The "New" iPad Review You Didn't Ask For

PRE-RAMBLE

If you're an avid reader of the blog: A) You're lying and B) you might remember my review of the Kindle Fire .

What avid and non-avid readers may not know is that after one-too-many glitchy and ultimately leaving-something-to-be-desired interactions I boxed up the Fire and sent it back to Amazon. After seeing how much my wife enjoyed her iPad, I decided to get back my $199 and apply it to the then-rumored iPad 3.

And that brings us up to today. After a couple weeks of getting my finger grease all over this beauty, here's what I think.

RETINAMAZING

The big (and some would say only) significant upgrade to this iPad from the iPad 2 is the Retina display. Now, I've read a few reviewes that seem to describe the new screen as some sort of LCD aurora borealis. Something that you can just gaze at in awe for hours on end.

I wouldn't go that far. But I will say the screen is the best looking computer-esque display I've ever laid my near-sighted eyes upon. It is incredibly sharp. Text is sharper than my e-ink Kindle, even as you zoom way in. Sometimes the screen is too good. But really that's only when an app hasn't been optimized to the new resolution. Games and images that aren't up to snuff look pretty pixelated. But the ones that are optimized do look fantastic.

Looking at it side by side with my wife's iPad 2 there's really no comparison. The new one is remarkably sharper. I really can't understand how the people in this video couldn't tell the difference.Via The Next Web

As for it's video playing acumen: HD video, either running from the device or streaming through the Netflix app, looks great. Non HD video looks OK. Still, I'm not about to cancel my DirecTV and trade in my HDTV. But it's a very capable back-up when the TV is occupied by Vampire Diaries. Or I guess I could read a book. But...screw that.

SPEAKING OF BOOKS

The Kindle Fire has a long way to go, but the regular Kindle can breathe easy. Even with the ultra-sharp text I still think my regular Kindle offers a more pleasant reading experience. I tried all the different settings on both the Kindle and iBooks apps (sepia is the best in my opinion), but the e-ink is simply easier on the eyes.

However, the iPad is really good for interactive magazines. I raved about them in my review of the Kindle Fire and on the iPad bigger is indeed even better. Well, except for the magazines that aren't optimized for the retina display. Those are borderline unreadable. And I'm still not convinced they really need to be 500MB+ per issue.

PICTURE (SORT OF) PERFECT

iPad photos aren't great no matter
how awesome the subject might be.

Photos, unsurprisingly, look great. Unless the photo was taken by the iPad itself, that is. They upgraded the lens and the and the bumped up the megapixels. But photos still don't look great. Not that taking photos with an iPad makes much sense in the first place.


The most pleasant surprise so far is the photo editing app Snapseed. I was going to buy the new iPhoto app, but changed my mind after seeing Snapseed got significantly better reviews. It's a very simple but pretty powerful way to enhance and touch up pictures. Whether you want to Hipstamatic-ify your pics after the fact, add some bitchin' effects and filters, or just tweak saturation levels, I can't imagine an app that makes any of that easier. For years I've wanted to learn Photoshop. I may not have to anymore. 

A perfectly nice photo...

Also on the content creation front, I tried out iMovie. It's been a little tricky for me to sync up cuts, transitions, and edits. But it's getting better with practice. My main issue is that I wish it was easier to access videos from my computer. But it's not too shabby for a tablet based video editor. And Garage Band is a good time, but ultimately just makes me wish I was a better musician so I could write songs for real. 

...completely jacked up
by an idiot using Snapseed

FUN & GAMES

The gaming on the iPad is even more fun than I expected. Even casual games are more engaging on the "big" screen compared to the iPhone. The caveat again is that the games need to be optimized for the new screen. And it certainly doesn't outperform the XBOX 360 or anything. But the graphics are getting pretty impressive.





THE VERDICT: THIS IS YOUR DAD'S iPAD 3. (IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE ONE OF MY KIDS.)

Yeah, I don't think I'll be sending this one back. The new iPad is everything I hoped it would be. A great browsing and content devouring experience. And a better than expected content creation experience. (Just to say I did it: I'm even typing this long-winded review on the iPad and it hasn't been horrible. Though I did have to jump on my computer to add the photos and video)

There are a few things about it that would make me hesitant to completely abandon a laptop. Those things are mostly limitations of how the OS currently works and a few functional things (right-clicking a mouse is a very underrated experience). But tablet domination might not be that far away.

That said, I agree with those who say that it may not be worth it to upgrade from an iPad 2. But if you're currently without iPad (and want one) it's definitely worth the extra $100 to buy the new iPad over a new iPad 2.

