OMG! I fell out of love with the iPAD this weekend

My wife brought home an iPad from the high school where she works this weekend because the school is trying to assess the iPad's usefulness as an educational tool.  My son spent the most time with it and he likes listening to music and watching videos. He loves the thing.  Honestly, I don't know why we didn't have one already, as I've been threatening to go buy one for several weeks now. I think it is an amazing concept - and still do, but I'm less crazy about the implementation after having spent a few hours with it. Here's why: 

The first thing I wanted to do was check email on a Google Apps account I have. After opening the Safari browser, I went to login to my account and that's when my iPad experience started to sour. When you position the cursor to enter text on the iPad, a pop up keyboard appears on the bottom of the screen, but it doesn't have any numbers on the keyboard. There's a key that switches to a numbers view, but that version doesn't have any alpha keys. It's not that hard switching back and forth between the two, but typing a password that passes even minimal security standards becomes more convoluted than it ought to be. Yes, Mac fans, I know there are real accessory keyboards you can get for it, but you have to admit, the pop up keyboard is sort of a kludge.  There is PLENTY of room there to do better and this is only going to encourage people to use flimsy passwords. Yes, I've seen the online videos showing clever iPad keyboard tricks, but none of them address this shortcoming.

Another thing that bothers me about the iPad pop up keyboard is that it displays password text in the clear before changing them to black dots. What's THAT about Apple? My guess is that they were concerned that people would not have confidence with their typing and so they decided to briefly display password characters as they are  being entered.  Are they trying to protect customers from the frustration of having virtual fat fingers by displaying what should otherwise be secure information?  Hmmm, at this point I'm starting to think that security was given the lowest priority on the iPad. Not that I'm a big security guy, but the digital world is fraught with far too many threats to be so non-chalant about it. 

That said, Windows Vista drove everybody crazy by going overboard on security, and it's not hard to see why Apple might have chosen to avoid similar "features", but the keyboard actually is very easy to type on and the keys seem oversized, if anything.  There should be some way to show numbers and letters together, allowing people to easily create whatever passwords they desire and it shouldn't show secure information in the clear, even if it is for a brief moment.

Anyway, Safari on the iPad doesn't work with Google Apps, (and email accessed through it) something that  took me some time to figure out.  It apparently has something to do with the fact that the Safari browser used on the iPad is the same mobile version as on the iPhone, having certain functional reductions. I wasn't surprised to to find compatibility problems between Apple and Google and I assume this sort of thing will continue to be an annoying contest for years to come. I started using Google Apps years ago and the iPad doesn't get me there. That's a problem.

I was able to access my Google Apps email account using the integrated email app and selecting Gmail. This worked pretty well, the setup was straightforward and figuring out how to use Gmail on the iPad was a snap. Again, the thing I didn't like was that I was not able to access my Google Docs from this app. I tried a number of ways and finally gave up after diving into the forums and finding there would be no happy ending today.

So I decided to find another app, maybe something more fun. But first, I went to log out of Gmail and couldn't find the secret decoder ring. I figured this had to be pilot error - how can you not have a logout function for email?  As much as I tried I couldn't find my way out of Gmail. Good lord! So I hit the forums again and found out, sure enough, there is no way to log out of Gmail on an iPhone- and by extension - an iPad. If you want to shut down access to Gmail after having set it up, you have to delete the account from the email application using the "settings" application. Seems a bit extreme if all you want to do is make sure people can't peek at your email.

Now, its important to lay blame at the right party here, which is Google in this case.  And although I'm tempted to say this is probably some treachery waged against Apple by Google, the main issue is that Gmail on the iPad is just the iPhone version running on it's younger and larger sibling.  A lot of people choose to keep their email access open all the time on their smartphones so they can stay on top of messages without having to constantly log in to see them.  But there are also times when people just want to lock down their information so others can't see it. The iPad is a tablet and not a smartphone, and whereas smartphones are personal devices that you can hide in your pocket, the iPad - simply by virtue of it's size is more exposed to mischief. Not only that, but its also something that people seem to like sharing an awful lot. If we had one at home, I'm sure there would be some contention about who gets to use it.   

Anyway, the point is, not allowing somebody to log out of an account where there is sensitive, private information from family members, co-workers, financial accounts and other important sources is simply ridiculous. Not only can your personal, private information be compromised, but there is also the risk that somebody else can access your account and send fake emails on your behalf - without you knowing about it. 

