Who went out and got an iPad today?

Not I. It strikes me as one of the more useless things to roll off Apple's assembly line.

-Rich
 
I've been thinking that as my eyes age and smart phones get higher resolution, there might be a market for an iPad sized device that makes phone calls too.

Until it has the phone, I'm waiting.

Joe
 
Internals of the new iPad:

1z6sakn.jpg
 
Not me. But I rarely buy stuff that early in the product life.
 
I might if ForeFlight redoes their app to work real well on it. It'd work real well for approach plates.
 
If the right apps show up for it and I hear good things from folks I'll be interested.
 
I got one. Foreflight works really well on it. As I mentioned in another thread, I have a major problem with reading the thing in bright light though. Maybe it won't bother folks with better vision, but it's a big problem for me.

- Russ
 
I didn't. If I do, it'll be the WiFi+3G version which isn't out yet. (should be late April/early May.)

I'm not sure if I would get as much use out of it as I'd like to get out of something that expensive (I know myself, and I know if I get one it'll be the 64GB 3G $829 one) because I already have the iPhone and a laptop that are both close at hand the vast majority of the time.

If I do get one, it'll be for EFB type use and maybe textbooks when I go back to school this fall. I'm sure I'll find other uses for it too... If I get one. I'm gonna go to an Apple store and play around with it first to see whether I think it's worth all that $$$.

jesse said:
I might if ForeFlight redoes their app to work real well on it. It'd work real well for approach plates.
Click to expand...

They did.

caro2.jpg


http://www.foreflight.com/ipad

Oh, and since they changed to a subscription model with 3.0, if you have a ForeFlight subscription on your iPhone/iPod Touch, you don't pay anything extra at all to have it on your iPad as well. Nice! :yes:
 
It doesn't match my mission, but will for many. It is lighter and less expensive than many laptops, but lacks many of their capabilities. However, I suspect there are many who's main use of a laptop is for surfing the net (like Mrs. Steingar) and who don't need the more traditional word and image processing software. I suspect it will be a pretty big hit.

I don't like the thought of anything with a touch screen though. Human fingers are covered in grease and other nasty things.
 
Jay Honeck said:
That chart perfectly sums up my first impression of the iPad. It seems to be missing more than it's providing -- which is just bizarre. I really expected better from Apple.
Click to expand...
I think there's a "mindset" issue here, one of judging a tablet based on "the usual criteria".

That's not what this is about, it's not about stuffing as many features and capabilities and complexities into the box as is possible. If you want that, there are devices that provide it. You do have to download the new drivers, though, and the reason it boots up really slow is probably because it was shipped with a bunch of pre-installed apps that launch at boot-time and then try to sell you a subscription, or maybe it's because you've got a virus, it's hard to tell, you might try re-installing the OS, they didn't ship that with it, but there might be a restore floppy somewhere, though you probably lost that. You might try calling your daughter, she's good with computers, and might be able to help you fix it.

There is value in a device that does just enough, and not more. That lack of complexity reduces the overhead of managing and using such a device. It reduces the device's size and weight and power consumption and cost.

This is not a Microsoft-style computer, it is an "appliance".

If that's not what you want, that's fine, go get the thing you want. But this is what some people want, and they have legitimate reasons.
-harry
 
mantakos said:
If that's not what you want, that's fine, go get the thing you want. But this is what some people want, and they have legitimate reasons.
-harry
Click to expand...

It took me a minute, but I finally remembered where I've heard this before.

It was 1981-ish (?), and Atari had this way-kewl computer called "The ST". It had a graphical user interface at a time when PCs were all command-prompt-DOS machines. I thought it was really neat, and bought one.

All the guys with Commodores and early PCs laughed at it for being over-reaching and larded with too much stuff. Their comments were along the same lines as yours, to whit: "Computers are appliances; why would you want all that other stuff that only messes things up?"

:skeptical:

We've come so far since then, yet the argument continues. How much is too much? How little is too little? That Atari was WAY ahead of its time, but it set the pace for all PCs that followed in many ways.

I guess the market will decide the iPad's fate. I personally think it does too little, but I've been wrong before.
 
mantakos said:
I think there's a "mindset" issue here, one of judging a tablet based on "the usual criteria".

That's not what this is about, it's not about stuffing as many features and capabilities and complexities into the box as is possible. If you want that, there are devices that provide it. You do have to download the new drivers, though, and the reason it boots up really slow is probably because it was shipped with a bunch of pre-installed apps that launch at boot-time and then try to sell you a subscription, or maybe it's because you've got a virus, it's hard to tell, you might try re-installing the OS, they didn't ship that with it, but there might be a restore floppy somewhere, though you probably lost that. You might try calling your daughter, she's good with computers, and might be able to help you fix it.

