And it’s pretty nice; so nice that I’ve switched from using the Proporta recycled leather case.

The case is made from leather, and the inside is a suede-type material. The one I’m using is black with a green interior, with matching interior and exterior stitching. The leather on the outside has a diamond pattern and a sheen to it. It’s available in other colours – I’ve also got a red one here, but it looks a bit handbaggy for my taste.

The iPad is held in place with four leather clasps. However, only half of the iPad is secured with the clasps, leaving the bottom half of the iPad to swing out and slot into one of two grooves. This gives you a solid base, and viewing angles of about 41 and 60 degrees. You can also slide the iPad down to rest on the front cover’s large clasp (which keep the case closed), giving you a another position to work with, of about 20 degrees. If you want, you can slide the iPad back beyond the second groove, to give a higher viewing angle, but you’d better ensure it’s on a stable surface or it’s likely to fall over. Finally, you can flip the case over to provide an almost-flat angle (about 5 degrees).

The two grooves give the case stability, and these main viewing angles are really comfortable. It’s easy to sit down and start typing, as I am now, and also very easy to use in bed – the fact that the case is quite sturdy and forms its own base adds to the usefulness.

The iPad’s ports are all exposed, and the case doesn’t get in the way of accessing them. The only problem I’ve had is in attaching Apple’s component cable; there doesn’t seem to be quite enough space to allow it to comfortably remain seated in the dock. Regular dock cables aren’t a problem and fit snugly.

I really like the profile of this case. It allows to me to use the iPad in a comfortable typing position, but still remains svelte. It adds only a little to the iPad’s dimensions, especially compared to Proporta’s book-ish recycled leather case. Dimensions of the iPad plus case are 196mm across, 18mm thick and 244mm high.

The downside to this case is that it’s not ideal in portrait mode. If you want to use your iPad like a book, then you have to fold the cover back around itself, which leaves a gap between the iPad and the back cover. It’s a shame they couldn’t have provided something to clasp the iPad more in place when you’re using it like this. But then you would have to unclasp it again to angle it in landscape mode.

In short, it’s my new iPad case, having supplanted Proporta’s recycled leather case. It looks slick, has a low profile, and has quite a business-like feel to it – not that I’m in any hurry to work in an office again!

I haven’t seen these for sale in many places, but you can get them direct from Viva cases for US$59:

The case was kindly supplied for review by KJC Technologies.

[See image gallery at www.allaboutiphone.net]

I have a wifi-only iPad, and I’m too cheap to pay for a MiFi*. Besides which, I’m already paying Vodafone for 1GB of Internet usage through my iPhone contract. But with both a jailbroken iPhone and a jailbroken iPad, I can keep the cost down by using two handy apps: TetherMe and iTether.

I’ve written up a little setup guide, plus my thoughts on how it works in practice.

Not sure what tethering or jailbreaking are? Check here and here, then read on.

To get this working, you have to install two apps:

• TetherMe on your iPhone
• iTether on your iPad

Both of these apps are available through Cydia, and using them is really straightforward. This is a two-part setup:

First, I installed TetherMe on my iPhone, which will be providing the data connection to share.

There is another option: install MyWi. This creates a wireless network to which any device can connect, which is great, but absolutely kills your battery. And I mean stone dead, damn quickly, in my experience.

TetherMe uses the built-in tethering option, so there’s no app icon. You’ll have to:

• reboot
• enable tethering
  – (Settings –> General –> Network –> Internet Tethering)
• choose to “Turn on Bluetooth”

Done. You can now use your data allowance to tether, whether to your iPad or another computer, such as a laptop.

Second, install iTether on your iPad, enabling your iPad to use its Bluetooth to receive the data connection being shared by the iPhone.

Click on the iTether icon. If Internet Tethering and Bluetooth are enabled on your iPhone, it’ll find your iPhone. It’ll ask for a passkey. Choose anything you like; a dialogue will pop up on your iPhone requesting a PIN. Enter the passkey/PIN.

[See image gallery at www.allaboutiphone.net]

Following this, whenever you want to connect to your iPhone’s data connection, just make sure Internet Tethering is on, then launch iTether on your iPad, and select your iPhone.

If you want to make it even quicker and you use SBSettings, then there’s an option to set a particular iPhone as your default device, which allows you to use the SBSettings iTether toggle.

And how does this money-saving hack fare?

Pretty well. Once the connection’s working, all is fine. I’ve noticed the occasional drop-out when I’m working, but not much.

