The demand for the iPad is so high that Apple have been having to continually revise international launch dates and extend US shipping dates. Though it is possible to buy iPads in the Apple stores in the USA.

So what is this new Apple iPad phenomenon are we seeing the same sort of euphoria we saw with the iPhone? Is all this interested justified or is this just a brick doomed to failure? Read on to find out what I think in our first comprehensive look at the iPad…

Eagerly anticipating the arrival of the iPad
Now when the iPad was first announced I liked the look of it, but was determined not to be one of the first to get one. I thought I would wait and see what others thought before splashing out my hard earned dollars on the latest bit of Apple kit. Well that plan fell to pieces when the pre-orders for the WiFi 3G version were announced. Mine was delivered on May 7th: two days before I arrived in Florida to pick it up.

The WiFi only version has been available in the US for some time, and it far outsold the initial estimates. I had absolutely zero interest in this version as it did not include a GPS, nor could a GPS be connected to it. In my mind that defeated the objective of having a small(ish) portable device. Also although there are many WiFi hotspots all over the place it is inconvenient trying to find one when you need to read your mail, or send a few tweets so the 3G was essential as well.

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With this in mind I eagerly awaited the arrival of my iPad: WiFi, 3G and 64Gb memory. In fact it has been quite some time now since I have had the “childhood” impatience of waiting to get my hands on something new. It was quite a thrill again. Importantly unlike my childhood urges which often resulted in disappointment this was entirely different… The iPad is wonderful!!!

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The day we arrived in Florida the iPad was sitting on my hall table waiting for me to open it. I had to control myself and do a few chores before I attacked the packaging, knowing full well that if I started to unpack the iPad then other important things would not get done. When I finally got round to opening the packaging I found my bright and shiny device pre-charged and ready to go.

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I was surprised at both the size and weight of it. You can look at specs and try to figure out exactly how it will look and feel, but to actually hold it blows away all your pre-conceptions. In reality the iPad is about 1″ smaller than an A4 notepad in both height and width, and weighs a fraction more. In fact the Apple case feels like it weighs about a third of the iPad itself. The result is a device that weighs a lot less than a bag of sugar.


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What is the iPad?
So what exactly is the iPad? It is not a phone for sure, it wont handle voice calls. It is not an eBook, though a big new feature of it is iBook. It is not a laptop. In fact is is a whole new genre of device. In the past we have had tablet computers, but they never caught on, too expensive, too heavy and lacking in real mobile functionality. The iPad on the other hand has grown and incorporated features from the revolutionary iPhone. This initially makes it difficult to sell to anyone other than the “Apple Fanboys” but having said that if you pick one up you will be a convert. My wife was an ardent iPad sceptic, not understanding what it was or how it could change your lifestyle. After getting caught in a traffic jam and seeing the traffic flow apps (Beat the Jams) her attitude started to change. Then when sitting in the car reading the Daily Mail on Safari (while I was in Best Buy) she really got converted. Now I have to wrestle the device from her when I want to use it.

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So the answer to what it is really depends on what you want to do with it. It is a gaming machine. It is an MP3 player. It is a Video player. It is a mobile office. It is a navigation device. It is pretty much whatever you want it to be. And that is where and how it will make its mark, because it is something new that is an enabler. It is not a device targeted at a single market, it is more of a lifestyle gadget breaking existing usage models encompassing a multitude of uses.

iPad Applications
At launch there were 150,000 applications available to run on the device. Most of these were compatible by virtue of the fact that the iPad can run all the iPhone apps. However with a lot more real estate the iPhone apps now run at 480×320 resolution in the centre of the screen or 960×640 by doubling the size. The double sized apps don’t look too great close up, but there are a few surprises. The best surprise (for me) is that our CamerAlert and any other apps using the MapKit (Google Maps) render the maps at normal density. This means that the maps look great but other user interface elements look a bit pixelated. This is not too bad, just not ideal.

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Of course there are some native iPad applications. These make use of the full size and capabilities of the iPad. This includes some new UI features such as Split Views (a 320 pixel strip down the left of the screen) and Pop-Overs, a popup window. These allow a lot more flexibility when designing apps and make full use of the screen size. As time goes by more and more iPad specific Apps will hit the App Store.

