With the release day of the iPad fast approaching, it’s time for the usual lucky few to shine their lights on Apple’s new device. As usual, these first-hand reviews by blogging heavyweights are incredibly positive (with a few notable exceptions), and if they are correct in their predictions, then the iPad will change everything in computing.
Walt Mossberg from The Wall Street Journal is as always one of the first to review new Apple devices (or any other major company’s stuff), and he’s very, very positive about the iPad. “After spending hours and hours with it, I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop,” Mossberg writes, “It could even help, eventually, to propel the finger-driven, multitouch user interface ahead of the mouse-driven interface that has prevailed for decades.”
USA Today’s Edward C. Baig also had advance access to an iPAd review unit, and like Mossberg, is equally positive. “The first iPad is a winner,” Baig proclaims, “It stacks up as a formidable electronic-reader rival for Amazon’s Kindle. It gives portable game machines from Nintendo and Sony a run for their money. At the very least, the iPad will likely drum up mass-market interest in tablet computing in ways that longtime tablet visionary and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates could only dream of.”
David Pogue is the one who really seems to get it. He basically wrote two reviews – one for techies, and one for everyone else; both of them start with “The Apple iPad is basically a gigantic iPod Touch”, but the rest is completely different.
In his review for techies, he finds the iBook e-book application unpleasant considering the screen is unreadable in sunlight, while also finding the iPad too heavy for regular reading. He also finds the keyboard unusable, and there’s no Flash, leaving lots of holes while browsing the web. “The bottom line is that you can get a laptop for much less money – with a full keyboard, DVD drive, USB jacks, camera-card slot, camera, the works,” Pogue argues, “Besides: If you’ve already got a laptop and a smartphone, who’s going to carry around a third machine?”
His review for everyone else is much more positive. In this review, the iBook application gets accolades for how it looks and behaves, and iPad-specific applications are lauded for their vividness (like the Marvell comic reader or newspaper applications). “The iPad is so fast and light, the multitouch screen so bright and responsive, the software so easy to navigate, that it really does qualify as a new category of gadget,” Pogue writes, “Some have suggested that it might make a good goof-proof computer for technophobes, the aged and the young; they’re absolutely right.”
There are more reviews out there, but I think you get the gist. The device is getting a very positive reception, it’s just that you really need to fit into the target category: you consume, you do not create.
One consistent positive note between the reviews is the battery life. Apple has joined the fray of tricking consumers with false advertising regarding battery life; Apple claims the iPad can deliver 10 hours of video, but every test shows that it is actually much longer than that – 11, 12 hours. Whatever you’re going to think of the iPad, that is good news.
The iPad is sure looking like a very good device, and I’m sure it will be a major success. I do get weary over those “it will change computing forever!”-claims, since these claims are as old as computing itself, and have come and gone in many forms. Remember thin clients?
Heck, even Microsoft Bob’s type of interface was said to revolutionise computing because it was so easy to use. Eh.
Hahaha! Best April fools joke ever!
Definitely an april fools joke, every single article posted today on this site is a joke.
… to write these reviews?
Just reflecting on the agreement devolopers writing applications for these gadgets have to commit to 😉
pica
These are indeed authorised reviews, meaning they are screened by Apple and approved for publication. These early reviewers attend a meeting with Apple where they are handed the device, and receive instructions. This means that you could take the reviews with a few pinches of salt. Or not.
Even I had to abide by their rules back when I still received Apple gear for review. Reviews had to be screened by them first, something only Apple does (no other company has EVER asked for that). We did a duo-review here once of the first MacBook Pro, and in it, I mentioned (like everybody else did) how hot the device would get.
They really didn’t like that, and hinted I should alter it. I didn’t.
Doesn’t seem to have impacted David Pogue’s ability to level some criticisms in his “techy” review…
Yup. Totally agree with David Pogue with both of his review.
Check the reviews. You’ll find that criticism and praise all match up perfectly. This is a common orchestrated pre-launch review hype. It’s not just Apple that does it – Microsoft is good at it too.
In case you want real reviews, wait until the non-Apple approved media get their iPads. Ars Technica, Tom’s Hardware, Engadget, Gizmodo, and so on.
Of course they are! I was so happy with the demise of USB ports… I mean, they’re ugly, old and not fashion anymore! Who needs then? I can live perfectly with all these gorgeous 30-pin adapters!
I it’s not like I need to buy anything that’s not in Apple Music/Video/Book Stores… Why would I need support for other file-formats? iPad is perfectly fine! Almost perfect product! The screen resolution is more than enough, even is some phones have more than the iPad already, but know what? Your phone in your pocket won’t impress so much as my iPad in my hands all the time, reading, tilting, under my lap to use both hands… yeah, chicks will digg it, not like your hi-resolution but pocket sized phone! take that everyone! iPad ftw!
(but I admit it would be even more perfect if it run WoW… but maybe WoW ain’t cool enough to iPad… maybe I’ll change games to these popular Massive Online Farm games… well, chicks digg’em! yeah!)
Of course. Nothing beats Apple product.
They are the very definition of perfection.
Find a dictionary and you will see Apple logo as illustration of perfection.
Well yeah, why? For music, iPad supports mp3, AAC, among other formats. For video, H.264 and MJPEG. ePub for books. There are other stores supporting these formats.
