iPad Review

This weekend saw the delivery of iPads into hundreds of thousands of filthy hands. I managed to get my hands on a 32GB unit and put it through its paces for a battery charge and a half, and wanted to take a few minutes to share some notes with you. But if you don't care to read the whole review, let me give you a hint: I am typing this review on my laptop.

The packaging is minimal and sleek. Almost nothing comes inside the box: just a cable, power cube and some minuscule documentation that nobody will read. The iPad itself arrived fully charged. It is usable out of the box without any syncing, but I chose almost immediately to pair it with my laptop just to get all my apps and data on it. This syncing process took forever. It's kind of amazing how long it takes to sync 20 or so gigs of movies and mp3s. This isn't unique to the iPad of course, but I never really noticed it on the phone since I don't sync video there.

The UI and functionality is pretty much as expected: It's a big iPhone. There are some minor differences (like being able to drag different numbers of items to the sticky footer menu). The new calendar application is nice. But the star is the mail client. Reading mail on my iPhone has been the "Last Resort," but the speed and clean layout and usability of the iPad mail app makes me prefer it to my desktop. I need a faster way to mark spam, but that's not necessarily the end of the world. Writing mail on the iPad is a different story. More on that below.

The new photo app is decent, but if you have a large number of albums and events it gets tough to find specific stuff quickly. I can't figure out why the iPhone and now the iPad don't make use of folders. Their mac equivalents both let you create nicely nested hierarchies of albums or playlists, but those both get lost on their little cousins where screen real estate is even MORE important. The video app seems to do strange things with thumbnails: it seemed to want to give videos the same thumbnail icon if they share an "Album." This means navigating my home movies category is lame because all 15 or so videos have the same thumbnail. It shouldn't be that way.

My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS. But applications were constantly asking me for permission to use my location. This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask! Even the built-in Map app asked me for information that it could not possibly have.

Finally, time to test Safari: I tested out Slashdot first, and it renders pretty well. There are a couple of minor layout glitches and a few trickier functionality problems. The problems are mostly the same as the iPhone, but having the larger screen makes it a lot more obvious. I'll probably get some tickets into the system this week to clean up these bugs.

When I started browsing the net at large I noticed a few interesting problems: The first is that a lot of websites are serving iPhone pages to the iPad. So you get a number of ridiculously minimalistic pages on the big bright screen. It's laughably annoying to see these teeny tiny menus. Most sites seem fine, but I was surprised at the number of mainstream sites that thought I needed this. The lack of Flash is MUCH more noticeable than I thought it would be. The good news is that YouTube seems to embed cleanly and in-place, so a lot of video oriented websites still work fine. But the lack of Flash hurts. Apple has made their position known on the subject, so I'm not expecting anything to change. The lack of a real scroll bar make sites that make use of frames for navigation not really work properly. At the end of the day, I was surprised at the number of sites that actually had SOME problem with them. Most worked fine, but when something fails, I noticed more than I do on the iPhone. I think this is simply a user expectation thing: on my phone I expect things NOT to work and am happy when they do. On the iPad I expect things to work as well as they do in Safari in my desktop, and am irritated when they don't.

I tried out a good number of apps. The NetFlix app is really nice, but it doesn't let me rate selections using their little star system. Since I'm OCD about that, this bugs me. Epicurious is a fantastically elegant little recipe system that really shines on the system. ABCs app works but meh. The Weather Channel has a nice little app, and several of my old favorites have ports that make at least some use of the big screen. I suspect it'll be a few months before we really see what the unit has to offer since many of the most popular apps haven't been ported yet. I'm thinking Facebook and even the Apple Remote are very overdue. But hey, the old versions work, they just look like crap.

Let me talk about User Accounts. An iPhone doesn't have them, which is fine because one phone sits in one person's pocket. But your laptop is passed around, and the user account system on a Mac is necessary in any place where you want multiple people sharing a computer with any regularity. The iPad needs it: since this machine wants to be seen in a public place and be handed around, my wife shouldn't have to keep logging out of Gmail and Facebook. And I shouldn't have to leave my iPad on the coffee table signed into my mail. And I shouldn't have to sign out every time I put it down, leaving a brick on the table unusable by guests.

Finally let me talk about the device itself. It's heavy. I mean, surprisingly heavy. The specs say that it is 1.5lbs, which sounded very light on paper. For the first few minutes, I liked the heft; I felt that I was holding a solid, well-crafted item in my hands. But then I started trying to figuring out ways to type. I wrote a number of emails of moderate length and slowly realized that I just don't like typing on this thing. It's fine for URLs and names and passwords and a sentence here and there. But to actually sit down and write a thousand-word review well, there's just no way. I tried many different angles, but in order to hold it in your lap and type, you sorta need to prop it against your belly. Holding it up one handed made my arm kinda tired fairly quickly: unless I'm willing to squish my thumb against the center of the screen. When I do this, the center of gravity shifts and it's much more comfortable to hold, but there's a giant thumb blocking my screen, making it impossible to type. You can cradle it in your arm and type one-handed. That seems like the only way to use it while standing. But I just don't see myself writing anything lengthy. After a day of heavy usage, I felt a little sore. The size and shape is nearly perfect. But all that screen and battery sure feels heavy when it's spread out like this.

