the ultimate online exercise system!

“And lo, the Faithful were rewarded, for St. Steven came forth, and raised before them the Tablet that henceforth would be known as iPad, and they knelt down and praised his divinely inspired goodness…”

Yes, it’s happened: months of feverish speculation have finally culminated in the unveiling of Apple’s – as ever, polished – answer to a market demand that may or may not exist.

But I’m not going to spend hours dribbling and drooling over the various elegant features that make Apple’s device more likely to succeed than the flawed specimens which have accompanied Microsoft’s manic efforts to promote the tablet concept. Nor am I going to join the ranks of those inveterate Apple critics who are already sneering at it because it doesn’t have the webcam and support for live video feeds apparently promised by the unfortunate Stéphane Richard from Orange (you sad, strange people, how easy it is to sneer!). Nor am I going to marvel at the ease with which users will apparently be able to manipulate photos and watch videos, although for some reason journalists – like magpies, easily distracted by pretty, shiny things – insist on using these features as the primary criteria for judging every machine from desktop workstations to ultraportable netbooks.

No, I’m going to look at the Apple iPad from the purely pragmatic perspective of one who would expect to carry round loads of data – in every possible format – on such a device. Of one who would expect to be able to manage such data easily, quickly and conveniently. Of one who, in short, when reading reviews of the latest eBook reader, looks before anything else for some mention of the device’s file management ability; for a word or two about its built-in search function.

Journalists may sneer at the inability of a netbook to play HD video, but few of them ever think of discussing the ability of an eBook reader – a device that is, after all, nothing more than a mobile library – to track down useful information lurking somewhere in the hundreds of files stuffed into its built-in memory or plugged-in SD card. In fact, I challenge readers to find a single review of an eBook reader, from the Amazon Kindle through to the iRiver Story, that mentions the existence of a search function (the Story actually features a “Search” button on the keyboard – yet not even the manufacturer has realised that this might be a cool selling point!).

Which brings me to the iPad. After contemplating the video, laughing at the way you can flip photos over to show your friends, and reading about all the other features full of Appley Goodness, I am satisfied about one thing, but not about another. First, the iPad comes with Searchlight (Apple’s excellent search function), and this fact is actually mentioned as a selling point in the list of features. So that’s a big tick in the info management box. But a second, burning question still remains: does it come with the equivalent of a Finder (something that is sorely lacking in the iPhone)? Hints suggest that it probably does – after all, there’s not much point in providing a customised version of iWork if you can’t manipulate files easily – but there’s nothing conclusive.

As a writer, translator and businessperson, I carry around hundreds of files on my various beloved portables and ultraportables (even on the ancient Packard Bell handheld computer I’m using to write this blog!). They range from works in progress to useful reference sources to business agreements. For some reason, file managers are amazingly untrendy at the moment (for years Windows Explorer has been confined to the depths of the Accessories menu). But without a capable file manager, ideally accompanied by a search function, my productivity is dramatically reduced. I like the Apple Finder precisely because, in a pleasantly unobtrusive but exceedingly accessible way, it actually puts file management at the user’s fingertips. In the case of the iPad, I’m hoping that it will literally put my files at my fingertips – on that lovely, swooshy, iPhone-like screen – so I’ll finally be able to give up my trusty Packard Bell for something that’s capable of connecting directly to my modern laptop and actually sports a modern browser.

For the record, I will just mention that like the iPad, my trusty Packard Bell weighs about 1.5 lbs, has a 10-hour battery life and a touch screen, and boasts instant-on convenience. Unlike the iPad, however, it also has a real, touch-typist-friendly keyboard: all this in a machine that’s now over 10 years old… (It’s an EasyMate 770 – based on the NEC MobilePro 770 – for those who want to know. You can still buy the slightly more modern NEC MobilePro 900, complete with WiFi and extended battery, from here).

But then again, I’m sure St. Steven has many another revelation for the long-suffering Faithful…