Apple iPad reviewed

[phiber]

FUNTIONALITY <--- that a word ?

Awesome tool, not the best written review though.

Definitely getting one! Just not 100% sure when. Sucks that they pushed back the international launch date.

 

[Kosmik]

But maybe your reason is in line with Apple’s marketing policy: The iPad is a really cool device, and who cares whether it is functional or not. And for many Apple fanboys it will complete their iPod, iPhone and Macbook collection – priceless!

Never truer words said in jest.

 

[news24]

Whilst Jobs has easily positioned the iPad in the ‘gap’ between a smartphone and a laptop the market is less convinced with many questioning if there is indeed a gap at all. The jury is out and the debate rages on as to what exactly you will need an iPad for, with some critics calling it an overgrown iPod Touch. But the naysayers have done little to dampen the enthusiasm of Apple loyalists who are eagerly snapping up Apple’s latest offering.

There is such strong demand for the iPad that Apple had to delay the international launch of the device, 300 000 people on lauch day cannot go wrong, most "critics" that you are talking about have never seen or touched one.


iPad tested

The first thing that strikes you with the iPad is the exceptional build quality and the great form factor. The screen is what you would expect from a device built on the same technology as the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the size feels just right. It is also quite light considering the size.

Without pictures, this review is EPIC FAIL, you could be just promoting Applestuff. If you were talking about Makro, you wouldn't say "makro.co.za". You are alos taking about the screen, what exactly are you saying? The catchy thing about iPad is the IPS capacitive screen, explain the viewing angle experience, the iPad was tauted as an excellent ebook reader, so why not compare reading indoors and outdoors?

The iPad is a great device to consume any form of content on. Whether it is checking your email, reading a book, watching a movie or showing off your latest pictures – you will be hard pressed to beat the screen quality and ease of navigation.

This looks like a plagiarised copy and paste. The reviewer, what content did you consume, which movie did you watch, any HD content that you tried out? Which applications did you try out? etc, etc, etc.

And then there is the multitude of apps which should serve most of your needs. Good news for iPad owners is that most of the current iPhone and Touch apps run on the iPad - albeit at a lower resolution in some cases.

Your talking of apps, which one's did you try, were they good, free or expensive? Any apps that you would recommend for someone wanting to own an iPad. And about the iPhone apps, did you try them? Which ones?

For most tasks the iPad’s touch interface is great, but for business related tasks where one has to type a fair amount and use applications like Word or Excel one starts to appreciate the value of a mouse and keyboard.

For something that you described as good for media consumption, why would you talk about business? iPad does not run Word or Excel, which productivity apps did you try?

Gaming

We asked MyGaming editor Nic Simmonds to see if the iPad is any good as a gaming device, and he seems quite optimistic about its potential.

“My early impressions of the iPad’s gaming functionality indicate that it has significant potential as a casual gaming device. Where exactly it will fit in amongst smaller portable devices such as the PSP, DS and even iPhone remains to be seen,” said Simmonds.

If I were a technology journalist, I wouldn't have bothered putting the above quote in my article, the author and editor talk as if they are reffering to a prototype, but you had this at your desk, so this is unforgivable. Did you play any games, which ones would you recommend?

One of the biggest drawbacks of the iPad is the lack of true Internet connectivity. While the device has built-in Wi-Fi, the lack of a 3G module or USB port means that that you will often be left without internet connectivity, and may well become a Wi-Fi spotter and pay exorbitant hotspot fees just to check your email.

What is true internet connectivity? This is where I thought the author would shine and relate his experience with some of early adopters who had a problem with Wi-Fi connectivity. You had a wi-fi iPad, and your complaining that it does not have 3G connectivity, it's like complaining that your manual car does not have automatic drivetrain. You buy apples that's what you'll get, don't expect oranges.

About the review
This was a hushed and a relatively poor review, the Author could take a leaf from gizmodo.com , if they are going to make a review, it's going to be a hell of a review, not boring stuff.

