After today's Apple Keynote, a few thoughts struck me and I had to get them down in writing. Not just notes, but a script...

(pardon the rather traditional and totally politically-incorrect role models... it just seemed to fit with the picture...)

scene 1:

Enter the Husband, stage left...

Husband: "Honey, I'm home!"
Wife: "Darling! How was your day?"
Husband (falling, tired, into the soft leather of the sofa): "Tiring, but look: I saw some really cool shoes that I just know you'll love.."

He takes out his iPhone from his pocket and turns on the small and almost unnoticeable Apple TV, cleverly hung on it's "iTVHook" from the widescreen TV on the wall, with the "Remote™" App. Flipping effortlessly through his photo collection, he arrives at the video of the shoes taken only minutes ago...

Husband: "Well, what do you think".

Wife: "Ooooh, they're lovely! I just HAVE to have them."

She reaches excitedly for the iPad lying on the sofa next to her and, lo and behold, her doting Husband has already sent her the link to the shoe website in her email!

Two clicks and she's bought the shoes! (wow - they had "one-click"™ buying...)

Husband: "Now you've got those sexy new shoes, what's for dinner?"

Wife: "Well, I tried out a recipe from that fantastic new Jamie Oliver™ iPad™ recipe App you bought me - and that new kitchen iPad stand you bought is just great! "

He sits at the table... she disappears into the kitchen and emerges carrying a fabulous roast butternut squash and thyme bake (well, what did you expect?)

fade to black...

fade to next scene:

It's after dinner, the kids are in bed listening to their favourite stories being streamed to their AirPlay™ speakers from Daddy's iPhone™.

(OK, enough of the "™" already.. assume it's there form now on.... Ed)

Husband: "Darling, would you like to watch that movie you were talking about yesterday? I hear it's available for rent on iTunes."

Wife: "No, I don't really feel like it tonight... why don't we just get comfy on the sofa and surf a bit of YouTube?"

Husband: "Hm, ok (hoping she'll fall asleep so that he can try that new iPad multiplayer Project Sword game he's heard so much about)"

They settle down to zap their way through YouTube on the Apple TV, jumping from clip to clip with Remote on the iPad...

Wife: "Hey, are you asleep?"

Husband: "zzzzzzzzz"

Wife (smiling, satisfied with herself for winning some "me" time!): "Great! Now I can get some serious FaceTime™ (oops, there it is again) with that dishy guy I met in the cafe today. At least HIS life isn't ruled by geeky gadgets!"

...

Domestic bliss, made possible by Apple™ Come on - you know you want it...

After recently acquiring an unlocked iPhone 4 in the UK I have now left the ranks of "tied-in" iPhone users - at least that's what I thought.

I had intended to keep my iPhone 3G and use it as a backup phone, both in the UK and in Switzerland. This would mean that the phone needed unlocking so that I could swap SIMs. No problem, I thought: Just ask those nice people at Swisscom if they can unlock it! After all, I've had it over two years and have certainly paid back the subsidised price difference by now!

No chance. Once a Swisscom iPhone, always a Swisscom iPhone. I could pay somebody in London to unlock it for me but they only knew how to unlock an iPhone with OS version 3.1.3 ... I'd already updated to 4.0.1 and am not going backwards for anybody!

Enter JailbreakMe.com 2.0 and some quick surfing!

The process was easy and quick. To save you from surfing around for the answers though, here's how it's done:

(Note for the geeks amongst you: This may be old news for you. I didn't write this for you though, but for everybody else who may feel a little nervous about playing around with the innards of their iPhones!)

(Important note for everybody: remember that this is, while no longer illegal, something that those nice people at Apple don't like and something that will void your warranty - if there's any warranty left on your old iPhone 3G/3Gs)

Step 0. Make a backup of the iPhone with iTunes.

Step 1. Visit JailbreakMe.com with the device you want to unlock. If you visit from a laptop you'll only see the default server setup page.