What phone has a greater resolution than 1024×768? I’m not saying it’s untrue; I’m just curious what phone you’re referring to.
Yes, and it’s also leaving lots of security holes included with it …
yeah, who in their right mind would ever want to willingly compromise the security on their own devices they paid for?
Apple at least is opening the opportunity of a new market. I welcome the $150-$200 competition we should hopefully be seeing more of soon.
Would be that, Apple wins all of it’s patent claims against various companies recently.
is that they use language that no-one else speaks or understands; and extended punctuation – because the description all has to fit in one, complete unbroken sentence;further more, however, to the point, in a round about sort of way, it does keep people in jobs reading/scanning/processing endless piles of electronic paper .
Life would be more interesting, if we just said patents must be able to be spoken backwards in one breath, with one diagram.
Can I patent that?
and the idea of posting in the wrong topic! hahahaha!
Edited 2010-04-01 12:41 UTC
About what you are saying in your text: “you consume, you do not create”….
What is funny and magical and special about computers is that you can create new things using them: you can “teach” your computer to do something that it was not able to do before… and that is where its power resides…. but… the iPad turns that kind of beauty into nothing… into just a nice user interface with no brain inside… that’s spooky!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pMZzQpiJ9c
The obvious way this will change people’s lives is that the device is better for media consumption then whats out there. That doesn’t mean that it is all anyone will do with it. The current iPhone app store has tonnes of very innovative ideas in it, some fail miserably, others succeed with flying colors (like brushes). I would imagine it will be the same way with the iPad
ebasconp, I understand what you mean. But, I must go along with David Pogue and split this in two. Well, to put it in my own words, this is not a creative device – it is not not meant to be. I empathize with your statement in the larger sense, but your comment is not applicable to the iPad. It is solely a consumer product, lock, stock and barrel.
A couple of weeks ago here, posting about an article about the iPad, I said it was going to be huge. And I still think that. But, it has nothing to do with creativity. It has to do with what the consumer wants. They don’t want what we want. To us, it is a gadget. To the public, it is gigantic.
We must realize, as I said in my post on the earlier article, this is the type of device we all longed for, back in the late ’70’s and 80’s. I’m 58 years old. We so badly wanted the iPad then – the computer that required no real knowledge from the consumer. For years that’s all we talked about. Now that it’s here, we’re crabbing about it. It is not for us, it is for them. We have to get that through our heads.
The iPad (and other similar devices) are not meant for the creative. It is meant for the masses.
…Apple and their non-removeable batteries? Is it a not-so-subtle-hint-to-you that you need to buy a new Apple product when the battery no longer holds a charge? Or gift them with some extra cash to do it for you?
That’s just another thing that has turned me off from Apple products ever since they started this with their notebooks. Geez I remember the old powerbooks you could pull the optical drive and put in a second battery ffs!
Yes I know that they really are replaceable if you don’t mind voiding the warranty(if you sprung for Apple’s extended warranty and the battery dies before it expires, but that’s unlikely) or in the case of the VAST majority of users who will just never be able to replace the battery on their own.
This can’t simply be a liability case as MOST other electronics still ship with user-replaceable batteries. I wonder if their mbs come with soldered on batteries as well, built-in planned obsolescence.
Anyways, where are some of these negative articles? Be nice to see some of those to help wipe up the fanboi drooling.
Screen sizes: just wait until you start seeing the fragmentation of the iPhone/iPod apps and iPad apps as happened with other devices with varying screen size. I imagine that there will be a fair number that will be iPad only if it takes off, and while the iPad could run lower res apps in a smaller “window” they always look like crap with all of that extra space around, and scaling never seems to workout all that well either, especially on LCD screens where you don’t get any “free” analog “filtering”. Shrinking an iPad app to screen size would be equally awful, but just maybe, Apple was smart enough to come up with a way that would allow apps to “naturally” scale to device screen size and still look relatively “good”.
When the battery runs dry, Apple will send you a brand spanking new iPad for 99$. How about that?
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/service/battery/
And why would I want that? All of my data, my apps, my settings would be on the device I *already* have. I actually like user-replaceable batteries but for a different reason. Let’s be honest, the device is likely to die before your battery does in most cases… provided it doesn’t explode, of course. I like, however, to be able to carry around a spare battery if I know I’m going to need it so I can swap out and get double the battery time I’d normally get. It’s a user choice… something Apple lately seems to be doing everything they possibly can to eliminate in their products. Luckily they can’t take away my choice to go with other products over their own.
There should be a law that forbids people to buy computers, tablets and mp3 players that are not Apple labelled. Large enterprises and government entities should be able to use any device, though after paying a fair fee to Apple.
Umm. You do know that everytime that you sync it to iTunes all of your data gets backed up, right?
And what if I don’t like and I don’t want to use iTunes and I don’t use Os X which comes bundled with iTunes.
Do you have windows? Either way if you want to update the device OS you need to use iTunes. Before iTunes does the upgrade on the device it does a backup of your data. You need iTunes to allow purchases via the appstore, since that information is entered via iTunes. You don’t need a mac to use iTunes, it runs on windows as well.
Which does raise the question, why doesn’t Apple just allow over-the-air updating in a similar fashion to Android? Obvious answer, they want to force you to use iTunes which, on Windows at least, is a bloated, buggy, resource hog that sometimes lags your system worse than malware. It’s a good thing I have a Mac, where iTunes is actually pleasant to use, or I’d have gotten rid of my iPhone long ago no matter how much I like the device itself.
