iPad 3: First Thoughts
So, while I originally wrote that I didn’t see the purpose in the iPad, I have since changed my tune. But, from really only one perspective: multimedia. It’s a great portable movie and entertainment device. I also use it for a replacement for pen and paper at work in meetings, for quick email reads. web surfing and I use it as an ‘in a pinch’ workstation for systems administration. These are my primary use cases. Clearly, though, watching movies and listening to music is where this device shines most. And now, taking movies and photos with the 5 megapixel camera… all I can say with the iPad 3 is, “Wow”. The screen resolution and camera are worth the price. Apple has finally created a device that, in my estimation, probably costs more to make than the price for which it sells.
If you have an iPad 1, this is definitely worth the upgrade. If you have an iPad 2, you pretty much have everything except the great camera and the Retina display. The Retina display is definitely worth the money. The lack of visible pixels definitely makes the whole iPad experience so much clearer and cleaner. This is what the iPad 1 should have been out of the gate. Had Apple pushed the envelope for the iPad 1, this device would have been so much more so much faster. Too bad it took Apple 3 tries to get it here, but we’re finally here.
WiFi only for me
I didn’t buy the 4G LTE edition. First, I don’t like the service plan costs and the limited data from the carriers. If the mobile carriers could actually be reasonable in pricing and charge rates similar to ISPs like Comcast (both price and speed), I might consider the mobile carriers. Second, the mobile carriers need to change their business models and they don’t want to do this. The whole 2 year contract commitment with capped ceilings and high overage rates is for the birds. The carriers finally need to do away with the contract model and go with a standard monthly commitment like Comcast or any other ISP on planet. Suffice it to say, I’m ranting about the carriers rather than talking about the iPad 3. See, now that’s the whole reason I bought the WiFi only edition. Everywhere I need to use it, I can use it on WiFi with no carrier hassles. I don’t have to deal with crappy carrier service, crappy rate costs, bad connectivity, stupid contracts, dead spots or any other silly carrier BS.
If I want to buy a MiFi device (which I have), I can use this to connect my iPad to the Internet, which is the best of all worlds. With a MiFi, I can use it with multiple devices, including my iPad 3, iPod Touch, my LG phone and my notebook and even my home computer when Comcast decides to have outages.
I also find the WiFi speeds are far superior to using LTE anyway, so that’s why I bought the WiFi edition. That, and it’s cheaper on the wallet, both in the iPad cost and that there’s no monthly recurring service fees.
Entertainment
The iPad 3 is definitely my entertainment device of choice (other than my 46″ flat panel display when at home). For portable entertainment, the iPad 3 is it. It is now simply the device of choice for watching movies, playing music or playing games. It is now officially the Sony gaming killer. It may not kill the Xbox, yet. But, Apple has the upper hand now. If they could woo over some big gaming companies like Ubisoft to put Assassin’s Creed on there and, at the same time, release an Apple bluetooth video game controller, this would easily become my gaming platform of choice. Perhaps even over the Xbox. Of course, Apple would need a gaming network including chat and whatnot. So, there’s some hurdles for Apple to overcome. But, the iPad 3 has the beginnings to kill the gaming market if they go after it.
For watching movies, 1080p images flow fluidly on the 2048×1536 pixel display and the images are literally stunning. There is no other portable device on the market that can do what the iPad 3 does for watching movies. The other tablets have a huge leap to make to get where the iPad 3 is for entertainment.
Now if we can get movie studios to start releasing their films in at least 2048 pixel widths on blu-ray (or even iTunes store) so we can actually take advantage of this new resolution.
Camera
Ok, so I’ll let this section speak for itself… Here’s an image I took with the iPad 3 earlier. Note, size below is 688×922. Click the image to see it full iPad 3 screen size. The fact that it produced depth of field with that tiny lens in this semi-macro shot is amazing.
I haven’t yet tried the video camera, but that’s on my list of things to try out. So far, this is a very impressive device and, for me, well worth the money. Now I need to determine what to do with my old iPad 1. It’s over a year old at this point. Amazing how technology gets obsolete so quickly. But, I got my money’s worth from the iPad 1 considering that it was mostly a gift.
If you’re on the fence about getting an iPad 3, don’t be. It’s definitely worth the money to get the resolution on the device. The camera is amazing and watching 1080p movies on it is stunning. Now if we can get Hollywood to catch up to this device and release movies in at least 2048 pixel widths, 1920×1080 seems old and outdated.
Gaming
I haven’t yet tried much gaming on the device, so this section will have to wait to be written. Suffice it to say that the iPad 3 tremendously enhances the look of all apps, though. So, games should look stunning on this display. The thing I will say, though, is that this device has tremendous potential to take over the gaming market with the right level of support.
iPhone apps
This is one thing I didn’t expect. When running iPhone apps on the iPad, the 2x scaling finally works properly. No longer does it scale up this low res tiny display and make it look all pixelated. IOS now actually scales up the fonts, buttons, text and all scalable aspects and retains the screen resolution. So, even though it’s still a small real-estate app, the 2x scaling remains high-res. So, apps from places like Redbox (who refuse to write iPad versions) finally look good when scaled up on the iPad 3. All I can say here is, impressive and long awaited.
Verdict
The iPad 3 is definitely worth the money if nothing else than for the screen resolution. The camera is also quite amazing. The device is a tiny bit thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, so it may not fit all iPad 2 cases on the market. But, the smart cover works quite well. As well, the restore process from my iPad 1 was so smooth, automated and reasonably fast, I walked away and came back and it was done. Apple has definitely made this part of the process much much better than previous versions.
