iPad

[michaelb104]

I will stand up now and admit that I'm a bloke and I like gadgets but I have not been able to justify to myself let alone my other half that I need an iPad.

Over xmas the step-daughter came home with one and I was yeah ok just like my iPod but bigger, that was until I checked out my photo's on Flickr with it, wow, they looked just so much sharper, better colours, definition of detail, better all round actually.


I think I might just have found a justification, well to myself anyway......................now to work on the OH   

[Colin]

I got one a couple of months ago and agree with your comments about looking at photos. A couple of other justifications for you you can Facetime with your step daughter (a much better version of Skype) and anyone else with an iPad or latest iPod Touch this alone sold it for me with SWMBO so she can see our grandson in the UK whenever she wants, also some of the magazines like Light It are very good. The camera connection kit allows you to see your photos on a large screen straight away. For me it was a great investment and SWMBO uses it almost as much as I do.

[jinky]

Having dallied with the idea of getting a bridge camera and deciding I wanted to keep the quality of shot from my D700 I too am thinkking maybe a tablet. Coming from an anti-Apple perspective - don`t know why I just do- I was lookin g at the samsung galaxy and the Asus Transformer and sliders which get good write ups. Then looking at my own images in the shop on those and the Ipad I thought - for the same money why would I. The picture quality is superior as are the apps it seems. Add face tome to convince my wife how useful it would be to keep in better touch with my eldest daughter and I am nearly there. If only I had not bought the 3G Kindle a couple of months back it would be easier again to justify.

[Hinfrance]

OK, grumpy head on here.

I hate iPads, and the Galaxy, and all of their ilk. At times last year we've had all manner of devices brought into the house by our visitors, and I have personally acquired a Kindle (a Christmas gift) and an android 'phone. I speak as someone who cannot work a touch pad on a laptop on account of some EM problem with me, I guess. Just moving my finger near a touch pad often makes the pointer jump all over the screen. Typing on a touch screen virtual keyboard is close to impossible for me. I hate my new 'phone for much the same reasons - I cannot, for instance, 9 times out of 10 actually answer an incoming call. As I move to press the accept call button it seems it thinks I am pressing random areas of the screen and all hell breaks lose. OK, slight exaggeration, but I do find it hard to use. It works perfectly for my wife and daughter.

Apple screens look fabulous, right up until they are covered in greasy finger prints, and even then they still look good from straight on. Apple do this in much the same way that Behringer enhance audio - it makes you think it is a lot brighter and crisper than it actually is by flattering the most sensitive ranges in our dull human perceptions. Clever, but fake. The Asus, despite its impressive battery life looks dull in comparison.

It seems to me that you cannot actually use one of these devices without some kind of stand. Even my Kindle 4 weighs much more than most 'dead tree' books, and, of course begs to be held in one hand only. So I usually read it propped up on a real book to angle it towards me. And my opinion of eBooks has not changed one iota. I use the Kindle for classics only (free), re-reading those I have forgotten. There are a few novels that I would like to acquire. A quick search on Amazon revealed them to cost about 25% more as eBooks than real books. I suppose that must be because of all the additional printing, distribution and stock holding costs . . (VAT is a poor excuse, there is no marginal cost of production for an eBook, add onto VAT very much and you still have not very much).  But an eBook is like paying for a library service. You own nothing, cannot lend it to anyone, cannot sell it or donate to charity when you have finished with it. Real books are a sensory treat, tactile and olfactory as well as intellectual. The batteries never go flat, and I won't lose everything if Amazon go bust.

People seem to caress their touch devices with move delicacy than they would a lover, or more caution than they would a poisonous snake. Quite scary that.

Of all the devices that came to our house in the hands of guests last year the clear winner was an HP netbook. No, the screen wasn't all Shiny®, but the battery lasted about 8 hours, it ran like a TGV on a record attempt on Ubuntu, has a real keyboard (yeah!), it's about the same size as a pad, and it had a 320GB hard drive. Not to mention costing a fraction of the price of a fondle slab. And the teen who brought it also had an iPad, but he couldn't talk to his girlfriend in the States on that, it wouldn't play. He used the iPad to play games and watch YouTube, and the HP for 'serious' stuff.

So in conclusion, if you're going to buy a fondle slab, buy an Apple and get a mortgage to run it and replace it with the new Shiny® thing every year or so. But remember it is essentially a device for consuming media and very little else. If that's all fine for you, then get one. Just don't bore me to death with it.

And by the way, it is rumoured (probably a leak from Cupertino) that a duo of new fondle slabs will be out in April.

[Beryl]

My son bought me a Android tablet for Christmas.