1) At what point were you forced to purchase an iPad? if you purchase an iPad, using iTunes is part ‘n parcel with that decision. If you’re going to whine about that, then you should whine about every other device that requires custom drivers and software to use it.
2) Please tell me when OS X came bundled with iTunes as you stated in the following excerpt:
If you’re talking about itunes being bundled with OS X then the correct order would be:
Edited 2010-04-02 09:03 UTC
I think that “OsX comes bundled with iTunes” is just a pun on apple’s tendency to lure people into installing a lot of a lot of OSX components (Safari, Bonjour, QuickTime…) on Windows boxes that don’t need it.
Edited 2010-04-02 09:41 UTC
The original person admitted they cocked up English; admitingly I’d love to see MTP to become the default transferring protocol for media players (MSC doesn’t cut it, especially when you have a large collection as I do and it takes an ice age for the device to index all the music on it when loading up) but the problem is that Microsoft has threatening with who uses their IP – so something that would be a great compromise never takes off because of a single organisation. Personally I loath iTunes with a passion but at the same time it is the price I pay to use an iPod, which isn’t a bad device (I have an iPod Classic 160GB).
Maybe you don’t know, but there are a lot of devices that don’t need the clunky, bloated, filled with adware iTunes, and you can use instead Windows Explorer (or any File Manager from any OS) to load media files onto.
Well, Sir please accept my deepest my most humble apologies which come bundled with my profound regret for not being a native English speaker. Sir, I sincerely and truly regret my mistakes.
The fact that you fail to note your locale in your profile – I can only assume you’re a native speaker of English. If you don’t want to be given the cold shoulder then disclose where you reside – unless of course you’re paranoid and live with a tin foil hat or something
I know it’s *supposed* to back up all your data, but in practice that doesn’t always happen. I’ve had to restore my iPhone a few times and, while the backup preserved a lot of the os configuration and some little of my apps settings, there was a great deal I had to reset manually.
Here’s a great question for this situation:
Did Apple write all the apps that had their settings backed up correctly?
Believe it or not, depending on the design of the application, they may or may not function properly if there’s a restore done. One of the reasons this may happen is due to hardware failure while it was writing, and another reason may be that an app has something that detects a system state change (or fail to make the proper detection) and act based on that. If there’s an OS failure (say, crash that doesn’t have the cache flushed) or hardware failure (the Flash doesn’t succeed in writing to a given section) then you’ll have data loss: neither one of these issues will be solved by some other method of backing up data, unfortunately.
Now, for doing it via the cloud: if you’re using WiFi, that’s not too big of a deal, as long as you stay located within that hot spot distance, but what about possibly restoring/saving 32 GB (64 GB possible for iPad) data over the cell network in one swoop? Not only will that not be all that fast, but… the network operators, unless they charge by the GB, won’t be at all happy, and even if they do that, a single phone could zap a large amount of bandwidth for a long while that they’d like to be able to give some of to other customers to keep them happy.
Now, for security purposes: it’s easier to break into wireless communications and grab data undetected, compared to wired networking, even if things are setup with the proper security implementation that’s commonly available. Heck, even some of the phone networking encryption methods have methods known for cracking: sure, this may all smell of paranoia, but… some people value that feeling of security (may or may not be truly warranted, granted) over the convenience of being over the air.
No, and I never claimed they did. My point was in reply to the person who said iTunes will back up your data. It’s designed to do so, but it does not always work as you expect. Now, if I had full filesystem access and I knew where an app put its settings, *I* could back it up just fine. Having to rely on iTunes alone for such a purpose is where the problem happens, since there’s no way iTunes can know everything an app has done.
Two things. I didn’t say you *should* update over the cel network, just that they should allow updating via a networked means. If it were limited to Wifi, fine. I just want a way to do it *without* iTunes. Secondly, there’s no reason the updates from Apple have to be so big. Exactly why do I need to download a 250mb update for my iPhone when the next os version just has a few fixes? Why not do a delta update like they do for standard OS X? Why not serve out updated internal apps as new versions become available? This would severely reduce the amount of bandwidth needed for updates. For a restore, yes that should be done in one fell swoop and on the computer since the odds are that if you do need to restore your device it’s not working anyway.
You’re talking about backup which wasn’t what I meant when I said they should allow updating over the air. Still, I agree with you at least to a degree. I, personally, would never rely on the cloud for backup. That being said, permitting iTunes to be the only backup method is no better since I obviously cannot trust iTunes to fully backup everything I might want saved. This would, in turn, make me hesitant about doing anything I might want to save on the iPad since there’s o guarantee I’ll be able to get it off the device. Even a simple SD slot would’ve been enough, but they don’t even want you to have that. God forbid anything not go through their precious iTunes.
You do know there are quite a few different battery packs out there that you can plug into the 30 pin connector and charge your internal battery back up?
Yes I know that you an then not have something else plugged into it. I wish you could daisy chain 30 pin devices. The iPad (and iTouch/iPhone) would probably get confused by that.
Yes, and good ones are much pricier than any other phone battery on the market and also need to be recharged. Some of the high capacity ones add a lot of bulk to your device, and how much bulk would they add to something like the iPad? Of course at that size they could be one massive battery as far as capacity goes, so on something like the iPad they might be worth it more than they are on the iPhone.
