So, who else grabbed an iPad this weekend?

[CTScott]

I had been contemplating getting an iPad since the announcement. I am overall not a fan of Apple, but I really like my iPhone. A week or so ago (after some promising announcements from some of the people who create the jailbreaks for the iphone, about the serious potential for a quick release of a jailbreak for the iPad) I decided that I would go ahead and pre-order. I didn't make the first preorder run, so I was not due to receive mine until April 12th. Last week I was talking with a friend of mine and he suggested that we go Saturday morning and see if we can actually get one. We headed to the Apple store at our local mall Saturday morning and arrived 7:40 AM; An hour and 20 minutes before opening. We were about 10th in line (for the non-preorder line). By the time 9:00AM rolled around there were 100+ people behind us.

I give Apple some serious credit for how they handled crowd control - Everything was very friendly and organized and they had people moving up an down the line offering free coffee, water and cookies. They also checked with each person in line to see what they wanted to purchase, so they could compare it with their inventory and be able to tell you if what you wanted would be available once you entered. You were allowed to purchase two, and I decided on the spot to grab my 64GB one and to also grab my wife a 16GB one (as an anniversary present to replace her Kindle).

Once the doors opened, they let about 10 people (5 preorders and 5 non) enter at a time, each one with an employee escorting them through the process. When my turn came, I was in and out of the store with the two ipads and cases for both in less than 5 minutes.

After a weekend of monkeying with them, we are both really liking them. She will use hers most of all, as an eBook reader. She reads 2-3 books a week on her Kindle now. She will also use it for email (so she doesn't have to go down stairs to her office to check her email), web browsing, patient scheduling (synced with Outlook on her PC), and for doing presentations via the optional VGA adapter (she does some community lectures on nutrition, as she is a registered Dietitian).

My primary use will be as a digital notepad. I currently use the graph paper steno pads for taking meeting notes, hashing out ideas, etc. and have hundreds of them on the shelves in my office. Finding anything form the past in them is a real feat and deciphering it once I do is nearly impossible (with my handwriting, I think I was destined to be a doctor). I prefer typing to writing, and I found a couple of apps that I am experimenting with that allow you to add sketches within the text. I really like email and web browsing on it (and the lack of adobe flash isn't a huge deal to me). Watching movies on it when I travel for business is going to be awesome, especially with the battery life.

Positives thus far:

Screen - Nice size and looks excellent. Daylight readability is better than I expected as well.

Speed - Instant on, super fast app launching, and performance within games is excellent (I had to load some to do proper testing).

Battery life - I used it out of the box (without charging) for about six hours on Saturday and the battery was still at 79%.


Negatives thus far:

"Accessibility" - My wife has some visual impairment and the advertised accessibility features sounded great. They could definitely use more work - The principles are sound, but the implementation is not ideal. The screen reader mode is a great idea, but you have to learn about 20 gestures (one to three finger tap or swipe combinations) and not all third party apps work well with it (the Amazon Kindle app for example doesn't work well with the gestures required when it that mode, and Kindle books won't play in audio mode on the iPad). Also, the high contrast display mode doesn't make apps like the calendar any more readable. The calendar uses very fine, light gray on white in normal mode and dark gray on black in high contrast mode. Neither of these is super readable, even for me with 20/20 vision.

"Voice quality" - In the Apple iBooks app (their equivalent to Kindle) the iPad will play the books if you have the Voice over mode turned on. There is only one voice (female, whereas the kindle lets you chose male or female) and the reading is a bit more mechanical and choppy as compared with the Kindle.

No calculator - Both of us see the need for one and were surprised that there wasn't one built in (although we found a free one that suffices).

No true "notepad" app - With my primary use case being to replace paper pads, I would have liked to see a text and sketch combo app built in (like the one that comes with XP tablet edition). I have found a couple of apps for $5 or less that I am experimenting with, but it would have been a nice factory feature.

[Altitude]

iDidn't

Hope you find it useful!

[tomato]

Sounds like a great, positive review, Scott.

I didn't get one "pre-ordered" and am not planning on getting one in the near future (I don't have an immediate need for it right now) but I'll be heading out to the Apple store later today to get try to get my paws on one of them and see what the hoopla is all about. I'll admit it, I am - at the very least - curious.

[SailDesign]

Let's see -
1. I have a phone that "does" the interwebz - but it costs a lotta $$ to do so.
2. I have a Palm thingie that does likewise, but is pretty much free as long as I can find an unsecured network...
3. I have a netbook that does everything the Palm does, but can actually be typed on, too, without a magnifying glass, and
4. I have a fixed 'puter at home that does everything better than all of the above.

I'm not mocking, Scott - I have just never been able to understand the need for Interwebz access everywhere, especially coupled with no keyboard on a machine where the screen is basically unprotected.
But I'll bet that if someone gave me one and paid for service, I'd have fun with it.

