The iPad on the sofa

This weekend I tested the iPad. I noted my first impressions – here they are:

Once again, Apple has shown their genius by keeping it simple: they’ve started with a very common body position - that of sitting comfortably on the sofa. Up until now, in order to go online, you had to sit up straight at a desk, facing a screen. It felt a bit like being at work. Or else you could try popping your laptop on your lap, but hot legs would soon become a bother. Steve Jobs, who never does anything randomly, presented his latest offering while sitting on a sofa, legs crossed, one knee up, with his iPad propped up against his thigh (see photo).

So, now you’re sitting comfortably, you switch on. The iPad doesn’t make you feel rushed, the way the very small screen of your smartphone sometimes might. Basically, the screen is pleasant to look at. And your legs aren’t overheating.

The iPad on display on the coffee table. While the iPhone is destined to spend most of its life in pockets or handbags, the iPad on the other hand is more likely to go on display in the home, on the living room coffee table. Stands are appearing in the marketplace which enable you to put the iPad on display. Whether It becomes a digital photo frame or a hifi system, it is likely to be used in a proactive way the moment you step into the room. I tested it this weekend. “I wonder how much a trampoline for 10 to 15 year-olds would cost?” I grabbed the iPad, turned it on, and found the answer in Google, all in the space of 23 seconds! My personal computer was not switched on, and not even in the room as it’s far too cumbersome and ugly… it would have taken several minutes to carry out the search on the PC and I probably would have put it off to another day, as it was neither urgent nor entirely necessary.

The iPad, made for sharing. Sunday, 4pm. The kids grab the iPad – you can each have four pairs of eyes looking at this screen, even if only one person is handling it. Lise suggests a game of Scrabble. She lays down her letters and passes the iPad to her brother. He keeps it on his knees for his go, then hands it back. Interesting. The iPad can be passed around and shared, much more easily than an iPhone or a laptop. Can you imagine what that means in terms of new applications? I can come up already with a few ideas…

Conclusion. I won’t bore you with the battery charging time (very fast) or with my highly successful Avatar video experience (purchased through iTunes as, let me remind you, there are no USB outlets on the iPad). I won’t go on about my relatively minor frustration caused by the finger smears on the big tactile screen. The iPad remains, in my view, a big step forward, although not quite the revolution that is the iPhone. It will, for a while, have to live in competition with other domestic leisure tools: the TV, the PC, etc… But Apple is definitely exploiting in a very clever way its success in the world of smartphones by taking that success into our living rooms. You will see iPads on coffee tables, on trains, on display 24/7… The position of the iPad in our lives will be right on the fine line between smartphone and PC -a comfortable position, for a relaxed user, who up until now was not equipped with a suitable interactive media tool in the home (poor us!). A window on the world, through an attractive object in our lap – yes, Steve Jobs has had another stroke of genius!

Posted on 4 May 2010 | 3:28 pm