My thoughts on the iPad...

[Mounds]

I've had this iPad for somewhere around three weeks now and I'd like to share my thoughts on it. In short, the iPad is the greatest thing I've ever purchased. Hands down. I take it everywhere I go and it serves me well.
What I like about it is that it can become anything and it can do it fast. It replaces so much, it's phenomenal. For example, I have a gadget set-up in my exercise room which I purchased recently. It consists of a TV/DVD player combo, a media player for video files and a portable hard drive. It's messy, clunky and cost me $800 in total. The iPad replaces all of that. I just set it on my elliptical and go. Faster and more user friendly. I could literally sell all of those items tomorrow (I just might...) and not miss out. The iPad killed my Kindle as well. No need for that. It killed my iPod. It killed my Blackberry (in terms of browsing, not phonecalls).
I find it really shines when I'm at work. I'll get a phonecall and need to jot something down. Instead of searching for a pen and paper, I type it into the iPad. With a decent stylus, I can even write on it. It's just phenomenal!
Another thing I love is that it can become anything you need, when you need it. If I need a calculator, I have one sitting there. If I need a map, I have it. Dictionary? Got that too. Full-color books are a blast, enjoy a high-quality videos, music, you name it. I have a To-Do app as well. I havn't written a To-Do list in weeks.
I consider the iPad a portable computer for people who hate laptops. I read a lot of negative things about the iPad, including no multi-tasking, difficult to type and a short battery life at only 10 hours. None of those things have been an issue for me. The only thing that would be nice is a camera, although I'm not sure how that would be incorporated.
In short, the iPad kicks ass. You should buy one.

-Tim

[SatvikBeri]

Want....but expensive...gaaah!!

Thanks for the review, Tim!

[Angela]

How, except for the bigger size, is it an improvement over the iTouch? All of the things you listed are also available on the iTouch -- except am I understanding that the iPad has a DVD player?

[st33med]

Originally Posted by Angela

How, except for the bigger size, is it an improvement over the iTouch? All of the things you listed are also available on the iTouch -- except am I understanding that the iPad has a DVD player?

It doesn't have a DVD player. I think he is talking about the video playback function which the iPod Touch has.

iPad does have a bigger screen and Internet connection from almost anywhere if you buy it with AT&T's 3G thing or Verizon's add-on of a MiFi device which acts like 3G. It also allows attachments like a SD card reader and an keyboard...

That's about it with differences.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by st33med

It doesn't have a DVD player. I think he is talking about the video playback function which the iPod Touch has.

iPad does have a bigger screen and Internet connection from almost anywhere if you buy it with AT&T's 3G thing or Verizon's add-on of a MiFi device which acts like 3G. It also allows attachments like a SD card reader and an keyboard...

That's about it with differences.

Hmmm... well, I'm sure if I understood what all that meant, I'd need to have an iPad immediately!

[Savage]

Thanks for sharing your iGasm with us.

[Angela]

Well, now, if it was an O-Pad, now, that would be something!

[st33med]

Originally Posted by Angela

Hmmm... well, I'm sure if I understood what all that meant, I'd need to have an iPad immediately!

Hehe! I'll explain better.

The iPad comes in several models at stores. There are models with and without 3G. These 3G services cover an area and give you Internet access from the antenna. Now, these 3G services are from AT&T which have really really bad coverage over the area. You also have to purchase a data plan.

Verizon is selling iPads with a separate device called the Mifi. This allows you to use Verizon's new 4G network for service. However, it's slightly costlier per month for the data plan. Still, you get better coverage, which I would say is worth it.

Other than that, it has a bigger screen and separate attachments for things, like a keyboard.

So, if you want a bigger screen and maybe Internet everywhere, then it maybe worth the $600-$800.

[Andrew Gubb]

The iPad killed my Kindle as well

This interested me, does the ipad have a display which doesn't burn your eyes out like the kindle?

[Andrew Gubb]

short battery life at only 10 hours

I have 3 hours XD

[Holistic Star]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

This interested me, does the ipad have a display which doesn't burn your eyes out like the kindle?

No it is backlit, unlike kindle, but it does have a free ebook ap that you can download. Not had a chance to try it out yet.

[ellie]

What pen do you use for the ipad Mounds?

I like the Ipad, but I wouldn't say I love it. But I don't take it everywhere with me. I think I would prefer an iphone for it's compact nature.

I find the typing thing quite annoying personally, so maybe a pen would be better for me.

[st33med]

Originally Posted by ellie

What pen do you use for the ipad Mounds?

