A picture of the iPad 2 since for some reason mine can't take a picture of itself.
Now, like I said, mine has pretty much replaced my laptop. For one, it's something like an eighth of the weight, so I can actually keep it on my lap while barely even noticing, not to mention being extremely portable. It also doesn't overheat like my laptop does (thanks for that, hp, for putting a mini-radiator on my legs) and runs so much smoother.
However, I am having a couple problems with it. First of all, the extreme ease of use that comes with "man, who needs a mouse when you can manipulate the screen WITH YOUR HANDS?!" suddenly becomes rather frustrating when you realize that your fingers don't have buttons, and neither does the iPad. This makes some more complex actions a bit more frustrating, such as trying to select a block of text. Now, in my mind, it should be as easy as swiping one's finger over the text in question, but, of course, that action is solely used for scrolling. Now, it's not that much harder to actually do it. You just have to hold your finger on the screen until a little magnifying glass pops up on the screen, drag it to where you want it, tap "Select", then drag the corners of the selected word to select the rest of the text you want. And that's it!
Now, that's a bit nit picky, sure, but I do have a couple other, larger problems with the iPad. For instance, there is something that I call The Douchebag Factor. That feeling you get when you see someone at your local Starbucks or on public transportation whip out an iPad or some other fancy bit of technology and start slicing fruit or whatever.
Sign of a douchebag.
Now, if you're like me, your first thought is, "Oh, look at Mr. Fancypants over there with his technological doodad!" And yes, I'm aware of the irony of actually owning an iPad. It's something I grapple with everyday, let me assure you. On the bus, I have to decide just how much I want to pull out my iPad in front of everyone and be judged until (and after!) I leave. Most times, I content myself with simply staring out the window rather than feeling the mental slings and arrows of my fellow San Franciscans. They're quite painful, let me assure you.
The final little quibble of mine is the game selection. Now, I'm not trying to say that the game selection is bad or anything. Quite the contrary! The iPad has hundreds of games in the App Store, not to mention all of the games developed for the iPod Touch/iPhone that you can play on the iPad as well. The main problem is that I can't play the multitude of games I have access to on my desktop PC. Of course, this is more if a personal problem more than anything else. It's not the iPad's fault that it was built the way it was. It's Apple's fault. It's just annoying that I have to put down what is basically a laptop and grab my laptop or go to my desktop to play a game that the iPad should, technically, be able to run.
A picture of Infinity Blade, one of the forerunners of what kind of technology can be produced on the iPad.
This is all, of course, connected to the fact that, apparently, Apple doesn't want you accessing the guts of your iPad. You can add Apps, sync music, and download photos and such, but you aren't allowed direct access to the hard drive in an explorer-like fashion.
However, at the end of the day, I'm willing to look past all that. Because it's fucking cool.
So, if you can tolerate the quibbles I've stated and don't mind looking like a complete ass around your friends, the iPad is a very powerful, accessible, and fun machine.
And this post has been way too long.
Gay Geek out.
Location:San Francisco, CA
No comments:
Post a Comment