8:00 PM on 03.13.2011 |
Niero
The iPad2 was released two days ago and is not without critical acclaim. Some have even gone as far as calling it the Holy Grail of computing.
Praise comes easy: It's thinner than an iPhone4 (WTF!), lighter than its predecessor, loads and runs games twice as fast, has two cameras, and is priced the same as its debut model. Prior to the new iPad, the device was doing just fine. There is no ongoing shortage of high quality free iPad games and many of its premium games like Infinity Blade have won numerous awards and sold more than many console releases. NUMBEROUS, EVEN!
In terms of investment it seems to hold its resale value well: even generation one iPads are selling for only a hundred dollars less than retail on eBay. That said, the device is not cheap and not for everyone. Hell, I'm personally allergic to iPhones.
If you own an iPad (either model), how do you like it? If you don't own an iPad, do you plan on buying one? Why not?
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Contest:
1 - I have the first gen iPad
2 - I love the iPad
3 - From all the "second gen" models, the iPad 2 is the one I see that has the better improvements (over any other "second gen" device released by apple)
4 - I don't plan on buying it. Just like with the iPhone, I'll live with the first gen until the 4th gen is out, THEN I'll buy the 4th gen
I just don't like looking like a 3DS commericial douchebag using my ipad on those CTA train rides to work.
I will say this: watching Scott Pilgrim on ipad is mooooney!
I'm in the market for one eventually. I don't think it's the clear cut best tablet out there (the Xoom is nice), but I do want one.
Apple is still not fully committed to making the iPad and iOS great gaming devices, given how they haven't put out some accessory to improve the virtual controls yet. And they don't have a good enough reason to, they're still selling just fine. I don't think it should be any gamer's portable console, the games that are available are either equal or just marginally superior to the iPhone ones.
Not that I agree with Nintendo's Iwata that iOS and Android are ruining the game industry, but I agree with him that if you want a great portable gaming experience, you should buy a dedicated console. You can't really go wrong with either the PSP or the 3DS at this point, both have excellent gaming libraries at their disposal.
Im mainly going to get it for watching movies around the house (ie. watch a movie while im lifting weights or something)
The issue lies in the fact that it is not a productive machine. It is not for work and is far too obtuse to be used for work purposes. In essence it is just a giant iPod Touch. You get all the applications of an iPod on the device, which is a rather neat bonus but you are also brutally restricted by the iOS environment.
Apple is far too interested in pushing it's own authoritarian control scheme in it's products and redesigns than it is in making a great product the first time around. So you will always have a nagging feeling that you will be made obsolete by next year.
The iPad is a single purpose machine. Entertainment. Don't fool yourselves into thinking otherwise. This will remain to be the case until iOS gets significantly more open or becomes more full-featured.
To the average non-tech oriented consumer... then most of this won't immediately matter to you. Get your shiny toy and have tons of fun with the apps.
Tablets are an interesting product but the iPad isn't something I need or even want.
Also, I think the iOS devices will make a negative impact on the traditional gaming market, and I don't want to support that.
Of course If I could get my hands on one it'd be awesome but for that price tag? I'll just wait thank you.
I'll be getting my Mom one for either her birthday or for Christmas... and may eventually pick up a second one for the house as my husband continually "borrows" mine!
I read much more now... and the daily newpapers are free (and books are much more reasonably priced than the usual retail price).
It's a great entertainment device and though it might be a bit on the expensive side, none of it's competitors comes close the the spec and amount of apps.
Here's the thing: It's lightweight, it's fast, it's easy to use, it's no frills, it has great applications. It's perfect for lying in bed and you want to browse your feeds or read a book or a comic book. It's perfect for the couch for the same reasons.
As for saying it's "just a giant iPod Touch," not entirely true. I get the accusation, but there are a number of programs (and games) that make excellent use of the larger screen.