Step 2. You'll see a welcome screen with a "slide to jailbreak" slider:

Step 3. This is exciting! Go for it. Slide the slider and you'll see that you then download "Cydia" onto your iPhone. Cydia is used to Jailbreak your iPhone - allowing you to install other software not authorised by Apple and not supported. Once Cydia is installed, start it. Choose the option "Let Cydia make my life easier" to ensure that you pull updates in the future and you're sorted.

Step 4. Your iPhone is now Jailbroken - meaning that you can install other software through Cydia.

I'm not too interested in the majority of the Apps that are featured in the Cydia repositories - except for one: Click the "Search" icon, go to the search box in Cydia and search for Ultrasn0w (that's a zero, not an "O"). Links I found on the internet mentioned version 0.93. I installed the latest version, 1.1-1, which states that it also unlocks iPhone 4!

Step 5. Install Ultrasn0w and allow your iPhone to reboot.

Step 6. There is no 6. It's done!

Here're two screenshots from my previously-Swisscom-locked iPhone 3G, just after rebooting (with an Orange pay-as-you-go SIM):

Remember not to update your iPhone iOS version past 4.0.1 with iTunes unless you've checked out the availability of a Jailbreak and Ultrasn0w for the new version - otherwise your phone may be locked to your original provider again.

That said, those 5 minutes of time saved me the cost of getting the phone unlocked by somebody in the UK for around £30-£40. maybe I should have kept this quiet and charged you all? ;-)

Big thanks to comex and everybody behind JailbreakMe.com and to the iPhone Dev Team for Ultrasn0w. No thanks whatsoever to Swisscom for stating that they never unlock phones, even after a contract qualifies for renewal.

Disclaimer: Of course, this is messing around with your iPhone's iOS and may cause your phone to be messed up. Make a backup first with iTunes. If all goes belly-up, simply restore your iPhone with iTunes and restore the backup.

In my last post I mentioned Air Display from Avatron Software. Today I've been playing a little with the possibilities presented by this really neat App. I had a surprise too - but I'll come to that in a short while...

Firstly, by using Air Display and adding your iPad as an extension to your MacBook desktop you gain a second monitor with a resolution of 768 x 1024 pixels - perfect for those tool palettes or for viewing the iPhone simulator when developing and testing Apps:

But - and this is of course the benefit of the iPad touchscreen - you also get the ability to interact with the content you're showing on the iPad by touch. This means you can test iPhone Apps by actually touching and can interact with your photoshop tool palettes by touching them instead of messing about with the mouse. Very nice indeed - although my fingers are a bit too big to accurately use the colour picker, for example

Take a look at the image above and you'll see just how much extra screen real estate you get. Air Display is, for me, a killer-App for the iPad and especially if you're involved in developing in any way and sometimes need just that bit more screen space.

Now here's what surprised me: Air Display is what's known as a "Universal App". This means it also runs on iPhone. Yes, it allows you to use your iPhone as a neat little 480 x 320 pixel (or 320 x 480, of course) second monitor for your MacBook Pro This might sound a bit on the small side but here's a screen shot of my Fireworks Tool Palette on my iPhone to give you an idea of what you can do in 480 x 320 pixels:

All you need to use Air Display to extend your desktop this way is a wireless network and a little piece of software which runs on your MacBook - downloadable free from the Avatron Software website.

I certainly fully recommend the App - a must-have for iPad!

So. I'd like you all to start off with this previous post, if you don't mind...

Read it? Good. Now close that browser window/tab and continue:

The title of this post is a big clue: I now have an iPad.

"But you said you weren't going to buy one because it doesn't support Flash!" I hear you cry out. I did say that, yes. I also said that the screen gets messy and that I couldn't see enough use cases for myself.

Well, now I've changed my mind. I have found some excellent use cases, have tired of the Adobe vs. Apple ego-bashing that I've witnessed all over the web and am indeed very pleased with the user experience that the iPad offers me.

There's the key concept: USER EXPERIENCE

Apple "do" User Experience like no other company. I am sitting here, writing this on my MacBook Pro, next to me are my iPhone (still only 3G ) and my iPad. Why? Because they are devices that I love to use. They work and are a joy to use.

