User Interfaces: Testing the new Apple iPad

As part of testing 123D Catch, I just got a new iPad. I decided to see how easy it would be to compose and post a blog article. The device seems great as a way to receive content, but entering a lot of text with the virtual keyboard leaves something to be desired. The TypePad editor doesn't even have a user interface element to allow me to add pictures. Bummer.

To get the picture below, I had to perform the screen capture on the iPad, email it to myself, and use a PC to read the email and paste the image into this blog posting.

It would be nice to use the integrated camera of the device to take a picture and simply include it in a blog posting. That is what the upcoming 123D Catch for the iPad aims to do. You use the camera to take the pictures and upload to the 123D Catch servers right from the one device.

Then I also see things like:

I too get disappointed when companies feel they need an App to access their content yet the App has fewer capabilities than the browser interface. When you eat American food, you need a fork, a spoon, and a knife. When you eat Chinese food, you need chopsticks. Regardless of the food, the Chinese chef prepares it so the person can eat it using just one tool - the chopstick. Even something like lobster is removed from the shell, cut into bite sized chunks, and placed back in the shell. The person eating the meal just uses the chopsticks - no need for a knife. In an ideal world, the browser would be the one tool that we all use for interfacing with web-based content. How simple would that be?

Disappointment is alive in the lab.