When I explored apps at Apple's online store, I definitely got the feeling that a lot of them were designed for the iPhone and didn't really translate all that well to the iPad. Opera's Mini Browser was a good example.  The functionality it had was decent, but the scaling of it on the screen was far less than perfect.

On the positive side, I really liked the book reader, which I thought was stellar and might be the ultimate app for the iPad. But if all I want is a book reader, I'd probably prefer a Kindle, with its included wifi service. In short, the iPad is new - and I think it shows.  I'm still interested in getting one sometime, but I have to figure out if I want it to be more like a PC than a smartphone. Today, I'm inclined to look for a tablet that is less of a computing toy than the iPad is.  

Comments

[EtherealMind]

Fact: You buy the iPad with big expectations. You think it is awesome at first, and then you slowly realise it's not a computer, it's something else and you get a bit annoyed by that. Then you fall out of love with it.

In about a week you will love it again, because you will learn what it does well and what it doesn't. But you won't be spewing adjectives all over the place when you do.

Right now, you are in the middle phase.

[Jim]

Did you test its ability to be a coaster? I bet you can fit 3-4 beverages on that sucker without a problem.

[SFoskett]

Give her a second chance, Marc! iPad may not do everything perfectly, but she's so pretty and so fast. Let her back into your life! You'll learn to love again...

(Note: This was YOUR metaphor! Don't blame me!)

[marc farley]

EtherealMind - Yes, my expectations have been lowered and maybe I can see it's true value now - or tomorrow. Jim, It's way to sleek to be a coaster - unless you are Danish or Swedish I suppose. Not Merkin like me. Steve, Second chances can be beautiful, but what if something else comes along next week while I'm on the rebound?

[Charleshood]

One workaround would be to not configure the Mail client, and instead access your Gmail using Safari. The mobile web interface is quite good, and it gives you the ability to Sign Out.

[nate]

I can't buy/use apple products on principle alone, Steve Jobs is a evil person, worse than Gates.

[marc farley]

Thanks Charleshood, Your suggestion about using Safari over the web was the first thing I tried - but something didn't work. I tried logging in repeatedly and I kept getting returned to the login screen. Not with login errors such as "username + Password = #fail" but just repeated login screens.

So I downloaded the Opera mini browser and that worked a little better - for email it was actually decent but Google Docs behavior was bizarre and unusable.

Nate! What do you think their most evil product is? I nominate iTunes.

[amrith]

Re: inability to logout of GMail, the same is the case with Android too.

[Chuck]

You might try getting the Google Mobile App. In the settings you're able to configure a Google Apps domain and then from the main screen of the app you can choose regular Gmail or your Apps domain mail.

Not sure why that would behave differently than logging in directly via Safari, but it's worked perfectly for me.

I definitely agree with your points about the pain of entering complex passwords and the display of the last typed character though.

[marc farley]

Thanks Amrith! There you go - the problem is Google's to solve. There isn't anything about the iPad that would indicate app developers can't put a log out "feature" in their products. I can see the copy for this new version now: "GMail for your iPad, Now with Log Out!"

[marc farley]

Thanks Chuck, the email icon on the iPad allows you to choose a number of internet mail services, including GMail, which invokes an app that I assume is from Google. It wasn't a problem getting into my Google Apps email and it worked well.

But it does sound like there are a couple advantages to using the Google Mobile App, like easily switching between regular GMail and Google Apps email.

It wasn't getting into Google email that confounded me - it was the logging out - and the inability to access Google Docs. I think the perspective at both Apple and Google is that these tablets are basically smartphones with adult-friendly big screens and that the apps that run on them should be the same.

They are missing the point - the tablet is NOT an overgrown smartphone. It is a different type of device and the requirements for all those apps should reflect those differences.

As much as Apple, Google and their developers want to leverage what already exists, they are leaving the door open for another company to understand the differences between smartphones and tablets and do it better. The only company that appears to have the technology to do it today is HP, by virtue of their recently announced Palm Acquisition. But that deal hasn't closed yet and I wouldn't give HP that much credit to avoid making the same mistakes as Apple and Google are making.

I say, stand up for tablets! They can be so much more than an expensive toy!