But I'll tell you what I like: Having a casual PC at arm's length for a quick lookup of something. Working within the screen size of the iPhone often makes simple internet tasks unwieldy, but provided whatever you need doesn't use Flash, this is a great little web browser. Fast and pretty.

Since the announcement of the iPad, I've wondered what its role could be. My first big question was whether it be a complete replacement PC for "Grandma." Like many of you, I'm occasionally called upon to do little tech support tasks on PCs that do very little, and I was hoping that this might be the solution. After just one day I know this is not going to work for them. The difficulty of using the keyboard. The missing Flash. And the lack of video camera for chatting with the grandkids make this device simply not ready for them.

My other big question is how much of a replacement PC it could be for a power user. Now I can work around Flash and rarely need a camera, but what is clear to me is that a huge percentage of my screen time is spent staring at iChat. While I don't usually need a camera or microphone, my iChat is connected to 4 different networks, and I simply can't do my job without the steady stream of co-worker notes and bot notifications that I rely on. I've yet to find an app that lives in the background and is capable of connecting to the 4 distinct networks that I use. (AIM, SSL'd Jabber and Non-SSL'd Jabber)

I'm not expecting a WoW client or anything, but Chat? Seriously, Apple: You're on iPhone 3.something-or-other and you can't give us a chat client? I can only hope that the end of the exclusive AT&T era means that Apple will no longer be tied to some secret back room deal that forced iPhones to try to shove users to the crap SMS network to pad a telco profit margin despite the fact that our devices are living on a Wi-Fi network.

So, what does Apple need to fix?

• Lose several ounces. PLEASE.
• Video Camera
• iChat
• User switching (or at least an Anonymous mode)

I used it for a day and a half and think that it will be an excellent couch companion PC. I'm also certain that on planes, long car rides, and vacations it will be a great little machine. The battery life is pretty dang amazing. But this is a 1.0 piece of hardware running 3.0 software. The size/shape is great. The speed is wonderful. And 2 years of Moore's law might make this a device to be reckoned with if Apple sells enough of them to continue heavy development on the software and hardware. This version isn't a replacement PC for anyone yet, but future versions might be. You probably want to save your cash until then.

Comments

CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[Space cowboy]

Considering that the last time he passed comment on an Apple handheld, his prediction was pretty lame

I don't think this is the ultimate device for keyboard-focussed nerds, but (as usual) that's not who Apple is aiming at. I guess we'll have to wait and see how well it really does, but selling 300k in one day, in one country compares pretty well to the 3G and 3GS phones (which sold ~1M in 3 days, in 21 countries worldwide).

[Aside - not directed at the review]
perhaps it's just me, but the qualifier "just" in "just a bigger iphone/ipod touch" seems somewhat questionable. Does anyone here want to trade their HDTV for an SD model ? Thought so. With a TV, all you do is view it. On an iPad you'll interact with it - that 5x screen-estate isn't a "just", it's a "crucially", IMHO.
[/aside]

Simon

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[characterZer0]

His predictions are correct. The first iPods were lame. The (first) iPad is lame.

He did not say that they will not sell well with a high profit margin.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[maxume]

Of course, the latest iPod has more space than a nomad and wireless.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[sopssa]

I don't think this is the ultimate device for keyboard-focussed nerds, but (as usual) that's not who Apple is aiming at.

But he noted that the iPad isn't usable even for grandmas. Lets face it, you have to use keyboard every now and then to use web or to do basically anything. That's not going to change until we have good speech recognition. Also if the iPad weights too much even for a guy without your hands getting sore, how can a grandma keep it in hand?

Fancy graphic designers and such that like Apple products also need Flash because thats what they develop for and is the de facto standard. But there's no support for Flash or any of the Adobe products. Therefore it's useless for that group too.

It's not good for business, as theres it weights a lot, doesn't run multiple IM and chat programs at the same time (when you want to login to MSN, you have to get off Skype), and it doesn't support MS Office.

It's not good for homes as theres no multiple user accounts.

Who is iPad aimed at then?

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

You know, growing up, I used to do archery a lot at summer camp. When ever we would accidentally hit the wrong target, or anything other than the target we were aiming for, we'd cry out "That's exactly what I was aiming for". It was obvious BS that was funny. But people still try doing that like the parent post. If a product doesn't suit your needs then well, it must be intentionally not aiming for you. Its not the products fault it doesn't suite you , its your fault for not being the target!

Of course, the opposite was equally practised, and even funnier. Sometimes, a friend would hit the bullseye, then it would be required to claim that he was really aiming for the tree. This is more rare to see in tech circles. People are smart enough, and don't have the same sense of humour that kids do to claim it. Usually, when people make the "aiming for" statement its of the first kind: psuedo marketing BS.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[0xdeadbeef]

Do you know what iPods have now? Wireless and more space than a Nomad! Not only was he correct about the iPod, but his comment directed Apple on the course that ultimately led to the iPhone. You fanboys owe Rob Malda for everything.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[Princeofcups]

Who is iPad aimed at then?