I like the Ipad, but I wouldn't say I love it. But I don't take it everywhere with me. I think I would prefer an iphone for it's compact nature.

I find the typing thing quite annoying personally, so maybe a pen would be better for me.

He does not use a pen...

Which is why I don't consider the iPad a true tablet.

[ellie]

Originally Posted by st33med

He does not use a pen...

Which is why I don't consider the iPad a true tablet.

Originally Posted by Mounds

With a decent stylus, I can even write on it. It's just phenomenal!

You certainly can write on it, people do sketches and what not on it.

[ragtag]

You can get a stylus that works with the iPad, a co-worker uses an iPad and Brushes (an app), to draw and paint with. He has made some amazing work on it. Here are some of the stylus', or you can make your own.

I think I still prefer my aging convertible tablet PC. It has a pressure sensitive stylus, and a full keyboard, so doubles as a drawing board and a proper laptop. Though, it's much bigger and heavier than an iPad.

[st33med]

Originally Posted by ragtag

You can get a stylus that works with the iPad, a co-worker uses an iPad and Brushes (an app), to draw and paint with. He has made some amazing work on it. Here are some of the stylus', or you can make your own.

I think I still prefer my aging convertible tablet PC. It has a pressure sensitive stylus, and a full keyboard, so doubles as a drawing board and a proper laptop. Though, it's much bigger and heavier than an iPad.

I have a newer convertible laptop with two finger touch screen. IMO, it's a piece of crap because it crashes often...

[ragtag]

That sounds rather unlucky. I run WinXP TabletPC edition and Ubuntu Linux on mine, and I can't remember it having crashed on me in either one. I'm guessing you're running either Vista or Win7. While Win7 is probably the better one, it shouldn't really be crashing all the time. It's possible that it has some hardware error, such as bad RAM or over heating, or that there is something installed on your Windows that makes it crash. It might be worth running a RAM test on it, and maybe re-instalilng Windows.

[Mounds]

I've tried this stylus at the Apple Store but I've got my eyes on this one at the moment. It's pretty darn cool being able to write on the screen. I'm not very good at drawing but I'm looking forward to getting better with SketchBook Pro.
About the Kindle thing, I don't really notice anything on the eyes. It's a lot brighter but that's about it. I love being able to download books and getting colour photographs. There's a surprising number of horticulture books for the Kindle these days and a lot of the time, you need those pictures in order to tell what a healthy plant should look like (or a non-healthy plant). It wouldn't do in black and white.
What really got me about this thing is that I bought it purely as an entertainment device. I justified the purchase as, "Forget about it being useful. This is only for fun". Now that I've had it for a few weeks, half of the time I use it has to do with productivity. I take it to work, I use it when I work on school work, I use it for research, aforementioned to-do lists, starting to track finances, recipe books (search is soooo handy)... plenty of stuff.
On the entertainment end, it delivers as well. Last night, my wife and I got home from karaoke and watched an episode of "Shark Week" in bed. When I'm making dinner, I'm playing music from it or watching some Youtube videos. Puzzle games galore, like Sudoku, crosswords, memory games... Chess is on here too, always good for the brain.
Anyhow, /iGasm off.

-Tim

[Orionjoel]

Can anyone with an ipad confirm whether I would have any luck using it as a option for resizing images. For example I get a picture of my camera onto the ipad (using whatever connector I need) Then I want to resize the image form the 4000pixels down to 640 pixels, can the ipad do this? It is the one thing I am unsure if it can do that is stopping me from buying.

Also the 3G if i cannot use different sims from different networks will be no good as I want to travel and dont want to even consider the idea of data roaming.

[James81]

I just read this article on Yahoo about the iPad:

why-I-dont-want-an-ipad-for-christmas: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

And it's reinforced to me why I don't put much weight on people's reviews on things anymore.

These days I see something I like, I look at the price, look at the specs, and then decide if I want it or not. I'll read some people's reviews on it, but it's getting more and more so that I really don't care about those so much (unless I'm looking for an app on my phone or something like that). People seem to have their own agendas in reviews like that.

(Not saying you have your own agenda, Mounds. )

Or maybe you do.

[Gazzali]

only recently i went to sim lim square, a place in singapore where you get very good IT products. I was attracted by this Ipad thing and It is nt very costly. But this sales person is very disinterested in selling this product to me. Perhaps he thought that I do nt hav the dough . Actually i do not have the intention to buy anyway.

i phone is better i think

[IamDavid]

I love the Ipad, it's an awesome leasure device. I use it primarily as an ebook reader and to surf the web. It's basically a gigantic Ipod Touch: as this vid makes fun of so well.