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The Wireless Apple iPad Is A Toliet Device At Best
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So a couple of weeks ago I said that the Apple iPad was one of the best devices I have ever played with and I stand by that and think it is an incredibly slick piece of kit but I felt it was only fair to give it a more balanced review after using it for a couple of weeks. I have carried it with me to meetings, it has followed me around the apartment and I place it beside me when I go to bed giving it every chance to become a crucial part of my daily routine but I have to say my opinion has changed massively since at the end of the first day I had it and reviewed it here on the blog. I know I’ll be accused of flip flopping and changing my mind but I have to be honest and tell you what I really think of the iPad after a couple of weeks use…
The Wow Factor
For the last two weeks I have been stopped everywhere I go by people asking to have a look at it. Setting it on a table during a meeting renders the meeting pretty much pointless as the next hour is spent discussing the merits and general all round brilliance of the device. Waiters regularaily get involved in the conversation and I was once even stopped in the street by a stranger who grabbed the device to get a closer look. These sort of reactions have very little to do with the features on the device and much more to do with the world’s slickest marketing machine at Apple that has hyped this product to another level.
Wireless Version The Biggest Con Ever
Let me get this straight now.The Wireless iPad is only useful for sitting at home on your toilet or lying in bed. This is basically a big iPod touch which I always found to be a useless device anyway and it really is annoying when you are out and about looking for free wireless. Apple releasing this is the biggest con ever and I absolutely 100% implore you not to buy a non 3g Apple iPad. The Wifi version is useless. And if the wifi doesn’t stretch as far as the toilet in your house they are even more useless. Get the 3g version at all costs!
Ebooks Uselss
Sure there is no doubt that the ebooks look snazzy and there have been some great examples of them shown off all over the web but trying to actually read a book on the device is near impossible. Reading just 2 pages of a book will give you the biggest headache you could imagine and I would place a large wager that nobody actually ever reads one full book on this device, not even the Winny The Po book that it comes loaded with. If people think this device is going to save the publishing industry they are sadly mistaken.
I Just Don’t Need This Device
Its real shiny and I love looking through newspapers, videos and food sites on the big shiny screen but even that novelty started to wear off after about a week. I’m on the go all day long and in the second week of owning the device I use it for 5 minutes when I get home from work and for about an hour on a Saturday when reading the Saturday papers. I would use it in bed but the wifi in my aprtment doesn’t reach that far! I might be different to most people in that I spend the evenings working instead of watching television when I would be most likely to play with the iPad so it’s a powerful laptop all the way for me.
Multitasking
I never really used to see what people meant when they were looking for multitasking on the iPhone as I’d just be checking emails and reading the web but without multitasking the iPad is a real pain in the ass to use and that is why I more often than not find myself back on the laptop. We all surf the web in a super fast way now with multiple tabs open. On a laptop I’ll often be watching a video in one tab, while updating Tweetdeck at the same time and writing an email for work but on the iPad I need to do one thing at a time. Some might say having the focus on one task at a time is the way forward but I can tell you for somebody who spends over 14 hours a day on a computer there is nothing more annoying than trying to achieve things really fast on the iPad. It just doesn’t happen.
It’s Not All Bad
I am not going to give up on the iPad immediately. What I do need to do immediately is sell the Wifi version and hope that some hungry fanboy snaps it up because make no mistake, as soon as the 3g version becomes widely available the Wifi version I have becomes 100% obsolete. The 3G version would be at least 5 times more useful and would allow me to work while on the go and I can see some great uses for it but I have to say that for the vast bulk of my computing I will be sticking with a laptop. I think as a leisure device for browsing content and having on the coffee table or for tasks like cooking in the kitchen etc it is certainly useful. The iPad is far more useful than the iPhone but I spend a lot of time on the go and I just can not justify carrying around a laptop which i need for working, an iPhone which I need for making calls and a third device which from what I can tell I need to show shiny videos to clients on. It’s important to remember that this is a first generation device and it will get an awful lot better especially with more apps being built for it but in terms of being a useful device that I can’t live without like my laptop or phone I am really not sold. I left my iPad at home today for the first time and I can see it starting to gather a lot of dust in the future.
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how much you selling it for? I want first dibs!
