Author Topic: First iPad Reviews Are In (Read 32130 times)

JavaJones · « **Reply #25 on:** April 06, 2010, 03:35 PM »

And now a great answer to anyone who thought the inclusion of an iPad-optimized iWorks app meant they could actually do real work on it comfortably:
http://www.macobserv...tm_campaign=shorturl

Holy crap Apple, seriously? *That's* how your shiny new toy handles data sync? Wow. Just... wow.

- Oshyan

xtabber · « **Reply #26 on:** April 06, 2010, 09:47 PM »

Here's a useful review of the iPad that concentrates on using it for reading (as opposed to playing games or other fanboi activities): http://www.the-ebook....com/apple-ipad.html . If you are interested in ebooks and ebook readers in general, this is a good site to explore.

For another, cautionary, discussion of the pros and cons of actually using an iPad, this one is also worth reading: http://www.theregist...being_uses_the_ipad/

Darwin · « **Reply #27 on:** April 06, 2010, 10:28 PM »

Here's a useful review of the iPad that concentrates on using it for reading (as opposed to playing games or other fanboi activities): http://www.the-ebook....com/apple-ipad.html . If you are interested in ebooks and ebook readers in general, this is a good site to explore.
-xtabber (April 06, 2010, 09:47 PM)

IMNHO, the Sony eBook Readers and the Kindles et al. are already overpriced. Buying the iPad as a book reader would be ridiculous. Of course, I don't think that is what you were suggesting, and the review certainly isn't either, but I've heard/seen it suggested enough to feel compelled to comment.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #28 on:** April 07, 2010, 06:20 AM »

Holy crap Apple, seriously? *That's* how your shiny new toy handles data sync? Wow. Just... wow.
-JavaJones (April 06, 2010, 03:35 PM)

Seriously, why the shock? ...This is a perfect Apple "File Sharing" efficiency match for the MacBook Wheel...

Eóin · « **Reply #29 on:** April 07, 2010, 06:23 AM »

Now this does shock me;

It gets worse. There is no way to share the same document with more than one iPad app. For example, a Word document imported to Pages cannot be accessed by any other iPad app, even other apps that can open Word documents.

Even from a lock down OS perspective I can't see the reasoning behind it?

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #30 on:** April 07, 2010, 06:36 AM »

It the other half of the bookends set for this.

It gets worse. There is no way to share the same document with more than one iPad app. For example, a Word document imported to Pages cannot be accessed by any other iPad app, even other apps that can open Word documents. The only work-around is to import the document twice, once for each app. Further, if you ever delete an app from your iPad, any documents stored with that app are deleted as well.

Their (insanely) mandatory auto-saves should greatly assist in making a royal mess of things also.

wraith808 · « **Reply #31 on:** April 07, 2010, 08:43 AM »

IMNHO, the Sony eBook Readers and the Kindles et al. are already overpriced. Buying the iPad as a book reader would be ridiculous. Of course, I don't think that is what you were suggesting, and the review certainly isn't either, but I've heard/seen it suggested enough to feel compelled to comment.
-Darwin (April 06, 2010, 10:28 PM)

I think that people are pointing to buying it as a book reader in addition to other functionality. I don't think that anyone would suggest buying it if your only function is to read books. Sort of like netbooks; they are not only for keeping connected to the internet on the road, instead their selling point is they let you do that plus you have a full-fledged operating system.

And for people that read voraciously and consume written material at the rate that some do, the price of the kindle/nook (especially considering they include 3G- note that I don't say 'free' as I consider it part of the premium) is reasonable.

xtabber · « **Reply #32 on:** April 07, 2010, 08:55 AM »

IBuying the iPad as a book reader would be ridiculous. Of course, I don't think that is what you were suggesting, and the review certainly isn't either, but I've heard/seen it suggested enough to feel compelled to comment.
-Darwin (April 06, 2010, 10:28 PM)

Less ridiculous than as a newspaper reader, which is how the New York Times has been promoting it daily in full page ads since the launch. Both the NYT and USA Today were ready on day one with subscription apps that display their front pages full-width on the iPad. For my own purposes, the iPad's drawbacks far outweigh any reasons I can see for buying one, but then, I still read dead tree editions of newspapers and magazines.

I certainly can't see anyone buying an iPad primarily to use as a book or news reader, but many of those who do buy it will take advantage of its capabilities to use it that way, at least some of the time. I'm amazed at the number of young people who read books on their iPhones -- a 25 year-old relative whom I've never known to be interested in literature was reading "Pride and Prejudice" on his when I visited his parents home at Christmas. Can't argue with that.