I'm waiting for the first review of using VNC on this thing. I see it as the perfect remote console for all my "real" systems.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[amplt1337]

you have to use keyboard every now and then to use web or to do basically anything. That's not going to change until we have good speech recognition.

Which doesn't bode well for the iPad, because the last thing you want to do is go around dictating everything on a device that's meant to be used on-the-go, in public.

Who is iPad aimed at then?

Apple thinks everything it touches will become gold. So it's assuming -- like all the gushy tech reviewers -- that this is a device that will "make its own niche" or for which people will "discover needs and uses they didn't realize they had." Okay, that's possible I suppose, but people have been talking about this thing for months, and the best case anybody's been able to make for it is as an e-book reader. Seriously guys?

This device will prove to have been a mistake.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[natehoy]

Nonsense. I just finished a 14-year-old Twinkie and it was as tasty as the dayyyy it wazz maaayde.. hey, whyyy izzz Slashdohhhttt suddenly purrple? Dfggbghtz. Shakkrsnordleez. Gzzfmht.. farkle...

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[HermMunster]

I wrote several posts here on Slashdot about the usability of this device. Anyone having used an iPod or iPhone to watch a movie or type long sections of text knows that those devices don't cut it for long use. The screen size and the need to constantly hold it or hold it at a specific angle affect comfort. Various programs require different ways of dealing with the device. Software is also part of the comfort level.

I was watching a site where the publishers were demoing games. What struck me was that the person playing the games had to be quite dexterous in order to accomplish some things (might work for a youthful adult but a young child or the grand parents won't fare well). He distended his fingers and thumbs, he kept having to readjust the position of his hand to keep them on the controls.

Even the chat clients can become an issue because you have to keep switching out of them to view links that people send. A buddy sends me link to all sorts of sites while we chat, from looking up a product on ebay.com or newegg.com to articles about technology or automotive. I have to copy the link, then close out of the chat, and then switch to the browser, paste the URL (because no way on earth I'm going to type it again). It works even though it is cumbersome.

I stated that the iPad is a short use device and that it can't be anything else. Even if Apple managed to cut down the weight it would still be difficult to hold and type, especially if you are laying down on your back on the couch. There's no way around it. The weight while holding it with one hand and typing with the other is going to be too much. Laying on the couch with your legs propped up while you watch a movie won't cut it. Sitting up and staring down at it will strain the neck.

The comfort level will be tied directly to it's success. If you can't use this half-portable device for extended periods without stress then people won't adopt it. Half-portable because it isn't like an ipod or iphone.

Other things have to be taken into account too. We don't just see the glitzy gimmicky features and jump on them without evaluating the tradeoffs. Meaning that once we get it the novelty wears off and we begin to evaluate how it will impact how we function on a daily basis. A device such as this is expected to be a portable life organizer, so to speak.

My thoughts beckon from the fact that I find it uncomforable to use my iPhone for extended periods of time. I've tried to watch a few movies. I found it useful on trips or places where I had long waits. At home it was best used as a phone. The battery life on the iPhone doesn't cut it. Having both the iPhone and iPad with non-removable batteries is a complete letdown. The fact is, designing it this way is unnecessary. Considering what is inside the thing adding the ability to remove the battery wouldn't have affected the weight or design much. In fact, using it plugged in with the battery out would have increased the comfort level considerably.

The success of the device so far is based solely on marketing and frankly nothing else.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[justinb26]

Let's hit a couple points:

Touch keyboards seem a lot more limiting when you touch type 80+ wpm on a physical keyboard. Grandma's hunt-and-peck speed isn't going to be affected much. There are stands and docks available. I paired a random folding bluetooth keyboard last night with no hassle.

There are plenty of multi-IM chat programs. Most are not updated for ipad yet, but they work fine for the time being via upscaling. Keep in mind this is a device with 150k+ compatible apps on launch day, plus hundreds of native ones, and most developers NEVER EVEN TOUCHED THE DEVICE before releasing v1 of their ipad software. That fact continutes to amaze me.

How did you want it to support MS office, that you think it doesn't do so? Obviously you're not talking about file format compatibility through the iWork apps, the third party Office-compatible apps, or published apps via Citrix (not to mention VNC/RDP)? Is the problem that this thing doesn't have a native version of the MS Office suite (on day 1 no less)? Are you really surprised by this?


Now, the continued outcry over Flash support is just stupid. Flash was never a good solution for online video, it just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Flash games are not exactly crucial to my online experience, but YMMV. Most importantly, the majority of flash apps are NOT MADE FOR TOUCH INTERFACES: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/02/20/an-adobe-flash-developer-on-why-the-ipad-cant-use-flash/

(tl;dr - Flash apps make heavy use of "hover", something that makes no sense on a touch UI (yes, I have a wacom-based tablet and understand how that tech works. that's a pen interface, not a touch interface).