My only semi-regret is not buying the Verizon 4G LTE version that can also act as a 4G hotspot for up to 4 other devices. I didn't learn of that handy feature until after I got mine.  That would be nice in various family travel scenarios, but isn't really something I'd use much.

In conclusion, I can only say, well done Apple. Well done.

RATING YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR: ★★★★-1/2

My 11 Favorite Albums From 2011. (Another List You Didn't Ask For)

PRE-RAMBLE

Now that we're a few days into 2012, and I've had a chance to cross-check this list with the cool kids at pitchfork or whatever to make sure I'm not totally showing my dorkitude, it's the perfect time to let you know what my favorite albums of 2011 were.

I feel the need to offer two important facts about my musical tastes. Consider these before you make the mistake of possibly giving this list any credence.

1. Wussified Folk Rock is my default genre. When I was a kid, my dad had a sweet reel-to-reel stereo setup, but only a few albums. Thus, my formative years were spent listening almost exclusively to Simon & Garfunkel and The Beach Boys . Thus, I'm kind of programmed to be drawn to soaring melodies, killer harmonies, and a little cheesy pop from time to time.
2. I don't care about lyrics. Like, at all. I may be paid to write stuff. I'm obviously a big fan of my own words. (Hell, I'm four paragraphs into this list and haven't even gotten to the first album.) But, when it comes to determining how much I like a song, good lyrics are simply a nice bonus. How it's sung is way more important to me than what's being sung. How little do I care about lyrics? You know Rebecca Black's, Friday? The lyrics don't phase me. I think it's a pretty catchy pop song.

OK, hopefully you just skipped all that crap above. But I wanted to get it out there. Here's my favorite 11 for 2011 (I'm really setting myself up for a hell of a time when I have to crank out my list of the best 99 albums of 2099):

#11: Civilian by Wye Oak (★★★★)

Kind of a sleepy album, but has a number very pretty songs. I can't say that any of the songs immediately leaped out, grabbed me and wouldn't let go. But several crept up on me while I wasn't paying attention and put a hammerlock on my ears. Or maybe my headphones are just too tight, I don't know. Soaringnest melody: the second half of We Were Wealth.

#10: Circuital by My Morning Jacket (★★★★)

In 2002, I went to see Doves. My Morning Jacket opened up. I didn't have a clue who they were, but they certainly rocked it. In 2003, they released It Still Moves. I was on board. Then, for reasons I can't really articulate (or remember) I didn't connect with any of their albums that have followed. But I'm back on board, bb! This album isn't a huge departure from their earlier stuff, but it does have a few of their catchiest tunes to date. (Freakin' Sellouts.) Toe tappin'est tracks: the title track and Wonderful (The Way I Feel).

#9: Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine (★★★★)

I think a lot of people still see Iron & Wine as Sam Beam, Sam Beam's beard, Sam Beam's quiet falsetto, and Sam Beam's acoustic guitar. But his last album The Shepherd's Dog blew me away with its full array of instruments and incredible orchestration. He adds a little digital texture to the mix in this one. I admit that the album is kind of hit and miss. But the songs I like, I really like. Beardiest track: Walking Far From Home.

#8: El Camino by The Black Keys (★★★★)

What can I say? It's another Black Keys' album. It doesn't sound new. It just sounds cool. Most bitchin' tracks: Lonely Boy and Gold on the Ceiling.

#7: 100 Lovers by Devotchka (★★★★)

Devotchka is right up my alley. The lead singer has a crooning style that just lends itself to interesting melodies. Plus they have a kind of old-world folk music vibe and unconventional instrumentation that makes me feel like I'm all cultured 'n' stuff when I'm listening to it. Their strengths are in full force on this album, my favorite of theirs so far.  Most whistle-alongy track: Exhaustible 

#6: Making Mirrors by Gotye (★★★★-1/2)

I don't believe in guilty pleasures. If you like it, don't apologize. But, at times this album treads into territories that are a bit cheesy and poppy for even my cheesy and poppy tastes. But it makes up for it with a few songs that are simply too cool for school. There are just so many really solid and/or hooky songs on this album, I keep going back to it. Unguiltiest pleasure: Somebody I Used to Know, and Smoke and Mirrors

#5: Motopony by Motopony (★★★★-1/2)

This is what happens when soul meets white-bread college rock meets funk meets folk. Impressive debut by this group out of Seattle. When the track Seer comes on, even I almost feel cool. Other songs trying to make me cool through musical osmosis: June and Euphoria.

