Couch computing shows why iPad is great

Since writing my lightning review of the iPad for last Sunday's newspaper (April 4), I've spent most of my time using Apple's impressive tablet. And I think I've figured out why it's such a Big Deal.

You'd think a minor epiphany wouldn't be needed. Traditionally, a company makes a product that is designed well, offers great features and has some must-have cachet that makes people want it.

The iPhone fit that description, but it was also easy to define: a cellphone that does many other things well. The iPad is a ... well, it's an e-book reader and media player ... that also connects to the Internet ... and manages your contacts and calendars ... and can also be a word processor or artist's sketchbook ... and plays games ...

The iPad, despite possessing many characteristics of a computer, really isn't a computer, exactly. It succeeds not because it's fast, responsive and extremely well-engineered, but because it's the first great spontaneous computing device.

Here's an example. Late one night, I had article ideas buzzing in my head. I could have jotted them down in my iPhone, which was nearby, but composing text longer than an e-mail is difficult because of the small screen and on-screen keyboard. My MacBook Pro was upstairs in my home office, so I would have had to relocate from the comfy couch.

Instead, I reached for the iPad on the end table, opened Apple's Pages app (available as a separate $9.99 download) and ended up writing about a third of the article.

I've found myself doing that a lot. The large screen and smart layout of the Mail app make checking e-mail accounts almost enjoyable. I can catch up on what's happening in the world using one of several dedicated news apps or using Safari to view Web sites. I can see what my schedule is like using the Calendar app's Week view, which isn't available on the iPhone's Calendar app.

The iPad doesn't just do these things well. It does them without requiring that you unfold a laptop, or move to whatever room in your house is dedicated to the computer, or peck away at the iPhone.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trashing the iPhone. I could do these things on it, too, and I have. But the iPad now makes my iPhone seem smaller and less capable than it is.

I've encountered plenty of irritations with the iPad during intensive use.

For example, on a device aimed at making everything feel real — torn paper edges in Notes, animated page curls with semitransparent pages in iBooks — it's jarring that you can't swipe the virtual pages of the desk calendar in the Calendar app. You must use a date slider at the bottom of the screen.

Or let's broaden the scope. Passing files between the computer and the iPad is a complicated mess. Part of the point of the iPad is that a normal person shouldn't have to manage files at all, and I accept that. But with productivity apps like the iWork suite, files are a fact of doing business.

You can import and export files during a sync via USB by dragging files from the Finder to an area of the Apps tab in iTunes. It's also possible to send a document to Apple's iWork.com beta site, but only after exporting it. That version only can be read (not edited) on the Web or downloaded.

A handy, wirelessly connected device like the iPad should be able to automatically upload my document to iWork.com or my iDisk, where I can open it from within an iWork app, make changes, close it, and make it available for the next time I want to edit it on either platform. (In short, Apple needs Dropbox.com.)

But even with those and other caveats (why can't I just stream video from another Mac on my network?), the iPad shines. Remember, it's still the first version of a product that Apple is throwing its weight behind. The iPad isn't just another desktop computer configuration that didn't succeed in the market, like the Power Mac G4 Cube.

Apple proved that this week by previewing what's coming next for the iPad and the iPhone. Chief Executive Steve Jobs showed off iPhone OS 4, which includes major changes to the underlying software: multi-tasking for third-party apps (so, for example, you can listen to music from the Pandora app while you're browsing the Web in Safari); iBooks for iPhone; significant enterprise enhancements; better e-mail handling, including support for multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts, a unified Inbox and threaded messages; and Game Center, a social gaming network.

Apple also announced iAd, a new in-app advertising program it will run for developers who want to offer their apps for free and still earn some money. Apple will provide the technology, sell the ads and take 40 percent of the revenue generated. I'm hoping iAd doesn't lead to junking up an already small screen.

IPhone OS 4 will ship this summer for iPhone 3G and 3GS models, second- and third-generation iPod touch devices, and presumably new models that may be announced by then. Not all of the new features will work with all models (and the poor original iPhone will be stuck with iPhone OS 3). The iPad, which runs the same operating system, will get the upgrade in the fall.

Jeff Carlson and Glenn Fleishman write the Practical Mac column for Personal Technology and about technology in general for The Seattle Times and other publications. Send questions to carlsoncolumn@mac.com. More Practical Mac columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.