I'm still trying to wrap my head around this fact: there is now a $500, 10", 1.5lb, .5" thick, slate formfactor, 10 hours battery life, fast, 3d accelerated, multitouch freakin' tablet on the market. It runs an OS built for multitouch. There are over 150,000 apps available on launch day.

And people are falling all over themselves to complain about it.

The iPad is something out of Star Trek or HHGTTG, the sort of thing nerds have been dreaming about for decades. Yet there are people for whom the most important aspect of this is the lack of flash (and a camera, and a desktop OS, and it's too heavy, and the bezel's too big, and the app store is evil, and, and, and)...

Way to really, really miss the point. These are most likely the same people that said the same sort of things about the iPod, the iPhone, the Wii, hell, probably the color tv and automatic transmission, too.

Bottom line is that the iPad is a glimpse at what the future of (casual) computing is going to look like. If you don't want to get onboard, that's fine, but don't cry when you realize the train has left the station without you.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[HermMunster]

He does a fine job. Better than some reviews I've read over the weekend. He addresses usability and portability which are the two key factors to the device's success. Because it isn't glowing I'm sure it will set a lot of new owners off (or even those expecting to purchase one). Hopefully they take something from what he wrote beyond the towing of the line of these Apple extended PR houses.

I read engaget.com after hearing they'd blocked all comments on the JooJoo. I didn't go there to read the comments. I wanted to see what they had said about it.

They justified taking down the comments in their own unique way. They then put a slight intro video up and basically used negative words without even having reviewed it. Taking into account the reviews they did over the weekend of the iPad, and the reviews from other sites, clearly some of the issues with the iPad were the same as those with the JooJoo, though not all.

After reviewing the engaget.com site again this morning I noticed a 6-7 articles on the iPad with no other articles on the JooJoo. The justification they made to not review it and to lock out and delete all the comments was because there was too much going on over the weekend, along with the iPad and other news so they wouldn't have time. Then I read one of the intro paragraphs to another article where the writer claimed that people had to be getting tired of reading about the JooJoo so he'd write something about the iPad. I took that as disrespect for those that posted their thoughts in the comments--that were ultimately deleted by engaget.com.

One thing to remember is that engaget.com is actually AOL. That means the they have motivation to publish positive reviews of certain products that will or do advertise for them. I always take what I read on engaget.com with a grain of salt, and have noticed over the years how they weren't always looking out for the best interest of the consumer, instead rallying behind the almighty dollar.

My point is that this review seems honest and talks about those things that people should be hearing. Right now everyone that purchased the device did so based on the merits of the PR rather than the actual usability, viability, and comfort level of the devices. Yes, the iTunes store plays a big part.

I've heard the iPad has only mono sound from the speakers. I know this is appropriate for the iPhone and iPod, but should that be the case for the iPad. I also am unsure whether I will have to pay to move my content from the iPhone to the iPad--apps and music. I'd hate to be forced to purchase them again, which would ultimately eliminate this as a purchase for me, even if I could find another use for it.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[Culture20]

Also if the iPad weights too much even for a guy without your hands getting sore, how can a grandma keep it in hand?

We're talking about CmdrTaco here, not a regular guy. 1.5 lbs? Get to the gym.

But it's 1.5 pounds spread across a large plane; it's not like a tiny dumbbell. So, you've got some torque built up from the lever-action, and you have to use a couple of your fingers to do half of the lifting. Do you regularly manipulate 0.75 pounds with a couple fingers for hours on-end? Wait, don't answer that.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[justinb26]

Just curious if you said the same thing about the ipod and iphone?

FWIW, since Saturday I've used it for:
Remote Desktop/VNC/SSH
Extra Monitor
Gaming system (most pleasant surprise: playing multiplayer games with my kids on a single screen)
Music Player
Web Browser
Television
Calendar
Ebook reader/Comic Reader/Interactive Children's Story Reader
"Interactive Educational Tool" (Exploring elements and molecules, etc with my older son)
Musical Instrument
Sketchbook

... and this is before the jailbreak is released, after which you can add "unix workstation" to that list.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[somersault]

So when you are in a situation where you think, "man, it would suck to try to use my laptop now", I would guess that an iPad might be just the ticket

iPads work in the shower?

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[somersault]

This device will prove to have been a mistake.

Apple must really stop making all these heavily profitable mistakes..

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[PopeRatzo]

I like it and have no regrets.

I've decided not to buy one, and I have no regrets, either.

I have a real need for a portable PDF reader with an SD slot and/or USB port. If Apple had included either one of those, I'd probably be looking forward to buying the 2nd or 3rd generation iPad, but now I've got to wait until the knockoffs start.

At some point, I'll want to replace my Monome for music production with something with a touch screen. However, I'll need something with an OS that is more friendly toward open source development and is not tied to a single source for apps. Also, I've got to have that USB port because bluetooth just doesn't cut it for music production controllers for the same reason that you don't use wireless mics in the studio.

