Amazon Kindle Fire

The Amazon Kindle Fire shipped this week as their answer to a need for a color e-reader.  And, if you look at it from a certain perspective, as their answer to the iPad.  But it's really something somewhere in between.

Amazon has set a very aggressive price for this device at $199.  They’ve created a device that is essentially a tablet, but at a price that undercuts their competition by a pretty wide margin.  Why not? The whole point of the Fire is to sell you more Amazon content, so they can more-or-less count on making their profits on the content you buy rather than the hardware itself.  Everything about the Fire is designed to entice you to purchase content from Amazon… not just books, either.  It also plays music, movies, TV shows, lets you purchase apps to run on the device, and it even comes pre-installed with an Amazon shopping app, already linked to your account.  In a way, it’s genius.  You’ve just got to resist the urge to go crazy with content purchases.

Reviews on the Internet have been all over the map.  Some are praising the Fire as an iPad killer (it’s not).  Others are essentially saying it’s the worst piece of electronics to come out in a long time (again, it’s not).  Like so many opinions out on the Internet, the truth lies somewhere in between.

There are a lot of things I like about the Fire.  It’s pretty easy to use.  It’s a nice size and it isn’t too heavy to hold for long reading or video watching sessions.  Amazon’s $79 per year (via Amazon Prime) access to a substantial streaming video library is quite intriguing.  The screen is very good.  It provides a low-cost point-of-entry into the world of Android apps.  But, on the other hand, it also provides a low-cost point-of-entry into the world of Android apps.  Yes, that is a backhanded compliment.  It lets you install Android apps, but I’m not so sure this is a great thing.

Until fairly recently I was open to the possibility of the Android platform being a decent alternative to the iPhone and iPad of the world.  That is, until I used an Android device.  While some who complain about Android do so because they’re purchasing $49 phones, I used two different high-end models to take the hardware out of the equation.  And I was not impressed.  Not in the least.  Every Android device I’ve tried now is clunky, generally sluggish, and incredibly inconsistent in the way it works.  Having apps pause and stutter is just the normal way of doing things on Android devices… you have to expect it.  And because there are no standards for how apps should look, feel, or work, everything is all over the map.  One application might use on-screen touch buttons to get around.  Others rely on the Back button.  Some use an iPhone-like hierarchy of commands, others do everything through flat linking.  Some apps look like the launcher that HTC has created, others like Samsung’s, others like nothing else.  I can’t believe how incredibly fragmented and inconsistent things are under the Android OS.  I am not impressed at all.  Frankly, I am actually stunned that anyone could love their Android phone… I have to chalk it up to lack of knowledge of alternative choices.  I may have gotten spoiled by my Windows Phone, but I really don’t believe how bad Android is, and have a hard time understanding how anyone could get excited by it, let alone put up with it.

With that, back to the Fire.  Even though the Fire uses the Android OS at its core, Amazon has tried to isolate its users from it.  To some degree it has done it fairly well.  If you stick to the Books, Videos, Music, and Docs libraries, everything runs great.  The device is responsive and (mostly) easy to use.  The reader is everything you’d hope for in an e-book reader (aside from the e-Ink paper-like display), and videos play smoothly.  If you’ve been populating Amazon’s music cloud with your own content, the music player is alright (although I will contend that anything larger than a phone is just too big for playing music).  Pretty much everything in those areas of the device is great.

That is, until you get to the Apps library.  The way Amazon has this setup is that don’t use Google’s App Market, but rather they have their own Android app store.  And the Fire can run nearly everything in that store, within the inherent limitations of the device (you won’t be making phone calls, for example).  Shopping for apps is pretty easy (although I would like to see more filtering capabilities to narrow down searches) and purchasing is even easier.  There are, of course, a broad range of apps available for free, but since Amazon is in this to make money they don’t do much to make these super easy to isolate. 