There is value in a device that does just enough, and not more. That lack of complexity reduces the overhead of managing and using such a device. It reduces the device's size and weight and power consumption and cost.

This is not a Microsoft-style computer, it is an "appliance".

If that's not what you want, that's fine, go get the thing you want. But this is what some people want, and they have legitimate reasons.
-harry
Click to expand...

The problem is that this "appliance" simply does not even do "just enough".

It is over-priced, over-hyped, and quite frankly a big disappointment from Apple...expect for the die-hard Mac-aniacs.
 
Jay Honeck said:
It took me a minute, but I finally remembered where I've heard this before.

It was 1981-ish (?), and Atari had this way-kewl computer called "The ST". It had a graphical user interface at a time when PCs were all command-prompt-DOS machines. I thought it was really neat, and bought one.

All the guys with Commodores and early PCs laughed at it for being over-reaching and larded with too much stuff. Their comments were along the same lines as yours, to whit: "Computers are appliances; why would you want all that other stuff that only messes things up?"

:skeptical:

We've come so far since then, yet the argument continues. How much is too much? How little is too little? That Atari was WAY ahead of its time, but it set the pace for all PCs that followed in many ways.

I guess the market will decide the iPad's fate. I personally think it does too little, but I've been wrong before.
Click to expand...

BTW..it is funny how it is argued that the iPad is about "just enough" but the iPhone has blown away everyone's preconceptions of a mobile phone device because it can do....so much (well now). Even with its absolutely annoying lock-in and limitations it is a pretty slick device, not so much with the iPad.
 
Jay Honeck said:
... Their comments were along the same lines as yours, to whit: "Computers are appliances; why would you want all that other stuff that only messes things up?"...
Click to expand...
I never said "computers are appliances", I said "THIS computer is an appliance".

In 1981 computers were the domain of "experts", both professional and amateur. I have no recollection of any kind of "computers are appliances" debate from back then that would be comparable to what's happening now.

Today, computers are the domain of everybody, they're how normal people communicate, how they pay their bills, how they get the news, how they watch movies and listen to music. Thus the role for a simple appliance to meet the needs of the person who isn't looking for the new hobby of "computer manager", and to meet the needs of an "expert" for something small and portable to do 90% of what he needs, and who also has the "does everything" system for the rest.
-harry
 
tdager said:
BTW..it is funny how it is argued that the iPad is about "just enough" but the iPhone has blown away everyone's preconceptions of a mobile phone device because it can do....so much (well now).
Click to expand...
Because the iphone is being compared to phones, and the ipad being compared to laptops. This choice of standards makes the iphone superior, and the ipad inferior, when the measure is solely "how much is packed into it?"

The problem is, of course, that neither is really an appropriate comparison. The iphone isn't really a phone, and the ipad isn't a laptop. Both iphone and ipad are in separate classes of devices from these more conventional products.
-harry
 
tdager said:
The problem is that this "appliance" simply does not even do "just enough".
Click to expand...
It does email, internet, social networking, video, music, books, and games. This is "just enough" for many people. If that's not what you do with computers, then this is not "just enough" for you, and you shouldn't get one.

What I find highly entertaining is that a Kindle costs about as much and just does books, but nobody ever got their panties into a bunch over its existence. There's clearly more at work here than just objective evaluation of consumer products.
It is over-priced, over-hyped, and quite frankly a big disappointment from Apple...expect for the die-hard Mac-aniacs.
Click to expand...
If it is over-priced, then please point to a product that offers comparable capabilities for less money.

Over-hyped? Of course it is, it's a bunch of people's jobs to make sure that happens.

A big disappointment? For whom? Compared to what expectations? Why were those the appropriate expectations? Apple has made full-featured laptops for years. What was this new thing supposed to be, other than this?
-harry
 
Geez Harry, you really have a gift for muting the clueless. No comeback for nearly a whole day!
 
PittsDriver said:
Geez Harry, you really have a gift for muting the clueless. No comeback for nearly a whole day!
Click to expand...

I think it's much more akin to "You say poTAYto, I say poTAHto". Opinions are like belly buttons -- we've all got 'em -- and if Harry thinks the iPad is the greatest thing since sliced bread, that's his prerogitive.

Since neither side is "right", what's left to say other than "Enjoy your iPad!"?
 
tdager said:
The problem is that this "appliance" simply does not even do "just enough".

