iPad verses the iPhone

So, it’s finally here. Well almost. Apple has announced the iPad and it’s set to change the world.

Either that or in a year’s time Apple will look sheepish and remove it from sale.

The web has been awash with people’s opinions as to whether the iPad will catch on. There are the inevitable naysayers who complain that the iPad’s too expensive, too big, that using the keyboard will be an ergonomic nightmare, and that, basically, nobody needs one. They are probably the same people who were unconvinced by the iPod and iPhone when they were first announced. We laugh in their faces now.

There are also the people who agree with Apple’s premise that the iPad is set to be a better answer to our need to surf the web and send emails than a netbook. Most of us have a pretty powerful laptop or desktop at home, but what do we use it for. Surfing the web and writing emails – what a waste of all that power. Maybe Apple is right and all we actually need is a handheld device that can to do those things, rather than a device that can do things we don’t need it to.

I can see where Apple is coming from on this one. Before I got my iPhone I’d spend most evenings browsing Facebook and emailing friends from my laptop. Since I got my iPhone the only thing I use my laptop for is watching TV (I have it hooked up to a flatscreen TV). My iPhone has already replaced my laptop as my tool of choice. Why turn on the MacBook if I don’t need to?

So the question as far as I’m concerned isn’t whether the iPad could replace my laptop, but whether I really need an iPad when I’m more than happy using my iPhone to do all those netbook-style things. It can go either way. The iPad may be better than the iPhone because it has a larger screen. Or it might be a worse option than the iPhone because it has a larger screen. Until I’ve tried one out I’ll suspend judgement.

In the meantime, many of our colleagues at Macworld US have already had a go with the device and they love it. So maybe, just maybe, the iPad will change the world.

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Comments received

andrewwalker said on Friday, 05 February 2010

I think that the added option to use the ipad as a normal mobile, perhaps with a bluetooth headset/microphone would make me decide on the purchase.
Andrew

industry guy said on Friday, 05 February 2010

I echo Karen's comments, except that I do use my MacBook Pro for apps like Excel, long Word docs, doing accounts, etc. I use my iPhone a heck of a lot, but it's no use for any of these apps.
An ipad however ought to be fine. Admittedly I can't use excel but could use Numbers and I increasingly use Google docs anyway. And the accounts system I use is Clearbooks and is browser based, so fine.
So the main question is whether I'll like using it. There's only one way to know that.. So I'll buy the cheapest entry-level model. If I like it, I'll sell it or pass it on and but the top of the range model with 3G.
So there ya go Apple, at least one sale :-)

Nasar said on Saturday, 06 February 2010

There's potential for the iPad but it's not quite there yet. There's another perspective on ww.ipadforyou.wordpress.com which I found interesting.

Anaxagoras said on Wednesday, 10 February 2010

Karen makes some good points.

My laptop does some heavy duty work (in particular photo editing), but most of the time it's just casual browsing and email. The screen on my smartphone is so hopelessly small it's a joke.

So I'm thinking along the lines of a computer (laptop or desktop) that is only switched on when really needed, a iPad for routine day-to-day use, and a VERY cheap and simple phone.