Apple's new digital lifestyle

 The iPad is designed to plug the gap between the Mac and the iPhone - but is this marketing spin or genuine innovation?



When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad, he pronounced that it was a device designed to fit between the iPhone and the Mac in terms of Functionality. Given the iPad's price and size, it would be easy enough to dismiss this as marketing hype. However, it's worth investigating the idea-because the notion oF having a device with capabilities between those oFyour phone and your computer runs Far deeper than a Keynote presentation and press release.

In Fact, when using the iPad, you Find a hybridisation oFthe iPhone and Mac operating sytems just about everywhere you turn. Certainly elbow-room plays a part - the device offers the kind of space that allows more elements on screen - but it's interesting to wade into the device and its applications and see where Apple expanded as well as compromised between the iPhone and Mac.

The personal organization applications - Mail, Contacts, and Calendar - owe more to the Mac OS than the iPhone. This is largely because of the roominess of the iPad's display. But there are other areas where the mobility of the iPhone makes it more ofyour go-to device. Apps such as National Rail and traffic information apps are best used out of the pocket, rather than out ofyour bag and cradled in your elbow joint.

It's a date Some apps, such as Calendar, benefit hugely from the iPad's large screen 

Getting into the software

The personal organiser tools on the iPad

are a real strength oFthe device. In Mail, the iPad's large screen means that you can view a list of mailboxes within a particular account or a list of messages along with a preview oFa selected message, much like Mail on the Mac. Unlike with the Mac's version of Mail, you're still compelled to move to a separate screen to view all your accounts (a unified Inbox is absent, though it should be available with a software update later this year).

Stay in contact Contacts appear within a book-like interface that falls somewhere between the iPhone's Contacts app and OS X's Address Book. As with the iPhone app, you can move through an alphabetical list of con tacts by tapping letters-though in this case, they're tabs in an address book rather than letters floating on-screen with no context. Like the Mac's Address Book, you can viewcontact names along with the details of the selected contact on a single screen. The compromise in this app is that you choose

Groups by tapping a 'Groups' button, which produces a pop-up menu for selecting the group you want to view. On the Mac, groups aren't hidden in a pop-up menu.

Track your diary The Calendar app is very similar to desktop-based iCal. In Day view you see not only events laid out in iCal-like blocks, but also the details ofspecific appointments, which appear on the left side ofthe 'book'. Week view looks very much like iCal, complete with a pop-up Details window. And from within any of these views you can tap on a calendar's button and choose which calendars to view.
  

 The notion of a device to sit between your Mac and your iPhone runs deeper than marketing hype

Just browsing Using your fingers to browse the internet is more intuitive than using a mouse


Justbrowsing Safari, too, owes more to the Mac OS than the iPhone. When visiting a website that offers both mobile and desktop versions of the site, you see the desktop version. Yet the iPhone's double-tap-to-expand-columns trick works on the iPad. The display is large enough that you can have navigation and bookmark controls next to the URL fields rather than at the bottom of the screen. To view bookmarks, you can simply tap a 'Bookmarks' icon to reveal a Bookmarks menu pop-up, much like a pull-down menu in the Mac OS. And the iPad version oFSaFari even includes a bookmarks bar-like feature that provides quick access to Favorite sites.

Find your way There's nothing like Maps outside of a browser on the Mac OS, so naturally the iPad's version of this heipFul application is quite

 Just browsing Using your fingers to browse the internet is more intuitive than using a mouse

similar to the iPhone's version. But again, screen space pays off. Directions are available from a pop-up menu that appears over the map view you've selected (this version of Maps includes a new Terrain view). Like the iPhone 3GS, the iPad's Maps app includes compass capabilities, even though the iPad doesn't offer a separate Compass app. The size of the device limits its practicality in this area though - it'll be easier to navigate with an iPad in a car than on foot.

