To iPad or Not To iPad.

Nice review, but not forget that the iPad is nothing more than an e-Reader. Yes it has lots of application but we are years away for a real Palm PC.

I am curious to know what this time Apple reserves in the terms of hidden connections and security as it did happen with their iPhone though.

I personally do not hate Apple MacBooks, iPhone in general. I believe they are simply over expensive, three to four times compared with other brands. Bottom line I use my 7″ PC do my work and browse internet (and reply to this thread) and I read books using my eReader which battery lasts a month. Total cost included MiFi from 3Network, £550.00

iPAD is a toy not for this boy . . . .

I got an iPad – not really being fully convinced it would be worth the cost.
I am SO glad I have one now.
It’s not meant to be used instead of a laptop or pc – but to complement them.
I now can be online in a moment… No waiting for windows to boot / login / tell me it needs to update something / shutdown.
The bigger touch screen is much nicer to use around the house than the iPhone.
The spreadsheet software (numbers) is also great – it really can be a mobile productivity tool.
No heat problems sitting on my lap or noisy fans either.
A bit of a luxury – but get one if the cost is not prohibitive for you!!!

I would pass this less as a review and more as an opinion – everyone is entitled to one , but in this case i don’t agree.

I have an iPad i write this comment from it , I find it to be much more than an ereader (from comment added to your post ) , and I bought it not to replace my laptop or mac but to supplement it and to allow me to complete tasks simpley and effectively when not in the office

I find it extraordinary that you sum it up as a “posers choice” I’ve never considered myself as a poser , but have put my iPad to very effective use , and definitely not just standing in the pub.

Laptops have there place including a 7inch one (i’ve used the HTC shift and net books ), but as I go from one meeting to the next , I would take out my laptop , wait 5 minutes to boot another 5 to connect then another couple to download , oh and at this point realise I should be on the way to my next client ?

As it stands now I take out my iPad , with the press of one button , i am online , accessing my email in seconds (already there due to push support for exchange ) using docs to go have edited the proposal i’ve been sent and sent back (£10 to purchase ) I believe Microsoft office can be up to £400 (surely not over expensive) , so not cheap really .

Then log into my work desktop to pick up a file I need , for the presentation Im about to give next using my iPad with a proxima

I think I am making the point , as with every piece of technology it has its good points and its bad points , but until you have applied to the individuals situation we should be wary of blanket statements .

OS 4 to be released soon will allow multi tasking , eve if i didn’t I find this device incredibly useful and have now used successfully out of the office , as my primary device for managing my day to day needs

I also use a Nokia e72 fantastic battery life , excellent device – but I use this alongside my iPad they complement each other .

Then on the train on the way home , excuse for indulging in reading the paper checking some personal email and reading some blogs , while I chill after a full day .

So for me it is a useful device , that has not replaced my mac / pc but allowed a very different way of working .

Your opinions are yours , in this case I don’t agree

I disagree with “notjustgadgets” views here; John’s review was fairly apt and sadly very accurate. Apple gear is often over hyped and very over rated. I brought an iPad for the wife (under pressure I add), yes the instant on is a plus, but screen size, cost of apps and the general use of the iPad is far from the expected. iPhones and iPods where also riddled with faults and brownouts, even the latest versions have a very large returns rate due to faults and I expect the iPad will be just the same.

After just over three weeks of using the iPad, the wife has admitted major disappointment in the iPad. My guess here it will be banished to the boot-sale box or sold on ebay by next year and her old faithful laptop back on the bedside table.

I agree, it should have been at least A4 size with OLED, had expansion slots for USB or memory cards, and a blueray DVD, and all the Apps free of charge. Why are Apple Apps so expensive? Why are they not freeware? Just Apple over selling the after sales on their products, which for most of us, will take their products off our Xmas lists.

Yes, some may say it is a compliment to technologies they use, but is it a real benefit or even needed when what they already have does the same job? Frankly, everything the iPad does, my Nokia does and so did the old SPV phone I had. I feel its just one more piece of male jewellery the not so technically minded carries to prove they are IT literate!

Finally, why aren’t PC running from chip based OS? We have that technology for years, and PC’s should have it as standard.

What a surprise, someone who hates Apple products doesn’t like the IPad. Take your blinkers off and start seeing things from a different direction. The Ipad isn’t a substitute for a mobile PC it’s for people who aren’t interested in being able to code up a storm or can’t be bothered with flakey Windows or geeky Linux.

As the author of this review/ “opinion” / blogg, I really was prepared to give Apple a chance. As no one else really had given a proper review of it, (unless it was in line with a nice advertising payout) and I had one to hand, I was willing to stick my neck out in the hope it would promote real response as to what people really thought of the iPads.

Well the review did just that, but the divide is a clear, lover on one side, haters on the other and no one in the middle. What it shows is the lovers of Apple/iPad cannot really argue why the iPad is so good, they just say it great… hahaha… OK, you love it. But the haters of Apple/iPad speak out about what is wrong and missing from it! Though it maybe more born from the general hatred of Apple in general, it has to be said most is fair criticism.

