Sent From My iPad

/

MG Siegler:

For most tasks on the iPad, I’m fully touch-ready. In fact, I’m now so used to my iPhone and iPad that I reach up to touch the screen of my MacBook more than I’d care to admit. It’s simply a much more natural interface than using a mouse. You see an area you want to take action on? Touch it.

That’s one reason why the iPad is such a powerful tool with children. It just makes sense. There is basically no learning curve.

This thought leads some skeptics to suggest that maybe the iPad is just that: a children’s toy. It’s not a real computer. But that’s crap. Again, I’m a heavy computer user. And I’m getting comfortable enough with the iPad now that I much prefer to use it in the vast majority of computing situations.

I have found that, especially in the past year, I am doing much more of my computing on the iPad. In fact, it is rare that I take my MacBook Pro along on meetings anymore. The iPad is just that much more portable, and, honestly, it is more than capable for many of my daily tasks.

¶ Apple's New Podcasts App

/

Me, last week, on the rumor of a standalone Podcasts app for iOS 6:

When Apple touted iOS 5 as being PC-free, one thing they forgot to include is being able to subscribe to podcasts on the iPhone and be able to check for and download new episodes.

Well, it turns out that iOS 5.1 is the release that makes iOS PC-free in this regard. Apple just released their standalone Podcasts app.

Here are the details from Apple:

Podcasts app is the easiest way to discover, subscribe to and play your favorite podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Explore hundreds of thousands of free audio and video podcasts from the Podcasts Catalog, and play the most popular podcasts, organized for you by topic, with the all-new Top Stations feature.

Features:

  • Enjoy all of your audio and video podcasts in a single app
  • Explore hundreds of thousands of podcasts including shows in over 40 languages
  • Try the innovative new Top Stations feature to find new podcast series in a variety of topics, including arts, business, comedy, music, news, sports, and more.
  • Browse by Audio or Video podcasts, or see what’s most popular in Top Charts
  • Tap subscribe for your favorites and automatically receive new episodes for free as they become available
  • Stream episodes or download to listen while offline
  • Skip forward and back using simple playback controls
  • Turn on Sleep Timer to automatically stop playing a podcast while listening in bed
  • Share your favorite episodes with friends using Twitter, Messages and Mail
  • Optionally sync your favorite episodes from iTunes on your Mac or PC
  • Sync your episode playback for seamless transition between devices

This is all very good. The interface is very nice. When you are listening to an episode, tap or swipe up on its artwork to reveal an old reel-to-reel player and the sleep and sound speed settings. If you tap pause, you can see the mechanics of the reel-to-reel player stop.

Another nice touch with the reel-to-reel player is that as the episode progresses, the spool of tape on the left reel diminishes as the spool on the right increases. This also happens quickly as you scribble the timeline.

As for setting up Podcasts, it should pull in any episodes currently found in the podcasts section of Music.app. Also, it should continue to sync with iTunes, just as before. The added benefit of Podcasts, though, is that you can set you device to watch for new episodes and to download the latest. Annoyingly, though, you have to tap into each podcast and toggle each and every one of them to subscribe on the device.

And this is where I see some shortcomings from what I was hoping for. In that post from last week, I stated:

Hopefully Apple will make it easy to use iCloud to keep your subscription list, and allow a new Podcasts app to download new episodes in the background when plugged in to power and on Wi-Fi, in the same manner that it does iCloud backups and Newsstand updates.

Well, this just isn’t part of the app. At least, not yet. iCloud doesn’t keep your subscription list, and while the app will download new episodes, it won’t do so in the background. The app must be open to check for and download new episodes.

What iCloud does offer is syncing the playback position of episodes between devices — say, an iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately, it does this via whatever Apple ID is used for the iTunes Store, and not via the Apple ID set for iCloud.

This identity conundrum won’t affect everyone, as I am sure the vast majority of users have the iCloud ID and iTunes Store ID as one and the same. But for a family? Well, my wife and I each have separate iCloud IDs, yet we both use the same iTunes Store ID. If we were to both be subscribed to the same podcasts (thankfully, neither of us are) we would have a nightmare of playback syncing issues (there isn’t an option to not sync playback).