That’s 3 times the price of the battery! Why don’t they sell the damn battery and let their customer replace it?
Because they are greedy bastards? Why do they sell their computers for 2 to 3 times more than a similar speced computer?
Because they have the ineffable right to sell their products at whatever price they please, just as much as you have the right to choose where you want to spend your money.
Or the fact that some of us purchase a Mac because we want a better experience over all than in the Windows world. If the Windows world provided me with the same experience on the Mac at a cheaper price – do you honestly think I’d purchase a Mac?
Honestly, I swear the hatred of Apple is so ingrained with many people here, it has impaired their ability to think rationally.
Depends what you call a better experience. The Mac experience is worse in numberous points (if you want, I may go into details). The concept of “better overall” depends of which points are more important for *you*. Excuse me if I’m misunderstood, but your “we want a better experience over all than in the Windows world” apparently fails to consider that basic fact.
I think the truth is more complicated than “people hate apple because they lost their mind”. Apple products are a mixed bag, but are maybe more hated than they should be. However, apple’s policy (non-removable batteries, itunes, proprietary connectors, locked down app store, bundling everything with everything else, and the like) should be hated way more than it is as of today, in my opinion that is.
Apple hatred is as much irrational as apple love is, really. This brand is not ruled by the devil, nor it is ruled by a saint. They are just more dangerous than others, as of today.
Edited 2010-04-02 10:07 UTC
‘We’ being those who choose to purchase a Mac do so because ‘we’ believe that the Mac provides a better experience. It is hardly my fault that the original author I
For me the idea of hating or loving something is stupid; is it understandable to like a product? sure, but to love a product, to personify a company as an extension of ones identity; it starts to get as creepy as the rotund guy with a Zune tattoo or Apple devotees at keynote speech who stomp their feet, whistle, hoot, holler and hyperventilate in excitement. Like the millions of girls who’ve just found out that Ricky Martin is gay, so too will those devotees of such companies will realise that there is no ‘relationship’ between them and the company they love other than being taken for being a chump.
Edited 2010-04-02 10:46 UTC
Why on earth would you hate a product or policy, if you can opt out merely by not being an Apple customer?
I opt out because I hate their products/policies. I don’t know why this is so hard for you to understand.
I can’t understand why you use the word “hate” for something that’s not relevant if you indeed opt out. Sort of like saying you “hate” plasma TV’s. Lack of respect, or even boycott would be a more grounded way of phrasing what you are probably thinking.
Would it console you to know that the only people getting screwed are the ones opting in (and in a way are asking for it)?
You can install Os X on any SSE2 or better PC – if really need it and think that “Os X” experience is better – I don’t see the need to pay three times more for Apple hardware.
Or do you think that Apple hardware is in any way better than any similar speced hardware?
Edited 2010-04-02 15:13 UTC
Hardly. If you’re going to do this, you need to be very selective about which hardware you use or failing that which PC you buy. There are not a lot of drivers for OSX86 when it comes to internal components as compared to, say, Linux or Windows. Further, you have to be careful about applying updates, since unpatched OS X updates will render most standard PCs unbootable especially if they can’t use boot 132 or a similar method. The rather painless part of the OS X experience is gone once you have to start screwing around with drivers and odd hardware issues, that’s where most of Windows’ stability issues come from: poorly-written drivers. Say what you will about Apple hardware, but the combination of an Apple computer plus OS X is, under most circumstances, one of the most painless experiences you can have when it comes to computing. So long as you don’t intend to modify your Apple computer overly much, it’s a nice experience. That being said, I’ve gradually moved away from OS X as I like to do the kinds of things that geeks like to do, and Apple hardware isn’t well-suited to tinkering.
Because it would end up making the device thicker and heavier because the battery would require its own special case. The decision was either a user accessible/changeable battery which makes it heavier and bulkier or charge the customer $99 which includes labour as well.
Mac developers are very active in keeping their applications up to date and “compatible” with Apple’s devices. This won’t be a problem at all.
Unfortunately they are moving that way. The latest generation of $999 Macbook has a soldered uncased battery, as does the latest 17-inch Macbook Pro. The 13 and 15 inch pros haven’t moved to soddered batteries yet. Advantage to battery life, the Macbook gets better battery life than I’ve seen for any other laptop of equal power and dimensions. The downside, however, is rather obvious.
If the iPad can:
1) Force web designers to not use flash and use standards
2) Teach people that they can indeed live and do their usual stuff in aything other than a windows-based environment (laptop/netbook/etc).
3) Teach other companies how to “get it right”
I’m happy. Thanks to the iPhone, people now is a lot more aware of Android and smartphones in general.
If there is one thing Apple does well, is educating consumers that they have a choice, this benefits not only themselves but their competition, because they can push similar products which are hopefully more open too.
So, yeah I really hope the iPad succeeds.
Flash is the floppy drive of the new decade.
Are you talking about HTML5? What about all the IE users?
Sorry but Flash isn’t going anywhere.
HTML5 isn’t an adequate replacement for Flash outside of basic video and the subset of HTML5 compatible browsers is too small compared to the Flash install base.
Lack of flash is a bad selling point for iPad. Lack of flash will reduce iPad browsing usability to a small subset of web.
