Quote from: Stoic Joker on April 04, 2011, 10:15 PM

Every time someone buys a Fruit Pad Cthulhu eats a kitten.

And another Shoggoth springs into existence in our dimension.

(If we don't knock it off, we're gonna be up to our asses in Shoggoths pretty soon...)

Just wear a black trash bag, and keep chanting Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! ... Se we can blend in when they take over...

Just wear a black trash bag, and keep chanting Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! ... Se we can blend in when they take over...

Ah yes! Tekeli-li...The Chant of the Elder Penguins - creators of Linux!

(Have to get a white apron to complete the ensemble however...)



[attach]

...Having survived the encounter with Satan, nudon's exorcism has been canceled.

Navigation is crap, Safari is crap, iTunes is crap, the "intelligent" keyboard is crap, it's all crap. I know it's all crap because a team of designers, developers and engineers at Apple spent a long time on this device, but eventually made a machine that has so many flaws it resembles a first time project that a 16 year old design student would create - something their Lecturer would quickly browse over and then highlight all the fundamental flaws on its first use.

So you don't like it? More like pie in the sky pad?

heheheheh, all very amusing comments. And a perfect way to sum it up; it really is Satan's SkyPad. If only there could be a holy war against Apple, I would march towards Armageddon with a smile on my face.

But!..

I will be keeping the iPad - for the moment. Wraith is right that it has it's uses. Horses for courses and all that. I don't really need to keep it for testing websites as I've now worked out and resolved the issues I was having with a client's website. (For anyone interested, mobile Safari displays text at one zoom level in, but not on all text. I don't see any good reasons for this but you can prevent it with "-webkit-text-size-adjust: none;" and other stuff to avoid targetting Chrome. Mobile Safari also appears to be tempremental about background images - which is a case of just trying other background sizes, etc.)

I *think* my parents do find using the iPad easier than a netbook. They still accidentally hit the wrong things on screen but the use of gestures seems more intuitive for them than using a mouse/pad. I just need to get one of the better iPad browsers that do really work how you'd expect on an tablet - mobile Safari is pretty rubbish, i.e. where's the gesture for "back/forward"; pathetic.

Personally, I don't have a good use for a tablet device. I will use it, because the instant-on/off is cool. The portability is cool. Erm, that's about it. I could test mobile Safari websites on an iPod Touch 1st gen (I think), so I could sell the iPad and get an iPod for a fraction of the price. If the experiment with my parents using the iPad fails then I'll get rid of it - but may well replace it with a tablet that works how I expect a tablet to work (if there is such a thing, maybe in a few months there will be).

I've still a lot to try out with it. Maybe jailbreaking is the way to go. Or just find the right Apps that make it work like a proper tablet and not just an inflated iPhone.

I will be keeping the iPad - for the moment. Wraith is right that it has it's uses. Horses for courses and all that. I don't really need to keep it for testing websites as I've now worked out and resolved the issues I was having with a client's website. (For anyone interested, mobile Safari displays text at one zoom level in, but not on all text. I don't see any good reasons for this but you can prevent it with "-webkit-text-size-adjust: none;" and other stuff to avoid targetting Chrome. Mobile Safari also appears to be tempremental about background images - which is a case of just trying other background sizes, etc.)

I *think* my parents do find using the iPad easier than a netbook. They still accidentally hit the wrong things on screen but the use of gestures seems more intuitive for them than using a mouse/pad. I just need to get one of the better iPad browsers that do really work how you'd expect on an tablet - mobile Safari is pretty rubbish, i.e. where's the gesture for "back/forward"; pathetic.

Try iCab Mobile.  That makes the browsing a lot better.  I also use Desktop at times (it allows a browser/app split screen... really cool), but iCab Mobile is my browser of choice (really wish it would allow you to change the default browser).

I like it for media consumption - I use it to read books and browse the web (and in my RPG game), but since I've purchased the clamcase, I also use it when writing my book.  The biggest pluses to me over other devices I have are battery life, single responsibility apps, and portability.  

I don't have to worry about charging it.  I've only had the charge run out once, and I charge it maybe once a week.  Bluetooth runs it out faster, which is why I found out that my clamcase makes me have to charge once every couple of days if I leave it on.

When I use an app, I'm using that app, and not shuffling windows.  It has made a big difference in my productivity when writing.

I carry it pretty much everywhere, either in the clamcase or just the device itself.  It's light enough that I don't worry about it, but large enough that I can actually use it.  I use it in addition to my desktop to view things that I would have had on paper or a book next to me.  Basically as a reference.

Placed in the right expectations, it's a home run for me.  The iPhone/iPod would be too small for what I'm using it for; this is the perfect form factor.  And I rarely use iTunes, so I experience that irritation only minimally.  I only use it to back up what's on my iPad.  Purchasing and everything else I do from the iPad itself.

I was as big a nay sayer as anyone else in the beginning.  But to me, it's been worth it.