So far I have managed to get through most of this article without mentioning GPS and navigation. In my view then of the best uses of the screen size is for mapping applications. It really brings mapping to life. No longer are you stuck with a tiny screen trying to find the balance between map scale and visible features. The screen is of sufficient size that you no longer have to compromise. I already mentioned the Google Maps, and Beat the Jams, but there are many more available: iNavX, CoPilot and Memory-Map.

ALK’s CoPilot Live HD
Almost as soon as the iPad WiFi-3G was available ALK released CoPilot HD. This has a new interface with the map and an information panel showing on the screen at the same time. Although it does look extremely nice it is somewhat less than practical as an in-car solution. The iPad is simply too big for most cars. I am sure that I will find a solution that will allow me to mount mine in the small confines of my Mercedes sports car, but in general it will either be dangerous for visibility or covering some of the cars controls. Having said that it will be ideal for truckers, or in the motor-home where of course it will double up as an entertainment centre during rest breaks.

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GPSNavX’s iNavX universal app
GPSNavX were also quick off the mark to release their marine navigation application iNavX for the iPad. This really showed the capabilities of the iPad. Although the iNavX app does not use all the new features of the iPad UI it does show what can be done with it. I am sure that over time the interface will evolve to take advantage of the new layouts and pop-overs. The iNavX app is interesting in as much as it highlights the third option Apple have made available to developers: Universal Applications. A universal Application is one that will run on both the iPad and the iPhone, but is a single application on the AppStore. iNavX is also unique in that it uses Fugawi’s X-Traverse system to transfer data (GPX waypoints etc) between your main computer, Garmin GPS, MacENC or any other compatible system (which is most) and the iPad/iPhone. This is a feature that TomTom, Navigon and ALK should look at for getting user content into their apps.


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The above images really highlight the difference between the iPad and the iPhone.

Memory-Map HD preview
Finally I have been looking at a PocketGPSWorld Exclusive: Memory-Map on the iPad. Once again a familiar app that I started using way back in 2002 on my old iPaq 37xx has now joined the ranks of apps on the iPhone, and I have the privilege to be one of the first to use it on the iPad in a full HD version. Here having the additional space on the screen opens the way for a terrific user experience. Once again Memory-Map have had to jump through the Apple hoops to enable the import and export of data, it is a bit convoluted, but it does work.


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iPad Hardware
Getting back to the iPad hardware side of things. The most important features for me are GPS, battery life, and Wireless reception. All of these have been the weak points on the iPhone. Well I am pleased to say that Apple have learnt their lessons and have not just improved them, but moved the goalposts and raised the bar…

GPS Performance
Starting with GPS I have been running hot and cold about the GPS on the iPhone. For some reason in the UK and USA it works OK, but elsewhere it takes ages to get a fix, and sometimes fails to. I was in St Lucia testing some GPS Marine apps last month and I didn’t get a single GPS fix whilst testing. Well Apple seem to have surpassed themselves with the iPad GPS. I get fast fixes and much more accurate than the iPhone. To test this I developed a simple diagnostic app that showed me the GPS info returned by each device. The iPad constantly reports a sub 10 metre accuracy, where the iPhone struggles to make 50 metres and often drifts out to 2500 metres relying on cell positioning.


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Battery Life
Then there is the battery life. My iPhone had a reasonable life until I started to use the GPS and bluetooth etc. Over time that has diminished and now I am lucky to get 3-4 hours out of it just reading emails and maybe tweeting a bit. With the iPad the challenge is to actually run the battery down. I have had it running for 4 days without charging, using it for web, tweeting, reading the paper, GPS apps etc. Eventually it had got down to about 35% before I accidentally charged it up overnight. Even taking it on a run using CamerAlert with mapping on display it only used less than 10% in just under an hours drive. That is using 3G data, GPS and moving maps.

A few days ago I really put it through it’s paces using it from 8am in the morning to 2am the following day. With lots of browsing, GPS apps, tweeting, downloading pictures, and reading emails I was really hammering the iPad from a real user point of view. I was missing a few crucial applications to manipulate my images and upload them to the PocketGPSWorld.com website, but apart from that it worked wonderfully. And at the end of a busy day I still had 35% battery power left!!!

I really think that this is as advertised…

Wireless Communications
For Wireless reception I bundle both WiFi and 3G together. Initially some of the WiFi only iPad users complained about WiFi drop outs and weak or bad connections. This certainly has not been the case with my 3G version, infact quite the opposite. I have never had a WiFi dropout, and have managed to connect to all the HotSpots I have found (my excuse for hanging around Starbucks).

