I use mine almost exclusively for reading blogs in the evening. My girlfriend enjoys just browsing about on it. That's about it - no photos, no videos, no audio. Minimal gaming. I also use Goodreader for technical PDFs.
Aside: It's been four months and there's not really a sniff of a competing product yet.
It truly has changed huge portions of my life. I initially bought it somewhat second guessing myself thinking I was buying an over-expensive toy that I would regret, but have changed my mind drastically. Now someone would have to pry it away from me.
My laptop used to be tied to me wherever I was in my house, but now it has essentially become a desktop because I have almost no use for it. It is larger, clunkier, gets very hot in my lap, has far shorter battery life, etc. I had a netbook but almost never used it because it was so slow it was unbearable. To jump into a browser and get to GMail was a few minute endeavor which quickly left me so frustrated I'm surprised the thing did not end up out my window.
The iPad is fantastic for most of my everyday things such as checking my email, web browsing, etc. It's always on and FAST, so I am never frustrated as I was with my netbook. I no longer have to take my laptop with me on trips as the iPad will suffice in most scenarios. If I'll be gone for awhile, I bring a bluetooth keyboard and have iSSH which I can use to connect to any of my servers on the road. Once I've got an SSH session open, it is not really much different from using a laptop. When I'm on a plane, I can spin up multiple movies back to back and its 10+ hour battery life means that I'll almost never run it out by the time I land. No laptop could compare to that and it is in such a small, convenient package.
I still use my "real" computers for development, but for almost everything else, I use my iPad. In fact, it is very nice to separate my development from my time-wasting viewing. Now I do nothing but development on my laptop and have my iPad for casual browsing. That separation is very nice.
And one of the uses I did not anticipate when I first got it is the photo sharing aspect. Now anytime I am with family or friends and I mention something such as a trip I took, I can pull the iPad out (I take it with me everywhere because it is compact enough...I did not do the same with my laptop) and casually flip through photos, giving them visuals to accompany my stories.
My latest "killer app" is OmniFocus; their iPad implementation is stellar. It truly has changed my workflow and my ability to keep things prioritized. I previously was using the iPhone version of the app doubled on the iPad and it just wasn't all that great.
I would seriously recommend one of these to most family/friends looking to pick up a computer because it would do everything they need and be quite a value. My sister asked for a recommendation on a computer and was looking at some systems that were $1000+. Since all she does essentially is check her email and browse the web, I coaxed her into getting an iPad. She saved a few hundred dollars and has loved the device far more than a laptop. For more developer types, it is less viable as a replacement and more of a lifestyle augment, but it was a purchase I would make again in a second.
When I go on vacation though, I expect the Kindle will be in heavy rotation as my primary reader though - particularly out in BRC during the day.
Netflix, even with it's so-so iPad interface is frequently in rotation, and when Hulu-Plus -finally- sends me an invitation, I expect to get a lot of use from it.
Videos are in frequent rotation.
I've spent way to many hours on Games (PvZ, Build-a-Lot,BloonsTD)
DropBox/Good Reader/Instapaper get rotated every other day. Innovative Use: I have a Go program that I worship (SmartGoPro) - and every Friday Night, when I get together with a Friend for our six-hour Go session, we go through a bunch of Life-Death problems, both new and old, on the iPad.
All-in-all I really like how the iPad and the iPhone compliment each other. I use the iPhone for taking pictures, Blogging, GPS, SMS, eMail, instapaper a lot. But I find that general browsing I now typically reach for the iPad.
The Laptop at home gets very little use - only when I need to hop onto Terminal.App or use Remedy (Grrrr Flash) do I actually bother to open it up.
WSJ is killer - I open it up every morning and read it on my walk to/from work + they keep improving the App! The WSJ really, really are good. What's going on at the NYT - they've totally lamed out on the iPad.
Of the three magazines I read - Time, Popular Electronics, and Wired - Only wired really wowed me, and now I actually look forward to the new magazine coming out. I haven't looked forward to the day a magazine comes out in 20+ Years (Dragon Magazine).
So, for me - iPad is a huge win. Looking forward to iPad with a retina display. :-)
Could you explain this? The only thing that's been holding me up from preordering a K3 is that I'm not sure if I want white or graphite.
I went through three (3) night lights on my Kindle(s), and was never happy with any of them. Glare was really annoying, which is tragic if you think about how well the Kindle normally handles (sunlight) Glare.
