After my initial appraisal of my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, it
started giving me a few hassles. The initial problems were it randomly
restarting – a bit of a problem when I am busy taking notes during class. Then,
less than two months after I purchased it, an error message went into a crazy
loop, leaving me unable to operate the tablet. Unfortunately Samsung’s Support
centre could offer no advice, other than a factory reset, which I happily did.
However, a week later, the same problem arose, to which I responded by getting
it fixed professionally and ridding myself of the dreaded beast.
The new iPad – a worthy
replacement?
I replaced the tablet with the new iPad, regarding which I had
the following comments to make, after its initial unboxing and use.
- Apple’s minimalistic style really plays as an advantage, granting the user with a clean and sophisticated, which I must admit, was really easy to get to grips with. (Interestingly enough, with regard to the Apple vs. Samsung court cases – the Judge recently ruled in favour of Samsung – because the Galaxy Tab was “not as cool” as the iPad, and therefore could not be a copy, with Apple’s minimalistic design playing in their favour again. He also said that the iPad “looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated smooth and simple product.”)
- With that being said, the iPad is certainly not too simple – it is able to handle multitasking apps with much ease and comfort, as well as adding in advanced movement controls such as the five-finger pinch to minimize, and the four-finger swipe to switch programs.
- Everything seemed to be just as it should be. The transitions between apps, switching apps, and minimizing apps – everything is so very smooth, making the user feel at power browsing through such a seamless device.
My initial worry, browsing the iTunes Store after the
purchase, was that I was going to have to spend a fortune on buying apps! With no
free word processors available, Apple was very clever in ‘insisting’ on the
user spending their $10 on their own app – which I will gladly do, because I know
that the quality I am receiving is of the greatest standard. Apple is also very
clever at making the free apps not plainly visible, but after a couple days
with it in my possession I was feeling pretty comfortable at frugally sussing
out which apps are free and which apps aren’t, and there really is an amazing variety of apps available, and thanks to Apple's strict control of which apps are published and which aren't - you are comfortable in knowing that the apps available are of good quality.
The other element which I particularly enjoy is the typing.
Unlike the Galaxy Tab’s keyboard, this one is spacious as well as aesthetically
pleasing, making it a breeze and a pleasure to type up whatever document you
may want to. Some may not be in favour of typing on a touchscreen, but thanks
to the autocorrect feature of the iPad, it corrects many simple typing errors
you may encounter. However, it may sometimes by a little too strict, for
example correcting “Masterchef” to “Master chef” – a simple change, I know, but
it just means you have to go back and correct it again.
In the last seven months, I have owned two other tablet
computers, and as a proud techno-junkie, I have thoroughly enjoyed my
experiences with each of them, but frankly, none of them come close to the new
iPad.
Congratulations, Apple, you have won me over.
