Damn was I skeptical at first but I just picked up one and my mind is blown. On the surface it's just a big iPhone/iPod touch but then when you use it, it becomes clear that it's the other way around...the iPhone is a small more limited version of the iPad. Though it doesn't have all the features I'd like to see yet, this is one amazing piece of technology. Just holding this thing feels like your holding something from the year 2020. This is a taste of your computer, magazine, book, newspaper of the future. The days of bloated heavy overheating mouse driven PCs will come to an end and I can picture a future of thin easy to use multipurpose touch slates. Though the iPad won't replace the PC as we know it at this time, it gives you a feeling of the future. I seriously love this thing and really it may be Apple's best product ever, despite it's limitations at the moment.

This review sums it up perfectly:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2010/04/ipad-review.ars/

Damn was I skeptical at first but I just picked up one and my mind is blown. On the surface it's just a big iPhone/iPod touch but then when you use it, it becomes clear that it's the other way around...the iPhone is a small more limited version of the iPad. Though it doesn't have all the features I'd like to see yet, this is one amazing piece of technology. Just holding this thing feels like your holding something from the year 2020. This is a taste of your computer, magazine, book, newspaper of the future. The days of bloated heavy overheating mouse driven PCs will come to an end and I can picture a future of thin easy to use multipurpose touch slates. Though the iPad won't replace the PC as we know it at this time, it gives you a feeling of the future. I seriously love this thing and really it may be Apple's best product ever, despite it's limitations at the moment.

This review sums it up perfectly:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2010/04/ipad-review.ars/


mmhmmm...he knows apple paid him to give a good review....

Why is it that whenever someone mentions an iPad I immediately think of this???  :P

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50281545/Maxi_pad_Ultra_Dry_Sanitary_Napkin.jpg

Why is it that whenever someone mentions an iPad I immediately think of this???  :P

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50281545/Maxi_pad_Ultra_Dry_Sanitary_Napkin.jpg


That's an I-Max.  ;D

A bit of a sub-topic, but I'm concerned about what older technologies the iPad would most likely make obsolete. I'm going to give some examples along with a percentage chance of that item being obsolete by 2020.

-Laptops: 75% (if you want a big computer, just have a desktop).
-Smartphones: 40%
-Regular iPod: 50%
-E-readers: 85%
-All portable video game systems (PSP, Nintendo DS): 95%

-The iPad may also make other items, such as CDs even further into obscurity as fewer people buy home stereo systems feeling that alternatives are acceptable.

(2018: Boy I miss the '00s! They we'rent as cool/good as the '90s, but boy how things change!)

A bit of a sub-topic, but I'm concerned about what older technologies the iPad would most likely make obsolete. I'm going to give some examples along with a percentage chance of that item being obsolete by 2020.

-Laptops: 75% (if you want a big computer, just have a desktop).
-Smartphones: 40%
-Regular iPod: 50%
-E-readers: 85%
-All portable video game systems (PSP, Nintendo DS): 95%

-The iPad may also make other items, such as CDs even further into obscurity as fewer people buy home stereo systems feeling that alternatives are acceptable.

(2018: Boy I miss the '00s! They we'rent as cool/good as the '90s, but boy how things change!)


And don't forget the Atari 2600,Nintendo Entertainment System,Gameboy and Playstation 2. :D

The iPad is not going to kill much of anything. It's a very expensive toy that the cult of Apple is currently rallying around.

It's not suitable for a long list of items, such as anything that requires a lot of typing (documents, spreadsheets, programming).  Even if you add a keyboard to the device for that, you still have no multi-tasking, which means cut-and-paste from different applications is going to be real annoying.

If it were maybe $50-$100 I could see it as being useful for doing some light reading. I think a Kindle is still better than an iPad for this (and a regular printed book still beats both on everything).

Video games? yeah, this is an Apple product.  You'll get the cutesy crap they sell in the Apple store for the iPhone currently.  You're certainly not going to use it for real games like Halo or Bioshock.

Which brings me to apps and the closed nature of the device.  Buy everything from Apple, and they can prevent you from loading anything "they" feel is objectionable.

Surprised I haven't seen some pictures of what happens when people drop their slick little toy yet.  I'm sure that glass LCD will crack very nicely.

I guess if all you use a computer for is browsing the web and typing email it could be useful, but it's still pretty expensive for a machine to do that.

So yeah, I just don't see the need it fills.  It just seems like that Apple followers will buy anything Jobs throws at them and worry about finding a need for it later.

I don;t think that the iPad will make laptops obsolete, but they certainly could put a dent in laptop and "netbook" sales.

There are an awful lot of business people out there, who travel alot, and who only use their laptops for email and browsing.  The much smaller size of the iPad, combined with its "instant on" nature, in my opinion make it a great idea for non-techies who nevertheless need access to email, web, and some lighter-duty apps.

People who have heavier duty requirements, who need to deal with very large spreadsheets, decent document creation, and so on, at this stage of the game are much more likely to be better served by a laptop.

