My Apple iPad review

It should work fine. I just used the keyboard from my daughter's iMac to double check. The on screen keyboard does not appear when you are using the BT keyboard,

 

Flash works fine on my nokia n900.

 

Really? How does it do with Hulu?

 

Hulu doesn't play at all because only flash 9.4 is available for the maemo OS at this time but youtube videos just play fine on it.

 

I guess Flash DOESN'T work fine on your Nokia n900 then, does it?

 

I got the 32Gb and I feel like it's more than enough.

 

I'm leaning towards that amount with the 3G. Though I know 16GB would be enough for my purposes, I don't want find myself in a state of regret because i need a bit more. Besides, doubling capacity for only $100 more seems reasonable.

 

However flash based websites will work, and most flashed based video. It would be great for a flash based website to just work on an iPad.

Flash is just another reason why I would rather browse on my notebook. I do think the HTML 5 video tag should replace flash eventually. Right now most flash video content on the web is encoded in H.264. Simply taking the same video and delivering it in HTML 5 may seem like a good idea but if you take a look at what browsers support what codecs for HTML 5 video you can see that it simply isn't feasible at this moment.

H.264 licensing outside of flash is a problem right now. Motzilla will never support H.264 video in HTML 5 ( I think because it would make Firefox less open or something). Some small companies can't afford licensing to support H.264 but support other HTML 5 video. While Apple and Microsoft are support H.264 but no other codecs like OGG or VP8. So by simply offering content in H.264 video through HTML 5 your closing off content from being viewable on many browsers. While flash insures content is consistent, and every codec supported by flash can be played on any browser.

Because of these problems with HTML 5 video I don't think there will be wide spread adoption of HTML 5 for a while, and it certainly isn't a solution now. So their is a good portion of websites that just aren't viewable on the iPad, that would with a simple Flash plug-in. So no flash support does kind of suck, especially if you think about how many great flash games would be cool to play on the iPad.

 

Excellent. Thanks for checking. My wife used an iPad on the weekend and loved it. She thought the on-screen touch KB was good but she asked me if she can also use a physical KB, and I was just thinking it would be cool if the on-screen KB went away when an external KB is attached. I guess Apple beat me to the idea.

BTW, my local Apple Store on Saturday (1 day after international launch) had a constant line-up of at least 20-30 people for iPad purchases. The wait to just see the iPad and play around with one was ridiculous too. I just couldn’t help but think about the iPad announcement back in January and how pundits kept insisting that it’s just a big iPod Touch, and that no Flash support will make it fail.

 

What purpose it that?I'm curious because I read ppl say 16gb is barely enough and 32bit is way more than they need. Confuses me because I would think 64 wouldn't be enough for much. I guess the app cut down on memory needed? I don't want to buy 64 bit if I can buy 32 and save $100 if not much memory is needed. It would be used to stream movies, hold some book and music. I guess. It's gonna be a gift.

 

Good thinking. So I'm figuring that one doesn't need to load everything on it at once. Instead of digital pack-ratting (<--- new term, I made it up, hehe) keep or offload what is not being used regularly onto the hard drive of the computer that is being used to sync via iTunes. So say you have 20 books. You're not going to read them all at once. So you would load on maybe 5 of them. When you're done, offload them and load on the next 5. That sort of thing. Same with video.

Apps, on the other hand, you'll likely leave loaded on. But apps take anywhere from <1MB of simple apps to >200MB for games. But Games can be loaded on and offloaded when you're done with some. No need to leave them all on all the time. SO you can get away with say 1-2GB of apps loaded on all the time.

Music. Well that you would likely leave on all the time. Figure 1500 songs will take up about 4GB.

So when you look at it as described above; 2GB for apps, 4GB-8GB for music, a few books and movies, plus other misc. files, 32GB seems to give you plenty of room for now and later as you dsicover other uses for the iPad. Though 16GB would suffice if one were conscientious about what they load on.

 

Currently I have about 12GB used up on my 32GB iPad. My biggest space hog is movies (8GB) followed by photos (2GB) then apps (1GB). the rest is music, books and files. While I could get away with a 16GB for every day use, I bought the 32GB for when I go on vacation. I'll easily use up the remaining space using the camera kit then.

 

Good points but don't forget that many of those "cool" flash games are keyboard and mouse based. They don't quite work as well on a mobile device. I've seen video of farmville on a phone and it wasn't very responsive. Flash's biggest plus (if you want to call it one) on a mobile device is that they can give you more ads on websites.

If Adobe could produce a fully functional version of Flash that worked well on mobile devices I think Apple would allow it. Adobe just hasn't been able to do it, the Android Beta has only strengthened Apple's argument.