Darwin · « **Reply #33 on:** April 07, 2010, 09:02 AM »

And for people that read voraciously and consume written material at the rate that some do, the price of the kindle/nook (especially considering they include 3G- note that I don't say 'free' as I consider it part of the premium) is reasonable.
-wraith808 (April 07, 2010, 08:43 AM)

Heh, heh - I do read voraciously. Still, I don't think that $300+ is reasonable. Having said that, perhaps I'm wrong for two reasons. First, it would not be unreasonable to pay that kind of money for bookshelving and second the various iPod and Archos offerings are premium priced in the media player segment and people queue up to buy them (particularly the iPod).

I guess what I'm really waiting for (WRT ebook readers) is the market to open up - more options at the lower end of the price spectrum without having to sacrifice (too much) quiality. Now, I *did* purchase an Aluratek Libre yesterday and am playing with it.

Finally, I take your point about buying the iPad solely for its ebook reading abilities - that is more or less what I was getting at, though, as xtabber notes, if you read the web/news you will see it mooted as an ebook reader. Indeed, when it was first announced it was a toss up whether the hyberbole related to it as the arrival of the tablet (and the implication that Steven Jobs had just invented it) or the arrival of the ebook reader (and the implication that Steven Jobs had just invented it).

wraith808 · « **Reply #34 on:** April 07, 2010, 09:13 AM »

Heh, heh - I do read voraciously. Still, I don't think that $300+ is reasonable.
-Darwin (April 07, 2010, 09:02 AM)

Well, I wouldn't pay $300+ for one... but am getting ready to get a nook. The smaller kindle is the same price range too- both a little over $250. I don't know why $50 is that big of a difference in price to me... but I think if they were over $300, I wouldn't be looking at getting one. But I purchased a netbook thinking that it would be a better investment, and hardly use it. The form factor kills it for me, I think. On the road, at the end of the day, the netbook has too small a keyboard to be productive, and that same keyboard really sucks when you're reading. (as well as the perspective). A slate is best for that, IMO.

On that note... would anyone be interested in buying a barely used netbook? (only partly kidding...)

Darwin · « **Reply #35 on:** April 07, 2010, 09:25 AM »

Ha! We're on the same page! I'd pay $250 for the Sony PRS-600 but am not comfortable with the $299 that it's selling for here (note: this is the sale price, regular is $349, though Future Shop - Best Buy Canada - has it on as a an on-going sale). Strange, really - I can't explain why. The Aluratek that I mentioned purchasing above features decent build quality and works fine. However, I don't love it... I can see myself returning it while I can and either springing for the Sony now or waiting for the next round of sales/new products to hit the shelves. The nook looks nice, but its not an option here. The Kindle IS available though Amazon.ca, but the lack of expandable memory is a deal breaker AND other Canadians have reported that while the 3G features work, and are free, there are limitations on what you can download outside of the US. For example, you can download US newspapers and magazines, but not their graphics...

superboyac · « **Reply #36 on:** April 07, 2010, 09:33 AM »

40hz, you're the man. Really! Great posts here.

I know it's easy to talk about here, but to normal people on the outside, it's difficult to explain what is so frustrating about something like the ipad. because most people don't care and don't know about DRM. The prices are not that big a deal to them. They're not thinking about the whole business of it. And that's fine. But it's hard to explain, that's all.

Darwin · « **Reply #37 on:** April 07, 2010, 11:28 AM »

I'm amazed at the number of young people who read books on their iPhones -- a 25 year-old relative whom I've never known to be interested in literature was reading "Pride and Prejudice" on his when I visited his parents home at Christmas. Can't argue with that.
-xtabber (April 07, 2010, 08:55 AM)

No! You certainly can't. That's kind of impressive, actually, and a perspective that had not occurred to me before: this new technology *may* be exposing literature to kids who would not otherwise bother to crack a musty old book.

Darwin · « **Reply #38 on:** April 07, 2010, 01:29 PM »

OK - my last hijacking of this thread. Aluratek Libre is a keeper - it's (relatively) inexpensive and it does everything that I need it to do - I just had to get used to it, I guess. I can't see trading up to a Sony for another $130... so, I'll keep this and upgrade in a couple or more years.

