04 - The out of the box experience

Way back in the last century, back when I was still waving an Apple flag and believing the hype, my current host - Ron - who back then was definitely not an Apple supporter, conceded that the one area where Apple products were superior to all other companies was in what he called The Out Of The Box Experience. (Interestingly, over the years, he has become a total Apple convert and now owns way more Cupertino product than I do. It's a funny old game, isn't it?)

The Out of the Box Experience is what happens when you get something home and unpack it for the first time. How long does it take to get working? Do you feel happy with your purchase? Or guilty? Or frustrated? With computers, most of the time it's the last of the three.

So, there I am, sitting at the dining room table with the iPad box in front of me. I lift of the cover and... there it is. No foam. No cardboard. Just iPad, fitting perfectly fit in it's box. Without taking it out you can press the power button... and on it goes. Lifting it out, there is a small space underneath which holds a cable and a small booklet. That's it. No case, no keyboard, no straps, no... anything. Yes, even the top of the range model comes with no extras. But I'll get to that later. First things first... plug it in and get it fired up.

Like an iPod or iPhone, before you can use it, you need to plug it into a computer - PC or Mac - loaded with the latest version of iTunes and register the device. There is a brief registration process and then it's ready to go. The battery was fully charged, so I'd say from box to full usage takes only about 15 minutes? I'm not entirely sure because the process was delayed by having to update iTunes and me refusing to put the iPad down. I was happy just rotating it in my hands watching the little icons re-configure themselves. Simple things, simple minds.

Indeed, the Out Of The Box Experience here was quite good. It wasn't something I was ever really too concerned about in my younger years. I was way too fired up on the technology to care. If anything, I'd have probably been disappointed if there wasn't loads of manuals and cables and things to plug into each other.

But these days?... Been there, seen it, done it.

I just spent $750 on something so I expect it to work immediately. Is that unreasonable? I don't think so. The very thought that you'd buy something that didn't work is illogical. OK, I can think of a few exceptions. A kitchen sink maybe. Or a cooker. Items which are large and potentially dangerous and need to be physically installed into your house.

Consumer electronics should not fall into that category (noted exception being a 50,000 dollar home theatre installation). Especially when they are aimed at joe public. Or my mother. If my mum spent that much money on something and got it home and couldn't get it to work immediately, she'd nip over to Steve Jobs house and give him a thick ear.

Eventually I finally stopped myself just rotating it round and round and actually decided to use it. The first thing that all iPad owners will agree on is the surprise in lack of loaded apps. I wasn't expecting it to be decked out with games and things, but it doesn't have a calculator, weather, stocks, or many of the other things that a standard iphone or iPod comes with. Not a big deal because the app store is but a fingerprint away, but surprising none the less.

The second thing that I suspect all iPad owners will agree on is that it has the worse choice of desktop picture ever. It's a relatively innocent night landscape photo, but the time lapsed stars look distinctly like scratches on the screen, so that was the first thing to go.

There were some reports in the press of wireless problems, but I certainly didn't experience any. It found and joined the wireless-n & g networks without any issues.

But there was one thing that confounded me. As a British resident, my iTunes account is with the UK iTunes store. I had no trouble setting it up in iTunes on the computer and syncing it to the pad... but the iTunes and App store apps on the pad itself wouldn't allow me to connect to the store via wi-fi. It says 'App store does not work in this country' (or words to that effect). I think it means that the UK app store doesn't work in the USA. Which is weird because my iPod touch has no trouble. So maybe what it really means is we haven't set up the UK app store for iPad yet.

Nonetheless I can find and load apps via iTunes on the PC or I can also use a US iTunes store account if I wish, so I'm not bothered - I'm assuming that as soon as they launch the device in the UK the store will become available.

So, less that 45 minutes after arriving back from Best Buy I'm sitting comfortably on the couch, pad in my lap. I've loaded up some apps - a few iPad ones and a few iPhone ones, so... now lets see what all the fuss is about.

NEXT: 05 - First Impressions...