The 3G side of things is a little more tricky, as you might expect. Predictably in the USA AT&T seem to be playing silly billies. To activate the account you need to have a US credit card with a US billing address and that address needs to have good AT&T 3G coverage. If not you will get a strange message saying address unknown. To overcome this I managed to call in a favour from Lutz and got up and running using his credit card details. So far I have been really impressed with both the speed and reliability of the AT&T network, but then I am using it in an area which is mainly populated by English holiday makers so probably not a lot of heavy 3G users around. The only time I lost coverage was when watching the Space Shuttle Atlantis final launch on the coast at Cape Canaveral where I was 20 miles from the nearest town, and 10 from a major road. Even so I was still able to get Edge/GPRS coverage, but so slow it was not worth the effort.

iPad Accessories
The iPad was launched with a number of Apple accessories which will soon be added to by hundreds of 3rd party devices. From my point of view the 100% must have accessory is a case. The iPad is well built and strong, but cannot fit in the pocket so it will be in constant danger of being scratched and knocked. with the larger screen the opportunity to scratch it is far greater than an iPhone. The Apple case is interesting: it offers both protection and 2 formats to use it as a stand, the most interesting being lap or desk mode where it elevates the iPad by about 15 degrees for ease of reading. It can also be positioned vertically as a picture frame. The case is made of some type of anti-slip rubberised material, that while it does protect the iPad well does tend to mark easily.

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I also got the iPad dock connector. This was a mistake as, like the iPhone, the iPad will not fit on the dock with a case on. You would have thought that Apple would realize that users would have cases and make the dock to cater for it. Best advised not to get a dock unless you want to keep removing the iPad from the case which is not an easy task. I am currently considering modifying the case so that it will fit on the dock. It is possible that I may be able to do it with just some minor trims, otherwise it will be a large hole in the case…

There is also an iPad keyboard with dock. This has a standard sized keyboard, with some specific iPad keys. There is a lock key that instantly locks and unlocks the iPad, there are also keys for home, spotlight, photos, keyboard hide and iPod controls. The keyboard dock suffers from two issues: it cannot be used with a case, and the iPad must be used in portrait mode.

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An other accessory I bought was the camera connection kit. This allows you to attach one of two adapters to the iPad and transfer your pictures from the camera. There are 2 adapters depending on your camera type: SD card reader or USB connector. I did try to connect a USB stick to the iPad and unfortunately it didn’t recognize it. However for cameras it works really well, transferring the images into the photo app.

Issues with the iPad
So far the iPad looks great, but there must be a downside! Well there are a few. The first I mentioned above: for most people the iPad will not be used as an in-car navigation device. The speaker is loud enough but the device is just too big for most cars.

The second is how you transport it. Having the case is all well and good to protect it, but because of its size it doesn’t fit in your pocket (in the same way a net book wont). This means that you have to carry it in your hand, and believe me after a couple of hours shopping even the iPad starts to feel heavy. To transport it efficiently you would need some form of shoulder bag, or as I refer to it: “a man bag”. No doubt we will start to see these hitting the stores soon.

Next: the screen is designed for touching with gestures etc, but very quickly picks up finger prints and smudges. It may be that I have very greasy fingers, but my iPad screen is covered with marks. This does not affect the viewing of the iPad in any way, just looks a little unattractive when the screen is off.

The major bit of hardware missing from the iPad is surprisingly a camera. This seems to be a huge omission, even the cheapest phones have a camera on them. I am sure that there was a good reason that Apple decided to leave the camera off, but for the life of me I cant work out what it might be. How can I take geo-referenced pictures of things I see if there is no camera on my iPad???

Conclusion
So to summarise: I think the iPad will be a big hit, it already is in the USA. I suspect that the UK and other countries will see the initial iPad stocks sell out rapidly. But this will all be to gadget geeks like me. For it to be a success on the scale of the iPhone it will need to identify and define it’s niche. Believe me it will as soon as people start to see them in action. The playback of video is just amazing.

Still from Battlestar Galactica. Click on image for full sized picture.