Here's hoping the Amazon Night Light solves it. Kindle + iPad have really inspired me to start reading again.
I'm looking at getting upsold by $110 on a $139 device. First it was "well, $50 for 3G everywhere forever is probably worth it". Now it's "$60 to keep my now-$189 Kindle nice and to have a light that doesn't suck is probably worth it."
If there's a review for the new one that says, "This doesn't suck," then there's probably a review for your previous 3 that says the same thing...
very adjustable, read hundreds of hours with it, no glare problems.
It's a "laptop lite" so to speak - for most basic uses it's brilliant. When I'm on vacation and I don't want to write code (or pen long, important emails), the iPad is pretty sweet. It's also gotten me reading again, which is a nice plus.
I have the 3G version, so it's also a really nice way to just chill out somewhere and check Facebook or something without having to worry about WiFi (or carrying a dongle).
Also: as an enthusiast photographer, I find it incredibly useful to show people photos. It's an incredible screen - better than most desktops and laptops have - and it's just perfect. I've had multiple pros express the same sentiments.
I use it principally for:
-Reading. iBooks is awesome. I love how it syncs your place so you can pick up on the phone. I haven't used the Kindle app much (which does the same) because most of the books I read are old and freely available in epub or PDF. I also use, to a lesser degree, Instapaper and Reeder. I used to use Stanza but the lack of sync is a deal breaker. Sad really because it's such a nice app.
-Playing Music. I use it as a banjo tuner with OmniTuner (an iPhone app) and I also use TabToolkit and GuitarTookit as well as PDF's with written music and tab. It's more convenient than lugging around books or loose leaf paper.
-Listening to Music. The speakers are good enough to make moving it around from room to room and using it for background music nice.
-Occasional Browsing. I really don't like browsing on it and it feels like the only browsing I do on there is wasting time. I get the nagging feeling that I should just be reading a book, or doing something off-screen altogether, rather than browsing. The tabs are clunky, the browser is slim on features and typing is too slow.
-Mindmaps, Mockups. I don't think it's the ideal tool (yet) for either of those activities, but I sometimes do both if I don't have the laptop handy. iMockups is pretty nice. I'd put OmniFocus on there if I hadn't already spent so much on it for my Mac and iPhone. I'm not dropping another $40 for it.
-Etc., Games, Email, Evernote, Netflix, YouTube. I play Carcassone and Settlers. I use Flashcard apps to try to teach my baby to read. I respond to emails and write notes in Evernote. I'm not a big fan of typing on the iPad (I prefer the iPhone keyboard) so I use it for email less than I expected, but still, it's nice to have it there. I thought I'd use it for video all the time, and the times I do, it's wonderful. I'd guess I watch a movie on it twice or three times a month.
Overall, I'm glad I have it, I'd probably miss it a lot if it was gone and, as you can see from the list above, I've integrated it many areas of my life. Strangely though, I don't have a strong emotional attachment to it. I don't get excited to defend it and I don't sell it to friends/family. With the iPhone I couldn't wait to recommend it to everyone I know.
We use it for a lot of browsing. I have a laptop and a Mac Mini connected to the TV, so when my girlfriend is over (often) she uses it to browse, browse YouTube clips, catch up on news, Twitter, etc. it's quite handy.
I got a copy of Air Video and the associated free server for Mac, and we use that to watch TV or movies in bed (we watched Lisa's Wedding the other night to celebrate Lisa's wedding).
For games, I finally got her into PvZ by loading it up on the iPad, and then putting the thing down for a few minutes. There's also Dig It HD, stick golf, and a few other casual time-wasters. Also planning on getting Scrabble and the Scrabble word tile iPhone app for myself and my girlfriend (and other friends), to try that out. Interesting use of technology.
I started reading comics as well, though I only browsed through a few free or cheap issues available on Comixology. I also found myself getting frustrated with books, so I loaded up digital copies of Scott Pilgrim on it, and found myself reading much faster than I normally would.
Likewise, I read more on the iPad (and now, my iPhone 4) than I have in recent years, mostly because of the convenience of having books anywhere. I mostly use the Kindle app, just because the iBooks store was devoid of non-free content when the iPad launched in Canada, and Amazon has a better selection (plus I can shop from my laptop).