I did install the optional SBSettings toggle, but it’s been more hassle than it’s worth. The toggle doesn’t work for me. And then I sometimes hit the Bluetooth toggle as well, which screws iTether right up. When iTether is on it disables the Bluetooth control within Settings, but if you accidentally turn it on via SBSettings, iTether throws a wobbler. A couple of reboots are usually needed to fix it.

Theres also the problem that you can’t use a Bluetooth keyboard at the same time, as the Bluetooth connection is in use for tethering. This means it’s not an ideal mobile office solution.

Neither of these apps are free. TetherMe costs, and iTether costs $4.99. But they work well, and it’s a lot less. Paying through Cydia is still a bit of a pain – it always seems to need a few goes for me.

But overall: awesome.

I hardly get close to my data limit with Vodafone anyway, so although this isn’t strictly within the Terms and Conditions on my contract, I don’t feel I’m ripping them off. Besides which, much of my “3G” data usage at home is back hauled over my own broadband using a Sure Signal box. Karma.

The data connection is really quick via Bluetooth, and the battery drain on either device is negligible.

Worried about breaching your contract?

Obviously, you can use this without TetherMe if you have a non-jailbroken iPhone with tethering authorised officially by the carrier, or if you have another phone that allows tethering. That means you’re paying extra for a specific tethering data connection, but that’s up to you. But that way, only your iPad has to be jailbroken.

If you do the unofficial route and are worried about your mobile network finding out, then there’s a solution which I’ve written about before: use a VPN. Your network can’t see any of your data traffic then, so they have no idea which device is using the connection.

* That may well change after my broadband went down this week. No broadband plus one bar of EDGE if I’m lucky around my house has driven home to me that I can’t afford to be without connectivity…

Details of the case

As the name suggests, this folio-style case is made of recycled leather, and is complemented with a green fabric covering and stitching. The iPad slides in nicely to a black leather holder, which provides a snug fit. All of the controls and the dock are exposed.

It does add a bit of bulk to your iPad, but not so much that it hinders operation.

The inside cover has an elasticated holder for a pen, and also fabric pocket, which comfortably holds my small notepad. There’s also a strap above the pocket, which I assumed was to keep things secured in the pocket.

Anything else?

Boy, was I wrong about the strap. I’d had this case for about 6 weeks before I thought, Hmm, this strap comes undone, and there’s a popper on the back… Wait a minute!”. I folded the strap around the back, and turned the case into a stand. Altering the spine allows for two angles in which to position the iPad, one of which I’ve found ideal for writing with a Bluetooth keyboard. I should have noticed this from their website!

What’s good?

The case feels durable. The leather gives it an air of sophistication, and it doesn’t immediately scream “Mug me, I’m carrying an iPad!”.

What’s bad?

I find it a little hard to keep Apple’s Component AV cable connected – it’s just a bit big compared to the dock opening, and I have to keep nudging it back it. Other than that, a normal Apple dock cable fits very nicely.

The rotation switch is slightly harder to operate, so it requires the thumbnail to flick it to the lock position.

Overall

It’s quite a bookish case, but I quite like that. It’s very well made, but then you’d expect that for £35. Then again, I get the impression it’ll last as long as my iPad. Sorry, but I won’t be giving this one away!

Proporta Recycled Leather case
Price: £34.95
Available from Proporta

Thanks to Rosie at Proporta for providing the cases for review.

[See image gallery at www.allaboutiphone.net]

But now Apple has allowed an app onto the App Store that can play DivX and Xvid. No jailbreak required.

This is an interesting development, no doubt, but how does the app work in reality? Does it play files well, and does it suck battery?

Read on for my experiences with this app so far, plus (in a first for me), a video walkthrough!

This app was released by NXP Software a few days ago, and has generated quite a splash. Not only does it enable you to watch DivX and Xvid movies on your iPad without converting them first, but the app is free!

Here’s a video of CineXPlayer in action, showing the basic functionality:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you quite the app mid-way through watching a movie, it’ll resume where you left off when you open the app again.

Seeing as this is doing in software what Apple does in hardware with .mp4 files, the player works very well. Decoding in software does mean a slightly higher battery hit though – for an hour’s viewing, my battery indicator dropped from 100% to 86%. Mind you, Apple rates the iPad for 10 hours of video playback (using their own hardware decoding), so that’s not bad.

File support

I’m not sure of the exact specifications of the video that this app currently supports – there’s no mention of maximum resolution or filesize. The developers have made it clear that they don’t support newer file formats such as MKV or AAC – yet.

What about the 2Gb limit?

On the iPhone, apps are limited to a 2Gb sandbox – so for any app, you can’t use more than 2Gb of data. But with the iPad, the sandbox is only limited by the amount of storage on the device.