To be honest I don’t see the point in getting the WiFi only version. I really don’t see a massive market for it unless Apple add GPS to it, and that is not going to happen with the current hardware. It is like Ford selling a car without an engine: it may look good, but it wont get you anywhere… Up until last week there was no option, but now the 3G version is available it costs an extra $130 but for that you get GPS and the 3G as well. Even if you never use 3G you still have a great LBS device.

The iPad is not perfect, but it is the best gadget that I have seen in a long time. I deliberately waited to produce this review after I had been using it for a week or two to ensure that my initial euphoria didn’t pass. It hasn’t!!! So love it or hate it the iPad is here to stay!

Apple decided to control the system as much as possible with single carrier agreements, a very closed development environment, allowing you only to load apps and music via the App Store and iTunes.

The ‘New Kid on the block’ is Android which is exactly the opposite. This has been adopted by T-Mobile, Sprint, and in a few days time Verizon Droid. The “I Don’t” advert for Droid highlights the restrictive features of the iPhone Platform.

With the big carriers having the ability to roll out SmartPhones with less restrictive controls one has to wonder if Apple has missed the mark with the strict controls and in particular the single carrier sales strategy. The Android platform has the potential to blow the iPhone out of the water, but is it really what consumers want? One of the big benefits of the Apple architecture is that it just works and you don’t need a masters degree in computing to use it.

Time will tell, but the Android SmartPhones are starting to become much more prevalent in the Marketplace and Apple needs to keep an eye out to stay ahead of the game…

Gokivo subscription navigation for the iPhone

Yesterday hot on the heels of the iPhone OS 3.0 roll out was the introduction to the AppStore of a number of OS 3.0 specific applications. One of the first of these is Gokivo from Networks In Motion in the US AppStore.

The main points of interest in this app are: Turn by Turn Navigation, and a subscription pricing model.

Turn by Turn voice navigation has been banned by Apple up until the release of OS 3.0 when we heard from a number of the mainstream navigation brands saying they would have an app for the iPhone.  Well Networks in Motion seem to have the first one.

With the subscription pricing it costs $0.99 to buy which is quite reasonable, but then to actually use it you need to pay $9.99 a month. Not good if you want to use it every day, but not too bad if you are going on vacation and want it for a couple of weeks.

Networks In Motion is a well respected provider of Navigation solutions, particularly on mobile phones in the USA where they power the Verizon VZNavigator and a number of other white label navigation applications.

With integrated contact navigation and live traffic services this looks like an excellent start to navigation on the iPhone.  There are a few things that need to be found out about how the app works, are the maps downloaded or delivered over the air…   More details will follow.

The Networks in Motion press release follows:

Networks In Motion Launches Gokivo Navigation Application On Apple App Store

Turn-by-Turn Navigation and Hyper-local Information for iPhone

Aliso Viejo, CA., June 17, 2009

Networks In Motion (NIM), the award-winning global wireless navigation, hyper-local search and location-based services (LBS) company, today announced its Gokivo application is available on the App Store. Gokivo is powered by Yahoo! Local and will pair NIM’s carrier class turn-by-turn navigation platform with the robust Yahoo! Local search and content capabilities.

Gokivo for iPhone allows people to easily find their location, take advantage of one-touch access to Yahoo! Local searches, ratings and reviews, and get to where they want to go with turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation. The application is seamlessly integrated with the iPhone’s innovative Multi-Touch user interface, allowing users to easily map and navigate to addresses in their contacts, and even save and share searches and favorites with friends.

“Gokivo gives iPhone users an application that truly takes advantage of the device’s GPS and data capabilities to let them get where they want to go and find what they’re looking for,” said Doug Antone, President and CEO of Networks In Motion. “With Networks In Motion’s navigation and LBS expertise and the power of Yahoo! Local search results, we’ve developed a groundbreaking iPhone app that delivers a powerful and rich navigation experience on one of the world’s most popular mobile devices.”

