by Winston Tsao, CTO, Centrax Corporation

The User Experience

I have been using the Apple iPad for the last 5 days - Here are my impressions:

The iPad is smaller and heavier than I expected, when I hold it in my hand. In fact, its 1.5 lbs is equivalent to about 154 pages of copier paper (Yes, I've just counted 1.5 lbs worth of copier paper!).  To put this in perspective, a typical netbook is about 2.5 lbs and a typical laptop is about 6 lbs.

At first glance, the iPad seems to compare unfavorably to a typical laptop computer. I almost did not purchase the iPad because it lacks many of the popular laptop features such as USB ports and a webcam. However, I purchased one realizing that the iPad is more like a multimedia picture frame than a computer.  It’s much more convenient than a laptop for browsing the internet or watching a movie because it instantly turns on and does not have boot-up or wake-up delays.  The iPad is small and thin enough to use like a notepad, although the on-screen keyboard is only good enough for casual typing.

The best feature of the iPad is its battery life. The iPad's battery is rated to last 10 hours with a full charge. For me, I only need to recharge every several days. One minor charging issue that I see, is that it charges much more slowly using a computer’s USB port. If you want to use the iPad while it is charging, you definitely want to be close to an outlet!

The biggest drawback of the iPad is the lack of Adobe Flash support. Flash animated advertisements I can live without, but Flash is used more than just to display ads.  Without Flash, I cannot see interactive charts in Google Analytics, nor the vast majority of the interactive e-learning content that we develop for our clients. On the iPad, the Flash content will simply show up as blank boxes, or display error messages stating that you do not have a Flash player installed. Unfortunately, Apple has no plans to support Flash on the iPad.

Overall though, I find myself using my laptop less throughout the day due to my iPad being so much more convenient to use.  I now only open my laptop for tasks I cannot do on the iPad.  Despite the lack of Flash support, I still find the iPad a capable device for delivering content.  It is more portable, and more user-friendly than a typical laptop computer.  The user interface is very intuitive and easy to use. Over time, I’m certain its price will be more affordable as it drops, and its appeal to the masses will only increase!