Jimmy Little

I have a lot of Apple stuff. Like, an unhealthy amount. I’ve owned every iPad. I’ve had two generations of iPod, an iPod mini, three generations of the Nano, a couple Shuffles, a first generation iPod Touch, and every iPhone from 2007 up to my shiny new 5S. I’ve had three iMacs (the lampshade one and two aluminums), three MacBook Pro’s, a Mac mini, and my current main machine, a 2011 MacBook Air. In my house now, between my lady and I, we have 2 iPhone 5S’s, our old iPhones (a 4 and a 4S, both unlocked), an original iPad in the kitchen, an iPad 3 that stays on the couch, and we each carry an iPad mini around. I love my mini. It’s the perfect size and weight.

Then I listened to many nerd podcasts, as I always do. All the pundits have an iPad Air to review. It’s so much thinner and lighter. It’s super fast. It’s comfortable to hold. “I can barely tell the difference between the Air and my iPad mini”, they say. “This is what the iPad should be”, they say. So, I bought the iPad Air on launch day. I was excited to move back into the world of big screens and more importantly, Retina screens.

Every time I buy a new toy, my first day is so exciting. It’s fast, pretty, and very thin. I was so happy to return to the world of big screens. I dutifully loaded all my apps and documents, then I took it on the subway on my way to work yesterday.

That day, I returned it.

Yep, me. The guy who keeps old iPads around to use as extra remote controls. The guy who has 2 iMacs, a Mac mini, and 3 MacBook Pros in storage. The guy with a dozen or so iOS devices in his “Find My iPhone” list.

There is no room for a 10" tablet on the train. It is shoulder to shoulder crowded, and there is very little room between human flesh to hold a tablet.

I gave my iPad mini to my lady when I upgraded. She had a cracked screen. I’m now using her janky broken-ass iPad mini until “Later In November” when the Retina Mini comes out. It’s thinner-er and lighter-er than the Air, and the physical size means all the world to a New York City commuter who tries to read on the crowded subway.

No, not this kind of case, although it's pretty cool, and I will happily accept one as a gift or promotional opportunity.

I mean a use case. A real-world practical here's-why-I'm-buying-this-thing kind of case. Do you need one? Probably not. But I'm a special case, and that's why this case needs to make a use case for that iPad thing. Since posting a quick "replacing my Kindle when the iPad comes" tweet, I got a ton (well, 6) e-mails telling me I shouldn't spend this much money on a locked down device I haven't touched yet. And most people shouldn’t. But I should. Why? Because A. I don't think it's an untested device, It uses the same OS as 40 million iPhones and iPod touches out there. It's just got a bigger screen, and some interface tweaks to take advantage of that screen acreage. And B. I already have a use for it. I'm not buying it because it's pretty and cool, I'm buying it because I will use the living hell out of this machine.

First, who needs this, and why?

Who should pre-order the iPad? Tech journalists and bloggers who review new gadgets for a living. Other than that, there are very few people who NEED an iPad on Day 1. The iPad, and other tablets like it, will be a boon for vertical markets that are currently using Windows-based PC tablets. Those are heavy, clunky battery hogs. There is no need for a full-on convertible laptop/tablet Voltron wannabe when all you're doing is some data entry. Doctors, students, warehouse workers, and mobile entertainment professionals like me need this. Eventually, once the sofware is there. Sure, Apple will sell millions of these things and they will sit on the coffee table, waiting for sofa-surfing while watching the game, or Twittering your thoughts on American Idol. But the real value for this machine will be for mobile data entry and media consumption.

My Use Case:

I'm a FileMaker whore. I love FileMaker Pro, and use it for things I probably shouldn't. It's seriously overkill for a simple mailing list or movie collection, but I have it, so I use it. My main use is for Don't Sweat It, where I not only co-host the show, but do all the behind-the-scenes making-the-sausage project planning. I have to keep project files that consist of family info, a list of tools, a list of materials, and a step-by-step breakdown of everything. I include pictures and maps and all the bells and whistles. This would be a nightmare in a word processor. Now, I have a table of tools that I can choose from by clicking in a form. I also keep a materials table of often-used materials with updated prices. I can just type the first couple letters and the material, description, price, and department are all filled in automatically. FMP also just makes a Google Map of whatever address is in the address field. It's kind of amazing what it does, with very little help from me.

After all that input, I can output nicely formatted reports to the production team, the network, and I can even create a shopping list that covers several projects, all in one list separated by department. It really is the only way to go.

Then came FM Touch. (iTunes link) FM touch is FileMaker for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Instead of creating a form that fits your screen, you create a form that fits the iPhone screen, and FMTouch's website even has a nice little style guide to give you all the info you need. If you follow the guide and spend a couple hours tweaking your design, your FMTouch screen looks like a native iPhone App. Except this App syncs to your FileMaker database! It really is incredible, and saves me tons of repeat-data entry. I used to write it all down during the site visit, then type it into FileMaker at night. Now, it goes into the database on site, before I forget what my scribbles mean.

Why the long, boring exposition into my workflow? Because that's the whole point.

Imagine FMTouch on a 10″ screen instead of a 3″ screen. It's like switching from an index card to a sheet of paper. I can design multiple columns of information, just like the desktop version. FM Touch allows related records and calculated fields! It's like Heaven on a Stick. I haven't contacted FM Touch personally, but a quick Google search tells me they're working on an iPad version, with more interface tweaks and the like. Once my related tables are in pop-up lists, and I can export PDF's (please, please, please) directly to e-mail, it will be a complete solution.

But even if none of that happens, and I'm just using a blown-up version of the iPhone App, typing on it will (presumably) be much faster and more comfy than the iPhone, and I can tweak my form designs easily to fit an iPad resolution.

Long story short (I know, too late.) if you don't need an iPad, just wait. They're making 4-5 million of these things this year, so I don't see them running out. I'll be there in line on Day 1 to pick up my (already reserved) 32 GB WiFi iPad so I can get my stuff on it and working before we get into Season 9 too heavily. If I didn't need it working on Monday, I'd just get it shipped, or wait a couple weeks.

I think the iPad (and Android devices like it) are the future. You don't always need everything with you all the time. I'll post about that later…