| TECH EDGE
By John M. Williams
Apple iPad's iBook App
What is the essence of Apple’s iPad? I believe this unique tablet is a new way to view media. The iPad results from high-end hardware, superior design ingenuity and the power of touch-screen technology. Recently, I had an opportunity to test the iPad. A visually impaired friend of mine wanted my opinion of it, so he loaned it to me for three days. I almost didn’t want to give it back.
I love this upgraded version of Apple’s iPod.
The iPad is accessible to people with disabilities. I applaud Apple for its implementation of accessibility features: support for playback of closed-captioned content, a voice-over screen reader, full-screen zoom magnification, white on black display and audio. These features make the iPad accessible to people who are blind, visually-impaired, deaf, hard-of-hearing, and cognitively challenged. I see a market for seniors, also.
The iPad is extremely easy to use and very, very sensitive to touch. Users with disabilities can view whole pages in portrait or landscape on the Multi-Touch screen with vibrant color and sharp text at a size that’s actually readable. When you rotate iPad to landscape, the page you are viewing rotates, too, and then expands to fit the display. Quadriplegics can let their fingers do the surfing. The iPad has a touch screen keyboard built right in. If you feel more comfortable using an external keyboard, you can buy an external one.
There is a flaw in using the built-in keyboard for text input. Although the Pages app is a powerful word processor, the virtual keyboard, though spacious, doesn’t suit touch typists. For a lot of typing, you will need a separate keyboard. Most convenient are the plentiful Bluetooth keyboards that connect wirelessly.
When I saw my first iPad, I was impressed by its smallness, and thinness… People with disabilities should be too. The screen is 9.7 inches measured diagonally. Weighing 1.5 pounds and 0.5 inches thin, you can use it anywhere. And a slight curve to the back makes it easy to pick up and comfortable to hold.
I am fascinated by how sensitive to touch the iPad is. With just a slight fingertip touch, I was reading an off-the-shelf book, typing, checking e-mail, looking at photos, playing music, browsing the web. The tasks seem endless and so quick.
You can use iPad for up to 10 hours while surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music. While surfing the web on a 3G data network, you can get up to 9 hours of battery life.
I forgot to charge the battery after nearly 10 hours, and it died. After a two hour charge, I was using it again. The dock connector port on the bottom of iPad allows you to dock and charge it. It also lets you connect to accessories like the iPad Camera Connection Kit and the iPad Keyboard Dock. You’ll find many accessories designed to be compatible with the dock connector port.
The iPad also comes with a headphone jack and a built-in microphone.
The iPad supports English, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, simplified Chinese and Russian.
All iPad models come with built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi. If you want to extend your network coverage further, choose iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G and sign up for access to 3G data service. The IPad will also be available in a 3G model with superfast data speeds up to 7.2 Mbps.
The iPad Case acts as a stand that holds the iPad at an angle for watching videos and slideshows or for typing on the onscreen keyboard.
The iPad has other flaws. It is difficult to use outside when the sun is bright. I had to shade the screen with my hat. You can’t use it for multi-tasking. It does not have a built-in camera. Future versions should have multi-tasking capabilities and a built-in camera. The iPad price starts at $499 and rises to more than $800. These are fair prices.
I would label the iPad as an assistive technology product.
John M. Williams can be reached at jwilliams@atechnews.com. His web site is www.atechnews.com.
