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My brother in law got one. I like it...but the browser rendering is a bit slow. And it's still locked-into Apple's stupid app market policies. I would want a more robust browser on a machine like that, and a few more tweaks. And maybe like $100-200 less on the price tag. Curious to see if there will actually be a good Android tablet.
Um, I have a confession to make. While I'm not an Apple fan (I've never owned and apple product ever before), I got an iPad for my birthday. My wife's into getting me things she knows I'd never buy myself, and an iPad was one of them. So I guess I should give my impressions for all the demonizers here:
#1. I like it, its fun. The kids love it too.
#2. Its the right size to hold comfortably for long periods of time, that's never been an issue. I also have a small laptop I use on a daily basis throughout the house and the iPad is infinitely more easy to handle, access quickly, etc.
#3. I've been using it to play games, browse the web, and watch movies on Netflix. I haven't put any music on it, though it has iPod functionality built in. There's a free app for reading books which I've downloaded, along with some books (there's a huge library available free, though mostly older books), but I've not bothered to read anything yet. I like paper. There's a photo functionality built in, which I've ignored thus far, but I assume you can use it as a digital picture frame - I have no interest in that right now. The Netflix capability is by far the coolest thing so far - movies look great on it, though the touch screen forwarding/rewinding works crappy. It's very cool to put on a movie and take it with you into the kitchen, living room, bathroom ( ;) ), etc.
#4. The onscrean keyboard totally sucks. You can't type full hand at all, it's too sensitive, though I've gotten a lot better with that. There's no arrow keys for editing text, the select functionality is clumsy and I make errors and inadvertantly activate it all the time. Major pain, imo.
#5. Mine does not have 3G connectivity, so outside my home wireless network it's considerably less useful. Basicially, it becomes a game machine. Might be more useful if I put music and videos on it. I could always take it into a coffee shop or something and connect but I can't imagine what I'd use it for there. It's not like I can type with it or something, like I can with my laptop. I don't have a word processor on it, though I confess I've not looked for an app like that since I don't intend to buy the addon keyboard.
#6. The screen is smudged all the time. How can it not be, it's a touch screen ffs? So when I pull up a Netflix program or even sit down to play a game or read this bb, I'm rubbing it clean with my shirt or something.
Overall Impression: It's fun to have but it doesn't fill any need that I have so far. Its perfect for gadgety people. With a keyboard, it would be more functional, but I'm not about to replace my laptop with it. I confess I don't understand the hatred for it I see here. Its just a new and fun product put out by a company that specializes in new and fun products.
I noticed that too - the browser loads web pages way slower than my 10-year-old laptop on the same wireless network. Go figure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Asides from netflix, it sounds like you would have been better suited with a GP2X or Pandora (keyboard) emulator.
Not a bad idea, if you've got money to blow. The velco glue would eventually give, or the ipad case would begin to warp from all the prying. If you're able to ignore the velco strips you would have everywhere...
Hatred?Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
I think it's more sneering cynicism dripping from the typical superiority we all have here.
And I disagree that it's just a new and fun product put out by a company that specializes in new and fun products:
- The iPod, which is the product that kicked off the craze for fun and funky products, is a brilliant device that serves a specific purpose; playing music.
- The iPhone is a brilliant device that serves a specific purpose; a cellphone and all that cellphones have become.
- The iMac is Apple's personal computer, again, it serves a specific purpose.
- The iPad is what? A music player? Sort of, but you're better off with a tiny iPod. A personal computer? Sort of, but it's far too limited in functionality and usability; you're better off with a laptop. A phone? no - it isn't a phone.
So it's a bit of a nothing really. Everybody has something else which does what the iPad can but does it better ...
The Ipod wasn't even a new concept, Creative was in that market before Apple. In fact, Creative sued Apple because of how much of the design they "borrowed". Hell, in that case Apple admitted ripping off design ideas from Kane Kramer, who invented the damn thing back in 79.
http://imgur.com/VmtXE.jpg
Aye. My lady (who still has a big old Zen) was telling me about how Creative invented a touch-sensitive oval on their players, an idea which Apple twocked and transformed from an oval into a circle.
I won't pretend to deny though, that Apple's iPods and iPhones are excellent gadgets, sleek and funky and useful, and marketed very well.
For me though the iPad is just ... muhhhh. Pointless. Not useful. A bandwagon device purely for cashing in on Apple fanboy stoopidity.
Just a couple comments - velcro tape is insanely sticky. Don't stick it to anything you don't want it to stay with forever. Also, the iPad's casing is very durable - I doubt it would warp.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
Fair enough. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
Face it, all those products are gadgety toys well more gadgeted up than is necessary to be strictly useful. Ok, the iPad lacks more use and has more fun associated with it, but in essance its the same damn thing. Useless mostly but pretty fun to use. If you have money to waste on stuff like that, its a good choice.Quote:
And I disagree that it's just a new and fun product put out by a company that specializes in new and fun products:
Nah, I think Apple intends it to fill some functional niche. Their business plan wasn't "hey, we have lots of stupid people out there that will buy whatever we make, so lets develop a really useless piece of shit to sell them!" No, I don't think so. :oQuote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
I use this stuff at work with cabling. It has to be sticky because the velcro strips get harder to rip the wider they get; but it does give, and we have to replace our 3M strips every few months in heavy traffic areas.Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
Hmmm .. I guess it's a little subjective.