Sense of direction Maps on the iPad looks great, but is more unwieldy than on the iPhone 



 iPad as iPod
 The iPod and Videos apps are

 an interesting mix of the iPhone and Mac OS. In terms of browsing your media, they're very much like the Mac and PC version of iTunes. Similar to iTunes on a computer, you find your audio content available in a Source list, which includes Music, Podcasts, Audiobooks, iTunes U, Genius, Genius Mixes, and then any playlists you've synced from your computer or created on the iPad. Buttons at the bottom of the screen let you view your music by Song, Artist, Album, Genre or Composer. To play a track, just tap it.

Video content As with iTunes, videos are selected by kind - Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Music Videos, and iTunes U. Tap the 'TV Shows' button, for example, and you see each show represented by its artwork.

When you select a movie, you first see a screen filled with details -rating, studio,year released, HD orSD, summary, actors, director, and producers. On this same screen you can tap a Chapters button to see a list of chapters. To play a particular chapter, tap it and press the Play button.

Yet when you play music orwatch videos, it's a very iPhone-like experience. Play a song, for example, and the iPad's screen is filled with album artwork along with volume and play controls, a button for producing a tracklist, and a Genius button for creating a Genius Playlist based on the currently playing song. Tap the artwork and you see a timeline (which you can scrub through just as you can with an iPhone or iPod touch) and shuffle and repeat buttons.

Playing video is an experience identical to that on an iPhone or iPod touch. Play controls are overlaid on the display when you tap it and the top of the display bears a timeline (which, again, you can scrub through) and a button for toggling between fullscreen and widescreen views.

Smarter shopping The iTunes Store is cramped on an iPhone or iPod touch. On the iPad, it's very much like the Store you see when using a Mac or PC. You can more easily find the content you're after than you can on the iPhone thanks to the Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Audiobooks, and iTunes U buttons at the bottom of the screen. And you can see more information about the media you're interested in.

Hot desking The laptop has its advantages for
iTunes, but the mobile iTunes
interface is easy to use

The missing apps

When viewing the iPad's home screen you can't help
but notice just how spare it appears. And it is, in part, because it's missing a number of apps found on the iPhone and iPod touch-Stocks, Weather, Voice Memos, Clock, and Calculator. Many people have offered theories as to why these apps didn't make the cut. One is that third-party apps exist for these things, so why would Apple need to

duplicate these efforts? That makes some sense. But it also makes sense that in a world where you can carry both an iPhone and iPad, the iPhone does a betterjob presenting these small-Form applications. How weather-obsessed must you be to want to see radar, satellite, precipitation, and forecast data on a single screen? These are apps that you want to check for quick updates, not in-depth information.

Neither big iPod touch nor MacBook


Once you've used an iPad you understand just how silly the

'it's nothing but a big iPod touch' claim is. Size matters. It's much more enjoyable to watch video on an iPad. You can read on the thing in a way that doesn't feel cramped. The increased size means fewer finger swipes and taps because you can put more controls and information on a single screen. And it's less likely you're going to get killed in some shoot-'em-up because you tapped the wrong pixel oF the device's display.

No laptop At the same time, the iPad in its current form isn't a laptop replacement. In portrait orientation you still have to two-finger type. Landscape orientation, is better, but there's the problem of punctuation. You won't find apostrophes and quotation marks on the main keyboard. Instead you have to tap the '.?123' key to access this punctuation.

 TV times The iPad's beautiful screen is perfect for watching YouTube videos

Beyond typing, there are things the iPad just won't do that many laptop users find necessary. Obviously, with its limited storage, memory, and input options, you're not going to do Final Cut

work on your iPad any time soon. Nor is this the device to use For recording your next podcast. But there are more mundane chores that the iPad can't

handle - printing, for example, Apple provides no solution. The iPad as the sole computing device in the home is still a stretch.

Know your audience But the idea oFthe iPad sitting between the iPhone and the computer works - it seems like a perfect fit. It's an extravagant world in which we all have a computer for computing, a smartphone for phoning, and an IPad For everything else, but if you actually get to try this set-up it's hard to Fault it. It's more productive than just an iPhone and a computer, and it's more fun, too.

Oversized There's no calculator on the iPad -you use your iPhone for that