http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=653UcqY2Xqs&feature=player_embedded
--Doug On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 9:19 AM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> wrote: > I was surprised to get mine yesterday, I thought we did not get Saturday > UPS deliveries, but apparently Apple paid for doing so. > > It really is different, that's for sure. And it will take the iPhone apps > folks a couple of months to figure out how to migrate. > > Several new UI features are shared amongst the apps. One is a combination > of menu and panel .. using the larger screen to drop down a menu-like > selection but with buttons and sliders in addition to the menu items. Great > use of the screen space. > > Another innovation is the portrait/landscape transition. Several apps use > portrait for a smaller media window plus controls, and the rotated view > becomes the "full screen" media mode. YouTube does a great job of this. > > iBooks is great fun. Currently it is not built in, you get it for free > from the Apple store. Not sure if that's to be nice to Kindle or Lawyers or > just it was too late to be on board. Comes with a free Winnie the Poo book. > > The Kindle app is surprisingly complete, they must have had a team working > on it for quite a while. And it makes the iPhone version better too. They > actually have an advantage over iPad for a while .. they work better on > phones due to having small screen support. > > Photos are incredible. Music as you'd expect, although without cover flow > for some reason. iTunes synch much the same as for iPhone. I bought > Keynote but haven't played with it yet .. hard to believe a full bore app > for only $10. And naturally mail and web quite impressively good. > > Pdf's were a biggie for me because of school and digital books. There is > no pdf reader like Preview on the Mac. But the core is there .. send > yourself an email with the pdf as an attachment! There are a few doc reader > apps for the iPhone, one that even had an iPad version (Goodreader) ready > for the launch. I'm sure there will be dozens. > > One important stunt for TeX-pdf files: you should "save as" from Preview > before sending them to your iPad. This is to make sure all non-standard > fonts are embedded in the pdf, not relying on local fonts. TeX uses several > unusual critters, but Preview is clever enough to pack them into the .pdf if > "save as" used to build a second copy. Slightly larger. > > iPhone apps that are not converted to iPad still work surprisingly well. > They show as half size, and you can click on "2x" to make them fullscreen > .. jaggies and all. Actually not an issue: I have an Italian dictionary and > found its use just fine. > > iPad is far more of a "lap" device than the laptop is .. you find yourself > curling up with it, and naturally "touch" interfaces are far more immersive. > > Typing on the larger screen is much, much easier. All the pundits are > writing their first post using it. (I'm clearly not a pundit .. this is > from my laptop!) You end up typing with a two-finger-per-hand hunt and > peck. I think it won't take long to master. > > Overall, I'm surprised that it seems to be so effortless to learn and use. > iPhone, and likely Android, users will feel comfortable with the touch > interface. It is strikingly gorgeous. It really is a new class of > computing, creating it's own niche. Certainly for most mobile use it is > fine, and at 1.5 lb, that's saying a lot! .. or maybe little? :) > > -- Owen > > > >
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