Now, back on topic: how abou those iPads, eh? Cripes!

wraith808 · « **Reply #39 on:** April 07, 2010, 02:19 PM »

I've still been on the fence- one of the reasons that I delayed my purchase of my nook. But I read a couple of other reviews- and a couple by enthusiasts. The downsides, even when watered down, mean that I'm not going to get it. It's a little bit bigger than a nook. But that little bit is enough. And the weight... and the cost. I can't see getting an iPad without 3G, and that price tag is a bit steep! I really like the idea of extra apps- but the biggest thing that's a turn off to me is the one part that Apple really doesn't have too much of a say in... pricing of apps. If I have an iPhone app, I want to be able to use an iPad specific version of the app if it's available for free... not buy a new version! And the pricing of apps make it so that you can't purchase without consideration- with apps on the iPhone, I'll drop a dollar or two without going through the trouble of downloading a trial, then getting the final version. But 10-15 bucks is getting to the point where I question the purchase.

40hz · « **Reply #40 on:** April 07, 2010, 07:19 PM »

I'll drop a dollar or two without going through the trouble of downloading a trial, then getting the final version.
-wraith808 (April 07, 2010, 02:19 PM)

Same here. But looking over my App Store activity, I see I've wasted about $60 on apps I bought to "try out" only to discover that:

I just didn't like the way something worked (usually too much "MacCuteness" in the interface)
It flat out didn't do what the product description said it would do
It bombed three times - or locked up my iPhone just once
It broke after an upgrade
It turned out to be more of a hassle to use than it was worth (i.e. cumbersome workflow)
It had no provision to export and/or backup stored data
It had a very serious technical limitation (that you very often would only find out about if you went to the developer's forum or help page first - and sometimes only if you burrowed deeply once you got there!)

I know it's only a 'buck or few' a pop. But it adds up pretty quickly. Especially with the quasi-automated way the App Store works by forcing you to keep your billing info up online with them. One click and the app is yours. And it only hits you for an average of $2 or $3 each time. Painless! (And no receipt to save or print out either. Brill!!!)

That, by the way, is the one really smart thing I think Apple did when the set up their store. Or at least it is if thinking purely from a business perspective. I put it right up there with when crack dealers discovered they could maximize their revenue stream if they doled out their stuff in quantities priced cheaply enough that even a 6th grader could afford to buy it and still have bus fare left over.

wraith808 · « **Reply #41 on:** April 07, 2010, 08:33 PM »

What I've noticed about my app purchases is that most of them aren't on my iPhone anymore...

40hz · « **Reply #42 on:** April 08, 2010, 04:32 AM »

What I've noticed about my app purchases is that most of them aren't on my iPhone anymore...
-wraith808 (April 07, 2010, 08:33 PM)

You too?

superboyac · « **Reply #43 on:** April 08, 2010, 09:12 AM »

Well, just to play devil's advocate here, I'm going to post an article by the great Stephen Fry about the ipad:
http://www.stephenfr...10/01/28/ipad-about/

Now Fry is a huge Apple fan; if you follow him at all this is obvious. I'm not an Apple fan, but I've personally softened my stance in the whole PC vs Apple debate lately. I do see a lot of benefits that Apple products provide. Also, at least for me, I have too much respect for Stephen Fry to blow off what he has to say about anything. So I just thought I would post something respectable from the other camp, just to stir up some trouble!

I know there will be many who have already taken one look and pronounced it to be nothing but a large iPhone and something of a disappointment. I have heard these voices before. In June 2007 when the iPhone was launched I collected a long list of “not impressed”, “meh”, “big deal”, “style over substance”, “it’s all hype”, “my HTC TyTN can do more”, “what a disappointment”, “majorly underwhelmed” and similar reactions. They can hug to themselves the excuse that the first release of iPhone was 2G, closed to developers and without GPS, cut and paste and many other features that have since been incorporated. Neither they, nor I, nor anyone, predicted the “game-changing” effect the phone would so rapidly have as it evolved into a 3G, third-party app rich, compass and GPS enabled market leader. Even if it had proved a commercial and business disaster instead of an astounding success, iPhone would remain the most significant release of its generation because of its effect on the smartphone habitat. Does anybody seriously believe that Android, Nokia, Samsung, Palm, BlackBerry and a dozen others would since have produced the product line they have without the 100,000 volt taser shot up the jacksie that the iPhone delivered to the entire market?

tomos · « **Reply #44 on:** April 08, 2010, 09:47 AM »

Well, just to play devil's advocate here, I'm going to post an article by the great Stephen Fry about the ipad:
http://www.stephenfr...10/01/28/ipad-about/
-superboyac (April 08, 2010, 09:12 AM)

A very entertaining read

I'm confused again though - I know nothing about this sector of the market apart from reading some reports & reviews of iPad & the related threads here. I thought there was nothing particularly new about the iPad - Stephen Fry seems to think it's revolutionary but doesnt really say why.
Maybe it's simply the quality & build of it - he does go on about that.
and the quote in mouser's post (OP) complements that

For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience - and a deeply satisfying one.

