Tag Archives: iPad

Stupid is as stupid does…

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Dear AT&T Mobility,

Wow. This is the third time I have written you in the last year. Our times together just seem to get better and better. You’re doing a real bang up job of rolling out these new devices and making sure the service we receive is top notch. Dropping unlimited data was a real score for you on Monday. And if that weren’t enough goodness for your customers, making 140,000 of your iPad customer’s email addresses and SIM numbers available through your website was a real treat for those of us who spent $700+ for the device and $360 a year for your service.

I did notice that a security consultant rushed to your defense this afternoon and reminded us that “It’s not like peoples’ Social Security or credit card numbers were compromised.” If “it could have been worse” is the best defense you can muster, well I guess I buy that. I mean it was only 140,000 customers for Heaven’s sake. Hard to believe that anyone would want to make a fuss about it, really. And thank you ever so much for not letting anyone know about this officially. It was so refreshing to read this on Google News before getting an email from you explaining what had happened and what you had done to address the problem.

So, AT&T, all I can say is that you’re a real class act. I’m proud to be a long-time customer. Keep up the truly magnificent work.

Your friend,

Jeff

P.S. If you talk to Apple any time soon, let them know that they should be super-proud to be standing right there next to you through all of this.

AT&T… You fail. Again.

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Dear AT&T Mobility,

I just want to drop a brief note and let you know I’m thinking about you today. I’d like to thank you for doing your level best to cripple the wonderful new iPad 3G I bought less than a month ago with your new data usage plans. I was ok dealing with the idea that my “unlimited” data plan really meant that I had 5 GB of data available each month. But now, thanks to your apparent inability to expand your cellular network to meet consumer demand, you’ve thoughtfully dropped that limit to 2 GB. But hey, I’ll save $5 a month for getting 3/5 less capacity… unless of course I go over my 2 GB limit, in which case you’ll hit me with another $25 charge, in which case I’ll be paying an additional $20 for 1/5 less capacity. I’m not a fancy big city math major, but it seems to me that what you’re doing is charging almost twice the price, providing only 4/5 the service, and calling it a victory for cellular data users. You’re logical gymnastics are truly the stuff of legend. Very impressive.

Now the reality is that most months I won’t come close to using 5 GB of cellular data since I’m usually running over a wifi network, but during those times when I’m away from a hotspot, it was nice knowing that 3G could fill the gap and I would happily pay my $30 a month for having that capacity in my hip pocket when I needed it. All you’ve done with your new tiered pricing plan is reinforce the image of AT&T mobility as a somewhat fecklessly run operation whose network teeters on the brink of failure under its regular daily load. When you announced the $30 a month unlimited plan for iPad, I really had hoped that you’d finally gotten your act together. Apparently, not so much.

So, yeah, it’s good to know that the $100+ a month I’ve been paying you for more years than I care to remember has been going to do good works like building up network infrastructure and increasing bandwidth availability. You guys are really, really bad at this cellular stuff. The future of wireless is always going to be more data, not less. Trying to artificially hold down demand in the short term by raising rates may work in the short term, but your not going to change the nature of consumption. Each new evolution in technology is going to be more reliant on data, not less, and every month that passes is going to leave your network less able to meet demand.

Today you’re the only game in town, but those days are numbered. You’re on the wrong side of the argument and your customers know it.

Sincerely yours,

Jeff

Going without…

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It occurred to me last night that although I’ve been using the iPad a lot over the last month, vie never really put it through a real stress test to see if it can stand up to being the only computer I have with me on a trip. Some of that is a factor of all of my recent travel being work related and needing my work files with me for the trip. But this week I have the perfect opportunity to run the iPad in real world travel conditions and see how it holds up. I’ll get to assess it’s utility as not just a media player, but also as a primary tool for blogging, email, and forum participation; basically this is my chance to find out how it performs as a laptop replacement.

I know that being without a traditional computer for five days sounds like some people’s version of a perfect week, but it fills me with a certain amount of concern simply because I can’t point to the last time I traveled without a full blown computer (or two) along for the ride. I’ve probably lost most of the readers by now, but I’ll be taking plenty of notes and report back on my observations and experience. It might even be helpful for some of you who are not obsessive early adopters.

Since I regularly go a day or two without even turning on my laptop, this test seems like an easy win for the iPad, particularly since the heavy duty writing and photo editing will take place when i get back to Memphis. Knowing that, though, I think I should be able to prove to myself that this little device can actually free up a lot of space in my usually ridiculously heavy electronics kit bag.

Written on iPad.

