iPad - useful for what?

[Loppan Torkel]

Does anyone here have an iPad? Are you satisfied with it? What is it used for?

[contre]

An iPad is useful for being seen using an iPad. I think tablets are kinda hard to justify right now. The touch screen functionality really is awesome. It's an intuitive way to use a computer. They're more portable than a laptop as well. On the downside, they're a lot less powerful than a laptop while costing quite a bit more.

I'll probably buy a tablet to replace my current smartphone next year, and use bluetooth to make calls. Not an iPad though.

[classical_hero]

It is useful for Apple to make money out of foolish people.

[mdwh]

I have a tablet - but it also makes phone calls, so it usually gets referred to as a smartphone. I also have a portable computer - just one that comes with a physical keyboard, and gets called a netbook.

I think it's very contrived the way that "tablets" are categorised differently to smartphones and netbooks, when these are all variations on the same thing. The fact that you can get netbooks with touchscreens, and tablets with physical keyboards, blurs the distinction even more.

The effect is to make Apple look number one in a market (although even there, they're losing market share I believe, and going downhill). Might as well say that Apple have a 100% share of Ipads... I don't understand why the media give so much hype to tablets, when smartphones have provided us with handheld touchscreen Internet/app devices for about a decade, and we've also have portable computers (not just glorified phones - the Ipad isn't really a computer, unless you count phones, consoles, set-top boxes as computers too) since 2007. Even non-phone tablets were around before (Nokia, Archos - not to mention Apple themselves, with the Ipod Touch).

Of course I know the answer - the media give hype, because it's Apple. It's noteworthy that the immense hype over Apple's tablet/Islate/whatever started before it was even officially announced, let alone released...

ETA: I think it depends on what you want. For me, I'm always going to need a phone, and my Nokia smartphone serves well as a handheld Internet/app device - i.e., a tablet. I see a larger tablet as a disadvantage most of the time, as it just makes it less portable. The only advantage is the larger screen. If I do want to carry something bigger, my Samsung netbook gives me a larger screen, together with physical keyboard, and is an actual computer, whilst still being portable. If I was going to get a tablet as well, it would have to be somewhat smaller than an Ipad (e.g., the various smaller Android ones out there), otherwise I might as well just carry my netbook.

The advantage of a larger tablet is if you don't just want something portable, but you're in a job/situation where you need to use a large handheld device while you're walking around a lot. Note that there are some netbooks/laptops I believe that can convert to "tablet" form factor, with a touchscreen.

[Mise]

To me it's just filling a gap that some people might want filled. Like mdwh said, it's not really revolutionary - it's just a big iPhone. But that's ok, because some people want a big iPhone. They want to have more screen-space and faster response times. If I had an iPad, I would certainly find uses for it, but it's not something I would seek out. I found uses for my smartphone that I never anticipated (it's become my life now), and I'm sure the same would be true if I bought an iPad or other tablet (Samsung Galaxy perhaps?).

For me, I'd just like my smartphone to be less slow, small and crash-prone. It's gotten old now, and like all old technology has become sluggish. Reformatting and starting again didn't help - I need a new, and bigger, phone. But I don't think I'd replace it with a tablet just yet.


P.S. I don't like netbooks - they are too cumbersome. I like that I can hold a tablet or smartphone in my hand, rather than on my lap, and it's still fully functional.

[Hornblower]

Useful for keeping my wife off my computer!

[Zelig]

Originally Posted by Mise

I'm sure the same would be true if I bought an iPad or other tablet (Samsung Galaxy perhaps?).

I'm doubtful.

I've played around with the Galaxy Tab, and figure I'd have the same response to the ipad as the general sentiment expressed by this review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4225/the-ipad-2-review

[Narz]

I have an iPod (mostly for listening to music/audiobooks in the car) and a powerful laptop. An iPad seems pretty silly, TBH. In a few years you'll probably be able to get a new one for a couple hundred bucks or less.

I wonder how long the touch-screen functionality will last. People still have Apple IIe's from the 80's that work (granted they probably don't use 'em much), I wonder if any touch-screens technology stuff will last as long.

