back to article Apple iPad

Apple's iPad is out. The pre-orders are inbound - if they haven't arrived already - and it's in the shops. Apple reckons we'll flock to its "magical" device to use it as a browsing tool, as a media player, as an e-book reader, as a handheld games console, as a social media centric communicator and perhaps as all of the above …

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  1. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    It's a FAIL from me.

    It's simply for geeks who need gadgets to make themselves feel better.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Better than I thought...

    ...but still not much good for anything. Had a look at one yesterday, and it does look quite fancy, but it's still fairly pointless. Pretty much trademark Apple- stylish, but possibly less useful because of that.

  3. LuMan

    www.filofax.co.uk & www.nintendo.com

    El Reg is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

    A Filofax and DS

    All your contacts in an easy-to-read environment, never runs out of power and it can be read in bright sunlight. Oh, and a DS will play thousands of games, too!

  4. Thomas 4

    Perhaps a less controversial subject would better

    ...such as gun law, abortion or the death penalty?

    Although even then, I suspect people would trot out gems of wisdom like, "lulz Apple fans shud abortd" or "Id have all whiny apple haterz exercutted".

    The internet is a tiresomely predictable beast at times.

  5. Admiral Grace Hopper

    There's a missing option

    I was looking for the button to vote "I don't know, I haven't seen one yet", but of course its absence won't change the nature of the debate.

  6. batfastad

    Bovvered

    I just don't understand it.

    Why not just buy a netbook (the Asus 1005HA-H I bought last summer for £250 is awesome with real 9hrs battery life)?

    People will buy it though. But people would probably buy a turd so long as it was multitouch and an apple logo.

  7. gautam

    Doorstopper?

    That will be the ultimate use when it dies or people get fed up/disillusioned.

    You see, even in death, Apple has its uses. And Jobs is nearer a Sainthood.

  8. Pete 2 Silver badge

    It's so .....

    small. There was one on TV this morning and I was surprised at just how little it is. When I checked, it's screen is about the size of a paperback book (9.5 inches - or about the size of half a sheet of A4). I was expecting something with a screen at least the size of my smallest laptop, i.e. >12 inches - which is just about the minimum size that's sensible for anything more than a photo frame.

  9. Disintegrationnotallowed

    why bother

    We know that it will be hated by el Reg readers so just fake the results like most sites and make it 89% against, meanwhile Jobsy will sell thousands and buy an island...

  10. PC1512

    Obvious winner

    It's a well executed and unique gadget, the first of its kind, and already the first purebred tablet computer to get anywhere close to mass-market appeal, despite countless attempts in the past. The antipathy and willingness for it to fail in places like this only goes to show what a mountain it's up against, and what an ultimately brave move it was for Apple to even attempt this rather than just stick to traditional macs and non-giant iphones - this is what innovation is all about at the end of the day, surprising people and challenging them on what it is they think they want.

    If Apple had simply brought out a Mac-styled netbook, they might have sold a few, but they wouldn't really have added to anything that wasn't already out there on the market. That may have been what some potential customers would have expected if asked what Apple should build, but it's like the old Henry Ford quote - "If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for faster horses"

    The iPad is already a success, and deservedly so.

  11. MarkOne

    ideal gadget

    for people will loads of money and no common sense...

    Instant Fail from me, it's the most overhyped and totally pointless object in existence.

  12. strangefish

    re missing option

    I would have liked a "meh" thumb. I am sure it's very nice and if somebody gave me one I wouldn't throw it away but I'm just not that bothered...maybe it's just not magical enough :¬D

  13. Paddy Fagan

    The potential to be magical

    It's ver 1.0 - Apple need to get it out into the hands of consumers and build the market. I don't think it's magical yet, but it has potential.

    My own opinion is that the iPad can become the home "computer" of choice - it looks the part, this is critical to make it into people's living rooms. It's easy to use, pick up do what you need and put down again. BUT I think it's final future is as a partner to Apple TV - Apple TV has a sizeable HD and the iTunes connections to do the heavy lifting of holding your media library, downloading the latest shows as they become available. The iPad is a window onto that library, letting you browse, view and copy specific content onto it to consume outside the home.

    Now if this comes to pass Apple will have displaced Sky, UPC, etc as well as a bunch of other incumbents and "own" your living room - they manage this any they'll be laughing! (all the way to the bank)

    Paddy

  14. Smallbrainfield

    Much as I try to dislike Apple,

    I have to admit a grudging respect for their products. They do just work and for most people, that's usually enough. I'm sure they've done their homework on this product and considering how many they've already shifted in the US, it's clearly popular. I do wonder if, like the Wii it will be the must have gadget for a few years and then people will go back to laptops.

