Stop Telling Me What I Want Is Stupid

[neadods]

It doesn't even exist yet, and I'm already pissed off at the number of guys who are blowing off the notion of a 7" iPad as stupid. And they're all guys so far, because it takes someone who doesn't carry a purse to bitch that something that's roughly 7 x 5 inches "is too big because it can't fit in a pocket." (As opposed to the current iPad, which at 9.7 x 7.5 is too big to fit into pockets and most purses. Bigger is not automatically better, gentlemen, no matter what they told you in the locker room.)

I've got a friend with an iPad, and it looks like a very nifty gadget, and I have to confess, I'd rather like one. But it's way too damned big and heavy to stick in my car to play music and podcasts while I drive or drop in a purse and schlep around while I travel. If I'm taking something that size, I'm taking my netbook.

On the other hand, I've got an iPod Touch, and while it's portable and convenient as hell, the screen's terribly small and the keyboard is ridiculously tiny. I could read my email and LJ and ebooks while I traveled, but it is a complete and utter bugger to type URLs, shopping lists, and blog entries. (C'mon, Apple, I had a fold-out full-sized keyboard for my palm pilot 10 years ago. I'm just sayin'.)

A 7 x 5 inch machine would be the perfect compromise of portability, adaptability, readability, and type-ability for a daily general-use and travel companion. It was what I started dreaming of the third time I corrected a typo because only 3-year-olds have fingers that will fit that Touch screen. And now I keep being blown off because what I want -- what I think is specifically tailored to my technical specs -- is "dumb."

But what do I know? I'm just a well-heeled customer willing to pay out hundreds for the right technotoy girl, after all. Naturally, only misogynistic morons think I won't buy anything that beeps unless it's pink and explained to me in Very Small Words, because it's not like Apple's all about the ease of use or I work in a technical field or anything.

Seriously... a paperback book is "too big" to be portable? Because dudes, that's the size you're bitching about!

Comments

[nonelvis]

I have an iPad and love it, so even if they never come out with the smaller version, I'd still recommend it. It's lighter than you'd think and makes an excellent computer substitute -- in fact, my first day with it was at a conference, using it instead of bringing along my MacBook Pro. I can even touch-type on it!

I haven't seen any of the backlash against the rumored new version, but I'll bet it's the same people who trashed the iPad when it was first announced -- people who bitched that it didn't do enough, that they couldn't customize it the way they wanted, that they wanted a real computer. What they failed to understand was that the iPad wasn't for them: it was designed to be the simplest, best e-reader and web browsing tool out there, and it succeeds very well at that. Ignore the haters.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

What I want is a short-term computer substitute, but it still strikes me as having a lot of sheer face space -- good for watching movies and reading ebooks, but not so good for dropping in your bag and going. Nor could you hold it in one hand and turn pages with the same hand (I assume; correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I'm often reading on the Touch - entirely one-handed while I do something else with the other.)

[nonelvis]

I must admit, I bought a slightly larger bag just for those days when I want to carry it around. But you can definitely hold it in one hand and turn pages with the same one, at least in one direction at a time. Mind you, I'm not walking around and reading with it, as I might with my iPhone -- it would be a bit too heavy to hold it up for a long period of time -- so if that's something you do with your Touch, you'll definitely want to wait for a smaller iPad.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I've got a big shopping purse... but by the time I put a full-sized iPad in it and my knitting, there isn't room for shopping. :)

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

that sounds like a good size to me....
shrug
some people just have to "compensate" ya know?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I do keep hearing "don't make my dick smaller!" It's one thing if the smaller size doesn't fit in with how someone uses the iPad - if they solely read and watch movies for example - but to outright dismiss alternatives?

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

People seem to watch movies on two screen sizes: as big as our dining room table turned on end, or an iPod screen the size of a matchbox. Not many choices in between.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was surprised at the person who said that he thought 7" was too small for a movie when they still sell them for nano-sized screens. You need a magnifying glass for that!

[belovedwarrior.livejournal.com]

I just bought an iPad for my husband for his birthday and we both love it! I must have a big purse because it fits in mine just fine, but I do see what you mean about a smaller size would be a bit more convenient. Why not offer choices?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

What really blows me is that the article that prompted this rant included a bit about Apple probably not having a new iPad because they don't like cluttering the product lines.

There are how many ipods?

(I have to confess, I was really supercilious to someone who got an ipad, but now I'm seriously tempted. I could *make* it worth it, but a 7" would be more worth it, if that makes any sense.)

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that would be purse-sized. But I've stopped carrying a purse at all; I rely on my belt-pack, and I don't think I'd be able to add even the smaller size of iPad to what's already there (namely, the wallet/checkbook pocket, the cellphone, and my little camera case). I'd have the choice of a back-of-the-case loop for the belt (which I suspect would make driving or sitting an Issue), or hanging it loose with a carabiner clip (letting it swing, and leaving it vulnerable to banging into things). Doesn't mean I can't see how other people would have a use for it, but I think my eventual choice is pretty much going to have to be some kind of smartphone... once they stop wanting to charge me an extra $40/month for online access.

[shawan-7.livejournal.com]

Not buying an iPad until they've got an USB connection.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Never happen - Apple has always been rigid about keeping people in their own OS/memory/battery playpen.