Losing it wouldn't be devastating, but it's incredibly convenient. I take it with me most of the time when I leave the house (I have the 3G version) and it's nice to be able to just load something up.
It also helps me be productive on my laptop because I can mentally associate work with the laptop and leisure with the iPad.
The same about the iPhone 4 which although available in the US for almost 2 months, has just been released to some other countries.
I've been using my iPad extensively. My main apps are:
- Evernote with auto-sync to my MacBook Pro. It's great for simple note taking. Still wish it had a stylus and sufficient touch resolution.
- iAnnotatePDF and Goodreader for PDF reading. I use the former if I need to markup the text.
- Netflix. The streaming video is awesome if you have good Wifi.
- Dropbox. I loved my Dropbox account before, but with the iPad it's now irreplaceable. My 50GB dropbox account serves as my extended iPad disk system. Any paper, ebook, etc., can be opened in my iPad app of choice.
- E-mail and Safari, of course.
- Flixster, IMDB.
I have the cheaper 250MB 3G account and only use it when I'm away from decent WiFi.
For me it's just a very expensive browser. I spend 10 hours a day in front of a computer screen at work. When I come home in the evenings, I like to minimize my screen time. I usually limit myself to checking email/facebook/twitter for about 5-10 minutes only. On weekends too, I like to spend less time in front of a computer. And if I do, it's work, so I have to use my work laptop.
So the iPad did not really make any sense. Check email, check out CNN, HN and check out twitter. 5 minutes a day and $600?
The other thing I noticed is that there are significantly fewer apps for the iPad as compared to the iPhone. And iPhone apps look plain ugly in the iPad.
Basically seems like an overkill for me. I know, different strokes...
The point is, it's incredibly versatile, and it does a lot of things very well. On top of all that, it's light (but feels sturdy), it's small (but not too small), it can go a few days of casual usage without a charge (so I can plug it in whenever is convenient), and it's easy to use.
I paid $850 Canadian or so for the 32 GB 3G version, and other than the first day, when I was trying to get a hang on what to use it for and where it fits into my life, I've never wondered about the purchase. Using it to read news articles and RSS feeds, then switching it over to recipes so my girlfriend and I can make truffles before we curl up in bed and watch a movie on it, it's really a wonderful device. I could do all of that on my laptop, but it would be more cumbersome, take up more space on the counter, run out of battery faster, weigh more, etc.
Makes consuming academic papers and online lectures much more palatable (that's the main reason I bought it). I'm pretty fast at typing on it only problem is often I hit N instead of spacebar.
Not into the handheld gaming scene but it's got me back into online chess - iPhone screen was too small for that.
Not done a lot of book reading but on the other hand I installed a pagedump of Wikipedia for offline access, so as a reference tool it's brilliant (I also have a Python Docs app). Makes a good compliment to desktop computers for when you need a second screen for something. Or use it as a TV/radio.
And of course I'm sure many great apps will be invented in the future.
P.s. It's worth stressing just how great the battery is - genuinely lasts all day, greatly enhancing the portability factor
I often hit spacebar instead of N! Perhaps meeting like this will cancel out our habits... :)
There was a week or so where I used Instapaper a ton, and I also read a series of comic books on it.
I'm decidedly meh. You could steal my iPad and it would likely take me several days to notice.
Reading on it is not my favorite, I much prefer the Kindle. My wife has the same problem. :) When I get a new Kindle the iPad will likely be relegated to its dock for reference PDFs.
Haven't synced any photos, music or videos as iTunes is atrocious and I really don't care to deal with it at all (except for OS updates)
App store organization and usability is also atrocious. I I have yet to be able to find games applicable to my pre-school aged kids. The process is completely random now, trial and error which is great when you have an impatient 4 year old and a crying 2 year old.
I've bought 1 app for $0.99. A Craigslist app which I like but it feels silly considering I can browse the same data via the web.
I'm now traveling so I wish I did have some photos and video that I could use to entertain the kids (since I can't find good games!) and also myself as I have no TV late at night.
I expected some dual use for business/sales meetings (I'm a web developer) but have yet to pull it out for that reason.
Also feel kinda douchey telling/showing people about it so that has me concerned as most see it as a very expensive toy (which it is).
Have to say not having Flash has been somewhat of an issue. Also some web apps like Google Analytics don't seem to work at all.
