What would the case solve though? I also have the vo freezing problem on my touch; I expected it to be at least partly fixed on the ipad.
On 05/05/2010, Nicolai Svendsen <chojiro1...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > Just one question. > > Why not get the iPad case and put it in there? That just seems like a > logical solution to your dilemma. If you haven't sold it yet, give it here. > lol > > Really, I've always thought the iPhone was mainly for a consumer. You can > write long documents on it, but it is far from comfortable and very > efficient. Well, you can write really quickly on that device, but really, it > might get tiresome after a while. We will have Bluetooth keyboard support, > though, so that is very exciting. > > I imagine the screen to be exactly the opposite of what you are saying. > Sorry to disagree. I think the larger screen would aid me a great deal, and > the split-screen is just a nifty feature to me. I won't get an iPad, though, > and I have a lot of reasons for that. I'll try out an iPad at the end of May > when they ship internationally, but I'm not going to be that excited. > > First, what can the iPad do that my iPhone cannot? iWork? Perhaps. But right > now, I don't see myself using an iPad. Technically, the space I would take > up if I hook up a bluetooth keyboard to the iPad is probably just as much as > my Macbook, if a little bit less. The Macbook is faster, and I need the > superior speed. I need to be able to type blazingly fast, and though I could > do that with the iPad keyboard dock or bluetooth keyboards, I still don't > want to carry those accessories around with me. Of course, that doesn't mean > I can't become very efficient with the on-screen keyboard on the device. > > Secondly, yes, the glare from the iPad's LCD is hard on the eyes for a few > hours. Having to read on the iPad or iPhone for long periods of time is a > pain, and that is really only because it is bright. IF it was like the > Kindle where you still need a lamp to read, great. > > Third, I just don't think the iPad is right for me. I want something small > like my iPhone that can do all these things already, and I just can't > justify buying an iPad right now. Yeah, there are probably things the iPhone > will be unable to do, but that hasn't hampered my productivity any. > > Regards, > Nic > Mobile Me: nic2...@me.com > Skype: Kvalme > MSN Messenger: nico...@home3.gvdnet.dk > AIM: cincinster > yahoo Messenger: cin368 > Facebook Profile > My Twitter > > On May 5, 2010, at 7:23 AM, Bryan Smart wrote: > >> OK. So, I've had my iPad Wi-Fi+3G for less than a week, and I've already >> decided not to keep it. There is so much of a euphoric glow on some of the >> lists about the wonderfulness of this device. I'm the type of person that >> is always eager to investigate new technologies and ways of working, and >> so expected that I'd agree with the generally positive reception. I don't. >> >> I have experience with the iPhone, and, other than the fact that it is >> slower to operate than a device with buttons, and that the battery life is >> terrible when compared to most mobile phones, I thought that it was an >> impressive piece of tech with an advanced approach to user interaction. >> >> I was excited about the iPad, and expected it to bring everything from an >> iPhone, only improved. First, the iPad would have a larger screen, so it >> should be possible to more easily move my finger directly to the position >> of known controls in order to speed up the operation. Also, the iPad would >> have a significantly larger battery than the iPhone, so I could spend >> hours using apps, even wireless apps, without having to worry about >> draining the power away. >> >> The only universally great thing that I can say about the iPad is that the >> battery is spectacular. With the screen brightness set to low, it runs for >> a very long time. I've spent hours streaming movies via Netflix over 3G, >> and the battery just keeps on going. >> >> Unfortunately, that's where it all ends. It isn't that I think that the >> tech behind the iPad is necessarily bad. If you want this experience, >> though, as a blind person, you're better off with an iPhone. >> >> Why? Well, let's compare the iPad to the iPhone 3GS. >> >> The iPad has a larger screen. If you're sighted, this is great for >> watching video. Watching movies on a tiny phone screen has got to be an >> eye strain. Blind people don't watch movies, and we can listen to them >> just fine on an iPad or iPhone speaker. >> >> I thought that the larger screen would help with VoiceOver, but, actually, >> it makes things worse. When you work an iPhone, placing your finger at >> different positions on the screen only requires wrist movement. The iPad >> screen is huge when compared to the iPhone, and you must move your entire >> arm in order to navigate the screen. This can become tiring after hours of >> computing, because your arm can rarely rest on anything. If you don't hold >> your arm up, with your fingers angled down, you're likely to bump the >> screen with part of your wrist or forearm, causing VoiceOver's focus to >> jump to some random position on the screen. This is particularly >> frustrating because there is so much content on an iPad screen. If you >> navigate through controls by swiping, you'll be swiping and swiping and >> swiping and swiping to get to where you'd like. Of course, you can >> directly explore with your finger, but I've noticed that, in several >> places (like the App Store and Safari), tapping somewhere doesn't >> necessarily mean that swiping will continue from that point. In many >> places, I'll tap at a point on the screen, but, when I start swiping, >> VoiceOver will always start from the top of the screen. So, in those >> situations, if you accidentally touch the screen with some other skin >> while swiping, or if VoiceOver mistakenly interprets a swipe as a tap, >> then you'll lose your place, and need to start from the top of the screen. >> In the App Store in particular, I've swiped myself to frustration. >> >> The size of the screen is also not convenient for holding the iPad like >> you would the iPhone. It must rest on your lap or a table. And, with me >> pushing and tapping on it with both hands, I've had some situations where >> it has nearly slid off of my lap. With the screen being made of glass, >> that is not a great