We were very excited to pick up our iPad on UK launch day. Although at around 530 quid it’s quite a purchase for a normal consumer to justify (16GB, 3G model). So, what is the fuss all about? The iPad revolutionises the concept of a tablet computer. Previously, tablet devices addressed a legitimate consumer need (casual, lazy, couch-bound computing), but left most people frustrated with stylus-driven handwriting recognition and operating systems that were really designed to be used on desktop PCs. But is the iPad different than all the other tablet devices before?
Different… yes, the iPad is different from other tablet devices. I’ve used the iPad for the weekend and what have I learnt? I love the iPad, it’s a lovely gadget, smooth to touch and every time I see it I want to pick it up and play with it. The interface is really the same as the iPhone, easy to use, natural to learn and a joy to watch. Because it’s iPhone OS based rather than windows based then it’s hard to break, doesn’t need constantly resetting and you don’t have to resort to a mouse pointer and a keyboard to move around. It’s so much better than all the tablet devices that have gone before (even Apple’s own 1st try a few years ago)
The battery lasted all weekend without needing a charge, which is good… but what I’ve found though is that I ended up using my iphone over the weekend more than the iPad. The main reason I found myself using the iPhone rather than the iPad was size. The iPad is just too big to carry round all the time, even around the house… and I don’t want to drop and break it! Also I had some issues with the iPad wireless keeping dropping out – very frustrating!
The best thing about the iPad was how it kept the kids entertained. They loved the big screen and whether that was watching the free Toy Story ebook application (which is very good by the way) or watching Cinderella on youtube, the kids loved it and kept asking to watch my “big phone”.
So what do I think to the future? And specifically how we can use the iPad at Signature Digital? The iPad will be fantastic for Signature Digital to develop apps for! It’s big screen will make our well designed apps look even better. It’s exciting to think how our current iPhone apps would look being redesigned for the iPad, at the moment they all currently work on the iPad – but with a redesign they will look even better on the full size screen. So I feel that apps such as Missguided (where you are seeing high quality picture of clothing) will work well. iPad apps that need a lot of information on the screen at the same time would work well, CRM systems etc. There are many app ideas that would work well on the bigger screen…
If you’ve got an idea than get in touch with Signature Digital to develop your iPhone or iPad application.
Chris.
