What the iPad Means for Students
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 by Kelly Sutton 
Ooooooh. Or eeewwwwwwww? Photo by Matt Buchanan. Licensed under CC 2.0.It's fair to say these days that students love Apple. The MacBook outsells every other laptop out there n the student demographic. The iPhone is the go-to smart phone for students: the $99 entry point is affordable and you can leave your parents with the monthly bill. Apple tried once again to explode the world today with the announcement of the iPad, the mythical Apple tablet. Unlike unicorns, these actually exist. There are many features on this thing, but I'm going to highlight the ones that will be particularly applicable to a student's lifestyle.
So what does the iPad mean for students?
The Netbook You Wish You Bought, Question Mark?
Mr. Steve Jobs started off his keynote this morning by calling netbooks chinsy. They aren't so much netbooks as they are cheap laptops. What the world needs instead, Steve argued, was something else to fit into this "third space." (The third space is the category between laptop and phone.)
We've been big proponents of netbooks in the past, and the fact that Stevie specifically called out netbooks made my ears perk up. Maybe the netbook isn't for that middle space, but a tablet? Maybe we weren't meant to wrestle with small physical keyboards but rather small virtual keyboards? Is this the Jesus netbook?
Maybe. I won't be able to answer this specific question until I have one in my lap for a week.
iBook Store
I'm a Kindle owner and we reviewed a ton of eBook readers at CES. Hell, I'm trying to go the entire semester with solely digital material.
A few of the best things about the Kindle are its screen DPI (dots per inch), its contrast ratio and its "inactive" screen. The DPI doesn't determine the resolution of a screen, but rather how densely packed together the pixels are. Your typical computer screen these days has a DPI of 72. The Kindle 2's DPI is closer to 160. The higher DPI makes anything displayed on the screen appear crisper.
The contrast ratio is similar. Pitch black ink on paper has an extremely high contrast ratio. eInk screens do their best to replicate this contrast ratio and do a pretty good job. With active LCD screens, it's a little bit tougher to get high contrast ratios. This is one thing that can contribute eye strain during long sessions in front of a screen.
The Kindle's inactive screen is also a plus. The device refreshes the screen at every page turn. A typical computer screen is actually blinking 60 times per second. Any person that has stared into a strobe light knows that this can be uncomfortable. (Thankfully, I am completely immune to such flicker sickness.)
While I think the iPad will be the Kindle hands down for flipping through textbooks, I bet I will still prefer my Kindle for casual and longer reading sessions.
iWork
One of my favorite academic-related pieces of software is Keynote. I create all of my presentations in Keynote. One of the best parts about Keynote is that it makes it easy to create good presentations. Open Office and PowerPoint can do the same things as Keynote, but it takes a little bit more elbow grease.
Seeing this come to the iPad opens up a new way of interacting with presentations that I can't wait to play with. Hopefully Apple nails the interactions well and keeps things fluid.
It was also hinted that the iPad will be able to connect to projectors, which is a solid play. I've got no problem hauling my laptop to class for a presentation, but having the option of delivering a presentation from the iPad is an obvious feature to include.
I'm not too excited about working with Pages or Numbers. Whatever.
3G and WiFi
It had been buzzed about plenty, but it's nice that the iPad includes 3G. It is not nice that it is on the AT&T network. While the AT&T network works in many smaller cities, it is lousy in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Utterly terrible.
But the wireless on LMU campus is equally terrible and finicky. In fact--due to configuration issues--the LMU wireless network caps out at a speed slower than a 3G network on a decent day. So the fact that a pimped out iPad has an alternative to WiFi is a nice touch.
What do you think? Will you be getting an iPad when it's released in two months? Or do you think it's just a flash in the pan? Let us know in some comments!
Reader Comments (19)
I will not be getting an iPad because I feel even Apple is hesitant about it. This is Steve's first keynote where he actually had to sell the item. It was like they realized it was not cool enough on its' own. My impression of Apple products is that they truly the design a better product. My Macbook is a dream to use. I will always use a macbook for my laptop. I wished I owned an iMac for it is also a dream to use. I have an iPhone 3g and I believe it is the best phone on the market or 3gs. Their computers are designed to be great. Iphone was designed to be great. iPad was designed to sell. Look at it from this perspective. Apple focuses on outward appearance because their products are meant not to have a case. Now I do have a case on my phone but thats because I do not have the money to buy replacements when I drop it, but the iPhone was designed to be used without a case. Apple has already issued an official case to go with the iPad. This means they have to entice you to buy it even more because by itself it is not good enough. The case allows for the iPad to stand on its end so that you watch movies or be at angle so you type more comfortably. All I see this to mean is that Apple does not think the iPad is good enough by itself.