OTOH, I hear rumors of an EEE 7" tablet by March and if Apple won't provide that is tempting, because I bet it would have a USB port *and* the ability to run my current browser.

[shawan-7.livejournal.com]

Since my MacBook Pro has two of them, I think they will do the USB. Or force you to use their lousy Mobile Me system.

[raqs.livejournal.com]

I'd buy that form factor too.

(have not yet finished my nerd barbie icon)

[swallowedbysky.livejournal.com]

As someone with a reputation for being a Mac/Apple fangirl, I've shocked more people than I can count by saying that I don't have, nor do I want, an iPad.

Sure, if things were different, I might want one. If I didn't have a MacBook Air, I'd want an iPad. If I didn't have an iPhone, I'd want an iPad. If staring at a backlit screen while reading for extended periods didn't hurt my eyes, I'd want an iPad. If it was the same weight as a Kindle or a Nook, I'd want an iPad. If it ran OSX, I'd want an iPad. If OmniGroup would get off their butts and release OmniOutliner for iPad, I'd want an iPad. Etc., etc., etc.

It never once occurred to me to think that if it had a 7" screen, I might want one, but as I think about it? If the iPad stayed exactly the same as it is now but had a 7" screen, I'd want a freaking iPad. (Though, with my current needs, a Kindle's still a more practical choice for me.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I don't *really* want an iPad, and was quite dismissive about Kevin's at first... Until the touch was so useful. But yeah, at 7 inches? I'd leave skidmarks on the way to the Apple store.

(And another temptation is that buying books through iBook may be more expensive than Kindle, but it's a platform that allows you to share across all the tech connected to your iTunes account. So the book I buy and read on the Touch should be transferrable to a future pad, should it exist. I don't know if you can do that with Kindles.)

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

There's also a Kindle app for iPad, so you can still buy books from Amazon and read them on the iPad.

As a reading device for text, I still prefer Kindle (or pretty much any e-ink device) over the iPad, esp. for the ability to read it in sunlight.

But the main reason I don't want an iPad now is that it's just so big and heavy -- I know it would give me wrist strain if I had to hold it at a usable angle for more than a few minutes, and having to prop it up on something kind of defeats the purpose of ultra-portability. If it came in a 7" size, I'd be a lot more interested.

[fyrdrakken]

The Kindle apps I have installed on my Blackberry and netbook allow me to pull up any book I've purchased through Amazon as an "archived" item and download it to both platforms. I think there's a limit to how many devices I can have registered on my Amazon account (though I also think it allows you to un-register an old device you're replacing), and I make a special point of downloading them all to my netbook to keep because I don't want to trust entirely in Amazon to make them all just as available for insta-downloading three or five years from now as they are today. Also, if I buy a Kindle book not through Amazon (e.g., I've most recently being doing some buying directly from Baen Books) I'm going to have to either seek out a download link via my webbrowser or physically copy the file over.

Mind you, whenever I open the app, there's a second or two where the program wants to connect to Amazon.com (to verify registration, update things like bookmarks and last-page-read), and I haven't yet made a special point of opening the app when I'm somewhere without a decent mobile internet connection. So I don't know if the outcome if I try pulling up an e-book at my father's is going to be that next time I try opening that book it won't have advanced by the amount I read in the offline session -- or if it saves the changes and updates them the next time I open it where I've got a connection -- or if it just won't work at all.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I haven't tried reading a Kindle book on the road (in fact, I'm in the process of reloading all the books I had on Kindle into iBooks, as they were all freebies from Gutenberg anyway. That way, they're in my iTunes... and automatically backed up on portable HD at the next sync.

[fyrdrakken]

Well, I backup my Kindle books via direct folder-copy. Happily, when I installed the program to my netbook it set up a My Kindle Books folder as a subdirectory of My Documents automatically.

Still haven't been able to find out how the Kindle on my Blackberry reacts when I try to use it in the absence of a decent connection. If I don't find out on the road to, or at, Dragon*Con, I will for sure at my grandfather's on the way back into Dallas afterwards.

[shawan-7.livejournal.com]

By the way, I do agree with you. I would love a 7" iPad.

When I bought my MacBook Pro I specifically go the smaller one because I have small hands. People snickered. That's their problems -- it's my computer.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Heh, my Asus Eee PC has a keyboard that's 85% the size of a regular one. Most users justly kvetched, and I think subsequent models scaled the keyboard up a bit, but my skinny fingers *are* about 85% the size of regular ones, so I can type away!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

People snickered

I really don't get the size thing. Bigger only equals better if you've got wide shoulders (to carry it) and big hands.

OTOH, too small can be an issue too; I sold the EEE PC and I'm bitching about the Touch.

People come in ranges; computers should too.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* I have no idea.

My Eee PC was touted for its portability when it first came out, and it has almost exactly the same heft (weight as well as dimensions) as a 6x9 hardback book of medium size, and I like it like that.

5x7 sounds like a good intermediate tradeoff between the iPhone and current tablet technology (thinking of the Kindle and its sequelae as well as the iPad). Were ansibles to exist, I imagine they'd be that size or thereabouts.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I was thrilled that my Eee PC fit in my purse, but soon the keyboard wore on me - I sold it to someone with small fingers and a need for a good starter computer.

If someone at Apple has sense - and they usually do - they've noticed that the Kindle is smaller than the pad. If they want to kill the Kindle, they're going to have to go after its portability as well as its function.