No time for a full review but I’ve had the iPad for 1 day now (courtesy of 1saleaday.com.au – thanks guys) so I thought I’d post some quick observations in case I never get to do a full review.
The good things
- The screen is incredible. Websites (especially the Apple site) look really good.The iPad is small but using full websites as opposed to cut down iPhone aps is not an issue because of the quality of the screen.
- I downloaded Kindle and started reading a book on Marketing this morning at the cafe. I can see it being really useful for this – particularly when Apple releases the iBook store in Aus but till then Kindle seems really good (I just downloaded a free trial of the book).
- Looking at websites at full size is the main reason I bought it. Mobile smartphones are good for when you are on the move but when you are spending a few hours every night staring at a tiny mobile phone screen in the same place you really see the use for an “in-between device” like the iPad. Some of the sites I can enjoy properly now include:
- youtube (better quality and a decent size – was practically useless on the iPhone)
- realestate.com.au (which has a terrible iPhone App and is too big to view the full version),
- twitter and Facebook – Facebook in particular which really only gives you a glimpse when using the mobile version and you get very used to missing out on a lot of information – its a nice change to get the full site.
- tv guide – where I can now view everything on every free to air channel for the whole night all on the one screen – very handy!
- These are just a few I played with last night but the same can be said for any website (except those built with Flash!)
- The battery life is amazing. I haven’t charged it since I’ve got it and its still at 60%!
- The mail client looks handy and I think they are making it better with the new OS as well.
- Screen lock is very handy – especially when lying in bed.
- Photo slideshow looks cool – I’ll have to buy a stand to use it as a picture frame slideshow or to have it running videos without holding it.
- The price – not that it has been announced yet but I think it will be around $650 – $750 and that represents pretty damn good value to me.
- No doubt like the iPhone the best thing about the iPad will be the Apps so over time it will become a much more useful device.
The not so good things
- A few well publicised shortcomings – some of which I would question the importance of – adding a USB device for example (what exactly do you plan on plugging into this thing?). Also multi-tasking which is coming in the next OS version but again I haven’t really felt myself needing it.
- I’m not sure how relevant Flash is going to be down the track onceHTML5 picks up but for now it is relevant for Video (mainly) and on the iPhone using 3G I didn’t feel inclined to click on the videos presented on Facebook or in the news articles but with the nice big screen (if you think 9″ is large for a computer screen) I did feel inclined and at least for now you’ll be dissapointed not to have Flash.
- I got the stingy WIFI version and sitting at the Cafe this morning I had to ask for the WIFI password which is kind of annoying although I could have just bought the more expensive 3G version.
- iPhone aps look terrible on it so we’ll have to wait for developers to build iPad specific aps for it or just use the full versions of the sites .
- No multi-user support is annoying. These are more likely to be shared devices (more so than a phone) so multi user support will be important – hopefully Apple will address this down the track. I would like each family member to pick it up and be able to click once into Facebook rather than having to log in and out!
- I’m not sure I’m sold on the touch keyboard – it felt slower to use than the iPhone but its amazing how good you get at something after you use it for a while (i.e. the touch screen iPhone keyboard) so we’ll wait and see. There’s also bluetooth keyboards available for it but that would be annoying.
Overall
No doubt its not as much of a game changer as the iPhone but its nonetheless a pretty damn handy device. I think some of the criticisms of it are a bit harsh. For most people its not going to replace a computer. For most people it will be the in between device. It will enable people to do things they can’t do on their mobiles (i.e. properly read books, search for property, watch videos, read the news efficiently, share photos and videos with friends).Things that they could certainly do on their computers if they were happy to be tied to a desk.
If you have any questions about it or want your site tested on it, please let us know.
More soon.
Dan
From your list of not so good things about the new iPad I see all the same ones that applied to the first 2.
I’m a proud owner of iPad 1 (the non-stingy wi-fi+3g one, though) and one of the main things that bothers me about it is the lack of multi-user option. I have a 2.5 year old daughter who loves the iPad, but the apps she uses are quite different from mine, and I sure wish there was a way to prevent her from accidentally deleting my email (or going into analytics apps) when she’s switching from ABC’s to Talking Tom 2
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Dan Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 10:18 am
Yeah multi-user would be great, I think Apple are comphy with everyone having their own ha. I know 3 year olds with iPads and now me nad my wife have one each since I upgraded to the new one.
If you look at that old review I did say the lack of USB was not an issue for me and that has very much turned out to be true, I don’t think anyone really needs a USB port on a tablet. I also don’t need flash and I think Steve Jobbs have won that argument, it’s pretty well dead. You can now tether to your phone in Australia so I’m very happy I only bought the wifi version, the thought of having a monthly plan seems crazy when I already have one for my phone. The apps have come a long way but I still do feel like they could have just not allowed iphone apps on the device and I wouldn’t mind, I dont’ use any iphone apps on my ipad, they do look terrible. The touchpad is slow, you need to adjust what you use it for I think. I don’t do a lot of typing on it.
Yeah that’s a good point re the kids, our kids love the devices but I don’t let them touch my new ipad, they can use mum’s old one ha.
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