    I still hate them though.

  15. DP 1

    Ooooooh iPad, iPad for yoooooooouuuuuu!

    I had a play with one of these a while ago when a Director brought one back from the States. My over-arching opinion was 'Meh'. Sure it looks pretty, but between my phone and my DS Lite I can do almost all the things the i(maxi)Pad offers, apart from look shiny and get greasy finger marks over it. I tink I'll upgrade to a DSi XL and buy myself a PSP with the change, and save myself the hassle of using iTunes anymore than I have to.

  16. Neur0mancer

    For the money

    I would rather have the cheapest macbook, or the most expensive netbook, that the ipad.

  17. Mike Bell

    No Thanks

    Some people buy flat-screen TVs that have huge pointless borders. I'm not one of them.

  18. RichyS

    Got mine yesterday

    It's a beautifully designed piece of kit. Just the rights size, and the screen is spanking gorgeous. Only downside is that it's a little heavier than expected -- but I'd rather that than it being plastic instead of aluminium and glass.

    Photos look great. Reading the web around the house is so much better than by iPhone or laptop. My wife loves the calendar and email. On the basis that it's taken her 3 months to discover I never quite got around to reinstalling Office on her laptop after I needed to reinstall Win 7 (thanks Sony), I reckon the iPad will be perfect for her. Waaay better than the (Linux) Acer Aspire One that now just sits in the cupboard -- that was crap for the web and email.

    My 17 month old son loves the children's apps too -- and it seems well built enough to withstand his 'skills'.

    All in all, a hit. Does it do anything that I can't do on a laptop or smartphone? No. Does it do a fair few of these things better or more conveniently? Hell yes. Do I need one? No. But then I don't need half the crap I own -- but hey, I'm sitting on the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. This is all about self fulfillment baby!

  19. Mr Brush

    Fanboi fail

    Through all the iPad pre-release hype, I thought 'It's not for me, I don't have a use for that'.

    Then the Android tablet rumours started and I started mentally finding uses for those.

    Perhaps my anti-apple blinkers are clouding my judgement.

    However, I'm not going to drop £300-£400 on a first generation device of any flavour.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    wanna look like a twat....

    theres an apple product for that......

  21. Rupert Stubbs

    Try before you decry...

    Got mine yesterday. Lovely to look at, fabulous battery life, could be great.

    A lot depends, as with the iPhone on the apps and a few UI updates. Up-rezzing iPhone apps is barely tolerable - iPad or universal apps are a million times better: any developer not rushing out an iPad version of their apps deserves to lose their market to the competition. The UI needs some fine-tuning, but I'm assuming iPhone 4.0 will bring a lot of that - with multi-tasking, etc. Though I will be jailbreaking my iPad as soon as LockInfo is working.

    The Good: The screen is fabulous, battery life awesome, UI snappy most of the time, built like a rock. Babe magnet. Even Granny downstairs (87) can use it.

    The Meh: Having the Lock Screen switch at the top is a slight pain, since I find I'm using it in Portrait mode almost all the time, with fingers at the bottom. Onscreen keyboard surprising useable in Portrait mode, not so much in Landscape. Can't adjust the time to next image on the Picture Frame mode (yet). Fingerprints are more apparent than on iPhone - not sure why, but not a huge deal. More fonts needed in iBooks.

    The Bad: Not enough internal RAM - Safari often needs to refresh a page when you back to it (may be solved in iPhone OS 4.0). Aluminium back looks great, but is heavy - a lighter carbon fibre or similar would be better, especially if it had a tough exterior that you'd feel happy throwing onto a table (like you would a book).

    And the Biggie: it all needs to integrate better with your other stuff. The whole point about vertical integration is that Apple should be able to make all this seamless - yet Google seems to be doing a better job of it.

    If I'm working on a doc in Pages (on my iPad), I want that to be automatically saved to MobileMe (or whatever cloud solution you want), so I can carry on working on it on my Mac or my iPhone. If I've looked through my RSS feeds on NewsRack on my iPad (works great), then those should be marked as read on NewsRack on my iPhone. Etc., etc.

    Well, we'll see what comes on the 7th June, but long experience with Apple has larned me to keep my expectations low - certainly lower than the fevered pronouncements of the the bloggers. Steve Jobs really does need to move on from the whole Flash thingy, and concentrate on making everything in the Apple ecosystem work together - that would be a far better way of selling Apple stuff as "for the rest of us".