If you own an iPad 2 and are thinking of upgrading, you should stop by and play with one first. You might want to wait until the iPad 4 to get a bit more life out of your iPad 2 before discarding it. It is worth the upgrade, however, if you are an avid movie watcher.
If you own an iPad 1 or any other tablet, upgrading to this tablet is a no-brainer. The speed and power of the iPad 3 is apparent right from turning it on.
There is only one thing that Apple missed to really support this screen resolution properly. Apple should have produced a 128 (or 256) GB edition of the iPad 3. With this resolution comes much more space needed by 1080p movies. So, we really need at least a 128 GB version of the iPad 3. I’m guessing we’ll see this with the iPad 4 or possibly a refresh of the iPad 3 later this year (as it’s not really worth a full version release just to double the memory on the unit). However, if you do plan on using it for movies, you will do yourself a favor to buy the 64GB edition as you will need this space to store your movies and music. In fact, as I said, 64GB really isn’t enough for all of the movies I want to carry around with me, so for a heavy movie watcher, 64GB is definitely not enough.
Apple, if you’re reading, we want at least a 128GB model. I’d personally want a 256GB model and I’d be willing to pay the added cost for that amount of memory on the iPad.
3D Television: Eye candy or eye strain?
For whatever reason, movie producers have decided that 3D is where it’s at. The entertainment industry has tried 3D technologies in film throughout the last 40 years and, to date, none have been all that successful. The simple reason, side effects that include eye strain and headaches. These are fairly hefty side effects to overcome. Yet, here we are again with a barrage of new 3D films hitting the big screen.
In answer to all of those new films actually filmed in 3D, television makers have decided to try their hand at producing home 3D technologies. The problem with any current 3D technology is that it’s based on a simplistic view of how 3D works. That being, each eye sees a different image. Yes, that’s true. However, it’s hard to provide a quality 3D experience using a flat screen with each eye getting a different image. There’s more to 3D then that. So, while the each-eye-sees-a-different-image 3D technology does work, it does not seem realistic and, in a lot of other ways, it doesn’t really work.
IMAX
Over the years, IMAX has had its fair share of 3D features. Part of the appeal of IMAX is its very large screen. You would think that watching 3D on that very large screen would be an astounding experience. The reality is far different. Once you don the special polarized 3D glasses, that huge screen is seemingly cut down to the size of a small TV. The 3D imagery takes care of that effect. I’m not sure why that effect happens, but 3D definitely makes very large screen seem quite small. So, even though the screen is huge, were you watching the imagery as flat the 3D kills the scale of the screen. Effectively, the screen seems about half or a quarter the size that it is when watching the same feature as flat.
Worse, transitions that work when the film is flat no longer work in 3D. For example, fades from one scene to another are actually very difficult to watch when in 3D. The reason is that while this transition is very natural in a flat film, this is a very unnatural type of transition in 3D. Part of the reason for this transition problem is that the 3D depth changes confuse the senses and worsen the strain. Basically, you’re wanting to watch 3D to make the entire film seem more real, but some creative elements don’t function properly when watching in 3D. So, that fade I mentioned makes the film appear strange and hard to watch. While that fade would work perfectly when flat, it just doesn’t work at all in 3D. Film makers need to take into account these subtle, but important differences.
Just like filmmakers have had to make some concessions to the HD format (every blemish and crease on clothing is seen), the same must be said of 3D features.
Velvet Elvis
Unfortunately, 3D features haven’t really come much farther along than the early adopters, like Jaws 3D. So, the film maker employs such unnecessary tactics as poking spears at the camera or having flying objects come towards the camera or hovering things close near the camera. It’s all playing to the 3D and not to the story. These such tactics are trite and cliched… much like a velvet Elvis painting. Film producers need to understand not to employ these silly and trite tactics to ‘take advantage’ of 3D film making. There is no need for any extra planning. Let the chips fall where they may and let the film’s 3D do the talking. You don’t need to add flying spears or having things thrown towards the camera. If you didn’t need to do this in 2D, you don’t need to do it in 3D.
Emerging technologies
Television manufacturers are now trying their hand at producing 3D TVs. So far, the technologies are limited to polarized screens or wearing glasses. While this does work to produce a 3D effect, it has the same drawbacks as the big screen: eye strain and headaches. So, I can’t see these technologies becoming common place in the home until a new technology emerges that requires no glasses and produces no eye strain. So, for now, these television makers are likely to end up sitting on many of these novelty devices. Worse, for the same reason the IMAX screen seems half the size, this effect is also present on Televisions. So, while you may have that 60″ TV in your living room, donning a pair of 3D glasses and watching a 3D feature will effectively turn that huge screen into about half (or less) of its current size. So, you may feel like you’re watching that 3D feature on a 20″ screen.
Going forward, we need a brand new paradigm shifting 3D technology. A new technology that does not rely on glasses or polarization. A new technology that can actually create 3D images in space rather than forcing the eyes to see something that isn’t really there. It would be preferable to actually create 3D imagery in space. Something that appears real and tangible, but isn’t. Holograms come to mind, but we haven’t been able to perfect that technology yet… especially not projected holograms. Once we have a technology on par with Star Trek’s Holodeck, then we might begin to have emersive 3D experiences that feel and seem real.
Overall
For me, the present state of 3D is novelty and produces too many negative effects. However, because it is new, it is something that will win some support, but overall I think that people will still prefer to watch flat TV and movies because it causes far less eyestrain. So, I fully expect that this resurgence of 3D will dwindle to nothing within the next 2 years. In fact, in 5 years time, I’d be surprised to see if any TV makers are still producing the current 3D TVs and film makers will have dropped back to flat features keying off of lack of support. Effectively, I see this 3D resurgence as similar to the failed quadrophonic technologies of 70s.
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