thought to ponder. So, I think that the screen size is >> not only wasted on blind users, but is also a drawback. >> >> The on-screen keyboard is a bit nicer to use on a large screen. However, >> the touch-typing mode makes even one-handed typing on a small screen a >> breeze. Besides that, the larger screen meant that a lot more arm motion >> was required to type on an iPad. I tried the two-handed typing approach in >> landscape mode, but find that, no matter how well you place your hands, >> typing is very mistake prone. For anyone that finds it hard to type for >> extended periods of time on the iPhone, you can use the iPad keyboard dock >> with it when the next iPhone OS comes out. >> >> VoiceOver is worse on the iPad. I'll just put my flame retardant suit on >> right now for the hordes of people that will respond and tell me how I'm >> wrong, how wonderful it is, and how it must be me. Well, I've used an >> iPhone extensively, and I've used the touch gestures on my MacBook Pro a >> lot, so I think that I'm pretty familiar with how everything is supposed >> to work. On the iPad, for gestures to work, I must over-act them. On my >> MacBook or iPhone, a little flick of my finger is enough to indicate that >> I'd like to move to the next item. On the iPad, I must make a huge swipe, >> extending a few inches. Small flicks will work, sometimes, but VoiceOver >> is very likely to just interpret the flick as a tap, and jump my focus. As >> I've said before, given how huge the screen is, and how the control order >> is broken in several important places, this is extremely frustrating. >> Having to make huge swipes means that my whole arm is involved, and >> swiping and swiping and swiping with your whole arm will really make your >> forearm sore after a few hours. Sometimes, the screen won't even register >> that I touched or swiped. The iPhone screen seems much more sensitive. >> >> The speech glitches at high speed. At 90% or above, Samantha can't say >> "search", and other words, without chopping off the ends. >> >> And, my largest complaint about VoiceOver on the iPad. It doesn't >> recognize, in most cases, when the screen updates. This seems to be most >> noticeable on screens that use HTML/web content. Say that you are in the >> App Store, or Safari, and you tap a link. You know that a new page/screen >> must have loaded. Sometimes you'll hear the audio cue indicating that the >> load completed, sometimes not. However, most always, if you start swiping, >> you'll realize that you're reviewing material from the old page. You must >> tap somewhere on the screen for VoiceOver to realize that, in fact, the >> screen has changed. This is annoying for purposes of situation and >> orientation. >> >> Here is how it should work. You double-tap a control. You wait. You hear >> the completed audio cue, and VoiceOver speaks the first item on the screen >> (which now has focus). Now, you can either start swiping through controls, >> explore the screen with your finger, or two-finger-swipe down to start >> reading the screen. >> >> This is how it works, though. You double-tap a control. You wait, and wait >> and wait. You don't get any feedback about what is happening, so you start >> exploring the screen with your finger. If the screen hasn't finished >> loading yet, then VoiceOver will either repeatedly click at you, or else >> you'll hear absolutely nothing (because VoiceOver is frozen up). Once the >> screen finishes loading, all of that tapping and touching that you did >> while VoiceOver was frozen will be suddenly processed, and VoiceOver will >> start going crazy with clicking and speaking fragments. Now, you aren't >> sure where you are, so you must four-finger-swipe up to get to the >> beginning of the screen, then start exploring. >> >> Another way that this can work out is that you double-tap a control, and >> VoiceOver will say something (supposedly the first control on the new >> screen "cancel button selected", or similar). When you start swiping, >> though, you'll hear the contents from the last screen. So, you first tap >> somewhere on the screen to force VoiceOver to realize that the contents >> have changed, then four-finger-swipe up to go to the beginning of the >> screen, then, finally, start exploring. >> >> Honestly, this is ridiculous. It is hard to believe that Apple couldn't >> catch such a problem. I guess that web support had minimal testing. Lots >> of apps use imbedded web content, though, so this happens in all sorts of >> apps from Wonder Radio to Net Flix. >> >> As a final VoiceOver thought, I've noticed that the iPad is experiencing a >> problem that the iPhone had early on in its life. For those of you with an >> iPad, lock the screen. Now, put your ear up next to the speaker. Hear that >> hiss. Now, put your iPad down for 5 minutes and come back. Still hear that >> hiss? That is the sound of your iPad's audio hardware constantly running >> and draining your battery. So, while the iPad's battery life is impressive >> in a continuous run (like watching movies back to back), it sucks in a >> similar way to the iPhone where you'll go to sleep with a full battery, >> and wake up with 70% or less. There is no reason for that on an iPad, >> since the iPad isn't doing sync for Visual Voicemail and all of the other >> AT&T phone to tower chatter. That open speaker, though, is probably the >> cause of most of the drain. >> >> I'm further discouraged to hear that the iPad won't be receiving an OS >> update until the Fall. So, I suppose that these VoiceOver issues will >> stand for at least 4 or 5 months. There will be a new iPhone, and a new >> version of the OS for everyone else, in about a month. A major OS update >> almost certainly means an update of VoiceOver. >> >> So, in the final analysis, the larger screen makes the iPad harder to work >> for me, and VoiceOver has more problems than on an iPhone. The larger >> battery is nice, but that isn't enough. In my mind, the iPhone is all the >> iPad that a blind user needs. >> >> If you are thinking of returning yours, better decide fast. You only have >> 14 days after receiving your iPad to return it, and, even then, you must >> pay a 10% restocking fee. >> >> The iPad is an interesting device, but I'd just rather use an iPhone, I >> think. >> >> Bryan >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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