This is an actual, real-life review of the Apple iPad, from a user who have spent better part of a day playing with the new Apple iPad. We are not mentioning here, however, the true name nor whereabouts of this person, to protect privacy.
Straight from this user – while Apple iPad excels in many thingss, there are still some things anyone considering buying should probably keep in mind and think to the highest degree. On the good side of things, the Apple iPad is very fast. Opening and closing applications is quick , the screen is incredibly responsive, and there is no lag while typing, and the built-in Safari web browser does a great job of quickly loading even graphics- heavy pages. Nothing different from the iPhone experience on speed, if you ask . The screen is absolutely gorgeous while it is on. It is crisp, bright, and very easy to see from even wide angle. This lightning speed must be attributed to the Apple A4 chip which Apple designed and developed in-house, to realize total command on graphics and other user interface components . Apple spent almost a billion dollar developing this proprietary processor.
For balance, let’s go to the not so good side of things with the Apple iPad. As has been thoroughly pointed out, there is not presently much in the way of multitasking inside the iPhone OS, but with most expectations pointing towards a summer release of OS 4.0 this might be remedied by mid summer, and almost certainly by a generation 2 iPad release. On the practical side, it should be kept in mind that on such a little screen being able to view multiple applications at once will likely never be something you’ll use, and the speed by which you can open and close applications makes this less a headache than you might think. It isn’t as fast as moving between open apps, but it isn’t a deal breaker by any means. The lack of a camera in this generation is a little surprising, while many have purchased iPad already, the number of competitors likely coming out over the course of 2010 and 2011 will offer a generation 2 with a camera. It’s still an astonishing device, but the ability to video chat with it would unquestionably put it over the top, that’s a feature worth waiting for. The lack of Flash support isn’t as irritating as was foreseen, but still something one has to consider. Many major sites have evolved to html5, or are in the process of doing so. This allows for full viewing by the Safari browser, and where it exists, it works great.
On other aspects, battery life seems to live up to the claims, and you can manage to get about 7 hours before getting the 20% remaining battery life warning , which puts it about right for 10 hours or so of total use. One very important thing to see about charging the device is that presently, at launch, there are some issues with charging via USB from many computers. Why? The iPad is different than other iPod products, as it requires a bit more electric power to charge up. Unfortunately most USB ports aren’t set up to support that higher power draw .
How about the iPad being a possible laptop replacement? The inclusion of the iWorks utilities gives this device a little bit of a laptop personality. But don’t let that persuade you into believing that you don’t need another computer anymore. You might be able to get away with ditching a laptop if all you really do is e-mail or very light word processing. Good example is probably a stay home mom who just want to do emails or link with Facebook friends. But if you do anything more than that, you’ll like the freedom and ease a full computer offers for more complex tasks. That said, this device is a phenomenal leap towards time to come tablet style device that may very well be a total substitute for your computer, but for now it is more of a casual use device than something you can really expect to do hard core work with. You can put together a exhibit in keynote, which was easy enough to do, but pages isn’t as intuitive as you would have liked, and taking lengthy notes or writing long letters/e-mails/reports will probably make it worth considering buying either the keyboard dock or the wireless bluetooth keyboard.
In summary , the iPad is an impressive device that might make for a reasonable replacement of a netbook for light computer users. For people who need something to really do a lot of work on, you may find that for the price that a netbook or laptop still offers the better value for your needs. Future generations of this device will probably transition into fitting that market better than this first generation. However, if you’re an avid reader, casual gamer, music fan, who doesn’t do much more on the web than check a few sites, connect in social sites and e-mail. This thing is definitely worth considering! If you’re on the fence, nothing about this product is so fantastic as to justify running out and buying one right now, but it is worthy of your consideration if you’re thinking you might like a tablet style device. Just go and play with one at Best Buy or an Apple store near you to get a feel for it. With a number of competitors due out over the next few months we’re likely to see some price movement, or a second generation release, so it may be worth it to wait it out a little while. The Apple iPad is a lot of fun, and many are not the least bit sorry to have bought one. It does many things, and over the next months will do many more. If you think you want one, go play with one, and if you don’t want to wait for a next generation this one is definitely awesome. If you have specific needs that aren’t really addressed in this iPad generation, then don’t let the hype or peer pressure bully you into this one, there are a number of devices coming with great potential, one of those might be a better fit.