Is this a kindle killer - Sort of and May be yes.
We love colors and colors make our lives interesting. The iPad brings that to the ereaders and much more. I have tried using the iPad in the last few days and have liked the great screen and the sensitive touch screen on the iPad, but there is a large laundry list when it comes to nice to have features.
As always the case, an Occam's razor hangs over its head, we expect it to do much more than that - after all it is an Apple product.
There are quite a good bad ugly list for this product. I have in this post rambled on those lines after using the device for the last few days.
The Good:
It is apple quality build. Have not seen any other company, which has the industrial design team as apple does, it shows and the now familiar aluminum billet laser engraved to fit the components, oozes class and has the finish and finesse. The product has a great screen, from the colors it displays and other aspects of it. Though I hate devices that have the glossy screens as they become difficult to see when you have light reflecting off it.
The device boots up quick and the battery just goes on and on. Three movies, lot of browsing, you tube and what not and I still have more than 30 percent juice after nearly 8 hours of fiddling. Amazing considering the fact that I got tired before the battery went dead.
Initial looks at the large bezel makes it look a bit odd and ugly. But after using the device for sometime, it makes lots of sense. The bezel just is so utilitarian that the size is right for you to hold without your fingers coming over the touch screen.
The processor is so cool , both for the speed with which it does most of the work and the heat is generates. It is just not even noticeable. I have run the device for nearly eight hours of use and it is still cool as cucumber. Fantastic considering that my iPhone heats up and cannot hold it long , similar to the case with Macbook, that gets pretty hot to have it on the lap.
The applications available for the iPad, some of them are wonderful , the editors pick of New York Times, The Elements - The periodic table of elements, Sketchpad from Autodesk, the USA Today, npr are great to start with and shows the potential for this as a major ereader. Particularly the netflix app rocks.
I will post on some of these apps in my subsequent posts.
The Ugly:
There are so umpteen number of crashes, not sure if this has got to do with most applications being developed on the simulator rather than the iPad device. But these crashes plague many of the applications, Particular mention of these crashing applications The Elements, NPR, National Geographic Atlas.
The Bad
The Extras that you pay for the Sleeve, Why cannot apple give me a sleeve for my iPad. The steep 39 USD for the sleeve that does not look that great and the missing head phones (69 USD on the stores) are something that is sorely missed.
The super sensitive accelerometer, not sure why, sometime when you read books a slight shift to the right or left makes the book turn around unless you have the lock. The lock does need to be used when you use some of the apps like iBook or similar. Would have made sense if some of the apps maintain their mode as landscape or portrait.
To summarize the Apple has all the features to make it a kindle killer - but not yet , the major advantage when it comes to the kindle is the long power life and the reason that the eink display is easier to read in harsh light conditions. The Kindle shines through when it comes to how easy it is on the eyes when reading, this is something of an area that the Apple iPad Screen has to address. As of now I will keep the iPad as well as Kindle for obvious advantages, but would love to get rid of one of these devices, the sooner the better.
There are quite a good bad ugly list for this product. I have in this post rambled on those lines after using the device for the last few days.
The Good:
It is apple quality build. Have not seen any other company, which has the industrial design team as apple does, it shows and the now familiar aluminum billet laser engraved to fit the components, oozes class and has the finish and finesse. The product has a great screen, from the colors it displays and other aspects of it. Though I hate devices that have the glossy screens as they become difficult to see when you have light reflecting off it.
The device boots up quick and the battery just goes on and on. Three movies, lot of browsing, you tube and what not and I still have more than 30 percent juice after nearly 8 hours of fiddling. Amazing considering the fact that I got tired before the battery went dead.
Initial looks at the large bezel makes it look a bit odd and ugly. But after using the device for sometime, it makes lots of sense. The bezel just is so utilitarian that the size is right for you to hold without your fingers coming over the touch screen.
The processor is so cool , both for the speed with which it does most of the work and the heat is generates. It is just not even noticeable. I have run the device for nearly eight hours of use and it is still cool as cucumber. Fantastic considering that my iPhone heats up and cannot hold it long , similar to the case with Macbook, that gets pretty hot to have it on the lap.
The applications available for the iPad, some of them are wonderful , the editors pick of New York Times, The Elements - The periodic table of elements, Sketchpad from Autodesk, the USA Today, npr are great to start with and shows the potential for this as a major ereader. Particularly the netflix app rocks.
I will post on some of these apps in my subsequent posts.
The Ugly:
There are so umpteen number of crashes, not sure if this has got to do with most applications being developed on the simulator rather than the iPad device. But these crashes plague many of the applications, Particular mention of these crashing applications The Elements, NPR, National Geographic Atlas.
The Bad
The Extras that you pay for the Sleeve, Why cannot apple give me a sleeve for my iPad. The steep 39 USD for the sleeve that does not look that great and the missing head phones (69 USD on the stores) are something that is sorely missed.
The super sensitive accelerometer, not sure why, sometime when you read books a slight shift to the right or left makes the book turn around unless you have the lock. The lock does need to be used when you use some of the apps like iBook or similar. Would have made sense if some of the apps maintain their mode as landscape or portrait.
To summarize the Apple has all the features to make it a kindle killer - but not yet , the major advantage when it comes to the kindle is the long power life and the reason that the eink display is easier to read in harsh light conditions. The Kindle shines through when it comes to how easy it is on the eyes when reading, this is something of an area that the Apple iPad Screen has to address. As of now I will keep the iPad as well as Kindle for obvious advantages, but would love to get rid of one of these devices, the sooner the better.
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