What does this technical gubbins mean? It means you can put as many movies into CineXPlayer as you have space on your iPad, making it a viable alternative to Apple’s built-in Videos app.

Future Development

I’m quite surprised that Apple has allowed this on the App Store. But if they let it remain, what could we see?

• Support for more file formats
• Removal of the top bar, to provide true full screen video
• A paid version with more features, perhaps support for folders
• Hopefully a change to the user interface
• iPhone version???

I’d also love to see the app become network-capable, removing the need to transfer files via iTunes. But that would kill the battery, I’ll bet.

All in all, this is a great app, which removes the hassle of having to convert video specifically for the iPad. Grab it now, just in case it disappears from the App Store!

CineXPlayer
Version reviewed: 1.1
Category: Utilities
Developer: NXP Software
Current Price: Free
Platforms: iPad
UK App Store Link

What’s important to me is that, in under a couple of months, I’ve come to use my iPad for more and more tasks. Is it a big iPod touch?. Sort of . Is it a limited device? Yes. But it doesn’t feel limiting, it feels liberating.

I bought the 16Gb Wifi-only version. I really ummed and aaahed about paying the extra for the 3G version, but in the end the £ only stretched so far. I regretted it all the time I was in the US. Having to find others’ spotty wifi to borrow when you’re travelling round was a pain. There were so many times, not least driving, when it would have been useful to be able to pull Google Maps up. As it was, I used ALK’s CoPilot Live on my iPhone 3G to get around (it was super-slow on the 3G by the way. Just about usable most of the time).

As my only computer (other than my iPhone) while I was abroad, it worked well. Email, the web, apps, all of that was great, and so convenient. I used the Transfer app to transfer pics between iPad and iPhone. Skype and Truphone were great to keep in touch while in the US. “But you could have done that on your iPhone!?” I hear you cry. Sure, but then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to look like Dom Joly

But aside from using it as an oversized phone, it fared very well as a computer that you could all use, pass around, and generally use as a shared device to explore things together.

On the flight home

The kids were entertained with The Wiggles playing through the Videos app, as well as a selection of games such as 123 Color HD, 5-in-1 Kids Pack and Doodle Buddy. They seem to pick up the interface much faster than many adults, who often approach the iPad with a certain amount of tentativeness, as if it will break. Kids have no such worries!

When they went off to sleep, I settled down to some reading. It’s a great device for this. Sure, it’s a little heavy. But I find myself reading in bite-sized chunks these days, so the weight hasn’t been an issue. I haven’t moved on to eBooks yet – I still like the feel of a paperback. But for long-form essays such as those I save to my Instapaper account, it’s ideal. And comics on the device are superb. Really. I’ve reviewed Comixology’s Comics app before for the iPhone, but now it’s on the iPad – wow. I spent almost the whole rest of the flight back from the US reading through new comics. Although I have hundreds of back progs of 2000AD in my loft, I feel that comics are a more disposible form of entertainment (unless they’re collected into decent graphic novels). Comics fit the iPad so perfectly, I’d be happy to move over to downloads entirely for my 2000AD consumption, if only they’d offer a decent system! I read Wanted by Mark Millar, one of the best series I’ve read in a long time. And it was immersive. As John Gruber has said, the iPad becomes whatever you’re doing. And I was reading, as simple as that..

Now I’m back

But now I’m at home, and I have access to my MacBook. But I’m still using my iPad an awful lot. It has become my writing device of choice, especially in conjunction with a Bluetooth keyboard. I play a little music in the background, and get cracking. I feel very focussed and distraction-free using the iPad – uni-tasking works well for me.

A distraction-free writing zone

I’ve installed Documents To Go on my iPad and iPhone, and I keep all my files on Dropbox. Syncing files through iTunes is a bit of a mess, but with online sync, I have round-trip editing on my iPad, iPhone, Mac, and any computer.

It’s also a great music device. I have the iPod app, Laurent Garnier, Soma FM, Tuner (playing Absolute 80s), and in this mode the iPad mostly resides in the kitchen. The speakers are not going to blow you away, but are good enough to hear while you’re doing some cooking and chatting. In “kitchen mode”, the calendar becomes useful for everyone, and Weather Pro HD keeps an eye on the skies for us.

Adding 3G with a MiFi

As I mentioned, I bought the Wifi-only version, but 3 kindly lent me one of their Mifi units to try out some 3G connectivity. Their network isn’t great round here (mind you, no-one’s is!), but when I did get coverage, it was excellent. A few days later I was zooming down the M4 at 1.5Mbps download, 1.7Mbps upload (UPLOAD!). Superb. The little unit is a great complement to the iPad, but as Frasier Speirs has already pointed out, the failing comes when you don’t have coverage, but your iPad still thinks (because of the good wifi connection) that you have excellent coverage. If the iPad had a spinning beach ball, it’d be whizzing round.

