4 ms·

Observations after three days of iPad usage including a cross-country plane trip

5 points by idiginous 17y ago

adoyle 17y ago
Dropbox won't fill the iPad with files, if it's the same as the iPhone app. (https://www.dropbox.com/help/116 https://www.dropbox.com/help/116) Only files you favorite get downloaded and kept locally. But that doesn't obviate the issue of what happens if you lose your iPad. The rest of your dropbox is still available. I keep a lock code on my iPhone to (hopefully) prevent that.
jcromartie 17y ago
The Xmarks problem is easy enough to solve: bookmark Xmarks in Safari! Interesting about the writing. It does seem like it's just such a consumption-oriented device. I've found typing on it to be pretty tolerable, but editing is just not fun. I think we'll see web apps have a more important role on the iPad than on the iPhone. Maybe iPad devs/users will make use of web apps in the way that Apple initially hoped they would with the iPhone. I am also interested in seeing web/app authoring tools for the iPad itself. It could work beautifully.
- ZeroGravitas 17y ago
  "I've found typing on it to be pretty tolerable, but editing is just not fun." That's great summary of my experience on the iPhone (and I'd guess many other similar devices). Anything longer than a tweet or an SMS message and you're probably going to want to do some editing. It's possible on the iPhone, but pretty grim all the same.
Terretta 17y ago
This was a curious piece to read, since so much of computing usability is about getting a device to meet the expectations within its users' mental model. The DropBox comment and Xmarks comment, the "my writing tools" comment, and the "two desktops" comment, suggest the author's mental model doesn't match the iPad's approach and that proved a stumbling block. But the author is Dave Winer, "the father of blogging and RSS", who knows a thing or two about how things work. So is the problem that his preconceptions are well informed and defined?

4 ms·

Observations after three days of iPad usage including a cross-country plane trip

5 points by idiginous 17y ago

adoyle 17y ago
Dropbox won't fill the iPad with files, if it's the same as the iPhone app. (https://www.dropbox.com/help/116 https://www.dropbox.com/help/116) Only files you favorite get downloaded and kept locally. But that doesn't obviate the issue of what happens if you lose your iPad. The rest of your dropbox is still available. I keep a lock code on my iPhone to (hopefully) prevent that.
jcromartie 17y ago
The Xmarks problem is easy enough to solve: bookmark Xmarks in Safari! Interesting about the writing. It does seem like it's just such a consumption-oriented device. I've found typing on it to be pretty tolerable, but editing is just not fun. I think we'll see web apps have a more important role on the iPad than on the iPhone. Maybe iPad devs/users will make use of web apps in the way that Apple initially hoped they would with the iPhone. I am also interested in seeing web/app authoring tools for the iPad itself. It could work beautifully.
- ZeroGravitas 17y ago
  "I've found typing on it to be pretty tolerable, but editing is just not fun." That's great summary of my experience on the iPhone (and I'd guess many other similar devices). Anything longer than a tweet or an SMS message and you're probably going to want to do some editing. It's possible on the iPhone, but pretty grim all the same.
Terretta 17y ago
This was a curious piece to read, since so much of computing usability is about getting a device to meet the expectations within its users' mental model. The DropBox comment and Xmarks comment, the "my writing tools" comment, and the "two desktops" comment, suggest the author's mental model doesn't match the iPad's approach and that proved a stumbling block. But the author is Dave Winer, "the father of blogging and RSS", who knows a thing or two about how things work. So is the problem that his preconceptions are well informed and defined?