[Kal-El]

Apple sold 300,000 iPads on the first day. That's particularly impressive since most people are waiting for the data plan supported unit.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36175932...gadgets//deck/

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

Apple sold 300,000 iPads on the first day. That's particularly impressive since most people are waiting for the data plan supported unit.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36175932...gadgets//deck/

Except for people like me, who are running pdanet on their jailbroken iphones to avoid the $40/month data plan for the iPad.

[tomato]

Originally Posted by CTScott

Except for people like me, who are running pdanet on their jailbroken iphones to avoid the $40/month data plan for the iPad.

OK, now I'm really curious. I have Pda.net but I can't find good evidence that it works well for Android phone / iPad. Did you buy any chance run into some info about that when you were doing your research?

I can see ANDROID / PDANET / laptop, no problem, but iPad, a completely different platform ??? Any pointers greatly appreciated.

And by the way, Scott, did you use any specific applications to process your photos when you took your iPad on vacation, or just sync with the camera kit they provide and upload from there? Thanks.

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by tomato

OK, now I'm really curious. I have Pda.net but I can't find good evidence that it works well for Android phone / iPad. Did you buy any chance run into some info about that when you were doing your research?

I can see ANDROID / PDANET / laptop, no problem, but iPad, a completely different platform ??? Any pointers greatly appreciated.

And by the way, Scott, did you use any specific applications to process your photos when you took your iPad on vacation, or just sync with the camera kit they provide and upload from there? Thanks.

Actually the pdnet SW I have to run for the ipad to tether to my iphone is MiWi. The ipad doesn't support peer to peer networking, which is required for the real pdanet, so MiWi makes your iphone look like an access point.

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by SailDesign

I'm not mocking, Scott - I have just never been able to understand the need for Interwebz access everywhere, especially coupled with no keyboard on a machine where the screen is basically unprotected.
But I'll bet that if someone gave me one and paid for service, I'd have fun with it.

Yegads, Steve, think of the possibilities! Think of the time wasted everyday as you sit in the toilet, you could now boost your productivity thanks to the iPad!

I kid, I kid, I find this device quite intriguing, definitely the way mobile computing is going to go in the future.... I'll wait a couple more hardware generations though, spent far too much time and money on the bleeding edge of consumer electronics :D

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by SailDesign

I have just never been able to understand the need for Interwebz access everywhere

When my company first handed me an iPhone I felt the same way, but having near-constant access to the Net at your fingertips is sort of like getting your first microwave. You never knew how useful it could be until you got one.

From the work side I can get onto any of our networks and troubleshoot any issues even when I'm sneaking in a few snowboard runs before work, or when a server melts down while I'm mountain biking in a canyon somewhere. This level of freedom is hard to describe unless you've ever had to cut an outing or event short because you needed to get to a Net access point, or had to lug a laptop everywhere you went.

From the personal side you basically have the largest collection of human knowledge in history at your fingertips nearly 24x7. Looking up a recipe at the grocery store, real time price comparisons, user reviews, movie show times, reference materials, email, etc. are all great examples of this power. There are lighter aspects as well, like checking forums or social networking sites when you have time to kill.

Combine all of that with a bucket of local-only applications on a computer in your pocket and it becomes a part of your daily life.

With all that said I still can't think of a use for the iPad. I much prefer my Linux netbook (another company asset, which I usually keep downstairs) for tooling around the Net or typing anything, and my Linux desktop upstairs is by far the most usable of all 3 devices. I just can't imagine having something as limited as the iPhone in a larger size that's too big for a pocket and too unprotected for anything but a laptop bag, and at a price point that starts above full featured netbooks.

[127.0.0.1]

I have a bike.

[Gideon]

I went in to check one out in person. I'm waiting to hear from my company if I can get one to use for business purposes.

If not I'll probably pick up a refurbished one when they finally have them in stock.

I have two laptops, one netbook and two tablet PCs that I have tried to use for work/play and I'm fairly confident that I can use the iPad instead as none of those PCs listed may do more than the iPad but really don't do anything particularly well. (Laptop is too heavy and has a crap battery life, netbook takes forever to do anything and the touchscreens on the two tablets blow.)

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by Gideon

I went in to check one out in person. I'm waiting to hear from my company if I can get one to use for business purposes.

If not I'll probably pick up a refurbished one when they finally have them in stock.

I have two laptops, one netbook and two tablet PCs that I have tried to use for work/play and I'm fairly confident that I can use the iPad instead as none of those PCs listed may do more than the iPad but really don't do anything particularly well. (Laptop is too heavy and has a crap battery life, netbook takes forever to do anything and the touchscreens on the two tablets blow.)

