Not impressed by an iPAD2? …is it the right gadget for me?
Did I make a mistake? One wonders what on earth, out of the blue I sudenly went on a string of Apple products purchase within a short space of time – an Iphone followed by a Mac Pro, a Mac Air, and guess what’s next? An IPAD2? I must be mad…
Yes, while you may think that I have gone crazy, there is somehow a very good reason for all these to happen – money or funding. The funding was available, the time could not be anymore right, so I decided to get one for each of the Investigators in our team.
So what do I think of IPAD2, you may ask, and I am answering this question after having toyed around with this gadget for less than two weeks.
First of all, I kind of made a mistake. I came from that old generation when tablet PC first came in the market. So I have this kind of thinking ingrained deeply in my mind – that Tablet works with a stylus, and if I want to type on the tablet, then I need a keyboard. Funny but true, as when the time came to purchase this device, I immediately placed an order for a hardware keyboard and a stylus. Since I went for the highest IPAD2 spec (64G with 3G), with the accessories that comprised the keyboard/sleeve set plus a stylus and a screen protector, the whole thing cost over RM3000, almost double the cost of the cheapest IPAD2…As if that is not enough to cause an upset, the whole things tucked together (IPAD2 with the carry case cum sleeve, and a keyboard) truely turned the gadget into something so bulky and awkward, no more a thin tablet that fits nicely iinto an A4 envelope! and that’s not the end of the nightmare, I quickly discovered that I could do better with my fingers alone, even typing, and drawing, what a waste of money…
I must admit, after approximately 72 hours of using this device, my general impression is, out of all the other Apple’s products, iPAD is the least inspiring one. While this may sound outrages to you iPAD’s fans, my comment is based on a high initial expectation of its value, which in the end I found something contrary.
True as some people put it, iPAD is more of a lifestyle product. If you are talking about a fancy gadget, nice to handle, more functional than a smartphone and beats any ordinary laptop in term of portability, battery longevity and fast startup – then you are talking about the right gadget. Its also a handy on-the-fly device for internet browsing, movie or music playback blahblah, alas I did not purchase this iPAD for the above stated reasons! Then I have got the wrong gadget…
A spoil brat like me, who has relied heavily on a laptop do do most of the above, would not be easily won just by the face value. More so, as I have been hypnotised by Blackbery smartphone for the last one and a half year, and this lesser friendly device had made it possible for me to enjoy facebook and emails anywhere I go. Easy connectivity between BB and laptop was a great boon, I could exchange files and share internet connection seamlessly.
However with iPAD, it’s a different world altogether. True I hav been yearning for a state of the art tablet for long, however I was greeted with a surprise to discover that an iPAD is no more than an iPhone without talking ability?
Its funny that all these while I have resisted the urge to own an iPAD, as I dont find find a niche for it. Today, I found several compellimg reason to own one.
First, eBook. Yes I am serious. These days we read less and less print materials, and more and more e-material. One of the most richly available resources is medical and cardiology, which is my professional interest. Its really more of reference ebook, though I also enjoy real plain ebook (hmmm, to be honest I havent read one, except Steven Covey’s Seven Habits…and John Grisham). I also rely so much on eQuran, though thus far none is really perfect. Other occasional though definitely important use is dictionary, to quickly check meanings of difficult or new words.
Second, note taking and quick browsing – I like to do this during lecture, workshop and conferences. Usually the main purpose of taking note is to fight sleepiness rather than serious note keeping, though the later is a valid consideration, since in the past I could not fulfil this satisfactorily (either too cumbersome with laptop, and just when I got used to do it, another limiting factor is laptop’s relatively shorter battery life.. or not very convenience with smartphone). A full time tablet is the ideal gadget though, without touch typing ability, fast entry of data is limited. Therefore the method of note taking is essentially an entry summary points of the lecture of whatever you are listening to, rather than word by word reproduction of the lecture.
