It’s not a very meaningful comparison. The iPad is not a tablet computer; it’s more of a MID (mobile internet device). It should really be compared to MIDs like the Archos-5, Nokia N810, and all the Android tablets coming out soon (such as the Dell Streak series).
If you want a true tablet PC (i.e. a tablet form factor device that runs Windows), I think the viliv X70 and S10 Blade are pretty decent, and not much more expensive than the iPad.
Do a search for netbooks or tablet pcs, there are tons out there. Many are in the price range of the iPad or less; some are more, sometimes a lot more, but typically for devices that are larger and in any case have far more functionality than the embarrassingly limited iPad.
One example: the Asus Eee PC T91 is about the same cost as an the leading device from Apple with considerably more functionality.
Any “innovation” created by Apple for this silly product is entirely in marketing design, and not in technology. Apple is the reigning champ for creating shiny little devices (which do nothing more and sometimes a lot less than devices which have been on the market for years) that people think they’ve gotta have.
If you really, truly, believe this, you haven’t done your research.
Yeah, agreed. I’m not by any means an Apple fanatic, but Apple is succeeding for the same reason the Nintendo succeeded over Sega in the 90s, despite the fact that all the hardcore gamers were claiming that Sega was the better system. Apple does it right. It might not do everything, but the majority of their customers don’t want it to do everything. They want it to do a few (or even a lot of) things, and do them very well. Too many features make things confusing and hard to use. The iPad does what it does very well, it’s attractive, well designed, and, most importantly, it has a metric you-know-what-load of apps out there available now, with more coming every day. Nintendo had a lot of fun games that appealed to a wide audience–Sega had a few that appealed to the hardcore gamers. Apple’s doing the same thing. Their market isn’t engineers and nerds who want it to do everything but wash their dishes for them (and I mean no insult by the term–I’m a proud nerd :)). It’s students, housewives, kids, casual users, parents, older people, and people who don’t need to be shackled to a tricked-out machine all the time.
I think they’ve succeeded wonderfully. I wanted one from the moment I found out about it, but I wasn’t sure whether it would be worth the high price. Then I walked into an Apple store and played with one–and I knew I had to have it.
I really wonder how many people who buy iPhones even bother to see what other phones are out there now. My opinion is that many don’t even bother to look around, they just want to hop on the bandwagon.
My guess is the same will be true when other pad devices hit the market - people will just want to “keep up with the Jones” and not bother to shop around.
Sounds like almost every Windows user I’ve ever known…
The thread has devolved into a typical set of iPad rants - can it be pulled back to the OP’s question - which seemed to be targeted at those who have an iPad?
Except nobody uses Windows because it’s “cool” or “hip” - it’s like driving a Chevy or Ford. And a lot of people use Windows at home because that’s what they use at work so they don’t see a need to change.
Agreed. I am so sick of the back and forth garbage.
If you bought an iPad, it means you bought an iPad. Can’t we just leave it at that and people with iPads give opinions as users?.
So, can anyone answer my internet question from page 1?
It’s amazing that this kind of reasoning, which I got a bellyful of before the iPad even hit the market, is still going on.
It goes something like this: “This product doesn’t appeal to my particular wants and needs – therefore, it is ‘silly,’ and so are the people who, unmindful of my greater wisdom, foolishly declare that they love it.”
Time to put up or shut up…would you be willing to put one or more of your favored “devices which have been on the market for years” in the hands of some iPad owners for a test drive, and then let them declare which one they like better?
Which devices would you nominate for this challenge?
If you want a fair challenge you need to ask people who don’t own an iPad. The owners already have a high opinion of one since they spent $500 or so to buy it. That would be like asking an Audi owner to compare his car to a Lexus. I bet most Audi guys say their car is better than the Lexus.
The OP wanted to know how happy iPad owners were with the device once they’d bought one, and how often and for what they used them. He didn’t ask for a challenge.
Read the OP. It seems obvious that opinions of actual owners has been requested.
Beat ya. 
I love mine, especially now that I’m getting through the learning curve. I don’t know how Steve Jobs managed to do that “balance it on your lap and type” trick – I’m guessing several years of flexibility training with a contortionist troupe. But once I realized that it works best like any other keyboard (while seated, and slightly angled on a flat surface), I can type almost as fast on it as on the physical keyboard dock, punctuation excepted. I wouldn’t write a book on it, but I’ve been using it as a 100% laptop replacement for e-mails and calendaring at work.
Most interesting discovery: 3G is fast enough to stream Netflix at decent quality, and AirVideo ($1.99, I think) can stream over the Internet (and 3G) from my home system. With that in mind, I probably wouldn’t have sprung for the larger memory.
The apps generally need some work: even some of the “showcase” apps (“The Elements” in particular) crash a lot, and there’s no UI consistency to speak of. The mechanism for transferring documents between iPad and computer is laughingly error-prone, hard to find, and clumsy (admittedly, few apps need that capability). I expect it’ll be a good six months before the rough edges of most of the apps (even, maybe especially, Apple’s) are worked out.
iPhone apps are surprisingly usable in 2x mode: they’re not all just pixel doubled. It seems like if the original app used higher-resolution art, that the higher-resolution (and sometimes smoothed fonts) are used in the magnified view.
