I recently got the chance to visit an Apple* store. You know you've entered the future from the minimalist outer design - a grey-silver frame marked with a single Apple logo. Apple likes empty space, because we all know silvery things and lack of clutter is futuristic!
The inside isn't like a traditional store. They have tables with the products out and the staff wander around with payment terminals in a holster. I wondered if they'd do a wild west quick draw with them, but they didn't. I suppose cowboys aren't the future**.
I was there with a friend, who was buying a new iPad. He'd brought a basic one when they first came out, and wanted to upgrade to one of the ones with 'net access. I left him to find one of the wandering staff while I played with iPods. They had an iPod Nano out in every colour. Do the different colours work differently? Maybe you wouldn't bond with the blue one so well, but you'd find the menu easy to use on the purple one, so they have to have all the colours on display.
By the time I'd finished playing with the purple one, the staff had stolen my friend and put him behind the protective barrier of doom. I managed to get through and we waited for the iPad to arrive.
Making conversation while we waited, the staff member asked: "Will you be using his iPad at all?"
To which I replied: "No. I'm getting his old one***."
This caused a certain amount of bafflement, because the idea that anyone had an old iPad was a new one. I don't think the words old and iPad usually appeared in the same sentence.
Everything worked out in the end and we left with a new iPad.
Not everyone likes the shop of the future though. While we were there, two people came in. One remarked, "This isn't an internet cafe." They left shortly afterwards. Maybe this is a sign to Apple that they need to offer refreshing beverages in their store. Preferably with a robot server dressed like a cowboy. That really would be the future.
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* The electronic devices sort, not a seller of real apples. Though real apples are cheaper and tastier, so it's not like I've got anything against apple stores.
** Except for space westerns, where cowboys are everything to do with the future, even when there aren't any cows.
*** Now I've had the iPad for a few days, I have some thoughts. Overall thought: Yay! I like it a lot. It's very Star Trek (you never saw them playing mindless games**** on Star Trek ones though... did they really think people would only read books and use the holodeck in the future? What happened to Tetris?)
I like the way the touchpad recognises the difference between touching it with one finger and two fingers. The two finger touch is often used for zooming in and similar tasks.
The device works well as an ereader. I have my first ebook and I've downloaded some free comics with the Marvel and DC Comics apps. I prefer having the brighter screen and colour over eInk***** technology, but others may vary.
**** So far, I've downloaded Bloomies (a garden growing game), Plants vs. Zombies (also a garden growing game of sorts, but with more zombies) and Cogs (a steampunk puzzle game). They're fun games and not too expensive. Bloomies was the cheapest - it cost less than a pound. Plants vs. Zombies was the most expensive, but it's worth it for the zombies.
I've already smited the adventure mode. I am the zombie master!
Apparently a revamped version of Monkey Island 2 has just been released for it too. I'm never going to get any writing done at this rate.
***** I know it's technically E Ink or E-Ink, but eInk just seems more appropriate in an Apple post.
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