Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 3,351
- Location
- South North West
Well, I cracked and broke my "wait 3 months" rule... mainly because this is the one month a year I have no bills to pay and my resistance to new toys is always weakest.
It's been about three weeks since I last saw the iP2 I bought to simplify my mother's computing life, but I immediately noticed the crispness of the screen. In fact after visiting a few websites I found myself wishing the screen was an inch or two bigger, because in some ways the resolution is "wasted" on such a small screen.
However I appreciate they had no choice but to double the resolution to simplify life for the app ecosystem, and it's hard to criticise the display when you load up maps and switch to satellite view. It's really rather impressive.
I'm less impressed by the warm spot developing almost immediately under my left hand (in portrait mode) because one thing I love about the iP2 is the way is is a kind of "magical" tech device, which shows no obvious signs of being a computer. No heat that I ever noticed, no fan noise, and instantly available for use.
I will not be playing Infinity Blade for 45 minutes though (famous last words!), so I doubt I'll be bothered by the warmth. I am, however, a little uncertain about whether to leave it in the cheap case I bought. If I could replace the battery myself I wouldn't be bothered about heat-related lifespan issues, but as it is... well, we'll have to see. I'll be keeping an eye on discussion about this, because it could turn into a fairly big deal for those of us who tend to hang on to our kit for more than the Apple default of 2 years, and the battery won't be covered by JL's 2 year warranty. So far though battery life seems very resilient in normal, non-intensive use, and I'm always impressed these things hold their charge so well. My little Acer laptop is lovely, and good for about 7 hours on a full charge, but leave it for a few days (definitely off, not suspended) and it's dead as a dodo.
Overall, this is an iPad; nothing has changed. If I'd already had an iP2 (here rather than 200 miles away) I certainly wouldn't have bothered, and I'm not sure I've seen anything so far which would make the switch essential in any way.
But then what has essential got to do with this kind of tech toy anyway? To me the iPad is a bit like my Android smartphone... largely pointless, but a little bit of the science fiction future they promised me a long time ago when I was watching John Pertwee as Dr Who, and reading about holidays on Mars, personal jet packs, and dreaming about what might be. I didn't get any of that, but I do have this... even if I had to swallow my rampantly Apple-phobic pride to do so.
Oh, and it's nice to have a genuinely useful camera onboard now, rather than a deliberately neutered smudge-generator. So far I've only used it to update the email I send myself occasionally to keep a record of my toys for insurance purposes, but that's the kind of thing this "Swiss army tech knife" excels at. You wouldn't want to use it seriously for anything, but as a lightweight jack of all trades tech device it's currently hard to beat, despite all the pros and cons of being in the Apple ecosystem... I prefer "Gulag"
Now, if I can just stop messing about with GarageBand (which is almost enough reason to buy an iPad all on its own) I need to hunt some decent writing software. You can't write essays like this on an iPad without getting keyboard withdrawal symptoms... which is why I gave up and used my PC. If the iPad had Android's Swype it'd be a different matter. I've grown to like that method for text entry rather a lot, which is why I'll also be keeping an eye on Android's progress in the tablet market, and avoiding scratches on my iP3 in case I decide to bale out while it's got good resale value.
Edit: ok, battery life may not be quite so resilient as I thought. That % counter ticks down quite smartly once you start doing a bit of casual gaming. I think this is life's way of saying "stop wasting time! It's not dire, it's just more noticeable than it was on the iP2. But then you don't get something for nothing, and all those pixels don't change themselves, they need a push.
It's been about three weeks since I last saw the iP2 I bought to simplify my mother's computing life, but I immediately noticed the crispness of the screen. In fact after visiting a few websites I found myself wishing the screen was an inch or two bigger, because in some ways the resolution is "wasted" on such a small screen.
However I appreciate they had no choice but to double the resolution to simplify life for the app ecosystem, and it's hard to criticise the display when you load up maps and switch to satellite view. It's really rather impressive.
I'm less impressed by the warm spot developing almost immediately under my left hand (in portrait mode) because one thing I love about the iP2 is the way is is a kind of "magical" tech device, which shows no obvious signs of being a computer. No heat that I ever noticed, no fan noise, and instantly available for use.
I will not be playing Infinity Blade for 45 minutes though (famous last words!), so I doubt I'll be bothered by the warmth. I am, however, a little uncertain about whether to leave it in the cheap case I bought. If I could replace the battery myself I wouldn't be bothered about heat-related lifespan issues, but as it is... well, we'll have to see. I'll be keeping an eye on discussion about this, because it could turn into a fairly big deal for those of us who tend to hang on to our kit for more than the Apple default of 2 years, and the battery won't be covered by JL's 2 year warranty. So far though battery life seems very resilient in normal, non-intensive use, and I'm always impressed these things hold their charge so well. My little Acer laptop is lovely, and good for about 7 hours on a full charge, but leave it for a few days (definitely off, not suspended) and it's dead as a dodo.
Overall, this is an iPad; nothing has changed. If I'd already had an iP2 (here rather than 200 miles away) I certainly wouldn't have bothered, and I'm not sure I've seen anything so far which would make the switch essential in any way.
But then what has essential got to do with this kind of tech toy anyway? To me the iPad is a bit like my Android smartphone... largely pointless, but a little bit of the science fiction future they promised me a long time ago when I was watching John Pertwee as Dr Who, and reading about holidays on Mars, personal jet packs, and dreaming about what might be. I didn't get any of that, but I do have this... even if I had to swallow my rampantly Apple-phobic pride to do so.
Oh, and it's nice to have a genuinely useful camera onboard now, rather than a deliberately neutered smudge-generator. So far I've only used it to update the email I send myself occasionally to keep a record of my toys for insurance purposes, but that's the kind of thing this "Swiss army tech knife" excels at. You wouldn't want to use it seriously for anything, but as a lightweight jack of all trades tech device it's currently hard to beat, despite all the pros and cons of being in the Apple ecosystem... I prefer "Gulag"
Now, if I can just stop messing about with GarageBand (which is almost enough reason to buy an iPad all on its own) I need to hunt some decent writing software. You can't write essays like this on an iPad without getting keyboard withdrawal symptoms... which is why I gave up and used my PC.
If the iPad had Android's Swype it'd be a different matter. I've grown to like that method for text entry rather a lot, which is why I'll also be keeping an eye on Android's progress in the tablet market, and avoiding scratches on my iP3 in case I decide to bale out while it's got good resale value.Edit: ok, battery life may not be quite so resilient as I thought. That % counter ticks down quite smartly once you start doing a bit of casual gaming. I think this is life's way of saying "stop wasting time!
It's not dire, it's just more noticeable than it was on the iP2. But then you don't get something for nothing, and all those pixels don't change themselves, they need a push.
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It has got better after 2 full charges though!