It is over-priced, over-hyped, and quite frankly a big disappointment from Apple...expect for the die-hard Mac-aniacs.
Click to expand...

It depends on what "just-enough" is for the user. For me- I run apps that need Windoze, so a $500 laptop suits my needs better. I know someone for whom the iPAD would be a good machine for their purposes- web and e-mail, the user interface on the iPAD is sealed up so they can't screw something up.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Harry thinks the iPad is the greatest thing since sliced bread, that's his prerogitive.

Since neither side is "right", what's left to say other than "Enjoy your iPad!"?
Click to expand...

Harry can speak for himself but I didn't read him saying that he thought that. On the other had, there are some opinions here that nearly demonize the thing. Apparently it was "just enough" for nearly 300,000 people (except for the one that was bashed up on youtube) so calling it a big disappointment and over priced is probably getting a bit out in front the story. This video is still one of my all time favorites about predictions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcUicfqelC8

How many of you are enjoying your Zune?
 
Arbiter419 said:
Internals of the new iPad:

1z6sakn.jpg
Click to expand...

Should've used an iPod touch. The iPad doesn't have phone ;)

I've toyed around with the one we've got at work and my first impression is "Gah I wish this thing had cell service". For real mobility, you really want to have the 3G option.

After that it's "Man, I love the touch screens on Apple products". The responsiveness on the screen is great, and the resolution is nice as well. I've downloaded a few apps and I'll play around with it more tonight, but those are my first impressions... it really is a large iPod touch. Not that it's a bad thing, but it could've been better. I definitely fear dropping this even more than my iPhone. *shudder*
 
tdager said:
The problem is that this "appliance" simply does not even do "just enough".

It is over-priced, over-hyped, and quite frankly a big disappointment from Apple...expect for the die-hard Mac-aniacs.
Click to expand...

Here I am at the apple store at the mall of America in Minneapolis. I may just have to take one home! I am using one for this post. It is pretty easy to use. It is my anniversary (yesterday), so it might make a good gift.
:blueplane:
ApacheBob
 
I got one - 64GB version.

Loaded Foreflight and the approach plates look great as do all the other features they have.

Also loaded NACO approach plates - these also look great.

So far I'm impressed and it's working like I need.

Allan
 
Jay Honeck said:
... and if Harry thinks the iPad is the greatest thing since sliced bread, that's his prerogitive...
Click to expand...
That's certainly how the consumerism thing works.

For what it's worth, though, I see the iPad as having two markets, one is the "I don't need much computer, and this is enough for me" crowd that was buying netbooks before.

The other market is the "every night I plug 12 things into their chargers" crowd, for whom this device is a well-implemented and highly portable media/internet thingie to add to the stable.

I see it as a niche product, but one that fulfills that niche better than anything else. The real question is how big this niche is, i.e. just what percentage of the people who have a computer are really only using it for a few things, things that could be more easily done on a supersized smart phone than on something clunky, complicated, virusy, and with too many moving parts. How many people bought laptops or desktops because they needed a computer to do internet stuff, and because laptops or desktops were what computers were?
-harry
p.s. Personally, I haven't rushed out to get one, but will almost certainly end up with one eventually. I really see it as being a "pretty big deal" for pilots who travel a lot, a very specific niche.
 
After using it last night, I maintain my point that without 3G it's worthless to me. If I'm at home, I don't see why I can't use a netbook or actual PC, and if I'm on the go, I need some kind of connectivity to use 95% of the apps I tend to utilize.

But that's just me... :D
 
wbarnhill said:
After using it last night, I maintain my point that without 3G it's worthless to me. If I'm at home, I don't see why I can't use a netbook or actual PC, and if I'm on the go, I need some kind of connectivity to use 95% of the apps I tend to utilize...
Click to expand...
In a world ruled by engineers, as opposed to douchebags in suits, you'd have internet access on your wifi ipad by "tethering" it to the iphone in your pocket, this capability would exist from day 1, for no additional cost on your phone bill.

Right now, the iphone is perfectly capable of serving this function, but AT&T won't let it happen.

Oddly enough, tethering an ipad via an Android phone is more feasible than with an iphone, though even this isn't the seamless affair that it should be. Right now, it's a "non-super-geeks need not apply" process.
-harry
 
Okay, I'm on one at the Apple store right now. The keyboard will certainly take some getting used to, though not having a place to sit and being too damn tall I'm in a terrible position for typing. This could be very cool though. I certainly don't need to zoom in on things on web pages to read them like I do on the iPhone.

Off to look at some approach plates. :yes:
 
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