Technology

Using an iPhone, iPad or iTouch and running into a web page with Flash content now gives you the following message from our friends at Adobe: “Flash Player not available for your device. Apple restricts use of technologies required by products like Adobe Flash Player. Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone, iPad or iPod”. Just try from your iDevice and see for yourself!

But, didn’t Steve Jobs mentioned during his appearance in June on AllThingsD that Adobe did code Flash for iPhone OS a while back but performance was so sucky that Apple said “Come back later when you get your shitty software fixed and we’ll talk business”. Yeah, OK…

So, Adobe Flash sucks, we know that. Apple are being dicks as usual and we know that. So, what now? Cuz, the thing is, there is still lots of content that requires Flash all over the web and tons of people now uses Apple’s mobile devices to browse the web. Will a comprise be reached anytime soon?? Well, I got a few ideas of my own here!

Apple, allow Flash to be installed on the iPhone (at least on the iPad for heaven sake) with a little on/off switch that the user can control. We’re not all completely retarded.

Adobe, put a little effort in creating a good Flash plugin for Apple’s iDevices, would ya; one that doesn’t hog system resources and crash the device too much. Is that too much to ask for?

Et voilà!

I have been on the hunt for some time now, looking for a new smartphone that is as powerful and functional as the iPhone and not an iPhone! Let’s face it – it’s not as easy as it might seem. The one feature that is really important to me is accessing the web. Video camera would also be cool to have. I currently own the iPhone 3G; web is great but no video recording.

It seem that a Google Android phone would be the way to go. In particular, I like the Motorola Droid (called Milestone in Canada). But I’m a little scared. Abandoning my iPhone 3G just three weeks away from launch of the iPhone 4 (Canada: end of July) seems a bit suicidal. Starting a new 2 or 3 years contract with a non-Apple phone? Whouaah!

Now, I hear Android OS 2.2 is coming very soon, so that sounds interesting. I think I’ll hold on to my iPhone 3G until the end of the summer. Frankly, that antenna story with iPhone 4 kind of threw me off too. The way Apple handled the situation; I didn’t like it. Then again, according to reviews all over the web, in terms of feature, performance, ease of use and “everything else” the iPhone 4 is still the one to beat.

So I got my hands on one of those 16GB iPad and, although I’m residing in Canada, it was fairly easy to get believe it or not. Now what do I think of it? Well it is pretty much the coolest, easiest and fastest way to access your stuff on the web, playing games, viewing photos and watching videos that you’ve ever experienced. Seriously. So all the hype was, say, adequate. But it is not without flaws for sure.

It has no file manager, no camera and no Flash support. The first two are a bummer. Flash? Meh it’s no biggy for me and don’t miss it. The biggest bummer has to be the lack of a camera. That is tragic…come on Apple! Think, Skype maybe? Video conferencing? Eeeh how about iChat?! Hey you can’t have it all, right?!

Now let’s talk about some key features…

The virtual keyboard – The keyboard is impressively quite useable. In portrait mode or landscape I have no problem with it at all. It takes a bit of times to get used to it but, once you grab hold of it, it’s just fine. Perhaps not for writing a novel but it works fine for blogging, Facebook and stuff like that.

Positioning and Weight – The darn thing ain’t really light. The specs read 1.5 pounds which may seem like nothing but holding the iPad in the air while reading an e-book can get uncomfortable. Of course, it’s relatively small size and accelerometer allows you to rotate the device to any angle you wish in a breeze so it always remain in a pleasant position. Fed up of reading in landscape then rotate to portrait.

The Web – Steve Jobs was right at the introduction back in January: You’re no longer “browsing” the web your “holding” it in your hands! Surfin’ the web on this thing is just awesome. Smooth, vivid colors; everything looks alive and more personal it seems.

Gaming – Thanks to its fast processor playing games on this thing is really really cool. Mind you I haven’t tried any heavy games on it yet but some of my personal favorites like Virtual Pool HD and Labyrinth 2 HD (both designed for the iPad) runs very smoothly and fast; no hiccups! I’m going to try heavier games later this week.

Needless to say I am enjoying the iPad, so far. I have very little doubt that anyone with an open mind, who’s curious about trying out new techno things will love the iPad. Can it replace your laptop or PC? Well that all depends on what you do. Think of it as a lite computing device for everything that’s done “in the cloud” such as banking, blogging, YouTube, Facebook and so on. It’s an amazing gaming device and book reader as well. But it could also be used for so many other things and for working professionals in various areas.

Q&A for my hommies who can’t wait until late May to get the Canadian version:

Can I access the App Store from the device? No. The Canadian App Store is not up yet. However, you can get a lot of iPad apps through iTunes on your computer then sync them to your iPad. Even with a Canadian account it works. Just open iTunes and do a search for “iPad” and a bunch of iPad apps will show up. Or just search for an app name and iTunes give you both results for iPhone and iPad, if available.

Can I purchase and download iWork apps from iTunes? Nope, not yet. No iBooks either.

Can I download the Kindle e-book reader? Yes, that one is available on the Canadian iTunes store already. Some free and cheap books are up for Canadian customers too.

Can the iPad replace my laptop or PC? It can if you want to! But don’t expect that you’ll be able to install Microsoft Word on it. The iPad is not really designed to replace anything. It’s a new class of computer, lightweight, loooong battery life and very very easy to use it’s not even funny.

Can I carry it to the club tonight? Like I said, it’s not going to be out for another 5 weeks here in Canada so don’t get too drunk because you’ll be crying to your mamma the next morning.

Questions? Don’t be shy…