When I was on vacation back in June, I was floored that I needn't even take my laptop with me. An iPhone and iPad was all that was required (the iPhone was the GPS, too), and we could plot out stuff to do, read restaurant reviews, and check with work stuff all without feeling like "work", if you can understand that.
It's like the mythical "third place" of computing technology. That thing between the little smartphone and the big smart computer: A "smart" thick client, a mainline into exactly what you need. Even the fact that it doesn't do multitasking (yet, but even when it does, not really) makes you focus on what it is you're doing at the time, stopping "wikidiction" and other time sinks that persist when using a computer and all its multitasking splendor (and horror).
Dropbox + omnigraffle + numbers + keynote + safari + mail means I basically have all the information I need when I'm out in usable form.
I do have a ridiculously large case, though. I've been wondering if I should go for the apple case as opposed to this incase thing that makes the footprint larger than my Dell mini 9.
For example, I was sitting and waiting for a friend outside of JFK yesterday, parked in a long line of cars. I wanted to go through some emails and resumes that had come in. Sitting in the driver's seat of the car, I found the iPad to be absolutely perfect for this task -- it was too cramped to pull out my MBP, and no reason to squint on my iPhone.
I hate to sound compromising, but the iPad really is the ideal "in between" machine. There are times when you only need the phone (on the go), and there are times when you need a full-sized machine (MBP or a desktop). The iPad is letting me discover those random times when an in-between device just fits.
Shameless plug: since you mention GoodReader, I'd like to point out that we've written a PDF reader called Folio ~ The PDF Reader, more details about which can be found at http://ballisticpigeon.com/folio, which does an excellent job with technical PDFs. In particular, we do up-front fulltexting of your whole library and let you search across it as well as providing very fast results (with context, highlighting, etc.) inside documents. We do the usual family of things you'd expect (Dropbox and MobileMe integration, integration with iTunes and Mail, etc.), but you can find out more about that on our website.
Bonus: iPhone version (as a universal binary, free upgrade) coming soon.
The Folio Fit-to-width functionality (only available in landscape mode) is already able to detect and automatically crop white margins at the top and at the bottom of pages, so why not create a mode that automatically crops all 4 margins in portrait mode?
Another much needed feature is text highlights and text notes. Since Folio already has the ability to select text, it should be no big deal to add this to the app. Make the highlights and notes syncable a-la Kindle, and I'm sold.
One minor nitpick: Most apps seem to place their Back/Up button in the upper left corner. The Folio "Library" button should be on the left and the search button on the right.
Your killer feature for GoodReader is an important one, we're agreed on that, but I hate GoodReader's implementation. I don't like the idea of making the user do something manually that can be done well heuristically. We're hoping to ship a smart crop feature that does good margin detection on most PDFs in one of the next couple point releases. With the iPhone/iPod Touch version coming soon this feature goes from "really nice to have" to "necessary".
Highlights and notes with syncing between Folio instances is coming soon (which will make more sense when we introduce the iPhone/iPod touch version). We've also got plans for syncing with things like SkimPDF and exporting plain old annotated PDFs, but syncing between Folio instances will come first.
> One minor nitpick: Most apps seem to place their Back/Up button in the upper left corner. The Folio "Library" button should be on the left and the search button on the right.
Done in 1.0.2, showing up in the App Store when Apple feels like getting around to it. I had reasons* for putting it where I did that, at the time, I thought were good ones, but you're right that it really is a back button and we should just treat it as such.
Again, thanks for the feedback. It's always nice to hear ideas from people actually using the app, especially when they confirm that we seem to be on the right track for future direction of the app.
* In case you're curious as to how it ended up where it is: I wanted the "Import" button in the library to be in the same place as it was in the iWork apps, and I wanted the search button to be in a consistent location between the two views. Also, I saw the "Library" button as more of a "Done" than a back button (in fact, it sends the doneReading: selector to our reading view controller), and Apple is somewhat inconsistent about where those go.
I use it primarily for email (default app) and reading (Kindle + GoodReader) during my commute to work. I watched a couple of movies on it during some recent long flights, it was a much better experience than watching on my laptop mainly due to the amazing battery life. I also play some games on it - FlightControl, RealSoccer, some Chess app.....but not a lot.
I do not use it at all for photos (due to the pain of copying pics over, and no real use case) or music (my iPhone is much more useful for that).