Fails, Epic and Otherwise…

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This weekend has mostly been about failures. Originally I had planned a simple shot over the bow at Apple and AT&T for their seeming inability to figure out how to enable 3G connectivity for customers whose primary billing address is a post office box. While not catastrophic in scope, it just seems like the address I use for… ummm… everything else, including paying my AT&T Mobility bill every month, should be acceptable for other billing purposes for the same company. After 48 hours, a few convolutions, and eventually finding a workaround buried in an iPad forum, the issue was resolved without needing to change my billing address. If anyone else is having the same issue, ask me how it worked out and I’ll be happy to pass along the info. It mostly involves telling AT&T a little white lie. No one has any problems with that, right?

The next fail, is more the epic of the weekend. It involved a levee “failure” that ended up flooding the naval base where I work. I use failure in quotations because that’s a cop-out term that means you don’t know what happened to it (i.e. breach, overtop, etc). However, I digress. The result was a reported 4-5 feet of water inside the wire that effectively swamped the entire base and conflicting reports of how much, if any, water actually made it inside the building. Not to make light of the situation, of course, but I do wonder if anyone else has been struck by the irony of a landlocked naval base taking on enough water to basically put it out of commission. I’ve also noticed, without the irony, that the single best source of information about the situation there has been the base’s Facebook page, that has had regular official updates as well as innumerable unofficial observations contributed over the last day and a half, where other official and unofficial sources of information have been almost silent on the situation. I’m suddenly seeing more value added to Facebook than as a wonderfully engineered time waster and advertising venue. That it’s doing a better job of keeping the communication flowing says something less than good about our in-house infrastructure.

And finally, Winston came home from the kennel with a “hot spot” on his neck. Think weeping open sore (and accompanying nasty stench) and you’ll sort of get it. He’s on prescription antibiotics and a cortisone spray, but his neck looks especially nasty. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to be scratching it, so hopefully the meds will do their thing and he’ll be healed up in due course. Just one more of the many joys of pet ownership I suppose.

Not quite a replacement…

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There’s not a lot more I can say about the iPad that I haven’t covered already. I’m still pretty enamored with this little wonder and think it’s probably getting all the good press it deserves. The biggest thing I’ve found missing is connectivity with the cloud. Some of that is a limitation of the wifi model and some of it is built into the way the device works. I’ve got email and contacts syncing OTA, but support for Google Docs would be a big step towards making it my go-to device for most general applications. Still, I suspect that will come in time. The only other element I’ve found lacking so far is Apple’s perennial denial of multitasking. With heavy use of word processing and other productivity apps, that’s going to be a must add in a future OS build. Hopefully we’ll see that sooner rather than later. With Apple set to formally announce iPhone OS 4 tomorrow, it’s possible that some relief is on the way.

The only other thing vie discovered that does’t work as well as I had hoped was navigating some of my particular e-shopping venues. All of my payment and shipping info autofills on my laptop but doesn’t seem to be following suite with iPad. Of course that may just be user error. The learning curve here isn’t as steep as one might imagine, but I know I’m not getting as much out of my new favorite electronic sidekick as I could be. Gutting to the top of that curve remains a work in progress.

24…

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As a techie, I’m not ashamed to admit that there are plenty of toys I’ve purchased on the spur of the moment only to find the buyer’s remorse the next day to be almost overwhelming. Happily, iPad is not one of these. If anything, the more I’ve used it over the last 24 hours, the more I enjoy it and the more things I find to do with it. The biggest challenge so far is remembering not to reach for the mouse when I want to navigate somewhere on the web. That seems to be a muscle memory thing that will “fix” itself in time, however. For all the talk of not supporting flash, I haven’t been overly troubled by it. Of course I tend to value text rather than video for the most part and iPad renders text beautifully, whether your viewing a website or updating a blog. I wanted a device that would replace the folio notebook and yellow pad that I currently carry everywhere, and as I get more adept with the iPad, I think I might just have found it. I’ll be quite interested to see how it handles a day at the office. Now I just need to talk the powers that be into getting the building set up with wifi.

