Apple's iPad Megathread

[Russic]

Originally Posted by CMPunk

So is this going to affect sales of the Iphone and the Ipod Touch? I guess depending on what you're looking for, cost is going to be a factor, but how many people are going to own all three plus have a Mac at home?

It could a little but I don't see it being a significant factor in sales of the iPhone or iPod Touch. The fact you can't make calls on it (and that it's far too big) pretty much keeps the phone safe, and the fact that the touch is more portable and in the $200-$300 price range should keep it stable. People often say that it's just a big touch, but anybody who uses it seems to say that really isn't the case.

If anything I think it may impact the macbook sales. You are still going to pretty much have to have a dedicated computer to go along with the iPad, but I would fall into the category of people that might dodge a macbook in favor of an iPad. I have a desktop that does all my heavy lifting but I was debating picking up a macbook for the very rare times on out on the road. I won't be buying a macbook anytime soon.

[Phaneuf3]

To people who already have the iPad - any problems with wifi signal strength? I'm reading lots of reports that early adopters are having trouble with it. Are the people having problems just inept or is there actually something to this?

[Temporary_User]

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1931968


I can see why some people may want an Ipad, but as a guy who already has an Iphone I'm going to wait.
I really like the remote to Itunes function in my phone so if I had a device that did the same with a larger screen, thus easier to see what all music I have and pass around the room for others the same, this would be great.
I have a computer hidden in my living room hooked up to some good speakers so already use my iphone with this quite a bit.

I am going to hold off until the HD is much larger though. 64gigs is basically nothing. It's mildly acceptable in my phone as I still look at it as a phone and I figure it is a little unreasonable to expect a tb of data in such a small device. However for the Ipad, I would like to be able to load quite a few movies on there for viewing on planes and hooking up to my TV and ridding of DVDs.

[Pastiche]

64gbs is a crock of crap.

[Burninator]

The iPad: Amazon's Secret Weapon

The iPad may seem like Apple's move to cockblock Amazon in the Ebook Wars, but Amazon's Kindle app makes it part of Amazon's larger ebook ecosystem. In many ways, the iPad is the best Kindle yet.

http://gizmodo.com/5510620/the-ipad-...-secret-weapon

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

I am going to hold off until the HD is much larger though. 64gigs is basically nothing. It's mildly acceptable in my phone as I still look at it as a phone and I figure it is a little unreasonable to expect a tb of data in such a small device. However for the Ipad, I would like to be able to load quite a few movies on there for viewing on planes and hooking up to my TV and ridding of DVDs.

How big does it need to be? 64 GB seems like it's enough to me. Sure... couldn't hurt for it to be bigger, but it's enough to go with.

The OS and some basic apps would take... what? 10 gigs? I think that's being pretty darn generous but we'll go with it, leaving ~54 GB for data. If your dvd rips are 1.5 gigs (you could probably get by with half of that size but, again, just for the sake of argument....) that's about 35 movies you're storing on there.

Now unless you're planning on using this thing as your one and only computer, and one and only storage device, I can't imagine what you're going to be doing where 64 gigs isn't a sufficiently usable amount of space.




edit: If you REALLY need that much more space - they have an connector that plugs into the dock that provides an SD card slot. It's been a while since I've used an SD card but you could probably throw a 32 gb card in there for some extra storage or can they come in even higher capacity now? Also, maybe I'm not seeing it or it hasn't been produced yet but if you can turn that dock port into an SD slot, why couldn't you turn it into a usb port?

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

and hooking up to my TV and ridding of DVDs.

If you want something for that I would buy an Apple TV or something similar. I think the iPad would work for the occasional movie, slide show, whatever, but it's not something that I would want to use everyday. It only outputs the resolution of the screen. Although I suppose if you are worried about space you could use one of the streaming apps and stream media from your computer to the iPad. But honestly the Apple TV will do a better job of it and it costs half of much.

[Burninator]

Personally I think I would pick up the 16GB model for myself. I think that is plenty of space. Books take up hardly any space. I do not need all my movies or TV shows on the device. In fact I would most likely only load up a couple movies when I am traveling. If I wanted to watch TV shows on the train I could load up several episodes at a time and switch them out for new ones when I am done watching them. And I would still have room left over for some music if I wanted. Although I have a lot of music on my iPhone, so that is not necessarily needed. Obviously it depends on your needs for the iPad, but I can't think of a reason I would need to spend more money for larger than 16GB.

[QuadCityImages]

I've heard the iPad-specific apps are averaging 100 megs a piece. So that could take a chunk out of the 16 gig model. Of course, what I've heard could be wrong.

[Sliver]

Maybe the FanBoiz (jk!) can help with this one...why wouldn't Apple allow external storage via a USB port? 16 GB seems very limiting to me.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Maybe the FanBoiz (jk!) can help with this one...why wouldn't Apple allow external storage via a USB port? 16 GB seems very limiting to me.