  22. Neil Charles

    I haven't voted

    Because there's no 'meh' option

  23. whiteafrican

    FAIL for me, but...

    ...I have seen an iPad in the flesh (so to speak), and I can understand why someone else might buy one. If all you want is a media consumption device that you can take with you, the iPad isn't a bad choice... But personally, I like making stuff, and in particular, Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver are minimum requirements for me. Handwriting recognition and a pressure sensitive-stylus are also great. The iPad can't do any of these things properly, and for that reason, I'm out.

    I'll be sticking with my (now ancient) HP tc1100 tablet until someone brings out something that suits my needs better (like, for example, a device with the features of the HP tm2 - decent specs + Win7 + capacative multitouch AND pressure-sensitive stylus - except in a slate form factor...).

  24. Jean-Paul

    Lack of imagination

    Trouble is many people lack imagination...I for one have already got my large file PDF's on it and for the first time in year can review and annotate a full page at a time instead of scrolling all the time...The article says odd screen size, no...perfect screen size for reading and managing docs...No more paper waste for me...

  25. wab

    Apple iPad - Fail

    it's a no from me.... it's not really that practical and it typical Apple fashion, it's far to expensive.

  26. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    If you want to start a flamewar...

    Just go oldschool. Either say, "you Britards would be speaking German if it wasn't for the Americans"; Or go for the well worn, "The bloody yanks were late for 2 world wars. And didn't even turn up for the one world cup..."

    I'm sure that would get the comments going, in an equal spirit of amity and generosity.

  27. C Yates

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook

    El Reg is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

    I'm pro-apple, but...

    This thing is actually LESS useful than a netbook, so why get one?

    Yes its' sleek and elegant design would impress even the most heterosexual hair-dresser as you get your highlight's done, but why not get a nice gold necklace instead, it'll be cheaper and easier to carry =P

    Pro-apple, not pro-stupid.

  28. Andy 73 Silver badge

    What could have been.. or can be

    I'm amazed that other manufacturers have so much difficulty taking on the Jobsian cult. There are some clear themes in all of Apple's recent releases that make them a pleasure to use and desirable to own. Some of it is far from rocket science, but takes a willingness to put in the effort to deliver. Yet the rival products from a variety of well financed and experienced companies consistently fall into the "it's nice but it's not an Apple" camp.

    Apple doesn't lead on the technical front, nor on price - but it understands the user experience. How is that so hard? The iPad is a perfect example - we use a 12 month old netbook that is a far better machine, cheaper, faster and with broader functionality - yet the iPad is the object of desire when the netbook is just a (very well designed) tool.

    My only conclusion has to be that a single visionary produces far better product than a committee, and whilst geeks have gone mainstream, they still have trouble understanding normal users. If Apple's rivals want to beat apple, they need to set up skunkworks projects led by 'users champions' rather than market segment analysts and idiot savant geeks, and see them through to the high street where the impact can be felt. Anything else is just making hay whilst the boat sinks(*).

    (*) Yes, I know, but it'll stick in your head.

  29. Andrew Moore

    My 2 cents...

    It (like all Apple products) is ideal for the technically-thick.

  30. Christian Berger

    No shell - No sell

    It doesn't have a shell, without it it's just an overpriced terminal. Slash the price in half, install VNC and SSH and it might be usable.

  31. epubBooks

    http://www.epubbooks.com

    El Reg is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

    Have it...don't regret it

    Received mine yesterday morning (was surprised at the early delivery) and although I have issues, I don't regret it.

    The first thing I noticed was; it's heavy...very heavy! It failed my first "real world" test this morning. On the train to work, standing up with a coffee in one hand, I was basically impossible to use for any length of time.

    In use, screen get's gunked up with finger marks very quickly, so I think one of those special pens will be in order, for any long sessions.

    I'm not an Apple head, I don't own a Mac computer (and never will) but so far I am happy with the iPad and think I will use this quite a lot, although mostly with productivity apps--and the F1 app, which looks sweet!

    I actually bought an iPad because I have to check that the books from my epubBooks website all look good and need to try out all those other eBook reading applications, so in one sense I had no choice but to buy one.

    I'd say if you have plenty of cash and are happy to be an early adopter, go ahead and buy one. Otherwise wait a while, let the weight and the price come down, before buying.

  32. Chris McDevitt

    Never buy the first of any Apple kit

    This is yet another iteration of Apples SOP.

    The first version is always wildly overpriced and under spec'd.

    I am going to wait for more connectivity, multitasking, better apps, a camera and more storage - all at a sensible price.

    In the meantime I will carry on using my £200 netbook and not worry about getting mugged.