And let’s not forget about lack of multitasking.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t encounter any Flash outside of playing video, unless you’re talking about annoying flash ads and I dare say most people won’t miss those. It could be the pages I tend to visit, but Flash is not as huge on the web as people like you make it out to be except in the realm of online games. I’d say that people are willing to pay for games, even crap games, if they’re interesting enough and run well enough and the iPhone’s app store demonstrates this. You put Flash on the iPad, at least in its current state, and browsing the web would drain your battery mighty quick thanks to all the crap flash ads. Maybe if Adobe actually gave a s**t about flash’s performance on non-Windows platforms, Apple would be a bit more open to them.
Agree completely. It’s acceptable on a phone or small handheld, but not on a device such as the iPad.
They could have an opt-in system where flash is only loaded when you want it to be.
I really think Apple just wants an excuse to not include flash. They don’t want their itunes sales to be undercut.
[quote]1) Force web designers to not use flash and use standards
2) Teach people that they can indeed live and do their usual stuff in aything other than a windows-based environment (laptop/netbook/etc).
3) Teach other companies how to “get it right”[/quote]
Like your #1 and #3 points, but #2 is a little far-fetched. There’s no way in hell this thing is ever going to replace a windows box for power users out there (or Linux/OSX for that matter).
If I buy one of these, it’ll be as an ebook reader … Apple/Kindle/B&N on the same device, plus for browsing the web when I have to go to the dentist, or whatever. My main windows box will still be used for getting real work done.
Seriously folks, stop bitching about what this thing is not and think about what it is. It’s a ‘dumb’ computer for my parents. It’s device I can carry with me when I just need a web browser, email (and maybe maps too), and I want something with a bigger screen than a phone. It is NOT a laptop replacement, except in some limited scenarios.
.. I could have sworn I was at dailytech.com!
What’s really magical, in a deep way, about personal computers is the bootstrap-ability. Knowing that, in theory, the computer itself is sufficient to define and transform what the computer does. That’s why home computers where magical to us 30-somethings and to our parents back then and our families, before they objectively had any real usefulness at all, before the internet and multimedia. A computer could be anything you want it to be, all you needed was the computer itself.
What pisses me off with the iPad is the spite for that notion that it embodies. And it looks like it’s a Steve Jobs thing too — even back in the 80s the Macintosh was design with development and customization as a distant second thought.
I am a 40-something person who started working on mainframes (just able to get past punch cards tho’, as VT100’s were becoming quite popular
The changes the industry has seen is… just WOW. I mean, here we are picking these devices apart when just over 20 or 30 years ago a mainframe took up a 50 foot row in a computer room, disk drives were literally the size of washing machines (bigger, actually) and the disks themselves were bigger than a large dinner plate (and the largest disks were something like 100MB – holy moly!)
But why do you say the early macs were not developer friendly? They had a decent development suite or two, and the animation and film industry used them very heavily.
I remember performing a physical inventory for a company (I think it should remain nameless) in MA. Our company wrote software for and also performed physical inventories for corporations – then helped them manage it if they wanted. Anyway, I had to write one of our collector applications for the mac (it collected software information so they could manage software licenses) just because they had/used so many in their film and special effects editing process.
So I’ve seen them used and have written software for them back on OS 6/7. I had no problems. It was actually quite fun and some of the API’s were pretty well thought out, at least that’s how I felt about it.
Same here … first program I wrote for my college Intro to Computing class was done on a keypunch. The VT100’s & DECWRITER terminals were a godsend compared to that.
The iPad, whether it meets anyone’s particular wants or needs, is an amazing achievement. Yes, I know, I know – “but, it doesn’t have feature XYZ, therefore it’s backwards/useless/insulting!” Is anyone holding a gun to anyone’s head to purchase one? If they are, maybe you need to consider moving to a more peaceful neighborhood
I like what I see, but I’ll wait until I get a chance to try one before I make the leap. I did the same with my iPod Touch – it looked interesting, but I was skeptical until I held one and was able to play with it. That sold me. The thought of an “iPhone/touch on steroids” sounds just about perfect to me. I love the interface and the example apps I’ve seen look very useful.
For the current business I work in, one of these things might do an amazing job freeing me from my desk, allowing me to do meaningful database queries in the distribution center I work at. Yes, my iPod touch can do some of that already, but this new device has a much larger screen, and looks just as ridiculously easy to operate. Can’t wait to see if my impressions match the reality.
Exactly!
I think it’s approriate to call the iPad an “internet appliance” instead of computer.
By the way, there’s nothing wrong with appliances. Personally, I’m not interested in it. But if they have a market for it… that’s fine.
I am still looking forward to a feature complete version of the Courier – let’s see how that is received.
But again, Apple does know how to make casual computing “easy” and fun. That will sell iPads. By the time the courier is out, the 2nd gen iPad should be out. Let’s see how the two stack up at that point.
Because you KNOW Apple has already begun working on v1.1 or 2.0 or whatever you want to call it, and will have new hardware/software features to add for when Microsoft goes to release their product.
It will all be very interesting.
god.. I cannot wait for the courier
Just hope that MS does this one “right.” They do seem to be on a streak of sorts. Windows 7, the new “CE”, at least indicates that they are trying to improve their products and processes. I think.