A personal organiser cum fully functioning tablet device. Certainly it’s a dream to own a fully functioning gadget that takes care of all your personal agenda, plus ability to quickly browse internet without having to wait for reboot. You can also read newspaper and of course access social media like Facebook & twitter, or emails. Since a tablet has a larger and more functioning screen, it’s definitely better than a smartphone for all these purposes.
Entertainment and gaming. It’s ironic to discover how many of my friends who own tablet devices use them primarily for this purpose! They are not to blame perhaps, since the designers of these gadgets have these as one of their main aims, reason being, playing on a tablet is much more fun than on a small screen of a smartphone. Touchscreen technology has revolutionised gaming experience when combination of tactile, visual and auditory responses can be utilised to its utmost.
So, after having used this gadget for two weeks, did it meet my expectations? Hardly I say, and I maintain this despite the few obvious benefits that I am seeing more and more of now. As said earlier, I enjoy the fast startup, long battery life, and ultra-portability of this gadget – it can essentially be operated anywhere, in the car while driving, in a restaurant while sipping your coffee (caution not mix your tablet screen with that hot coffee…), and of course its ease of operation – perhaps a little bit of experience with Mac and iPhone had helped on this. Crispy, beautiful screen, slim and light – all important estatic factor, and the ‘wow’ factor of course. Perhaps, if I get hooked on to gaming, then it may broaden the usage experience, though I don’t plan to do this (I have discovered more and more now, that I am definitely worse than my kids or wife in playing games, hopeless, therefore…no way I could pin my interest on this!).
I am simply frustrated by its ‘lack of interaction’ with other devices, inability to share internet, awakward file transfer utilities, and slow operation with some ebooks particularly those PDF files. When you first start with an iPAD, there is hardly any but basic apps that you can make use of. Downloading from the Apple Store is not as easy as with the Macbook, and the experience can be quite frustrating, since the only way I can obtain internet access is via a Wifi wireless connection or 3G broadband, which has necessitated me to subscribe to an additional Celcom line (and I am so bad in paying bills you know…not financially, but failure to keep up to date payment, even in these days of online banking, is a real shame on me…). Without the 3G simcard the iPAD is of not much fun, as when you are not connected to internet, there is virtually not much things you can do really. Even with the 3G simcard, it’s unable to make or receive calls, neither send or receive sms, unlike its rival Galaxy Tab – this is another frustration point.
The point about having an electronic gadget that you want to carry everywhere is, it has the ability to increase your productitvity. A cellphone, and now smartphone does this. I owe a lot to my Blackberry, it has introduced me to the world of seamless and continuous IT communication anywhere I go. Its also of course a great phone and a useful personal organiser to some extent. Then I also carry around my laptop which I use for work, preparing lectures/presentations, research and writing blog etc. The laptop is also my real ‘workhorse’ since I do not rely on any other computer, even at home I use my laptop for all my computing work (whenever the wife has no objection for me staring at the computer monitor I mean…)
That leaves almost no gap – quick email, FB and simple search handled by my sweet BB (I got full data subscription courtesy of UKM), and for serious computing work I use my laptop. Whenever I am away from a hotspot and need to get my laptop connected to internet, I simply use a cable, or bluetooth and get connected via my BB. So, where do this cute iPAD fit in?
Lately, with the arrival of a new Macbook Pro – which I have really enjoyed using, things were going as well, till a few occassions arose when I started to complain, or heard complaints from others like my eldest daughter, that my laptop bag is getting very heavy since I changed my laptop. In fact I started to complain of shoulder ache and back ache, and since I heard this complain, everytime I walk with my laptop in the bag, indeed I could feel the weight on me. This had made me thought of an alternative. Could I get away without my heavy laptop – at least some (selected) days – or even, carry my laptop, leave it at the office, and just walk around with a tablet which would be significantly lighter, and yet I could use it (tablet) for all kind of quick works like checking or sending emails, or using it for tablet jobs as outlined above. Furthermore, during travel on a flight, I also felt so awkward, just keeping my bulky laptop in the seat pocket, it bulged out and hampered the opening and closing of seat tray.