@Trygle12:
What's wrong the device being solely for entertainment? Also, my wife uses our iPad quite regularly for reading, ordering groceries, checking her email, organizing "life"... whatever. Laptops? We have four or five of them. Desktop? We have one, too. She prefers the iPad. But back to my first question: what's wrong if they're ONLY for entertainment? So are televisions and cable boxes. What's the point?
That's all I got.
Admitting that, I do want an iPad 2. Why? To read comics on. No other reason. I love supporting my local comic store (Happy Harbor, Jasper Ave., Edmonton), but I hate having to bus it or drive in on the weekend. It's a bit out of the way for me. I also hate the huge stack of books I've accumulated over the past 6 years. It's becoming ridiculous. Also, it's a fucking waste of paper. Admit it, nerds.
Price. Fuck the price on this. I can buy a laptop for half this price that does 3 times as much.
I suppose I might dislike Apple for extravagant prices, it turns out.
My local newspaper is only on the IPad. It's large, updates quickly and can be pre-loaded and read offline. Many magazines are incredibly awesome and only available on the IPad, not the touch.
In Canada I can watch streaming TV shows on a Global TV or City TV app... that is not available for my IPod Touch.
... actually the number of apps available only on the IPad seems to increase each day!
That was not the case, however. Some of the games - Infinity Blade, PvZ, Drop 7, Osmos, Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, as well as a few more - have really maintained a lot of replayability for me, especially as someone who has a Blackberry phone and a classic model iPod.
Aside from the surprisingly rich gaming experience, I've found it to be ideal for reading digital comics and convenient for carrying films around with me on plane trips and things. In addition to its utility - and eco-friendly paper reduction - in helping me organize school readings and notes (I even deliver my lecture notes for the class I teach from it) it's become an integral part of how I interact with the web and my learning.
That said, being someone who doesn't acquire media content from Apple's ecosystem alone, the iPad would never replace a computer for me. It functions surprisingly well as a sort of satellite device for the consumption of content, if not a place where I acquire it.
Also, as someone who had to write papers and blog and writes exhaustively long comments on articles, the iPad on its own is not quite robust enough to meet those needs. Even after purchasing the keyboard dock I still much prefer to create and edit text and documents on my laptop.
I don't feel any necessity to upgrade to the new iPad, it'd be nice but none of the upgrades strike me as being essential to my digital life; I have a phone with a camera and while it being slimmer and faster would be nice, I've never found myself bemoaning the size or zip the old generation has.
and when iPad 3 comes out, wait less than a year until iPad 4 comes out
repeat until iBoard comes out
do the same with iBoard
It pisses me off that there are such big differences between my Touch and the one out now in the span of just over two years, but that's Apple for you. More and more games are requiring better hardware, meaning early adopters just get the shaft. The same could be said of PC gaming, but that's insulting to PC gaming, and consoles have lives of at least five years between each concrete iteration. And there is no explicit need to have the latest-and-greatest hardware for many games. So yeah.
I'll stick with my Touch, thanks.
@Nick Chester
"Laptops? We have four or five of them. Desktop? We have one, too."
You can't need that many. Give me one. Now.
Stuff ive recorded on it using my USB mic and mixing down in MultiTrack DAW.
http://soundcloud.com/phil0926/carpe-diem-m4a-1
http://soundcloud.com/phil0926/pardon-m4a-1
http://soundcloud.com/phil0926/painless-m4a/s-Hbt9s
Not worth money because I know in one year there will be another.
I already have an Mp3 Player, phone, Laptop, DS, PSP, Pre-ordered 3DS, and will own an NGP in teh future. The iPad does what it does well, but I'm not really in the target audience so I can't really make any helpful comments. I'd never buy one not cause it's bad, it's that I that I prefer to have independent devices that specialize on one specific thing and excel at it.
There is no issue if you simply want a bigger screen for your iPod Touch. It is SOLELY an entertainment device, but people seem to be forgetting what the original purpose of computers were for.
Computers were meant for the easing of day to day tasks via applications that are written by a coder with a specific function in mind. Usually these applications were created to maintain/increase productivity in an increasingly demanding environment.
