Let's Talk Flaws
iPad: (Please don't consider this thread as just another iPad troll)
Design:
The iPad comes with a great resource of Apps, like the iWorks which is redesigned for the new product. However the stand and keyboard the you may buy as an extra feature for more production will not work with Keynote. The port socket located on the bottom of the iPad itself and in order for you to use the Keynote App the iPad itself must be on its side. You can't place the iPad on the stand on its side. So how can you use the Keynote with the Stand or even with the iPad extra keyboard accessory. Design flaw with the App not in mind?
Add your comments...
Design:
The iPad comes with a great resource of Apps, like the iWorks which is redesigned for the new product. However the stand and keyboard the you may buy as an extra feature for more production will not work with Keynote. The port socket located on the bottom of the iPad itself and in order for you to use the Keynote App the iPad itself must be on its side. You can't place the iPad on the stand on its side. So how can you use the Keynote with the Stand or even with the iPad extra keyboard accessory. Design flaw with the App not in mind?
Add your comments...
Comments
You use it wit the Apple Aluminum Wireless Keyboard.
Does the stand work when it is on its side though? Because the resting place has the connector.
My take is that if you intend to use a keyboard much at all, it would be best to just buy a computer with a keyboard.
And personally, I would prefer a laptop for presenting anyway. Laptops hold the screen at a fixed location and orientation without needing to be constantly held. Laptop can be interacted with without picking up the computer. Now if someone plans on walking around during a presentation, needing to hold a wired computer will suck no matter the form factor. In that situation, a laptop and bluetooth presentation remote would be the optimal solution. Without a wireless video connection, tablets seem incredibly ill-suited for presentations requiring projector use, no matter where the dock connector is.
And personally, I would prefer a laptop for presenting anyway. Laptops hold the screen at a fixed location and orientation without needing to be constantly held. Laptop can be interacted with without picking up the computer. Now if someone plans on walking around during a presentation, needing to hold a wired computer will suck no matter the form factor. In that situation, a laptop and bluetooth presentation remote would be the optimal solution. Without a wireless video connection, tablets seem incredibly ill-suited for presentations requiring projector use, no matter where the dock connector is.
What? In all of the presentations I've seen (or done) the laptop sits next to the project and is either controlled by the presenter by tapping a key to advance the slides, or by a remote. It isn't clear to me why you think the iPad would work any differently.
What? In all of the presentations I've seen (or done) the laptop sits next to the project and is either controlled by the presenter by tapping a key to advance the slides, or by a remote. It isn't clear to me why you think the iPad would work any differently.
Most laptops are put next to the projector? Maybe i'm not representative of typical use, but I've observed mostly ceiling mounted projectors in business and education. Presenters either stand at the front of the room (for large audiences), or are seated at a conference room table with the rest of the meeting attendees.
Tablets must be held in one's hand in order to be used effectively. Holding a device tethered via cabling is not the experience people are shooting for.
The other option is to set it on the closest available surface. In many instances, this is a conference table with overhead lighting. To see how much this matters, try using a laptop sometime with the screen bent all the way down, lying flat against the table. Besides just the screen's viewing angle, there is also the problem of glare. Or try using an iPhone laying on a surface instead of hand-held. While possible, it certainly isn't optimal. In the case of the iphone, you'll find yourself leaning over to get your line of sight nearly perpendicular with the screen. This wouldn't be that appealing of a technique for presenting from a conference room table.
On the other hand, laptops have the equivalent of a built-in, adjustable display stand.
What tablets need in order to be truly affective while presenting with a projector, is to not be tethered by wires. This isn't to say they can't be used. Just that using a laptop will be a preferable experience. Or perhaps just using a handheld device to wirelessly remote control the computer delivering video to the projector via a wired connection.
I have a MacBook and love it. I am buying the iPad 64 GB WiFi. However my production uses will be through my MacBook. The iPad will be used for presentations and note taking. I am a Psychologist and will use it mostly for presentations. I just hope that there will be a recorder app for it.
Could you describe how you plan to use the iPad during a presentation? (honestly curious)
It is my belief that people will opt for presenting from a laptop if they own a laptop. Holding a device with a cord hanging off of it, through an entire presentation, would be incredibly inconvenient and distracting. A wired remote with physical buttons is tolerated, but that can be fully gripped inside a closed hand, held at one's side, and used without being looked at.
