The iPad is great for reading in bed, but for a 'bring anywhere' device it has its limits outdoors, writes HUGH LINEHAN
YOU’RE OFF on your holidays. But you need to keep in touch. You don’t want to lug that clunky laptop through security, and tap-tap-tapping through your emails on the phone becomes a bit wearing after a while. Why not bring a shiny new iPad for my three weeks in sunny Spain?
Two words – “shiny” and “sunny”. It soon becomes apparent my iPad’s lovely high-gloss screen is a disaster if you’re trying to use the device in bright daylight. Even in the shade the screen is much harder to read than my iPhone.
So don’t think that an iPad and a bunch of iBooks will solve your Ryanair excess baggage problems – not unless you want to spend your whole holiday reading those iBooks in a darkened room.
As it happens, I also had a Kindle to hand for a while, and, thanks to its E-Ink screen, reading newspapers and books on Amazon’s device is a pleasure. So much for Apple inventing the Kindle-killer.
Mind you, the iPad is great for reading in bed. Browsing The Irish Times, Guardianand New York Timeswebsites every morning over a cup of coffee is just brilliant. But there's something odd about a "bring anywhere" device which you can't use out of doors. It's probably only a matter of time before some accessories supplier comes up with a monk-like iHood.
As other users have already pointed out, the best application on the iPad is the Safari browser. While tailored apps make sense for a smartphone, delivering content in easily navigable and readable formats, there’s much less need for such customisation on the iPad’s larger screen.
Why buy a newspaper app when nearly all newspapers are just as easily accessible through the browser?
There is, of course, one other major problem: Apple’s “no Flash” edict means that most video and animation is unavailable through the browser (the upside is that most adverts are similarly invisible).
Yes, you could watch YouTube, but who just sits down to watch YouTube? I did try to rent a movie for the kids through iTunes but downloading 3.5gb of Alice in Wonderland via wobbly wi-fi proved too much for all concerned.
As a holiday device, the iPad is great for keeping an eye on emails and replying if necessary. In landscape mode, the on-screen keyboard is surprisingly good. If you were doing serious word processing or spreadsheet work, though, you’d probably need some software packages, along with a separate keyboard and some kind of stand to hold the iPad. In which case, you might as well bring that laptop after all.
So there you have it: nice to look at, great in bed but a pain in the neck during the day. And it won’t let you watch telly or get any serious work done.
Me and my iPad turned out to be the quintessential holiday romance. I still haven’t decided whether to bring it home to meet the mammy.
