iPad - a triumph of style over function?

althas

Jailbreak it (but if it in still under a warranty jailbreaking it could invalidate that warranty)

You can then get a whole host of other apps and things you can not get through Apple. Wil give you a new lease of life

april_fool

I don’t very often post on here, but I am very fond of my iPad so thought I would stick in my two-pennyworth!

I am not normally one for buying new gadgets when they first come out, preferring to wait a while until the improved versions come out and, except in the case of Apple, the price may have dropped. In this case, however, once I had touched the iPad in PC World a couple of days after the launch I was smitten, and having owned one for about 7 weeks now, I am still hooked.

Firstly, as a gateway to the internet, it is brilliant! Yes, there are websites that you can’t get the full benefit from due to the lack of Flash (my son complains he can’t play all his games), but I have barely noticed this. There are many apps (many of them free) which can be installed which utilise the web access, and are useful as well as enjoyable. For example, front ends to Evernote, Toodledo, dropbox, Springpad, etc, etc, that allow you to manage data on any internet-enabled computer and access them on your iPad. As others have mentioned, viewing TV programs using the iplayer and videos on the delivered You Tube app is a pleasurable experience.

Secondly, as a reading device for books, mags, PDFs, etc, it is also great. You can download the (free) Kindle app, and buy (or find free) e-books from the Amazon store. This week the UK store have launched the Kindle books, and they are very reasonably priced (better value than buying through the Apple book store). I can load up my e-bookshelf with a huge selection to take away on holiday without overloading my suitcase.

I have all my music stored on my device, which I can play through the “iPod” app, and have also loaded a number of films (purchased or loaded from the DVD), which are great on a long plane or car journey. I have all my photos loaded, which I can view as slideshows, with background music if I choose. There are apps available on the iTunes store to suit the interests of everyone. I use the music PDF readers to store all my sheet music that I have either purchased or scanned. I could go on and on and on.... (I know, I already have!)

I was also very pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to use the on-screen keyboard, although if you were creating lots of wordy documents, you would be better using a separate keyboard.

So to those who don’t get it, knock it, describe it as a paperweight or a large iPod touch, I would say you don’t know what you’re missing! There is no doubt that it IS quite expensive, and, unless you ‘jailbreak’, you are locked in to the Apple empire, but I would say it has bags of style AND substance.

Btw, I am a middle-aged woman, not a young, geeky, male :T

StephenMarsh

althas wrote: »

Jailbreak it (but if it in still under a warranty jailbreaking it could invalidate that warranty)

You can then get a whole host of other apps and things you can not get through Apple. Wil give you a new lease of life

Not if you dont get the concept of it in the first place as this Ipad could be hitting ebay very soon and better to sell in its original state.

However if you descover it has a purpose for you and you get to grips with the apps and there functionaility then definately dont pander to Apple get it jailbroken and even more avenues open up with it.

littlepanther

I find my iPad very useful and don't miss the lack of Flash at all.

Pages, Numbers and Keynote work well for me.

I love watching video and it works well for that and there is a useful website for watching Freeview it is tvcatchup.com. There is also a player for xvid videos that is free for now called CineXPlayer you can find it in the app store.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, has implied there will be more content creating software coming including video editing (my guess is iMovie for iPad), music and photography. You can see his interview where he mentions this on iTunes and search for D8.

If you want to see what you can do with Pages check out this video http://www.jargonfreehelp.com/episode.asp?video_id=ipad_pages

Dan_Thunder

I've had a 3g ipad since the day they launched over here (day before actually!) and I use it every single day of the week. So much so that all I really use my Macbook for now is organising and touching up my photos.

Yes it's more of a consumption device than a creation one but in all honesty how many regular people use their laptops beyond sending emails, writing letters, basic financial stuff and browsing the internet?

As mentioned above, Apple's own word processing and spreadsheet programmes are more than capable of doing everything 99% of what people want, plus they only cost a fiver each! Plus I reckon it's only a matter of time before the portable version of imovie is released for it.

If you're interested in drawing I can highly recommend either Brushes or Sketchbook Pro both of which can be used by beginners and experts alike.

Again, as mentioned above, there's both BBC iplayer and TVcatchup.com - both of which can easily be added to the systems desktop which I've found are great to use in bed as you jut hold the device as you would a book. Speaking of which you can use either ibooks or Kindle to access catalogues of more books than you could possibly read.

There's other stuff as well that's useful. I've got a case/stand for mine and I use some cooking apps and just prop up my ipad in the kitchen like a digital cookbook.

Plus with it's size it's a lot lighter to take away with you, with itunes and ipod built into it you can use it to listen to music when you're away - though I'd recommend buying some external speakers if that's the case!

Finally, as mine's the 3G version it means that I can get online anywhere in the country - signal providing of course! - quickly and easily. As I use the O2 sim card I can actually buy a data plan through the ipad itself for a week or so without having to faff around with call centres.

In the end though you only get out what you put in, cliched but true. If you view it as a smaller laptop you'll be disappointed but if you view it in terms of what it can do it's a hell of a device that can do the vast majority of what people want.

I know that the lack of flash can be annoying for some but truth be told I've never really noticed it much. The sites I use already have video that stream in an ipad friendly format and it's only a matter of time before others provide this too. Yes it's a compromise but in my mind it's better to be rid of Flash and have a ten hour battery life than it is to use it and see that reduced to less than half of that.

tr3mor

Ms-Pacman wrote: »

I'm always in Costa with mine, having a coffee with a book or game.

I think Ms-Pacman has hit the nail on the head. Its main selling point is enabling you to sit around in a coffee shop looking like a trendy !!!!!!!

:money:

Ms-Pacman

well I am hardly a trendy !!!!!!, more of a middle aged woman (37) usually dressed in jeans and a scruffy jumper. I'm the sort of person that if I am carrying a paper cup then some people put a few pennies in. :coffee:

The point I was making was that it is a portable device. However thank you for your comment....

Ms-Pacman

Dan_Thunder wrote: »

I know that the lack of flash can be annoying for some but truth be told I've never really noticed it much. The sites I use already have video that stream in an ipad friendly format and it's only a matter of time before others provide this too. Yes it's a compromise but in my mind it's better to be rid of Flash and have a ten hour battery life than it is to use it and see that reduced to less than half of that.

I really don't get the big deal about flash. Its memory hungry, sluggish with badly written and well written websites. Incidentally I hate it and avoid where can.

Ms-Pacman

TwitterDesigner wrote: »

The ipad looks awkward to use, and it's inevitable that apple will release a better one in a years time. So I'd say don't buy one!

so have you tried it then?

Mr_Oink

My kids applied these metrics:

Does it work with Youtube?
Does it work with FarmVille?

Needless to say they went with £175 netbooks that totally eclipsed the Ipad.

Still, it's useful flag to pick out suitable mugging targets..... or "Is that an IPAD you have there?" .. "yes, care to look?" .. No thanks, I'll see if I can find your carer....