Apple iPad Impressions

I want one...or two!!!

 

I have been holding off on an iPod Touch purchase waiting for the news on the iPad. After reading about it and some of the features, I think I will likely end up going with a Touch instead. Not much to offer there that I don't aleady get on my notebook, other than a really cool look and feel.

 

More consumer electronics crap to sell you proprietary content. Hopefully it's as easily recylable as they claim, because it'll be sitting around collecting dust or in a landfill within 5 years.

 

True, but compared to a $30K car, we're talking minimal impacts, right?

 

In the same way so many people buy new latest-and-greatest cell phones every 9-12 months, relegating their perfectly good unit to the dust heap (or worse, the landfill). This "minimal impact" repeats itself over and over again, and with increasing numbers of gadgets (like scanners: http://priuschat.com/forums/freds-house-pancakes/68997-i-need-new-scanner-suggestions.html).

 

Well, thank you for being so environmentally friendly.

 

Getting the obligatory joke out of the way:

But seriously, you know less than a year down the line they'll have one twice as powerful and half the price, so why bother trying to be the first kid on the block with one?

 

I think with the dock it's pretty awesome. But I can't see what I'd use it for.

 

I would expect most people either sell or donate their phones or keep them around as 911-callboxes for their cars.

 

I wish they would.

Discarded Cell Phones: A Cancer Risk Factor?: Cancer Center: UI Health Topics

Mountain of discarded mobiles grows at 'frightening' rate - News, Gadgets & Tech - The Independent

 

I will buy it i have a new macbook and just surf with it big overkill for email so i will list it on ebay LOve the iPad

 

Very funny MadTV video.

Tom

 

I wasnt over excited by it. And have no real desire to get one. I basically call it a suped up Itouch. Sure it looks cool, and seems to have a nice interface, but that is about it. I been reading some tech blogs about the Ipad, and basically they reports are wondering why there was no camera, multi tasking, Ichat, and so forth. Here is a link to PCworld's take on what is missing.

Apple's iPad Mistakes - PCWorld

 

It's a great device. Yes, it's basically a super-sized iPod Touch, which is exactly what many people want: something with the simplicity if an iPod Touch/iPhone that's small, light, fast, but has a screen large enough to really get things done.

The iPhone has an excellent browser, but the screen's SMALL. I'll use it when I'm really bored, or when I have to look something up, but I wouldn't use it for my daily web browsing: too small. The iPhone's calendar is great to have in my pocket, but you can't even see a full day's activities at once, much less a weekly or monthly overview at any level of detail. It's convenient to have lots of photos on my iPhone, but they're not even as large as drugstore snapshot prints.

On the other hand, taking my 17" laptop somewhere is a major commitment in terms of size and form factor. Same for using it: they're really not comfortable on your lap, and don't work many places like on trains or planes.

The iPad bridges the gap nicely: simple and fast, yet photos of reasonable size, movies/tv shows at a very nice size, a nice sized calendar, etc, etc, etc. Plus when I put Keynote on it, for only $10, it'll be a killer presentation machine, whether hooked up to a projector, or shown across a table to a couple of people.

And wait until Papers comes out for it! It'll be a huge hit in academia.

And also just a plain, technophobe's computer. I think about my parents, for example: put it in a cradle in the living room, and it's basically a photo frame. Pick it up, take it to the den and read the paper and browse the web. Plop it in a cradle with keyboard in the kitchen and it handles all of their email. It's ultra-simple, with no CDs to install, no visible OS to mess up (and my father HAS managed to mess things up, even on a Mac), apps install "over the air" with no serial numbers to remember, etc, etc.

SOme might say, "They could use a netbook". Problem is, they're cheaply made, cramped, and the keyboard forces an awkward form factor on you if you simply want to sit in the den and read the paper, etc.