Where things really break down is actually running and installing these apps.  It’s really a mixed bag.  Most of the problems aren’t Amazon’s fault, so we have to give credit where credit is due, but it still doesn’t make for a great experience.  Among my complaints…

• As mentioned, the sluggishness of Android is fully present here.  The majority of apps are affected.  Scrolling and navigation is clunky most of the time.  It isn’t at all uncommon to tap something on the screen and not see any sort of response for as much as a second or longer.  On a modern consumer electronics device, this is unacceptable.
  
• Most of the apps are written for phones, not something the size of the Fire.  Very few apps have been designed to take advantage of a larger screen.  This means that one of two things tends to happen: either everything on-screen is small (sized as if it was being displayed on a screen 1/3 the size) and it shows more content to you, or everything is blown up much larger than normal as if you were using a phone with a 7” screen.  Neither experience is ideal. 
  
• There are many first-rate apps in the store, but there is a lot more junk.  There are a lot of no-good apps to sort through to find the gems.
  
• While Amazon’s Android App Store does have a lot in it, there are still a lot of popular Android apps that aren’t in it.  You can, if you choose to, install other apps if you have access to their .APK files, but there isn’t really a good online repository of them.  Most people who run Android get their apps from Google’s App Market (and as such, there hasn’t been much need for another repository), but that isn’t available here.  I was able to find .APK files for several apps missing from the Amazon store (Skype, Zinio, for example), but only once I was willing to wade into some rather seedy areas of the Internet.  I do not recommend doing this to the faint of heart.  If an app isn’t in Amazon’s store, skip it.

So overall my thoughts on having the ability to install apps are mixed. Yes, you can install third party apps on the device, as if it were a full-fledged Android tablet.  The real question is, are you really sure you want to?

Things are a little more muddy when it comes to the built-in web browser.  The browser seems to do a decent job rendering most web sites.  Better than the iPad in most cases.  And since it supports Adobe Flash you can view many sites that the iPad can’t handle.  But the trouble is, the browser is based on, you guessed it, is the Android WebKit browser.  So it’s slow.  Amazon has tried to speed it up by using their high-power cloud servers to accelerate the experience, but several online tests, and my own experience, show that this actually slows things down, and the feature should be turned off.  Even something as simple as scrolling a page is slow and clunky.  As if you’re the device to do something it doesn’t want to do, like asking a child to leave a toy store.  You can absolutely browse the web.  But not if you’re in a hurry.

I find it a little odd that Amazon is only offering a WiFi version of the Fire.  If any of the Kindles screams “I need 3G” it’s the Fire.  It’s the only model that has a supported (non-“experimental”) web browser, and the only model that can play music and videos from Amazon’s stores.  We can speculate as to why there is no 3G model, but the fact remains that if you want to access Amazon’s stores or the web while away from home or the office, you need to either find or bring your own WiFi hotspot.

I hope Amazon works out some of the little kinks, because I really think the Fire has a lot of potential.  I’m not saying that I dislike it, because it does do what it is supposed to do, it doesn’t crash or lock up, and at $199 it’s a steal for what it is.  I’m just disappointed that Amazon has selected Android and all of its required baggage to run the thing.  They could have done so much better.

My overall rating for the Kindle Fire is “good enough.”  It isn’t a stellar device, but it really isn’t bad either, especially if you aren’t interested in the ability to run Android apps, or browse the web quickly.  As long as you stick to the other libraries (Books, Video, Music, Docs) it’s excellent.  Just don’t have high expectations once you wander outside of the Amazon-created areas of the device.  You don’t have to use Android Apps on the device, and you don’t have to browse the web… as long as you consider those two features to be a bonus you’ll be very happy with the Fire.  But if you buy it specifically for those features, you’re likely to be at least a little bit disappointed.

It is not an iPad, but it isn’t intended to be, and it costs, depending on the model you’re comparing it to, between 24% and 40% of what the iPad does.  For that, you can make some compromises.  A $20,000 Honda isn’t a BMW, either.  If you’re happy with a Honda or Ford, you’ll probably be happy with the Fire.  If you prefer to shop at Target rather than Nordstrom, you’ll be happy with the Fire.  The Fire is a Honda sold at Target.

Apple Location Issue: Somewhat Better, but Still Bad!!!

