[infoshare] Re: One-Hour Impressions of the iPad
- From: "Maria" <malyn87@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <infoshare@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 May 2010 21:30:29 -0400
Hi there,
Looks like we'll be starting to think about purchasing one of those picture
frames, right?
----- Original Message -----
From: Lynne
To: infoshare@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: angel ; Mary Emerson
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 7:38 PM
Subject: [infoshare] One-Hour Impressions of the iPad
One-Hour Impressions of the iPad
5/11/2010
My colleague and I were discussing the merits of the iPad and how we would
really love to get our fingers on one. Well, today we got our wish. Our
representative from Tech Serv came baring the sought-after device.
Points in no particular order.just as I think of them.
Love the form factor, very sleek and slick. Reminds me of a modern picture
frame.
Amazing how it orients itself to whomever is holding it. I need not turn it
when I hand it to a colleague and they need not turn it to read. It does it as
if by magic.
The landscape feature is quite impressive and makes reading the iBooks very
convenient, should one be using one's eyeballs.
The ability to change the contrast is excellent as I seem to be more
comfortable with white letters on a black background these days.
Voiceover sounds as good as ever. I still could not abide Samantha reading an
entire book unless I were absolutely desperate.
All swiping, flicking, tapping poking and pinching work just as they do on
the iPod touch, should you be familiar with those myriad gestures.
Sadly, Voiceover does not come on at start up. Apple has made such amazing
strides in terms of accessibility one does wonder why they don't simply have
Voiceover start right away and offer the option to turn it off. I mean,
really, how much of a gesture could that take?
Interesting how the speaker is down towards the bottom right in Portrait mode
and top right in Landscape view. Guess they deemed that to be the optimum
positioning. Hmm. Really?
From what I can tell, the display is quite stunning and sharp. I still could
not see the YouTube video too well but this is more due to my failing eyesight
than Apple's lovely graphics.
the on-screen keyboard appears to be white letters on a black background but
the letters are not as bright .
The sound is quite good. I can absolutely hear Maria playing MushroomFM on
it and carrying the device from room to room and on to our laundry room.
There would definitely be a learning curve to use the iBook app. I'm not
used to tapping and holding to move the page progress bar. Apparently, there
is a form of tracking square that follows the text.
The piano app is sweet and you can record and save your compositions.
All in all, I went away very impressed but then began to think, "What would I
really do with the iPad?" My colleague solved the problem by saying that if we
ordered it for the Demo Center, he would order Apple's equivalent of office and
a Bluetooth keyboard. In this way, it could possibly be one of the lowest
priced notetakers for persons who are blind and have low vision. Now, that
raises my eyebrow.
And speaking of price, it's pretty high at $500 to start, adding a $25
bluetooth keyboard and an $80 work Suite of apps. When you think about it,
though, $600 is still the lowest price for a notetaker to be found.
Bottom Line: I sincerely hope the iPad will be making an appearance at our
Demo pad in the very near future. Gee, why couldn't they have called it the
iTab?
Update: Would you believe I'm considering purchasing one as a glorified
music/stream player? Sheepish grin
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