iPad doo dahs

[wahwahwah]

so come and tell me about these new fangled things

[niceguy2]

1. Rock up to Apple Store
   
2. Hand over your credit card to trendy looking chap/chapess in blue T-shirt
   
3. Return home with shiny
   
4. Be happy.
   

It's not a laptop, it's not a replacement for your PC. Use it and be prepared to think "wow!"

[wahwahwah]

But what does it dooooo?
How much memory is reasonable - if I get the 8 will it be teeny tiny, or will I be able to have lots of books and apps on there?

[5GoMadOnAZ650]

I have a 16gb wifi only and love it! I didn't need 3G as my iPhone can be used as a hotspot and I tether my pad to my phone.

[wahwahwah]

How much can you get on there?

[5GoMadOnAZ650]

So far I have 1,021 songs, 22 videos, 65 apps and 6.5 Gb's left.

[niceguy2]

What does it do? You can surf the web on it. Play games, watch videos & listen to music. Practically everything a laptop can do. Except it works instantly and you don't have to wait for it to load, you don't have to worry about viruses etc.

You can't get 8GB, the smallest is 16GB and it should be more than enough for most people. You can get a ridiculous amount of music onto it and I managed to take enough videos to last a long haul flight to Asia & back.

Personally I'd say the 3G isn't worth it for most people since you'd then have to buy a SIM card with data. And 99% of the time it will be sat on the coffee table and not on a train/bus. Besides which you'd look a bit of a tosser on a bus with one.

[BadgersPaws]

"if I get the 8 will it be teeny tiny"

There's not an 8gb version, the smallest is 16gb.

[5GoMadOnAZ650]

Nice guy is right, I saw a bloke at the pantomime last Christmas playing on his iPad during the interval, he looked a right cock!

[BadgersPaws]

"Practically everything a laptop can do"

Well not quite everything as well... An iPad is great for content consumption, watching videos, playing games or listening to music for example. It's not so hot for content creation, I wouldn't like to put together a big document or presentation on one. You can do this but the interface isn't really up to "heavy" use, Apple themselves admit that the design goal of the iPad's word processor (Pages) and slide show package (key note) were to let it tweak existing documents or to create simple new ones, they don't think of it as being a complete laptop replacement.

This may or may not be much of an issue. Also at present you need a computer to sync an iPad with, so you're going to have a "proper" computer around for that "heavy" work anyway. Though that said Apple are going to do away with that requirement...

"Besides which you'd look a bit of a tosser on a bus with one."

I see a lot of iPads on my daily commute now, lots of people are using them as big mobile devices for when they're on the go.

[BadgersPaws]

"I saw a bloke at the pantomime last Christmas playing on his iPad during the interval, he looked a right cock!"

That somewhat bizarre reaction to people using them will change, similar things were said when mobile phones first began to appear.

And as said above I now see an awful lot of iPads and Kindles on my commute.

Me I still prefer a book, but it's impossible to deny a shift in what is seen as "normal" to be using on a train or bus.

[wahwahwah]

We'll probably use it for books (family of bookworms so luggage is generally one suitcase ofreading materials) and idle amusement (I did see an app of the moon where you could zoom in and twirl it around). I do see a lot on the commute.

[BadgersPaws]

If all you're after is reading then it might be worth considering getting a Kindle. The screen of a Kindle is much easier to read in bright lighting conditions than an iPad's is so for holiday reading it's much better. The Kindle is easier on the eye as well, the lit up screen of an iPad can cause some people to feel a bit "strained" when reading it for a long time, the Kindle is just like reading paper. The battery life is also much improved (it's about 10 hours for an iPad, it's about a month for a Kindle).

But a Kindle is just one thing, a book reader, it does that one thing brilliantly but it's a one trick pony.

An iPad can do many many things and does them all very well, but it can't do the book thing as well as a Kindle.

Horses for courses....

[niceguy2]

i agree with Badgers. if all you want is to read books, Kindle's are way better suited to the job. I find reading for any lengthy periods hard work on an ipad and indeed any long typing I tend to wait until i get to a real PC. So for example I'll happily read MN from my iPad but if I have to reply more than a sentence then I'll wait.

[Doyouthinktheysaurus]

I have a kindle and an iPad. I wouldn't use my iPad for reading, the kindle is much easier to read on. The mat screen and smaller size of the kindle make it fabulous for reading.

I love my iPad though. I do all my web browsing and MNing on it, it's great for watching the Iplayer or 4od and just a thing of general loveliness.

[wahwahwah]

What's 3G?

[BadgersPaws]

"What's 3G?"

Fast(ish) mobile internet, exactly the same thing that modern mobile phones also use to communicate.

However coverage is patchy and many areas can't get it, in that case the gadgets drop to another technology which is more widespread but a lot slower.

[wahwahwah]

Do you need it on an IPad if you are not going to use it for email?

[BadgersPaws]

"Do you need it on an IPad if you are not going to use it for email?"

You don't need it even if you do want to use it for email.

iPads come in two main flavours.

WiFi: This can connect to WiFi network points like the sort you might have at home or in coffee shops. You can then get onto the internet.

3G: If the iPad can't get onto a WiFi point then it will try to get onto a mobile phone network to "talk" to the internet.

The internet isn't just about email, it's about browsing, it's about Mumsnet and it's about all sorts of other things.

[spudmasher]

It is lovely.
My dd has just dropped mine on the floor and smashed the screen and I am mumsnetting to try and distract myself from throttling her (she didn't do it on purpose) The lovely apple lady on the phone has made me an appointment at my nearest store where they will fix it. I am going to miss it. The appointment is not until Saturday.

It is lovely. I use it for work- emails and I love the calendar as it keeps me organised. The kids play games on it a lot...but I might have to review that in the light of recent events...