairly sturdy but soft-feeling leather with a foam padding inside the front cover. It seals magnetically to the leather which surrounds the iPad. There’s a plastic cover over the iPad’s display. The bezel is covered completely in leather. I believe this covers the light sensors (certainly automatic brightness doesn’t work within the case). When folded closed, it bends the cable of any connected headphones mercilessly (the iPad doesn’t come with headphones incidentally).
When folded, either open or closed, it is about an inch thick. The plastic attracts prints and scratches. The leather feels nice though, and not hard like the Apple case is apparently. I’d like to say that my iPad is well protected inside it, and if closed, then it could be. Once, however, it has slid from the open end next to the hinge – only a couple of inches though before I tilted the other direction and it slid back in. The trouble is that one’s instinct is to hold it on the long edge and not the short. This case folds at the short edge and there is no grip or fastening to prevent the iPad’s exit when the flap is open.
I’ve decided what I want. I want a soft leather folio cover: thin and flexible and only holding the ipad across the corners so that the device is otherwise unencumbered. One of the corners, the one near the volume rocker and rotation lock and on the other edge, the sleep button will need to allow access to those controls somehow. I think the only way to do that will be to have a larger pocket in that corner with cutouts for the buttons and screen. On the back there should be a strap made of sturdy material. It should be possible to roll this and secure it and use that as a stand which works horizontally or vertically (probably the biggest ask) It should also fit through a slit on the front cover to keep it in place when closed. The leather should be a soft hide and perhaps have a chamois cloth fitted, or a pocket to keep a small one. It should open like a book cover, leaving the iPad on the right with the home button at the bottom.
How much?
My New iPad
Apr 11th
Having promised myself I’d wait, I saw an auction on eBay for a 32gb for 575 and decided I’d get it now. I have a MiFi mobile hotspot and so I didn’t need a 3G one – I like the all-aluminium looks of the WiFi version too.
It arrived on the Wednesday and I had waited for the postman – a quick sync (It arrived charged) and I was off to work.
With a little trepidation I took it out on the train to try for the first time. The screen is beautiful. You can see it clearly and brightly with great colours from almost any angle. You can easily share your photos with someone on this device. I can see this being a great asset for anyone who has to sell something with their presentation. We’re so used to seeing pictures in frames that it just lets your content shine through.
It’s a great browser. It’s so responsive to touch, just like the 3GS but it’s big enough to be able to view a whole page without zooming in. Videos can play back in situ, though not all web pages seem to do it, so I think it’s something to do with how the video is embedded.
Flash doesn’t work, no news there. I still largely think this is a good thing.
Email is good too, the big screen makes a difference here again.
Calendar and Notes are beautiful translations of ‘real objects’. Nicely laid out and easy to navigate. The way that they change when rotated to landscape is also something that feels natural.
Maps is the same as on the iPhone but larger and more responsive.
iTunes store is more like iTunes store on the desktop, more effort has been put into the screen layout. I can’t get into the App store as it wants to go to an iPad section on the UK store which doesn’t yet exist.
Photos is exactly what you want. It makes great use of the whole screen and it has a few new transitions.. Photos can also displayed while the device is locked. The stacks for your albums are a nice touch too.
Enough about the standard apps, let’s get to some of the apps I’ve tried:
Tweet Deck: It’s Tweet Deck. It’s Free. It’ll tide you over until Tweetie 2 reappears as Twitter’s official app for iPhone & iPad. Sorry Tweet Deck, somehow you just feel a little more clunky.
AirVideo: I discovered this for iPhone and now the same app is iPad compatible. It’s not the best layout you can imagine, but it’s pretty good and it lets you stream HD video to your iPad at 720p. It can also work over 3G but I wouldn’t recommend doing that in HD resolutions 
Epicurious: Recipes on the iPad. Very slick layout, nicely organised and well thought out. I can’t imagine using anything else for the job.
Instapaper: I bought this on a recommendation and I think in all it’s worthwhile. It is mainly designed for its “read later” functionality. It does also work with some RSS feeds quite well. Unfortunately not the comic strips I like to read – that would have made it more valuable.
The Elements: Is this the future of e-learning? It is almost as entertaining as my old Chemistry teacher Dr Young and that’s saying something. It’s as slick as you like and you won’t find a more in-depth guide to the Periodic Table of the Elements.
Layers: Finger Painting re-invented. I’m not an artist, but Layers is comfortable enough to let you play at it. I can see myself using this, perhaps not on a regular basis but if the mood strikes, this is the app I’ll use.
WunderRadio: I think it’s still working out what to do with the extra screen real-estate. It’s still WunderRadio though, I’m sure they’ll figure out a better layout as time goes by.
Frotz: Infocom adventures to go. Must install The Hitchhiker’s Guide.
iSSH: SSH and VNC. This works a lot better with the bigger screen of the iPad. This would be definitive if the VNC controls were better. No Cmd key is a bit annoying when connecting to a Mac.
Labyrinth 2 Lite: Not bought yet, but might. I had Labyrinth for iPhone and I don’t really want to spend out more for what appears to be a small resize.
Sudoku Tablet: Simply Sudoku puzzles. Could do with being better arranged on the screen though.
Sam & Max, The Penal Zone: Would have been the best thing on the iPad but it glitches a little bit much. I’m sure the niggles will be ironed out though.
Words with Friends HD: The closest we can get to Scrabble in the UK (at least for now). Sad really. WwF is nice though. Local play on a single iPad would have been nice.
Word Genius: Electronic boggle solitaire. Find words by tracking them with your finger.
Godfinger: It’s like a 2D version of Populous. Quite a clever idea spoilt by its online-only usage. I’ve played this game once. I thought of playing it again, but I didn’t have the MiFi with me.
Tap Tap Radiation: It’s tap tap with moving tap spots. I have played it once.
If you have an account in the USA you can also get:
iBooks: Winnie the Pooh looks great. I was also able to import a few books from Project Gutenberg in ePub format, however, it wouldn’t read my purchased Manning “iPhone in Action” book and I haven’t been able to get an explanation from the publisher. It’s possible it could be DRM but they also supply a PDF – it’s watermarked with my email address but it’s DRM free. iBooks bug?
Who knows?
BBC News: Criminal that this isn’t available to UK users, but is supplied free and without advertising to the US.
Edge: An honourable mention goes to this iPhone app for looking pretty much identical zoomed in to not zoomed. It’s got lovely gameplay. Very retro.
I have enjoyed using the iPad since I got it. It doesn’t do anything I couldn’t do on another device, it just does it better because it’s bigger than an iPhone (making it easy to read and use) and smaller than a laptop (making it easy to use on a train).
Oh, and I put it in a leather flip case so that it doesn’t stand out as nickable. That way I’ve even felt comfortable watching videos on the tube.
I think this will bring a revolution in applications because you can now use a computer in ways that haven’t really been possible before.
This could really be the beginning of the really personal computer.
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