The iPad

[Rico]

Yes, I too played with one at BestBuy.  A bit sensitive and the keyboard was like a cell phone.  You have enter "numeric mode" to get the numbers.  Tapping things on the web is tricky for small links/images.  I didn't see one - does it come with a stylus?

No stylus.  You can enlarge things to the level that works best for your finger size.  I didn't find it overly sensitive.  With all the "touching" you need to do on this thing, you really don't want something you have to bang or press hard on to do things.

[billybob476]

While it doesn't come with a stylus, they do have some available. Scott tried one out and posted a short video. I imagine they're more geared towards art.

My Quick look at the Pogo Stylus for the iPhone and iPad

[Rico]

Frak!  That's awesome!  Didn't know it had such nice art abilities.  I want one more now. 

(Must fight urge to go to Best Buy after work.)  ;)

[Jobydrone]

Mine's in freaking China right now :(  Supposed to be coming on the 26th.

[Bromptonboy]

That stylus is a pretty neat add-on.  I wonder why they didn't include a simple one?  Wait for iPad 2.x Rico!  :)

[billybob476]

Scott makes it look really easy too. I don't think my stick men would be quite as compelling as an iPad art demo :)

[Feathers]

That stylus is a pretty neat add-on.  I wonder why they didn't include a simple one?  Wait for iPad 2.x Rico!  :)

I'm pretty sure that the stylus is simply another of those things that Apple doesn't believe in. Touch screen devices have had stylii for years. The choice of Apple not to include one was pretty deliberate in my view.

[moyer777]

That is so funny, I was going to post that video cause I watched Scott use one yesterday!  Joe, you beat me to it!

I love it!

[Jobydrone]

My iPad came yesterday and I spent a couple/few hours setting it up and playing around with it last night.  In my excitement surrounding its impending arrival (I ordered it from Apple's website on 4/12 so I had a couple weeks of anticipation) I had done a lot of scouring of the internet so I was pretty sure I knew what the first several downloads were going to be.  I'm at work writing this, so I won't be adding photos of my tablet to this post, unless there's a burning demand and I can edit later to add some when I get home.  I'm happy to be able to post my initial impressions here and perhaps it may persuade some of you that are on the fence about this product one way or the other.

My model is Wifi only, 32 Gb capacity.  I also purchased the dock connector, and the Apple branded case.  The case hasn't arrived yet.

The only peripherals that come with the device are the cable to connect it to your computer and the charger.  It's important to note that unlike the iPod and iPhone, the iPad does not charge while connected to a Windows PC or any iMac released before 2008.  I have to use the charger connected to a wall outlet.  The device comes with a full charge and after three or four hours of watching movies and playing games at full screen brightness, the charge didn't go below 89%!  I had heard that the battery was a huge improvement over Apple's smaller products and it turns out to be true.  I was pretty disappointed that there weren't earbuds included in the box.  I love the Apple earbuds and could always use an extra pair. 

So the first thing you have to do is sync the iPad to your computer through iTunes and sign up for or sign in to your Apple ID.  It asks you to register the device and this is quick and easy.  Once done the iPad shows up in iTunes.  It asks you to set up your sync preferences.  I always choose to manually manage all my files because I don't want iTunes deleting things from my computer or device unless I tell it to.  Then came my only scare with the device, but it was a huge one.  I was very excited to see how the M4V files that I had been watching on my iPhone looked on the iPad.  I took a movie file I had on my computer, and tried to transfer it to the iPad the same way I had always done with all my other Apple devices, dragging and dropping the file from its folder into iTunes.  I then got a series of critical error messages, first saying the file couldn't be copied because it couldn't be located, then that the iPad could not sync at all for an unknown reason.  I then noticed that the displayed memory capacity of the device had changed to from 29Gb available to only 4Gb total with only 1Gb available, even though there was nothing loaded on it yet!  Well I started to freak out.  I searched the web for reports of similar errors, and while I did come up with a number of issues with syncing, nothing exactly matched the problem I experienced.  Finally I hit the restore to factory settings option on iTunes, and after a few minutes of abject terror that I had already broken my $600 device, the iPad was back to it's out of the box state.  I changed the settings to syncing through iTunes, cleared out my iTunes library, and tried to load the same files using the iTunes sync feature.  Everything loaded normally, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  It's a little annoying because it appears I have to get used to a new way of managing my files, and Apple is forcing me to do things "their way or the highway," but I guess I can deal with it.

