Netbook Review – Acer, Asus Netbook Review

We’ve been waiting anxiously for it and there have been all kinds of rumors about it – but we finally know. It’s called the iPad and a good description of it would be “the iPhone on steroids“. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the impending April release at the event in San Francisco.

The iPad features a multi-touch fully capacitative 9.7 inch screen, is 0.5 inches thick, weighs 1.5 lbs, comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, has Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi 802.11b/g/n, has optional 3G and will last 10 hours. Phew! It will have a starting price of $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB version with a further $130 added on for 3G capabilities. To be completely honest, what Apple have released and what they think they’ve released sound like two completely different things. Steve Jobs called the iPad “revolutionary and magical”. Let’s take a look at what it does and if it lives up to that billing.

What does it do?

OK, so when we said “iPhone on steroids“, you probably assumed that was a good thing. And it is. To an extent.

• Browsing – So its kinda like browsing on Safari with the same landscape and portrait compatibility as you swing the thing around except the screen is bigger and you don’t need to keep zooming in. However, there’s no Flash support.

• Email – When writing mail there’s a display break-up with a QWERTY keyboard for input via touch. If you aren’t down with that, the iPad will dock with a real keyboard.

• Multimedia – Being basically a giant iPhone has its major advantage here. The iPhone revolutionized the way photos were viewed with the flick and zoom at a touch of the finger. With the iPad you have a mobile picture frame with pictures wooshing by instantaneously. Video makes for a decent viewing on the 1024 x 768 resolution screen. It’s like watching content on a high definition TV. With regards to music, theres the familiarity of the iTunes interface but we’ll have to see how the speakers pan out. We expect them to be about as good as the Macbook Pro speakers.

• Apps – Current iPhone apps can be run, but at an annoying 200% zoom or at half screen. We’ll probably see a burst in applications though, some of which will be awesome no doubt. Gaming applications should be cool with multi-touch capabilities and Electronic Arts is already readying Need for Speed for the iPad.

• Work – We mean spreadsheets, documents and the like. There’s an application package but whether we’ll be comfortable using touch and the on-screen keyboard is a question that will probably boil down to personal choice. But we suspect, no one will be buying this if a large reason they want a mobile device is to work with Office-like programs.

• Ebooks and Newspapers – The vibrant colors and touch interface will probably put other eBook readers to shame. Apple seems to be pushing really hard in this direction, having tied up with a bunch of publishers. They’ve also got newspapers and magazines on board. Check out the New York times webpage which looks optimized for the iPad.

Hardware and Software

As mentioned, the iPad is quite sleek at 0.5 inches and light as well at 1.5lbs. However the 9.7 inch screen means it’s a bit bulky, especially if compared to eReaders like Kindle. When using it, the weight means its not exactly comfortably held in one hand. Holding it in two negates…well, using it. If you are holding it in one hand, that leaves you with only one to interface with. The solution is to prop it up, say in your lap, which again may be a bit awkward and even unstable while typing. There will probably be some kind of desktop docker and we know there’s an attachable keyboard so that shouldn’t be a problem.

The big news about the software is that the iPad is run on an ARM-based 1.0Ghz Apple A4 Chip manufactured by P.A. Semi, one of Apple’s subsidiaries. Intel and Qualcomm won’t be getting much joy out of this particular piece of news. On a performance review, the A4 is like the next level iPhone OS which isn’t saying that much. The interface seems eerily familiar which is bit disappointing because we expected more.

Will it “work”?

We’re going to answer that with an astounding YES! It’s got some negatives – no camera, no flash support, no multi-tasking which is a big disappointment cause it’ll function (not) like an iPhone with the applications and it’s a bit awkward.

But the positives far outweigh them. Firstly, its wayyyy cooool and everyone is going to want one. Even though there’s no specific niche that it’s filling, the iPad combines the functionality of an eReader, a netbook, a photo viewer, a game console and plays high-definition video. And it does this at a very reasonable and competitive price. And while people may say it’s not a game changer like the iPhone, the iPad is definitely going to sell a bunch, find an army of loyal fans to defend it and punch a hole in competitor’s bottom lines. This next statement sums it up – I’m itching to get one, and I’m sure you are too!

Filed under: Apple Netbook Review, Netbook