Multimedia Heaven Found on iPad

For most of the things we have heard about the iPad, its most popular feature is its tablet design. It sounds aesthetically centered, but beauty is just a secondary consideration when purchasing a gadget. The main purpose for acquiring a gadget is to take advantage of its ability to make the user's life better, whether in business or leisure.

To the average consumer, features make or break the purchasing deal; besides, even if the buyer is not technologically inclined, he will find a way to get to know his newest object of gadgetry affection.

Internet on the iPad is handled by Safari; recently, they have approved the Opera Mini app. Safari is the fastest Web browser in the world, according to Apple engineers. No doubt about the source definitely, because Apple created Safari. Now, for some reason, they have allowed Opera Mini to be included in the App Store; however, even the app does not support Flash. To those who aspire to continue harvesting their FarmVille crops on the iPad: better luck next time.

The iPad boasts a crisp and advanced split screen-style email application. When the device is placed on a landscape orientation, it displays both the opened message and the list of emails on the inbox with a two-liner preview. Attachments and images are displayed by default alongside the text in the message. For some reason, the split-screen inbox reminds me of Outlook; I don't know, I could be confused.

Graphics are highly appreciated with iPad's vivid color display. It utilises IPS or in-plane switching that allows for an extremely wide angle so you can look at your pictures from various points and still get a good view. Same goes for viewing maps on the iPad; its spacious screen and interactive display will allow the user to manipulate and zoom the map for better resolution.

For persons who enjoy viewing and collecting photos, there are several ways to store pictures in the iPad. You can import photos from your digital camera or SD card using the iPad Camera Connection Kit, an accessory that is sold separately. You can also synchronize the iPad to your computer using iTunes and voila! you have successfully incorporated photos into your iPad.

Videos and movies are great to watch on the iPad for its wide screen effect and crisp display. The battery can run for ten hours so you can watch movies to your heart's delight without having to deal with a blinking power indicator. YouTube has created an app specially designed for Apple computers to make up for the absence of Flash in the device.

Naturally, the iPad like all other Apple computers power its entertainment and file sharing features through iTunes. This application will enable the user to share, download, and purchase media content such as music, videos, and photos.

Of course, the mother of all Apple apps is the App Store, where the user can purchase applications and content to be stored in the iPad. About 150,000 applications have been created and the numbers keep on growing as the iPad begins to respond to consumer demands.

Is Web-Browsing With iPad An Issue?

To quote Steve Jobs, iPad is "the best browsing experience you've ever had". A bold claim, definitely. But coming from a guy who knows his business well, his claim should be taken at face value. Or shouldn't.

Let's go over it again, iPad offers to beat everyone's 'best' browsing experience. Best, as in the bestest best experience with web browsing. Well, anyone has had a bad day with web browsing. Sometimes, even the most powerful devices in the market can't do as well as expected. So will this sleek, .5 inch thick iPod-Touch-on-steroids device give you the best one you will ever have?

Apparently, it can.

Web browsing experience with iPad is incomparable with other devices out there. It is simply incredible. (Dare we say 'amazing'?).

Yes, it definitely is amazing. Loading websites is fluid, smooth, and fast. With a display screen that offers out of this world touch response, there are so many things you can do. Pinch sections of websites to zoom, scroll down to go to the bottom of the site, display the website in landscape or portrait display think of anything you want to do with the website and you can do it with an iPad. All using just your fingers. It is like discovering web browsing for the first time.

To top these off, you also have the usual perks you get from surfing the web with other personal computing devices like bookmarks bar, tab grid, and toolbar drop downs all with marked, even spectacular improvement. But do all these give you "the best browsing experience you've ever had"? Well, not exactly.

The main drawback with browsing the internet with iPad in fact, one of the main things people gripe about iPad in general is that it does not support Flash, a web standard. Nearly all websites in the world use Flash to seamlessly insert rich media into the webpage. Rich media covers anything and everything from audio and video files, to online games. Entire websites are even made using Flash. Nearly all websites use it. Where there are video files or audio files in the website, there is Flash being used in there somewhere. And since iPad does not support Flash, and may not even consider using Flash, ever, this creates a huge dent in the web browsing experience that can be had with iPad. And while Apple has been quite successful in trying to replace Flash with its own HTML5, the websites that support this tool are probably fewer than 1% of all websites on the web.

So you see, there's a huge problem. Even when Apple has taken web browsing to a newer level and even when Apple ensured that the device has nearly everything that is needed to enhance the experience of browsing the web, end users may still get a generally bumpy experience when surfing online. For an end user like you, you may never expect a perfect visit to many many websites. Certain elements of many websites may not work. And even if they do, they may not work well. If you love visiting websites that are fully supported with Flash, like HBO, for example, you may find that the website will not work on the iPad.

Quite frankly, this love-hate relationship with Flash is a major blow in the browsing experience offered by iPad. Even when surfing with Safari is weirdly brilliant, not being able to load some of websites' contents may prove to be a very frustrating experience.

Updated Video!

Just posted the zagg iPad Screen Protector video onto youtube again as the first one was playing up.

Who Needs Flash On The iPad When There's HTML5?

Since the iPad's introduction to the public in January 2010, it has suffered unwieldy criticism from Apple antagonists. These groups of Apple non-enthusiasts have called the iPad a regretful piece of appliance at the least.

However, from the point of view of neutral commentators, there emerged a set of logic to explain the seemingly exclusive structure of the iPad.

The most popular perceived deficiency of the iPad in terms of software is its lack of Flash support. Flash is used in most websites; it is supported by all major Web browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera) except for the mobile version of Safari. YouTube is one of the most popular websites that utilise Flash for its videos.

Apple makes up for the lack of Flash support by creating and designing apps that are specific to the iPad. For instance, YouTube has a Flash-free app, using H.264, that will run smoothly on the iPad. Safari supports HMTL5, which can display embedded videos more efficiently than Flash-supported websites.

It has been noted several times that multitasking is impossible on the iPad because the user has to close one app before moving onto the other. Critics have panned this issue by taking into consideration the target market for this device.

As an "appliance" for the media consumer, the iPad is meant to play a single program at a time, most likely a video or a movie. It seems plausible since this device is marketed as an instrument to experience richer media; thus, multitasking is not expected.

The same goes with its lack of wired connections, particularly USB and FireWire ports. iPad has a "locked-down" nature that seemed to offend non-Mac users because of its almost elitist appeal. Critics have also answered this concern and their opinion made great sense.

The iPad is designed by Apple so it's only natural for the manufacturer to prefer full control over the software content of the product. It does not matter if the ownership has been transferred to the buyer. The point is that Apple prefers to protect their creation by ensuring that software entered into the device is properly filtered. Besides, they probably have more iPad apps to introduce and it would be unfortunate for them if a different software company would create a brand new application for the iPad before they even thought of it.

Its lack of commonly used hardware features can be easily resolved by purchasing separate accessories, such as the wireless keyboard dock, camera connection, Bluetooth headphones, composite and component AV cables, power adapter and dock connector to VGA adapter. Clearly, these deficiencies have already been considered by Apple engineers before criticism even materialised.

It is not obvious but there seems to be a continuous struggle of the Apple marketing division to insist that the iPad is in fact a media consumption appliance. It should be differentiated from a full desktop or laptop computer and an iPhone and simply be appreciated as a go-between of the two.

Its lack of full phone and computer features establishes that Apple has created a class of its own and might possibly be a successful forerunner in the field of tablet computers.