However, I also found that, when using the Mifi and Google Maps, the location was surprisingly accurate, and updated quite quickly. Yes, there was the occasional glitch, but it was much better than I expected.

You also have the bonus that you’re not restricted to 20Mb downloads from iTunes and the App Store, because the iPad thinks you’re on Wifi, not 3G.

The only other negative that I found with the Mifi was that you had to press a load of buttons to switch it on, then enable Wifi, then connect to 3’s network… But, I was given the old version of the MiFi, whereas MiFi 2 (out now), is a one-button connect. Well done 3. I think it’s a good addition to your iPad if you’re going to be out and about with it occasionally, but haven’t plumped for the iPad 3G.

What else?

I find some things on the iPad much easier than on the desktop. ColorSplash is a good example. I’ve altered some photos, and produced some pretty good results. The photo below would have taken me an age on the desktop using Photoshop, and just as importantly, it would have been a chore. But using ColorSplash and painting the colour back in with my finger, it was fun.

Me in New York, 1999, edited with ColorSplash on the iPad

A case is a must

None of my electronic goods go naked; with children, it’s an absoloute necessity! Proporta were kind enough to send me a couple of cases and a screen protector.

My iPad wearing Proporta's Recycled Leather case

I tried the Mizu shell – which is both soft and hard, and made the iPad very grippy. I’m currently using their beautiful Recycled Leather case, which makes my iPad seem complete. It adds a bit of bulk to the iPad, but it feels like it conforms to the book-like nature of the device – the iPad is just something I want to pick up and flick through.

Full reviews of these cases will be along in a little bit.

The inevitable gripes

It’s a wonderful device, but it’s not all gravy of course. I am concerned about having my email available for all to see. Maybe multiple users should be allowed, or at least add the ability to password protect apps, especially ones with personal infformation such as Mail.

Most of this post was written on the iPad, and then uploaded to my blog via the WordPress iPad app. Which is pretty good, but the app doesn’t quite cut it just yet. So the finessing has to be done via my Mac.

The ability to jailbreak is important to me. Backgrounder adds in multitasking. LockDown can protect those apps with a PIN that you don’t want others to see.

I’m also waiting for Apple to update its own apps, such as MobileMe Gallery and Remote. Whole-house music control will work wonders on the iPad, but at the moment it feels a bit kludgy with a scaled-up iPhone app. I find myself wanting to do more, especially with the Photos app. I want to be able to delete or edit photos on the iPad and have those edits show up in iPhoto on my Mac.

The iPad still feels like something of an adjunct to a bigger computer. I’m eagerly awaiting iOS4 for the iPad. I want my iPad to grow up, and stand on its own two feet.

Overall

You’d think that, after years of using computers, and three years to get used to the iPhone way of dealing things, that I’d be fairly used to all of this by now. But I find that the iPad really enables me to do things with more ease and pleasure. There’s no sense of slowness. There’s no cause to think that I should upgrade any of the hardware. That level of thinking about computers seems abstracted away.

Call me a fanboy, but I love my iPad, so expect to see a few more iPad-related posts around here.

(Then again, my iPhone 4 is being activated today. Oh, happy, geeky day!)

But if you’re thinking of buying an iPad, you may not want to splash out the extra £100 for a 3G model instead of a Wifi-only model. However, what if you do need mobile broadband? Maybe that £100 is worth it?

So here’s a comparison between the prices of the different iPad models, with their differing mobile broadband options.

With an iPad 3G, you have built-in mobile connectivity, and a choice of tailored tariffs from the mobile networks. With the Wifi-only iPad, you have to roll your own. A good way of doing this is by using 3’s Mifi router, which uses the connectivity of their network, but gives you a wifi connection.

The other difference is one I’ve mentioned already – the setup cost. The 3G iPad costs £100 more than the Wifi-only iPad. On some of 3’s mobile broadband tariffs the Mifi router will cost you to buy, on some it’s free.

How do iPad mobile data options compare?

In order to compare tariffs, I’ve stretched them over 18 months, which is the minimum of some of 3’s tariffs. I’ve also removed the sub-1Gb, sub-30 day data tariffs, as they’re not good comparators over this length of time.

In the table, “Setup Cost” means either the cost of the Mifi router (if it’s a wifi-only iPad), or the extra money you’ll pay for the 3G model.