To be an "early adopter" requires a constant vague dissatisfaction with the technology I currently have. I don't know why, but sometime last decade that vague dissatisfaction left me, so now I'm not so inclined to jump for some new tech item until I have a need for it, or to buy something just because it's new. This requires me to studiously avoid marketing, since its purpose is to implant in us a need that did not exist before. Plus, marketing gives me a headache. I also lost me taste for sleek and shiny. Most of the tech in my life tends to look more like mil-spec or DIY with wires hanging off it than chrome and glass jewelery that's hermetically sealed. I like it that way, but that's just the sort of hairpin I am. No knock on Apple, but I like tech that I can use without having to get permission, too.

I'm glad to hear that people are excited about their new iPads. I'm glad that they're buying iPads because I still own some Apple stock. Most of all, I'm glad that this new device will spur other manufacturers to compete with Apple and come out with their own devices, with hopefully will be more appropriate for me needs. Everybody wins, except for the people who require the validation that comes from everybody else wanting the thing you just bought.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[Tharsman]

His predictions are correct. The first iPods were lame. The (first) iPad is lame.

He did not say that they will not sell well with a high profit margin.

That is not a prediction, that is an opinion.

Re:CmdrTaco drags big brass ones along the ground

[sootman]

> The first iPods were lame.

No, they weren't. No wireless and less space than a Nomad, sure, but they were physically smaller than other HDD-based players, transferring songs over FireWire was MUCH faster than USB at the time, and having an awesome UI (the scroll wheel, making it easy to quickly navigate your giant collection) more than made up for those other shortcomings. The net result was "not lame."

A lot of it is personal taste and preference, but for me (and many other people), the iPod was the first NON-lame MP3 player out there. Taco dismissed it over two small points. (And might I point out that no other MP3 player (AFAIK) had wireless at the time? Many people were hoping for it, sure, but no one else had it--so why was Apple deemed "lame" for not having it either?)

iPad

[Anonymous Coward]

The lack of Flash is MUCH more noticeable than I thought it would be.

This is true. Just try browsing the web without plug-ins enabled; you find a need to enable them surprisingly often for Flash. You probably think that you don't visit so many video or flash game sites, but a lot of times slashdot links to articles that have videos, or you're reading about gaming news and it has a trailer or gameplay footage you want to see. However in this case you can't even turn Flash on when you want to.

After just one day I know this is not going to work for them. The difficulty using the keyboard. The missing Flash. And the lack of video camera for chatting

So basically there's no good use for iPad. No big surprise there - just blatant stupidity from over-excited Apple fanbois.

Re:iPad

[azmodean 1]

As someone who runs FlashBlock on all of my computers, I find this hilarious. I understand that some people want tiny video playing at them all the time, and that's fine, but I have NEVER wanted flash when browsing.

To be clear, I consider "watching video" to be separate from "browsing", YMMV. Same disclaimer applies for "playing flash games". All other uses of flash I have encountered have been forced on me by the page author not providing an alternative. I have never *wanted* the "enhanced flash experience", I just want the content damnit.

Also, I'm not defending the iPad, I pretty much hate Apple. I'm just responding to the comment about flash.

To sum it up:

[Anonymous Coward]

No Flash. Less usability than a netbook. Lame

Re:To sum it up:

[jedidiah]

How is a touchscreen input that's approximately the same size going to help?

You will have all the crampedness of the netbook keyboard without any of the tactile feedback.

It will be the worst of both worlds.

Re:To sum it up:

[bflong]

I'm 6'5" and one of my huge hands spans across the entire keyboard on my eee901. I *love* my netbook, and would never trade it in for something like an iPad.

Re:To sum it up:

[Colonel Korn]

The problem with netbooks is that they suck... unless you stopped growing in kindergarten.

Even then they suck. They're slow, and have horrible battery life.

And that's where the iPad comes in.

My eee 1005HA lasts 10 hours, loads web pages much faster than an iPad (and is able to use adblock, making the web useable, and flash, making the web...well, at least adblock is good). The advantage the iPad has in battery life doesn't mean much when the competition lasts 10 hours - that's long enough and in the same ballpark. The iPad's only advantage is form factor. For me, that's easily overshadowed by the fact that my netbook runs Windows 7 very smoothly, giving me vastly more capabilities than an iPad.

Since form factor is the only thing the iPad has going for it and it's still too big to be truly portable, I have an iPod Touch instead. An iPod Touch barely lags behind the capabilities of the iPad (unlike the vast gulf between the iPad and the netbook) but is immensely more portable. I think this is really a case where, if you can afford it, having two devices are better than the poorly designed compromise in between them.

Car analogy: I'd rather have a sedan and a pair of glasses than a fifty pound magnifying glass on roller blade wheels.

Re:To sum it up:

[toppavak]

Plus it seems the market has pretty much settled on the 10" format for netbooks which allows for near-normal sized keyboards. 4 post-docs in my lab and the PI have netbooks as their primary computer, another lab I've worked with had every lab machine replaced with 10" netbooks and a set of external monitors scattered around. They're cheap, powerful enough, fairly durable and completely usable.

iNough!