  33. Kevin7

    Well implemented not sure of need

    It really does look like a machine in search of a purpose. It looks typically well designed but doesn't scratch an itch you already have. If I want media on the telly I'll use Apple TV. If I want a computer I'll use my Macbook Pro. If I want a portable device I have an iPhone. It doesn't really do anything I don't already have. It isn't revolutionary in the way the iPod was -- the iPod was another step on from a device we already had and wanted. There's no doubt it will do things better than say the DS or PSP but where this device sits in fulfilling an established need is something I can't say. Marketing may create a demand for something, but whether it can sustain is something else altogether.

  34. Daniel 1

    Well, I won't get one,...

    ...but it's like modern Jazz, or Captain Beefheart: there too many people out there who appear to obtain something deep and important from it, to say that it's just noise - even if you are deaf to what they are hearing.

    If you decide to run out into the street to shout about why people shouldn't buy this thing, then you'll just end up like one of those freaks who engage people in pubs about why "Shakespeare is shit".

    If you have a negative opinion, then your opinion probably doesn't matter. Don't volunteer to be someone who doesn't matter - because if the entire IT industry is turning in a direction that makes, what you think irrelevant, then it's best to just keep quiet about it and try to hold on to whatever part of it still thinks that you are worth having around.

    And if you think it's like the end of 'The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers', then that's because it is:

    "Where you gonna run to? Where you gonna hide? Nowhere...

    Because there's no one...

    like you...

    left."

  35. PaulK

    Mega Fail

    It's an iPhone for chavs.

    "Like me new iPad pocket Burberry's, innit?"

  36. RichyS

    @Mike Bell

    A huge border may be pointless on a flat screen TV, but then you don't hold a big TV when you're watching it.

    Try and keep your prejudices in check and have a think about whether a large border on a handheld device is a good idea. Still thinking? Good, keep going. Now tell me why books and magazines don't print right to the edge (think of the savings on paper). There you go -- you need to hold them without covering the content/screen.

    Now tell me if the border is pointless. Or is it just you.

  37. Dan P

    What's the point?

    If you need a mobile computer, you buy a notebook or laptop (higher spec, more storage, more flexibility, multi-tasking, real keyboard, flash, real applications etc).

    If you need a touchscreen mobile computer, you buy a tablet (higher spec, more storage, more flexibility, multi-tasking, flash, real applications etc).

    If you need a smaller mobile computer you buy a smart phone (similar spec, similar storage, more flexibility, multi-tasking, similar apps, and the added bonus of being a telephone!)

    The iPad has no point - it's just filling a non-existant void to allow designer name worshippers to worship that little bit more arrogantly and publicly.

  38. DZ-Jay

    Magical Heads

    I wasn't in the queue today, for I'm a 'merkin. I apologize for infiltrating your forum today, but I didn't notice any indication that you were only looking for the opinion of a Briton.

    I recently purchase an iPad for my wife, and noticed that she is using it extensively, to read online news, recipes, play games (PvZ, of course!) and quick look-ups in the IMDB and Wakipaedia.

    I commandeered it last Saturday to give it a go, and after a few hours fell in love with the device. I spent over four straight hours reading electronic books and catching up on various online resources I've been wanting to read. It felt so natural, like when you sit to read a book--intuitive and comfortable. After hours of usage, I had no eye-strain at all.

    Sure, it is not perfect. It is heavier than I would like, but not so much more than a thick hard-cover book--many of which I have. The screen is very glossy, so reading an e-book requires finding the appropriate angle to avoid distracting reflections. I also feel creepy that I cannot block ads on web sites, and that there's little I can do regarding behavioral tracking and such, as I do on my regular computers; but while using the iPad, none of this comes into mind. I feel compelled to use it, *because* it does what I want to do naturally and immediately. As the article suggests, I just pick it up and use it and it responds and provides, leaving little space to distract with its flaws.

    It is so convenient and inviting in many of its features, that I even find myself re-evaluating my personal (and very strong) biases against purchasing music, books, or movies electronically, without a physical medium. I found myself *wanting* to download a particular e-book, because I came across its synopsis and wanted to read it right then and there, and with the iPad it seemed to be just a few finger-presses away...

    I understand that this convenience is shared in many other devices and even from my own personal computer I could do just this using sites like Amazon.com or even the iTunes store. However, there is a lot to be said about sitting comfortably on the sofa, holding a device that feels a joy to use, and that openly invites you to such conveniences. For instance, sitting at my desk, using my personal computer, provides a very different setting; one which colors my mood, or at least distracts me enough to let me focus on such pithy things as personal privacy and philosophy against ephemeral media. This is a very personal thing, of course, but it just *feels* different.

