I have always been a fan of trackballs for input. So when Apple released the Magic Trackpad I was intrigued. Oddly enough, I have never really warmed up to the trackpad on notebook computers. I think that it’s the small area that gives me issues. A small motion on the pad corresponds to a huge onscreen movement. But the offering from apple isn’t so dainty. Roughly a 5 inch square. This seems to correspond to the same area that I tend to use a mouse in, so the gestures are equitable in my head. The design is sleek, brushed aluminum that matches my iMac. So I bought one. After syncing it to my Mac it still didn’t work. Whoops, download the update. Now it works flawlessly. I coupled it with the ever present Better-Touch-Tool. Amazing!!! It will do everything that I could ever need. Much better for me than a mouse, even my Magic Mouse. Now, this is where I have to say that I don’t do any video, graphic, or sound editing. Although I think that the trackpad would work just fine for a normal user like me, like all devices of this type, I’m not sure if it has a fine enough touch to handle any editing at the pro level. We’ll let Jeff play around with it and see if it will pass his test. I doubt it since his weapon of choice is a Wacom.
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As I waited (and waited), for my upgrade to finish yesterday, I was visiting websites to see if anyone was having any issues, (there were a few, but looked to be few and far between) I completed the upgrade and must say I was pleased, with folders. This was my favorite pare of IOS 4. Multi-tasking will not work currently as the app must support the function and not just the OS.
I am sure as time goes on the multi-tasking will become viable as more vendors update their applications to take advantage of the multi-tasking, but it’s not there yet.
The update to mail is cool too. I like the unified inbox. (I wish they would put this ability into the desktop mail app.) I am running an iPhone 3GS and I’m not sure if it is an optical illusion, but my phone seems to be running MUCH faster. Now I do have some friends that upgraded their iPhone 3g and had more issues. it took much longer to install, also they got the mail fix and the folders, but were disappointed with the inability to set the wall paper.
What is your favorite part of the IOS 4 update. Leave it in the comments.
Here are the numbers for the browser benchmark article. The numbers for Safari 5 and webkit were identical.
SPEED WARS.
With the browser speed wars escalating almost daily I hate to say that I had given up hope on the Opera browser. The Opera releases are always touted as being the “fastest on earth”, when in reality they limped doggedly at the hind end of the pack. Recently I had read about the newest offering of the 10.6 beta, with a claimed 50% increase in certain java tests I figured that it was just another claim that would not live up to my expectations.
I was wrong.
I used the PeaceKeeper benchmark on my iMac duo core 2 gig machine. I tested Safari 5, WebKit, Chrome, and Opera. (Sorry to all of the FireFox fans, but the Mozilla browser never seems to come close to the others in the speed tests, so I didn’t test it this time.)
Opera won. Let me repeat that OPERA WON. It smoked both of the Safari offerings by 1,000 points, and slid past Chrome by 190 or so. It seems the the folks over at the Opera lab have finally got something going on. Other than that they have always been the top of the heap when it comes to rendering engines. Opera has consistently lead the way in the rendering tests, but used to fall woefully short in many of the other arenas. Not this time. Evidently the 50% increase was targeting at the correct areas and now the browser screams. If you like the speed of Chrome, but are looking for something different, try the Beta offering of Opera. You won’t be disappointed.
It’s been a while since I’ve had time to post anything. Work has been crazy and I’ve been traveling around the country quite a bit lately. The upside of this is that I was able to pry the iPad out of my wife’s hot little fingers for a couple of these trips and put it through it’s paces as a travel computer. I must say that I am fairly impressed.
We all know that I love our iPad, but I wasn’t sure if would be able to take the place of my laptop when I travel. After these past few months I would rather take the iPad than my laptop. It’s smaller form is a huge benefit to me. I can take it anywhere. I took it all over Manhattan with me and there are so many hotspots that it was connected most of the time. I’m not a New Yorker so this was great. I was able to find anything I needed, or wanted, as I wandered through the city. I was able to keep up with all of my correspondence without having to squint at my phone. Although bright sunlight is not great for viewing anything on the glossy screen it is an easy fix to turn away from the sun and shadow the device for better viewing. I have heard reports of overheating, but I did not experience any problems, even on a warm sunny day in direct sunlight.
I would not have bought a 3g model even if it had been available at launch, but one of the hotels that I stayed at didn’t have WI-FI in the rooms and 3g would have come in handy. I still don’t think that I would buy a 3g unit, but I can see why some people would want it. I’ll just check my reservations a little more closely.
Most of my travel for work entails emails, contact info, scheduling, and mapping. This is pretty light duty stuff and my iPhone handled it before I got the iPad. Once again it comes down to the form factor that makes the iPad my choice for a travel computer. So much smaller than a laptop and so much bigger than a phone. It is the best of both worlds for my needs.
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