[WrongSizeGlass]

Please, enough of the iPad. I'm a Mac user, and I find the iPad a potential tool for some of my clients, but enough already.

I can't think of anything that has gotten this type of media hype ... and for what? 48 hours of availability? It's going to take a lot longer than two days to decide if the iPad is well suited for its market niche or if its going to run into problems. Failure is much easier to measure, but determining success takes time.

Re:iNough!

[CdBee]

Dare I suggest it isnt a tool for potential clients, but a client for potential tools?

Who has dirty hands?

[Locke2005]

This weekend saw the delivery of iPads into hundreds of thousands of filthy hands. I managed to get my hands on a 32GB unit... I take that you count yourself amongst the unwashed masses, then?

Location without GPS

[daffmeister]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that the iPhone, and therefore most likely the iPad, can get location without GPS via Skyhook and the known locations of wireless access points. So apps asking permission to use your location is not a bug.

Re:Location without GPS

[ptbarnett]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that the iPhone, and therefore most likely the iPad, can get location without GPS via Skyhook and the known locations of wireless access points.

You are correct. I was surprised when my iPod Touch was able to identify my location. It took some research before I figured out that it was getting it from Skyhook Wireless. It actually put my position on the street just outside the house, presumably where someone drove by with a sniffer and picked up the SSID of the WiFi AP I was using.

Re:Location without GPS

[Sir Realist]

Not Skyhook; Skynet.

Location

[The Salamander]

If you don't have a GPS, it uses wifi-location. So its not ridiculous at all to ask; maybe you should
have tried it before complaining?

It works rather well, actually.

Re:Location

[WiiVault]

Yeah when I saw that I just started laughing. I'm not thrilled with the iPad, but this "review" is just lamer than a Nomad.

Good review

[dskzero]

The keyword is the point that it isn't a replacement PC for anyone. I sincerely hope people realize that, so the flame wars can move on and debate about something else.

It's not a computer, it's a living-room appliance

[daffmeister]

I don't think this ever will be, or is intended to be, a replacement computer, even for stuff as simple as writing emails. It's intended to be an entertainment device and sometime organiser. Reading the newspaper, watching TV, playing games, finding recipes. Stuff that we did before computers, just an electronic version of such stuff. If there's a big enough market for that, and I think there might be, this will do very well.

Re:You don't need 3G for GPS.

[marcansoft]

You do on the iPad, as GPS and 3G go hand-in-hand in the still unavailable 3G model. But Taco was confused by the Wi-Fi location finding system that does work on his non-3G model.

where you at

[digitalsushi]

This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask! Even the built-in Map app asked me for information that it could not possibly have.

google wardrives everyone's wifi while they update streetview; your unique 48 bit mac address uniquely identifies your location if you are on a recorded wifi hotspot.

Some might have forgotten...

[rwade]

The post behind this joke. Here it is:

Apple releases iPod

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

Also missing besides folders: file protocol

[WebManWalking]

I got an iPad 64GB and am using Safari a lot more. It's showing up multi-touch Safari's deficiencies.

In all other browsers, you can open a file on the device's file system. It's called the file protocol because the URL begins "file:". This allows offline prototyping of websites. I use it to define a "jump page" that's crammed full of all the hotlinks I normally use, organized to find them easily. Since we don't have the file protocol in multi-touch Safari, I have to put my jump page out to the actual Internet via iWeb and access it as an unpublished URL. In a sense, that makes sense, because I would only be able to use it if I were connected to the Internet, but it's not as private as keeping it on your own hard drive.

Also no View Source.

Also no default home page (short of saving the URL as an icon in the iPad's home).

Also no back arrow history (have to go back only one page at a time).

Also no Firefox allowed in the App store, which is what would REALLY force multi-touch Safari to get more usable.

Re:Bluetooth keyboard

[ircmaxell]

Also, any reports on how that second-monitor app works on it?

Horrible...

Would be 100% more fun with a camera

[psydeshow]

Good points, CmdrTaco.

I walked into the Apple Store in NYC on Saturday and bought one on a whim, in and out the door in 5 minutes. It's a nice piece of gear but my first thought was, holy crap this thing is heavy. From the iFixIt teardown we know that it's basically all battery under there, and the battery life is great. But if there was an 8-hour version it would balance better in your hand.

It would be 100% more fun to play with if it had a camera. There are so many photo editing/retouching possibilities already, and being able to take and then watch home movies on the iPad would be a lot of fun because of the large display. Alas, we will have to wait for that.

I thought it was okay to type on. Just small enough to use thumbs, but large enough to put in your lap or on a table and touch type. It also makes a decent remote controller (VNC client) for a living room PC or media center.

Re:It's not a computer, it's a living-room applian

[c 0xFF]

Reading the newspaper, watching TV, playing games, finding recipes. Stuff that we did before computers, just an electronic version of such stuff.

But we like doing those on a computer. Now Apple is trying to introduce a new paradigm that's backwards from previous trends, where daily tasks are being pushed to our home computer. No wonder many (especially geeks) are resisting.