John As you are a decent guy I’ll give it to you for 1000 Euros cash
That’s made up my mind for me – new laptop vs ipad..
Never mind selling to John, just make your ads in his studio and he’ll give you €1500 – if you’re lucky!
Niall I am afraid as a giant piece of toilet paper I could not part with 1000 yoyo’s throw in a loo roll holder and I may be interested.
Nice pimpage Dorothy I appreciate that, did u forget this link http://www.facebook.com/Reelgood?v=app_7146470109
oops forgot the link.. don’t forget to use a decent voice over. Should I post a link or will Niall evict me if I do?
POst whatever ya want sure I know yee both
It’s only the SEO spammers that get blocked here!
OK so! http://www.voiceover.ie The best in Ireland – John, I’m sure you would agree
A. That’s your WIFI problem.
B. YOU get headaches the whole population doesn’t.
C. Multitasking is released this summer.
Overall this seems more of a personal than professional critique, I’m surprised.
Well I can’t really use it for work because it doesn’t have the things I need on it so can’t really use it professionally. Not saying its totally useless but for me personally it is
@ Lisa – agreed! I was just going to say this but see that you already have. This is a personal reflection rather than an objective review. 3G is still a niche requirement. ” Get the 3g version at all costs!” <- this is likely to double the price of the device between higher one off cost and contract.
Also: "I use it for 5 minutes when I get home from work and for about an hour on a Saturday when reading the Saturday papers". Apple knows that the primetime tv / evening browsing market is one of the fastest growing, and I reckon this is the segment that the device is initially targetted at. As we saw with the iPhone, proper enterprise usage will always follow, perhaps on a later iteration.
Mmmm, it’s a tricky one. By default I love anything Apple makes but if I do get the iPad I’ll probably wait for the upgrades and any potential creases to be ironed out. What a lovely product to own though…My word!
I love everythign Apple as well and will probably end up loving this but for now it feels light weight
Yeah Sarah said she had a look at it in the office and said it seemed like it would break. Poor Apple, they spend all that time and money getting their products thin and lightweight haha. I was reading the other comments and it seams that most are trying to find a reason for having one. I think it’s more the wow factor of it.
From a developing point of view though, I use Unity to make video games (when I get time to) and they have announced full support for porting games for the iPad. So it’s something to think about; do Apple have an angle for the iPad’s future that they’re not letting on? Interesting.
Niall, let me sell this for you… This would bring in the publicity for my new biz!!!
Hehe good on ya for starting a business Adam, exciting times
Well at least your honest about it. I was going to wait for the 3G model anyway. I still love my iPhone and MacBook enough to not mind too much about the iPad. As for your WiFi get it sorted man.
Ah yeah you’ll still get value out of the 3G. Got to be loads of good apps for you snazzy lawyer types
A brave post to change your opinion like that after such an infatuated initial post. Fair play. I have to say (and have said from Day 1) though I have an iPhone and a Macbook Pro and generally like Apple products, I never “got” the need for the iPad as my iPhone does all the things the iPad professed to sove for me. A solution to something that isn;t a problem, as they say.
I’d like to go a step further though and call time on the huge rally in Apple shares that we have seen (if indeed not the 10 year love affair the World has had with Apple since the launch of the iPod). I’d like to put a marker down today, May 5th, that their share will be lower by year end. It’s not out of any malice just I think that a) there is a lot of optimism already priced in and b) what Niall has uncovered about the iPad will slowly become more widespread, thereby denting those optimistic forecasts.
Who knows though? I may well eat those words! It’s just a bit of fun. $256 a share as I write. Yours!
PS You’ve a typo in the headline: spelling of the word “toilet”
Sean I agree with you 100% on the shares. I actually owned some Apple stock back in the day when bought it at $40 and sold them at 120 thinking they were over inflated! They have kept soaring since then but I think you are 100% right this time and people have built in so much hype in to the share price that it has to be due a fall very soon. Having said that selling 1 million devices in the first month aint bad going either and that is what is fuelling the price. Be an interesting one to watch but I think it would be wise to stand on the sidelines investment wise
Wow, Niall, you’re in one bad mood. The tone of this post was as negative at the review. Not your usual graceful style.