But all those are relative nitpicks. The device is amazingly handy; the e-mail, calendar, contacts, and note-taking apps are all efficient and easy to use. It’s great for games (although there’s still a relatively limited selection that takes advantage of the big screen). There’s a pretty steady stream of folks through my office to play with it, many of whom then go out and buy one (and I work at probably the single most Apple-unfriendly company on the planet, (except perhaps Adobe this week)).
Skype hasn’t been updated for the iPad, and doesn’t work over 3G, but I’ve used it for phone calls over Wifi (using a headset – holding the iPad up to my head would look more ridiculous than usual).
Oh, anyone who doesn’t agree to the letter with all of my consumer choices is not only wrong, but is obviously an inferior human being who can’t think for themselves, and clearly doesn’t understand how the devices they buy aren’t useful to them, no matter how much of an illusion of usefulness said devices may present.
I still don’t get why you guys are talking like it’s a good thing that you were undecided before you saw the stupid, and when you used in person, you “had to have it.” The second you feel a compulsion beyond logic to buy something, you’ve been manipulated into getting that something.
Add to the fact that, before you heard about the iPad, did you envision a similar device? If not, that means it’s a manufactured need. And, thus, it is entirely marketing. The fact that you guys don’t get this is again infuriating.
Ultimately, the anger comes from the fact that you are promoting companies to create inferior products, so that those of us who were into this before the iPad existed now have to get a less popular product to get everything we want, and thus likely have to deal with software developers not designing stuff for us.
I wouldn’t give a shit if it didn’t affect me. But it does.
Call it whatever you want; marketing, manufactured needs, etc. I didn’t want an iPad before I started playing with it in the store. I have an iPod Touch (somewhere) and an iPhone, in addition to my Windows laptop. I couldn’t imagine a void to be filled by the iPad. Then, I played with one, and realized that most of the same things I use my other devices for can be done by this one, in some more beneficial way. I don’t need to lug my laptop to work; the iPad is significantly lighter and checks the same websites and email I need to keep up with. I was on a flight yesterday and found myself being much more productive than usual – responding to emails, reading updates, even chatting with the family was much easier than whipping out my laptop (which will usually illicit more than one sneer from the guy beside me trying to sleep).
In addition, I no longer have to either carry around dozens of company reference materials or find a computer to pull them up on the intranet. I’ve consolidated thousands of PDFs into the iPad that I can refer to on the go.
Oh, and of course, you get fewer stares when you carry the iPad into the bathroom than a laptop.
I’m not a tech virgin in the slightest, and while the iPad certainly could pack more bang, I’m more than satisfied that it’s not an “inferior product” for the price point. Be angry all you want, but the market is going to follow the money and the majority… it’s a simple fact of life.
Back to the OP: I’m clearly a converted pre-ownership-non-believer. Even when I was buying the thing in the store and the clerk asked “so what are you going to use yours for?” my reply was “honestly, I have no idea.” But, now that I’ve integrated it into my daily routine, I wouldn’t call it indispensable, but I would call it incredibly useful and well worth the money.
Uh, the process of going from “undecided” to “decided” is often referred to as “researching my purchases”, and considered by most be be a good thing. If anything, it’s folks who bought sight unseen that were swayed by marketing.
But your argument fails on a far more basic level than that: EVERY product that exists today was first thought up by someone, and then existed where it did not previously. You’re claiming that no one has any need at all for any invention from the wheel and fire through the computer. Which is patently ridiculous.
And to answer your question: yes, before the iPad was announced, I did want such a device (as in an instant-on, portable streaming media screen with basic computing, browsing , and networking capabilities). The media’s been talking for almost two decades about increasingly complex versions of such a thing; they were a staple of science fiction shows in the early 80’s for pete’s sake.
It’s OK for you not to want it. It’s not OK for you to call those of us who do stupid. Now if you don’t have an answer to the OP’s question (and clearly you don’t), please accept my apology for the capitalist market once again developing a popular product that isn’t what you personally have wanted, and go off to one of the 6,952 other Apple-bashing threads instead.
I don’t own one, but I have used a friend’s a decent amount.
I think it’s really cool, but there are a few issues that are keeping me from buying one.
I fully expect these issues to be resolved in the next gen or two, and I’ll likely get one then. It really is a joy to use, and my laptop is getting quite long in the tooth. I think that the future of this sort of product will be awesome, but this version is still a bit too rough around the edges for me.
Here is what I think- the iPad is NOT a computer in the general sense. It is more an entertainment device for playing media and accessing the internet. However, it also integrates functions previously found on PDAs (calendar, contacts, etc…) BECAUSE, the internet allows communication as well as entertainment.
I honestly do not understand posts like yours and where the emotion comes from.
Again: NOT a computer. It is a CONVENIENCE device for media and internet.