On the other hand, smart phones are increasingly being used as entertainment devices (a concept that always seemed strange to me), so maybe this isn't quite a shot in the dark -- maybe the new paradigm is already coming, and Apple is just ahead of the game. It certainly explains the design.

Works with standard iMac bluetooth keyboard

[rwade]

The original announcement said that there would be a Bluetooth keyboard available, although I haven't bothered to check if it's available now.

The standard iMac bluetooth keyboard works with the iPad.

Who would have forgotten?

[rwade]

Well, it was 2001. Some of our users were eating all their food out of gerber jars at the time.

Location

[whisper_jeff]

My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS. But applications were constantly asking me for permission to use my location. This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask!

If you're going to review a product, at least make an effort to understand its functionality and features. The iPad (and iPhone and iPod Touch) are capable of geolocation based on your wifi connection. My iPod Touch (1st gen) is able to locate me within about 50-100 meters of my actual location just from wifi information. It's actually quite impressive.

Given that this has been the case for quite a long time and is not a new development, there is no excuse for someone reviewing the product for Slashdot to be unaware of it. Also, given that you apparently are unaware of it, it puts pretty much every one of your opinions on the product into perspective - namely, that you are not sufficiently knowledgeable to be reviewing the product.

In other words, I stopped reading at that point. If I'm going to read a review on a product, I like it to be a vaguely informed view. It has nothing to do with you obviously knocking the device - I read all of Cory Doctorow's review and he blasted the product. I disagreed with the majority of his review, but I read it because it was an informed review. I stopped reading your review because you don't know what you're talking about.

I know I shouldn't, but I expect better from Slashdot...

Re:iChat? Really? What about multi-tasking?

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Does gmail chat/facebook chat not work in the iPad browser? If it does, this is probably better for most than some proprietary chat client. Quite frankly, I'm inclined to place the unavailability of multi-task greater than iChat.

But what about when you want to quickly use some other app? Then you have to close your chat. It's things like this that demand multitasking.

Okay, let me provide a little clarification. The OS multitasks. Third party apps don't, because Apple has not provided an API. They have provided a push messaging API, however, so the OS can get a notification and flag a chat client so you know you have a new message, which will appear as soon as you switch back to the chat client. This is pretty much the same as Blackberry's push notification, except third parties use it, instead of just RIM. This is the right way to handle resource allocation and push notifications on devices with limited resources, limited bandwidth, and where UI responsiveness is important. So multitasking is not really related to the feasibility of implementing chat. Even if it was, that limitation has never applied to apps pre-installed by Apple.

As a side note, Apple is demoing the next version of the iPhone OS to developers on Thursday. The new version (by almost all accounts) provides third party apps the ability to run in the background, but it is questionable that Apple will accept a chat client app submission that does not use the push notification in any case.

Re:Pound and a half and its too heavy?

[tknd]

Yes. Even a magazine is too heavy, but usually you can rest it on your chair/lap until you need to turn the page. Now you have this gadget that needs lots of user input/interaction...hello gorilla arms. It isn't the ability to lift and hold the device or media, it is the need to continuously hold it and interact with it for long periods of time that becomes the problem. Sure, you can life a 20lbs or even 30lbs dumbbell a few times with one arm. But can you hold it there for 10 to 15 minutes with no effort? It is the reason why we don't have touch screen monitors for work and we continue to use keyboards and mice. Keyboards and mice simply take less muscle effort.

Now from the article:

Finally let me talk about the device itself. It's heavy. I mean, surprisingly heavy. The specs say that it is 1.5lbs, which sounded very light on paper. For the first few minutes, I liked the heft; I felt that I was holding a solid, well-crafted item in my hands. But then I started trying to figuring out ways to type. I wrote a number of emails of moderate length and slowly realized that I just don't like typing on this thing.

I saw this a mile away. The reason an "pad" device will never work is because of weight. Even a plain plastic clip board is annoying without a desk or surface to support it. Similarly it is why devices the size of a cell phone will continue to dominate. You can comfortably hold your phone in your hand and it isn't going to feel heavy because there is no lever force. All of the weight is in your hand. Now you have this pad device in your hand but you need to hit a point on the opposite side with your hand that's not holding the device. That "tap" will feel a lot heavier than it is because of physics. Now you need to do this a 100 or 200 times? 10 minutes? Nevermind, it'll be worth it to get the laptop in 1 or 2 minutes and not have to use so much energy just to hold the device.

Sorry everyone, it is going to continue to be phone size devices or laptops and full size keyboards for a while.

Of course the ipad will have a convenient stand at the Apple store so you don't actually have to hold it. You have to admit, they do know how to sell something.

But there is a solution to the ipad input, and Apple is not going to like it. It involves using your thumbs instead of your index finger similar to a gameboy. Apple is never going to like this because it isn't "friendly" enough. Just like their one-button mice and cmd clicking.