If history is anything to go by; Courier won’t be available outside the US. Once again it appears that companies in the United States just don’t get it, just as Chrysler couldn’t work out when 80% of your profits come from one country, and that one country goes down the drain, your company goes down with it as well.
Wake me up when Ballmer gets and atlas and he realises there are other countries out there he can sell products to – because unknown to him, we do have electricity in New Zealand along with those magical picture boxes with sounds! oh my!
Edited 2010-04-02 09:24 UTC
I would like to say that I should hope there were good business reasons for decisions such as those, but I really don’t know.
What ever the excuse is, it won’t cut the mustard as far as I am concerned; New Zealand we have parallel importing where shops can purchase direct from the manufacturer and bypass the distributor. The fact that a vendor can’t even purchase the hardware straight off the production line from Microsoft and bring it into New Zealand tells me it as though Microsoft has some sort of subconscious desire for their product to fail.
What a load of bunk. What is it that I won’t be creating on it? Please educate us on what you think we won’t be doing (I find it amazing that Apple users are considered arrogant, when it’s guys like Thom who continuously tell us what we aren’t capable of doing).
Just some examples of creativity on the iPad’s smaller sibling:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/brushes/pool/
http://www.edibleapple.com/amazing-musical-creativity-on-the-iphone…
The iPad isn’t intended to replace your computer (though for some it could quite possibly do so.) I’ve said this before: computers are for working, the iPad is for living.
Anything longer than 3 paragraphs (unless you want to carry a keyboard around at all times, at which point you might as well get a laptop) since the device is an RSI nightmare for data input. You won’t be doing any serious corporate work on it (serious spreadsheet stuff). It’s great for presentations (usually far less text), but even there you’ll hit a limit.
You can create simple images, but for more precise work you’ll need more capable applications and more intricate input methods (instead of chubby fingers). You can’t create music on it, can’t record video, can’t take photos. Can’t edit any possible videos from other sources (other than basic stuff).
This is clearly a device to consume – not to create. Seeing your UID, you’re probably a Mac fan, but even the most die-hard Mac fan can’t say with a straight face that this device is ideal for content creation.
What about painters with chubby brushes?
I’ve certainly typed more than 3 paragraphs on my iPhone. While I’ll concede that the iPad probably isn’t ideal for writing longer works without a keyboard, the places I would probably be writing such things would be ideally suited to keep a keyboard. There are also styluses and apps that take written words… Besides, I do my best writing on a legal pad, not in a text editor.
I do not think you understand what the word “create” means. The links I posted (which you clearly didn’t follow) depict creations on the iPhone. Whether the device is ideal for content creation wholly depends on the content being created. Real artists uses whatever tools fit their needs and the iPad, by virtue of its design is a swiss army knife of tools. It’s up to the developers to create the tools and the artists to utilize them as they see fit.
You can’t create music on it? Thanks for letting me know! Oh, wait! http://www.artificialgraphics.com/2009/08/11/making-music-magic-on-….
Video and Photography may have to wait, but I have a feeling they will come to the device. Editing them is another story: http://brainz.org/20-best-iphone-photo-video-applications/
I resubmit this collection of artwork composed on an iPhone. http://www.flickr.com/groups/brushes/ This is real art, to say otherwise is pure snobbery.
The iPad is clearly a device with vast horizons. Sure it may not be the right tool for every job, but it isn’t intended to be. Further proof that you didn’t read my post in full, I reiterate: computers are for work, the iPad is for life.
Wow, sounds like something directly from Apple’s PR department. Is that their new slogan for the iPad?
If it is, they should pay me for it!
Is the iPad for everyone? I certainly have made no claims that it is. But what product is? While it may find niches in office environments, it’s not really intended for that market. I don’t think anyone, even Apple, is claiming otherwise.
I just think it’s the height of arrogance to suggest the is not to “create” when there are clearly so many obvious ways to “create” with an iPad and people have found countless ways to do so in it’s smaller sibling.
I am on a computer at least 10 hours a day. I don’t want a computer in my living room. I don’t want a computer in my kitchen. I don’t want a computer in my bedroom. I don’t want a computer in my pocket. I don’t want to be any where near a computer if it isn’t necessary.
But this is the digital age… I want a device that keeps me connected without all the baggage a computer brings. I want a device that is comfortable in any room of my house. I want a device that every single member of my family can use, including my 3 year old. That device isn’t a laptop. That device isn’t a phone. That device isn’t a netbook.
But those are my needs and the iPad looks like that device to me. Your needs may be different and probably are. No sweat off my back! BTW, I do look forward to seeing what the competition brings to the table.
Hopefully it will be more than Microsoft’s failed attempts to simply use the standard desktop metaphor, replacing the mouse with a stylus. Even the clunky HP Slate demo that Balmer did a few months back was just the standard Windows 7 desktop running on a small tablet form factor with a touchscreen controlling the mouse cursor.
This is where Apple leads the industry – not in creating devices that fulfill every possible need of every possible user, but in rethinking how users interact with these devices in general. This is why smartphones today are iPhone clones, and the WinMo idea of putting the desktop on a small screen, is being abandoned.
thanks to forum posters like Macuser who will write 10 page press releases on his iPhone.
You’d be taking a serious productivity hit creating something on an ipad compared to a computer.