Apple put out a press release last week, and issued a software update yesterday that addresses the location tracking issue that was made public two weeks ago.  It’s a step in the right direction, but there are still unanswered questions and things to be concerned about.

The software update does a few things right.  iOS version 4.3.3 makes some good changes…

• Only 24 hours’ worth of data is stored on the phone.
• The local cache of location data can be turned off entirely.
• The data file is not backed up to your computer.

These are all great steps.  Apple should be commended for making these changes.  However, they haven’t really gone quite far enough.  The data on the phone is still not encrypted (that change is coming sometime in the future), potentially making it available to apps and people if a phone has been jailbroken or a software exploit is discovered that allows access to such files.  I’m not going to make too much more of a stink about that because on easy way to avoid that is to not jailbreak the device in the first place.

Their press release was still a little bit troubling, though.  First, they engaged in a game of semantics.  They claim that “Apple” does not track “your” location.  Instead, the phone keeps a list of cell phone towers and WiFi access points near its location.  Uhhh… how much different is the location of things near you from your current location?  WiFi access points typically have a very short range (how far away from your house can you use your WiFi?) so the accuracy of WiFi location data is actually fairly good.  Nice try, Apple, but your word game doesn’t work on me.

The more troubling thing about their release is something that I haven’t heard anybody bring up, anywhere.  One of the things they stated was that the data on the phone isn’t really the phone’s location, but a local cache of list of cell towers and WiFi access points that have been near your phone, right?  Well, that data is coming from an Apple database.  And that database is huge.  Certainly bigger than what can be stored on a phone.  So Apple sends small subsets of that data to the phone, and this is stored locally (indefinitely for iOS <4.3.3, 24 hours for 4.3.3) to make calculating your location easier.  Sounds okay conceptually, right?  Well, there’s a big problem with that.  In order to decide what data to send to you, Apple has to know what cell towers and WiFi access points are near your phone in the first place.  They haven’t made any sort of statement about what they are doing with that data.

Imagine this scenario… you’re lost, and you need to know where you are. You might call a friend and tell them a little about what you see around you.  You can describe buildings and other landmarks, hoping that based on that information your friend will be able to help you figure out where you are.  But in the process, haven’t you revealed your position to your friend?  It just isn’t possible to get your location using this method without letting someone know where you are.  This is exactly what happens with cell phones (not just the iPhone) when they use this method to locate themselves.

Apple claims that it uses a unique ID number which isn’t tied to your account, and it changes (now) every 24 hours when making these requests.  Microsoft has said it changes the ID number as well periodically, but not how often.  Google never changes this ID number.  So in theory, Apple can only track a phone for 24 hours, Microsoft for an indefinite amount of time, and Google can track it forever.  They all claim they can’t tie this to an individual phone, but that just is not accurate.  Here’s why…

Every data conversation that takes place on the internet does so using an IP address.  It’s sort of like a phone number, and it is used to route data from point A to point B.  It’s fundamental to the way that the Internet works.  For two computers to have a two way conversation, both have to know the other’s IP address.  So these conversations where phones download the list of nearby cell towers and WiFi access points have to include this IP address.  It’s absolutely required. 

If the cell tower and WiFi location data was hosted by a third party (as all three of these players once did), there might not be as much to worry about because the IP address couldn’t necessarily be tied to an individual phone.  The trouble is that the companies providing the location data are the same ones that create the operating systems for the phones.  And you have to sign into their services to use the devices.  With the iPhone, you have to tie it to your Apple ID.  With Google, it has to be tied to your Google Account.  With Windows Phone, it has to be tied to your Windows Live account.  And all devices call home to update various aspects of those services… such as checking for app updates or checking email, for example.  Those conversations ALSO take place using an IP address, which happens to be the same for both these services as well as the location database download as well.  Bingo… they have a link between you, your device, and your location.

All three companies have claimed that they do not upload YOUR location to their services tied to your account.  The problem is that they DO have enough information in various places to be able to piece together your location.  A request for a list of nearby cell towers and (Your login to a company’s services + IP Address) + (WiFi access points + IP Address) = You + Your Location. 

