(Sigh, insert “pad” joke here – maybe something about Procter & Gamble’s stock price? Your call. )
First off, I was immediately struck by how think the borders are around the device. Is this so I can race matchbox cars around it and pretend I’m Dale Earnhardt, Jr.? (Of course, this would be counter-clock wise only).
Maybe it’s for big greasy fingers to hold the thing? Or vise grip robotic arms to hold it (controlled by SkyNet)?
Second off, people are blabbering on about how the Kindle is dead. Au contraire mon frere. Nay. Not. Nada.
Here’s why.
The Kindle uses the liquid ink technology which is easy on the eyes, like an actual book. The iPad is going to be bright and not well suited for sitting down and reading a novel for hours. Apples and Oranges (er, no pun intended) . Sure the technology is awesome, and I eagerly anticipate using it to read technical or photography books, but novels? Probably not.
Also, regarding reading books. Content. Content. Content. Amazon is still the center of the book universe. If Apple locks out the Kindle app from the device, this will be a big problem. If not, it’s a non issue, and I’ll probably continue to buy my books from Amazon. Somehow I doubt I’ll be finding Neal Asher or Ian M. Banks novels on the Apple store.
Also, as an aside, all the animation in the demos of the book reading app annoyed the poo out of me, and I haven’t even used it yet. I hope you can turn off all that fluffy demo chrome and just use it. The same goes with the rest of the device.
By the way, I read a lot.
Some omissions:
1. no mention of Verizon.
2. maybe I missed it, but no handwriting app? Maybe the whole stylus thing made it a non-starter. To Newton-esc?
3. it would be nice if it had an iChat camera. But I can see why it doesn’t. Where to put it? Streaming video over At&t? Er, epic fail waiting to happen. Maybe v2 will have it.
Other than that, as a iPhone developer, I’m super excited because of the product development possibilities. Especially for someone like me who specializes in photography and web services and all that kind of thing. Rubs his hands together and grins. Pinky, it’s time to take over the world!
I’m glad it will be released in a few months, this gives me time to save my pennies to buy one. The 3g version of course.