In any case, the movie I tried to watch looked fantastic.  The quality was probably a bit less than if I had rented or purchased the movie through the iTunes store, but it was still absolutely beautiful.  The sound was something else.  The speakers are pretty good but even at full volume they are not going to adequately compete with any type of background noise.  Late at night in a quiet room the speakers would be totally sufficient, but at any other time you are going to want to plug in your headphones.  Holding the iPad is going to get tiresome after extended periods, it is kind of heavy.  Sitting with it on your lap is pretty comfortable though, lying down in bed with it is easy and super comfortable with the screen orientation locking feature, and the case I bought props the thing up in various ways very nicely.

The next thing I did was load up a couple of the iPhone apps I had purchased and housed on my computer over the past few months.  The iPad will run virtually all of the iPhone apps, and you have a choice between a little box in the middle of the screen the same size as the iPhone, or you can blow up the display 2x to almost utilize the entire screen.  The apps I transferred were Plants vs. Zombies (game), and Space Ace (game).  I was happy to find that the iPhone games played perfectly on the iPad.  The display was beautiful, with only the slightest fuzziness around the edges that came from blowing up the display.  I'd say if you have already purchased something for the iPhone and find a "HD" version now available for the iPad at 3-4x the price, don't bother upgrading. 

This brings to mind an initial concern I have about the apps and pricing.  The price range of the majority of iPhone apps has been generally between free and $1.99.  There's a few that might go a bit higher, but they max out at around $5.  Things are much different with the iPad.  It is not unusual to find apps priced at $15 or more.  It seems that the days of .99 cent killer apps are done, at least for now.

Next I went into wifi settings and connected the tablet to my wireless router.  I tried out the Safari browser, and found web browsing a breeze.  Of course the first thing I did was load up the TrekSF forums, and they looked terrific.  The text is still a little small, but a quick little flick zooms the page nicely, and even the native size is readable, not like the nightmare the forums are to read on the iPhone.  Web browsing is going to be a lot of fun with this, I am sure.  My wife then grabbed the iPad and logged into her Facebook account.  30 minutes later I had to literally pry it out of her hands.  Suffice to say she is in love with this thing.

I checked out the App Store and downloaded a couple of the ones I had earmarked for immediate use.  These were iBooks, the Kindle app, Cloud Reader, and Netflix.  All were free apps.  IBooks is the Apple branded book store and book reader.  It comes with Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne as a free download, which I will enjoy reading to my kids.  I'm looking forward to exploring the book store in more detail, but these ebooks are just too expensive for me I think.  $14.99 and up for little PDF files is just too much for my budget.  The Kindle app lets you connect and download books from the Amazon Kindle store, which might drive down Apple's pricing a bit with a little competition.  I was most excited for the Cloud Reader.  This is a free app that lets you upload your digital comics collection to your iPad and read them the way you would read any other ebook.  It supports PDF, CBR, and CBZ files.  Uploading files is a snap with this, you have a choice to do it over wifi or through iTunes.  I have a feeling I am going to be reading a TON of comics with this device.  They look absolutely gorgeous.  There's also a free Marvel comics app that lets you download new and classic comics from their servers at $1.99 a pop, a really reasonable price.  I haven't tried this out yet but I've read that it is really high quality.

The last thing I tried before reluctantly putting the device down was the free Netflix app.  It was a breeze to reactivate my account, with $8.99/month being the lowest subscription that offers unlimited instant streaming.  I was pleased to note that even though it's been almost a year since my free two weeks had been used up, the Netflix website still remembered all my settings and preferences and applied them right from the get go.  I streamed a few minutes of King of Kong, a great documentary, and it loaded up in seconds, streaming seamlessly in gorgeous quality.  This is the killer app for the device, I am sure.  The list of instant streaming movies and TV shows is huge, and I imagine I will always be able to find something new to watch whenever I want. 