    In my opinion, its flaws are very much mitigated and obscured by its strengths. It is the perfect size for reading, the perfect size for a personal movie screening; and--lets face it--it is the perfect size and medium for engaging on a Plant vs. Zombies attack, just the way the gods always intended it to be played.

    In conclusion, it is my opinion that the iPad is a magical device, with many well devised and polished features that will replace many of the functions we currently use a smart-phone, desktop or laptop computer today, precisely because we did not have a better suited device available. Until now.

    -dZ.

  39. PaulR79

    Good starter, far from perfect

    I think it's a good thing in the long run even if I don't like the restrictions and unfortunate decisions on the iPad like 4:3 ratio screen. Why? It gets a lot of competitors scrambling desperately to make their own tablets to try and grab a slice of the pie and when the competition gets going I hope there will be far better devices. I'm personally keeping a very close watch on the Notion Adam Ink tablet but with HP buying Palm their tablet also has a lot of potential if done properly.

    The unfortunate thing with competition is that a lot of poor efforts are put out there and it will inevitably lead to labels of "iPad killer" or better alternatives will be compared to it. Another bad point for competition is that the alternatives available right now are poor at best with a lot of the potentially better options due nearer Christmas. The iPad, for all its faults, is available now...

    If anyone is wondering why I even want a tablet I think it's in part due to seeing tablets used lots in Star Trek but also the fact that my laptop is used mostly for browsing and the occasional short video watching session. The laptop seems bulky and overly complex for this as well as being far from practical trying to use it in bed due to heat and ventilation issues.

  40. ThomH

    Not magical, not mediocre

    It's interesting but not magical. So which way do I vote?

  41. Stu

    UP

    I find it amazing that people are slating the wide bezel of the device. Well just how the hell is anybody meant to use it without a bezel? - as you hold it you'll be registering screen presses! Its there for a reason.

    The lack of Flash, for me, is no biggy either. Lets face it. 99.999% of flash content out there now are badly coded adverts. Some sites cobble together literally tens of the things on one page, and it slows down my 5 year old Intel tablet laptop (HP TC4200) to an utter crawl on any browser. Just imagine what even a well optimised Flash applet would do to browsing on the ARM based iPad?

    The iPad brings a fun, functional interface, multitasking is on its way in autumn, and frankly what people are lambasting about its functionality (and did so probably for the iPhone too) will be mostly fixed up by third party apps (and was for the iPhone! And so already IS for the iPad, with limitations).

    As for Apple lock in, well a lot of content, incl BBC iPlayer are recognising the popularity and are going to be specifically recognising and providing for the iPad. YT is already there, hopefuly somebody will do something about Vimeo, MetaCafe etc eventually. Music online purchases may be locked into iTunes, but lets not forget that Spotify with a premium account still works, not to mention Pandora. And have people already forgotten that DRM free purchased MP3s or whatever, can be transferred to it from ANY online music store!?

    So stop moaning people! I'm no Apple fanboi by any stretch of the imagination, you wont catch me standing outside the Apple store cheering people on the way out the shop with theirs, thats just sad. But It sounds like the h8rz can't see the wood for the trees and see the iPad for what it truly is without the surrounding media negativity - theres a definite case of overblowing all the negative aspects out of all proportion.

    I would even go so far as to say that with the keyboard addon used where appropriate, it IS a decent creative tool for any document writing, possibly also website design right on the iPad, and lets not forget Photo editing using the (albeit expensive) camera connectivity kit. Or drawing/painting with that Brushes program. What is missing now amongst the above, will most certainly be catered for by third party apps in due course. The sky is most certainly the limit, especially when u consider this is only the first iteration of the device!

    Video editing on it!? 3D graphics scene creation (with obvious limits) and rendering? Music creation? Document writing? All doable.

    So a huge thumbs up from me!!

  42. CurtisB

    http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/

    El Reg is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

    Etch-a-sketch

    Pro's - It's a secure device (just shake to erase). It's battery life is amazing and you can take notes and draw with it. It's also light weight and cheap.

    Con's - It's mono screen is somewhat old fashioned, and it's UI is cumbersome and somewhat basic. Like the iPad, it won't handle flash or Java content and is very much a locked down device in terms of applications. The iPad has a better web browser (just).

  43. Inertia

    macbook wheel

    The Onion got it right a while back with the MacBook Wheel video. "Great if you're just screwing around and don't have any actual work to do".

