BendTech

‘Just got back from playing with an iPad over at the Connecting Point store on Franklin.  They have a couple demo models you can play with.  And as of 3pm, they still had about half of the fifteen units they were allocated available for sale, although they did sell two while I was there.  But… no long lines, no huge wait to play with the demo units.  They did say their Medford store sold out pretty much as soon as they opened.  (‘Has me wondering what that says about Bend’s appetite for technology in general, that.)

I won’t bore you with a long review – there are plenty of those out there – but here’s my short version …

Nice display, nice form factor.  Pretty much feels like exactly what it is – a mutant size iPod Touch (or iPhone sans phone, take your pick).  The sales guy was talking up how much faster the CPU is, and I guess it was better.  But, frankly, I work on a MacBook all day long, not the iPhone that I have collecting dust somewhere on my desk, and so the performance wasn’t really anything to write home about.

As a device to do work on it’s not super-thrilling.  Mostly because the keyboard is still pretty hard to use.  You still make lots of typos.  Worse, Apple still forces you to switch between number .vs. letter modes when typing, just like on the iPhone.  On the iPhone, that makes sense – there’s so little real-estate – but the iPad is a lot bigger and they could have easily put a row of numbers along the top and provided a more traditional typing experience.  ’Would make it a heck of a lot easier to do significant amounts of typing (or enter passwords).

At first none of the apps really won me over either.   Don’t get me wrong - Labyrinth HD is beautiful and fun; browsing in Safari on the crisp, clear display is a joy;  videos on YouTube are very watchable, etc.  But, again, I’m used to my MacBook (plugged into a Dell 24″ monitor, woot!) so at a gut level it was all very *meh*.  It wasn’t until the very end, when on a whim I launched the Star Walk app that I had that “uh oh, I might actually have to buy this!” moment.  If you’re a star-gazer of any sort, Star Walk is simply awesome! It is exactly what a star map should be, and the iPad is exactly the device you want it on.  The only thing that would make it better is real GPS support so that it automatically oriented itself with the direction you were facing/holding the iPad.

That is going to be what drives the iPad’s success. Not the hardware (cool as it is), but rather that for just about everyone there will be at least one app among the 1,000′s available on the App Store that gives them that “Holy sh*t!” moment.  So I guess get your butt down to Connecting Point, try one out, find that one app for you, and save Bend the embarassment of being the only city in the country that doesn’t sell out on iPads today.