Whew...anyone still reading this?  Much longer post than I expected to write and maybe I will try to record something for a future podcast if anyone is interested in hearing me babble on a bit more.

[Feathers]

Still reading...

Given what you say about Netflix, I'll be interested to see how the iPad does over here (and in other countries) where we won't have the Netflix drive to persuade us to buy one.

(Plus, I find the forum perectly acceptable on the iPhone.)

[moyer777]

Joby- EXCELLENT review, I loved every word of it and can't wait to hear more.  THANK you.

Oh, I can hardly wait till version 2!!!

[Rico]

Great, great review/comments on the iPad Joby.  It's refreshing to read someone who actually owns one and has put it through it's paces a bit.  A few questions come to mind:

- Do you know the range of video codecs/file types the iPad can play?  Specifically can it handle .mkv files??

- With regards to comics I read the iPad actually has to convert the comic files and that takes a little time.  It's a resolution issue I think.  I am speaking of things like .cbr files.  Did you notice this?  I'm curious if you move comic files to your iPad if it takes much time to convert them?  I'm also curious how much of Marvel and DC new/current line of comics will come out in this form.

- I'm a bit dissappointed the sound isn't better/louder.  I'm not a big fan of using something like this with earbuds a lot.  Maybe they will improve on that.

-- Any regrets not getting the 3G version?

[Bryancd]

x2, great stuff. It's that web browsing experience/video watching that draws me the most. My limited experience browsing the web on an iPhone I thought was far too limiting in term of veiweing the content.

[billybob476]

The iPhone is definitely limited in terms of browsing. It's the best 'limited' experience I've had but I imagine the iPad is lightyears better.

[Jobydrone]

I'll try my best to answer your questions, Rico but keep in mind I am no Apple Genius.

The iPad plays the same video formats that the iPhone and iPod touch plays.  MP4 and M4V.  No AVI, no DIVX, no MKV, and definitely no WMV.  I'll paste here directly from the Apple website in gibberish I don't fully understand, but you probably will:  

"H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format"

Personally I find the restrictive file formatting pretty annoying, but I found a simple, free conversion program that I use for my iPhone that converts most types of movie files to iPod/iPhone format.  It's a resource hog and sometimes my laptop crashes mid conversion, but usually it works ok.  With a Netflix subscription I'm not sure I will ever need to load movies onto this thing anyway, except I guess for when I'm not around a wifi hotspot.  

I dont think that the iPad is converting comics when I upload them.  They upload to the device as fast as any other type of file of similar size, and the reader I use opens the files instantly when I tap it.  There doesnt appear to be any delay for conversion at all.  I did read something about early versions of one of the comic apps having to convert CBR files but I think subsequent updates have allowed the files to be read in their native format.  I have uploaded all three formats (CBR, CBZ, and PDF), and all perform equally well.  I have a pretty big digital comic collection and this thing was made for reading them.

As I said, the speakers were perfectly adequate in a room with no background noise.  It can't compete with a TV or stereo going at the same time though.  I am totally used to my headphones anyway, so this doesnt really bother me.

As for 3G, I'll say that while it would be nice to have...to me it's not worth $150 more base price plus a monthly data plan.  If I could utilize the data plan I am already paying to AT&T for my iPhone, then I could see myself paying the extra bucks for a 3G model.  Currently, no way.  I honestly don't see myself taking this out of the house too often anyway.  It is too big to comfortably lug around without a backpack or briefcase.  I'd be afraid of damaging it, losing it, or having it stolen.  For me the major appeal is the absolute portability around the house:  Streaming movies on the front porch or stretched out in the back yard in a hammock on a warm spring evening, easy access to your favorite recipies in the kitchen using the epicurious app or website, reading comics on the potty...I really don't need or want to take it on the go.

I forgot to mention that I also downloaded and tried the free to play MMORPG called Pocket Legends.  Kind of WoW lite for the iPad.  I'm only level 3 at the moment so I'll report back on that one for sure.  Elf Mage Callista signing off.