The full table is below, but here’s the headline:

The cheapest way to get an iPad with mobile data is still 3 + MiFi

For example, on an 18-month contract, 3 is £109 cheaper than any other network. Even if you go for the same 30 day option (PAYG on 3, rolling contract with the others), it’s £50 cheaper over the same period.

At the other end of the scale, 3 will give you 15Gb per month compared to Vodafone’s 5Gb, and it’ll cost you £100 less over an 18 month period. If you choose 3’s PAYG option instead of a contract, it’ll still cost £50 less than Vodafone for triple the bandwidth.

The disadvantages of choosing MiFi

• It’s a two-box solution, which means double the number of power chargers
• You don’t get GPS built-in to your iPad
• You won’t get on-device reminders of your data usage – you’ll have to phone 3 or visit their website, as their Mifi dashboard software won’t run on the iPad

The extra advantage of choosing MiFi

Apart from cost, there’s one little extra if you choose a MiFi: the iPad thinks you’re using a wifi network, not a cellular network. So, you won’t be faced with restrictions Apple has put in place when you’re using 3G, such as being limited to downloads of less than 20Mb from iTunes.

James Burland has written about his experience with a MiFi and iPad over at iPad Creative.

The absolute cheapest option?

Well if you’re going to roll your own mobile broadband, why not go the whole hog? Buy an unlocked Mifi from eBay for about £90, and while you’re at it, buy a data SIM from any network you like off eBay as well. As we’ve been looking at 3, here’s one for sale that’s £34.99 for 12Gb data, and it lasts for a year!

That’s £90 plus £35 = £125 for 12 months. Even if you add on another 12Gb data SIM, then the total cost is still less than the cheapest official 3 Mifi router, you get more data, and you get to use it over the year as you see fit. Nice.

One last option: forget the MiFi, just buy the normal data SIM off eBay, then apply a meat cleaver to make your own micro-SIM. Proceed at your own risk!

So what’s it going to be?

I want to have a look at this in more detail, and see what it means for both developers and users. Is fragmentation of the iPhone platform all that bad?

What is meant by fragmentation?

You’ve got an iPhone, but can it run everything that’s developed for the iPhone? Not necessarily. What your particular iDevice can do is determined by:

• software
• hardware
• form factor (since the introduction of the iPad)

So how many combinations of these three things can developers cater for at the moment?

iPod touch: 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation models
– Running firmware 3.1.3

iPhone: Original, 3G, and 3GS models
– Running firmware 3.1.3

To which has recently been added:

iPad: Wifi-only version
– Running firmware 3.2

If developers want to hit all these devices – the whole iPhone OS platform – then they have to develop for different hardware and screen resolutions.

• iPod touch and iPad have no cellular connectivity
• iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3rd gen. have faster processors and more memory than earlier models
• iPad has an even faster CPU, greater screen resolution, a larger form factor, and a different user experience paradigm

There’s also more fine-grained differentiation. For example, original iPhones can run firmware 3.1.3, but not all of it e.g. they can’t send picture messages (MMS). The iPhone 3G can also run the latest firmware – including the ability to send MMS – but can’t edit video, or take advantage of the latest graphics acceleration.

But you, as the user, see all these apps in the all-encompassing iPhone App Store, yet not all of them may not run on your device – or they may run in a slightly degraded fashion.

Sidenote:

This isn’t counting the iPod touch users who’ve decided not to pay £5.99 for the upgrade from iPhone OS 2, nor the iPhone users who’ve (for whatever reason) not to click “Upgrade” in iTunes to iPhone OS 3. There’s more on iPhone OS adoption rates on the Tapbots blog. So not everyone is running the latest iPhone software.

In other words, subtle fragmentation of the iPhone platform predates the iPhone OS 4.0 announcement.

It’s not that bad for developers. Most devs are only producing iPhone OS 3 versions of their apps, leaving those who refuse to pay or upgrade to the latest firmware somewhat behind.

But this situation is going to change soon.

iPhone OS 4.0 is going to be out in late June / early July. If the iPhone and iPod touch follow their hardware upgrade cycles, then there will be new versions of each of these in June/July and September, respectively.

And the iPad will benefit from the new software. But as it was developed in secrecy (even from the iPhone team) the software branches probably won’t merge until iPhone OS 4.1 is released, around September this year. Until that time, the iPad is likely to be stuck on the 3.2 branch of the OS.