Battery life of the device was not mentioned nor it's competitors such as the HP Slate and Notion Ink's Adam. Enough said, EPIC FAIL

 

[surfs-up]

I will be in Chicago in 4 weeks time. The 3G model will be out then, with it's microsim. Does anyone know, if I bought a 3G iPad there, if it will work here when Vodacom and MTN move over to the micro-sim ? I don't want to buy a non 3G iPad, then kick myself for not having the flexibility of a portable 3G device. IMHO I think that the iPad with only wireless as a means to connecting to the internet, makes it a really nice over sized iTouch, albeit an amazing interface. The 3G iPad will be the only iteration I would ever purchase.

 

[Xyber]

Bought a nice little netbook with 10.1" screen and 150Gb HDD for R3k just last weekend. I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix onto it, got Firefox and OpenOffice and bunch of other apps.
For R7k you get iPad with 9.7" screen and only 16Gb of storage and you are limited to wotever apps you can find on the app store and typing on a screen. The IPad is very pretty, but really not value for money.

 

[CaTcH21]

I will be in Chicago in 4 weeks time. The 3G model will be out then, with it's microsim. Does anyone know, if I bought a 3G iPad there, if it will work here when Vodacom and MTN move over to the micro-sim ? I don't want to buy a non 3G iPad, then kick myself for not having the flexibility of a portable 3G device. IMHO I think that the iPad with only wireless as a means to connecting to the internet, makes it a really nice over sized iTouch, albeit an amazing interface. The 3G iPad will be the only iteration I would ever purchase.

I would like to know this too, anyone ?

 

[CaTcH21]

Bought a nice little netbook with 10.1" screen and 150Gb HDD for R3k just last weekend. I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix onto it, got Firefox and OpenOffice and bunch of other apps.
For R7k you get iPad with 9.7" screen and only 16Gb of storage and you are limited to wotever apps you can find on the app store and typing on a screen. The IPad is very pretty, but really not value for money.

Im with you on this one, but i just got me an iPhone (to see whats all the hype about ) and somehow i like it so much, I want to buy my son the iPad. I guess the feel of the device just draws you in.

 

[hawker]

Ipad is the most fail device ever. How is it useful in any way except for web browsing and maybe reading pdf files?

 

[Rouxenator]

Come on ! The features and usage application has got nothing to do with the iPad - every one knows that.

Potential buyers of these devices has one and only one required criteria before they will justify spending any amount of cash on a gadget.

Requirement	Yes	No
Has Apple Badge	__	__
Result	Will buy	Won't Buy

 

[DJNgoma]

Come on ! The features and usage application has got nothing to do with the iPad - every one knows that.

Potential buyers of these devices has one and only one required criteria before they will justify spending any amount of cash on a gadget.

Requirement	Yes	No
Has Apple Badge	__	__
Result	Will buy	Won't Buy

+1, sooo true.

 

[Synaesthesia]

Come on ! The features and usage application has got nothing to do with the iPad - every one knows that.

Potential buyers of these devices has one and only one required criteria before they will justify spending any amount of cash on a gadget.

Requirement	Yes	No
Has Apple Badge	__	__
Result	Will buy	Won't Buy

If there was something as good as the iPad, then I would consider it. At the moment Apple has no competition in this space. They have a good product.

 

[Synaesthesia]

Fail Reviews are fail.


anyway, HP SLATE > iPwn any day

Nah, I want something slim, without a fan and with good battery life.

 

[Rouxenator]

If there was something as good as the iPad, then I would consider it. At the moment Apple has no competition in this space. They have a good product.

What you mean is there is an apple product that you do not have in your collection yet - therefor you will buy it.

 

[Rouxenator]

Nah, I want something slim, without a fan and with good battery life.

...and with an apple logo of course.

 

[PeterCH]

I happened to be in the US on the launch date and ended up with the 64G WiFi model. Have been using it everyday for the last two weeks, as have the whole family.

There most definitely is a place for a tablet device and Apple's execution is for sure the most elegant I've seen so far. While it will not replace a Netbook or Notebook for many people, I see it slot in between a smart-phone and a netbook. The much larger screen clearly trumps a smart-phone while the much slimmer body makes it more portable than a netbook.