It is with this thought in mind that I decided to go for an iPAD. Alas, an iPAD is not a replacement of a laptop, no. Though I was aware of this from the beginning, it took me an experience of missing the laptop before I realised what it means to be deprived of it, even when I got the iPAD, I felt hopeless.
I was sitting at the office one day, with one of my students who was preparing her presentation. I told her that she could make a reference to one of my previous Powerpoint slides – which I instantly retrieved by searching my MacPro HD. Then I suggested her to look at several guidelines papers, which I also happened to have in my laptop’s HD, and again I searched and open these files in no time. Next, I made some suggestions and corrections to her presentation. Then I downloaded several movie files using a pendrive USB transfer, which was handled well by MacPro by using Osirix (they came in DICOM format), then I converted the movies to Quicktime files to be incorporated in her presentation. All done with no fuss. There is no way all these jobs can be done by the iPAD.
On another occassion, we were sitting at this Cardiothoracic conference, when I suddenly found out our poor Medical Officer did not have a viewing application for DICOM files. There were several alternatives all of which would take too long, till I decided to let her use my MacPro.
The above two occassions were not exclusive, it may be unfair for me to expect an iPAD to behave like a fully functioning laptop since this was not the aim of its inventor. However, I am just trying to illustrate what sort of lifestyle I am onto that an iPAD has little role in my daily life (well, unless I change my lifestyle hmmm….)
Ok, ok, fair I cannot expect iPAD to function like a laptop. So I just do like what I thought, use it for ‘light use’ browsing internet (more convenient and workable than BB) or emailing and FB, light writing or typing works (like, I prepared this article typed entirely on my iPAD, using a bluetooth keyboard); then, when I need to do more serious works, I turn to my laptop. Not bad initially, though I ended up heavier, since now I got to carry not only my bulky laptop, in addition another half a kilo extra weight of the iPAD!
Then I discovered more glitches. It was (alleged, I say), that an iPAD can function perfectly like (or better) than your smartphone. While this is true 90% of the time, you will still need your smartphone. The other day, I thought I will take a few shots of ECGs with my iPAD, and surprisingly the quality was too bad that I could hardly read them, well, what do I expect for a camera that is just slightly better than a webcam…bad news, I still do need my smartphone (and furthermore, I do need my phone to make and receives calls and sms) – wow, now I got to carry my laptop, my iPAD and my smartphone, not any lighter in the end…
Some of you may think that I have not made full discovery of my iPAD, and yes I do admit that. I am yet to try the file sharing or sync utility that may make life easier. I have not touched (much) on other great features which iPAD excels at like video playback, iPOD and of course games (the only reason that makes my kids crazy about an iPAD). There are now many apps for specific use in Medical profession including those that will assist in patients’ education or facilitate patients data storage and sharing (subject to legal limit of course). There are also various apps that allow reading, or even editing those word processors or presentation files, I just have not planned to get them for my iPAD, unless I could use those that I have already downloaded for my Mac – since I am still in the middle of trying to fit the role of this iPAD into my life (?…really). In fairness, I do like it (hey, I never say I hate iPAD!)… and I look forward to the day when I can just walk around with my iPAD, leave behind that bulky laptop for real, occasional serious work).
Overall score: *** (3 star, one for its slimness, one for its wow factor, and another coz the kidz and all my good frens like it…)
LIKE: Its a great tablet, touch screen, great typing whether the ‘soft’ keyboard or with the bluetooth keyboard (I am still learning…); long battery life, fast startup, great with music, videos, and of course internet (decent enough)
DISLIKE: I still cannot dispense without my laptop…eg the interface for FB and emails are are different (not the full version I usually see on my Chrome or Mac’s Safari); same problem with Skype – I could not access account menu (ie to top up credit for instance)
Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized
