iPad

Score: 85%
Developer: Apple
Device Type: System

Function:

Before we talk about the iPad, you may wonder how we came into possession of such a treasured bauble. We'd love to tell you we pried it from the dead hands of our enemy during a bloody raid in the dank depths of some orcish dungeon, but that would be stretching the truth. Okay, a baldfaced lie. Truth is, we won the darn thing in a random giveaway, even with our generally mediocre luck. Game Vortex came back from E3 2010 with more than just good scoop, when THQ/Volition picked our lucky little name out of a hat to win an iPad, courtesy of their upcoming title Red Faction: Armageddon. We got all gushy over Armageddon when it was announced and especially after seeing it up close and personal at E3. Until we get our hands on Armageddon, we'll now have some iPad games to keep us company.

The iPad does more than play games, but we'll probably review it here with more of an eye toward gaming. iPhone has become a formidable platform in mobile gaming, so it's not a huge surprise that gamers should take note of the iPad. It combines many of the features we love about iPhone, the Nintendo DS, and PC's, in a compact frame that tucks into a side pocket of your computer bag. Out of the box, it's capable of doing any number of things well, but we'll stick to the most obvious. First, it's great for browsing online. Safari is Apple's native browser, and loads quickly on the iPad, unless you want to view Flash. Webmail is always an option, but the Apple Store offers numerous applications ("Apps," as they're usually referred to) for email and a native client called, appropriately enough, "Mail." Beyond the basics of communication, the iPad is a platform on which you can install almost any type of application, for productivity, learning, music, graphics, business, and of course games.

What you get in the box is the iPad itself, plus a power adaptor that works from either a standard wall-jack or plugged into a computer through USB. The initial setup is done through a computer, where you'll link to an existing iTunes account. Once you are established with an account, you can search the store to download and purchase apps directly from the iPad. Accessories you won't find in the box include a carrying case or any kind of screen protector, both of which are a must for anyone not living in a museum. Also sold as accessories are stands to hold this baby up for viewing on a table, and add-on keyboards you can use to transform the iPad into a tiny little desktop Mac. It's a weird concept to buy something portable only to make it less portable, but we do it all the time with our PSP and DS systems, don't we? The good news is that the iPad is flexible from both a hardware and software perspective, molding well into whatever kind of experience you want to create.

Performance:

iPad comes in several flavors, but the biggest distinction is in whether your device can go online via 3G networks and Wi-Fi, or just with Wi-Fi. There's also a progression in terms of storage capacity, from the 16GB model we have to a 64GB monster capable of swallowing all the docs and files you can throw at it. 3G service from AT&T - on iPad models that support this feature - costs anywhere from $15-25 per month. I spend 90% of my waking hours in close proximity to a good wireless connection, so the Wi-Fi model works great for me. When you first launch the iPad, you'll be asked to connect via USB to your PC or Mac and sync with iTunes. If you don't yet have an iTunes account, you'll need one, since that's where you'll get all the iPad apps and manage software updates for your device. If you're an iTunes veteran, you'll be transferring and syncing in no time, making sure that content you've purchased finds a home on the iPad. Familiar apps like Safari, Mail, Contacts, and Settings come installed on the device, plus a few that you haven't seen before like Notes and Maps. Notes is a bit like Sticky Notes, but with features that make it friendly for a touchscreen interface. Maps is a great implementation of Google Maps that offers the quickest, most intuitive Street View interface I've ever seen. iPad allows you to run multiple applications, or saves your last place in a given app, so you can listen to music and do other things like surf the Web. The screen rotates depending how you hold the device, unless you switch on a lock button, placed on the top-right side. The only other prominent buttons are the volume toggle, the power-on/sleep button, and the Home button at the bottom-front of the device. Headphone port lives at the top of the iPad, while a docking port and speakers live at the bottom. It's a simple and beautiful design.