I’m not saying that the companies are actually doing this, I’m just saying that the potential is there for these companies to tie a lot of information together than they’re admitting.  In all cases, you, your location, your purchasing habits, the contents of your email, and more can all potentially be tied together.  The possible implications can be scary.

The good news is that Apple now allows Location Services to be turned off entirely, so the phone won’t even ask for location information tied to nearby radio signals.  The down side is that turning this off completely disables all GPS functions.  It is technically possible to enable GPS functionality without the local cache functionality, but none of the phone manufacturers are allowing that.  GPS devices do it all of the time, but for some reason cell phones aren’t allowed to.

Q&A On the iPhone Location Tracking Issue

While it has been known for a while, news finally broke to the public yesterday that any model iPhone or iPad running iOS 4.0 or higher keeps a log file of its location, and that this file is copied to your computer every time you backup your device.  The problem is actually deeper than that, though.  This is a very serious privacy and security issue, IMHO.  The articles on the Internet don’t really seem to be painting a great picture of what this means.  So here’s my attempt… I hope it helps to clarify a few things!

Q: What’s going on?

A: All models of iPhone and iPad have been recording your location regularly into a file on the device.  The news stories here specifically relate to iOS 4.x, but prior versions of iOS are doing the same thing, they’ve just been recording it into a different file.  These files cannot be deleted, and this “feature” cannot be turned off.  The information even persists from one device to another if you replace one phone or iPad with another and restore a backup.

The data being recorded includes at least the device’s location, the time of day, and a list of WiFi networks available at each of these locations.  The file in and of itself does not contain your personal contact information, but it would be very easy to determine where you live or work.

Q: Does the phone send my location to Apple, or anyone else?

A: Not in and of itself.  Apps on your phone can be given permission to access your location, and there is no way to stop them from uploading your location information, but this flaw in and of itself does not cause your location to be sent to anyone else; it is saved on your phone and computer, but not uploaded anywhere else, at least as a direct result of this issue.  Jailbroken devices do not require that apps be granted permission to access location data; they can get to it anytime they want.

Q: Doesn’t that mean I’m safe?

A: Not necessarily.  There are several ways that anyone who wants to can get to this data if they are persistent enough.

Q: What does that mean?

A: If you have jailbroken your phone, any app on the phone can gain access to the location data without your permission.  In addition, a jailbroken phone that has not had its root password changed from the default is remotely accessible to anyone who wants to log in, and it is EXTREMELY easy to get to.  This includes access to the location log file.

Apple has also had a poor track record of security on iOS devices.  Hackers have been able to gain entry quite regularly ever since the device was first released (this is how some jailbreaks work, just as one example).  If someone were to want to target you, it’s entirely possible that someone with moderate hacking skills could obtain this file, whether it be through your phone (because it is always on the Internet) or computer (through software installed there).  Even if you haven’t been specifically targeted, once an exploit to a phone (or computer) is known, it is a consistent and regular practice of hackers to scan for vulnerable devices.  Computers are a little safer if they are behind a router, but phones are connected directly to the Internet without a hardware firewall to isolate them from attack.

Q: What if I’m not running iOS 4.x on my phone or iPad?

A: While it hasn’t been widely mentioned in the news, iOS versions prior to 4.0 also log location data.  The data is just stored in a different file in a different format.  But it’s there.

Q: Doesn’t someone have to have physical access to my phone or computer?

For most people, this is the case.  But not for everyone.  If your device is jailbroken and you haven’t changed the root password, remote access to your phone (and this file) is available for anyone who wants to get in.  It’s very simple to get to it.

As far as access to the data on the computer, ideally nobody else has access to your files remotely.  But that requires that you keep your computer fully up-to-date and make sure you’re running current and high quality antivirus and antispyware software, even on Macs.  Viruses and spyware could very easily gain access to this data, and make it available to third parties.

Q: How would I know if someone had gotten access to my data?

A: You probably wouldn’t have any way of knowing.

