After almost 24 hours to process just what the hell happened yesterday in Yerba Bueno I decided to give my two cents on the Apple iPad.

First, a small disclaimer. I own a MacBook, which took about the last two years to convince myself to purchase. I have a realistic look at Apple; I am by no means an “iFanboy” so, I will try to do my best in giving a fair and honest assessment. Oh, and by the way, I will mix in some of my opinion because that’s what I know the best.

The name iPad = overall fail

Ok. The name isn’t too bad, but if only after an hour of being announced something is being made fun of on Twitter and around the web (iTampon?) the name may not be the greatest. I felt the same way when the Wii was announced, so in time it may be OK. All connotations aside iPad sounds like iPod with a terrible Jersey accent. It wasn’t the greatest part of the God Tablet.

Input

As of right now we know of two ways to input on the iPad. One is the virtual keyboard. The second is the optional keyboard dock.

When I first saw the huge virtual keyboard enabled on a picture at Engadget, I thought to myself, “How in the hell am I going to use that?” The keyboard seems too big and typing with one finger at a time is not efficient at all. I see how one could place it on their lap and then type “regularly” on the virtual keyboard. To be honest I don’t see this as being comfortable at all.

The keyboard dock is cool, but why in portrait mode? I’d say that Steve SEVERALLY screwed this part up. What laptop or computer do you know of that has the screen sitting in portrait mode? None at all. Sometimes being different for the sake of being different isn’t “creative,” it is just trying to be different. What if I want to watch a quick video while docked? Now I have to watch it in a smaller size because I don’t have the width in portrait to view it.

Hardware

You can check out the specs here for the iPad. The screen seems large enough and from reports is “beautiful.” The unibody design is attractive. The Apple A4 chip is their own silicon and makes me wonder how far that will go (maybe into newer MacBooks). WiFi or 3G will be included. No camera.

To be honest I wasn’t shocked or too impressed by the hardware. It’s pretty and I am sure is made of high quality components. But really it’s just a large iPod Touch with 3G capabilities.

Content

The iPad’s iTunes integration looks very good. I am sure that the experience will be excellent. Not enough for me to drop the money on it though. I have a MacBook that can do the same media functions as the iPad, plus everything else I would ever need. Consuming media on this device is something that most consumers will probably do, I guess, but I think that having laptops that are around the same price will serve most consumers better.

eBooks

Here is where Apple could have made a huge difference; they could have thought of new innovative ways for students and professionals to use textbooks and manuals and created a new way of interacting with them. But they didn’t.

Did I miss something yesterday? Is there no way to annotate any type of notes on the iPad. A text book being displayed on a nice crystal-clear 9.7″ screen is useless to me if I can’t take any notes on it! Showing me a few “slick” animations when you are turning a page on your virtual book is really just a smoke screen blocking that they have missed the mark on the proper way to read and use digital books on a device. How sad.

I was assured that Apple was going to revolutionize the idea of eBooks. What they did was just follow the crowd which is not a normal stance for Jobs and Company.

Conclusion

The iPad is underwhelming. And because of that, there are a couple of larger points to make about mobile technology, the tech industry, and the tech media.

The tech media is crazy and it is truly out of control. I couldn’t believe how many bloggers and industry “experts” got most aspects of the iPad wrong. There were rumor after rumor after rumor on this damn tablet and most were incorrect. It is almost embarrassing. I understand that the media gives the people what they want to hear, but the impression that has been made to me is that the tech media just reports anything that they think may be true. It’s upsetting, and because of that I will try hard not to fall into that pit with all the rest.

Because of the push from the media I feel that Apple was almost forced to release this product. Jobs has been quoted saying that he didn’t think eBooks would succeed because no one reads anymore. I understand that he got the whole “no one wants video on their iPod” argument wrong, but after the presentation yesterday I got a sneaking suspicion that this device was forced from Apple. I don’t think that Jobs truly believes that it is as magical as he says it is. Therefore it’s hard for this cynical guy to get excited about it.

We’ll see where the iPad goes from here. As of right now though I’d say that the iPad will be for a select few gadget hungry, Apple loving folks that do not include myself.