A music player is something I use for at least two hours every day (it's all I listen to in my car on my commute, or if I drive on weekends)
A cellphone is something I use throughout the day, every day.
Neither are absolutely essential, no, but both are something I use one hell of a lot, daily. I'd say that's way beyond something I'd call 'just gadgety and fun'.
I only use an mp3 player when I'm working out. Or sitting on a beach. And the one I use is small, has a long batter life, and simply plays music, because that's what I need it to do.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
Cell phone, I use constantly. But do I need a cell phone like Apple's apped up gadget fest? Clearly not and almost certainly, if i may be so bold, neither do you. Which is the point.
Be that as it may, its still insanely sticky. :oQuote:
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
DittoQuote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
No, agreed. But at it's core it is still a cellphone. All the rest is add-on guff. (I don't have an iPhone btw - I have Nokia's touchpad phone - not quite as gadgety but getting there ...)Quote:
Cell phone, I use constantly. But do I need a cell phone like Apple's apped up gadget fest?
Whereas an iPad is, at its core, what? That is the point I'm trying to make, or failing to understand. An iPhone is a phone. An iPod is a music player. An iMac is a PC. An iPad is ... what?
I use a blackberry which I like because it has a keyboard instead of a touch pad. I use more for email and texting than I do phone calls. That and playing scrabble. :up:
A toy. And I like toys still. :)Quote:
Whereas an iPad is, at its core, what?
Aye I'm surrounded by blackberrys at work - but I refuse to take one because I don't want to receive work emails out of work. :sour:
The keypad is okay though.
Okay. I guess. And seeing as it was bought for you ... :oQuote:
A toy. And I like toys still.
Mine is for personal use. My employer offered functionality to get work email on our personal blackberrys if we wanted and I told them to go get fucked.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
I would have never bought it on my own. I hate Apple.Quote:
Okay. I guess. And seeing as it was bought for you ... :o
This is the part that worries me. Been thinking about getting one for my mom in August for her 65th birthday, as I think she would use it a lot. She works from home and really just needs e-mail and Google Docs, but doesn't like being tied to her desk all the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
But I'm worried the keyboard won't work well for actually typing e-mails and such...is it something you've been able to get used to, or is it a constant annoyance?
Jesus ChristQuote:
my mom in August for her 65th birthday
Well, you could always get her the keyboard docking station ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Seems like it defeats the purpose though, doesn't it?
Nessus- Why the shock?
Execution. Like I said before, it's probably a helluva lot better than a kindle. Now, I don't really see the point of getting a kindle, and I'm certainly not one of those "gotta have the latest tech gadgets" guys. But I can see why one would be enthusiastic about an iPad, if you're one of those types.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
Your parents were late with you. Like, really, fucking late.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Maybe we can start making jokes about how the senileness of old age has influenced your crazed outlook on life, and stop blaming your overbearing friends.
You can't really compare the Kindle to an iPad. One is intended for reading, the other for applications.Quote:
Originally Posted by ']['ear
My mum had me when she was relatively old and she's not even 60 yet. And you and I are the same fucking age :bulb:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Well, two options: A) Here in evangelical America, my devoutly Christian mother had many many many babies, even though we're in librul New York City where people have less living space (and thus less kids) so that we can be closer to the theater, welfare and the crack cocaine. B) You don't know my age. :o
I'm getting better with it. Some of its just getting used to fuctionality in the browser I didn't know was there, like the double arrows in the upper right corner that allows this box I'm typing in to get bigger. In the iPad you can't scroll within a box so you have to make the box as big as the text you're typing because there are no arrow keys. There's also this zoom in feature so you can put the cursor right inside a word that you have to tap the thing in a certain way to activate it. With time I get better at it. Its such an unfamiliar interface, I'm not sure if its difficult to use or I'm just in a learning curve.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
How many, if I may ask... ? Also, arn't you like 25 or something?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
I own this alternative to the iPad :)
Looks clunky. ;)
Yeah, but since it's intended for business, it has some nice little features. Like being able to swap the battery on the fly, the battery not charging until the remaining charge has dropped below 90% and such stuff. And the pen is nice because the display is based on technology by Wacom.
:confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
You've claimed to be '85, why would you have lied about that?
Well, some posters here will recall that you were in high school when you first got involved with the I-war board. We have a timeline of your education which gives us an indication of your age.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Your math and Nessie's contradict. So I'm increasingly thinking of purchasing this for my mom, but I just realized that Google Docs and Spreadsheets (which she uses for her business) won't work. :( Considering some of those application-to-Google-Docs solutions...
Has anyone here who has one (okay like the one person), tried an app that syncs Google Docs to their iPad? Like Memeo Connect or something?
EDIT: Even though Memeo doesn't really allow editing...GAH.