Most laptops are put next to the projector? Maybe i'm not representative of typical use, but I've observed mostly ceiling mounted projectors in business and education. Presenters either stand at the front of the room (for large audiences), or are seated at a conference room table with the rest of the meeting attendees.
Tablets must be held in one's hand in order to be used effectively. Holding a device tethered via cabling is not the experience people are shooting for.
The other option is to set it on the closest available surface. In many instances, this is a conference table with overhead lighting. To see how much this matters, try using a laptop sometime with the screen bent all the way down, lying flat against the table. Besides just the screen's viewing angle, there is also the problem of glare. Or try using an iPhone laying on a surface instead of hand-held. While possible, it certainly isn't optimal. In the case of the iphone, you'll find yourself leaning over to get your line of sight nearly perpendicular with the screen. This wouldn't be that appealing of a technique for presenting from a conference room table.
On the other hand, laptops have the equivalent of a built-in, adjustable display stand.
What tablets need in order to be truly affective while presenting with a projector, is to not be tethered by wires. This isn't to say they can't be used. Just that using a laptop will be a preferable experience. Or perhaps just using a handheld device to wirelessly remote control the computer delivering video to the projector via a wired connection.
I've done a lot of presentations, and watched a great many -- but have rarely seen a situation you describe. Even so, I don't see the problem with setting the iPad on a lectern. Maybe it will need to be propped up at the back end, I don't know. Obviously completely wireless would be better, but then I assume the iPad will work with an iPhone or touch used as a remote.
I've done a lot of presentations, and watched a great many -- but have rarely seen a situation you describe. Even so, I don't see the problem with setting the iPad on a lectern. Maybe it will need to be propped up at the back end, I don't know. Obviously completely wireless would be better, but then I assume the iPad will work with an iPhone or touch used as a remote.
What situation haven't you seen? Ceiling mounted projectors? Conference rooms? People orienting screens for a perpendicular viewing angle?
What situation haven't you seen? Ceiling mounted projectors? Conference rooms? People orienting screens for a perpendicular viewing angle?
I am saying that I rarely encounter situations where the viewing angle of the device containing the presentation would make any significant difference, at least not one which could not be easily rectified. You suggested that using the iPad for these situations would require that the iPad be hand held the entire time. I don't see that as necessarily being the case. I also see that the iPad would be no different than using a laptop for the vast majority or presentations which I have done or seen, except by being much smaller and lighter to carry around. YMMV.
I am saying that I rarely encounter situations where the viewing angle of the device containing the presentation would make any significant difference, at least not one which could not be easily rectified. You suggested that using the iPad for these situations would require that the iPad be hand held the entire time. I don't see that as necessarily being the case. I also see that the iPad would be no different than using a laptop for the vast majority or presentations which I have done or seen, except by being much smaller and lighter to carry around. YMMV.
Viewing angle doesn't matter?
I couldn't disagree more. People always orient their screens for a good viewing angle. Either that or they change their body position to achieve a good angle. A podium's inclined top would make iPad use reasonable during presentations. But it seems that podiums have become exceedingly rare. They're still used in academia, sometimes. But rarely otherwise. Podiums are almost never used in business meetings. With this in mind, it is important to consider iPad use without a podium or separate stand. The screen will be at a bad angle unless the device is held in the hand or the user bends over.
To see an example of this in real life, observe how people orient their laptop screens. People rarely use their laptop with the screen unfolded all the way so that it lays against the surface of the table. Even if putting a laptop on a table to be visible while standing, the screen is definitely not put all the way to the horizontal position.
If a tablet isn't held while presenting, it will almost always be laid upon a flat surface. Is that the way you intend to use the iPad to present?
If so, why not use your laptop instead? It has a built-in adjustable stand for the screen. And while the iPad is smaller, it will also require an adapter, and possibly a stand. At that point, it isn't too much different than carrying around a laptop.
With that said, I'm not proclaiming that tablets will never be used for presenting. Instead, the point is much less extreme. It is simply that the tablet form isn't good for presentations unless it can be used wirelessly. And even then, a laptop or pocket computer (iPhone) would be preferable. The tablet form just isn't the best suited to presenting.
I presume neither of us have actually seen an iPad, so it's really too soon to say how we intend on using it, but from what I've heard so far, laying it flat on a lectern sounds perfectly feasible to me, if only because its main purpose in being there is to advance the slides. I think it's going to be great for presenting. In fact that's half the reason I will be buying one.
