Buying an ipad?

I have read the 1st reviews of the ipad & was wondering how it was going to make my life easier, productive or more entertaining. I couldn't find any reason to buy it other than curiosity. The iphone is a great product because its a phone. I don't see the ipad filling any gaps. Is anyone buying one?

 

Personally, "not yet".... However, there was a reader poll in this months Macworld (OK, hardly an unbiased sample set!), but:

Yes: 45%
No: 27%
Waiting for next gen: 28%

As for making your life "easier, productive or more entertaining" I guess it depends on what you want to do with it? A great book reader. A good web browsing/email/video viewing and navigation system - Are these important to you? What else do you need/want?

It's not a "content generator" [No iLife for example] but rather a "content consumer" - If that's what you do, then at $499 for the basic (no 3GS) model then I think it's a pretty good deal..... I know I'd rather have one of these than a netbook for example.

My 02c, cheers,
Ian

 

Basically it's a very large ipod touch the the capability of having 3G if you already have an iphone.

 

No, i dont need it. My blackberry fills the need to access emails on the go, plus i wouldnt be using an Ipad in the car or at the restaurant anyway..

And when i travel, i bring my laptop. Maybe when my laptop is dead/old, i will look into an Ipad but i doubt it.

 

Huh? "Already have an iPhone"? - Nothing to do with it IMHO.....

One of the "nice" surprises on the 3GS model was the prepaid, no-contract, unlocked 3G capability..... $15/month for 250MB of data, $30 for unlimited. No iPhone required....

Cheers,
Ian
PS - AT&T are the only ones here in the States currently using micro-SIM cards, but others outside the USA use 'em and it should therefore be able to support other carriers.

 

You cant use the Ipad on your wifi connection ?

 

Yes you can, there is one with Wifi only and one with wifi and 3g connection. I think what Alex was trying to say was that its a big ipod touch with a 3g connection that you already get with the iphone.

 

Oh well maybe I heard wrong then.

 

Can you do everything you can do with a laptop ?

Watch a DVD ?
Play games ?
Work with excel/SPSS/Photoshop etc ?

The way i see it, it should do what my laptop does for me to replace it because i wont be carrying a laptop, an Ipad and a Blackberry...

 

With a laptop, and an iPhone, that Pad is aiming for too small of a "gap" for me, so no.

It's gotta go in a laptop bag it seems, surely not "pocketable" so why not go with a laptop?

It does though, point to the future ... of much smaller and lighter devices. . . but as Ian says, without a "content generator" ability, for now it's not enough.

 

No.

Neither is it designed to do that IMHO. [Or priced to be a laptop either.]

How 20th century!

It seems that it'll download and/or stream nicely though....

Yes.

I can't find the article right now, but I read recently that Xbox/PS3 types believed it could be the best console ever - We'll see I guess (?)

If the demand is there, sure! - *Someone* will do it, sometimes for free, sometimes for profit, but it'll be there soon enough........

I agree that it has to *replace* the laptop, and for many it may (?) - The market will decide....

Cheers,
Ian

 

I respectfully disagree.

There are orders-of-magnitude more "viewers" than "generators".

For most, maybe the iPad is all "they" need?

??

Cheers,
Ian

 

I missed ending that sentence "for me."

 

I would add myself to that list as well.....

Nevertheless, I believe there might be a market for this thing.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I am still on the fence myself.

I have the iPhone, a Kindle and a Dell E6410

I travel frequently, so now what?

Can the iPad replace any of those 2 to make it more convenient (less to schlepp around)?


Of course, nothing would beat the cool factor of being the first guy in the local Starbucks with an iPad...

Kai

 

+1

I said way back I think I'm gonna wait for rev2..

I would say (guess?) the iPad could replace the Kindle & the Dell - Unless you're doing something "dramatic" on it (?) - If you're "my" mythical content-viewer, I suspect the iPad may be your perfect tool.

Dunno about where you are, but round here there will be people lining up at midnight, cash-in-hand and ready to head to their local Starbucks *long* before you and I have a chance

Cheers,
Ian

 

Can you type just like a regular keyboard of do you have to use it more like a iphone?

 

I never buy Apple stuff first gen - I waited until the color video ipod - but I might be interested next year after the initial bugs get worked out as long as I can use it in court.

Several criminal defense guys I work with have these grand dreams of having only a small file and the ipad with them in court for argument, and will buy them now. If that turns out to be practical and useful after letting them try it for 6-12 months, I might follow. In the meantime, I'm not convinced yet that it filled a need I had, already having laptops and BB Storm.

 

I like it and would like to have one for around the house... I am thinking about the times I am watching TV and a commercial comes on (live broadcast vs. the preferred TiVO/DVRed broadcast) and something comes up that I want to do a search about. This is small enough to keep on an end table and grab real quick. You can do emails with it and many other things. You would have all your pics and music right there...

Now as a former (and hopefully future again at some point) Pharma sales rep this thing would be THE BOMB for that industry! Light easy to hang on to and handle. You are always talking to docs face to face so the company could generate sales brochure material and other signature required forms that you could easily be looking at and the flip the pad over to show the doc or get him to sign on the screen! I would be a MUCH, MUCH better way to go than the damn laptops that many of the reps are forced to use these days.

I can also see it as a useful tool for general aviation...EFB, etc...wifi and 3G weather... GPS (if it does that...guessing it does since the iPhone does)...

 

Not really sure what the value is, given that I already carry a laptop and an iphone.

I guess if it has -really- good handwriting recognition and can turn yellow, I can use it as a notepad. Still, I prefer my notepads in dead tree form, because the batteries never die.

I'll have to see where the market goes. I'm still pissed about at&t and Apple killing the tethering hack for the Iphone.

 

Actually it is a "content generator"

Yes it does make spreadsheets, presentations and word processing.

Yes you can use a bluetooth keyboard with it or use the onscreen.

Here is a small rundown on what it can do: email, web, music, movies, books, spreadsheets, presentations, word processing, games, photos, podcasts......... Right there is a list of things 90% of people do on a laptop or portable device. The iPad makes doing those things better and easier.

You bet I am going to get one!

 

If I didn't have a MacBook Pro I'd probably get one, not with 3g though. I kind of wish I hadn't gotten my laptop now and had just gotten an iMac and then get an iPad. My laptop rarely leaves my desk and is just connected to a screen, oh well.

edt: not sure if anybody noticed but Netflix just released an instant streaming iPad app, I bet Apple had something to do with some of these companies coming out with iPad-only apps.

 

How about one of these?

https://thejoojoo.com/

 

A friend of mine ordered his a couple of months ago, he works with Apple IT systems so he wants to use it for work/business applications. As for me I think I'll wait until the second generation versions are released.

 

I'm going to wait and see what the Microsoft Courier is like. Plus the iPad is lacking too many essential "laptop" features for it to truly replace a laptop.