That aside, this is a very nice 1.0 app. I look forward to how it will improve. Hopefully iCloud will be emphasized more in a future release.

The important thing is Podcasts no longer solely rely on iTunes.

Podcasts is a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and requires iOS 5.1 or later. It’s free in the App Store.

While podcasts will exist in both Podcasts and Music apps in iOS 5, it looks certain that the podcasts function within Music will disappear in iOS 6. Use the next few months to transition to the new app.

Apple also has a little support section for Podcasts on its site.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the only way to add a podcast in the interface is via the Podcast Catalog. However, some podcasts aren’t on iTunes. If you want to subscribe to a podcast that isn’t in iTunes, just enter the feed:// URL in Safari, and it will redirect to the Podcasts app and add it to your feed.

Planned All Along

/

Jim Dalrymple:

Let’s take the original iPod. Looking at it now, it was big. However, at the time, with the technology available to them, Apple released what they felt was the best product they could make.

Then Apple came out with the iPod mini, which later became the iPod nano, capturing another segment of the market. That release was followed up by the iPod shuffle, again capturing another segment of the market.

It was changes in technologies that allowed these products to be released, but I believe Apple had planned the releases all along.

When you look at a 7-inch iPad, or any other Apple product, don’t look at how it affects its competitors, but rather how it fits into Apple’s product strategy. Doing that will make things a lot clearer.

I shared my thoughts on a 7-inch Apple device last month. At the time, I was thinking such a device could be a good place to reposition the iPod touch. Jim’s thoughts on how Apple has historically acted has me reconsidering. The iPad is a runaway hit, and it would be foolish not to expand that product line.

The iPod’s time to reign has come and gone. Now it is the iPad’s. That’s the household name these days, and that’s what Apple will stick with.

‘Why the iPad Is My New Laptop’

/

Shawn Blanc:

Within my circle of friends, I know several people who are also using their iPad as their portable computer. I even have a handful friends who have an iPad as their only computer.

It is not a sacrifice to use the iPad as a primary device.

[…]

The iPad is a compelling computer, and it is quickly maturing right before our eyes.

My MacBook Pro sits at home more than it used to. Like Shawn, I wouldn’t go back to a desktop computer, because the times I do need to take my Mac somewhere, it is really nice to be able to do so.

That said, I can do the majority of my daily computing tasks done on just my iPad.

The Kid's Table

/

Rene Ritchie at iMore reports that Apple has replaced the iMacs at the kid’s table with iPads at their retail stores.

Whenever I go to the Apple Store, my son runs straight for the kid’s table. I was always amazed that at three years old he learned how to use a mouse pretty quickly at that table (he has an old iPod touch, and uses my iPad often).

I had been wondering at each visit for some time now when Apple would make such a move, as it seemed like a natural fit. When I told my son a few moments ago that the Apple Store now has iPads at the kids table, he replied, “When can we go play with them?”

¶ The 7-inch Apple "Tablet"

/

There has been a lot of buzz lately about a 7-inch Apple tablet — specifically a 7.85-inch tablet — supposedly in the works in Cupertino.

I’ve been thinking about such a tablet for a while now, and wondered whether such a thing, if brought to market, would be labeled as part of the iPad family. To me, it makes far more sense to move the iPod touch product line up to this mid-range screen size.

Odi Kosmatos crunched some numbers and discovered that the difference between 7-inches and 7.85-inches is everything:

Perhaps you’ve read these Steve Jobs quotes before, they go something like this:

“The 7-inch form factor is not a good size for tablet applications” and “7-inch tablets should come with sandpaper, so that users can file down their fingers so they can use them.“

Note the words in bold.

Every rumor and theory about a smaller iPad I have seen seems to claim it will be 7.85″ with a 1024×768 screen. If that were the case, Steve Jobs would be right on the money with the above quotes. A 7.85″ 1024×768 display would be appropriate if the smaller tablet were designed to run iPad applications, because these applications could run unscaled on the device, at a 1:1 pixel ratio. However, the PPI of that 7.85″ screen would be 163. But the size of the user interface elements on iPad applications are tailored for a 132 PPI screen. If squeezed into 163 PPI, every button and control would become smaller, harder to accurately touch. Hence the need for sandpaper.

