Falling out of love with the iPad | Hacker News Reader

Falling out of love with the iPad

theregister.co.uk

42 pointsZeroGravitas38 comments

Editor :- "I know what will get us more eyeballs: Another article about the iPad"

Journalist :- "But there is nothing left to say"

Editor :- "sure there is - start small - say, how you no longer love it. In a day or two we can do 'how the ipad ruined' my marriage. In a couple of weeks we can have 'how the ipad made me homeless', and THEN we will be scraping the barrel..."

Despite that, it's a better review than all the reviews that came out before the iPad launched. Almost two months of use for a review is far better than describing how it feels when you first hold it.

It's the first review that has really mirrored my experience with the iPad. Although the blush wore off in a week for me. Different usage patterns I expect.

It's worth noting that this is a UK site, and the UK iPad launch just happened, so it's not just beating a dead horse, or headline trolling, this is relevant, timely reporting for its intended market. I also thought it was a far better review than most I'd read.

Not really. The vast majority of iPad articles are just "first magical experience" reviews. I haven't seen nearly as many actual reviews of how people feel after a few weeks with the thing. Anyone can dash off a quick first impressions article, and it seems like everyone has. It's nice to see an more thorough review of what having one is actually like, especially after countless articles claiming it will change your life.

Unfortunately, I have the same problem. I have two PCs that I am always sitting at when I am home. I rarely use my couch. And the PCs are just a little bit easier to use and faster to use than the iPad, so I can hardly use it for that.

The one thing I used to use the iPad regularly for is as a todo list with "Things", but this has a minor problem that is very annoying to me - when I lay the iPad under my head, I can see the reflection of my face. This makes me feel self-consious, so I don't like using it.

I would not get rid of the iPad, I like having it around (and it was absolutely brilliant for travelling), but I hardly use it when I am around my PCs, which is most of the time.

I have two PCs that I am always sitting at when I am home.

One reason I bought the iPad was to very deliberately force myself to stop sitting in my computer chair all the time. I can use it in bed, I can use it on the couch, I can carry it from room to room, I can prop it on random objects.

But maybe that's not for you. Everyone's life is different. At last we begin to glimpse the future of computing, the one we have been waiting for: Where recommending a computing device to someone is going to be like recommending a brand of underwear. There are going to be special-purpose computers for everything. Already we have special computers just for music (the iPod Shuffle), special computers just for reading (the Kindle), special computing hardware just for making you exercise (the Wii Fit)... if anything, the iPad may be more of a general-purpose computer than one can expect to see in the future. It's like a device for prototyping the single-purpose computers -- which will, of course, no longer be called computers -- that our grandchildren will use.

How many of us geek-types buy a cheap crap IKEA couch, and an Aeron chair? I bet most of us have a more ergonomic office chair than couch.

For those of us that are married, that may not be true. Once you have a family, you tend to spend more time away from your main computer(s). The iPad is designed for that use case of bite-sized consumption.

And remember folks: this is iPad version 1.0. What happens when there is enough computing power in it to replace an entry level laptop?

> What happens when there is enough computing power in it to replace an entry level laptop?

They release a new one with half the CPU power that's slightly thinner and lighter and has room for more battery?

I would love to see an ergonomic couch!

Edit: (Sent from my Aeron)

I think the biggest problem people have with the iPad is viewing it as a "more portable computer". Personally, I view mine as a binder+magazine+psp.

Before, my evening would go: get home, play with the kids, eat supper, think "oh, I need to do a couple of things on the computer before I forget", "well, since I've taken the effort to come in the office... may as well do x, y and z". Before I know it I've spent the whole evening in the office and now it's time to go to sleep.

Now I don't have to go in the office for small things. I get home, put the ipad on the living room table. Someone will pick it up, doing something on it and put it down again.

Ironically, I think the fact that you don't stay in love with the thing is exactly why it's going to change everything. A general consumption device that isn't intrusive. Remember life before cell phones? "oh no, I'm away from home and I need to make a call. Rats, I don't have any change on me..., ok, got some change at the restaurant, now to find a pay phone... glad it's pissing rain". It was really intrusive. Today I don't even notice my phone is with me until I need to send an sms or make a call.

"Full disclosure: I write this as a fervent fanboi who has used Macs since literally the first day that the original Macintosh 128k became available in 1984."

Pretty much every negative view of an Apple product has something along the lines of this. It's like he knows the kind of reaction he'll get to his own, personal and informed opinion.

Seems unprofessional to use that spelling of 'fanboy'.

And using the word 'fanboy' is professional?

Marginally.

Didin't read the whole article but I'm incredibly frustrated with my iPad already.

iTunes is such a pain in the ass for syncing files. I was playing around with loading up some comic books for an upcoming trip. A nice directory structure of .cbr files on my computer is mangled beyond repair when turned into a flat list of files to add to a single app. The app (Cloudreaders) offers organization via tagging, but re-tagging 500 files is untenable. The iPad needs to expose itself as a USB storage device that I can drag folders onto, security sandbox be damned.

No background processing is disappointing for a hacker like myself. I've been building an in-browser HTML5 audio library. MP3/M4A playback works extremely well on the iPad's Safari. Until you open a "new page" or jump out of the browser. Thankfully the current song doesn't stop playing, but no Javascript events fire so the next song can't start.

I also do miss Flash for various reasons. Flash can extract waveform data from audio files to perform visualizations for example.

Battery life, blah blah blah, I need a computer I can hack and script.

I use Chrome and have my bookmarks synched across many computers, so Mobile Safari is a black sheep anyway.

