When the iPad was announced last week I was left totally unimpressed with what I saw, it was just a large iPod Touch that had no space to fill in my life, I have an iPhone 3GS and a more than capable Toshiba Windows 7 Notebook.
Now a week later I have changed my mind, this device could be an amazing tool for my job. Let me back up a little, I work in sales, I visit clients and assist them in the design, selection and pricing of Air Conditioning Equipment, I also regularly contact them with product updates, run through new technologies and keep them informed on the latest news from the industry, my briefcase is stuffed with leaflets, brochures and price lists, all a bit worn with turned up corners and coffee cup stains.
Enter the iPad!!!
Now consider one slim device, slip it in your briefcase and you have every one of those leaflets, brochures and prices lists literally at your finger tips in perfect condition in PDF or equivalent format, on top of that you can have instant on access to every presentation you have and an easy search to find them in seconds, it’s pure genius and will change the way I work and make me more effective and productive.
That is one feature of this device and it makes it an invaluable tool for me, add in all the other parts like a fantastic calendar, address book, email and web surfing and now I am beginning to see the Apple vision.
Are you saying that it isn’t possible to put scanned PDF copies of those same brochures on your laptop and display them to clients on a larger, higher resolution screen?
Also, you will still need to keep that laptop by your iPad’s side in case you actually want to put any of those files on your iPad; you can’t manipulate the filesystem and actually store files directly with the iPad alone.
The iPad may be a good marketing tool that you can use to wow and impress your clients but it’s functionality is no better or any more useful than a laptop from what I can see.
I hear what you are saying but it is not a laptop replacement, try standing up, balancing a laptop in the palm of your hand showing a customer a pdf in landscape mode and scroll through it without nearly dropping the laptop.
I love the ‘form factor’ that apple and others are going after with the keyboard less ‘tablet?’ PC/IPAD/Slate/Joo Joo or whatever.
The form factor has been at the heart of the ‘ wouldnt it be great if ‘ conversations i’ve had on many an occasion so i really do get where your comming from.
For me , as an iphone owner and having access to an ipod touch, the unanswered question remains multi-tasking. The touch and iphone all deny apps to run in the back ground. Only Apple santioned apps like ipod , or whatever are permitted.
The reason i mention this is Skype on the iphone. Now not everyone uses skype etc, but on more open platforms like
windows mobile etc, you can launch skype and leave it running
in the back ground to recieve chat messages etc. On the iphone / itouch , you cant even play music at the same tme as your using your favourite chat client. Or any other application you might want to run in the background. ( dont get me started on the ‘push’ notifcations non-sense )
The quick start browser ‘reader’ of the ipad concept is cool , but its highly locked eco-system will annoy the hell out of many novice user never mind a season fiddler , all of whom are used to the idea of chatting to friends while browsing and listening to music.
Again, for me the ipad is an iTouch or Apple TV style device, cool if you can live in the Apple ecosystem, limiting if you fancy doing something the church of jobs doesnt want you to or didnt think of.
For me a device similar to the HP Slate** goes a long way to answering both desires , slim with mult-touch , flexible given the windows 7 OS powering it. I just love the idea of using the slate/tablet etc, to pick the music , videos i want to watch on the TV and start them playing there.
** as long as the dont let Steve Ballmer anywhere near a demo. please microsoft , get some else to do these things , really , really really Steves a lovely guy but anything he touches suddenly acquires a ‘No dad , dont make me wear it ‘ feel.
If mobility while holding your device is what you need why not get a tablet PC? One where the screen is able to be rotate 180 degrees and folded flat against the keyboard? You still get your touchscreen, rotatable view into portrait or landscape and still have real PC functionality.
Obviously it’s going to be thicker but you still only need one device rather than 2.
I’m still not convinced an iPad is more than a casual use internet appliance or a toy.
@ xraycat Tablets are too thick, poor battery life and bloody expensive, find me a Windows 7 tablet that has 10 hour battery life, has no keyboard as I don’t need it and costs around £350 and I will agree
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an iPhone 3GS and a more than capable Toshiba Windows 7 Notebook.
Are you saying that it isn’t possible to put scanned PDF copies of those same brochures on your laptop and display them to clients on a larger, higher resolution screen?
Also, you will still need to keep that laptop by your iPad’s side in case you actually want to put any of those files on your iPad; you can’t manipulate the filesystem and actually store files directly with the iPad alone.
The iPad may be a good marketing tool that you can use to wow and impress your clients but it’s functionality is no better or any more useful than a laptop from what I can see.
I hear what you are saying but it is not a laptop replacement, try standing up, balancing a laptop in the palm of your hand showing a customer a pdf in landscape mode and scroll through it without nearly dropping the laptop.
I love the ‘form factor’ that apple and others are going after with the keyboard less ‘tablet?’ PC/IPAD/Slate/Joo Joo or whatever.
The form factor has been at the heart of the ‘ wouldnt it be great if ‘ conversations i’ve had on many an occasion so i really do get where your comming from.
For me , as an iphone owner and having access to an ipod touch, the unanswered question remains multi-tasking. The touch and iphone all deny apps to run in the back ground. Only Apple santioned apps like ipod , or whatever are permitted.
The reason i mention this is Skype on the iphone. Now not everyone uses skype etc, but on more open platforms like
windows mobile etc, you can launch skype and leave it running
in the back ground to recieve chat messages etc. On the iphone / itouch , you cant even play music at the same tme as your using your favourite chat client. Or any other application you might want to run in the background. ( dont get me started on the ‘push’ notifcations non-sense )
The quick start browser ‘reader’ of the ipad concept is cool , but its highly locked eco-system will annoy the hell out of many novice user never mind a season fiddler , all of whom are used to the idea of chatting to friends while browsing and listening to music.
Again, for me the ipad is an iTouch or Apple TV style device, cool if you can live in the Apple ecosystem, limiting if you fancy doing something the church of jobs doesnt want you to or didnt think of.
For me a device similar to the HP Slate** goes a long way to answering both desires , slim with mult-touch , flexible given the windows 7 OS powering it. I just love the idea of using the slate/tablet etc, to pick the music , videos i want to watch on the TV and start them playing there.
** as long as the dont let Steve Ballmer anywhere near a demo. please microsoft , get some else to do these things , really , really really Steves a lovely guy but anything he touches suddenly acquires a ‘No dad , dont make me wear it ‘ feel.
If mobility while holding your device is what you need why not get a tablet PC? One where the screen is able to be rotate 180 degrees and folded flat against the keyboard? You still get your touchscreen, rotatable view into portrait or landscape and still have real PC functionality.
Obviously it’s going to be thicker but you still only need one device rather than 2.
I’m still not convinced an iPad is more than a casual use internet appliance or a toy.
@ xraycat Tablets are too thick, poor battery life and bloody expensive, find me a Windows 7 tablet that has 10 hour battery life, has no keyboard as I don’t need it and costs around £350 and I will agree