Q: What would happen if I lost my phone?

A: The chance isn’t high, but if someone with even moderate technical skills were to have access to your phone they could download the location data file and see everywhere you’ve taken your iOS devices since you got them.  Even if the phone is locked with a password, there are very easy ways around this.  Once your phone is in someone else’s hands, there isn’t really any guaranteed way of preventing them from getting access to your location data.  If you have signed up for the Find my iPhone program or connect to an Exchange server, you could remotely wipe the phone and hope that nobody had downloaded the data before you sent the wipe command.

Q: Some people seem to say this isn’t worth worrying about.  Is that true?

That depends.  The chance that someone wants to get your location information specifically isn’t very high.  My take on this is that you’re better safe than sorry.  If you don’t care if anyone knows where you’ve been, you may not need to worry about this much.  The chance that advertisers or hackers want location information in general is very high.

Q: What can I do to prevent my location from being recorded?

A: As of right now, the only thing you can do is turn off the phone completely (not just put it in standby) or put it in Airplane mode.  But this obviously prevents you from using the phone.  As long as the device is turned on and the cellular feature is turned on, it’s recording your location.

What makes this worse is that there is NO WAY to delete this file or turn the logging feature off.  It’s built into the phone at a very low level and it can’t be controlled by any setting on the phone.  iPhones have been recording this data for a very long time now, long before iOS 4 came out.  Forensic scientists have known about this for a while, but it is only now being made public.

Apple has not yet released a fix for this issue, and they haven’t even stated yet if they intend to do so.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Q: I don’t believe it.  Can you prove it?

A: Right now the only way to see for yourself is if you are synchronizing your phone with a Mac.  In which case, you can download a piece of software and see the tracking data yourself.  It probably won’t be long before someone writes a similar utility for Windows, and if I see any news on that front I’ll update this blog post.  I’ve considered writing such a utility myself, but I have too many other things going on at the moment to bother.

Q: Does this affect other phones too?

A: This flaw does not affect other non-Apple devices.  The same researchers that found the flaw in the iPhone have also investigated other popular phones and haven’t found any evidence that any other phones exhibit the same behavior.

Q: If I wipe everything on my phone, does that mean the data is gone?

A: Your prior location information will be deleted from your phone, but it will be restored if you restore a backup from your computer.  In either case, the phone/iPad will start recording location data again, even after being wiped.

Q: Why should I care?

A: I can’t speak for you, but I’d rather my devices not record information about where I live, work, shop, and socialize. It’s bad enough that cell phone carriers record phone location continually; I’d rather that the location of my home not be recorded inside of a device that could be lost or stolen.  Not that I have anything to hide, but I personally just don’t want that information out there available to anyone, especially companies that might be trying to sell me something.

Q: Can any steps be taken to protect myself?

A: Turn on the encryption feature for device backups in iTunes.  That will at least prevent access to this data from your computer.  There isn’t much that you can do to prevent access to the data on the phone other than stop using it.  If you’ve jailbroken your device, at a very minimum change the root password, but I’d recommend removing the jailbreak entirely.

Q: Are you doing anything differently?

A: I don’t have an iPhone, but I am definitely going to be more selective about where I take my iPad.  I protect myself very well against attacks against my computer, so I’m not too concerned about that.  If I had jailbroken my iPad I would be taking that off right now.

iPad Hands On

Okay, yeah, I did it.  I bought an iPad.  I have been at least a little critical of the device from the day it was first announced, and I felt like if I was going to be fair about it I really ought to take it for a spin for real before forming a final opinion.

I was able to get it without any difficulty.  My local Best Buy was one of the ones that was going to have them at launch.  Twenty minutes before the store opened, there was still no line to get one.  At a quarter to ten I got out of my truck and I was third in line.  The store had twenty of each model (16, 32, and 64GB), so there is actually still a fair chance that if someone wants one they might still be able to get it, at least at the Orem store.