#4: D by White Denim (★★★★-1/2)

I'm pretty sure there are about 13 guitarists in this band. (Checks Google). Holy crap, these are four guys from Austin. Four guys that spit righteous, guitar-driven, (dare-I-say) classic rock. I don't know what to label it. I just know that this music is fun to listen to. Most air-guitary tracks: At the Farm and Anvil Everything

#3: Collapse Into Now by R.E.M. (★★★★★)

As the kings of Wussified Folk Rock, it's probably not surprising to know that R.E.M. is my all-time favorite band. Even in their trio years, when everyone (in the U.S.) disowned them I was still literally a member of their fan club. Their last two albums may not have the untouchable cool factor of their early stuff. But they contain just as much energy. There was maybe one clunker. (The fact that I don't like the song much to begin with, saved the title/chorus of Me, Marlon Brando,... actually being a rare occurrence of lyrics ruining a song for me.)  But it's definitely the best of the trio years. I'm just bummed I don't have another R.E.M. album to look forward to. Most wussified folk rocky tracks: Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter, Walk It Back, and the cascade of harmonies on It Happened Today.

#2: 21 by Adele (★★★★★)

The 12-year-old girls liked it. The top-40 crowd liked it. The hipsters liked it. I'm not sure, but I even think the snarling dude behind the counter at the Heavy Metal Shop thought it was alright. Classic R&B songs. (A critic could say derivative, but I won't.) And having been lucky enough to see her live this summer I can say that her voice is puuuuuuuure. Of all the albums that came out this year, this one is a lock to stand the test of time. I really could have done without the cover of Lovesong though. I used to be a totally mopy fan of The Cure, but never cared for that tune.  Most kickassy with a vengence songs: Rolling in the Deep and Rumor Has It.

#1: The Whole Love by Wilco (★★★★★)

I have to admit that, objectively, Adele had the album of the year. But my personal favorite of the year is by the group poised to take the crown as the new kings of Wussified Folk Rock.  I don't know if it's because it was self-released on the band's new label. But there's just a fresh, bold feel throughout the album.This album is just so damn well crafted. (Not that Wilco albums are exactly known for being sloppy.) Even my least favorite track, Capitol City, is still impeccable. It probably doesn't break any new ground, but it's Wilco being the best damn Wilco they can be. Most favoritey of the year tracks: Art of Almost, Born Alone, I Might, and Whole Love.

The Kindle Fire Review You Didn't Ask For

PRE-RAMBLE

I’m not really an early adopter. Don’t get me wrong. I’d like to be. I’m kind of a gadget guy, and I’m easily enamored with the latest shiny thing. But The Man, with all his wanting me to pay money for stuff, simply doesn’t allow it.

However, things changed when Amazon announced the Kindle Fire’s sub-$200 price tag. (Hey $1 is $1.) I ordered one a few hours after the announcement. My sorta-impulse decision was driven by Amazon’s excellent track record with the Kindle, and their under-publicized status as a major innovator in the tech world.

I also finally came to the realization that I wanted a tablet.

See, when the iPad came out, I played around with one at the Apple store and I wasn’t that intrigued. Over the last couple years dinked around with some friends’ iPad 2s and still wasn’t that intrigued.
But, I realized that my wife and I do most of our Web surfing on the couch, while simultaneously watching TV after the kids go to bed. (OK, I really do most of my Web surfing at work, but…) I know you’re probably jealous of our glamorous life. What can I say? Haters gonna hate.

Then, one night, as the fan on my wife’s two-year-old HP laptop relentlessly clattered away, and I became increasingly frustrated by surfing several websites on my iPhone [Review within the review: That’s just about the only bad thing I can say about my new 4S], the benefits of a tablet finally clicked in. Still, $500 for an iPad2 seemed a little steep.

So, anyway, last week the Kindle Fire finally hit my desk. Here are my Day 7 impressions:

INTERFACE: A GLITCHY DIGITAL BOOKSHELF

If you haven’t seen the Fire’s interface, the home screen is essentially a mash-up of iTunes Coverflow and a digital bookshelf that scrolls infinitely downward where you can pin your favorite apps. There are also a number of tabs up top that automatically categorize your books, magazines & newspapers, documents, streaming movies, streaming music, Web bookmarks…well, you get the idea.

I actually think I like this format better than Apple’s iOS. The coverflow portion is quick way to access your recently and, subsequently, most often used apps. And the tabs offer a quicker way to get to specific things on your device.

However, the touch responsiveness leaves a bit to be desired. Often times the coverflow won’t register your touch. Or it will, then will hiccup and completely reset itself. Last night it took me four attempts to open the
Wired magazine app from the coverflow section.