I won't go into the difference between a lectern and a podium and will assume you mean lectern when you say podium. Pet peeve of mine that nobody seems to understand the distinction anymore.
Most laptops are put next to the projector? Maybe i'm not representative of typical use, but I've observed mostly ceiling mounted projectors in business and education. Presenters either stand at the front of the room (for large audiences), or are seated at a conference room table with the rest of the meeting attendees.
Tablets must be held in one's hand in order to be used effectively. Holding a device tethered via cabling is not the experience people are shooting for.
The other option is to set it on the closest available surface. In many instances, this is a conference table with overhead lighting. To see how much this matters, try using a laptop sometime with the screen bent all the way down, lying flat against the table. Besides just the screen's viewing angle, there is also the problem of glare. Or try using an iPhone laying on a surface instead of hand-held. While possible, it certainly isn't optimal. In the case of the iphone, you'll find yourself leaning over to get your line of sight nearly perpendicular with the screen. This wouldn't be that appealing of a technique for presenting from a conference room table.
On the other hand, laptops have the equivalent of a built-in, adjustable display stand.
What tablets need in order to be truly affective while presenting with a projector, is to not be tethered by wires. This isn't to say they can't be used. Just that using a laptop will be a preferable experience. Or perhaps just using a handheld device to wirelessly remote control the computer delivering video to the projector via a wired connection.
Could you describe how you plan to use the iPad during a presentation? (honestly curious)
It is my belief that people will opt for presenting from a laptop if they own a laptop. Holding a device with a cord hanging off of it, through an entire presentation, would be incredibly inconvenient and distracting. A wired remote with physical buttons is tolerated, but that can be fully gripped inside a closed hand, held at one's side, and used without being looked at.
I run RPGs and Card Tournaments so I will be using it for scoring and campaign illustration use. Plus the taking notes or reading from them and displaying photos of places, maps, and monsters is really a great bonus.
Funny, but once upon a time, lectures were given from actual pads of paper or typewritten notes, which except for the extremely nearsighted, did not have to be held up in front of the presenter's face or at some acute angle to be followed. And besides, if you aren't speaking from a lectern, then where are you placing your laptop? That part of your argument is confusing to me.
I presume neither of us have actually seen an iPad, so it's really too soon to say how we intend on using it, but from what I've heard so far, laying it flat on a lectern sounds perfectly feasible to me, if only because its main purpose in being there is to advance the slides. I think it's going to be great for presenting. In fact that's half the reason I will be buying one.
Paper doesn't suffer much at all from obtuse viewing angles. With that in consideration, is it still confusing?
More specifically: Light is reflected in a uniform and diffuse manner from paper. The reflected light is what is perceived. With computer screens, the light is purposefully emitted at a specific angle, normally close to perpendicular. When viewed at an obtuse angle, less light is reaching your eye. That is why screens are hard to see from an angle. This is compounded by screens being waaaay more reflective than paper. When viewed from a bad angle, the ambient reflected light distracts from the purposefully emitted light. This is also precisely why some people don't like glossy screens. As screens have become brighter, manufacturers have also been designing them to emit light a broader angle. This increases the usable viewing angle but decreases the perceived brightness.
Thus, screen orientation is absolutely critical (with today's screens) while it wasn't much of a consideration at all for paper.
While I haven't seen an iPad, I have spent months toting a tablet computer around. Or at least I had one available for months. It becomes clear quite quickly which tasks are suited to the form factor. Or perhaps not tasks directly, but which environments are well matched to tablet usage. Not that tablets are bad, I intend to buy an iPad.
I suppose only time will tell, what inconveniences people will be willing to put up with in exchange for the advantages of a tablet form factor. But my bet is that presenting will be preferable with a laptop rather than a wired tablet.
I won't go into the difference between a lectern and a podium and will assume you mean lectern when you say podium. Pet peeve of mine that nobody seems to understand the distinction anymore.
You may want to investigate that pet peeve further. The above use of podium was entirely correct.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/podium
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lectern
Paper doesn't suffer much at all from obtuse viewing angles. With that in consideration, is it still confusing?
Yes, it is -- because I still don't know where you put your laptop when you speak at a presentation. On a lectern, is my guess. Seems to me an iPad would go there just as well. The reviewers are saying the display is bright and sharp. That's just a surmise based on what I've heard so far, mind you. I can't pretend to know for sure, until I see one.
You may want to investigate that pet peeve further. The above use of podium was entirely correct.