There’s going to be an interregnum while the various branches of the operating system shake out. But when iPhone OS 4.0 is released, we’re going to start to see some older models fade into the hinterland. For some this will be rapid: Steve Jobs has confirmed that original iPhones won’t be supported or updated. For the iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G, the fading will be slower but still noticeable: they will run OS 4.0, but not all of its features. We don’t yet know exactly which features (apart from multi-tasking) will not be available.

After the release of iPhone OS 4 (around June), the situation will be:

iPod touch 1st gen, original iPhone
– Running firmware 3.x (with some limitations)

iPod touch 2nd gen, iPhone 3G
– Running firmware 4.x (with some limitations)

iPod touch 3rd gen, iPhone 3GS, unannounced 2010 iPhone and iPod touch models
– Running firmware 4.x

iPad (Wifi-only and 3G version)
– Running firmware 3.2
– Probably running firmware 4.1.x from September

All iPad users will get the next major OS upgrade (to 4.0) free, but after that, it’s likely that they’ll have to pay. Some won’t, and again, we’ll have users left behind, albeit by choice.

The original iPhone was released in June 2007 in the US, and later around the world. That means it’s taken only three years for it to reach obsolescence. That’s not very long, especially considering the high cost that early adopters paid. My MacBook is about the same age. If Apple discontinued support for my MacBook, I’d be spitting feathers. But this isn’t unusual in the mobile world – Ewan Spence has just written an article for All About Symbian on Nokia dropping support for the N95.

What does this mean for developers?

They already had to target different hardware. Now they will have to consider if they wish to continue supporting original iPhones and iPod touches that Apple has decided to abandon, i.e. produce an iPhone OS 3.0 version as well as a 4.0 version.

I understand that their apps will have to support all models of iPhone and iPod that can run OS 4.0, otherwise the app will be rejected from the App Store. So, they can’t decide to target only newer hardware, but they can tweak their apps to provide the best experience on whatever device the app is running. Although some devs won’t have physical access to all models of iPod, iPhone and iPad.

They will have to decide whether to make their apps run on iPads as well – and whether to produce separate iPhone and iPad versions, or combined apps.

Another sidenote:

iPad apps are not about scaling up iPhone apps. The iPad calls for a new approach more akin to developing a desktop experience. Users may perceive a degraded experience if devs do not create at least an iPad-capable version of their app.

So that’s potentially three versions of the same app that developers may have to churn out.

But I anticipate most devs will probably just roll with 4.0, and gradually or immediately drop 3.0 support. The extra work is mostly for the iPad, which they can choose not to target if they want.

What does this mean for users?

I believe people with devices running 3.x will be quickly left behind. Apple is maturing the iPhone OS, and won’t support customers for long, it seems. If you have an older device, you’re out of luck.

But the main problem I foresee is confusion in the App Store. How do you know if a particular app is going to run – and run well – on your device? I think Apple needs to tweak the App Store experience to reflect this. Perhaps iTunes could allow a preference to only show apps to the user which the developer has indicated will run on their device, e.g. don’t show apps that require mobile data to iPod touch users. Or perhaps the Store needs to show more notes regarding which OS version/hardware combo an app is suitable for. The again, this may exacerbate fragmentation of the platform, as developers may choose to leave some users out in the cold. It may also cause more confusion for users.

I don’t know the answer is. Not everyone’s going to upgrade. Apple will continue to roll out new features, and is likely to be more aggressive in cutting off older customers than they have been with their desktop OS. Maybe fragmentation is another way of saying, “You’ve had your time in the sun, but the party’s moved on”. I’m sure Steve Jobs won’t object if you decide to buy a new iPhone…

A final consideration

If you think jailbreaking is all about piracy, you’re wrong. Apple told owners of original iPhone owners that their devices wouldn’t be able to send picture messages, that their devices weren’t technically capable. But the jailbreak community quickly found a workaround, and guess what? MMS works fine. The same seems to be true of multi-tasking on the iPhone 3G – it’s already been found that enabling multi-tasking is as simple as changing a reference in a .plist file to “TRUE”, and that it works ok. This feels like a case of trying to force users to upgrade to newer hardware. They hacking community has already jailbroken the iPhone OS 4.0 beta, so we may yet see unsupported iPhones and iPods running 4.0.

But there are plenty of websites out there to satiate your iPad curiosity. And if you’ve enjoyed James Burland’s articles on this website, then I’m sure you’d like to read his new website dedicated to the Apple tablet, iPad Creative.

It’s in pre-launch beta at the moment, but he already has quite a few articles posted, including a great one exploring which graphics processor the iPad is running, and the impact that is likely to have on its gaming capabilities.

iPad Creative is currently running a series over the next few days entitled, “5 Apps We Cannot Wait To See On The iPad”. If really you can’t wait at all, then you should also check out these 60 leaked screenshots of iPad apps over at Boy Genius Report.