 

Thaks I think I will get the 32gb. Just wanted to make it would be enough. Sounds like it is.

 

Few problems that I've come across.
1. Sometimes when I am typing and am on nbr, the keyboardntends to lag behind me quick typing. Like it actually stutters. Sometimes with only 1 page open on safari.
2. Sometimes video playback just pauses itself. Even tho I'm not downloading anything. Which is strange.
3. Had a major freeze on it yesterday. Was during one of my apps, turned itnsideways to type, and it just froze. Couldn't turn it, touch screen was frozen, itnwouldnt even turn off. Problem was solved by putting back into dock. Weird problem that one.

Other than that its been fairly smooth. Anyone else has these problems?

 

You are still going to have your fair share of issues, lock ups, lag and other goodies associated with computing technology.

In the end, it's still a computer, and while Jobs may walk on water, the iPad does not.

 

everyone who's owned an iPhone has experienced those problems.

1. the typing lag issue is a function of low free memory. even with only 1 safari window open, chances are, processes from Mail and whatever else you had on were still taking up space.

2. haven't had that.

3. happens rarely. you can always turn an iDevice off by holding the power and home button until the device restarts.

 

Hm, thats slightly annoying, but expected as well being a 1st gen product.

Also noticed the ipad randomly blurts out a word when turned to dictionary mode. But not ever word, just randomly. I think I may just shut that feature off.

Typing lag is probably the most annoying thing, I've noticed it lags behind my typing speed sometimes, but I figure that to low memory as well.

2. The Pause thing isn't too bad, as ill just press play to start it up again.. just annoying. Maybe I can't take it back to the store and ask them for replacement?

 

If I cant stick it in my pocket then its not portable imo. My issue with the ipad if you got a backpack for the ipad you might as well just bring a mbp in your backpack and get faster speeds and more functionality about the same battery life maybe a lil less. I just dont understand the point of the ipad. For example if im going to school why would i put the ipad in my backpack over a macbook pro?

 

think about the iPad like a folder or a pad of paper.

is a pad of paper "portable" to you? if you put your laptop in a bag, can you not put your pad of paper in your bag too? think about it like that instead of a computer and your conception changes drastically.

as for battery life, no...you'll get about half as much battery life out of a MBP.

as for the point...well...it's a very convenient way to do a bunch of things. much more convenient than a conventional laptop in certain scenarios.

and don't put one or the other in your bag. put them both in. iPad is small enough and light enough to be your go-to device when you need to do something fast and don't want to:

1.) pull out a large laptop (10 seconds)
2.) fold it open (3 seconds)
3.) wait for it to start or resume (5-45 seconds)
4.) type in a password to log in (assuming you'd also have to find somewhere to sit or type a password with 1 hand...lol) (3-6 seconds)
5.) open the application you need to access (5-15 seconds)
6.) do whatever you need to do. (however long)

grand total time: ~30 seconds, minimum.

that process on an iPad takes maybe 5 seconds, literally. total. maybe +5 seconds to take it out of your bag. need to send an e-mail? you can have the device go from sleep mode to typing an e-mail in about 6 seconds. same with the web browser. or music player. or whatever else. and when you're done? press the sleep button again and put it away. in the small pocket on your laptop bag. we're talking almost instantaneous access to just about all basic computing needs.

the iPad makes many of your computing needs a few seconds away without needing to feel tethered to a wall. without startups. without heat. without ventilation. all in the size of a pad of paper.

if you can't see the benefit yet, give one a try for a week. I carry mine with my main computer all the time now. it's the easy and convenient option for getting info, checking a website quickly, or doing whatever and wherever (bus, dinner table, car). and when I'm ready to sit down with my real computer, I can do that. hope that helps.

 

Takes me a bit longer. Pull it out the bag, unzip the case. Still faster than a laptop, but I reckon more uncomfortable than a smaller laptop after a while (my neck hurts )

 

ha. maybe. we'll see.

 

Is it possible to download from an Ipad to another device, say a Garmin? I often listen to audiobooks on my Garmin.

 

I'm not sure about content purchased through the iTunes Store...may be DRM'd...but if you buy an audio book from say...Amazon.com...they're just standard mp3 files. drag them into your iTunes library and sync to your iPad. or sync to your Garmin via whatever method the Garmin uses.

you don't have to use Apple's Store to buy anything. You can add music, books or movies from outside parties and sync them to your Pad as long as you know how.

fyi.

 

Right now I synch to my Garmin hardwired via my computer's USB port, but that I cannot do with an Ipad, right?

 

the iPad isn't a full computer replacement... it syncs to your computer itself... s you'd just sync both up with the same computer. I don't think it would be possible to sync the Garmin directly unless they made an app to handle it.