Re:Yes, it is nothing more than a big iPod Touch

[fred fleenblat]

Steve Wozniak has already come up with a solution for this problem. He bought 250 iPads and used a hinge on the left side to join them together. That way he can just turn to the next iPad to quickly get to the next page. Genius!

He didn't address suitability of it as a ereader

[rolfwind]

though. Many of the people into ereaders are excited about it:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=170

I already know it's not a notebook computer. But a similiar sized Kindle DX casts $489. Yeah, it has a e-ink screen, but the contrast (dark gray on light gray) is awful. But the battery life is fabulous. This has pretty good battery life but tell me how the screen is for reading. Please.

Re:Yup.

[magarity]

no USB ports, no flash-card reader...these are things that would be very trivial to add from both a cost and engineering perspective, yet are still lacking
 
Because adding those things would prevent it from being smooth and sleek. Jobs hates ports on devices for aesthetic reasons and he has final say on design. Thus, Apple products have the bare minimum needed for the device to function. Didn't you ever wonder why so many Apple products have the batteries are sealed inside? If a battery compartment door would spoil the lines, you're dreaming if you expect something as hideous as a USB port.

Re:It's not a computer, it's a living-room applian

[znu]

But we like doing those on a computer.

You might. There are a lot of people who outright hate the way current computing platforms work. You just don't see this articulated in forums frequented by tech enthusiasts, because tech enthusiasts are, basically by definition, people who like the way computers work...

And having played with an iPad, I have to say, even a fair number of tech enthusiasts will probably find they like the way this works better. I mean, really, managing window clutter and file system hierarchies, interacting the the computer via a device that provides only a single point of interaction, messing around with software installation and uninstallation, waiting around for the computer to respond, having to sit at a desk (even with laptops) for non-akward ergonomics.

How good is the user experience with current computing devices, really? Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a little super-responsive nearly zero-maintanence device with 10 hours of battery life?

Flash/No Flash

[Krystlih]

I recently tried to convert my main work laptop to Ubuntu, I spent a good 2 months using it before going back to Windows 7. My laptop is designed somewhat poorly in that it's heat sinks are in the armrest before the keyboard. One thing I noticed about the Linux version of flash is how CPU hungry it is, simple sites like Youtube, or any site with flash video playback would consume an entire core on my laptop. I spent some time researching why and everything I've seen so far indicates that Adobe has just implemented it poorly on Linux. Some posts indicate its implemented just as poorly on OSX, using WAY more CPU than it does on Windows. So while in Linux not only would my laptop get hot, but it would kill it's battery in a heartbeat. Considering these poor implementations I can understand why Apple has taken the stance it has against flash. Using flash or not isn't a deal breaker when it comes to the web for me, but I found it EXTREMELY annoying under Linux. I think it's actually a good thing that Apple is pushing more for alternatives away from flash.

Re:He didn't address suitability of it as a ereade

[Brandee07]

Taco may have skipped this issue, but other reviewers haven't:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/193389/ipad_as_ereader_glaring_problems_promising_apps.html?tk=twt_strohmy
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ipad_ebooks_kindle_for_ipad_ibooks.php

Based purely on my iPhone (also known as "the precious"), I would skip the iPad and get a Kindle if reading is your primary goal. If you want to do all sorts of stuff, and read books too, then you may be happier with the iPad.

Re:He didn't address suitability of it as a ereade

[MyFirstNameIsPaul]

I have never found back-lit LCD's to be good for reading. The Kindle battery life and comfortable reading, plus wireless that works pretty much everywhere, make it a great device for people who read. I emphasize that because few people actually read. I've read about studies indicating that only 10% of people who buy books read them to the end. I read almost all my books to the end. I like to read, thus I am in the minority of readers.

Most people like the idea of reading, but rarely actually read. These people are in the majority. They often buy books, but not in the quantity of the people who read. I certainly see them buying more iPads than Kindles, but how many books are going to actually be purchased by them? Kindle owners buy books all the time - a blog I follow linked to a short book being sold by a community member for $4 on Kindle, and a few days later the author thanked the community for downloading and reading his book in measurable volume.

I think the iPad will be similar to iTunes and the Wii. Most people store their own mp3's on their iPods and the attach rate on the Wii is the lowest of all consoles. So the hardware manufacturer will make a killing, but the content publishers are not necessarily in the same boat. That's why RIAA/MPAA focus more on P2P and game publishers invest in Xbox 360 games.

IMHO, the publishers that are working to damage their relationship with Amazon are going to be going back, tails between legs, begging for forgiveness. Meanwhile, an entirely new publishing model will be sprouting to compete with them, because the thing we people who read don't like is buying a $500 device that reduces the distribution costs for the publishers, and then still paying the same amount as the printed version. There's a whole new P2P market being created by this foolishness.

Re:Multi-user?

[el_womble]

What is your point? There are many things in life that aren't available if you don't have the funds. This isn't the peoples pad, it is an Apple product. It is designed for elitist snobs like myself.

Re:Why doesn't it run OSX?

[am 2k]

Note that there's an X11 server available for the iPad in the Appstore. That way you can run any application you like over wifi.