  44. Mike Bell

    @RichyS

    Books and magazines have tiny border in comparison to the monstrosity that is the iPad. Let me guess, your glasses have very thick rims, don't they? Or perhaps you forgot to put them on today.

  45. Adam T

    Wait a year

    I've had one for a month now.

    Everyone who sees it likes it, but that's to be expected...Apple have the First Impressions tack down to a fine art.

    It *is* very good at what it does, but I have to agree that it doesn't do quite enough. The App Store app on the iPad itself is utterly awful. 150,000+ apps? Try finding them. Scroll through the top ten charts, click MORE several times to see further into the chart...click on an app...click BACK...and it returns to the top ten! Sod that...

    iPad Safari also reloads pages if you leave a page and return to it... so don't fill out a form and then leave the page before submitting.

    To be honest, I use my iPhone more than the iPad, even for email (I'm using OS4 beta, which makes iPad's OS 3.2 feel positively crippling).

    So, give it a year - maybe even two. iPad has no competition yet - and it's good strong competition that brings out the best in a product. And in 12-24 months, you'll have more choice...

  46. Logicub

    comparison

    I love the fact that there are conversation going on around the internet about Android hailing what it *will* do later this year and how all is good and right in the Android world because of a pending update to the system. But, goddamnit, iDevices just don't multi-task NOW! Stupid Apple...

  47. Commend

    Mehmet

    Okay it is good it is fancy and yes it is must have a gadget just like those with iPhone, but my concerns are:

    1) Screen is small A5 size (maybe a little smaller

    2) cost of it yes 600 pound does it worth it???

    3) Concern, the fact is it doesn’t play Flash so still most of the Web sites are based on Flash player... (What is the alternative can we still watch those Flash Media, is there are converter implemented???

    4) How easy to read PDF documents, and others like Word, and text based format documents on the go???

    5) Do you think it will eventually stop you buying a news paper to read on your Journey to work or on the train???

    6) 200-300 Small Laptops are does all these things, and again way beyond as well...

    If I find answers to those above I will own one but in the mean time I am just going to wait and see if there are anything flaky about it...

    I am sure there are few things wrong but wait and see what other rivals comes up with...

    Overall it is very cool and nice to have one, if you have 600 pound spare cash...

  48. Luke McCarthy

    I'm looking for a tablet for web browsing...

    ...but the iPad isn't what I want.

    * It's a bit too big and heavy - 7" screen would be more portable

    * Resolution of 1024x768 is an improvement over smartphones but it could be better

    * Microsim - err, no, regular sim please.

    * Nothing to protect screen, a cover that flips round the back would be good

    * Restricted OS - no thanks, give me some kind of Linux

    I'll wait for a competitor's product.

  49. ColonelClaw

    You know and I know

    That Apple will develop it up to be a bloody good product. And it's pretty good for starters.

    You can slag it off and live in denial all you like, but it will be a well-liked computer that sells an absolute shitload.

  50. Gilbert Gosseyn

    Missing the point..?

    Thing is; it's not a netbook, doesn't pretend to be a netbook and isn't trying to do a netbooks's job. Most of you fail miserably to understand it from an ordinary person's point of view.

    You may all be happy formatting drives, typing commands and installing drivers, but the vast majority of ordinary people simply have absolutely no interest in all that. Because of this they appreciate more than you realise the advantages of something as simple as the iPad: no moving parts or flip up lids, an interface that you can learn by trial and error, the overall "it just works" experience.

    It's much easier to leave this device lying around the living room or under the sofa with the remotes, and I'm sure the vast majority will be used simply for sofa-surfing.

    Contrary to popular opinion here, ordinary folk are really not stupid enough to spend £500 on a device simply because "it has the apple logo". They're annoyed they have to spend £500 on the only device on the market that does what THEY want without all the downsides of laptops, netbooks, touch screen phones etc.

    Apple have tapped into the crowd of people who, just as they wouldn't consider re-gassing their fridge, don't consider typing "convert C: /FS:NTFS" acceptable.

    Having said this, I can understand where you're all coming from: A device that "just works" and doesn't need someone to dictate "convert C: /FS:NTFS" over the phone every few weeks, puts you out of a job.

    I know you all hate me now.

  51. John H Woods Silver badge

    New voting buttons

    magical - meritorious - medium - meh - mediocre

  52. Tom 64

    Get that crap outta here...

    If someone made one that runs Windows 7 for a similar price I'd have one.

  53. Tankut Erinc

    One big shortcoming: Flash

    I think it's a beautiful device. Sleek, well built, light, very nice screen, good battery life, a doodle to use to boot.

    But the exclusion of flash kills it for me.