I can log onto this site all the others I belong to and  comment and do most of the things I do on my computer whilst sitting in First class on the train carriage.
I can watch films form my card.......................... I like it 

[Hinfrance]

My son bought me a Android tablet for Christmas.

I can log onto this site all the others I belong to and  comment and do most of the things I do on my computer whilst sitting in First class on the train carriage.
I can watch films form my card.......................... I like it 

You could do all that with a netbook, and for less . . but as yours was free, hey, why not? 

[Beryl]

I have an HP laptop but on the train the android is so much smaller so doesn't need so much room

Oh and it has 8 gig mem and a 16 gig card

[Cathus]

My name is Garry and I love my iPad. (had it about 3-4 weeks)

I love gadgets full stop.

thank you.

[spinner]

I've had my iPad since last summer, a collaborative birthday gift from my wife and kids. It has been used as a mobile portfolio, an email distributor, a holiday photos repository and processor and as a somewhat unsteady mini video camera.
I did go through a period where the shine wore off but it's back in action. We, as in the family, use it a lot when watching movies, (eh, whose that? where've seen them before, what was that movie they wuz in again) it's a great little source for information and such. Well loved in my house anyway.

[spinner]

Oh, I did get a little silly downloading apps I don't really use anymore, except Jamie Olivers Recipes!!!

[picsfor]

The fondle slate? Whatever 

I've had an iPad2, 64gb non 3g variant, since my birthday last year. I don't carry the Toshiba laptop around with me any more, and it almost done all the functions of a laptop whilst in Las Vegas.

Screen is so nice, and it's customisable. Mine does exactly what i want it to, with very little overhead in weight and bulk when taking it out on days out.
Mine is mainly fitted up for photography with very few games on it. Mah Jong, Solitaire and Backgammon - so i think you can see where my games interest lie.

Is it the cheapest thing around? Of course not - but on a plane and train it comes into its own.
Is it the most convenient portable computer about - of course it is.
Best of all, all the data is automatically backed up if you set it up that way.

Would i ever buy another laptop? Only a 17inch MBP if i was making my living out of photography and made trips that required a desktop on location.
Otherwise - sorry laptop, but you've had your day!

[Oldboy]

This is the only ipad I would ever use! 

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/aol/imageDetails?s_it=imageDetails&q=Joke+Ipad&img=http%3A%2F%2Fi1100.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fg413%2FPia_T%2Fipad1.jpg&v_t=aoluk-homePage50&host=http%3A%2F%2Fpiafans.net%2Fforums%2Fdo-you-want-ipad&width=123&height=124&thumbUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages-partners-tbn.google.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcTHeWZ_EVP2tgZUue7sxdwfk9z745ZDDZ3OC4d88em8Ojj386R1si7Iag%3Ai1100.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fg413%2FPia_T%2Fipad1.jpg&b=image%3Fpage%3D30%26v_t%3Daoluk-homePage50%26q%3DJoke%2BIpad%26count_override%3D20%26oreq%3D9c55cb0ab35d4c58bf3f52b2808e89b2%26oreq%3D83f3790c71084664a8664811d97e2840&imgHeight=402&imgWidth=400&imgTitle=it+was+a+good+joke+for+ya%21&imgSize=22865&hostName=piafans.net

[jinky]

I agree with the finger print rant H but you can get a case that effectively switches it on and off and forms a stand so no issues there - doesn`t even have to be the dear apple one. As for th Kindle - I got the 3g one  a little while back and love it. Free if limited use of the internet means it is the one I take away with me - even if I end up with an ipad. As for boks where do you get them from to pay more than the actual book? I just got all three of " The Girl who " series for a combined outlay of £9.49 when one would have cost me £7.99! No brainer. It also means that once we finally get rid of the last couple of hundred books to a charity shop that I will hav emore space around me. I never re-read a book except by accident. Still to each his own. My wife cannot work my HTC wildfire smartphone with her pointed nails but I love it.

Right as I come down from my high of watching us hammer Man Utd I shall go and read my kindle 

[Beryl]

I have a laptop because two of my sons live up the other end of the country and yeah I can see me carrying my PC and all in a rucksack when I go for holidays. So my son bought me a laptop 

[ABERS]

Of all the gizmos and gadgets available on the market I have just one, a Kindle. It seemed the only one that I would have a practical use for, and what a boon it has been. It's got me back into reading habit, especilly all those books that you have always meant to read but never got around to, and it's those 'classics' that seem to be cheaper than most.

Why and for what purpose I would need to carry an iPad around is beyond me but I am sure there are perfectly good reasons for doing so. I rarely have a mobile 'phone with me and I don't think I'm missing anything.