Over the last two weeks, I've watched not just myself, but my family to see how we use the device. (BTW, it's only been on the charger 3 times in the last 2 weeks. Battery life is very good.)

From a business perspective, I've stopped carrying my laptop in the car, on flights and around the house. The iPAD is more than adequate for e-mail and browsing stints of a few hours at a time. The main apps (mail, browsing, etc.) have been re-written to make use of the larger screen, so really works well. I've got a number of newspapers and books on the device and these update automatically, so if you have a gap you've got the latest news with you. My last local flight was the first time I did not buy any mags or newspapers but read a number of newspapers on the iPAD.

The on-screen keyboard is more than adequate to type longish e-mails and, just like the touch-screen phones, takes a bit of getting used to, but thereafter you're quite fast and accurate on the keyboard.

Two things are missing right now to make it a complete business tool, MS Office and 3G. As rpm said, you need 3G for full mobility and, let's face it, the business sector is stuck in Office. While 3G is on its way, no news yet for Office support (you can read Office docs, but can't create) although Apple's own productivity suite is available. Still need to load it though.

But I believe the biggest use (and impact) of the iPAD, and other tablets, will be in home use. It's probably the first device that will become a universal information and control tool for the whole family.

Again, watching the family (from 6 to 76) using the device over the last few weeks showed it's more deemed just a tool (much like a remote) than some fancy computing device. It mostly lies on the coffee table and everyone uses it, from going through holiday snaps to playing games to browsing the web (including checking TV schedules) and reading the occasional book. Home control (including DSTV) is already available.

Up to now there's been a number of drawbacks in the devices available for daily home usage. Battery life, clumsy user interfaces, lack of apps and cost being the biggest drawbacks. The iPAD managed to address most of these quite well.

The biggest drawback for home usage is the fact that you still need to plug it in to recharge. While it sounds trivial, it's actually quite a big problem with most of these devices in the home. No-one bothers to plug them in to recharge. I would like to see an inductive charger for these tablets so you can just leave them on the coffee table to charge.

I bought my first tablet device in the 90's and have used nearly every iteration since then in the search for this "converged device" that will replace many of the day-to-day gadgets we use in the home. But cost, screen issues (size, resolution and brightness), poor battery life, limited applications and crappy GUI's meant that most of these had limited or no success, especially as a whole-family device.

But I'm quite comfortable to say that the iPAD is the first iteration that ticks most of the boxes.

You should buy yourself a NEC VersaPro UltraLite VS (plus extra long life battery).
Since you're dealing with Kyocera, pick one up in a NEC outlet store in Tokyo, next time you're having a meeting there. Alternatively, if you want more power, a Panasonic Let's Note. (You won't want more power though, the VP is powerful enough for business use - Office, Acrobat, VPN, etc).

 

[Tpex]

here is the link to the iPad games
http://wireless.ign.com/articles/108/1081529p1.html

Fail Reviews are fail.


anyway, HP SLATE > iPwn any day

too true!

 

[Rouxenator]

HP slate ain't got the right badge - its a no go.

 

[assagai]

HP slate ain't got the right badge - its a no go.

if apple released an ipad with the exact same specs as the hp you'd probably hate that too

 

[Rouxenator]

Well, yes - you have a point there. See, I do not like to have something that associates me with snobs. Let me give you an example of things that will make you look like a self-righteous-holier-than-thou-tencho-dweeb

Requirement	Yes	No
Has Apple Badge	__	__
Result	Will make you look like a self-righteous-holier-than-thou-tencho-dweeb	Won't make you looke like a self-righteous-holier-than-thou-tencho-dweeb

 

[assagai]

Well, yes - you have a point there. See, I do not like to have something that associates me with snobs. Let me give you an example of things that will make you look like a self-righteous-holier-than-thou-tencho-dweeb

Requirement	Yes	No
Has Apple Badge	__	__
Result	Will make you look like a self-righteous-holier-than-thou-tencho-dweeb	Won't make you looke like a self-righteous-holier-than-thou-tencho-dweeb

lol

well I use a mac and I certainly don't consider myself a snob, i'm even prepared to talk to you. *pats rouxenator on head condescendingly*