Pages Review

We were all a bit surprised when Apple revealed the iWork suite of apps at the iPad's unveiling; we figured we'd see iLife apps long before iWork. Nevertheless, the apps launched with the device, and we've spent a great deal of time using them. We begin our review of the suite with Pages, Apple's word processing application, as this is the probably most commonly used on the Mac. So how does it stack up to its big brother?

When you need to write an e-mail, the iPad seems like a logical choice. When you need to write a term paper, you're going to be less inclined to follow the same path. Even with a keyboard dock, some of the swiftness achievable with a mouse is not possible by switching between typing and tapping the screen. It is something, though, that you could become more accustomed to. Given a certain amount of dedication to learning the ropes, Pages could indeed become a highly useful app.

Unless the iPad is your only computer, you'll probably turn to a standard desktop or laptop for paper writing, but when you're on the go or just want to write casually, this is Pages' forte. The predetermined templates (you can't add your own) are all quite lovely and will ensure a professional look for your document, and you can adjust the settings to your liking, including all the usual changes to headers, footers, margins, spacing, and the like. Pages supports all 40 fonts supported by the iPad, so you should be able to find the font that gives your document the right flair.

One worthwhile feature that's worth pointing out is that while using the virtual keyboard, you are limited to copying and pasting with a tap-and-hold, you can use keyboard shortcuts with any hardware keyboard. However, tapping the screen reveals more Pages-only options, such as a dictionary, a mini-thesaurus, and the ability to copy the font style to use elsewhere within the document. Navigation is also handled seamlessly, with the ability to rapidly flip through large documents by scrolling along the right side of the screen, much as you can do with other apps.

Charts, graphs, and images are all handled excellently, and the touch screen makes their inclusion much more fun. Dragging images around the text to watch words move slide around it is as fun as we knew it would be after watching Apple demo this feature. Adding borders, colors, and other design features is also easy. Rotating objects with your fingers is easily the most intuitive feature: doing this with a mouse afterward felt almost awkward.

The major issue is what to do with your documents once you've finished. If you're importing them to the iPad, you'll have to undergo a clumsy tethering process; the same obviously goes for exporting. You currently can't print from the iPad (seriously, Apple?), so you'll need to offload your documents to a networked computer or one attached to a printer. It's also worth nothing that importing from Pages on a Mac will not necessarily leave you with an identical document. Comments and tracked changes, for instance, have no place on the iPad. As an editor, I can attest to missing this feature.

On the whole, Pages on the iPad does pretty much everything you would expect it to do. It's not as fully featured as the Mac version, but we're dealing with an entirely different and more limited machine (in some ways), so changes are to be expected. Some of the robustness that you might feel is missing (such as the inability to create new templates) could certainly be added via future patches. As such, if you find something missing right now, it may still show up. On the other hand, Apple could charge for major upgrades, which is the more likely scenario, as updates to iWork on other platforms have always cost extra.

If you feel like word processing is something that you'll want to do on the iPad, this is a must-have app. If you generally just want to write e-mails or take short notes, don't waste your money. It's as simple as that.