I do get in the zone on my iPad when I'm reading some PDFs or comic books, watching ABC or Netflix, or playing pinball. The size and touchscreen and battery are amazing. So it's not all bad.

But it's a toy, not a real computer, and that's frustrating to a hacker like myself.

To be fair, most of your complaints are extreme edge cases:

- More than 500 comic books in .CBR format untagged. - Javascript events don't fire while Safari is running in the background.

What percentage of the 2 million iPad owners even know or care about javascript events firing while Safari is running in the background? 0.00001%?

but it's probably important for those who have to make the apps for these 2 million users.

Yeah they are.

The iPad will continue to sell like hotcakes and millions of people will continue to be extremely happy with it. I understand why Apple targets this demographic and a simplified experience, catering to my needs wont sell more iPads and could in fact weaken the experience for other users.

The only thing I hold against Apple is that I love my OS X machines so much -- they are the the ultimate hacker toy, great hardware, pretty OS and you can drop down to a unix shell. They've spoiled me so the iPad stings a bit!

So for now I'm actively watching the tablet landscape for a more open device. I know I'll be happier with one, and I hope to write some software that will make other people happy too.

I've fallen out of love with mine... although I still do think it is a cool device. The issue I have with the iPad is you can't really chat with friends online and do anything else at the same time, which is pretty much what I use my computer for when I'm not at work. It's now been relegated to being a portable TV.

1. IM+ has chat (every major IM system) and web browser in the same app.

2. Multitasking is just another word for accomplishing less, but more slowly.

1. IM+ sucks

2. Thanks for repeating something you read on the internet in a patronizing way

Mobile OSX 4.0 is bringing multitasking to the iPhone. I think it's a safe assumption the iPad will get the same brand of multitasking soon (next week?), not least because they share apps.

Unfortunately the 4.0 software update isn't planned to be released for the iPad until the Fall. Which is frustrating to say the least as I would rather have multitasking on the iPad than the iPhone.

> 2. Thanks for repeating something you read on the internet in a patronizing way

You read it here first, since I composed it. Google it.

Your criticism of how the parent poster uses the computer when not at work is based on reduced productivity? Have you ever heard of relaxation and entertainment??

No, it was based on the parent poster being mistaken.

> "The issue I have with the iPad is you can't really chat with friends online and do anything else at the same time"

You can chat with friends online and do something else at the same time: surf the web. The IM+ client for iPad has a browser built in, allowing both to happen at the same time.

Additionally, since IM+ and BeejiveIM support push, whenever you're not actively typing, you can simply quit the app and do anything else. When someone replies, you see the message without interrupting what you're doing. If you click "View" to type back, it does interrupt. By contrast, the IM+ built-in browser doesn't interrupt.

Also, I'm not sure "IM+ sucks" is an accurate or helpful statement.

He doesn't like IM+, which is his right, but the user ratings are quite high. I use BeejiveIM for its meta-contacts grouping, but occasionally appreciate IM+'s integrated web browser. Even though I prefer BeejiveIM, it's not clear that IM+ actually sucks.

In any case, on the iPad, you can chat with friends online and do something else at the same time.

I'm not mistaken, you're just being dense. Of course I know about IM+, AIM and Beejive. The experience of chatting while doing other stuff on the iPad is vastly inferior to chatting while doing other stuff on your laptop. You can't play a game and chat at the same time, you can't watch a movie and chat at the same time, you can't use any app and chat at the same time. You are limited to IM+ and the IM+ built in browser.

Regarding IM+ sucking, the latest revision is much better than it used to be.

I was recently given an iphone. The OS ruins what, hardware wise, is a nice device. I was told "Any time you need to ask 'Can the iphone do this?' the answer will be to jailbreak it."

And that was dead on. Overall the OS is disappointing. I never really bought into the idea of Steve Jobs crippling his products creating an issue, but now that I have one I'm starting to despise Apple for their decisions.

It definitely guarantees I will not spend money on an ipad. Luckily my phone was free.

(sidenote: I was given this iphone because it had been run over by a car and easily repaired by ordering a new screen. Very sturdy device.)

Same result here, but we went a different path. I bought the iPad for myself, but pitched it to my wife as a casual computer that she could use to browse Facebook, the only thing she really cares to use a computer for. When I got it home, I was immediately frustrated by the setup process and saw it as a foreshadowing of frustrations to come.

When I gave it to my wife, it took her 5 minutes to say that she'd never use it. And she gave one reason. You can't chat on Facebook AND do something else on Facebook. For example, you can chat and browse your friends at the same time. She handed it back to me and grabbed her 13" MBP and never thought about the iPad again.

It's a shame really. A device pitched as the greatest wife-computer of all time, and my wife hated it within 5 minutes.

Wife-computer?!?!

Tablet + Android + PixelQi = iPad + eReader

Have you been following the announcements at Computex?

http://Armdevices.net has some videos with various Pixel Qi prototypes and apparently "several" actual products are due to be announced by various manufacturers today. They also do a iPad versus Pixel Qi in sunlight demo, but it doesn't tell you anything you don't already know.

There's also a bunch of tv-connected HD media players running Android, with one priced at $40.

Thanks for the info. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qLB_eHazQo&feature=relat...

Now if only some company will get their act together and actually let me buy one. It feels like I've been seeing demo's of these devices since the dawn of creation.

Why they didn't simply make a touchscreen MacPro is beyond me. The iPad is crippled.

Another technophile power-user (somewhere in 1% of the iPad market) finds that it isn't a machine for technophile power users.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com