I would be getting one, but not until my iPhone contract runs out, for now I may end up getting one before then.
At the moment having a MacBook + iPhone 3Gs I get the same functionality as the iPad.
Over all I am pretty sure I would be using Keynote on there Pages I am willing to spend the $10 on to buy, however Numbers I am not interested in.
The fact that it hooks up to a projector is awesome! I would so use that feature!
I'm not super impressed with what they released today. I wanted something that would change the world right off the bat, like the iPod and iPhone (and the name is iffy at best). Really what I wanted was something I could take to class, write notes on (being an engineer, formulas and diagrams are not real conducive to taking notes on a laptop), read my textbooks on, and maybe even view/annotate professors slides. What I'm really excited about, and what I think a lot of people have overlooked, is that Apple didn't release a world changing standalone tablet today, like everyone wanted/expected. What they released, however, is a platform which has huge potential. The biggest restrictions to the iPhone have always been is slow processor and low screen real estate. Of everything I've heard about the iPad so far today from people who've been hands on is that, if nothing else, it is FAST. This opens up a huge door to developers, and I think that's where the really cool stuff is going to come from. That and the fact the the next generation is, if Apple's history with these things is any indicator, will be even faster, with more memory (128gb is my magic number), and possibly running on a 4g network. wait a few months after it comes out, and then watch the app market explode. I can't wait =]
Damn, I should have let you guys write this post :)
@Phillip: Those are really awesome points you bring up. I never thought of it that way. With my iPhone, buying it seemed like the logical thing to do. With my MBP, it was a no-brainer. With the iPad though, I'm still scratching my head.
@Elie: Hell yeah.
@Zack: Apple is much more interested in the platform business rather than the product business, I think. Look at the numbers for the iPhone and it's obvious. We'll see how it pans out, but I'm still not sold on the textbook capabilities yet.
I don't really think it's ideal for students.
It's pretty much an ebook with iphone functions. I don't think the intention was to really sell it to students. I mean, yea there is a keyboard function on the ipad but it does not allow you to view all the keys on a normal laptop keyboard. Where's the keys for the numbers? commas? semi-colons? and question marks? Do you know how annoying it would be to have to tap a key to switch to a different keypad with another set of symbols or numbers?
My profs like to send out their notes on ppt or doc files and what I was hoping with the ipad was that I could download the lectures in class and jot down additional notes or diagrams on the the lecture notes.
First off, I wonder if it supports pdf files or other document types like microsoft office. If it IS like an iphone, boy do I hate how i can only load documents and pdfs in my email! I can't save it in a folder or anything on the mainscreen. And could I modify these files? Add additional text to them?? Is this option only limited to iworks?
Also, I love to save paper and get really lazy when I have to print my notes out everyday before heading to class. I know this sounds really stupid but...what I hate the most is when the prof gives an explanation of something and then walks to the board and decides to draw a simple diagram or write a long chemical or math equation. At this time, I would have to take out some paper, close my laptop (because the desk is too small) and jot the stuff down because it would take awfully long just to draw a diagram or write out the equation on the laptop. I was hoping that the ipad would be like an actual 'electronic notepad' where you could take out a stylus and speed up the note taking process while saving paper. Too bad it isn't like the other laptop tablets where the designers have already thought of this :(
And maybe this writing function isn't possible since the screen is heat sensitive and not pressure sensitive. Will they change it for the future ipad models? Or make a future 'electronic notepad' geared towards students?
We are considering purchasing this much less expensive ipad for our son who will be going to high school next year. Kelly brings up some good questions on it's usability in school but my husband says the iwork apps ($10 ea) will give you the ability to open and edit office documents and save them as iwork compatible documents.
We were going to buy him a macbook but the cost was a huge factor. We would also have had to buy a program that would transcribe oral dictation but noticed that there is a free app that we can put on the ipad eliminating that expense as well.
My concern was to be bending over the thing while typing to see what is on the screen but you can purchase a separate keyboard and the case would allow for it to sit basically like a laptop on a school desk.
The ibook store feature is also a bonus as it would eliminate the need to lug around heavy textbooks and be easy to purchase on line as opposed to physically searching for text books when in post secondary school.
The other concern is that it won't be able to do flash that is needed for most of the video online but not a huge concern for us as we want our son to use this for school work and flash is mostly for online games and videos.
