by Erik Miller
iPad 2 Misses the Mark, Again
20:18 in Commentary, iAMDA News, Mobile Digital Art by Erik Miller
So we’re a day or two away from the big iPad 2 release. And last week’s announcement did seem to fire up a lot of the early adopters and get us to re-invest some interest in the now constant upgrade parade that Apple leads. But at this stage of the game, my current iPad does pretty much everything I need minus one major thing. And no, I’m not talking about a camera, a card slot, or even a higher resolution screen.
Where’s the pressure sensitivity?
Is it that hard for Apple to take a look at the community of creatives that have stood by them through the previous lean years and say, “hey, here’s the ultimate bone that we want to throw you.” If Wacom, another company that seemingly has the market cornered on a device, can do it with the ridiculously high priced Cintiq tablets, why can’t Apple add one relatively easy software feature to their almost perfect, market-cornering device? And by the way, in case you forgot, TenOne Design did it almost a year ago:
TenOneDesign’s pressure sensitive code would certainly have gone a long way towards solving this issue. Honestly, I had assumed that the folks at Apple saw this software demo and would have incorporated the code into future firmware releases. I had hoped that we would have seen this capability on the iPad 2 since GarageBand for the iPad has a pressure sensitive keyboard which apparently uses the accelerometer in some manner to read the force of a keystroke while playing.
I could almost forego my intense dislike for the fat-nibbed styluses needed for capacitive screens if pressure sensitivity could be incorporated into all the iDevices. I agree that pressure sensitivity really would make the iPad a nearly perfect, market cornering device.
I honestly haven’t missed pressure sensitivity. I truly love painting on the pad. It’s just not a deal breaker for me, nor do I see it as a snub from Apple. Every media I use has some limitation and some strength. The fun is how to make the most of any given media. We have come so far so fast as far as the technology end, but development, especially with Apple’s high standards take time.
hmmm…this feature used to sit at the top of my wish list but over time has become a non-issue. Though I’d likely enjoy it–and REALLY take advantage of it (i almost imagine it taking my work to a new level)–I’ve managed to build a technique around it not being there. My biggest issue with these devices (not just Apple) is that they all seem to ALMOST have everything. I’m not sure if its a matter of the technology/software needing more work–or if its just a matter of keeping us on edge and making that “next release” or upgrade all the more necessary for us to buy.
People, if Apple or anyone, had finger touch, pressure sensitivity on the current screens, no one would be holding back or teasing us. E.g. The reason, I’m told, the retina display hasn’t made it to iPad is simple: no one can manufacture it to keep up with the size and demand of the iPad. I’m not here to complain about what I don’t have but 2 important things we got: lighter & faster.
I that apple is dealing with either one of two things: they haven’t found a effective solution that’s affordable and reliable, or two: they want to keep the iPad the way it is for a sense of uniformity.
one thing I am a little aware of is that when people think of the iPad they think of multitouch technology, most pressure sensitive hardware sacrifices multitouch so it can do what it does.
isn’t there already a pc out with retina display and multitouch? I thought it was also pressure sensitive but I may be making that up. Uwe Maurer brought it to the last conference. very cool because it was also a laptop with a keyboard…tiny and efficient.
James here; Deborah asked me to weigh in on this topic.
A pressure sensitive multi-touch surface is certainly possible, but probably not practical for the iPad right now. Apple is certainly working on pressure sensitive touch displays (they’ve filed several patents over the years), but like so many nascent technologies, that doesn’t means it’s likely to appear in their next product.
The primary obstacles are benefit, cost, and scalability. The benefit factor is the most subjective, but one that’s very dear to Apple’s design philosophy. Apple doesn’t add features because it can, they add them only when there’s a striking and compelling benefit, and one that will benefit a substantial portion of their users and applications. As much as artists are clamoring for a pressure sensitive interface, you have to realize that artists alone are not enough of a reason to pour millions into developing this technology. (In a perfect world it would it would, but alas…) Unless pressure sensitive interfaces benefit games, eBooks, productivity, and medical applications, it’s not worth complicating the hardware, manufacturing, and software.