For me, I love reading books on the iPad. It allows me to read in bad light situations because I have bad eyes – it’s a dream come-true. I would not use the 3G aspect to it because I’d only ever need that once ever couple of months based on how I use mine so “Wireless-Only” is perfect for me and much cheaper. I agree, the multitasking is a little lacking right now and I have no intention of replacing my MacBook Pro but I still love this device after I’ve had it for a full month.
Lighten up.
Haha John funny to hear that it sounded very down as a post in general, you of all people should know reading the blog on a regular basis! I did write it when very tired late last night and all i wanted to do was go to bed so maybe that shone thorugh in the writing! I do love all my apple products but this one just doesn’t have that massive appeal like the others do. Yet!
Apple failed abysmally in a previous life because it was far too closed. How long will it be before people notice this happening again? I mean, the iPhone OS platform is one of the most restrictive platforms in the world. It took a rather amazing group of hackers to open it up and let me do what I wanted to do with a device I own, and payed a good few hundred euro for owning! Then Apple say I’m violating their contracts because I have violated their EULA or whatever they want to call it. In fact, Apple are beginning to use their power negligently and anti-competitively already. They’ve stopped Adobe from using Flash on their platform. This prevents the user from having choice, whether the user sacrifices quality, speed or battery life is up to the user and as a user I should understand the effects of using it.
Anyway, back to the iPad. Just as I predicted a few weeks ago, the iPad is a flunk technology wise. Nothing new or innovative has been brought to the market, it’s just, as you said, a nice little money maker produced by Apple. Most likely to boost their share price and ensure they could push through as many patents as possible lest their competitors release a better product.
I have played with them and have one winging it’s way from NYC next week to my door (16GB, I don’t need more). I’m not getting the 3G one. Why? Well, frankly I can’t see myself justifying the cost of mobile broadband usage in Ireland. I also can’t imagine a place I’ll need the 3G as opposed to just Wifi. I’ll be using it at home, work and college. All of which have wifi. If I really need to get onto my emails remotely I have my iPhone. Like Steve Jobs said, this device slots between the Macbook and the iPhone. I intend to exploit it like that, personally.
I know others who have had similar issues with the device regarding wifi, and no offense intended, but I don’t think they’re using it right. It’s neither a laptop or an iPhone. It’s a middle-man for times when a laptop is not practical or when an iPhone is just not cutting the mustard (small screen, slow, etc.)… Having said that, I 100% agree with the eBooks system. Load of my testicles until they figure out a way of switching the screen from back-lit to some kind of e-Ink emulation. I know Apple plan on harvesting sunlight to light up their screens and while most are saying that will cut down battery power on Macbooks, I think it’s more of a ploy to get in on the eReader market without using eInk technology…
As I say, though, mine is coming from NYC (being shipped on Sunday) so if you can beat my man in NYC’s or match it I’ll take yours easily! DM me on this revolutionary new place called “twitter”
Incidentally, good post.
So true… http://i.imgur.com/RdcuT.jpg
Well good to see an honest review of it.Atleast you said it straight from the heart and not just trying to show off as many of its buyer do.Well as for me I am a less devise person so the minimum I have to put my head into a devise I am happy and laptop is good enough for me.
I agree with this blog. I was the first few in line outside Apple store to buy this iPad. But Now I am very disappointed. It simply sits next to my bed, and seldom gets used.
It’s a shame people can’t see past the hype and marketing, think for themselves and weight up the competition.
I got my hands on the ipad over the weekend differance is I got my hand on the 3G one and I have to say as far as looks go it is a lovely looking piece of kit. I have bought a few apps and a few books and will see how I go with it. However I don’t think I will be dumping my MacBook just yet.
I think the biggest mistake here is everyone’s assumption that the iPad was to do it all for you…it’s not supposed to be a phone or a computer – and was not marketed that way at all. Apple doesn’t want you to stop buying their MacBooks
PS – What competition?
Love my iPad! I’ve read 5 700+ paged books on it and no issues!
[...] I got a Wifi version and although it is useful, fun and great to look at and show off to people it does nothing for me. I picked it up last night for the first time in about 3 weeks and after playing with it for 5 [...]
everyone love ipad,.so i think its okay for me,.