Good luck with the new site James!

All About iPhone contributor Andy Cook has already given his opinion.

I also asked Steve Litchfield if he was considering getting an iPad. His response:

The iPad itself is not for me, I type in too much text! But I can see it being perfect for other family members, each of whom the has “the full Internet” (minus Flash, of course!) in a single A4 device that doesn’t have trailing wires or get hot or need a pointing device. So yes, put me down for a place in the queue, shortly before the drive to my parents house to get it “installed”.

So it’s not for Steve. But he, like me, can see the appeal for those who want a rich Internet and media experience, without having to worry about all those viruses, software updates, and general management overhead that’s associated with a computer.

However, I’m firmly in the “it’s not just a big iPod touch” camp. I believe this is nothing less than Apple’s attempt to reconceptualise the personal computer.

I’ve been doing plenty of reading on this, and there are three articles that sum up what I’ve been thinking about the iPad.

Daniel Tenner describes the iPad as “an Apple for Mom – the uncomputer for the people“. Note: not an iPod touch for Mom, but an Apple for Mom – a replacement for a complicated computer she never wanted in the first place, just to catch up on photos of the grandchildren.

Frasier Speirs believes the industry is suffering from “Future Shock“, and that the iPad “will dramatically change people’s perceptions of computing from something to fear to something to engage enthusiastically with”.

In the same vein, Steven Frank writes that, “The iPad as a particular device is not necessarily the future of computing. But as an ideology, I think it just might be”. Or, just as succinctly in his follow-up post:

Do we really have to continue to baffle and frustrate millions of people because a handful of people just can’t live without their 4-way virtual desktop window manager?

There. That’s the nub of it. Computers are difficult. Even for those of us who understand and can operate them fairly well, they may not do what you want all the time, and can just inexplicably go wrong.

A case in point: As well as writing this article today, I’m having to re-install Leopard on an old iMac. Why? Random shutdowns. I’ve tried all the Mac voodoo I can: repairing permissions, resetting NVRAM and PMU, etc., and you know what? It didn’t work, plus I’ve no idea if the re-install will fix it. If I could buy an appliance that did exactly what I need, then I would. No messing around, no files, settings or even an operating system to worry about – something that just does the job.

This is where the iPad will really appeal. Not to those who can’t see the need for a third category of device between their phone and their laptop, but to those who don’t really want a computer at all – who want something that just does what they need. Yes, the iPad lacks certain things from a geek perspective, but I don’t think these are omissions are important for the target market.

For me, even given my enthusiasm for the iPad, I won’t be buying one right now. I can do everything I want to with my iPhone and MacBook. Like Steve Litchfield, I can see myself buying buying one for my parents. But I can also a time when I will buy one for myself.

Appliance Computing

I can see myself buying an iPad, or a device like it. We’re moving towards an era of appliance computing, where computers abstract away the desktop metaphor, to leave the content as the primary focus. So how would this fit for me?

The distinction between my phone and my laptop will shrink, as my iPhone expands to do more things. But there still won’t be enough screen real estate to do a lot of tasks on my phone, without it seeming like a chore. Enter the iPad.

With a few tweaks, the iPad will be able to cover the majority of things that I currently use my laptop for. With all that extra screen room, iPad apps are going to feel more like desktop apps. And with an iPad dock (such as this concept), I’ll be able to practically turn my iPad into a desktop computer (when I need to). Add a simple media server / router such as a Time Capsule into the mix, and what have I got? Less time faffing around making computers work, more time getting stuff done, and an increased amount of mobility i.e. choice in terms of where I do use a computer. That’s the hope, anyway.

Is this going to be worth it?

It’s a case of suck it and see. People complained when Apple first released the Macintosh in 1984? “Pff, all this desktop nonsense is confusing compared to the simplicity of the CLI!”. But it caught on.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the control I have with my laptop running Mac OS X 10.6. But the iPad makes me think about why I switched to the Mac in the first place – I was fed up with Windows taking so much time to maintain, and just wanted to get things done. So if switching to an iPad helps me get even more things done, then it’ll be a done deal.

Sure, the iPad can’t do all the things I need it to do in order to ditch my laptop – yet. But I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before it does. There’s also a big gotcha in terms of Apple effectively controlling everything that I can do with an iPad through the App Store, so I’ll have to keep an eye on that.

Just a supersized iPod touch? Hardly.

