What Is Funny?

Can your iPad do this? Not without little knobs it can't.

Early adapters have been geeking out like crazy over the iPad, which is being hailed as a technological break through that will change the way we interact with electronic content.  That might be overstating things.  Like all technological advances, the iPad builds on a familiar platform, the Etch A Sketch, and adds to it a few nifty features.  As Steve Jobs declares, the iPad is “everything the Etch A Sketch was, but more!” but the question is, if you have a perfectly good Etch A Sketch at home,  should you still run out and buy an iPad?

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The Verdict

The iPad builds on some of the things you loved most about the Etch A Sketch.  It is responsive to your touch, intuitive to use, rather portable, and outstanding at drawing diagonal, lighting-like lines.  Of course one of the major limitations of the original Etch A Sketch was that its web browsing functionality was basically non-existent.  This is in part due to the fact that the Etch A Sketch became initially popular in the 1960s when the internet just wasn’t a very big deal.  With the iPad you can definitely get on the web, however this advancement comes with a  trade-off as now the advice does not allow you to erase the screen simply by shaking it.

Steve Jobs apologizes for iPad's non water-proofness.

While the color display on the iPad is vastly superior to the black-and-gray grainy graphics of the Etch A Sketch, in the name of sleek functionality, the designers have gotten rid of the two twisting knobs, so critical to the Etch A Sketch’s success.  Now, if you want to draw a series of right angles, such as steps, you must use a much more complicated graphic design program—look for newer models of the iPad to return to the classic knob interface once the inevitable consumer backlash occurs.

The Etch A Sketch had one terrible flaw, which is that if you bring it in the swimming pool with you and try to use it underwater, the screen fills with water and it becomes unworkable.  Sadly, the iPad has similar water resistance issues and it’s not recommended for use in the water at depths greater than 10 feet.  This means bored scuba divers hoping to watch an episode of The Office online are still out-of-luck.

Finally, there’s the issue of price. At over $500, the iPad may seem pretty expensive for an internet-ready, color Etch A Sketch, but remember when it first came out, the Etch a Sketch cost nearly $1,200.  Over time, you can expect costs to come down to the current Etch A Sketch price of $5-$10.

In conclusion, will the iPad change the way we view the world? Not until it’s water proof.

Tags: Etch a Sketch, ipad

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 9:54 am and is filed under Quick Hits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.