I think the idea is awesome in terms of accessibility and apple will certainly
get praises for that which they deserve, however I think the product itself is
a rip off. sure, it's $499, but then they plan to rape you at the app counter,
so yeah it's accessible alright, but is it worth a place in your walet? We
sometimes let accessibility over power our budgets because we see something and
think, wow, gotta have that one.
Cody
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bryan Smart" <bryansm...@bryansmart.com>
To: <macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 2:59 PM
Subject: Used an iPad today
I'd ordered the 3G model, so will be waiting a few more weeks yet, but I had
some time to play with a WiFi model today.
Generally, it's an iPhone. However, besides the screen size being increased,
the interface has increased in complexity, also. Apple is certainly using the
extra space to expand on what is possible with an iPhone type touch interface.
It took me only very little time to discover that portrait mode (which lots of
sighted users select), is probably not the best for a blind person. When you're
working with two hands, having more horizontal room seems to make more of a
difference when navigating. Fortunately, it is a snap to try either way to see
what works for you.
I absolutely agree with the posters that were talking about the horrible
oversight about the back plate of the iPad. It is almost nothing but shiny
aluminum. You're supposed to be able to set the iPad on a table to use it, but
I promise, the first time that you place it on any table that isn't absolutely
clear of small dirt particles, you'll pic it up to discover that the slight
motion of you pushing and sliding the iPad has ground the dirt particles in to
the back, and scratched the hell out of your shiny aluminum back plate. Of
course, you can buy the case to fix that. the case is a type of thin and stiff
coated particle board that feels a lot like a traditional print notebook. One
side snugly holds the iPad, and the other side is a flap that covers the iPad
screen when closed. I suppose that most people will want the case to protect
the screen when traveling, anyway. If you go without the case, though, you are
absolutely asking for it. Apple could have put something on the back to make
the iPad more stable. Maybe not rubber feet, but they could have gone with a
felt square in the center, a stylized strip of some high friction material,
etc. The curved back will insure that the iPad wobbles on the table, and the
glossy case will absolutely scratch.
VoiceOver sounded about the same, and responded with the same speed, pretty
much. The speaker was very clear. Didn't get to play music with it, but I hear
the bass is poor. Still, speech is pretty good through the built-in speakers.
However, it seemed to me that iPad programs opened more slowly than on the
iPhone. Maybe there is more information to load? However, with more memory and
a faster processor, I wasn't expecting that.
I wasn't dramatically blown away by the applications that were available on it,
but working with a big talking touch screen interface started me dreaming about
things that *could* be accomplished with a device like that. Many people might
not need the iPad for web surfing or checking e-mail, but I think that,
eventually, there will be some very unique uses for the iPad.
Bryan
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