I still don’t know if I’m going to get an iPad yet or wait for iPad 2.0, but I thought I’d start preparing for it anyway.
At the moment I tend to work from my desktop iMac and therefore only occasionally need to access e-mails and such like from other computers. When I do need to I’ve been able to log into my webmail account and access e-mails like that, but as most of my e-mails were POP accounts that didn’t sync with things on my desktop. I don’t have a smart phone or a laptop so there was never a need to sync things with those either.
However, if I get an iPad then I will use it in the lounge and maybe out and about, so I might end up checking e-mails and such like on it, in which case it would be nice if anything I did on it then synced with my desktop computer. I thought this might be a good time to consolidate my e-mail addresses too, so decided to use my Google Mail IMAP address as my main account.
The idea behind this is that all my e-mail can forward to the one Google Mail account. I can then access this via IMAP in Apple Mail on my desktop, and also access it via Mail for the iPad on my iPad. Any e-mails that I receive, move to folders, reply to etc will then all be synced between my desktop and my iPad as they will all be coming from the Google Mail server. It all seems to be working so far between my iMac and Google, but I’m not sure yet how it will work once I add an iPad to the equation.
iCal
Whilst I was at it I thought that maybe I could also use Google Calendar to sync my iCal calendars. This wasn’t quite so successful. I was able to add my calendars to Google Calendar without any problems and I was able to sync the accounts between Google Calendar and iCal. Changes that I made in iCal were reflected in Google Calendar and vice versa.
There was a problem though as Google Calendar won’t let you set reminders for events for more than 28 days before the event. I have no idea why such a limitation is imposed by Google, but there is and it meant that any events I had in my iCal calendars that had alarms set for more than 28 days before the event didn’t get synced properly. The events were there but the reminders / alarms weren’t. This was quite a problem for me as I had hundreds of events with reminders for 60 days and 30 days in advance. This one limitation means that Google Calendars will be of no use to me.
Google Calendar Reminder Settings
However, I’ve just remembered that my iPod can sync with my iCal calendars via iTunes and that works well, so I’m sure the iPad will too. This will mean there won’t be a need to use a third party intermediary such as Google anyway. Maybe I will be able to keep my digital life synced between my iMac and iPad afterall and I’ll be able to keep myself organised and check my mail on either device and any changes I make will be reflected on the other.
Apple iPad
I’ve yet to decide whether or not to get an iPad, but it looks as though I’ve a little more time to make up my mind (and save up some money). Apple have announced that they are delaying the international launch of the iPad until the end of May, in order to meet US demand for the tablet computer..
In a note on its website, Apple says it has delivered 500,000 iPads already this month, and that “demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad.”
From what I’ve heard this is the case. Even many naysayers who didn’t like the idea of the iPad and said it was just a big iPod Touch have changed their minds about the device once they’ve actually touched one and used it.
Apple will start taking international orders on May 10th and start shipping them internationally at the end of May, one month later than originally planned.
I still don’t know if my name will be down to receive one. I had hoped to check one out in the flesh in the middle of May when I’ll be close(ish) to an Apple Store, but it doesn’t look as though I’ll be able to now.
In case you didn’t know, the new, soon to be available Apple iPad doesn’t support Flash. Not a bad thing in my view as Flash is a memory hog, drains batteries and isn’t the most standards compliant technology out there. It is also a proprietary Adobe technology rather than an open standard. Apple claim these points as reasons not to support it on their mobile devices, although the latter point is a little hypocritical when coming from Apple.
Many people hope that the increasing popularity of Apple’s mobile devices in the form of the iPhone, iPod Touch and the new iPad will pressure website and content providers to provide their content in a form that doesn’t require Flash. YouTube is already moving in this direction and is experimenting with HTML5 to deliver its videos and others will follow suit as more an more users demand it.
Adobe seem to be hitting back though in conjunction with HP and their up and coming tablet device – obviously inspired by the iPad! Let the tablet wars begin!
So, the Apple iPad is here… Well, it will be soon, so do I want one?
Giant iPod
iPad
After all the hype I was initially a little disappointed. To me it was just a large iPod touch. It did of course look gorgeous, but that is to be expected from Apple, but it didn’t really seem to do anything revolutionary. Other than having a larger screen it doesn’t really do anything that an iPod doesn’t. You can view photos, movies, read books, listen to and buy music, browse the web and use iPhone apps. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want one but there wasn’t anything really compelling that made me think I needed one.
New Concept
I’ve now had a bit of time to think about it though and can see that it might indeed become a completely new concept in computing that does indeed fit in between a laptop and a smart phone and could become a useful appliances in many households.
I can imagine many households, ours inculded, having an iPad lying around in the living room or the kitchen and being used as a family computer for quick access to e-mails and thing such as calendars or address books or a quick check of something on the web. Rather than going to the office and maybe having to start up the computer or get the laptop, we’ll be able to just pick up the iPad and get on with it.
The Pros
The iPad obviously has lots going for it. The looks are great and the user interface and functionality is up to Apple’s usual high standards. The screen is super high quality and about the right size for tasks such as web browsing. The eBook reader looks good, and with so many 3rd party apps available in the app store it can do more than you would imagine. The new iWorks apps for the iPad llook good too, but it does have a few downsides as far as I’m concerned.
The Cons
First up is the lack of multi-tasking. As far as I know, you can’t have more than one app open at a time (other than a couple of Apple specific ones). This may nor be a huge issue for general ‘living room’ tasks, but if I’m thinking of the device as a computer and trying to use productivity tools on it I could see that being an issue. It also looks as though I’d have to buy iPad specific versions of applications such as iWorks that I already have on my Mac. They aren’t expensive but it all adds up. And that brings us to the price. UK pricing isn’t being released until the product is launched, but the US price for the basic model is $499, so I’m sure the UK price will be around the £399 mark. That only gets you 16GB of storage though which probably won’t be enough for most and with no SD slot there isn’t a way of expanding the storage at the moment. The price isn’t bad, but it isn’t an inconsiderable amount to throw at a gadget unless you have a legitimate use for it.
There also isn’t any GPS which is a shame. Admittedly as a ‘living room computer’ this isn’t really needed, but people will take this out and about with them and it could make a great SatNav device in the car if it had a GPSr built into it.
I’m also surprised that there isn’t a front-facing camera. If it did have one and this was coupled with an iPad version of iChat then the iPad could become the ultimate home video chat system. I could just imagine passing it around on the sofa so that we could all chat to Granny!
iPad 2.0
It has to be remembered of course that this is only version 1 of the iPad and they have to hold some things back for version 2.0 so I guess a camera and GPS might appear in a later version.
Household Computer
So, do I want one? Well of course I do, who wouldn’t?
Do I need one? No I don’t, but I can see use for it in our house. As a Living Room Computer which is the niche that I see for this device, it has many uses. Having an iPad lying around ready to go would be great for quickly checking my e-mail or looking something up on the web. I can see us using it as a family computer for organising things, storing address books and calendars. Even in the kitchen for recipes and such like.
What’s more when not in active use we could place it on a stand and use it as a gorgeous 10″ digital photo-frame. Looks as though I’d better start saving up ready for the UK release!
The world is full of Apple rumours, we now know what the iPad actually is and what it can do, but I’ve come across a source of information regarding a Apple event in Aberystwyth.
Yep, the sleepy seaside town of Aberystwyth is to host an Apple roadshow!
According to a job description on the careers advisory service website:
1 student is required to distribute leaflets and promote Student Discounts on Apple products, and pre-promote a Apple Roadshow that will attend the University on 2nd February 2010.
Sounds interesting to me, but then I am an Apple Fanboy!