Of course the ipad is designed for media consumption. Just look at all the media partnerships they are promoting. They aren’t pushing it as a device that allows you to draw with your fingers and peck-enter data into a spreadsheet.
I guess it’s the other way round. You’d taking a serious productivity hit creating something on a computer.
E. g. try doing this on a PC when “creativity hits you”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzQLRPwZjIo&feature=player_embedded
You’d probably miss the occasion while trying to fetch a PC, waiting for the OS to start, fiddling with the mouse trying to start the right app, …
Of course you don’t produce studio sound quality on the iPhone / iPad. Like having Da Vinci’s or Michelangelo’s brush does not make you a good or productive painter, using high quality sound tools with a lot of features does not improve the essential part of creating music ..
Edited 2010-04-02 00:35 UTC
Exactly. But then why all this glamor over tablets?
The simple fact is that you can’t do anything serious without a keyboard. And yes, even though it is clear that us geeks never understand the mythical Average Joes, believe me when I say that most people actually use computers for their work. In any office, in any part of the world.
I won’t be creating on one because I will not be buying one
Seriously, though, the first part of his statement is correct. You will have/use one if you can do what you want to do (creating, consuming, whatever) within the boundaries Apple sets for you. If you don’t like those boundaries, you are not their target market.
Good luck getting your art off of the device.
There’s no user accessible file system, and you can’t upload files in web forms. You can only send content through vendor controlled channels.
This may be true for iPhones, but iPhone OS 3.2, which the iPad uses, introduces a new system where apps can expose their Documents folders, so you can manage documents through iTunes.
Oh great, just what we need, to have to use iTunes (a music-management application) to manage our documents. You know, they’re really going to have to rename iTunes to something else soon, iMedia maybe or something.
iPad is not for geeks but consumers, I believe in that very well. I wouldn’t buy it for myself, cause I can’t do too much on it.
Anyone with better understanding of how computer works will probably stay away from this kind of consumer level of gadget. But that’s what Apple want, bring some stuff easy for dumbs to use in their daily digital life.
Think about how many people from general public will rely on Technical Review by Ars, Engadget, and Gizmodo to make their decision.
Edited 2010-04-01 17:31 UTC
Yes and no. I agree, it is a consumer gadget. On the other hand I’ve seen just how useful my wife’s iPhone can be with the right apps, and I am definitely interested in the interface and potential capabilities of the proto courier that’s been shown… These are tools, they can be quite useful and one tool does not have to be the do-all, end-all.
I would want a laptop for mobile development, for example, but if I was traveling with no plans to be working at the same time, something like an iPad would be very nice to have. One device instead of carrying books (for leisure reading), the ability to look up information, translations, etc.
I don’t know. I see a place for these devices. And they promise to grow more powerful over time.
Calling other dumbs is .. well .. dumb. It’s more the other way round: Intelligent people tend to use the simplest thing that works for them (e. g. OS X) while others are happily and blindly working for the tools they choose (e. g. Windows re-installations, regular registry cleaning actions, swapping out defect memory they got because they went for the cheapest parts, etc.) and then they pretend things have to be this way.
I have never understood why people go for netbooks. They’re IMHO still to clunky with the keyboard, screen size is far too small for desktop OS’s and most tools for those OS’s and they’re underpowered for everything except the things the iPad now brings to the market in a better form factor and easier to use.
1) Cheap.
2) Get the job done.
3) What laptops should’ve been all along.
4) Cheap.
It ain’t rocket science.
No, while you are basically right, in our time almost all people do use computers for something, but these people who use computers are also consumers.
It is a big myth that people are too dumb to use computers, that all they want is Facebook and iTunes, to put it rhetorically.
It has some major disadvantages. One person said it was for life, another as a simple computer. If you only have the wifi version you won’t be able to do a lot with it unless you are at a hotspot. A lot of people are saying how its going to be media rich and have all the same applications but as someone with an ipod touch I know its fun at first but after a few months its flare will die down. Once you realize your not in a wifi area you understand how limited the device will become. Those apps will be near useless unless its a game or standalone app. As for reading books on it, ask yourself how much you spend on books a year and how much reading you actually do and if its worth the price of an iPad. The last thing is holding it. Its not a natural position to hold it and type, or rest on your lap and type. I think after a few months and that newness wears off people will start talking about the real usability of it.
Perhaps you missed Apple’s memo: while sure, you can carry it readily enough with the case, the fact that you have to pay extra for a 3G one which doesn’t have a permanent long-term data plan also indicates clearly they expect it to be more of a single-location device: an appliance, that also happens to be rather portable, and one you can curl up with on the couch or in bed, to work in concert with other things around the house or office. Sure, you can use it for more, but that’s really the main aim it is trying to fill. No, it’s not a laptop: they aren’t claiming that it is, and if they were, surely they’d just drop their laptop line now, wouldn’t they?
Any device that tries to be all things to all people tends to have the success of the Ford Edsel. If you don’t know about that car, well, look it up, there’s a good reason for that
There was a Simpsons episode where Homer Simpson was asked to design a car: to me, it seemed like an Edsel spoof, and was a great bit of satire 
I think the Pogue articles hit the nail on the head, there is two sides to the iPad, one side is for geeks and the other side for non-geeks…
For geeks we will find fault after fault, not just with the iPad, but with any product. There are geeks that love Linux, those that don’t, all for various reasons and I guess most are valid. There are geeks love OS X and of course those that don’t, Windows, RiscOS, Amiga OS and so on…
Hardware is the same. Every great product out there will have something missing, something not quite right and so on. I’ve been reading OS News for a long time now and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a review that didn’t get only positive comments, see if someone can find one (reason is no device is perfect).
