Apple's iPad - The AnandTech Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi, Brian Klug & Vivek Gowri on April 7, 2010 9:39 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mac
- Apple
- iPad
- Mobile
A Testament to UI Efficiency, Distinctively Apple
I've always called the iPhone OS a very efficient UI. The ease at which you can perform primary tasks on the iPhone is what I mean by that. By comparison, many earlier tablet and handheld computer concepts used full blown desktop OSes scaled down so much that you could hardly get anything done. UI elements were far too small to be navigated with portable screens. On the flip side, if you scaled the iPhone UI to a 22" desktop PC you'd also lose efficiency, the UI simply wasn't designed for that purpose. You use the right tool for the job and that's exactly what the iPhone OS, webOS and Android try to do. They are great smartphone interfaces.
The success of the iPad's UI is really determined by how well it scales up to the larger screen size and resolution of the display. Simply running iPhone apps on the iPad doesn't cut it, something that is made obvious by how little I wanted to use them on my iPad.
An iPhone app running on the iPad
Thankfully, with the exception of running iPhone apps, Apple has ensured at that all elements of the iPad UI are enhanced specifically for the larger screen. The most obvious is the larger keyboard but there's also liberal use of columns in apps. You'll also note that there's very little forced consistency between the look and feel of iPad applications. Their UI is determined entirely by their function.
The popup dialog is also widely used throughout the iPad OS:
Thanks to the A4 SoC inside, multitouch gestures react even faster and smoother than they do on the iPhone. Particularly the pinch and stretch gestures for zooming in and out. Apple also introduced a new pinch/stretch to zoom feature in its Photos app. To expand or collapse any album or event simply take two fingers and stretch them apart or pinch them together. It seemed gimmicky when I first heard about it but in practice it works really well and I'd like to see it used in more places.
While not really significant to the plot, there are some nice touches that Apple has included with the iPad that are worth mentioning. The home screen is, er, home to a lot of the more prevalent examples of Apple flair. All the icons have a nice drop shadow behind them.
Bringing up the home screen from another app causes all the icons to fly in from the outside as if they're all scurrying home before you get there. Rotating the home screen also results in a sweet zoom out then in effect.
Despite having the screen real estate Apple doesn't get wasteful with UI elements. They are all fairly tiny and not intrusive.
Scroll bars in the few applications that have them are far less boring. In the Calendar and Photo apps the horizontal scroll bar is a date and photo scrubber. In Pages the vertical scroll bar gives you a magnifying glass preview of each page as you scroll by it.
iPhone users will feel right at home as there is a consistency between these devices. Tap the home button once and it takes you home. Tap it again and you can search. Tap it twice while you're playing music and playback controls appear. Also, when you're playing music the cover art for the song or album temporarily becomes your home screen background.
Although there's no mute button, holding the volume down rocker for 2 seconds mutes the device instantly.
There are dozens of little features like these that show an attention to detail that is missing from most products. Rushed or not, the iPad still has the little things that do make it an Apple product.
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BeAloud - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
The rumored new smaller iPad could solve the ergonomics flaws of the current device. I would probably be interested in getting one if these rumors are true!http://www.bealoud.com/technology/ipad-mini-rumors...
Lunarlog - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
I read your article and it was well-written. I do have to disagree that it is a disappointment. In fact, I find the contrary. Part of the issue is that we are coming out of an economic recession - some people are still on hold as to whether or not to part with $500 when they already have a computer. Was is the same spree as the first iPhone? No. But I wouldn't expect it to be - not in these times. I wrote two articles as well on the topic. I'd appreciate it if you would give them a glance:This article came out the day after the iPad was released:
http://www.lunarlog.com/ipad-review/
This article was written shortly after the iPad's initial announcement:
http://www.lunarlog.com/the-apple-ipad-the-good-an...
TheHolyLancer - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
only when a pokemon rpg comes to the ipad, either with an emulator or otherwise, will it be a gaming platform for it's targeted audience. or maybe let it double as a guitar hero / rock band instrument.of all the games one there, rts is the only one that seems to be fleshed out. fps, driving, action games involving the taps are mostly broken. only rpgs or tower defense / rts games seems to be the games that should have a better experience on touch based input. who don't want to be like a commander that directs battles via the touch interface.
Sahrin - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
Anand, I've got to say the Apple conversion you've gone through has really cost you a lot of respect in my eyes. I know, as an Apple fan, this won't matter to you (as facts don't). But the reality of it is, Apple is ultimately like religion. When push comes to shove, there is no quantitative difference between Apple and everything else. What it comes down to is technological laziness, and a blind acceptance of Apple as superior to everything else. Jon Stokes at Arstechnica had the same problem. He OC'ed one too many CPU's, or troubleshooted one too many oddball configurations - and something broke, he just gave up; surrended all his technological know-how and competence to the quiet, white cell provided by Apple. I don't mean to say either you or he got 'dumber' - just that, rather than "do it yourself," rather than apply your knowledge on a daily basis you've just declared yourself smart enough and handed over control and understanding of what you do to Apple. It's like the engineer who builds his own car from scratch finally going over and buying a Ford. Is there anything particularly 'wrong' with that? No. But it's a kind of ... lessening of the man to see him surrrender a passion to something because it's easier.I'm really sad to see someone as intelligent as you are (certainly smarter than I am) give yourself over to this kind of laziness. AT is one of the most trusted review sites on the web; and I hope that over time it doesn't erode the way Ars did into a whining, fawning mess.
splatl - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
WTFSilverBack - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
The IPad is junk, inflated price and virtually no feature set, why would anyone want this?No USB? WTF!
manicfreak - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
I also feel the same way.samirotiv - Saturday, April 10, 2010 - link
You are an ass, a hypocrite, and you're absolutely nobody. I don't think you can comment about Anand's intelligence. Your unwarranted hate towards Apple makes you feel that anybody who appreciates an Apple product is unintelligent.You say there's no quantitative difference between Apple products and other products. So can you tell me another currently existing tablet that I can buy that's half as good as the iPad? Is it the pathetic JooJoo?
If you don't want the iPad because it doesn't have some feature you think you need, then don't buy it. Vote with your money. Stop trolling. I think Anand has mentioned most of it's drawbacks in the review.
Even if a tablet as good or better than the iPad exists, just writing a favourable review doesn't make Anand unintelligent. I think the review was quite unbiased.
Your armchair psychology makes your post sound even less credible. Someone ban this clown.
BTW that was an excellent review Anand, like every other review of yours. Keep up the good work..!!
splatl - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
Apple said from the beginning this is not a laptop replacement it is intended to be a device between a Smart Phone and a Laptop. For all waiting for Slate to come out it is still HP crap.ds1817 - Thursday, April 8, 2010 - link
Always refreshing to read a review on Anandtech. The thoroughness and attention to detail are why I've been reading your website for 12 years now. Keep up the good work!