The same argument applies if the 7.85″ tablet had a retina display with the same resolution as the new iPad’s 2048×1536. It would have 326 PPI, but the UI elements of retina iPad applications are designed for 264 PPI. Sandpaper required.

But consider if the new tablet had a 7″ screen. What’s so special about 7″? A couple of very interesting things.

A 7″ diagonal screen (7.08″ to be exact) just happens to be the exact size of two by two iPod touch retina displays. That’s a 4″ x 6″ display surface. An iPod touch screen has 326 PPI. The 7″ screen would also have 326 PPI just like iPhones and iPods. This would yield a resolution of 1920 x 1280. This resolution would be able to run current retina iPhone applications pixel perfect using the traditional 4:1 pixel scaling, like retina displays do with non-retina apps.

What’s so special about that? By running iPhone applications on a larger screen, as opposed to running iPad applications on a smaller screen, you don’t need the sandpaper anymore. Heck, if you have fat fingers, you’ll rejoice. Larger touch targets are just easier to hit, but still look amazing, especially text, which will be drawn using the full 1920 x 1280 resolution. Anyone that finds the iPod touch or iPhone screen slightly cramped would love it, and could continue to enjoy amazing apps like iMovie, iPhoto, and other apps designed for iPhone.

I have no doubt a 7.85-inch tablet-like device exists in Apple’s labs. I also have no doubt a 7.08-inch device exists. Of course Apple plays around with different approaches to products. I’m sure Apple has both a larger iPod and a smaller iPad, and they are testing which is best.

Everyone has focused on the smaller iPad because the iPad is the new hotness. I am much more interested in what a larger iPod would bring to the mid-range.

Here’s how I see it:

  • The iPhone needs to fit in your hand and your pocket comfortably, hence its 3.5-inch screen.
  • The iPod touch, to date, has been modeled after the iPhone. This is mainly due to transitioning from the old iPod classic size and to simplify software design. Apps made for the iPhone work on the iPod touch. Simple.
  • The iPad is great, and its large screen, while not as portable as some would like, is comparable to a glossy magazine in both size and quality. Its keyboard is very comfortable in landscape, and in portrait, if you split the keyboard.
  • There seems to be plenty of people that want something larger than an iPhone but not as large as an iPad.

That last bullet point is where I see the opportunity for the iPod to move to. I think iPad apps would feel cramped. But if iPhone/iPod interfaces could be scaled up at retina resolution to a 7-inch screen, I think that would satisfy most people desiring a mid-range screen. Thumb-typing would still be comfortable. Text and pictures would be sharp. Developers wouldn’t need to rewrite the book again. And, most of all, the iPod line would be given new life.

When the first iPad was announced, it was derided by many as being “just a big iPod touch”. That clearly has not been the case, because software differentiated it. But does that mean there isn’t a market for an actual “big iPod touch”? I think a 7-inch retina display iPod would grab the corner of the market that Amazon is currently aiming at with the Kindle Fire. It isn’t a full-featured tablet, like an iPad. It isn’t a full telecommunication device, like an iPhone. But it is the best of both worlds for certain people — the people who want a little more screen than an iPhone but want more pocketability than an iPad.

For instance, my three-year-old son uses a second-generation iPod touch filled with kid games, educational apps, children’s books, and Pixar movies. He usually uses it for an hour or two after his nap, and he loves it. But, boy, does he look at my iPad with envious eyes. He loves the larger screen. I do not love him toting around an iPad that is as big as his entire torso.

A 7-inch iPod would be fantastic for him. It’s the perfect size for a young child. I imagine there are many adults who would enjoy it as well.

All-in-all, if Apple is planning to bring a device with a screen in the 7-inch ballpark to market, I think I’d rather see the iPod touch grow up a little, rather than the iPad get squeezed into a smaller screen.