Also, in general, the scrolling, pinching, and zooming performance are way behind iOS. It’s really juttery and even seems inconsistent. Not having used an Android phone, I’m not sure if this is the fault of the Android foundation, or the veneer that Amazon has put on top.

I’ve also read several reviews that lamented the lack of a physical home button. I agree. It would make navigation a bit quicker.

WEB: SLOW AS A SILK WORM

Amazon touted its cloud-streamlined Silk browser as one of the Fire’s killer apps. Well, it’s not bad. It definitely beats the iOS Safari browser in terms of functionality (and not only because it supports Flash).
Still, it’s not nearly as fast as Chrome running on our laptop. It’s not even as fast as Safari on my iPhone.
In the promo video for Silk they talked about how it uses its cloud-magic to download smaller-size image files to help speed things up. That’s all well and good, except when you want to zoom in on the image a pair of shoes at Zappos that are now too pixelated to get a good look.
They claim that the more people use Silk, the faster it will get, but it has a ways to go. Seeing as Web surfing is the main reason I wanted a tablet, I’m a bit disappointed.

WEB PART II: TWEET THIS, JERKS

The worst aspect of the Fire Web experience for me so far isn’t a Silk-related problem. It’s the damn twitters. Despite all my efforts, and defaulting the browser to the “desktop” settin, twitter.com forces me to use the mobile version of the site. And I hate it, you have to refresh manually, and the scrolling locks up all the time.

I really like twitter’s iPhone app, but they don’t have one for the Fire yet. And all the third-party twitter apps available for the Fire, pardon my French, buuhhlowwww.

I’ve actually come to the point where I’m setting aside the Fire to check twitter on my iPhone.

MAGAZINES: THE PERIODICAL IS NOT DEAD

One of the pleasant surprises has been the magazines that are available on the Fire. Specifically Conde Nast has a free three-month subscription to a number of magazines that are optimized for the device. These include my personal favorites: Wired, Golf Digest and, of course, Brides. The interactivity of these apps make reading magazines fun again. Plus, they make you scroll through interactive versions of print ads. (Yay for my job security!)

However, there are also magazines that are not formatted specifically for the Fire. These are essentially .pdfs of the standard print versions. These totally suck to read on the Fire. Too much zooming, panning and scanning are required.

BOOKS: THE ORIGINAL KINDLE IS NOT DEAD, EITHER

When the iPad came out and they announced the Apple Bookstore, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that e-ink was superior to backlit LED for long-form reading. He was, and still is, correct.

VIDEO: I NO LONGER HAVE TO LEAVE THE TV ROOM WHEN GOSSIP GIRL (OR YO GABBA GABBA) COMES ON.

The video streaming works really well. The best experience is, not surprisingly, the ever-improving Amazon Prime. A click on the tab and you’ve got easy access to their growing catalog of streaming titles. The movies load up quickly and the quality is good.

I was also pleased (and surprised: Netflix and Amazon Prime are competitors after all) that one of the Fire-optimized apps at launch was Netflix. This app works well, pretty much just like the app on my iPhone. The only advantage of the iPhone is the Retina display is definitely sharper. But the Fire is (obviously) larger. So, advantage Fire (until the Retina screen iPad 3 comes out).

On Saturday, the kids wanted to watch a TV show, but I wanted to watch the Oregon vs. USC college football game. So, I figured I would try to stream espn3.com over the Fire. It worked pretty well. I was one bar short on the “quality” gauge compared to the same game streaming on our laptop. But, it was acceptable. And streaming espn3.com is something I can’t do on my iPhone.

It’s no replacement for my HDTV. But it does give me a decent option when someone else in the house has control of the remote.

THE VERDICT: THIS IS NOT YOUR FATHER’S iPAD 3.

Ok, Ok. Of course it’s not an iPad 3. I figured there would be some shortcomings with the $199 price tag. Still, I’m a little underwhelmed. The performance of the browser is the main culprit.
I also think I’d probably enjoy it a bit more if it were bigger. I know Steve Jobs rejected 7” tablets as too small. He was probably right, as usual. I guess I’m gonna start saving now for that iPad 3.
But, until then, this isn’t the worst $199 I’ve spent. That was a drunken night in Carson City, NV when… I’ve said too much.

RATING YOU DIDN’T ASK FOR, BUT: ★★★

(Note: This review you didn't ask for was originally posted on 11/22/11 at my original site you didn't ask for: http://notthatanyoneaskedbut.tumblr.com/) Not that you asked or anything.