    Thing is, I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat for mom - so she could use it basically as a web appliance, and maybe look at photos, bit of light calendar duty and check mail. The lack of multi-tasking, the very real Apple fascism, the inability to access the filesystem are not really important, not for her. Probably neither would the App Store be of much relevance.

    But a lot of stuff she likes needs Flash, such as a lot of web videos, a lot of website interface elements etc. HTML5 won't cut it, not any time soon.

    So I think it's crippled/less than useful where it really counts. For mom.

    I? I use a HTC Desire myself, and plan to get her a premium Android tablet when they arrive.

  54. Micha Roon

    pointless

    it's just a big fingerprint magnet. And I don't like it when the manufacturer decides what applications are good form me.

    But I am not the majority and Apple knows a lot about marketing and being cool. The cool factor is decisive.

    I never understood people buying 400€ Jeans, but they do. Go figure

  55. Michael 27

    Nothing really new here..

    HP and many other have been making tablets for years, maybe XP tablet edition was not very good but the hardware has been there for a long time.. now with windows 7 the tablet manufacturers that have been maknig them for years will start releasing new ones designed aronud win 7 then we will see a proper tablet...

  56. Rob Daglish

    Grrr. Ever heard of "Compromise"?

    I went to Apple Store Newcastle and got one this morning. Despite a queue when they opened, they still had stock so I cancelled my stupidly long pre-order (how hard can it be to work out how many you need when people HAVE ALREADY ORDERED THE BLOODY THING?) I'm going to use it for a while before I make a judgement, but at the moment, I think people are looking at it like the first people to see the motor-car - "great, but where does the horse go?"

    And finally, one commenter wanted a bigger screen (>12") , the other wanted a smaller screen (~7) - why not compromise and go for one around 9" - now that would be a magical and revolutionary idea wouldn't it... I've never yet found a computer that is absolutely EVERYTHING I want, they've all been compromises, but it depends on what is an acceptable level of compromise to you.

  57. Tinal

    So

    When's the NetBSD port for the iPad come out? That might make it actually useful.

    I just bought a netbook and absolutely love it, EeePC 1201N, decent enough battery life, fast, and it runs a real OS!

  58. dave 93

    blah blah blah

    It's crap. No wait a minute, it's brilliant.

    Lazy, lazy lazy Register. Disappointed

  59. Paul RND*1000

    Very Cool, but...

    It's undoubtedly cool, in the "gadgets for gadgets sake" way. If money was no object, I'd own one already.

    But money *is* an object, so what it can do and where I can take it become important, how cool it is stops mattering. And there's the rub, in it's current iteration the iPad strikes me as the worst of several worlds: the sort of limitations usually associated with smartphones, but in a form factor that's not "everywhere, all the time" convenient.

    If I'm going to put up with even one phone-like limitation, I want the thing to fit in a trouser pocket. On the other hand, if I'm going to be stuck with a device that won't fit in a pocket, I'd quite like it to be a fully-functional computer, even if it does have a touchscreen keyboard by default.

    In other words, make the second generation iPad be half-a-Macbook, and we'll talk. Until then, iPad is for other people who are cooler and richer than me, and who consequently don't have to justify every purchase on the basis of actual usefulness.

  60. Marty

    Apples latest product....

    Having just released the iPad in the UK, Apple have announced the future release of the iPad nano...

    An iPad that will fit in your pocket and complete with a phone function... they will beaccepting pre-orders as of next week.... the two versions will be dubed the minipad or the maxipad....

  61. Walt French

    It's NOT intended to do what desktops or laptops do!

    “Disruptive Technology” is NOT meant to do everything its predecessors can. It's meant to do MANY things faster, easier to access, more accessibly.

    And so the iPad does.

    Great for vids, quick surfing, reading, ... Not too bad for shorter emails, twitter, etc., and usable sometimes when a notebook or desktop wouldn't be handy. NOT a replacement for stuff I use at my office that does major processing or ties into secure systems that can't be accessed over any wifi.

    My needs are met well enough by a combo of an iPhone and a loaded-to-the-gills MacBookPro, so I'm not getting an iPad soon. But it sure looks compelling and I laugh at quibbles such as its using a micro-sim in place of the older standard.

  62. AndrewG

    wheres....

    The "I just don't give a crap" voting button

  63. Naadir Jeewa

    From my usage so far...

    Not enough apps have been ported.

    iPhone "emulation" is a bit buggy.

    Should have included much more RAM - seems same as 3GS, and with higher resolution means there's less RAM overall for apps.

    Not great reliability from apps.

