Some people who know me, might know that I have pretty strong opinions about modern technology, their functional uses and so on. I can’t remember how many times I ranted about the Ipad, its barely distinguishable big brother, and so on.

But this isn’t a rant by any means. I’m a pretty solid Apple user these days. I’ve owned an Iphone, several Ipods and two Macbook pros… but I was NEVER sold on the Ipad. However I am pretty sure I will be sold on the Ipad 3.

Why?

First of all, when I used to think of technology, you know the days when you actually thought PDAs would change the world, when you though those small pen scanners would allow you to copy college textbooks? Yes the good old days. Back then new technology was “kewl” and I definitely was an early adopter of a few lame devices.

When the Ipad first came out, I had no interest in it less as a matter of features, but a matter of logic, based on one main factor : are the main features of my new device already duplicated in my household?

I call this the “feature factor” where we can call common features of devices F. For each device I own which does the same feature, let’s call that a set of numbers… x. So F(x) are all my devices and their features.

So for example, my phone, my laptop my PSP, my PS3 and another PC in the house can all surf the internet. So that’s 5 devices that do the same thing.

So internet = F(5)

I can also send e-mails on all those devices (obviously with varying levels of difficulty, but you get the idea ). So in my mind, I can check internet pretty much anytime I want, mobile or otherwise.

Then I ask myself, which features do I use most frequently and what space do I use these features in?

Well  on my phone (Iphone or otherwise), despite the oodles of apps available out there, and how many bootleg movies I can watch on the phone after you jailbreak it, I generally only use my phone to:

a. check e-mail and SMS people. (buy a blackberry signalled the death of me even desiring to take pictures or listen to music on the phone)

I have zero time to sit and play inane games on my phones tiny screen. But as you can see, I have a PSP and a PS3, so my real gaming is already taken care of. (I also own a Nintendo DS) so again. I have five devices that can play games at reasonable levels of coolness. and I don’t think i’m very different from the average late twenty something year old… so again you can see that across many of my devices several features are mirrored, with some being better on some than others.

Also, my Nintendo DS, my Iphone, plus a few other digital cameras I’ve bought over the years all take pictures, so again some key features are mirrored, which makes me go back to logic based thinking relative to the device.

When the Ipad came out, I was living in Tokyo, which is probably one of the coolest places on the planet to own a tablet, but I still wasn’t’ sold… at all. when I tested out the Ipad at an upscale store in the uber cool Roppongi Hills complex,  there was nothing there for me. I don’t need a 10 inch tablet to check my e-mail when i’m “in between my computer and my phone”. I didn’t need to play ridiculously awkward touch screen games with my fingers, when I have a much better and fluid experience with a proper gaming system like the PS3. I also didn’t really need to consume media “curled up in bed” holding the tablet awkwardly to one side, when my laptop would perform much better in the same scenario. So, despite the millions of people buying Ipads and happily spending precious hours playing games that look straight out of a 1995 Adobe Flash catalog, I didn’t buy an Ipad.

(so why am I even writing this post? read on and ye will see young Padawin )

You see, what you’ll learn about Apple after owning several of their products is that they are experts at baiting and releasing, kind of like dog training. You get a small taste of what’s really to come, (but what’s really to come is maybe two years down the road). I had zero interest in the Iphone when it came out, and I wasn’t interested in the Iphone 3g either (but i had to get a phone in Japan and I ended up getting that… about 8 weeks befor e the 3gs  came out ), but of course the 3gs was everything the original Iphone should have been. Speed, responsive, decent pics, some video, etc.

So with Apple products, it seems the 3rd iteration is what I consider “standard”. So the features a guy like me would want, won’t be in the first two generations. So you must be asking yourself, “If you didn’t have much use for the first two Ipads, why would you need the Ipad3?”

The easy answer is, I don’t need the Ipad 3, but after completely bombing an attempted presentation in business meeting with a Kindle Fire, I knew that in my field (graphic design and media production)  that i’d eventually get a tablet for easy, short, mobile presentations.  But there was one scenario I ran into last year which completely sold me on a particular usefulness of tablets.