The Other Side of the Coin

/

Shawn Blanc:

It strikes me that the Retina display is the other side of the coin to iOS. Meaning, iOS is the software and the screen is the hardware and that’s it. Those are the two sides to this coin. On a laptop or desktop computer you have three user interface components: the keyboard, the mouse, and the screen where you watch the user interface. On the iPad you have one user interface: the screen. And you touch and manipulate what is on the screen.

¶ The New iPad | Review

/

When the original iPad was released, I, of course, wanted to get it. But I had an internal struggle, one which I hadn’t quite felt when it came to buying a new device out of Cupertino — there wasn’t a clear place for it in my digital life. I had my MacBook Pro. I had my iPhone. The iPad was new, and it wasn’t clear if it be a fad or not.

I bought the first iPad, and found it useful for some tasks, like browsing, email, and Twitter. As developers made new apps for it, I found a few more uses. But one of the things that kept me from using more than I expected was the iPad being hindered by its shape. It was hard to hold comfortably, and it wobbled when it was set on a table. It had just an odd-enough shape to make it difficult to read for long and to type.

So I was pleased when the iPad 2 fixed that problem. A relative wanted to buy my original iPad, so I upgraded to the 2. By this time, the iPad app ecosystem was established, and I found myself able to do many things on the iPad that I would normally turn to my Mac for. And in addition to the better shape of the back, combined with the Smart Cover, I found myself taking my iPad all sorts of places. Since late-2011, I have found myself using the iPad nearly as much as, if not more than, my Mac.

I remember how astounded I was a couple years ago when I upgraded from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 4. Not only was it markedly faster, the brand new retina display left me in awe. It was simply…unbelievable. Everything on the screen was so clear, so crisp, that it looked as if the display were a glossy photograph. And thanks to the iPhone 4’s LCD being laminated to the glass, everything displayed looks as if it were painted on the glass.

I still catch myself being amazed by it.

The iPhone 4 was released after the original iPad. From the moment I saw the retina display of the iPhone, I knew we would eventually see it in an iPad. As we all know by now, that day has come.

The New iPad’s marquee feature is the retina display. It’s beautiful. Where the iPhone’s retina display looked like a printed photograph, the iPad’s looks like a glossy magazine. The retina display shows off sharp text and photos. Colors are richer and more vibrant than ever.

However, the pixels don’t look painted on the glass, since the iPad’s LCD and glass are not laminated. The two do seem to be closer together than on previous iPads.

The retina display is truly the big seller for most people. When you see it, you’ll know why.

The other big draw is something I can’t testify to, as I purchased the Wi-Fi only model. The models that can connect to a cellular network now use LTE, which, from all accounts I’ve read, is ridiculously fast.

The rear camera saw a huge improvement, and equals the same clarity of 2010’s iPhone 4.

Some internal things were bumped up, as well. The GPU is now quad-core to handle a couple million more pixels and RAM was increased to 1GB from 512MB.

But how does the new iPad feel in use? Honestly, a lot like the iPad 2. Animations are definitely smoother, but overall performance feels a lot like an iPad 2.

That’s not the only thing that feels like an iPad 2. It physically feels the same, even though it technically isn’t. The new iPad got a half-millimeter thicker and an ounce or two heavier. I think both of these are due to the much larger battery inside, which is needed to keep the retina display going for the same 10-hours of use the iPad is known for.

Truthfully, I can’t perceive the increased thickness. I noticed the weight right away, but it is far less than the original iPad, and after nearly two weeks, I’ve become used to the extra ounce or two.

It’s also been going around the web that the new iPad gets hot on the lower left corner. There is a definite warm spot after a while, but I wouldn’t call it hot by any means. It is warm, and just warm. The difference is barely perceptible from the ambient temperature.

Where the original iPad and the iPad 2 felt like something from the future, the new iPad may as well be pure fantasy, because the screen is just that good. Apple has continued to chisel away at this idea that computers are complex. The truth is that all computers are quite complex. Complexity has this unfortunate side-effect of causing people to be apprehensive. For too long people have had to attempt to decipher a bunch of technical specifications to sort out whether they are getting the right computer.

The iPad puts an end to that. Worry less about how fast the processor is or how much memory is included. Pick it up. Use it. It’s fast. It works. And you won’t believe your eyes.