I have now had the iPad for a day and I have to say that I have found that this is a device that changes your perceptions of other devices. My beloved iPhone now feels like a toy, my laptop like an oversized beast. The iPad is so fast, so responsive, and so surprising that I really don’t know how to describe it. Its is truly not like anything I have ever used before and that includes the iPhone and even the iPad simulator. It’s just a completely different experience to use this machine.
Did i mention that it’s fast? This might be the most responsive computer I’ve ever used. And I would say that speed is required to get the type of effect the iPad creates. It has to be extremely fast in order to the user feel as if they are interacting with the data and media and applications directly rather than interacting with a computer that functions as an intermediary.
A trivial but nonetheless important example. As I’m sitting here typing this, I occasionally make the odd typo. To simply double-tap the word that is in error, see it highlight immediately, and type the correct word is incredible. No reaching for the mouse and moving the cursor to the word and hightlighting it and fixing it, no reaching for the arrow keys on the keypad, just touch what you want to change. It’s a small thing, but it very quickly becomes something you really really appreciate.
Directly interacting with your screen is a very powerful thing if done well and I would venture to say that it has never been done this week before in a commercially available product. That is why this will be revolutionary product, even if it doesn’t have Flash. It is also why nobody will know what they are talking about where the iPad is concerned until they spend a day or two using one. You simply cannot read about this thing and decide what you think. It has to be used to be understood and believed. At least, that’s been my experience.
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