Surprised I haven't seen some pictures of what happens when people drop their slick little toy yet.  I'm sure that glass LCD will crack very nicely.



Check out the video of those douchebags who bought iPads and then immediately demolished them outside the store.  They actually seemed to stand up pretty well to the initial tossing on the ground.  (Although those A-holes never even turned the machines on, so we don't know).  Once the baseball bats came out, well...

Meanwhile I know plenty of people who have dropped their laptops and trashed the screens too.

As for me... I tend to be a heavier-duty user of mobile computing, so for me my relatively-new laptop will do for now.

Why is it that whenever someone mentions an iPad I immediately think of this???  :P

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50281545/Maxi_pad_Ultra_Dry_Sanitary_Napkin.jpg


As I told Rice a week ago, "Why do I need an iPad?  I have a box full of them in the bathroom closet!"

That's an I-Max.  ;D


Good one, Howard!  ;D ;D ;D

A bit of a sub-topic, but I'm concerned about what older technologies the iPad would most likely make obsolete. I'm going to give some examples along with a percentage chance of that item being obsolete by 2020.

-Laptops: 75% (if you want a big computer, just have a desktop).
-Smartphones: 40%
-Regular iPod: 50%
-E-readers: 85%
-All portable video game systems (PSP, Nintendo DS): 95%

-The iPad may also make other items, such as CDs even further into obscurity as fewer people buy home stereo systems feeling that alternatives are acceptable.

(2018: Boy I miss the '00s! They we'rent as cool/good as the '90s, but boy how things change!)


Hell, 20 years from now they'll be plugging all this stuff directly into our brains anyway.  :o :o :o

Good one, Howard!  ;D ;D ;D


Thanks.

Hell, 20 years from now they'll be plugging all this stuff directly into our brains anyway.  :o :o :o


my college prof. used to say armpit... for some reason he thought that would be an ideal spot (who ever wants to see someone's arm pit?)

I imagine it would make that Patti Smith album cover look a little different though

That's an I-Max.  ;D


Karma!

iMaxwell

Karma!

iMaxwell



Thank You

iHoward

If only the iPad wasn't Apple Technology

http://www.macworld.com/article/150474/2010/04/ipad_not_for_everyone.html

Just about sums up the flaws that become glaring the longer the owners have them

forget the iFad, this is the computer of the future

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7H0K1k54t6A

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/04/08/why-i-returned-my-ipad/

bunch of well known bloggers taking advantage of that 14 day "no questions asked" return policy on the iFAD

http://www.macworld.com/article/150474/2010/04/ipad_not_for_everyone.html

Just about sums up the flaws that become glaring the longer the owners have them

I thought the part noting "Have noticed that, when it comes to making phone calls, the iPad works every bit as well as the iPhone."  ;D
Too true.

I myself don't and will never understand the aura the "cult of Apple" people have over the iPad and the iPhone. Both fail to do so much that they claim and so much less of what they need to do to be a completely capable smartphone, much less the iPad being much less of what the iPhony is or what a competent laptop/media device needs to be to be worth a damn, whatever they claim it to be...I remember Apple making a big to do about a year ago about the 3GS having video capture and editing, and then the 3G having copy paste abilities, and so on and so forth. Always touting as a "new" feature what other smartphones had and utilized years before, all the time claiming the be all and end all. Meh...

And yes I'm a biased Palm webOS guy. You future wannabe iPhone 4G owners want to come over so I can show you what REAL multitasking is, and email/contact synergy is? That is right now and today, before Apple and its iPhone claim to have invented that too when the 4G comes out?  ::)
Oh, I'm sorry, they already did that last week with their press release on what the 4G will have... :P

forget the iFad, this is the computer of the future

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7H0K1k54t6A



Are those the rolled up keyboards?

And yes I'm a biased Palm webOS guy. You future wannabe iPhone 4G owners want to come over so I can show you what REAL multitasking is, and email/contact synergy is? That is right now and today, before Apple and its iPhone claim to have invented that too when the 4G comes out?  ::)
Oh, I'm sorry, they already did that last week with their press release on what the 4G will have... :P


Well, Palm is circling the drain these days, and has put itself up for sale.  Back in October its smartphone market share was 7.8%, but now it is a puny 5.7%.  I'm not familiar with the current line of Palm phones, but it appears that the consumer does not want it.  Apple has a 25% share and RIM (Blackberry) is at 41%.

http://www.bradcolbow.com/archive.php/?p=221

A handy Photoshop filter for testing how a website will appear on an iPad.

Well, Palm is circling the drain these days, and has put itself up for sale.  Back in October its smartphone market share was 7.8%, but now it is a puny 5.7%.  I'm not familiar with the current line of Palm phones, but it appears that the consumer does not want it.  Apple has a 25% share and RIM (Blackberry) is at 41%.


Palm is definitely in a death spiral. 

An iPhone can't do this yet, but a Droid can:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJo2cEcn-vI&feature=player_embedded

;D