That leaves the only real concern now is can we trust our 13 yr. old to take care of it, not drop it and also watch over it as it would be a hot gadget that other kids may want to steal.
I suggest a read of Mashable's take on Apples move. http://mashable.com/2010/01/28/what-we-learned-about-apple-yesterday/
Apple has placed this to not step on the toes of any of it's other products (maximize profits). I can't help to think Apple has some sort of solution to this whole dilemma. The "best" way to browse the web isn't with black holes all over the screen.
Omitted the word flash above. Should read: I can't help but think Apple has some sort of solution to this whole flash dilemma.
@Luke: As a Web developer, Flash is the bane of my existence. I think it's great that Apple is leaving it in the dust and forcing people to do it the "right" way.
Right way being HTML 5?
As a pre-med student, I'm pretty excited what the iPad will bring to the clinical setting. Such a device definitely has a place in the move toward electronic medial records.
Student wise, 3rd party stylus accessory + Evernote would be heaven.
@ Luke: That actually really interesting...I hadn't thought of it that kind of application. Once you start getting industry specific, it really opens up some doors. I want an app that allows me to open Sketchup Models. I don't need to able to draw them, but just to view them; rotate, zoom, turn on and off layers, that kind of thing.
And I actually spent like a hour last night talking with my girlfriend about how to do a stylus. I think you'd have to put some sort of film over the screen, since a) you don't want to be scratching that beautiful screen and b) writing on dead smooth glass doesn't feel right; you're hand is trained to expect resistance when writing. The big issue is the touch resolution; how many sensors are there, and are there enough for the kind of detailed writing a stylus would allow?
@Zack
Pogo Sketch has had a simple solution for a while now. Works with Unibody Macbook trackpads as well. http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php
I'm not too impressed by the iPad and I love Apple products. I can't see it actually being useful from day to day. I think Microsoft's Courier concept (http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet) would be much more ideal for students. A tablet needs a stylus to really be useful. I'm still hoping the Courier makes it to production. I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Sorry, I think the iPad is a an iFail. I love my iPhone 3GS, don't get me wrong. I think it's the best phone out there. But the iPad is just a big iPhone, except it has no camera and can't make calls, and it can't fit in my pocket. There are more cant's than cans with the iPad. It can't multitask. Seriously? A device that can't run iTunes and Safari at the same time is going to replace my netbook? How about Safari and OneNote or EverNote?
My netbook will triumph over the iPad because I can actually get things accomplished on it, and I don't have to buy a separate keyboard to dock it to. I can run Chrome and OneNote and iTunes and a chat program. I can choose what software I want to install. It has a front-facing camera and *gasp* USB slots that don't require an adapter! So I can plug it into a printer, or use my classmate's thumbdrive for the class presentation.
Also I think you'd quickly get tired of having this thing sitting on the desk flat and hunching over it to type and read at the same time.
So the iPad comes with 3G. No big deal. I can simply plug in my iPhone into my netbook (using those handy things known as USB slots) and use internet tethering.
I can't see the iPad being a great eReader, either, because it doesn't have e-Ink. The whole point of an eReader is to get rid of that eyestrain. I use computers all day, but I don't necessarily like reading novels on a computer screen.
I don't think the iPad fills any 'space', unless there's some untapped into market for a giant iPod Touch. My netbook isn't a powerhouse of a computer, but it takes notes, runs more than one program at a time, and is just as portable (and cheaper).
Steve Jobs can knock on netbooks all he wants, but I think they're the better call for students than the iPad.
They really needed to add a front camera on his things. Can you imagine the possibilities it would open up in the classroom?
- great for studying with a partner
- Easy video chatting
- share with people all around the world in real time.
Not to mention the fact at just how cool it would be.
Digital media will not take over standard printed media. It will be this way until a tablet that is indestructible and runs on limitless power. Holding an actual book and knowing that it will always be with you, unless you burn it, is an instinctual feeling that cannot be mimicked by digital media, yet.
i don't think the iPad is designed for students, if that was the case then apple would have come up with better features that would benefit a student. For example, note taking, downloading textbooks, voice recorder, and allowing iWorks to be able to do a bit more. I think that the iPad is an interesting product but i strongly believe that apple was capable of doing something way better! I keep hearing good and bad things about this product, but all the other apple products have had nothing but GREAT feedback. Apple defiantly didn't do their best and i honestly think that their second generation iPad will be a jaw opener, thats if apple really listens to what the people are asking for in what they expect the iPad should to do. People's expectations are pretty high but apple's determination to be the best is even greater, because they are the best at what they do. I know that the iPad will sooner or later be a hit...
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