No need, I have a dictionary. A podium is what you stand on (hence the name). A lectern is what you stand behind (hence the name).
Note, I'm not saying that tablets can't or won't be used. But rather that they are inferior at this time for presenting.
No need, I have a dictionary. A podium is what you stand on (hence the name). A lectern is what you stand behind (hence the name).
If you look in a dictionary, you'd find that "podium" can refer to what you stand behind. You obviously don't like that definition, but it's in there.
If you look in a dictionary, you'd find that "podium" can refer to what you stand behind. You obviously don't like that definition, but it's in there.
No, not really. A podium can be a lectern if you stand on it and speak, but the thing you stand behind to speak that holds your notes etc. is always a lectern.
podium |ˈpōdēəm|
noun ( pl. -diums or -dia |-dēə|)
a small platform on which a person may stand to be seen by an audience, as when making a speech or conducting an orchestra.
? a lectern.
? a continuous projecting base or pedestal under a building.
? a raised platform surrounding the arena in an ancient amphitheater.
ORIGIN mid 18th cent.: via Latin from Greek podion, diminutive of pous, pod- ?foot.?
lectern |ˈlektərn|
noun
a tall stand with a sloping top to hold a book or notes, and from which someone, typically a preacher or lecturer, can read while standing up.
lectern
ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French letrun, from medieval Latin lectrum, from legere ?to read.?
Anyway, I was just trying to figure out where you put your laptop when you presented, not get into a semantical debate. I was presuming that you weren't putting it on the floor and operating it with your toes. Not sure I got an answer to the actual question, which is why I'm not understanding your objections to the iPad as a presentation device.
The dictionary I linked to clearly shows that "podium" can mean "A stand used to hold notes when speaking publicly". http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/podium
Edit: if wictionary isn't sufficient:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/podium
Definition 3 indicates it can be used as a synonym for lectern.
Ironically, this happened last week on the AI boards as well. Melgross tried to say somebody was using the word "light" incorrectly, and refused to admit error even when provided with dictionary definitions showing that both his and the other usage were valid. Is this sort of sociological quirk somehow exacerbated by the AI boards? Or perhaps it is just the tablet topic that brings it out.
Don't worry, we won't assume that your tablet predictions are as equally unfounded.
I don't see that it is inteded to replace a laptop. They're still gonna sell MacBooks. If that suits your needs better, then pass on the iPad and get a MacBook (Pro).
Anyway, I was just trying to figure out where you put your laptop when you presented, not get into a semantical debate. I was presuming that you weren't putting it on the floor and operating it with your toes. Not sure I got an answer to the actual question, which is why I'm not understanding your objections to the iPad as a presentation device.
Are you seriously asking where a laptop is placed while presenting?
Needing to constantly hold a wired device in your hand is the problem. Either that or the problem of needing to set it on a surface where the screen isn't in an optimal position. Tablets are designed to be held while in use and holding a device with a wire hanging off isn't the most preferable presentation experience.
Or as posted earlier...
And personally, I would prefer a laptop for presenting anyway. Laptops hold the screen at a fixed location and orientation without needing to be constantly held. Laptop can be interacted with without picking up the computer. Now if someone plans on walking around during a presentation, needing to hold a wired computer will suck no matter the form factor. In that situation, a laptop and bluetooth presentation remote would be the optimal solution. Without a wireless video connection, tablets seem incredibly ill-suited for presentations requiring projector use, no matter where the dock connector is.
Tablets must be held in one's hand in order to be used effectively. Holding a device tethered via cabling is not the experience people are shooting for.
The other option is to set it on the closest available surface. In many instances, this is a conference table with overhead lighting. To see how much this matters, try using a laptop sometime with the screen bent all the way down, lying flat against the table. Besides just the screen's viewing angle, there is also the problem of glare. Or try using an iPhone laying on a surface instead of hand-held. While possible, it certainly isn't optimal. In the case of the iphone, you'll find yourself leaning over to get your line of sight nearly perpendicular with the screen. This wouldn't be that appealing of a technique for presenting from a conference room table.
On the other hand, laptops have the equivalent of a built-in, adjustable display stand.
What tablets need in order to be truly affective while presenting with a projector, is to not be tethered by wires. This isn't to say they can't be used. Just that using a laptop will be a preferable experience. Or perhaps just using a handheld device to wirelessly remote control the computer delivering video to the projector via a wired connection.