Touch sensitive inputs are also unproven. I’m not aware of anyone making a mass-market device with a pressure-sensative touch input that’s been well received. Early reports of the few that do are getting mixed reviews. Other companies are perfectly willing to offer an inadequate user experience as long as they can fill in a bullet point, but Apple steadfastly refuses to do this. Until touch sensitive devices are responsive, accurate, and reliable, you won’t see them in any Apple products.
Which brings us to cost. A touch sensitive interface would be more expensive, and the iPad is consumer device, extremely sensitive to the cost of manufacturing. When I was in the hardware design business, the rule of thumb was 5X hardware costs. So adding a $1 part would add $5 to the retail price. I’m sure a touch-sensitive display hardware would be more in the $3 to $10 range. Changing the retail price of the iPad by even $25 would cost Apple millions in sales.
And finally there’s scalability. Apple is expected to sell 30-50 million iPads this year. No matter what the technology is, how great is, or how cheap it is, if Apple can’t manufacture it in quantity it’s a moot point. The retina display is a good example. There’s no question that it’s a good thing or that Apple is committed to better display technology. However, industry analysis have pointed out that NO ONE in the world has the manufacturing capacity to produce retina-quality displays at the iPad’s size in enough quantity to meet the demand.
James’ comment as to the touch interface plus the pressure sensitivity got me thinking about the hit and miss qualities of the Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch tablet. My students that have used it have said that the tablet portion is fine but the touch features are somewhat unreliable. And also in line with James’ comments, I know that my wife and son could care less about pressure sensitivity. As a matter of fact, they don’t seem to understand why I even want to use a stylus with my iPad; finger painting seems much more logical to the both of them considering the interface metaphor that Apple’s pushing. You got me thinking James…
IMHO it’s not so much about pressure sensitivity of the touch interface (that could be easily done via 3rd party accessories, like a bluetooth stylus, and that’s how the cintiq works as well) but more about touch sensitivity, meaning shape recognition and a higher touch screen ‘resolution’. Imagine the haptic surface could distinguish between the touch of bristles and cloth eg.
I think registering pressure through hardware was only an in-between solution of actually registering distance and amount of contact between the object and the surface.
As I understand, private methods within the sdk already allow for that, but I don’t think hardware is highly developed enough for that yet.
Also I think that’s the reason why apple isn’t joining the trend now, not before that is ready.
The Ipad is huge in music production and performance. Pressure sensitivity would be the icing on the cake for us musicians. For things like piano keys and drums.
I can’t believe a comment that I just read!!! The comment stated that until there were heavy uses for touch sensitivity in apps such as games productivity, etc., that Apple would put a lot of effort into it. Games would probably be the number one use for it. How about a pressure sensitive gas peddle for flying and driving games, power punch levels on fighting games, jumping high or low on on action games, zoom levels on shooting games, etc. The uses are endless. It would bring a whole new level to almost every level. It could even facilitae 3D.
Sorry, late to this conversation, but someone brought up the point that a relatively small minority of Apple users are actually artists (even though the majority of artists use Apple). This is a good point, however, one must also keep in mind that this field is magnified through the training. For instance, as more universities are requiring students to have their own computers, Apple would be sure to have a corner on the entire field of undergraduate and graduate art, architecture, music, theater (think, set design, etc.), and probably even dance. These fields are HUGE tuition generators for many universities (because so many students want art classes and, really, faculty salary and overhead are so low compared to other classes). Apple has long realized that it’s critical to be a lead in the education market — if they added pressure sensitivity, it would nail it, at least among many branches of the arts. And even if a user doesn’t grow up to be a professional artist who uses Apple products, it’s a perfect way to may a “convert”.
With that said, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if scalability and cost are really the impeding issues besides just S.J.s love for the finesse of a mushy finger tip.
VERY late here, but just to point out that while Apple may have been ignoring artists, lenovo and samsung have not. Lenovo’s new Thinkpad Tablet has a properly pressure sensitive wacom digitiser on top of the usual multitouch, and SketchbookPro supports pressure sensitivity on it. Same with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note which is basically an S2 with a bigger higher res screen than an iPhone4, much beefier specs all round, and a pressure sensitive wacom stylus.
Apple are all about mass market appeal – they have to be when they only make one tablet at a time and are selling them to the whole world. Android manufacturers need to innovate more to stand out, which is good for consumers and as it turns out great for us.