I don\u2019t own an iPad, nor am I likely to get one… at least, not yet.<\/p>\n
Now, for some people that\u2019s not saying anything, but many people who know me are more than a little surprised by this. I like tech toys, I like Apple toys in particular, and they aren\u2019t prohibitively expensive. Also, I travel a fair amount, and travel seems like one of the better applications for an iPad. So why, I\u2019ve been asked numerous times, don\u2019t I have one?<\/p>\n
The primary reason is that I don\u2019t need one… OK, I can\u2019t type that with a straight face. \u201cNeeding one\u201d has never been a criterion for me. I\u2019ll wipe the smirk off my face and try again.<\/p>\n
The primary reason is that it\u2019s a first-generation Apple product. I didn\u2019t buy a first-generation iPod; I waited for the 3rd generation when the software got better and it supported AAC encoding (which was, at the time, much better at 128 kbps than MP3 encoders). I didn\u2019t get a first-generation iPhone; I waited until the iPhone 3G, precisely for the 3G and third-party applications. (Note that I also skipped the 3GS, though I am, of course, getting an iPhone 4, as previously mentioned.)<\/p>\n
So, by extension, what am I waiting for on the iPad? What feature is it lacking that prevents me from buying it?<\/p>\n
There are a few things that I expect the 2nd generation iPad to have that I\u2019d really like to see. For one, iOS 4 for the iPad would be really nice. But that\u2019s just software. If I bought an iPad now, I\u2019d have that when it shipped. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not applications, as there are already some cool apps. However, what I would like to see before I commit is better integration between desktop and iPad applications. I\u2019d like syncing a Pages or Keynote document between my iPad and my Mac to be a little more seamless. Note that Dropbox<\/a> would be perfectly acceptable for this. (Incidentally, I\u2019m with John Gruber on this\u2014why hasn\u2019t Apple bought this yet? Dropbox rocks!) But again, that\u2019s just software, presumably. I could get an iPad now and it would just get better when this happened.<\/p>\n So it must be hardware. What in the hardware do I think will be there in future iPads that isn\u2019t there yet?<\/p>\n Two words: Screen resolution.<\/p>\n The iPad is not huge, but it\u2019s good-sized; the screen is 9.7\u201d on the diagonal. However, the screen is a mere 1024 x 768 pixels, which is just over 130 pixels per inch. Frankly, when Steve announced this number up on the keynote stage, I was flabbergasted. I was really surprised that Apple would go with this.<\/p>\n Now, for lots of applications, that\u2019s plenty. A typical ripped DVD (done with anamorphic scaling) produces a video file that\u2019s something on the order of 850 x 360 pixels, so it\u2019s plenty dense for movies. So, what\u2019s the stumbling point?<\/p>\n Reading. As Apple\u2019s own ads for the iPhone 4 note, the human eye can discriminate right around 300 pixels per inch. More than that makes very little difference, but up to that, your eye can still see the pixels. This is not a big deal for watching movies and standard applications, but for really serious reading, this matters\u2014rather a lot, too, in terms of things like reading rate and eye strain. <\/p>\n So, what I\u2019m hoping is that the second-generation iPad has a display that\u2019s inspired by the iPhone 4. I realize that it might be prohibitively expensive to produce a 300+ ppi display at 9.7\u201d size (the iPhone\u2019s is only 3.5\u201d). That\u2019s fine\u2014I\u2019d settle for a split of the difference, around 230 ppi. I think that\u2019d be high-res enough to make it actually tolerable as an e-reader.<\/p>\n I guess a camera would be nice, but mostly videoconferencing sucks anyway, so I don\u2019t really care that much. Lack of one certainly wouldn\u2019t prevent me from buying a future iPad, but I think enough people want this that it\u2019s highly likely in the next revision anyway. (See also the front-facing camera in the iPhone 4.)<\/p>\n So, when Apple releases an iPad with 230+ ppi, then I\u2019ll buy one. Hopefully by then the software will have caught up, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don\u2019t own an iPad, nor am I likely to get one… at least, not yet. Now, for some people that\u2019s not saying anything, but many people who know me are more than a little surprised by this. I like tech toys, I like Apple toys in particular, and they aren\u2019t prohibitively expensive. Also, I … Continue reading Why No iPad?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[17],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}