first ipad impressions

[kimchicowboy]

my wife got one last night. the 64GB wifi+3g. so far, it's a lot better than i expected. i was VERY weary of it at first as a lame laptop wanna-be.

she was impatient and bought the 3G even though we may not get it (i may be getting the palm pre plus through verizon and they have free mobile hotspot right now). we got the bluetooth keyboard as well and it works very well.

the learning curve isn't too bad. but my wife loves it. i'm not completely hooked, but i'll end up using it for my grad school studies this fall.

the Pages app works really well and is pretty seamless with our Mac MS Word. all the other things are for fun. :) it'll be a lot nicer to watch movies and such than on an iphone or other smartphone device.

it wasn't cheap for sure. but i think it'll be worth it in the long run.

[Cubsfan]

I think I know the answer to this one (unfortunately), but let me know when you've had a chance to use it outdoors. I'm curious how well it works in the light.

[cheapie]

nice. i keep looking at them and will probably end up getting one soonish

[cheapie]

ok...i was saving up for one but i unexpectedly got a nice check from my old company so i'm trying to pull the trigger on the 32g g3 but nobody has them. i called about 20 best buys and they're all out. i'm on the list at the apple store so i'll hopefully have one in a few days.

or maybe i'll just get a new bike. hmmm...:heh:

[LPMiller]

if it's going to take a few days anyway, why not just order it from apple direct? Cost is the same. Unless you have an old ipod you don't want anymore, because then they will give you another 10 percent off.

[kimchicowboy]

ok...i was saving up for one but i unexpectedly got a nice check from my old company so i'm trying to pull the trigger on the 32g g3 but nobody has them. i called about 20 best buys and they're all out. i'm on the list at the apple store so i'll hopefully have one in a few days.

or maybe i'll just get a new bike. hmmm...:heh:
we went to our local apple store. they had us make a reservation for one. a couple of days later, my wife got an e-mail saying she had to pick it up that day if she wanted it. but yeah, we got the notice pretty quickly. :)

[cheapie]

if it's going to take a few days anyway, why not just order it from apple direct? Cost is the same. Unless you have an old ipod you don't want anymore, because then they will give you another 10 percent off.


because i'd rather get it from best buy and i'll be looking in the meantime. also, it's 7-10 days to get it from apple direct and only 2-4 days to get it from a store.

[gwilks98]

My boss has one and loves it. That said, I don't see why.
The keyboard requires hunt and peck, which slows me down. (Would need to buy an external keyboard)
You need to buy a stand if you want to sit it upright.
It has no camera for web-conferencing.
You can't tether it to your iphone.
As far as I know, opening/modifying Office 2007 docs and later (.docx, .xlsx) is not easily done.
The device doesn't support Java which is a network security pain for me.
I have the nagging suspicion that the next ipad will blow this initial model away, like the 3GS did for the iphone.
I cracked my iphone and it cost $200 to replace. I wonder what an iPad would cost?

That said, I hope you and your wife love your purchase. I really do. I just see it as a niche device that doesn't suit what I need it to be. Not yet at least.

[Jeffbx]

It looks promising as a next gen tablet, but the problem is that I have NEVER (outside of specific industrial applications) seen a useful tablet implementation. I've had several tablets for work, and they're neat to show off, but essentially that's about it. Taking notes on them is slow and cumbersome, the UI is less effecient than a mouse & KB, and tablet specific apps have no benefit that I can see over what you can do with a mouse.

HOWEVER - Apple has been known to change dynamics like this before, and hopefully the iPad will be able to do so again. I saw that the next gen iPhone takes the same mini-sim card that the ipad does, so maybe they got smart enough to allow both devices to at least share the same data plan. And the jury is still out on the apps, since they're just now starting to appear - maybe there will be a killer app or 2 that will make this worthwhile.

For now I'm with gwilks - I'd absolutely wait for the 2nd generation before I'd buy one personally. But I do have one on order for work & I'm looking forward to trying it out.

[cheapchinese]

I second on the learning curve.

I bought one(wifi only) for my mom this mother's day, & she's actually emailing me from time to time now.

This is big for me, because being a typical chinese mother , my mom's was never techno savy, so for me an "email" is big.

She's happy with the bright screen, the letters are very vibrant to her.

I would have gotten the 3g, but I asked apple, the staff said that 3g won't work in Taiwan.

[clutchy]

I'm not interested at this point.

I'm waiting to see how the flash ordeal gets played out.


for the time being i've thrown myself behind android and plan to stay there atleast with phones. I've never been a fan of apple and as soon as something better was available i hocked my iphone and picked up an N1.

i do think it would be neat for my wife to have her cooking recipes right there so she didn't have to come back to the comp or print them out... we'll see :)

[kimchicowboy]

well, after playing with it (not as much as my wife), i can say it is a very good in-between for someone who doesn't want a smartphone but doesn't need the full functionality of a laptop.

i haven't used it outdoors yet. my wife always has it during daylight hours. :P

but, for what my wife needed, it fits her needs perfectly. she's a teacher that does some private tutoring on the side. having a small screen of an iphone or other smartphone would irritate her. but the ipad's size (fits in her purse snug) and that it can sync with iCal on our computer at home, is what she needs. there are apps that are available that makes her life as a teacher much easier as well.

as for me, i don't think i would get one. i need something for grad school and originally was going to get a netbook, but not anymore.

keep in mind that i was anti-iPad before, thinking it was just some gimmicky device for apple to make more money. but, i have seen it as a really good niche product. there are going to be people who buy it just to look cool, but there are those who really take advantage of it's offerings. :)

[cheapie]

Playing with mine now. We'll see.

[mcs328]

Went to the Apple store and played Plants vs Zombies on it. My wife loves the game and downloaded it on her iPhone.

[cheapie]

:heh: i played that at best buy and am gonna buy it as well.

[LPMiller]

it's almost like Plants Vs Zombies was originally meant for the iPad, even though it was out on the PC first. But it plays so well on it.