The thing is, it makes little difference what “we” think about a product.
For me, the iPad would only be useful if I was going to develop iPad apps for it. I don’t want to carry something that big around a lot of the time (I’m not a student and work from home), it is missing a lot of nice features (a camera would have been handy for chatting) and so on…
But, the iPad wasn’t built for me. It wasn’t really built for people who have computers at home already, esp. a nice little laptop somewhere. It was build for my Uncle and Aunt, for my Mum, for Grandparents out there. It was built for the rest of “them”…
They don’t care what it can’t do, only what it can do. The iPhone took off because it made using a phone so much easier. The iPad makes using computers so much easier. No mouse, not worries about memory or files or anything like that. That’s enough to drive most geeks crazy I guess, but for the rest of “them”, it’s exactly what the doctor ordered.
To use a very over used analogy, car “geeks” love a manual car, love to tinker under the bonnet (hood) and so on, but the rest just want to get in, put the car in “D” and go.
Talk about failing upwards, Bill Gates married the project manager!
I do not like Apple treats his customers, so:
I do not buy an Imac, Ibook, Iphone, Ipod, Ipad or an I-anything.
BTW did anyone ask himself how ecological this pad is? How much it will pollute if you cannot change the battery?
I”m not surprised that most tech reviewers are fawning all over the new iPad as if it were the Second Coming. It’s an Apple product after all. Apple could manufacture a calculator and people would snap them up in record numbers.
Can a regular laptop do everything this iPad can do? Oh, yes, and the regular books you buy don´t mysteriously disappear if the device dies
And you can lend them to friends and photocopy a section and sell them, but don´t let me stop you from living in your Disneyland candycane world of distorted reality served to you by your highness S. Jobs.
A regular laptop also plays more media formats and it has usb ports and all kinds of goodness and you can install whatever OS you want on it, but hey, slavery is freedom, up is down.
What has happened to all of us to fall for this crap?
The crux of the matter is that many things are more fun with a tablet, and people are willing to pay for that privilege.
Arguing that tablet in general is a bad idea is gross denial of reality. Nobody is buying one to replace their laptops; rather, people buy these to complement their computing experience. Laptop is perfect only if you have the luxury of spending all your time sitting at your computer.
And again, remember that you can buy a cheaper and better device if you just wait a bit, with an added bonus of avoiding Apple ecosystem.
Exactly.
Alternative rewording: nobody is going to buy a tablet as a replacement of PC for their work. We live in the age of computers, but not in the age of gadgets; these things come and go, like VHS or DVD. Unlike word processors and spreadsheets.
Some Nokia marketing here again ehm? How did that Maemo thing succeed btw? Oh yes, it was abandoned already.
Nah, I’m peddling the upcoming Android tablets here. They are the “ethical choice” for proponents of open computing.
Essentially it was renamed to MeeGo, and now being pushed by non-nokia vendors as well; and with wider scope than ever before.
Well, perhaps the ethical (consumer) thing to do would be to bypass these things altogether…
Not a review but a good reasoning why you shouldn’t buy an iPad:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/02/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-thi…
Cory, as always, put some of the finest words on the social issues created by this unsocial device.
His quote about comic-sharing is spot-on:
I was a comic-book kid, and I’m a comic-book grownup, and the thing that made comics for me was sharing them. If there was ever a medium that relied on kids swapping their purchases around to build an audience, it was comics….So what does Marvel do to “enhance” its comics? They take away the right to give, sell or loan your comics. What an improvement. Way to take the joyous, marvelous sharing and bonding experience of comic reading and turn it into a passive, lonely undertaking that isolates, rather than unites
Take a look at unboxing video here:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/03/apples-ipad-its-here/
It is *very* shiny and appealing. If this doesn’t make the tablet form factor popular among the grand public, I don’t know what will.
It makes for an interesting arms race; netbook market stagnated pretty quickly, but there is much more room for differentiation in the tablet space. Moreover, it’s yet an unoccupied territory, so we are set for a gold rush…
I think WSJ Walt Mossberg’s review is quite good. He emphasizes the following point (and does it several times): if you mostly consume the web content, iPad is for you. If you’re involved in producing the same content, or documents or speadsheets or whatever, it’s not for you.
So, since I’m writing math papers, do lots of typing, of course, so need a good keyboard, sufficient display to see the complete page of a document, ability to bring in the tools of my choice (e.g., distribution of LaTeX, appropriate editor etc), and do it at least 50% of the time I spend with computer, iPad is clearly not for me. OTOH, I personally know quite a few people who’s computing experience is limited to browsing the Web, downloading music, occasional e-mail, playing games of course. They have very minimal computer literacy. I think they might like iPad more than netbooks. Since the number of such “consumers” (vs “producers”) is fairly large, iPad has a chance to succeed where netbook couldn’t.
Incidently, I’m greatly amused by “I don’t need iPad, hence it’s gonna fail” kind of posts. IMHO, I think iPad will be quite successful, even if personally I don’t need iPad and have no plans to get it (at least not in the immediate future).