That's exactly why I was so interested. I own 4 laptops (each has it's own purpose based on size, power, battery life, etc.), but none can run for an entire day (even doing simple things) without needing a charge.

I have owned two Windows based tablets (the Motion Computing tablet and a Compaq one). My biggest complaints with both were boot time, battery consumption in sleep mode, and the digitizer mechanisms). The iPhone's touch screen is so much better than anything else I've ever used, and a giant version that works just a well is a serious win.

I plan to do some development for the iPad. I did some for work for the iPhone, but with the screen size of the iPad, there is so much more potential.

[eht13]

Originally Posted by PK198105

Is it safe to assume you didnt get the wifi version of it as its not released yet?

Actually safe to assume he got the WiFi-only version. The WiFi and 3G version comes out later this month.

[Gideon]

Originally Posted by PK198105

Well as long as you like it Scott. Is it safe to assume you didnt get the wifi version of it as its not released yet? And like Sail said the screen is unprotected and i would suspect the digitizer has a limited life span, there is serious risk of constant recalibration. And like Sail said we're not knocking you Scott , i just think you might have been caught up in the marketing net of Apple, and. I gotta give it to them they are great at marketing. But for the money i would have bought one of the new toshiba tablet PCs, everything a computer has and can act as a digital scribble machine. Even a small netbook can be upgraded for about 30$ to have the touch screen/digitizer , they sell the modules on ebay.

I'm sure CT isn't worried as I'm also sure he's aware that the iPad (as well as the iPhone/iPod touch) uses a capacitive touchscreen panel which does not require user calibration, unlike resistive touchscreen panels which do require recalibration after a bit of use.

[tomato]

I still say, "good for you" Scott.

Yes, we're all aware of the shortcomings, it doesn't do flash, memory could be better, doesn't multitask, etc., etc.

I went to check them out an hour ago at the store and was impressed with the net surfing / pinch-zoom experience. The display is awesome (that's indoors, though) and over at the Apple store, on their Wi-Fi , the pages loaded FAST. Wow.

I can totally, totally understand the appeal. (I didn't say I'd buy it though)

To those of you who are bashing the device based on the lack of flash support, etc., think about it this way:

Let's say you have to get someplace 3 miles from where you are now. You can either 1) walk, 2) drive, 3) bike over, 4) take public transportation, 5) other ....

There is no "one way is better than the other" Sure, to get over there faster, you'll drive. To get there while getting some exercise, you probably want to walk it or bike it. To get there while spending the least money, another option might be best. Etc., etc. I guess it's all a question of personal preference.

Apple's iPad is just giving you a different way of accomplishing things you can already accomplish with your iPhone or notebook or whatever else device. There is nothing wrong with that.

BTW, For the record, I'm no Apple fanboy, and 4 out of 5 electronic devices I own are non-Apple products. And I have my opinion about Apple as a company (which I'll keep to myself ;) but I don't see the need to bash the iPad (well, except perhaps the name ;)

[Altitude]

I'd be most interested to hear how your wife feels about using it as an eReader especially compared to the Kindle with the eInk display. I could never read a book on a backlit display be it a PC or laptop monitor or any display that has a refresh rate due to eye strain. I use the Sony eReader for books and find the eInk to be the deciding factor in my ability to read anything at length.

I won't bash the iPad because I'd be thrilled to play with one for a while, but I don't think it's something I would find much use for over the long term. Of course if I could turn one into a home automation interface I'd be in heaven, so it's possible I would pick one up on eBay in the future (though the lack of standard ports would be a hindrance.)

It's definitely got the cool and wow factor going for it, but after that wears off it comes down to usability. It'll be interesting to see how you feel about the prospects for longevity after you've used it for a while.

[why?]

Originally Posted by Altitude

I'd be most interested to hear how your wife feels about using it as an eReader especially compared to the Kindle with the eInk display. I could never read a book on a backlit display be it a PC or laptop monitor or any display that has a refresh rate due to eye strain. I use the Sony eReader for books and find the eInk to be the deciding factor in my ability to read anything at length.

I won't bash the iPad because I'd be thrilled to play with one for a while, but I don't think it's something I would find much use for over the long term. Of course if I could turn one into a home automation interface I'd be in heaven, so it's possible I would pick one up on eBay in the future (though the lack of standard ports would be a hindrance.)

It's definitely got the cool and wow factor going for it, but after that wears off it comes down to usability. It'll be interesting to see how you feel about the prospects for longevity after you've used it for a while.

I hear that about the eye strain, I can't even use a smallish laptop or computer monitor without my eyes getting crazy strained. And forget using ipod's or anything like that for anything but music.

I tried a netbook with a 13" screen and after 5 minutes I had a headache. Oh well, just need to wait for cybernetic implants to be a reality.