Anyone can create a program for a PC. There are no real licensing restrictions for creating a program on your PC. Anything you make follows a specific encoding scheme to run an OS, but that's it. Most of the tools can be found online, for free.
Apple breaks this scheme. Apple demands complete and total control before you can make an application. Apple purposefully restricts what applications can be made and has complete and total control over the device. You as a consumer have no control. It is not yours. You are simply "borrowing" it.
The openness of the PC platform are what gave rise to it's dominance. It is a multifaceted beast with a wide variety of applications to suit any palate. The Ipad pales in comparison to it, calling it the "Holy Grail of Computing" is not only insulting to the principals that PCs were founded on but it perpetuates very dark and draconian control schemes for the computing world.
All in all, I have a lot of issues with the iPad being considered anything more than a toy. The average consumer doesn't really bat an eye at all the restrictions imposed on them, they just want a nice tech product and an HD version of Angry Birds.
As for the iPad, it's a cool luxury device. You can browse, play games, organize, chat, check feeds, watch movies, read books, etc. Nothing about it is new or amazing, but it compile it all in to an easy to access package that is easy, and feels great, to use.
Say what you will about it, it has brought tablets to the masses. Never before has access to the internet, media and the world been so easy for the older generation. The vast majority of people over 45 know very little about the wonders of our interwebs, and the iPad helps them over the hurdle of technology.
Personally, I think they are a tad overpriced, and I can't afford it right now. But in a year or two I might pick one up second hand.
Oh, and I did get a bit angry about this "releasing new model every 1 year". I mean, whatever you buy, it's gonna become obsolete so soon (sooner than a PC, which you can upgrade and add stuff). Damn!
I really wanted for the iPad to be something big. I really wanted to see the geniuses that designed the Mac OS to go to town with a great multifaceted touch-based device. Sadly it seems that Apple decided to go the rather restrictive route and gave us nothing more than a souped up iOS device.
Now, as I type this, on my Android Desire, I think, "Well, gee, guess I'm having fun".
I don't think I needed the tech, but once I had it, it became indispensable. I don't even do a lot of gaming on it, but I do enough that I realize the potential of it.
I skipped the first iPad, and I might even skip this generation of it, seeing how quick Apple was to put it out, but I'm not going to knock it anymore. It's a fun piece of tech, and I bet I would use it, abuse, hell, whisper sweet nothings into it's microphone. That's if I get it for free. If I pay for it, I promise to respect it in the morning.
I have a desktop computer and I've decided to go for an iPad - instead of a laptop - for my on-the-go work/entertainment needs.
I do all my serious work (video editing, photo editing and coding) on my Mac Pro, so the iPad will be mainly for writing essays and screenplays. Still, IMO, it beats buying a netbook.
The only real thing I don't like about it is that it's not a standalone device. It always needs a computer to sync and update. I wish Apple could make the iPad a standalone tablet with iOS 5. Here's hoping...
(Just teasing. Wuv you, Destructoid <3)
"There is no issue if you simply want a bigger screen for your iPod Touch."
Feel free to hate Apple, but in regards to it being a "bigger iPod Touch", you're just...dead wrong.
The iPad has hundreds, if not thousands, of iPad only apps, that make use of it's exclusive large screen real estate, multi-touch, and otherwise unique applications. Say it with me - "it...has...unique...apps".
"Apple breaks this scheme. Apple demands complete and total control before you can make an application."
There's an App for anything. Apple is closed as...well..a hermit crab in the winter, but I couldn't care less, because I have yet to go "hungry" for an App in whatever circumstance I could want one in.
For what it's worth, I also agree with Jobs, and I think Flash is a proprietary piece of junk; but hey, so is Quicktime!
See, I felt when the iPad was first announced, that it was going to be an OSX tablet or somesuch. The fact it runs the same OS as my Touch is...underwhelming. Admittedly, the interface is pretty good but it's just so lacking. I speak using "old hardware" but the only reason I'd want a new Touch is for the camera, and that's not driving me to replace.