I have replaced my morning iPhone routine (see that last post) with a morning iPad routine - a larger display and that much bigger interactive surface DO make a difference - and find Twitter, Things (my to-do manager of choice), Facebook (with the exception of those wonderful app I've written ), BBC News and even the weather so much more usable on the iPad for my morning eyes.

Thanks to Air Display, I can even use the iPad as an additional monitor when working in Mac OSX (which I'm doing more and more, as I now need only wait a few more hours for my Adobe Web Premium CS5 Mac license to arrive before I kiss Windows goodbye for my daily work life).

Now. What about that "Flash thing"? I am still not happy that Steve Jobs and his merry men have this, frankly, very arrogant and childish attitude towards Flash. My opinion here hasn't changed. I haven't "accepted" this "Apple way". I do know that, in time, others will find a way for some Flash content to be visible on the iPad and even the iPhone. I also know that it doesn't really matter that much. There are ways and means of achieving anything.

I'm also, however, not impressed by a lot of the knee-jerk responses from the pro-Adobe camp and the sudden evangelical focus on Android. Android will not make it and will not pose a threat in the mainstream market. Have you seen the designs of the Android-based tablets coming out? I rest my case.

What I have done is made my choice based upon how a device fits my life and fits my appreciation of good design, attention to the User Experience and how it feels - something we should all think about constantly.

In addition to that, and to answer some of my previous criticisms:

- the volume is loud
- the video quality is excellent
- zero boot-time web browsing is fantastic
- the weight is really not so bad and the simple Apple iPad case is an excellent add-on and well worth the money, allowing the iPad to be held at a angle on your lap for easy viewing
- the usability and interface failings I mentioned really do seem to be issues with the Apps I was trying out. The Apps I have installed seem to be well developed and really do offer a great experience (with the exception of the BBC News App which shows me a green screen every so often instead of the matrix of thumbnails for articles)

Oh - and the screen does get messy and is far too reflective. In it's defense, however, the colours are fantastic!

I wrote:

The iPad is not magic. It's not a netbook challenger and it's not really revolutionary.

Well. It's not magic, but it is an excellent tool which has no doubt redefined many people's experience of information consumption. In that sense, it is revolutionary.

I stand by everything I wrote before (as always) and can only say that I stand corrected on some points and am happy that I purchased the iPad - not only because I will be developing Apps for it!

Firstly: No, I haven't bought one.

Secondly... well, let's just go through my initial impressions first:

I popped into the local Apple Store today to take a look at, and play with, an iPad. As expected, the area nearest to the entrance was occupied by said device and a few people were swiping and punching away at the around 10 devices on display.

I found one and picked it up. Not particularly heavy but heavy enough to be a recognised cause of RSI of the left wrist (or right wrist for those of a left-handed persuasion) after a reasonable period of time using one.

The screen was also disgusting - grubby, greasy streaks all over it. Combine that with the shiny display surface and it wasn't the easiest viewing experience ever. OK, so the one at home is likely to be less grimy and better protected than the ones in the store - but it does give an interesting view into just how susceptible the screen is to grease and dirt. I also hate shiny displays and am not yet updating my MacBook Pro because I'll have to pay extra just to have a non-shiny display. I want to see what I'm working on/browsing and not to watch my reflection! Here are some thoughts from Charlie Brooker, who apparently also dislikes the display

Anyway. The navigation was as expected, using the by-now-automatic gesturing approach which sometimes has me wiping my fingers across my laptop display if I'm been using my iPhone a lot

A few apps were installed and I played around a bit. The "to-do" app looks nice at first but I found myself clicking around the screen, trying to turn what looked like pages - until I realised that this was just some sort of background image meant to look like an analog "organiser" or filofax. Why did they bother? Oh well. I'll stick with my "Things" App on the iPhone.

I opened up the "Popular Science" App and pinched, then spread apart, my finger and thumb - trying to zoom in and out on the picture of a wind generator. Nothing happened. It seems that this could be one of those initial Apps that Jakob Nielsen cites in his critique of the usability failings of the device and initial Apps.

