@thinkQuick

I had not previously realised that iPhoto was taking up 100 GB of my internal HDD. I’ve moved it now, and my Mac is happy again.

1. Notification Centre = Swipe down from the top. Shows a list of notifications. Can review on Lock Screen without unlocking. 2. News Stand app = Standard platform for magazines and newspapers. Finally!

3. Twitter integration. No need to keep logging in to Twitter. Can Tweet from many Apple apps like Camera and Safari. 4. Safari app. Tabbed browsing. Safari Reader will parse a page for better reading. Reading List saves content for later reading.

5. Reminders app. Basically a todo list. Can link a reminder to a geo location so it comes up when you arrive or leave that location. 6. Camera app. Can go directly to take a photo from the lock screen, and use the volume button to take the photo. Includes photo editing.

7. Mail app. Built in dictionary to look up definitions of words. Rich text formatting. 8. Post PC. No need to connect to iTunes to set up a new iPhone. Software updates delivered over the air. The iPad can be your only device (no PC).

9. Game Centre. Many social and integration updates. Can download games from Game Centre. 10. iMessage. Basically free MMS between iOS devices.

11. Air Play 2 - Screen Mirrors the iPad 2 to your TV wirelessly 12. Wireless iTunes syncing. Leave your computer on at night, your iPhone will find iTunes and sync (including backup).

Scroll down to the last paragraph for my opinion of the Transformer, or read on for the full experience. I finally found a store with the Transformer in stock and on display.

The first thing to understand is the tablet display shelf. It’s in a narrow corridor with people brushing past you whilst you are inspecting them. Then, it’s at an odd height meaning you have to stoop a bit to use them. Then, they have those cord things attached so you can’t pick it up properly. And then, the shelving unit has a deeper bottom shelf, so you cannot stand right up against it. Thus, I always feel a bit uncomfortable checking out the tablets at this store. Note that they have a separate (and very nice) display area for the Apple products. The tablet shelf is reserved for the Acer Iconia, the Motorola Xoom, and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer. Anyway, at least they had one and it worked. So I picked it up and had a go. It is very nice and felt basically the same as my generation one iPad. The shifting background picture as you swipe through the Android screens is a fun feature and kept me entertained for a few seconds.

The main objective of this visit: prove that an Android device could run Facebook games. That my wife could pick it up and update her Restaurant City or Farmville. That it could do things the iPad could not. So, I found the browser, typed in the URL, and logged in. This was an interested exercise in using the Android onscreen keyboard. Not bad, just different. This was also an additional layer to my anxiety. I was now logged on to Facebook on a public device and had to remember to log off later.

I tried to run Restaurant City and got an error. Either I had to enable javascript or update flash. With some random pressing, I found the browser settings and confirmed javascript was enabled. So I browsed to the Adobe site to see what would happen. The OS then prompted me to set up a Google account on the device. I cancelled that and looked for another solution. I somehow found an update button and then the Transformer was updating it’s firmware (I really don’t know how I managed that). This took a long time. My anxiety grew. People seemed to be staring. Perhaps they wanted to try it out. Then some guy wanted to look at iPad covers that were displayed in front of my crotch, so I had to weave around him. The update was taking ages. As the progress bar slowly filled up, I worried that I was still logged in to Facebook. I worried that I had limited time as I was meeting someone in 20 minutes. I tried to pass the time by checking my email on my iPhone.

Finally it finished, but with no result. I was hoping this update would deliver the required new Flash version. So I took a deep breath and created an account on the Transformer. Perhaps I will create a second Google account for occasions like this. But for now, I used my main account. This allowed me to access the Google Market and download the new version of Flash. Restaurant City now got further in it’s loading process. But was still flashing the initialising message at me. For several minutes. This was getting too much. I logged out of Facebook and went to remove my Google Account. But of course, I couldn’t work out how to. I could find my account in a settings screen, but all I seemed to be able to do was turn on or off syncing. It was then I also realised it had been syncing my contacts with the device. Doh. So I Googled the problem on my iPhone. I was really anxious now. I wanted to go right now, but my Google account was now the main account of this public device. But, thankfully, I did eventually find the button I was looking for and I deleted my account from the Transformer (at least, I hope I did!).

With that small win, I had renewed hopes that Restaurant City would run. So I logged back in to Facebook. Long story short, I didn’t get it running. I spent long minutes watching it attempt to load and checking the time on my iPhone. I seemed to be getting Facebook badged timeout errors, which was odd. So I refreshed a few more times, then tried to log out. I’m still not sure if I really did log out. I closed the browser tab, so hopefully that did the job. I hadn’t asked Facebook or the browser to remember me. I finally wandered away from the tablet to find a salesperson. The staff told me they didn’t know when the 32 Gig model with keyboard would be available. They seemed very vague. So I left.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer seems like a good device. I’m fairly confident that it can actually run Flash based games, and that I was just unlucky. I’ll almost certainly buy one when I can find the 32 Gig with keyboard in stock somewhere. But I now know to expect a return of that anxious feeling. That feeling delivered by the Android operating system. The feeling you get when you are trying to get the device to do something but you can’t work out how. The feeling I’m hoping will dissolve once I work out how the darn thing fits together. The feeling that I have never experienced using an iPhone or iPad. But, perhaps that’s the price for longing for the forbidden Flash and being thrown outside the walled garden of Apple.

This tablet looks great for work. I can imagine it in a nice leather folder. I hope the stylus allows for accurate handwriting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzn9LkvKM8E

The first generation iPad has buttons that stick out.
On iPad 2, you cannot even see the buttons when viewed from the front.