So, come 6pm (UK time) on the 27th January, I was to be found hunched over my laptop, tea in hand and phone off the hook waiting for the gadget sites to reveal the news live, one line at a time. Never has it been such agony waiting for web pages to auto refresh. The day after, the first thing I did was to watch the video of the whole event which, it has to be said, gave me a rather different impression of the audiences reaction to the one I had from reading the live blogs.

So, it was to be called the iPad – seems a decent name to me. Both generic enough to allow the device to be used for anything and similar to ‘iPod’ to have that family connection. Yeah, there are some obvious jokes but we soon got used to the ‘Wii’, right?

“What this device does, is extraordinary”.

Ok, Steve, what does it do?

To demonstrate this extraordinaryness, Jobs took to a comfy chair for a fairly lengthy play with his new toy. First, browsing the web. Here’s where I started to question this thing. Steve said it’s like having the whole web in your hand – (apart from the lack of Flash, of course) but can’t I do the same thing with my Touch?

What is the iPad offering that’s new exactly? Next, he showed email. Again, I can do that easily with my Touch – what’s new on the iPad? Same with viewing Photos, Music, iTunes Store, Contacts, Maps and Video. I can do all that on my Touch. Ok, the apps have been rewritten to work a little differently and make use of the bigger screen (even the occasional new feature such as albums in Photos) but really, not so different from my present iPod Touch experience.

The calendar was the one native app that seemed different enough to count as new and not be easily replicated on the iPhone or Touch. But then again, the native calendar app on the iPhone is so poor, it’s difficult not to improve on it and I already use a much better alternative (Pocket Informant).

While I watched the video of the event, it struck me how few times there was applause during Steve’s demo and it seemed to me that he was expecting more. I thought it telling when, at the end of the demo, in response to the lack of applause (or so it seemed to me) Steve said:

“I have to say, though, watching it is nothing like getting one in your hands and feeling all of that just, right, right in your hands, and right underneath your fingertips.”

I had the feeling the live audience was, like me, waiting for something new and ‘extraordinary’ that they couldn’t already see and do on their iPhones.

Next, was a section showing that the iPad could run (“nearly”) all iPhone apps. By definition, I can already do that on my Touch (well, except for the iPhone specific ones). So, no advantage for me there.

My one prediction/hope for the iPad was some form of pressure sensitivity making it better to paint and draw on. This was dashed during the demo of a new version of ‘Brushes’. I do still hold out hopes that pseudo pressure sensitivity could be added in a firmware update (by taking the contact patch of your finger into account) or via a Wacom style pen accessory.

The game demos didn’t display anything that wouldn’t be possible on the iPhone. The bigger screen arguably allows space for more controls but when you’re adding them simply because there’s room, you have to wonder if they’re necessarily an improvement.

iBooks
eBooks are already available on the iPhone but this is an area the iPad may genuinely be better suited for. The bigger screen may well be the factor that makes it preferable to the smaller device. I’ve yet to be won over to eBooks rather than the paper variety but I’d happily be converted once I get to try them on the iPad.

iWork
When I saw the Apple iWork suite had been ported over to the iPad, it was the first time in the presentation I thought that the iPad could offer something substantial the iPhone doesn’t. I can imagine using the iPad to write on a journey using Pages whereas I wouldn’t seriously consider it using my Touch with one of the ‘Office’ suites available.

Overall
I’m very aware that I’ve not been able to play with an iPad at this point. I’ve heard at least two people (including Stephen Fry) echo Steve Jobs’ comment that you have to try it to really ‘get’ it. I’m more than happy to admit playing with one might convert me but right now, I’ve only the presentation and the information on Apples website to base my opinion on.

The impression I’m left with is that, contrary to what Steve said, what this device does, is not extraordinary. It’s largely possible now, today on my iPod Touch. And I can imagine, in an alternative universe where the iPad came out first, Jobs now making the claim that the brand new iPhone/Touch was the more extraordinary device as they’d now managed to shrink all that functionality down into a pocket sized device as opposed to the old, unwieldy ten inch iPad.

There are two reasons to buy a gadget:

1. because you need it, or
2. because you want it.

At this point I certainly don’t feel I need it as it doesn’t do anything I can’t already do either with my Touch or laptop. The only circumstance I can imagine the iPad being my preferred choice is when I’m away from home and get the urge to sketch or paint something (especially if they get around to adding some kind of pressure sensitivity).

Do I want one?

Erm… not sure. I certainly want to have a go with one and if I was given one I’d be extremely happy (I’m a confirmed gadget fan after all) but as for buying it… for me, for now, no.

[We have a few more thoughts on the iPad coming along shortly. I’m also in the “Erm…” camp at the moment! – Matt]