This is where my familiarity with (and, I must say, love of) the iPhone interface proved to be a bit of a handicap. I expected more than the iPad and the handful of Apps I tried on it were capable of delivering. I think that Apple need to review how they've implemented the interface on this device and also should look at how developers are producing apps for it - better guidelines and more time and effort in development are needed. It's not the same as the iPhone and will be used differently. They (neither Apple or some developers) haven't figured this out, IMHO.

Generally, and taking into account that horrible shiny mirror-like display, the device is a thing of beauty. Google maps looked lovely on it, video seemed a little dark (remember the same issue with the first iPod Touch?). It's simple. It's sleek and shiny, feels solid if a little too heavy but has that "Apple feeling". It's also the first multitouch tablet device of this type. This is no doubt why many people have bought them - and why I would be tempted to buy one if it did what I need.

Another down side is the audio volume - although I was in a busy Apple Store. Let's assume that it's fine when at home on the sofa.

Even putting aside the usability and interface failings, this is still not a device that I'd rush to buy now. I say "now" because I don't believe that it does anything I can find a use for in it's current incarnation, at the price that comes with it. To illustrate this, here are a couple of usage scenarios:

- I get up in the morning and check the weather, pollen count, my calendar and even twitter and facebook on my iPhone. Even if the iPad has a bigger display, why would I pay £599 (64GB wi-fi model) for one when I have an iPhone already? My iPhone is also significantly more portable and also makes and takes phone calls (and photos)...

- A friend of mine has small kids and we were talking about use cases. Here's one: It's Sunday afternoon and the kids are restless. It's raining, miserable outside. Instead of booting up a laptop just reach for the iPad lying on the coffee table! The kids can surf around their favourite sites, such as the Disney site or BBC's CBeeBies - no,wait. The iPad doesn't support Flash! Try telling kids they have to wait for the BBC to roll out an HTML5 version of the entire site before they can play "Animal ABC".

So. Stumbling block again. Steve Jobs has, in my opinion (and I'm only one voice among many...), failed due to his fanatical anti-Adobe anti-Flash complex and managed to exclude a massive portion of the internet from users of the iPad. AND IT MAKES NO SENSE!!!!

OK, breathe.

The iPad is not an iPhone. It's bigger, it offers a nice web-browsing experience (display permitting) and would be a great device for sofa web-browsing with no boot-up time. I can accept not having Flash on the iPhone and don't really miss it. I have developed an iPhone-optimised version of turrall.ch which takes advantage of accelerometer-driven navigation and doesn't even need the Flash-based menu on the normal site.

It does, however, seem more than daft having to create an iPad-optimised version of a website without Flash just because Steve Jobs doesn't like it and is badly-informed as to what Flash is actually used for. It's not just for video Steve!

Steve Jobs and other Apple employees involved in bringing products like the iPad to market should not be in the job of dictating to us what we can do with a device - especially when it's massively overpriced. The device should stand on it's merits and not form another cog in a money-generating machine.

As Jakob Nielsen says:

When a customer has bought a device, it's theirs; they should be able to see the information they want, and run the applications they want.

If the iPad is going to be of any use for it's £599 then it has to support a full web browsing experience, including Flash, and not just give us a bigger display than I have on my iPhone - that's all it's doing and it ain't worth the money.

The iPad is not magic. It's not a netbook challenger and it's not really revolutionary. It's just a step on the way and one that should have stayed in the labs until they'd added a front-facing webcam (even if it will give me a double chin), support for a full operating system and not a mobile one(including flash player and Adobe AIR support), external interfaces (USB, anyone?), less weight and probably other things that I haven't even thought of but they surely would have been able to - had they taken the time.

Let's see what version 2.0 looks like - or wait for the best Windows 7 or Android tablet that comes along instead. My money's more on Windows 7 or something like it here than on Android, but we'll see...

Now. Must go and wash my hands...

PS: As a side note: Have you also wondered at how many accessoires there seem to be to make the iPad into a desktop monitor (stands) or even terminal-like device by adding a keyboard? Doesn't this miss a point?