When the iPad was announced, I waded through all the facts I could find (as apart from all the anguished "it's not a computer/replacement netbook/whatever/" and all the "apple fanboy" cries of "brilliant/earth-shattering/world-changing" etc). And factual stuff was hard to come by, as was unbiased reviews.
My decision was to leave it until I could get a "hands-on" and see then if it fitted my work flow.
I got the "hands-on" from the apple store and one early adopter who let me have a play for a couple of hours in return for setting up his email accounts.
My decision was that the iPad was well engineered, but it wasn't a lap-top replacement, and it wasn't a net book, and it wasn't a tool I could use in my work regimen. Leave it until generation 2 or 3 and see what comes with those (like facetime (camera(s)), like the ability to move files on and off without a third party app or emailing them!).
So why is there a first-gen iPad sitting next to me as I write this?
Simple - I got work to fund one to help me support of all the iPads that were popping up all over the place.
So, has my opinion changed after a week with the iPad?
Well, yes and no.
I still think it is a well engineered piece of kit, it's still not a laptop replacement and it's still not a netbook replacement. I can use it in my work regimen though - to answer emails and to grab information from the Internet.
But the fundamental shift in my thinking is that the iPad is a device for consuming. Consuming films, TV shows, screencasts, podcasts, youtube, music, audio books, books, blogs, photographs, games and any other thing that Apple can push through the iTunes/App store interface. The battery life is brilliant ( I played the movie Avatar back-to-back 4 times and still had 3% battery left ), the screen is superb, the sound quality is up to Apples usual standard, and when IOS4 comes to the iPad, I should be able to "fast-app switch" while my magnatune music streams keeps playing in the background. This combination makes it an excellent media consumption device.
I have used the iPad for ssh access to my servers, and that works, but the app is an iPhone app run in 2x mode (double pixels) so that's a bit clunky, but it does work. Next, I need a remote desktop protocol app for attaching to my Mac and PC - then I can use it as a replacement emergency netbook (I use an Asus eeepc for that now (thanks sis!) ).
Overall, not magic, but certainly not meaningless, not by a long way!
(the iPad model I have is WiFi 32G - iPad picture Courtesy of Apple)
My decision was to leave it until I could get a "hands-on" and see then if it fitted my work flow.
I got the "hands-on" from the apple store and one early adopter who let me have a play for a couple of hours in return for setting up his email accounts.
My decision was that the iPad was well engineered, but it wasn't a lap-top replacement, and it wasn't a net book, and it wasn't a tool I could use in my work regimen. Leave it until generation 2 or 3 and see what comes with those (like facetime (camera(s)), like the ability to move files on and off without a third party app or emailing them!).
So why is there a first-gen iPad sitting next to me as I write this?
Simple - I got work to fund one to help me support of all the iPads that were popping up all over the place.
So, has my opinion changed after a week with the iPad?
Well, yes and no.
I still think it is a well engineered piece of kit, it's still not a laptop replacement and it's still not a netbook replacement. I can use it in my work regimen though - to answer emails and to grab information from the Internet.
But the fundamental shift in my thinking is that the iPad is a device for consuming. Consuming films, TV shows, screencasts, podcasts, youtube, music, audio books, books, blogs, photographs, games and any other thing that Apple can push through the iTunes/App store interface. The battery life is brilliant ( I played the movie Avatar back-to-back 4 times and still had 3% battery left ), the screen is superb, the sound quality is up to Apples usual standard, and when IOS4 comes to the iPad, I should be able to "fast-app switch" while my magnatune music streams keeps playing in the background. This combination makes it an excellent media consumption device.
I have used the iPad for ssh access to my servers, and that works, but the app is an iPhone app run in 2x mode (double pixels) so that's a bit clunky, but it does work. Next, I need a remote desktop protocol app for attaching to my Mac and PC - then I can use it as a replacement emergency netbook (I use an Asus eeepc for that now (thanks sis!) ).
Overall, not magic, but certainly not meaningless, not by a long way!
(the iPad model I have is WiFi 32G - iPad picture Courtesy of Apple)