Beyond the basics, you'll soon dive into the App Store and begin downloading. Pulling down one app brings you immediately back to your Home screen, so if you're intent on installing multiples, it may be easier to browse through iTunes on your desktop. The list of games is almost overwhelming, including many free options. You can browse by category, then drill down to look at new apps, or just highlight the Top Paid/Free options. We grabbed a few solitaire games to get a feel for how the whole thing works and learned a few things immediately. The games and apps that worked on iPhone will generally install and run on the iPad, but in their original form factor. It's a little odd to see only 20% of the iPad taken up when you run an iPhone app without magnification, and the "2X" option that fills the iPad ends up causing major pixellation. The moral of the story is that you'll mostly want apps that are optimized or designed for the iPad. The other thing you'll notice is that so-called free apps often have limited functionality, serve lots of ads, or ask you to sign up before playing. This may not be a dealbreaker for some users, but others may find jumping through these hoops annoying. The range of games available is broad enough, including some major entries in the casual space and various arcade, strategy, action, and puzzle offerings. Reviews help you sift through to find those diamonds or diamonds-in-the-rough, and it is clear whether reviews were given on a current or previous version of the app. You'll be downloading and playing in minutes, which is a great part of the appeal in buying a purpose-built device that only features software Apple has gone to pains to certify will work well.

Features:

Touchscreen Interface Lets You Experience the Web, Email, Photos, and Video with the Touch of a Finger
Accelerometer and Ambient Light Sensors Automatically Adjust to Motion and Your Surroundings
Access to App Store, Featuring Thousands of Apps Made Just for iPad. Also Runs Almost 200,000 iPhone Apps
iBooks (plus Kindle and B&N) Apps Provide 24X7 Access to ebook Reading, with Support for Touch
Connect Using Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) and 3G Access (if supported), plus Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Technology
16GB, 32GB, and 64GB Storage Options Available
Up to 10 Hours of Battery Life for Surfing the Web on Wi-Fi, Watching Video, or Listening to Music
1GHz Apple A4 Custom-Designed, High-Performance, Low-Power System-on-a-Chip
9.7-inch, High-Resolution LED-Backlit IPS Display with Multi-Touch Capability
1024-by-768-Pixel Resolution at 132 Pixels per Inch

Drawbacks & Problems::

Most of what we'll mention in this section are minor annoyances, unless you want to delve into the debate over whether "computing the Apple way" is a good trend for the world. There's no doubt that the ecosystem for the iPad and its apps is still relatively small, but Apple hasn't exactly been an enemy to the open source community. The objection that one can't install homebrew apps or jailbreak the iPad can be countered with the argument that this is a purpose-built device that people just want to bend to their own agenda. You can hack your coffee maker, but you probably won't change the fact that it's designed to make coffee. The iPad is designed to provide a superior user experience on a tablet, and it definitely delivers. Other tablets will no doubt arrive soon, and then we can compare apples to apples, but right now there's almost nothing else like the iPad out there. So, you end up accepting it with its flaws, but that won't be true forever. Just as Android-based phones are now outselling iPhones, the market can shift quickly and turn winners into losers. The list of what's missing on the iPad would include at least one camera, preferably two. The only software annoyances at this stage are probably the lack of flexibility in the interface; that whole thing about pressing the Home button to close one app, so you can open another, gets old quickly. One game we downloaded warned us about low memory, recommending as the solution that we completely power down the iPad and reboot... Apps are as good as the developers make them, but it's hard to complain when there are literally hundreds of free ones available, and many others at a low cost. Again, the thing about forcing us to go back to the Home page when we download an app is a minor annoyance, but one that builds over time.

Betting against Apple wouldn't be my first inclination, especially after spending some time with the iPad. It's going to be adopted widely by gamers once the price point drops, and perhaps once it adopts an in-between form factor. Right now it's a drop-in replacement for almost any so-called netbook out there, especially at the price point. You can't do as much with it as a notebook or netbook, but you also can't find many laptops that take up less room than the average print magazine. iPad in its current form is somewhat of a teaser, but it's a fantastic portent of the technology bliss we'll all be living in about 10 years from now. Even though Fortune graced us with her soft gaze, (helped by the intrepid Volition marketing team, of course) we maintain that had we dropped $500 on this model, it would have felt like $500 well spent. Considering what a spendthrift I am, that is seriously high praise. iPad will feel to gamers (and everyone else) like the offspring of an Alienware rig, a Nintendo DS Lite, and a Tricorder. If you can bear the sticker shock, get your hands on one of these, stat.

-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications
AKA Matt Paddock

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