Ask HN: How many people here use iPad?
Initial hype has ended. Time to check how many people actually bought an iPad? If you are a user - what do you think about it? Would you buy it again today?
Not so good for running IM type apps where you want them to background. Not so great for a lot of typing, since the keyboard is a step back from the iPhone, with keys moving around inconsistently, and various weird foibles (shift key coloring? WTH?).
The iPad was rushed out with 3.2 as a stopgap, and it shows. It's a great device, but it needs iOS 4 and a camera badly.
Something is definitely wrong with your iPad, and you should take it into an Apple Store to have it checked out.
Yes, absolutely. And I think I'd buy the same model of 16 Gig Wifi/3G that I bought this time. Thus far, with some music and a good selection of HD WWDC 2010 videos, I'm still only at 8 Gigs used.
Watching these videos (I8n, UIScrollViews, CoreText so far) in a comfortable setting whilst feeding the baby have been the killer app so far.
The iPad is not a laptop, it takes up much less space, much easier to handle, doesn't get hot, doesn't have a fan. Though more limited, its relationship to laptops is similar to how much of a jump my 20" iMac was over a regular PC desktop. Less space, less noise, less heat.
It has very nearly replaced my computer for casual computer use, leaving my computer for work, occasions where I need to do especially tab-heavy surfing, and the odd bit of Flash usage. My hours of daily casual computing have moved from the office to the living room, kitchen, and deck, something that hasn't happened before even with both a 15 inch and an 11 inch laptop in the home. My girlfriend loves it too, and will grab it from me to pull up a recipe, do a quick search, etc.
It has also proven to be a more-than-capable gaming device running everything from casual match 3 games through light strategy (Strategery is a must) on to board games we can play together (Small World and Carcassone are also musts.)
On the work side, I use it often for background reading (the Apple HIG from front to back, for example, and that isn't a short document), quick bits of research, etc. whether at the desk or as a chance to get away from it for a little while.
One of the best things about it has to be its ability to disappear during use, leaving you sitting or standing with the application in your hands, not a device. Or at least it seems that way, and that is certainly not something that laptops or desktops (or even handheld or living-room-bound game consoles) do particularly well if at all. That you can then set that application down on a table for a moment or hand it to someone else so naturally is something that you will have heard about the iPad but really must experience for yourself a few times to truly understand it. It seems like a small thing but it fundamentally changes one's relationship with computing and the computer.
The iPad can't and won't replace traditional computers for everyone, but from what I have seen and have heard from other purchasers it is certainly proving itself as a device that can replace most 'casual'/'personal' usage of traditional computers for most people most of the time.
Would buy again in an instant!
I use it for email, reading (news, books, Instapaper), surfing the web, watching netflix, scrabble, etc. I also use it as my todo list, calendar, notepad, and doing mockups while in meetings with clients.
I imagine I will always have something in this form factor going forward.
Oh, and the 10 hour battery life is great. I don't feel tethered to a power outlet and never feel the need to conserve power on a cross-country flight.
But... it's a work in progress. No flash means a lot of sites don't work. (The thing seems like it was made to obsess over google analytics, but no dice.) Safari in iOS is, well, not quite up to snuff. In genreal, the software all needs a little more refinement. People just haven't figured out how best to use a device like the iPad, and the software shows it. I expect this to change dramatically in the next year. It has tons of potential once developers get a chance to fine tune the UI.
In a nutshell, I'm very happy with it, but 2-3 more generations from now is when the magic will happen.
Overall, the UI on the iPad feels like the iPhone, which isn't really optimal for a larger device. It needs more thought, which I'm sure is happening right now as developers get a feel for the iPad.
It's very much a V1 product.
Hover for a touch device?
It also has abysmal javascript performance compared to its desktop counterpart.
But I'll take it, warts and all.
It dawned on me that in the near future, people won't buy laptops and ordinary computers. They'll buy devices like the iPad. Only developers will use PCs.
Also, don't underestimate the "future factor" when using an iPad. It might sound a bit funny, but when I use the iPad I feel like I'm actually in the future that I imagined when I was a kid. I mean, it was only a few years ago that I saw THE INCREDIBLES and the hero got an iPad like mail -- I thought that looked awesome. Now I've got one in my hands.
I'd absolutely buy an iPad again. In fact, when it's released in Norway, I might get an additional 3G version.
Sometimes I wish Safari could be a little more stable. I'm finding that when I go to a page (like The Big Picture) that has lots of large images on it, Safari on the iPad will crash.
Areas still lacking: 1. Multitasking! 2. Browsing the app store on it is painful and clunky 3. I still prefer tabbed browsing. The switching animations in Safari are overblown.
Not to mention, it seems all the freakin apps cost $10, due to all the developers who heard how well the iPhone apps were doing and jacked up the price of the iPad apps.
Macbook Pro + iPhone are a good enough combo, an iPad doesn't add anything new. Perhaps if you didn't already have the first two.
When I grow rich, I would like to have these instead of the photo frames in my house. And then it will be like Hogwarts. It's really magical.
Are there any Android/Open-source powered tablets that are slated to be released soon?