  64. nsld

    @ gilbert

    My six year old has an acer aspire one a110 running linpus lite and she doesnt have to do anything to it, she plays games, browses the web and reads stuff straight out of the box.

    It just works and the closest it gets to a bash script is when she drops it.

    And for £200 it was well worth it.

  65. Mike Downie

    Meh

    I went into the Apple Store in Newcastle today and had a play with one. Underwhelmed is the word. It looks lovely and it works very well, but even holding it in my hand with my own rampant fanboi-ness, I just simply couldn't see the point of it. If it had a full, or even cut down version of OSX, or be as it is for less than £200, then I'd reconsider. I'd rather put the £430+ towards a new MacBook or iMac if i'm honest

  66. Putonghua73

    @Gilbert Gosseyn and Tankut Erinc [nail on head]

    Absolutely agree.

    I can see a market for this type of product that just works, and does all of the multimedia / email / social networking stuff effortlessly, intuitively (think iPhone user-interface and experience) and *if* it performed seamless integration with other Apples products and services.

    My mother - like Tankut Erinc's mother - would be a perfect candidate. She is not technically minded in the least, and nor should she need to be technically minded to fulfil her requirements. In this context, I equate "technically-minded" (and pejorative terms) as an euphemism for 'poor design / execution'.

    That said, the cost is simply too prohibitive at the moment, features too limited and the lack of support for Flash is a major stumbling point.

    As other posters have stated, this is a piece of disruptive technology that clearly has a market (communications / e-reader / multimedia / social-networking), and has potential for creative industries - I'm thinking decent pen device for input - but maybe 12-18 months down the line once there is more competition, maturity and the 'oooh shiny!' tax has been removed.

    I'm happy with my Samsung NC10 netbook (dual-booting Ubuntu and Win XP) and either an iPhone or HTC Desire - to fulfil my requirements. Yet I do see a market for the iPad and similar products (especially if the device allows annotations with pen-input device - I'm thinking for e-reader functionality) and could maybe be tempted down the line. But I got stung with the Opus E-reader - sitting in it's box, awaiting my return from China to sell on secondary market - and am firmly sitting on my hands for 12-18 months, before deciding if my mother will receive an iPad (or similar product) for Christmas.

  67. Jacek

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpad

    El Reg is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

    Simens Simpad

    Nothing new here Apple, move along!

    Simpad was:

    - Lighter!

    - Common OS (Win CE)

    - Can have any communication module by PCMCIA Card

    - Standard ISO/IEC 7816 SmartCard interface build-in

    - Linux can be installed-

    - Price starts ca ~AU $50,00 at ebay

  68. Goat Jam

    @Tom 64

    "If someone made one that runs Windows 7 for a similar price I'd have one."

    hahaha, nice one. That was a joke, right?

    So, how would that work exactly? Let's take a look at that shall we?

    First, to run Windows 7 we will need some sort of hard drive storage, so we'll have to add that. The pad will need to get a bit bigger of course to fit the drive. Cost a bit more too. Also, a lot more RAM will be required, a minimum of 512MB I expect, perhaps more. Oh, we will also need an x86 processor because thats all Windows will run on so maybe an atom will have to be added to the unit. We will need to bump up the size and cost a lot more to fit all this in of course. Now, all this extra stuff will draw a lot more power too, so we'd probably better triple the battery size, or maybe even quadruple it if we want to get to a 10+ hour battery life. Have to make the device bigger for that too.

    Great, so here is our Windows "ipad". It's a lot bigger than the apple one, far heavier and considerably more expensive. The Wimp UI is not suited to touch screens at all but it does run Solitaire great! It also gets real hot and despite the huge amount of batteries we dumped in it the maximum it will run between charges struggles to exceed 5 hours.

    Oh well, at least it's not one of those crap apple ones tho!

    Here's a clue for you Tom 64, there are already Windows tablets out there, have been for quite some time. People, including yourself, have had the opportunity to purchase them for 10 years now but for some reason that is apparently unknown to you, they simply don't.

    I'll tell you why. It's because Windows tablets, without exception, are big, clunky, hot, expensive and TOTALLY CRAP.

    You will never see Full Bloat Windows run on a device with the ipads form factor EVER.

    Get used to it.

  69. NightFox

    Get a grip

    Love it or hate it - in what way is a device that's already sold millions a FAIL? It doesn't matter how good or bad it is, it doesn't matter if the wrong sort of people or buying it for the wrong reasons. The only thing that matters at the end of the day is whether it's selling or not. Do millions of people pick them up, play with them, go "wow!" and buy them? Yes.

    Talk about blinkered by your own opinions!

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