Two things today that caught my fancy with our favorite little robot; Android.

ColorWare

First, the company ColorWare is offering the service to give your Nexus One a new paint job. It’s only available in the US and costs $175 and a good, long three weeks away from your beloved, but you aren’t getting 3G coverage so it doesn’t really matter, right? Or, you can buy a brand spanking new unlocked Nexus One with colors of your choice for a hefty $800. All you need is a larger obsession for Android than me plus the $800 smack-a-smoli. Now all ColorWare needs to do is offer this service for my Droid.

You know, for $175 or $800 I would be so afraid of picking the right colors. I change my mind ALOT and being stuck with the same colors might make me regret it.

FunMail

A cool app for Android was released yesterday: FunMail. In a nutshell FunMail allows you to write out a text message and apply the text to a “relevant” picture. You can then send it to anyone who can receive picture mail or even email it.

Some of the choices of “relevant” pictures are spot on, and well, some are not. You can get kind of creative with what you want to say with your message and picture or just leave a lot up for interpretation. Or you can be completely inappropriate. It’s a lot of fun.

A couple of things about FunMail I don’t like is that there is a link on the bottom of the picture. I know that they have to get the word out, but maybe offer a cheap paid version that removes the link at the bottom. Next, you have to register by text message for the service. Seems like a little much for something that doesn’t do a lot and that may only be used a handful of times.

These two should satisfy the cheap-o and the baller out there.

Credits: Engadget, Techcrunch

The FCC sent some letters to all the US mobile phone carriers today (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mob, and Sprint) including Google which asked them to explain how they make the early termination information known to consumers. They believe that consumers are confused about ETFs, especially because they are different at every provider.

Well, thanks FCC for inquiring on something that seems fishy, but do most consumers even care about ETF?

I say no. Unless they are an obsessed type of gadget hound like myself that needs to have the latest greatest device that is available. Other than that, most consumers I imagine don’t even know what the ETF is or when most carrier’s ETFs increase. Here is what the FCC thinks about all of this:

The absence of a standard framework makes it especially important that consumers have a clear understanding of terms and practices of individual companies, which will allow them to compare services offered by different providers on a clear and consistent basis

Once again, I say it doesn’t really matter to standard consumers. They will make the choice of a new device based on it’s price, features, and service, not the possible early termination fees. If consumers are worried about ETFs then they will buy unlocked or used phones on eBay or from other consumers and activate them without contract. Either that or they will go with a service like Boost or Virgin (both sub-par from my experience).

One more thing. If someone buys a new device from any of the four largest US carriers they still have to pay full price for any of the plans that go with the phone. I thought that these phones were subsidized? If so, when someone buys a brand new device they shouldn’t have to pay as much for service.

So, do early termination fees really matter? Or is the FCC just trying to become another consumer watchdog that wants consumers to think that they are doing something important?

PCWorld and many others have been reporting for the last couple of days about the rumor that Apple will end it’s iPhone exclusivity on Wednesday along with the announcement of their new tablet. This has been coming for a while; I am actually surprised that it has taken Apple this long to break out of their agreements.

Release the hounds

When the iPhone is opened up to other carriers we will soon see the real test of networks other than AT&T. I personally think that a network like Verizon could handle the network load, but without some real world testing it remains to be seen. It will be interesting to see how these other US carriers handle the iPhone epidemic that is approaching.

New Networks, New iPhones

So, with the end of exclusivity one has to consider that a new and improved iPhone will be released. I highly doubt Apple will end their agreement only to go to T-Mobile; if they want to take over they will have to create a CDMA version that will work on Verizon that also may have the newer LTE technology as well (when Verizon moves to LTE). I HIGHLY doubt that Apple and Verizon would release a strictly LTE based phone until possibly next year. Just because LTE is being tested in the US, doesn’t mean that it is anywhere close to being rolled out.

So, CDMA iPhone? I think so. If Apple wants to truly kill it on Wednesday their “one more thing” will be a CDMA iPhone on Verizon for a summer release. I’d say a revolutionary tablet and a new iPhone on a network that can handle it would be pretty stellar.