Gokivo features include:

• Robust hyper-local search and discovery powered by Yahoo! Local. One-click searches for bars, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs and many more local points of interest
• Access to the most robust real-time traffic notification on mobile devices, giving users plenty of advance notice to avoid traffic snarls and road work slow downs
• Syncing with Bluetooth in the car or via headset, providing output for music and turn-by-turn navigation audio prompts
• An embedded iPod control, which allows you to listen to music while you are navigating with Gokivo – the music automatically fades (or pauses, if changed in settings) for voice prompts
• The ability to simply “shake” the iPhone to immediately receive alternate route suggestions when encountering things such as traffic congestion
• Find address information directly from any contact in the iPhone and get immediate one-click navigation to the specific address

Gokivo is available for just.$0.99 from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at itunes.apple.com/…

Full navigation functionality can be purchased for $9.99 per month via subscription.

iPhone OS3.0 software

A couple of things that didn’t leak (or were not paid any attention) were items like Video, Voice Control, Access to Accessories, Voice memos, and the Nike+ interface.

For me the main features of the new OS3.0 software are:

• Copy and Paste
• Security
• Faster OS
• Video capture and editing
• Access to accessories
• More bluetooth protocols
• Personal Area Networking
• In App Purchase
• Push Notifications
• Access to Maps in the application
• Access to the iPod Library
• Streaming Video
• Compass support

Copy and Paste.
This was a well known feature of OS3.0, but for me it was a crucial part of the User Interface that was missing. The number of times I wish that copy, cut and paste were available just cannot be counted.

Security.
With mobile devices security is always a potential issue. I have only ever lost one phone and that was in the early days when all they contained was a small selection of my phone numbers. Now my iPhone carries my life… Although there is not too much in the way of sensitive data on my iphone it is good to know that I can wipe it remotely. Another good security feature of the new software is the ability to locate the iphone using Mobile Me. It is permission based, but would allow anyone with access to your Mobile Me account to see where you (and your phone) is. This is obviously quite useful if you have left it somewhere or lost it. You can send an alert to the iPhone from Mobile Me which will provide an audible alert irrespective of the mute settings of the ringer.

Faster OS.
Well it goes without saying that a faster OS will make even the existing iPhone 3G faster. I am always a little cynical about speed increase claims as they are often measured in the best light for the system. Time will tell how big a bonus this is.

Video Capture and Editing.
The Video Camera was a much rumoured feature of the new iPhone, but not only have we got a new camera there is also the software to control and edit the video footage. This seems to take it’s design and user interface from the new video features from the OS’s big brother Snow Leopard. This allows the user to trim a video clip then share it via a number of different channels.

Access to Accessories.
Well TomTom showed us what can be done with this. They have developed a cradle for the iPhone to mount on the car windscreen that has an external GPS, speaker and microphone. They have used the accessory interface to develop a full navigation system. Obviously this feature opens a whole new world of possibilities to hardware and software developers.

More Bluetooth Protocols.
In OS2.x we only had the Bluetooth headset protocol, now we also have A2DP for streaming audio and also PAN for creating networks.

Personal Area Networking
Apple have introduced peer to peer networking in OS3.0 this was mainly designed for multi user gaming, but could potentially be used for all sorts of novel applications such as sharing of contacts and data or even localised targeted advertising.

In App Purchase.
One of the issues with the way the app store was set up is that it allows for a single purchase with free lifetime updates. This does not suit a lot of business models so Apple have now integrated a payment process within the application. This was proposed for buying additional levels for a game, but could equally be used for purchasing maps or data or any other services for the application.

Push Notifications.
With push notifications your iPhone can receive network events and respond to them. This could be new email, new SMS, or much more likely for non Apple apps notifications for new service messages such as IM clients. These can be stacked up in an application queue and the user can be alerted to the arrival by an audible alert or a ‘badge’ on the application icon.

Access to Maps in the application.
The Maps application is a great feature of the iPhone, but until now you had to close your application and open the Map App to use it, or use Google Maps over the Internet in a browser window in your app. OS3.0 provides a mechanism to embed a map in your application complete with custom information.

Access to the iPod Library.
This feature allows applications to control the music player in the iPhone. The example shown was in a game setting the car stereo to play some of your own favorite songs during the gameplay.

Streaming Video.
Up to now we have had video in the form of YouTube or video in the iPod Library. With OS3.0 we now have access to streaming video over http (web protocols) all well and good, but we do not have the capability to view Flash Movies on the iPhone yet.

Compass Support.
Adding the magnetometer into the iPhone means that now there is an electronic compass that can be accessed via the location services. This means that applications that use live maps are much more reliable and that it is now feasible to produce a heads up view of your map. This is mainly because the direction information available with GPS becomes unreliable at low speeds such as when you are walking. Often you will see your location spinning round, but this has been overcome with the compass support.