As a fan of Star Trek, I have always longed for those computer tablets all the science & technical crew carry around with them that, for the laymen out there, are what the iPad was a close copy of. Hand on heart, if it had been as half as good as the hype used to flog it, I would be writing my reply on one! It wasn’t, so in my opinion it will never be on my Xmas list until Apple move in line with their competitors, make all the Apps free and add the much needed DVD-ROM, Memory Card ports, standard USB2 ports and make it A4 size OLED, oh and make it multitask!

Apple Mac’s have always been a lazy-mans IT solution, it got its foot hold in the graphical and reprographics areas, where many were too arty-farty to learn how to use the PC based equipment properly, and fair-play to them, “if it works for you”, as they say. However, Apple have always been the poor relation, and the iPad had a chance of being the full on attack against the Microsoft/Intel machine, sadly again it was more of a ”small pop” than a “BIG BANG”, by leaving out all those things that would of made it useful. Cut-down IT does mean complementary to other IT equipment, it means cut-down, left off, missing, not there, poorly designed, over priced rubbish!

Maybe when I said I hate Apple product, it was a bit strong. But with all good intentions I have to say, Apple products are over hyped, over priced and sadly lacking in all the things real IT users need and like. Again, all the really good Apps are so expensive… why?

So what, you can read books on the iPad, do your emails, visit the net and watch a movie, Whoppy-Doo. I can do all that on my Mobile phone… and that same phone is also a 5MP camera, a Dictaphone and personal organiser, an MP3 player and Sat-Nav! Not to mention it also has Word, Excel and PowerPoint on it, all came free and as standard. OK the screen is bigger on the iPad, but not big enough to make me want it, also especially when you look at what else is missing on an iPad. My laptop has a tilt and twist screen, making it into a tablet style device, it is 17” widescreen, it is wireless, has DVD support, USBs etc. etc., battery life of 8hours, it has tilt and re-align image on it, just like the iPad. OK it’s a few lbs heavier but far, far more useful than the iPad.

Countless times a day the iPad advert is on TV, but when it is shown in use, who is using it? Kids… Small hand makes it look bigger, and kids using it makes it look simple.. and the truth is the iPad its techno-crap, there to impress those that have too much money to spend and no idea of what they are buying in the long term. Some on here have also said that, one even claimed theirs would be sold on ebay within six months, as his wife didn’t like it, even after nagging him to buy her one.

Gekko, Linux offers free apps, open-source software is the way to go. That will herald the end of software piracy and if you want 24/7 support you can buy it, giving the company that releases the software an income. I hear that some Apple Apps are already being listed on those illegal download sites… Linux is not geeky, try it and you will see, and with a bit of the common sense you were born with much easier to use than any Mac and faster, faster than Windows 7 too!

Oh, and if your Windows is flakey Gekko, then sort it out! There is no excuse for Windows to be flakey (unless you have hardware issues or a dodgy copy of Windows), many fixes are out there on the net to stop Windows playing up, and all are free from Microsoft / Tech forums / or the hardware makers sites.

I have had three of these iPads, all top spec, all died within a week-10days. I am now on my fourth and have to say, they’re just as “Flakey” as windows, often lock up or freeze and battery life is crap. As an (now Ex)Apple fan, I simple say “DON’T WASTE YOUR HARD EARNED CASH ON ONE!”

I spend a lot of time commuting by train and had a Nokia n900 since they came out in the UK. It should be ideal as it has a decent browser with flash, keyboard, plenty of memory etc etc. Problem is the screen is too small to easily view websites, the gui is clunky and it’s really difficult to type on either using the physical or screen keyboard. Also got a Blackberry Bold which is easier to type on, you can use one handed and the phone is useable. Laptop and a net book are too big and heavy to carry around all the time.   
When the iPad came out it looked like it could be the answer but it didn’t do flash, have a radio and was locked down. And it didn’t have a USB port, camera and can’t SMS.  
In the end I succumbed partly because I love new gadgets and colleagues/friends of mine loved it and it was a just a delight to use.
After 2 weeks of using the iPad I’m completely sold on it.
It’s not a phone or a laptop replacement but the stuff it does do more than justifies it’s cost to me.
Its got a few annoying features (especially flash) but I now wouldn’t be without it.
Great to use on the train, in the car, on the couch, sat in the grandstand at a grand prix using an app to monitor lap times etc. It doesn’t fit in my pocket but if it did the screen would be too small to be of any real use. Battery lasts at least a day, more than two days if I just use it on the train and in the evening. So light I don’t even know it’s in my rucksack.
I’ve got an old basic phone that I use for calls and texts, a laptop gathering dust and a PC in the office. 
 I know a 60 yr old technophobe as well as UNIX dba’s and sa’s that love it in equal measure. Sure it would be better with flash, and a memory slot etc. But as it stands it does what it does brilliantly.  

OK, I’m back.. and tail between my legs!

Had to take the Ipad back. Had three replacements in 6months, all died and totally fed up with Apple support!

My view, great idea but poorly made and prone to faults… Will wait till a more reliable version comes out (if ever)