Posting from an iPad...

Posting from an iPad.

The web looks much better than an iphone but the on screen keyboard is not easy to type on with thumbs. Really need to place on table to type.

Should I buy one?

I don't have an "i-anything" so help me with this pad...

...does it work independent from an i-phone?

...it is just a larger viewing screen for your i-phone?

How is it better than one of the $2-300 netbooks?

No Flash Audio/Video from Web.
No Tactile Keyboard.
No More Than 1 Program Running at a Time.

All deal breakers for me.

If you're not a phone and not a netbook but something in between...means you can't do either very well.
Yes it is very alluring as most Apple products are, and very cool - no doubt.

But Nah

Now writing this on my iPod Touch.

The iPad is basically an overgrown iPod Touch. The screen is fantastic and it makes web browsing so much better. The book reader was very well thought out and the iPhoto program in conjunction with the large scren makes it an ideal portable photo album.

I liked the touch interface except the on screen keyboard that I mentioned earlier. The iPad is just too wide to hold and thumb type like a iPhone. You can palm it with one hand and type with the index finger of the other but this makes it so tedious. The ipad can be placed on the table but the back seemed to rock a little when you type with two hands.

The current iPad is WiFi enabled to you can surf the web and download apps anywhere that has free WiFi. At this time only the WiFi enabled iPad has been released, the GSM 3G AT&T iPad is not set to be released until later this month and it looks like the 3G wireless plan will be $15 a month (no contract).

If there were some good medical apps for it I would stongly consider buying one. My hospital has free WiFi but I would still probably get the GSM 3G version for the versatility.

jaw wrote:

No Flash Audio/Video from Web.
No Tactile Keyboard.
No More Than 1 Program Running at a Time.

All deal breakers for me.

I agree that the lack of Flash video support is a big negative but most of the larger online video sites are converting to iPhone friendly formats (also not flash compatible). the availability of NetFlix on the iPad is huge and hopefully Hulu can work something out.

I've never understood paying to be a Beta-Tester with Apple. The thing has so many ???'s its not funny but they'll charge you TOP dollar to own one at the outset despite the fact that every single one of their pieces of hardware has been revised dramatically within months of the initial release. No thanks, I'll wait for the 3rd Generation if I ever do decide to get one.

I'll get one but probably wait awhile.

Docrwm wrote:

I've never understood paying to be a Beta-Tester with Apple. The thing has so many ???'s its not funny but they'll charge you TOP dollar to own one at the outset despite the fact that every single one of their pieces of hardware has been revised dramatically within months of the initial release. No thanks, I'll wait for the 3rd Generation if I ever do decide to get one.

I was an Apple guy back in the John Sculley days after Steve Jobs had been ousted. Then post college I switched over to Windows because Apple seemed to have become lost as a company.

As a Windows user, talk about being a beta tester. Every time I added a new piece of hardware or software I had to worry about it interfering with the rest of the system. All of my Windows PCs to date have been buggy and I've spent so many lost hours keeping them in running condition. "Safe mode" didn't even save me in most instances and an incalculable amount of data was lost. Malware and viruses managed to creep frequently in despite McAfee/Norton and countless other so called security programs. Not to mention how much $$ I have to spend keeping these programs up to date each year. My undergrad degree is in Computer Science and I cut my teeth in the UNIX world and despite these things the various Windows OSs drove me nuts on a daily basis.

Then a few years ago with the introduction of the aluminum single panel iMac I decided to give Apple a second go. It was the first generation for the new aluminum design and it has been absolutely rock solid. Far from being a product "beta". I've not regretted "switching back" to MacOS one bit! No longer do I have the daily freezes requiring reboot nor the constant hassle of malware/virus programs churning in the background. As for all of the software applications that I've "lost" I have not missed them at all. The iMac pretty much came out of the box with all of the software that I needed (Safari browser, iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes). All I needed to download was the free open-source office package, OpenOffice, and I was up and running. I now spend less time worrying/fixing my hardware and more time working/creating and actually USING my computer.

My experience has been the catalyst for my father, sister, sister in law, and wife all buying Macs and switching over from Windows PCs. Not one complaint from any of them.

IMO, Apple's control over the hardware and OS ensures that the user experience is consistent and worry free throughout their product line.

My Windows "beta tester" days are long gone.

I dont get all the fuzz about this new ipad. An Ipod Touch on steroids

Rambam wrote:

I dont get all the fuzz about this new ipad. An Ipod Touch on steroids

I didn't either until I tried one out in person today.

Motegi wrote:

Rambam wrote:

I dont get all the fuzz about this new ipad. An Ipod Touch on steroids

I didn't either until I tried one out in person today.

I`m staying the hell away from that, Im such a sucker for gadgets

Rambam wrote:

Motegi wrote:

Rambam wrote:

I dont get all the fuzz about this new ipad. An Ipod Touch on steroids

I didn't either until I tried one out in person today.

I`m staying the hell away from that, Im such a sucker for gadgets

I know what you mean...

I didn't buy an iPad today but I didn't leave the store empty handed...

... a new Apple Magic Mouse is now sitting on my desk!

Well I guess my age will show with this post. I went to SprintPCS who I've had for many years. I said, "I want a PHONE, no texting, no internet, no camera....A PHONE." They said Sir, we don't carry anything like that. I asked them if they weren't a cell"PHONE" company and they said, Well of course we are, but if you only want a "phone" and not a state of the art communications device I suggest you get a JITTERBUG!!! Now, I'm not sayin smackin this SUMMABEECH didn't cross my mind more than a few times, but I refrained. For those of you that don't know what a Jitterbug is, it's a cellphone sold on TV that is JUST A PHONE with a HUGE DIAL PAD for OLD FOKKERZ such as myself. Again, slappin the snot out of the lil sukkuh crossed my mind several more times before leaving the store. So to get back on topic...would I buy one ...........MEH!

bodypeersur1 wrote:

Well I guess my age will show with this post. I went to SprintPCS who I've had for many years. I said, "I want a PHONE, no texting, no internet, no camera....A PHONE." They said Sir, we don't carry anything like that. I asked them if they weren't a cell"PHONE" company and they said, Well of course we are, but if you only want a "phone" and not a state of the art communications device I suggest you get a JITTERBUG!!! Now, I'm not sayin smackin this SUMMABEECH didn't cross my mind more than a few times, but I refrained. For those of you that don't know what a Jitterbug is, it's a cellphone sold on TV that is JUST A PHONE with a HUGE DIAL PAD for OLD FOKKERZ such as myself. Again, slappin the snot out of the lil sukkuh crossed my mind several more times before leaving the store. So to get back on topic...would I buy one ...........MEH!

Seriously though, dont NOKIA have the basic models in America? You can still get a pretty basic phone here and the best thing is that they cost next to nothing.