So now that I have had it for 2 1/2 hours, and played with every aspect of the device, and downloaded and played with quite a few apps, I feel more qualified to comment on it.  Here are my impressions…

Hardware

• The device is both smaller and considerably heavier than you’d imagine it being.  The screen is 9.7” (diagonal), but it has a considerable bezel, leaving the impressions in pictures that it is bigger than it really is.  But it also weighs more.  It’s heavy enough that I wouldn’t want to hold it up to read books on it.
• The oleophobic coating on the screen that is supposed to prevent fingerprints and smudges, doesn’t.
• The back has a textured finish, unlike the iPod Touch, so it doesn’t scratch as easily, thankfully.
• The screen is very good.  It uses an IPS LCD screen, and these are among the best out there.  The quality of the screen is A LOT better than that of the iPhone or iPod Touch, especially with regard to viewing angles.
• Battery life should be the expected 10 hours.  After playing for two hours my battery level dropped by about 15%.
• It absolutely requires a computer to set it up.  When you turn it on it shows the iTunes logo on screen until you register it with Apple via iTunes 9.1.
• For the most part it operates pretty smoothly and quickly.  Scrolling and zooming are particularly smooth.
• Since the iPod Touch doesn’t have a microphone, I wasn’t expecting one on the iPad, but it does have one.  I was able to make Skype calls on it just fine.
• The speaker is fairly loud, but it’s monaural.  Disappointing considering the device’s considerable size and the amount of unused space inside the case.  Sound quality is also dull and lifeless.
• It doesn’t charge while plugged into a computer.  It shows “Not charging” in the upper right on the three computers I tested it on, one of which is a Mac. You pretty much have to use the included USB power adapter to charge it.  My other AC-to-USB chargers don’t work with it.

Apps

• It comes pretty bare-bones.  It doesn’t even have the iBooks app installed on it from the factory; it has to be downloaded and installed.
• Even though there are supposedly about 1400 apps specifically for the iPad, a LOT of them are books, or wrappers around the web browser.  There are a fair number of useful and cool apps, but the iPad App Store actually feels a bit sparse.
• Apps are CONSIDERABLY more expensive than they are for the iPhone.  Many apps that are $1.99 on the iPhone/Touch are $9.99 for their iPad versions, for example.
• There are free apps, but I didn’t find that many that were interesting.  In some cases apps that are free on the iPhone aren’t free for the iPad.
• Even though the device can run iPhone apps, chances are that you probably won’t want to.  They either run on a very small portion of the screen (same physical size as they would be on an iPhone) or blown up to 4x normal size (2x in each direction), and when they are blown up they look, well, horrible.
• There are some very notable missing apps right now, namely Facebook and Hulu.
• Most apps seem to be pretty polished, but I did experience a handful of app crashes, and a fair amount of pauses and multi-second freezing, even among the Apple-supplied apps that come with it.
• The iBooks app is pretty cool, but there is basically no free content.  It comes with one free book (Winnie the Pooh), so you can get a feel for how it will work, but I didn’t want to spend $10-15 just to have the whole experience.  Page turns are quick enough that they aren’t distracting, and the fact that you can view two pages side-by-side in landscape mode is cool.  I’m still not sold on the idea of holding up a 1.5 pound device to read, or reading on a backlit screen, though.  Some people will be fine with reading on the iPad, many will not.
• The Apple included apps are exactly what you expect them to be… versions of many of the same apps that ship with the iPod Touch, but optimized for a larger screen.  It did feel like some apps, like Mail and Calendar in particular could do more to take advantage of the bigger screen, but I can understand how Apple would be trying to keep things simple.  For the most part the experience with the apps is the same as it is on the iPhone, just bigger.
• The web browser is nice, and snappy.  I do find that entering URLs and filling in web forms on the on-screen keyboard is annoying, though.  And the ongoing battle with Adobe over including Flash is a significant irritation.