My idea of an Ipad (or a compatible device) changed when I saw the power of tablet, not just in terms of media consumption (which i do mostly at my laptop or a desktop), but in terms of media assistance for language acquisition, 

that’s it.

That’s what sold me on a tablet.

I had left Japan, and had no way to keep my Japanese reading up. The easiest way to read Japanese outside Japan is through manga, but i’ m talking Manga that is in Japanese. Now I don’t like reading manga at the computer because it feels like a chore, and only then that I thought this kind of “media consumption” would be better served on a tablet, because buying manga outside Japan is prohibitively expensive and there are literally thousands of manga easily available for reading online. Plus I was actively studying Japanese as well, trying to cuccoon myself in a reasonably immersive environment using videos, music and reading material.

To keep this consisent immersive environment (which can get a bit tedious when you are busy), you will often need to factor mobility to that immersion equation. Here is where “media consumption” comes in. So if i’m in a mobile situation where I have some downtime and want to watch some Japanese TV or read manga, I could get my data prepared for the tablet, load it on and have the knowledge that I can keep my immersion going and maximizing my use of free time.  I toyed with the idea of buying a portable DVD player to carry around with me and watch my Japanese media, but of course, it would be simpler to just have it all in one place (and who owns a portable DVD player these days anyway? : p ) . So this sold me completely on a tablet because it had a function that was not easily duplicatable with my other devices and thus gave it logical usefulness. 

Devices that can heavily assist in creating a portable, mobile immersion environment.

F(2) — Ipad 3, Laptop.

Device that can heavily assist in creating a convenient portable, mobile immersion environment.

F(1) –> Ipad 3.

This is big, because i discovered this factor that none of my myriad devices could do with similar convenience.

So you must be asking, why didn’t I  get an Ipad 2?

Because  the Ipad 2 for me is pretty worthless in terms of what I need. I’ve seen how Retina Displays look, and it is pretty amazing how sharp that screen would look on a 10 inch tablet. The Ipad 2 has a pretty average screen, and i can’t imagine reading Japanese for hours on end with a fuzzy screen. I’d be on a quick trip to the Optometrist in a matter of weeks.  I also hate subpar products hawked as otherwise. If I’m going to spend over 500 bucks on a tablet, it shouldn’t have terrible front and rear facing cameras. I might not use them often, but in the even I have to, I don’t want super pixelated images and terrible video.

Plus, I’m even more sold on the Ipad 3 because I received a Kindle Fire as a gift, and I cannot even begin to rant about how buggy, slow and plain weird the device is.

My idea of a “real tablet” is one where I’d be able to use it like a regular computer. This silly notion of tablets being merely “media consumption” devices still baffles me. there are millions of folk like myself who would love mobile version of the Adobe suite to do work on the go (the tablets are MORE than fast enough to perform these tasks and ALREADY have touch screens for light pens!)

This is my main gripe with tablets, because most people believe (through expert marketing) that a tablet isn’t a “real computer” and thus should not operate in the same way. To me this kind of thinking is crazy, and if I was really gung-ho, I’d probably wait another 2 years to get a tablet when people finally make enough fuss to get useable mobile applications that aren’t based on consumption, but on creative output. When I buy a laptop or a personal computer, I have a choice to consume media, and I have a choice to  create media through special applications. Tablets should be no different.

I’m actually quite curious to see if this is the cat in the bag that Apple might unleash this time around; an Ipad that “actually does something” hehe.

So i’m not waiting on the Ipad 3 to hear about its wonderful behind-by-three-years-in-megapixel-count-camera, or how you can purchase apps in the appstore by asking Siri,  or its somewhat technologically staggered video camera that shoots grainy 720p video.  I’m waiting on the Ipad 3 because I believe millions of people will want to do a little more with their Ipads, and I’m hoping the Ipad 3 will take that first step towards mobile creative output.

So i’ll get it as a “up to standard” tool to assist with my language learning and mobile media lifestyle, (which is ironic because i’d be getting it for consumption of Japanese media ) but with the main thought in my mind that the Ipad 3 potentially might be the first tablet that allows individuals to do serious creative work on the go.

cheers!