Sotos wrote:I got one from a relative to evaluate it because I am thinking to get one for my parents. For me it is not something I would use regularly. At home and at office I prefer to use my computer 99% of the time. I found the iPad better than a computer only for reading books and magazines. Maybe also for showing photos, but the small screen is limiting. Anything else I can do better and faster on a PC. For the web: It doesn't play flash, its browser is slower, having many tabs open and switching between them is a slow process (even with alternative browser which has tabs), most websites are not made for touch controls etc. For Games: some nice games based on the touch and sensors novelty, but nothing compared to a PC or Console. For video, no thanks. I will not bother watching video on a 10" screen when I can watch it on a 24" PC screen or even better my projector screen, not to mention that the formats supported are limited. For any kind of content creation: on-screen keyboard can not match a full keyboard. The iOS apps can not match PC apps. No real multitasking. For Music: crappy sound. I could use headphones, but then I might as well use an MP3 player. What else? The only reason I would buy an iPad for myself is if I am convinced that it can replace my laptop when I travel. If it can then it will be easier to carry around and the long battery life will come in handy. One thing I use my laptop for is to backup the photos and videos I make. I can't do that with the iPad unless I buy an additional accessory. And I will need to pay a lot of money to get an ipad with a big SSD. And even then I will not be able to preview my videos on it because the iPad doesn't support MTS video. Also some hotels might only offer wired Ethernet connection instead of wifi, and with iPad that means no internet. I think tablets have potential and I see them taking a big chunk from the laptop market soon, but they are not there yet with iPad 1&2 and current generation of Androids. For now they are just cool gadgets with relatively few truly useful applications for a power user. But still I might buy one for my parents because it is easy to learn and my parents just need the basic things that iPad can do.
Sotos, I am using an iPad for 1 year now and am still discovering new apps and new ways to use it both at home and at work, and you are telling me that you base the capabilities of a device by borrowing and using one for a day?
i do use my computer, but when am relaxing at the couch i have the ipad next o me to quickly check on a news website. its a different use! the laptop it too big to use this way!
Weird about the slow website loading times! just picked a few large international websites and loaded on both ipad and pc, loading speed was the same.
its not a matter of doign things better, its a matter of using a computer in a whole new way! i visit hundreds of websites and none has anything in flash that makes in not unusable . it just saves me from seeing annoying flash banners in some sites. that's flash main use these days. now if you are one of those people addicted to Facebook flash games then the ipad is not for it! although many of those flash games are available as native apps!!!
if you just borrowed an iPAd to use i am assuming you haven't tried the cool iPad games out there. just to name a few... Real Racing 2! Infinity Blade! Angry Birds! Labyrinth! Reckless Racing! World of Goo! Many of these games are console quality! But anyway, gamign on the iPad is different, its casual. i can carry aroudn an xbox360 to my parents house, i can carry the ipad thought and have a play if i am bored.
I wont watch a film on a 10'' iPad either! but my 2 year old daughter will thought and will keep the main TV free from Kid movies while she is watching them on the iPad so i can watch a silly cooking program with people trying to impress with their cooking skillz!!!
quickly loading youtube to show a friend a funny video is done faster and better on the ipad than a laptop or a desktop.
BTW there is a little program called AirPlayer that streams any video you have on your pc in any format to the iPad, there is no need to transfer it to your ipad, just browse for it and hit play! this is a life saver for me since i use it a lot to play movies and kids music videos for my little one i have stored on my home desktop (not to be confused with AirPlay that does the opposite!!!)
I wont compose a 12 page document on my iPad, but before a meeting with a client an instant on device allowing me to quickly view a proposal i gave 2 weeks ago is certainly a life saver for me! files i never transferred to the iPad btw, files stored on dropbox accessible from my ipad, work pc and home pc!!!
crappy music? you must be kidding! ALL the time my little one is watching kids movies i turn the volume down so it cant bother me while watch TV.
Again its not a device to replace your laptop, its a device to complement your laptop! ermmm the photos on your ipad are syned form your collection on your pc!! so basicly the iPAd is essentially a backup of you photo and music library! if you wanted you could use an adapter to import photos from your camera to the ipad directly but dont want to do that.
MTS video? whats that? anyhow there are thousand apps that let you convert videos to mp4 to add in the ipad. try handbreak, you will love it. Why mp4 alone? coz iPad like the iPhone has a hardware decoder to play them efficiently without eating its whole battery in 2 hours like your laptop!
dont know of a hotel offering Ethernet connection for internet these days! i know 1231231 places offering wifi internet access thought. And if you are internet dependent then you simply buy a 3g version! pay cyta 15 euro per months a have internet everywhere!
iPad is becoming a real business tool. today i was showing a friend that wanted to do some basic project management between a team of 5-6 people how he can use the iPad to do it easily and efficiently. Simply a Google Docs spreadsheet loaded on the iPad, easily modified, and stored in the cloud, accessible and up-datable easily from all team members. The real beauty of it was while he was updating the spreadsheet on the iPad changes appeared on the PC, instantly! surely he could do this with a laptop, but he would look like a fool running around a factory with an open laptop in his hands. The iPad thought? instant on with 10 hours battery? easily kept in a business portfolio a4 case he is always carrying around! iPad is a dream for many business applications. Either simple or complex!
I never said iPad is useless. If I did then I wouldn't consider it for my parents or for myself when traveling! And that is my main point really. iPad is truly useful for people with basic needs or for when you are away from home/office. But you are just exaggerating its capabilities! The biggest exaggeration is about the sound. Can you seriously compare those tiny speakers with even average PC speakers or other devices that can play music in your home? Those little speakers can not come even close to the 2.1 speakers I have on my PC. And yes, I tried many of the games, I tried handbreak to convert video and I tried many different apps. All of those things I can do better with a PC. E.g. On a desktop/laptop I can just plug the SD card in it, copy all the video without worrying about space because it has tons of it, and play them right away on a big screen without the need for conversion and syncing. Sure you can do it on the iPad, but it is a time consuming process which results in a lower quality video shown on a much smaller screen.
lol