Would this thing give you USB/SD expandability?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A

Basically, will it let you treat a card/memory stick you insert as a drive or is it locked down and limited in some way?

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

I've heard the iPad-specific apps are averaging 100 megs a piece. So that could take a chunk out of the 16 gig model. Of course, what I've heard could be wrong.

That's basically just the developers loading a lot more data into the application bundle. There are other options available, but it usually requires more networking stuff/downloading within the app to accomplish.

An app targeted for the iPad that doesn't put a lot of resources in it's application bundle won't be very large at all.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

I've heard the iPad-specific apps are averaging 100 megs a piece. So that could take a chunk out of the 16 gig model. Of course, what I've heard could be wrong.

They don't appear to be that big. I clicked on 10 random apps in iTunes and most are in the 4mb-10mb range. The only big ones were Pages at 33mb and Plants VS Zombies HD at 49mb.

Originally Posted by Sliver

Maybe the FanBoiz (jk!) can help with this one...why wouldn't Apple allow external storage via a USB port? 16 GB seems very limiting to me.

It's really designed to be a more on-the-go kind of device. I imagine they don't allow something like that because if massive hard drive space is your bag, you would be looking into a laptop or netbook.

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

Would this thing give you USB/SD expandability?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A

Basically, will it let you treat a card/memory stick you insert as a drive or is it locked down and limited in some way?

It's locked down in that it will only search for jpegs or RAW image files to import into the photos application.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Russic

It's really designed to be a more on-the-go kind of device. I imagine they don't allow something like that because if massive hard drive space is your bag, you would be looking into a laptop or netbook.

It's locked down in that it will only search for jpegs or RAW image files to import into the photos application.

That seems really odd.

It seems like with a USB port or the ability to modify your dock into one that it becomes much more powerful if you're going to consider using this in any way for business. I've exchanged files many times on a USB key without thinking twice about it.

Every time I want to get excited about a product like this and consider purchasing it, there's a few design choices and bizarre arbitrary restrictions like this that make me reconsider.

[Yeah_Baby]

Why do people continue to type it IPod and IPhone and IPad? its iPod, iPhone and iPad.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

To people who already have the iPad - any problems with wifi signal strength? I'm reading lots of reports that early adopters are having trouble with it. Are the people having problems just inept or is there actually something to this?

I haven't had any issues with wifi.

As for the size of the hard drive, 64 gigs should be more than enough for most users. I loaded my wife's MacBook with 60+ episodes of Buzz Lightyear just in case my son started acting up on the plane (I did not want to be the parent everyone else was cursing). At 20 minutes each episode it came out to 12 gigs. I don't know what plane ride we'll ever take that requires 1800+ minutes of video to keep me occupied. Especially when most plans have TVs now.

The iPad isn't a media storage device. It is intended to play media. You'll be able to get lots of high quality videos on there. Lots of music. Tons of books, comics and magazines. You'll be able to email and surf the net better than you can with your phone and in some ways better than you can on your laptop or computer.

It really is something you should try if you're on fence whether it is something you would use.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

That seems really odd.

It seems like with a USB port or the ability to modify your dock into one that it becomes much more powerful if you're going to consider using this in any way for business. I've exchanged files many times on a USB key without thinking twice about it.

Every time I want to get excited about a product like this and consider purchasing it, there's a few design choices and bizarre arbitrary restrictions like this that make me reconsider.

Ya if a free wheeling system is the type of thing you crave then Apple products aren't going to reside at the top of your list. It has a different type of file structure that just doesn't give you root access.

[psicodude]

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

To people who already have the iPad - any problems with wifi signal strength? I'm reading lots of reports that early adopters are having trouble with it. Are the people having problems just inept or is there actually something to this?

Sounds like it's a real problem.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/ptech/0...ex.html?hpt=T2

[Cain]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Why do people continue to type it IPod and IPhone and IPad? its iPod, iPhone and iPad.

I think its funny that it drives you nuts that people mess up the spelling, while it drives me nuts that people care at all. I don't care if people mess up the capitalization of things on an internet forum, as long as I still know what they are referencing. Why make a fuss?

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Russic

Ya if a free wheeling system is the type of thing you crave then Apple products aren't going to reside at the top of your list. It has a different type of file structure that just doesn't give you root access.

While I usually like things to be relatively open, I can deal with some closed systems. I didn't think being able to put files on it from another storage medium was all that much of a 'free wheeling' system requirement for a tablet computer.

The ebook reader capabilities really interest me but overall it doesn't sound like the system design is quite all there yet for my liking. Is it just a case of holding back on a few important features so people have a reason to buy iPad 2.0?