iPad 2: Not Quite the Magazine Experience

Engadget published a first hands-on about the iPad 2 and what piqued my interest was this:

“The design feels great in your hands. Sleek, super thin — much nicer to hold than the previous version. Definitely has more of a magazine than book feel. Everything is tight and solid. It is pretty amazing how thin they’ve gotten the device.”

I’m an avid magazine reader and if the new iPad 2 has more of a magazine than book feel like they said, I’d be very happy with the iPad 2. However, I’m still reluctant because the magazine experience I think is still better with the print copy than a digital copy on an iPad. I will have to spend more time using an iPad 2 to read magazines, but from my experiences so far with the original iPad (which has the same form factor anyway), I would rather stick to traditional print magazines. The biggest issue is that the iPad 2 is basically only half the size of an open magazine. You can’t look at the iPad as a 2-page spread, but rather as a single page. On an iPad it’s hard to read an article and quickly glance at the pictures like you can with a print magazine because you have to zoom in to read the article. You almost need to have 2 iPads with a spine. And I don’t see that happening with future generations of the iPad or with other tablets in general. Steve Jobs joked how 2011 is the Year of the Copycats. And he’s right. What a shame. Unfortunately, Microsoft cancelled their Courier concept which I think could’ve been a great competitor to the iPad. It could’ve been a great alternative as it would meet the needs of different users. But like everyone else, they’re instead probably going to try to copy Apple’s iPad if they eventually try to join the tablet wars.

The cancelled Microsoft Courier Tablet concept. Picture courtesy of Engadget:
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