Should I get an Ipad?

Vince

Vince

Vince

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I have been sitting at work today and we got talking about apple kit. Personally I haven't really been a big fan of Apple after my second gen ipod didn't last 5 minutes and my nano broke just as fast but the techie inside of me which is saying "get the damn thing fool".

Now before I wonder off to the apple store and grab one (if I can). I think that I need some reassurance and convincing from some Ipad owners/fans out there. Currently I have a netbook, laptop, desktop and smartphone (pre) and was thinking, "what would use the Ipad for" and to be honest I can't answer the question. My current devices do everything that I need but I still think that I want one.

So overclockers talk me into or out of buying an Ipad.
 
AtticusFinch said:
Just do it - you know you want one :-))
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Thats the problem I think I do, but I use my laptop for my work and it literally gets used every day. We have a windows network and to be honest the ipad just isn't going to cut it in the office. It could possibly replace the netbook but the mrs uses that.

The only place I can think that I would use it is around the house when I would normally use my laptop.
 
AtticusFinch said:
Just do it - you know you want one :-))
Click to expand...

Thats the problem I think I do, but I use my laptop for my work and it literally gets used every day. We have a windows network and to be honest the ipad just isn't going to cut it in the office. It could possibly replace the netbook but the mrs uses that.

The only place I can think that I would use it is around the house when I would normally use my laptop.

edit : and possibly on the train into work
 
The money is not a problem and I have an unlocked mifi for the 3g aspect of it so would only need to spend £429 for a 16gb wifi version using the mifi for 3g on my travels.

the urge only came today and its going to be a bit of a off the cuff purchase, Seen as you guys haven't really made me want to go either way I might wait a few days and see if the urge is still there.
 
VaderDSL said:
Write down a list of tasks/websites etc. you use your netbook and laptop for, then book a personal shop in an apple store, sit down for an hour with one and decide if it could potentially replace them.

If yes, buy one, if no don't buy one :)
Click to expand...

I do a lot of development in sharepoint so can tell you categorically that this will fail miserably.

I think i would use it as a web browsing (forums etc), a few games and just to generally look at. After all there is no denying that it is a very pretty device.
 
campbell said:
How long does the device last when using it on MiFI? Someone mentioned 4 Hours on a full charge.

How long do you get?
Click to expand...

With the 3900mAh battery it lasts about 12 hours (ish).
with the 1500mAh battey you are looking at about 4 hours.
 
Faustus said:
This post is very reminiscent of a kid outside a sweetshop don't you think?
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Not really, no, it's reminiscent of a guy thats got a few quid to spend, doesn't want to upgrade his pc and was thinking about buying some new tech; namely an Ipad

To me its the equivilant of looking at a few reviews before buying any bit of kit, except I was asking in an apple forum where I was pretty sure a few people had Ipads and probably a good few were in my situation when deciding to purchase.


Faustus said:
If you're honest this is a case of the "must have next new shiny toy".
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If it was "must have" I would have not asked the forum, I would have bought one without the pearls of knowlege available in here ;)

Just to clarify, I wasn't at any point asking somebody else to make a decision for me, I am quite capable of doing that myself. However contributions to the thread could well sway me into or away from purchasing the device.

Out of interest... what sort of battery times are people getting from the non 3g models?
 
Nice the battery time is pretty good and it looks like there are plenty of apps out there for some ruby on rails development as well.

Anybody been doing any development on the ipad?
 
Well.... I went and done a bit of shopping today and one of the things I carried home is a new Ipad. I am still yet to set it up but will get on with that a bit later. I just thought I would update the thread, not that anybody really had any bearing on my purchace but as some have said hopefully I will find some good use for it :) If not it will be on the Members market next month :o
 
So my little thread still lives in a html 5 vs flash capacity :)

I thought I would drop in and give a little update now I have had the device a few days.

Out of the box it wouldn't sync with Itunes, possibly because of the Mrs Iphone but anyway after messing about for a while and after a few restores (4) I got it working. Now all the apps we have bought for the iphone pretty much don't work too well on the Ipad so we have purchased a few classics including:

Sketchbook pro
Quick office hd
tetris
scrabble
pvz (again)
worms hd
fieldrunners
Civ rev HD
boggle
master of alchamy

So far so good, the battery life is incredible all things considered, in fact it puts my palm pre to shame. I decided that I would like more fine control over some of the settings so I have also used a jailbreak and am using:

SBSettings and the 5 icon doc.

As for the flash argument... as of yet I haven't run into any issues. I have been browsing the web on it without trouble for a good few days and so far so good. I have however run into some issues which appear to be related to the jailbreak and bluetooth functionality but it's not a show stopper by any means. So... am I happy with the purchase?

Well as others have said, as a consumption device for kicking back on the sofa, playing the occasional game, browsing the web etc. The ipad deliveres and people love it! At the moment it lives on the coffee table and everybody that has visited since the purchase has been hooked by it, including myself!

In a nutshell the people have spoken and they give ipad a thumbs up!
 
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Well it has been a while since I posted in this thread or since I have been on the forums. I have been knee deep in SharePoint code for the last few days (thank god that job is finished) during which I found another use for my ipad.

There is an app that allows me to plug in the ipad and use it as an extended monitor, this is great for those times when you could really do with an extended desktop but don't want to be carrying a monitor around, or don't have access to a spare monitor in the office you are working in. Slapping outlook, a dev server or whatever onto the ipad screen is a great way of freeing up some desktop real estate when in different offices.

Its clear from the thread that we have a few people who for some reason are really against the device, is this because of the lack flexibility in the OS or for some other reason. The cash cost seems to be branded around by a few but for me this was never an issue. I have spent far more on other tech that I have got far less use out of.

To me the plus side is that there are millions of apps out there and if you know what you are looking for there are plenty of gems, as a consumption device for games, books, occasional video and email etc its perfect. You pick it up press the button and away you go. As productivity device you could argue that it is poor, whatever your persuasion, it’s clear that there is some serious backing for apple devices in terms of development, this backing is clearly pushing the devices forward and improving what you can do with it in terms of productivity (Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for example).

As a plus if you own pretty much any android phone or an iphone and a wifi ipad you can pick up some free 3g tethering apps that allow you to use the 3g connection from your phone when on the move. Similar to how the mifi works. I tested this and it works a treat. You can find a free one at this link.

For me it has by no means replaced my laptop, at home I am opening my laptop less and using the ipad more but this is generally for leisure. When it comes to earning the doh the ipad is not really in my plans, apart from a possible plan to develop a few app with a few other devs and designers for the olympics.
 
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