Other

• Standard definition video looks okay, but not great.  If you’re planning on watching iTunes movies or TV shows, the HD versions are going to look a lot better.  And keep in mind that HD content takes up a lot more space than SD, so getting a higher capacity version of the iPad than you think you might need is probably a good idea.
• The on-screen keyboard has had a couple buttons added to it compared to the iPhone/iPod Touch.  Not many, but it is nice to have command and period keys.  But I do wish that they had added the row of number keys.  
• In Landscape mode the on-screen keyboard literally takes up half of the screen, and the buttons are actually too big.  They could have really made it a lot smaller, and it would have actually been much more usable, in addition to requiring less screen real estate in the process.
• It’s disappointing that app icons are only shown 4 across on such a large screen.  The icons feel like they are way too far apart, and Apple could have greatly reduced the number of pages by just allowing even one or more two icons per row, and one or two more rows.
• Though the device can play iTunes music, it’s really way too big to be used as a music player.
• It’s also very disappointing that the device doesn’t allow third party applications to multi-task, especially with such a large screen.  Apple could have easily fit four iPhone apps on screen simultaneously, or allowed applications to run in the background.
• Even though Apple is pushing this thing as a game platform, many games rely on the accelerometer, and this makes them very slow to respond to input.  If this is a serious game machine they should have at least included a directional pad.  Touch-screen and accelerometer just don’t cut it for a huge portion of potential games.

Overall, the hardware feels pretty polished.  Most of the limitations come from the software itself, or from the fact that you’re really buying into an ecosystem, not just a piece of hardware.

But the biggest down side of the device is cost.  And I’m not talking about up-front cost; the up-front price actually isn’t too bad for what you are getting.  It’s the high price of the apps, and the fact that you’re going to want to purchase iPad specific versions of your iPhone apps (since running the iPhone native apps is actually a pretty bad experience).  And if someone is planning on using the device to read books, magazines, or newspapers, keep in mind that you’re going to be buying them over again if you already have them, and with the $10-15 book price, or inexplicably high subscription costs, it isn’t what I would call a bargain.

Everywhere I turned on the device it felt like Apple or other content creators wanted more money to really have a complete iPad experience.  While this is understandable, it still limits the usefulness of the device if you aren’t willing to make a big investment into content specifically designed for it.

After playing with the iPad for a couple hours and going back and picking up my iPod Touch, the Touch is SO much smaller, lighter, and ultimately nearly as functional at a much lower price.  The iPod Touch is a MUCH better buy, and could replace an iPad, but not the other way around, mostly due to size and weight.

Bottom line: It’s essentially a big iPod Touch, but you’re probably going to want to re-purchase iPad versions of apps and HD versions of video for it, so it is just like starting over from scratch as if you don’t already have any content.  So plan on making a pretty significant financial investment if this is something you’re considering.

Apple iPad: The Aftermath

Just as predicted, Apple announced the iPad today.  If you weren’t following the announcements, it is a thin device with a 9.7” screen that is more-or-less a big iPod Touch with some new software added to it. 

Things I Like

• The web browser on the iPad is going to be its killer app.  With a large high resolution screen and true tabbed browsing, this is the device’s best potential use. 
• The email app looks nice too.
• The book reader is going to be nice for casual lookup of short passages of text.
• The device can run existing iPhone software at either native or double resolution.
• The photo viewer is nice.
• The IPS LCD panel is going to have a great picture (for an LCD).
• If it can really achieve 10 hours of battery life, this is impressive.
• Apps written in the future can take advantage of the larger screen.