[spider1]

I would have never thought to buy one of these devices, but I won a Kindle in a contest and have been using it ever since. I've moved my magazine subscriptions to it and for $5 I purchased a set of 25 novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I had forgotten how much I loved those old Tarzan books and his Pellucidar series. I now have all kinds of reading material to keep me occupied during those awful meetings at work.

[contre]

Originally Posted by Zelig

I'm doubtful.

I've played around with the Galaxy Tab, and figure I'd have the same response to the ipad as the general sentiment expressed by this review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4225/the-ipad-2-review

I don't understand why, with 3g connectivity, the iPad can't be used as a phone via bluetooth. It's stupid things like this that make me boggle with apple products -- we don't want iPads competing with the iPhone, so we'll just remove a capability.

Yes, you can make calls over it, but that's VoIP, no?

[peter grimes]

Is there a Skype app for the iPad?

Until the iPad can do what my pocket phone does - better - there's no way I'll even consider it.

Here's a link to a review by a guy whose stuff I read (I'm trying to avoid a word that starts with b and ends with g because I hate it):

http://blog.case.edu/singham/2011/03...nd_me#comments

It seems clear that these tablet devices are going to become as ubiquitous as laptops. The touchscreen will endure, I think, but more importantly I think thimbles* or band-aids* will come to replace keyboards and mouses as the primary interface.

*I just invented those terms, so don't believe a word I said...

[Zelig]

Originally Posted by Narz

In a few years you'll probably be able to get a new one for a couple hundred bucks or less.

I doubt it, they'll only be manufacturing new model ipads at that time.

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/imag...timeline_4.jpg

Ipods dropped in price by nearly half in the first couple years of release, but basically haven't budged in the last eight years.

Originally Posted by contre

I don't understand why, with 3g connectivity, the iPad can't be used as a phone via bluetooth. It's stupid things like this that make me boggle with apple products -- we don't want iPads competing with the iPhone, so we'll just remove a capability.

Yes, you can make calls over it, but that's VoIP, no?

Well, that's not as bad as Apple including hardware support for features and forcing users to pay for software updates to enable those features.

[kulade]

For half the price of an ipad, you could buy one of those netbooks with a rotatable screen that functions as a touch-tablet just as well, plus it actually does big-boy computer stuff, and has a keyboard when you want it, but can still be held in hand functioning just as well as an ipad.

[Abaddon]

Its useful for identifying people I wish to avoid.

[Narz]

Originally Posted by Zelig

I doubt it, they'll only be manufacturing new model ipads at that time.

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/imag...timeline_4.jpg

Ipods dropped in price by nearly half in the first couple years of release, but basically haven't budged in the last eight years.

I meant to say a used one.

[mdwh]

Originally Posted by spider1

I would have never thought to buy one of these devices, but I won a Kindle in a contest and have been using it ever since. I've moved my magazine subscriptions to it and for $5 I purchased a set of 25 novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I had forgotten how much I loved those old Tarzan books and his Pellucidar series. I now have all kinds of reading material to keep me occupied during those awful meetings at work.

Well e-readers are a different kettle of fish. They've got paper-like displays, and a battery life of 10s of hours. These do indeed seem cool. The Ipad isn't one of those though, as much as some fans try to spin it as an e-reader. (Of course, you can read books on an LCD display, but that's true of any phone/netbook/tablet/laptop/etc).

[ZeletDude]

If you have an I-Pod touch/I-Phone or a laptop, an I-pad is a complete waste of money..

[classical_hero]

Originally Posted by kulade

For half the price of an ipad, you could buy one of those netbooks with a rotatable screen that functions as a touch-tablet just as well, plus it actually does big-boy computer stuff, and has a keyboard when you want it, but can still be held in hand functioning just as well as an ipad.

My brother just bought a netbook and he wish he had bought it before he bought a laptop, since it basically does all that he needs and in a smaller package.

[Glassfan]

Does anyone see a problem with a lack of physical keyboard? I can't imagine composing a serious paper or document on a screenpad.

[ZeletDude]

It's easier then say an iPhone or iPod-Touch's virtual keyboard as the iPad's is much larger, but it is still a pain to do.