Digital Home Thoughts: Apple iPad Hands-On Video from Engadget

I'm sure Jeff at Apple Thoughts will have more to say on this tomorrow (and I had a fair bit to say about the iPad this morning on Twitter), but I figured any geek worth his salt is at least intrigued by the Apple iPad. The Engadget video shows how fast this gadget is, and it also shows how non-responsive it is to some touch attempts and how confusing parts of the user interface are. Maybe we're looking at beta software and hardware here?

The general vibe I'm seeing around the Web is fairly negative, but after watching this video, I'll admit there's a fair bit about the iPad that impresses me. It seems like it's caught between two worlds though - yes, it's more adept at media consumption than an iPhone/iPod Touch is, and that big screen looks great, but the bigger the device is, the more you want it to do. The lack of multi-tasking is a real let down for people who are looking for a "computer" experience rather than a "smartphone" or "MP3 player" experience. The usual flourishes of Apple software design are apparent - I love how you can pinch open an album of photos and see them explode outward. That's slick.

Would I buy an iPad? I'm not so sure. I like my iPod Touch, but I'd expect more from a bigger device like the iPad. The lack of a memory card slot means easily expandable storage is out of the equation. It's nice that is has a microphone, but no camera means you're not going to use this thing has a video-chatting device. The screen aspect ratio is good for reading books and looking at pictures, but not for watching movies. The fact that you have to lay it in your laptop to type on the keyboard seems like a big fail to me - but because of the size, that's about the only option.

I read today that someone said the iPad is the iPod Touch for "your parents", but I don't know if my parents would be keen to get one either given the physical size. It's not jacket-pocket, or even purse-sized - it's "I need a carrying case for it" sized. As Michael Gartenberg is fond of saying, there's a market of 50,000 for any product - in Apple's case, that might be a million. But in Apple terms, that's a failure as a product - I guess we'll see.

What's your take on the iPad?