Strong positives: Great reading device, amazing battery life, very good screen, much lighter than my laptop.
Complaints: Can't do any real work on it (the touch keyboard is a pain), and it could have been a bit more lighter (~0.5 kg ideally)
I've also found (and this is goofy I know) that because an iPad page is shorter than a book page, I have an increased sense of momentum reading long-form books; pages are flying by faster than they did in the actual book, and I always know how far I am from the end of a chapter.
This probably would have been true for the Kindle as well (I don't own one), but the Kindle didn't come with an excellent web browser or a zillion games my kids like, so I was disinclined to buy one.
I now have to decide whether to get one or not _now_ or wait for v2
Non-techie adults seem to be proficient after <5 min of explaining basic operations and I liken the intuitiveness of its interface to that of an elevator - once you've got the basic concept you're good to go.
I don't think the current iPad is itself a revolution, but I do think it's the first step.
I started out using it with a bang, but the flow of iOS 3.x was no where as smooth as just using my laptop. Reading in Safari, switching to email, switching to the iPod, etc. it's still clunky and mildly frustrating.
Also, my fingers are getting fatter as I get older, so I'm constantly tapping the wrong fricking thing which is uber frustrating.
The reason for no 'multi-tasking' is that people generally do one task at once. You read twitter, you click on a link, you post it to Facebook, you play a game, etc. Most people I know fullscreen their apps on computers anyway, so switching back-and-forth to copy/paste something is already the normal use-case. It's really not that big of a deal.
My parents bought one because they are both recently retired, and wanted a computer they could bring on the many trips they take.
And no, you can't have mine.
I'm sure Steve will be along in another few months to sprinkle a little magic dust on the product and start up the waka waka machine...
I use it for media access (movies/tv shows), documents (books/PDFs) and a little web browsing. Email stays on the BlackBerry tho'. Actually even at work I'm using it, as a third screen for reading documentation on.
I suspect there is room for improvement via keyboard scaling/tuning for different size hands and input needs. I _really_ wish I could drag and drop my own keys onto the various keyboard layouts...
It's a purchase that I feel no regrets for making, even though it's a first version and the next iteration will be better.
The things it does really well are:
- Cooking using recipes from the Web - Instapaper - Tumblr (reading, that is) - Watching ABC TV programs - Reading eBooks (I've only done Kindle stuff so far) - Catching up on missed TV shows via iTunes - Reading instruction/repair manuals from the Web while using/repairing stuff - WeatherBug - Reading Apple's developer documentation
The things it doesn't do:
- Flash video, audio, and games - Objective-C/Cocoa Development - Multitasking (but soon, probably iOS 4.2)
If I weren't occasionally developing iPad apps I would consider selling it, simply because I probably have more useful things to be doing with $500.
- playing simple games
- watching video's on YouTube
- reading websites or magazines
- listening to NPR or Pandora radio
- weather reports
- calendar
Stuff I thought I'd use it for but really haven't that much:
- reading PDF programming books (still prefer hard copies)
- reading eBooks
My brother and parents got one each too. The other week my Mom told me she was Googling all over the internet. She's semi-computer novice and really hasn't been online much since getting the iPad. Its opened up her eyes. All of my friends who have one love them too.
I now read all my feeds on my iPad or iPhone. Reeder makes this awesome and syncs between the two. This frees up a lot of "check for new feeds" time on my main pc, a.k.a. procrastinating.
Reading, using stanza or Kindle is great.
What I'm disappointed about is the app offerings. No facebook app? No spotify app? No skype app?! As you said it's been four months since it's out. The lack of apps is just...wtf. (That being said, the available apps are top notch: Flipboard, Reeder, IMDb, Eyewitness etc.)
My favorite app is a purple dinosaur that repeats anything you say in a higher-pitched voice. She'll spend ten minutes alternating between making baby sounds then pausing for the dinosaur to repeat them.
That was only for multi-hour reading sessions, too. Casual usage is perfectly fine.
- Sitting on the couch
- Lying in bed, on my side or back
- Sitting at my desk, holding it or with it sitting flat on the table
- Walking down the street (if I need to look up something)
- At cafes, etc.
I really wish there was a VLC client that could stream all video/audio I have on my LAN.
Killer app is the start-up speed / always-on state for those uses above.