I know it's supposed to have a good quality screen (with very good viewing angles)

Have I missed something else (novel/new/different) though ?

zridling · « **Reply #45 on:** April 08, 2010, 10:08 AM »

I love Stephen Fry. Like most Apple folks, they're consumed with novelty. I have a professor friend who, like Fry, has bought every single thing Apple has ever made. He has entire rooms of his house filled with old Apple hardware; he could open a museum. And he's spent his entire annual salary doing it year after year. He's definitely had fun, but just as I don't want to be tied to Google or Microsoft, I also don't want to be chained to Apple's latest whimsy. A private college here in Missouri just announced that all incoming Freshmen this fall will receive iPads. Bad idea to hitch your academic life to proprietary software (and hardware)!

superboyac · « **Reply #46 on:** April 08, 2010, 10:49 AM »

I think the thing with Fry and the other Apple fans is that they don't care about the same stuff that we care about. I think Fry understands perfectly well that the ipad isn't a particularly "new" technology. The argument with Apple is always that they make it so easy to use...for NORMAL people...not us! We are all powerusers here. We go in and get our hands dirty. We know all sorts of geeky details about everything. We are different than the normal joe walking around with an iphone.

I know these apple fans, they're no dummy's. They are intelligent, rational people. They just don't care about all the stuff we care about. They don't go on software forums, they don't know or care about DRM, they don't think about Sony vs kindle vs ipad. They know Google, but they don't know HTC. They don't know what IPS is. This is total geek stuff. This is our world.

The ipad is designed for them. And let's remember, WE are the minority by quite a bit, not the other way around. So if Jobs, who is a brilliant marketer, is going to cater to any group, it's going to be them. So, whether the ipad doesn't have USB or is going to eventually lock their data into the Apple proprietary world...these thoughts don't even cross their minds.

All they know is the ipad is cool, it's sexy, it behaves sexy, it's easy to use for them, it doesn't make them feel dumb like when we (the geeks) talk to them about the dangers of DRM and not having a removable battery, etc. And they are right. The ipad is sexy. I wish the poweruser-friendly products would put a little more effort in their interface and making it sexier and easier.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.

JavaJones · « **Reply #47 on:** April 08, 2010, 02:48 PM »

What's interesting to me - and this is probably just symptomatic of a 1st gen Apple product - is how, despite the polish and "sexiness" and "ease of use", some *very fundamental* and absolutely *non-geeky* things appear fundamentally broken on the iPad. Looking back at history, it may have appeared that way with the iPhone 1st gen too. Things that have already been mentioned in this thread like the atrocious handling if iWork documents sync, or the necessity of connecting to a primary computer system to even use the thing (forget about it being a great system for "grandma" or "average user" unless they already have a different PC, so let's drop that argument!). Not to mention the apparent issues with weight and ergonomics.

So here's my thought: The Apple Faithful and general tech enthusiasts buy enough of the 1st gen products and are willing enough to overlook the flaws and talk them up, and Apple is willing to stick around for the 2nd gen, that by the time 2nd gen does roll around, the general public wants one too, and by then some more of the kinks are worked out, and so it can be much more successful. This is true of many big companies and their products of course - the notorious Microsoft 1.0 avoidance advice comes to mind. But it's interesting if you think about it applied to Apple, that perhaps they are only as successful as they are because their first gen products *don't* immediately sell 10 million copies...

- Oshyan

cmpm · « **Reply #48 on:** April 08, 2010, 03:35 PM »

Stuff like this is coming up already for the ipad.

http://www.nirmaltv....-converter-for-ipad/

Convert things to ipadable.
Need one for docs and pdfs and ebooks and more....

wraith808 · « **Reply #49 on:** April 08, 2010, 03:55 PM »

<snip />
Looking back at history, it may have appeared that way with the iPhone 1st gen too. Things that have already been mentioned in this thread like the atrocious handling if iWork documents sync, or the necessity of connecting to a primary computer system to even use the thing (forget about it being a great system for "grandma" or "average user" unless they already have a different PC, so let's drop that argument!). Not to mention the apparent issues with weight and ergonomics.
-JavaJones (April 08, 2010, 02:48 PM)

I think that their 1st gen products are historically usable, but not as polished as their mystique has made it out to be. Look at the 1st gen iPod... it was an interesting idea, but nothing that I wanted. But since it was usable in it's niche, they made enough money to stick around for a 2nd gen. I think that they depend upon that, truthfully. They have been unable to compete with Microsoft in the short game, so they've focused on the long game, and done a pretty good job of it also.