Feb 4 2010
iPad Features: Safari
Whenever Apple announces the launch of a new product, the entire technology industry is abuzz with anticipation. Month before the official iPad announcement, rumours of Apple’s upcoming tablet reached epic proportions and fired-up an army of articles, tweets, blog posts and searches. And then on 28 January 2010 at 1:00 PM EST, Apple finally revealed its tablet, called the iPad.
But, does the iPad live up to the hype? We’re going to take a closer look at the announced iPad features. We’ll begin in this post with the iPad’s browsing capabilities via Safari.
Safari
iPad Feature: Web browsing with Safari on the iPad
The iPad is a basically a large 9.7-inch iPhone. Just like the iPhone, the iPad features a LED-backlit multi-touch widescreen display with Safari.
Safari is Apple’s internet browser. Safari, as a web browser, is fast and stable. For any Mac user, Safari is generally the browser of choice simply because of how well it is integrated in Apple’s operating system through an easy, elegant and efficient workflow.
Apple is trying to brand the iPad as the “best way to experience the web, e-mail, photos, and video”. So, will Safari help Apple to create the best surfing experience ever?
Sadly, the answer is, “perhaps, but not yet.”
Just like the iPhone, the iPad’s version of Safari isn’t and will not be compatible with Flash. Yes, the iPad isn’t Flash compatible!
Millions of websites use flash today and if the iPad isn’t Flash compatible, then it will significantly limit the iPad user’s browsing experience.
In a official response from Adobe to the iPad’s lack of Flash, the popular software maker mentions that:
“without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.”
Indeed, those are some pretty grim numbers for the iPad (see Adobe’s official repines on Gizmodo.com, Adobe Responds to the iPad’s Lack of Flash)
Moreover, in TheFlashBlog.com, Lee Brimelow provides a concise, but very visually poignant post on what it would be like to browse without Flash (see The iPad provides the ultimate browsing experience?)
Perhaps at a future time, both the iPad and the iPhone will be Flash compatible or we’ll all live in a world where Flash is a thing of the past, but until that happens the iPad will not be the “best way to experience the web”.
