Under Design

I’ve commented on Apple’s iPad, when it name was leaked as an iSlate, and I’ve also posted a highly trafficked article about building my own Apple Tablet, nicknamed the eBook. I also slept through the keynote and missed Steve back on the podium, but did check Apple’s site first thing on Wednesday. I checked the name, iPad (meh.), the specs, the videos, and the UI. Nothing shocking. But I had issues with this Apple product, and it was a tiny fix that may have made the difference.

Let Review the Competitors

Apple’s iPad is obviously targeted to compete in the new eReader market, including first-entry Amazon’s Kindle, Kindle 2.0, and Barnes and Nobles’ recently released Nook. Let’s do a quick side-by side comparison of all 4 devices, alongside the product their trying to defeat, a book. I don’t actually own or have any of these products, but I used online images and specs to do the image mockup you see below. Each electronic reader is proportionally sized, and the book is a generic book (and awfully large, at that!)

The Obvious Answer

Doesn’t one of them appear darker or more menacing than the others? I’d say it’s the black bezeled iPad. It been noted that reading white text on a dark background is harder to read, and adds to eye strain when reading long passages. While Apple’s own iBook App Store solves the problem by displaying it as dark type on white, the black outer bezel makes uncomfortable reading. People don’t like thick, dark borders on books. If anything, we’re accustomed to a white border (think polaroids and magazines). White space (or negative space) is terribly important to the reading experience.

My Proposed Fix

My hand-done photoshopped version of the iPad above, with an illuminated outer bezel using the same backlight technology as the display. Besides a larger area to concentrate on, you get a built-in gutter around your web pages, and an obvious difference between it’s on and off states. Finally, you can reuse the outer bezel area as a touch screen area, with tiny feedback inside the screen area, so you can flip through a book without covering the screen with your hand.

Stay Tuned! More iPad nonsense ahead!