Things I See as Problems

• The on-screen keyboard is going to be tedious to use.  Primarily because (1) your fingers can’t feel the keys to know where they are, and (2) because the keys are touch sensitive you can’t rest them on the screen, meaning you’ll have to hover your hands over the device.  This makes writing emails and documents something you’d prefer to have a real computer for.
• The new iWork applications are going to be next to useless if you don’t have the optional dock and keyboard.  Nobody is going to write papers, or create spreadsheets or presentations without a real keyboard.
• The fact that Apple did not add multitasking (running two apps at the same time) really reduces the possible functionality of this device.  You can’t listen to Pandora and write an email at the same time, for example.  They REALLY need to fix this for both the iPad and iPhone.
• The Maps app is a good idea, but this doesn’t have a real GPS, so its kind of useless for navigation.
• Getting your own photos and videos onto the device requires going through a computer.  Or in the case of photos, with an optional connecting cable to connect to a limited selection of cameras. 
• The device is too large to carry around with me.  It’s going to get left on the couch all of the time, because that’s the only place a device like this makes much sense.  If I’m out and about I’m going to need the full capabilities of a notebook computer.  So the iPad stays home.
• Reading long books isn’t really going to be a great experience.  Our eyes prefer the non-backlit look of paper over backlit screens when staring at a device for long periods of time. Reading of newspapers and (someday) magazine articles should be fine.
• The device requires a computer for setup and maintenance, as well as more permanent storage.  If Apple is trying to replace a computer (which seems to be their aim) they shouldn’t require a computer.
• The device seems a little bit expensive for being just a large iPod Touch.  I’m glad to see the entry price at just $499, but its 16GB storage isn’t enough if people expect to store much video content on it, especially if it is high definition.
• This is not a device suited to the educational market.  Nobody is going to take notes on an on-screen keyboard (nor does the book reader seem to support that anyway), and I doubt that many people will carry the dock and keyboard with them.  A notebook computer makes so much more sense in that application.  Since it is going to require a computer anyway, this isn’t a good educational solution.
• While the device is not locked to AT&T, AT&T’s network is the only one that really lets you take advantage of the 3G radio in the 3G-equipped models.  They should have offered Verizon and T-Mobile as options as well.  At least the data plans aren’t too expensive.
• I’m going to list multitasking a second time.  A device with a screen this big shouldn’t be limited to running one app at a time.  This is a major failing on Apple’s part.  I really hope they fix this.

Prediction Results

So, how did I do on my predictions from last night?

Tablet (iPad)

• Large iPod Touch, with emphasis on electronic book and multimedia.  Pretty much correct.  I didn’t predict that they would have iWork available for it (their Office-like product), but I guess they need to have some sort of justification for some business use of the device.
• No e-Ink screen, uses conventional LCD.  Check.
• Tool for students and readers: They didn’t really focus on the educational use of the device other than to mention that textbooks will be available on it.  They did make a big deal of the new iBooks software for it, making it a reader.  Half credit.
• WiFi & 3G connectivity. WiFi was right, 3G is available, but AT&T only.  I predicted we’d see Verizon as an option, which we don’t.  No carrier subsidies (or even contract).  40% right.
• Priced $700-900.  Actual pricing is $499 to $829 depending on storage and whether you get it with the 3G radio.  So I was $200 too high on the low end, $70 too high on the high end.
• Available March-April.  Wi-Fi only version coming end of March, 3G version coming end of April.  Bingo.
• Name won’t include “i.”  Wrong.  I was hoping they’d abandon that.  iPad is a terrible name, though, especially if you’ve seen the MadTV skit.
• No stylus.  Yep.

iPhone

• No significant changes for the iPhone.  Check.
• New 3.2 version announced.  Yes, but for the iPad only for now.
• No 4.0 announcement.  Check.
• No new hardware.  Check.
• No announcement of coming to new carriers.  Check.

Mac

• No new iMacs or Mac Mini.  Check.
• Refresh of 17” MacBook Pro.  Nope.  Wrong.
• Solid State Disks option for all models.  Nope.

iPod

• No iPod announcements.  Check.

Software

• iLife suite upgraded to 2010.  Nope.
• iWork suite upgraded to 2010.  No.  But announced for iPad.
• MobileMe updated for tablet.  No announcements made.  But I still see this coming before long to allow iWork to synchronize over the air.
• iTunes updated to 9.1.  Nope.  Or at least no announcement.  I bet it will be for when the iPad is actually released.
• Streaming content announcement.  I predicted it wouldn’t be made now, but will be made before long.  Correct on no announcement, but no score.

I told you so…

If you go back and read my July 26th post, I was pretty much dead on on what the Apple tablet device was going to be.  I should have stuck with that post as my official predictions; I was closer in that post 6 months ago than I was in last night’s.  I gotta quit listening to the media.