If you're thinking of doing "work" with the ipad, forget it.  It's just a casual, portable device to have with you.  Check time, check email (not necessarily write email), browse the web, watch some videos, go on facebook.  Anything more than this sort of thing will be frustrating.

There are no workhorse tablets yet.  It's not the fault of Apple or Android, it's just that nobody is doing that yet.  I'm guessing once Microsoft starts going with this (Windows 8?), then we'll be really able to use tablets to do hardcore work.

The iPad by itself I'd agree.  But with the clamcase, it becomes a whole different story.  That's why I had such high hopes for the atrix.  But the reviews have said that it's not there.  But I love that idea- the ability to have one small device that has different 'personalities' based on desired usage would be great!

Good tips, thanks. I know there will be ways to make it work - just would have been nice for Apple to have done something better with Safari, at the very least.

Oh, I'd agree.  I'd also agree that there are definite issues- the word completion really drives me nuts at times.  But it's a well designed device IMO, that's limited to a large part by the closed minded nature of the parent company.  Most of the limitations of the device could be overcome by 3rd parties.  But even though I've jailbroken my iphone, I haven't done the same for the ipad, because in the end, it becomes more trouble than it's worth IMO with the whole jailbreak thing (and that's a large part because of the idiocy of Apple, also).

It's just a casual, portable device to have with you.  Check time, check email (not necessarily write email), browse the web, watch some videos, go on facebook.

A portable device to check the time with?!?  Yeah, if you're in the habbit of buying wrist watches from Flavor Flav...

I've just installed the app for ReadItLater. I've been using ReatItLater across my main pc and netbook for quite a while now, so I've managed to colled a few hundred links to "read later", i.e. never.

I must say the iPad version seems very polished - makes the whole exercise of trawling through all these old links quite pleasurable. I think the penny is starting to drop with how nice a tablet can be - when you find the right thing to do on it. Using this "app" on the tablet does seem to be a lot better than doing it a desktop or netbook. It even automatically downloads all the page content to read offline.

Here's a linke if anyone is interested: http://readitlaterlist.com/blog/2010/06/introducing-read-it-later-for-ipad/

heheh, ooh, that old slate board and chalk would be an even better case to have than the Etch A Sketch one.

I must say, I'm really liking the speed of flicking through content (that's cached). I can see how this would be a pretty good "productive" tool when you're demonstrating things to people at close hand.

Hmm. I think I can feel the presence of the Lord of the I's (as in "I"pod/player/phone/tunes) slowly corrupting my soul.

+1 for ReadItLater... I have it too

heheh, ooh, that old slate board and chalk would be an even better case to have than the Etch A Sketch one.

I must say, I'm really liking the speed of flicking through content (that's cached). I can see how this would be a pretty good "productive" tool when you're demonstrating things to people at close hand.

Hmm. I think I can feel the presence of the Lord of the I's (as in "I"pod/player/phone/tunes) slowly corrupting my soul.

For further corrupting influences...

General Purpose
DropBox, 1Password, Quickoffice, GoodReader, Evernote, iAnnotate PDF, Wunderlist, Save2PDF, XMarks, ICabMobile, Desktop, Amazon Windowshop, 2XClient, Reeder, Penultimate, Noterize

Hobbies/Entertainment
Netflix, Pandora, Classical Guitar, Rebirth, Adobe Ideas

Games
Carcassone, Infinity Blade, LOTR:Defense, Brothers in Arms 2, Splintercell, BoardBox, NY Times Crosswords, Kingdoms, High Society, Money, Samurai, Build-A-Lot 2

I've got a Dell Inspiron Duo (Netbook/Tablet Convertible) here for one of our users. It's actually quite nice from working with it so far.

I'd heard it was pretty lackluster.  And the android 1.6 was the sticking point for me.  How is the weight in tablet mode?  And how is the responsiveness?

Quote from: Stoic Joker on April 06, 2011, 06:36 PM

I've got a Dell Inspiron Duo (Netbook/Tablet Convertible) here for one of our users. It's actually quite nice from working with it so far.

I'd heard it was pretty lackluster.

Me too, although it was mainly a the screen isn't as cutting edge breath taking as it could have (thoretically) been issue iirc. But after playing with it for a bit, it's really quite good. It is a bit dim on battery - to conserve said battery - but as I understand it, it will learn your behavior and dim the screen less often with use.

And the android 1.6 was the sticking point for me.

I'm not much of a "consumer"...So I like having an "full" OS to play with. My favorite toy is the command line.  *Shrug*

How is the weight in tablet mode?

Shit, were you under the impression it (came apart) made a difference too?!? ...I almost broke the friggin thing. It's heavy.

And how is the responsiveness?

It go zoom. I just installed Office 2010 std on it; install only took a few minutes ... and word etc pops right open in seconds (1 or 2-ish)

Being that I don't have a ton of experiance with touch screens (most piss me off) I'd say it's quite good. I managed to do the entire OOBE & setup via the touch screen without swearing.