No version 1.0 product is perfect and the expected flaws apply here as well. The first, and perennial issue that plagues mobile Apple products, is the lack of multitasking. Adding that would deliver iPad as a real laptop replacement. I’m also still trying to figure out exactly how/why I’d manage my photos on the iPad. Images I want to share usually go directly to the web, so I don’t see this as a show stopper in that regard. But a better way to sync pictures between your home-based computer, iPhone, and iPad seem like a bit of a no-brainer. Hopefully that will be addressed in future updates. Perhaps the biggest issue that I’ve found isn’t with the device itself, but with the way I’ve learned to think. With the iPhone, the standard response has always been “there’s an app for that,” mainly because the screen size limited the utility of performing some function on the web (ever try using the “regular” Facebook website on a mobile device?) and an app as built to make that function more “do-able.” With iPad, I’m finding less need for specific apps, because standard websites are just more useable. As a result, I’ve dumped many of my old iPhone apps in favor of going direct-to-web. Remembering that I don’t necessarily need an app for everything has been a challenge. As more iPad-specific apps become available, though, I expect that gap will close.

So that’s my 24 hour hands-on review. I’m anticipating that it just gets better from here.

First thoughts…

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Wow. Just wow. “Magical” might be a tough sell, but this is one sweet, sweet piece of technology. It’s responsive and feels very solid in your hand. It’s a lot heavier than you expect when you first see it. The display is crisp and really something you need to see to appreciate. The pictures, even the HD pictures, don’t do it justice. Typing is quite easy, but requires some adaptation, as iPad is too big to follow the tried and true thumb-type formula. Battery life is good so far… Down 10% after an hour of hard use. Setup through iTunes was predictably simple. Looking forward to playing with some new apps this afternoon and really putting it through its paces. If you’re on the fence about the OEM case, it’s working well and adds minimal bulk. Fully folded, it makes typing in landscape a breeze. More reviews to follow, of course.

Posted via iPad.

On the line…

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0800: 20+ people in the “reserved line” another 30 in the walk in line. Free Starbucks and granola bars (it’s Apple after all). Lots of geeky comraderie… Talk of iPhone OS 4 and expectations for iPad

0830: The big reveal. Curtain drops on storefront. iPad is front and center. Smaller than I anticipated, but looks sleek. Crowd goes wild as sales team “shows off” behind the glass.

0855: Doors unlocked. Big cheers all around. Lines total about 150 people. Manager has ipad w/ case in hand.

0859: Showtime. Doors open. Crows roars.

0904: It’s in my hand. Ipad, OEM case, dock.

0909: checked out… In route home for the unboxing. $600 + change out the door.

Reserved…

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I’ve been kicking it around since the early hours of the morning, when I caught the first whiff that today might be the day when Apple raises the curtain just a touch and opens the e-store for iPad pre-orders. Should I rush in with zelotic fervor of a true convert and scoop up a wi-fi model on it’s first day of availability… Or should I play a slightly longer game and wait for the “late April” estimated ship date for the 3G model? You’ll no doubt note that there was never any real consideration of not buying one of them. It’s simply too much of a new, shiny toy to pass up at this point.

Instinctively, I lean slightly towards the slightly more expensive 3G model if for no other reason than it provides an “always on” connection and the no-contract $30/month data fee is actually pretty reasonable by AT&T Mobility standards. Of course the only place I spend any real amount of time that doesn’t have a wi-fi connection is the office, so that tilts the scale back in favor of saving $30 a month and picking up the wi-fi model. With the availability of free and low-cost wi-fi in retail locations becoming almost ubiquitous and the continuing roll-out of personal wi-fi hotspots (MiFi) by cellular providers it’s hard to make the case for 3G this time around.

But really what the final decision came down to was much more basic than any analysis: The wi-fi version is the only one that’s going to be available at initial release on April 3rd. All of that was the big run up to announcing that as of around 10:00 PM, I am now the proud pre-orderer of a 16 GB wi-fi iPad to be picked up at the Apple Store here in Memphis on the morning of April 3rd. If it turns out I can’t live without the 3G connection I’ll either pick up a MiFi subscription from Sprint or Verizon and run my own hotspot or put the wi-fi model up for sale and bring the 3G version into the inventory as a replacement unit.

In case anyone is wondering about my logic for ordering the smallest memory option, I have to admit that I’ve never come close to using the available memory on any of my iPhones (including my first 8 GB model). If I were into movies on the go, I would probably have gone with the 32 GB, but my real plan at the moment is to use this thing as an e-reader, browser, and note taker around the office. 16 GB should be more than sufficient to fill the bill for that. Besides, no doubt version 2 will be released in 6-12 months and I’ll just have to end up upgrading then anyway.

Downfall…

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I don’t know how I’ve been missing out on this, but everyone within reading distance of this blog needs to go here. Great hearty fits of laughter are few and far between, but at the moment the dogs think I’ve lost my bloody mind. It’s awful… I can’t stop watching these damned things… and every time I open a new one, I’m off to the races on another fit of laughter and watering eyes. I won’t dwell on details. Go. Do it now.