The first iPad man at Apple Store Palo Alto on Flickr - Photo Sh. First impressions. Reviews for techies. After a surprisingly short wait in line at our local Apple Store, where about 100 people lined up for their reserved iPads – and another 100 who didn’t have a reservations – we finally took possession of our very own Apple tablet. We will take a closer look at all the apps, hardware and iPad-optimized web sites over the course of the next few days, but here are our first impressions after spending some quality time with the iPad. It’s Very Fast, A Little Bit Heavy and a Little Bit Magical Without a doubt, the first thing you will notice is the sheer speed of the iPad.
Web pages render very fast, switching from landscape to portrait mode only takes a second – even in image and video-heavy apps like the Popular Science app or the ABC Player – and apps open extremely fast. The device itself is light for its size, feels very solid, but still feels a bit heavy when holding it with one hand. A More Intimate Experience Apple uses the word “magical” whenever the company talks about the iPad. The Unauthorized TechCrunch iPad Review. For some strange reason we weren’t invited to test drive the iPad early.
But easy-to-get stories are never fun anyway. And there has always been another way to spend time with the iPad other than a freebie loaner from apple – the third party developers. Scores of developers have had iPad’s for weeks now. They’ve had to sign non-disclosure agreements, and have the iPad locked in a separate room that random employees couldn’t access. And even that wasn’t enough. The iPads are literally chained to the desk with steel cable and a lock. Apple comes by the office with a suitcase, installs the iPad in a bolted case, chains it to the desk and locks it there. What’s more, Apple has told developers that they are monitoring the location of the device as well. But one thing I have had the chance to do is test iPads at developers who’ve been willing to bend the rules a little. But play I did. And the iPad beats even my most optimistic expectations.
That’s what surprised me the most. iPad Review - First iPad Review, I played with it on 1/27. Update 4/5/2010: we had much more time to write an in-depth review if the iPad. It supersedes this one and can be found here: iPad Review. Shortly after the Apple Launch in San Francisco, we had the opportunity to play with an iPad for long enough to have an idea of how it feels to use one and how the iPad looks in the real world. After months of speculation, we have to say that the overall pre-launch perception correct was at times correct (hardware+OS) and plain wrong on other topics – like the pricing. You’ve seen all the info, and now it’s time to answer the question: how is it to use one? Responsiveness The first thing that I pay attention to in a touch device is how “responsive” it is.
Watch the responsiveness of the iPad (fullscreen for HD view) The computer is the display The second thing that is critical to a touch display device is… well… the display! Better than E-ink? Connectivity Wifi, or Wifi+3G Movie Playback iBooks Playing with eBook and the iPad (switch to fullscreen for HD) Reviews by the press. FAQ. When will I be able to get one? If you hit the stores, I suspect your local Apple store may have some in stock. This isn’t iPhone level hysteria. If you order one now on-line, though, you won’t get one via UPS until April 12. If I go today, will I still be able to get one? Call first, but I doubt they’re totally sold out everywhere. WiFi/3G or WiFi-only? I’d say 3G, but that’s just me. Can I jailbreak it? Not yet, but GeoHot has been working on a method that may soon work.
Will I break it? Will I scratch it? How are ebooks? How are the games? The HD games are great. How are movies? What size? I travel a lot and want to read. Heck yeah. How about PDF/doc support? Typing: Doable? Should I get one? Do you want this to be your music iPod? Do you want to watch movies on the plane? Do you want to get a little work done on the road? Again, there’s no telling what iPad 2.0 will be like but if history is a guide, it will be slight hardware improvement and some new features. Sentiment Is Split On The iPad: People Either Love It, Or Hate O. Now that the iPad is here, and everyone who waited in line has one in their hands, the opinions are coming in from actual consumers and everyone else. All of this iPad mania is splitting people into two even camps: either you are one of the few who is lovingly stroking one in your hands right now (or wish you were), or you don’t get what the fuss is all about and just want to stop hearing about the stupid iPad.
If sentiment on Twitter is any guide, people Tweeting about the iPad either love it or hate it. And the haters are a slightly larger group at 51 percent. TweetFeel is showing 59 percent positive Tweets rights now. Most of the positive Tweets are along the lines of “Man, this iPad is sweet!” Or wishing they had got one today. The negative ones are more like this one: You only need the Ipad if you are a giant ok people? Or telling everyone to shut up about it: Or this one: In honour of the release of the stupid iPad which is stupid. Is the kindle dead? Ever since Steve Jobs first announced iBooks for the iPad, pundits have been wondering about the future of the Kindle and similar e-book readers in the face of this new competition. Now that we actually have access to an iPad, we had a chance to take a closer look at both the iBooks and Amazon's Kindle for iPad apps. We are still waiting for the B&N iPad app, but both iBooks and iPad for Kindle already highlight the iPad's potential as an e-book reader. iBooks It doesn't come as a surprise that Apple managed to develop the prettier e-reader app.
Switching from the iBooks store - which looks a lot like the App Store - to your bookshelf is done through a nifty animation. Newly downloaded books and samples smoothly slide into the bookshelf and thanks to a faux 3d look and a page-flip animation, the app itself mimics the look and feel of a book. When you click on a book in your shelf, it flips open and zoom to the page you left off. The iBooks app can also read DRM-free ePub texts. iPad wtf. Mac and co.