So, 10 days since getting my iPad 64GB/3G and what of it?
Well the only previous Apple product I own is an iPod 3rd gen - it's battered and bruised and not been touched for about 18 months now but I'm sure it will fire up just fine if I tried it.
I've never had an iPhone and barely played with one - 18 months ago when I decided I wanted one Orange talked me out of it with an amazing airtime deal (going from 120 to 1200 minutes a month for £4 less) combined with an HTC Diamond windows mobile device.
Based on my experience with the HTC - I've been very very very disappointed with it - the touch screen and gesture recognition are very poor and it's unbearably frustrating using it...so when the jumbo iPhone - the iPad was announced I was thinking that this might finally be the start of my Apple journey...why though?
Well I read quite a lot of books so iBooks looked useful
A lot of technical info is available in PDF format so portable reading is a winner
Read a lot of blogs
Love the tablet concept
As an Apple product know the support for it (apps) will be phenomenal
So I bought one and how does it rate?
A W E S O M E - it just works. The size is perfect for reading/viewing websites, iBooks is quality and so simple but effective. I searched for, bought, downloaded and was reading the first page of a book in under 90 seconds (this was via 3G on the train to London). 3G connection is from 3 on their 10GB for £15/month deal.
Highlights
iBooks obviously...although I believe the publisher Random House is missing from the store I think they will wise up eventually
iPlayer - not so good over 3G unless it's a very good connection, ditto TVCatchup but superb on wifi
Reeder - a great RSS reader
Stuff I've installed
Dropbox
Skype
Todo
Corkulous
iTap RDP
BBC iPlayer (safari web link)
TVCatchup (safari web link)
Google Reader (safari web link)
Teamviewer
TakeNotes
Evernote
BlogPress
iBooks
National Rail Enquiries
Calculator HD
Wikipanion
AccuWeather
eBay
Google Mobile
Drawing Pad
Rightmove
Google Earth
Dictionary
Night Stand HD
GoodReader
Reeder
FlightPath HD (game)
Iambeatbox (game)
In summary - it's an amazing device, obviously more so for an Apple newbie like me (iPhone owning friends tend to say where is the wow/nothing new...but after a few minutes of browsing on it are bowled over)
For a commuter like me 3G is essential..without it the device would not appeal anywhere near as much. The 3G coverage is pretty good apart from a couple of small dropout areas and this always connected nature is such an important aspect of this device for me...I no longer have to make mental notes to remember to look something up when I am connected again. Another great aspect of the device is that it's ready to go instantly, no waiting to boot. Battery life...excellent at the quoted 10 hours moderate use...much longer just on standby I reckon but I've not left it long enough to find out! My recommendation, certainly for a commuter is get the 3G enabled version...I've hardly scratched my 10GB monthly limit yet and reckon I would have been fine with a 3GB package.
Thankfully I'm just out of contract with the HTC so I'm waiting in line for an iPhone 4 upgrade from Orange...the sooner the better is all I can say! The iPad is impressive to say the least, if the iPhone is anywhere near as good I'll be over the moon...(roll on the iPad iOS4 update too, scheduled for September)
Well the only previous Apple product I own is an iPod 3rd gen - it's battered and bruised and not been touched for about 18 months now but I'm sure it will fire up just fine if I tried it.
I've never had an iPhone and barely played with one - 18 months ago when I decided I wanted one Orange talked me out of it with an amazing airtime deal (going from 120 to 1200 minutes a month for £4 less) combined with an HTC Diamond windows mobile device.
Based on my experience with the HTC - I've been very very very disappointed with it - the touch screen and gesture recognition are very poor and it's unbearably frustrating using it...so when the jumbo iPhone - the iPad was announced I was thinking that this might finally be the start of my Apple journey...why though?
Well I read quite a lot of books so iBooks looked useful
A lot of technical info is available in PDF format so portable reading is a winner
Read a lot of blogs
Love the tablet concept
As an Apple product know the support for it (apps) will be phenomenal
So I bought one and how does it rate?
A W E S O M E - it just works. The size is perfect for reading/viewing websites, iBooks is quality and so simple but effective. I searched for, bought, downloaded and was reading the first page of a book in under 90 seconds (this was via 3G on the train to London). 3G connection is from 3 on their 10GB for £15/month deal.
Highlights
iBooks obviously...although I believe the publisher Random House is missing from the store I think they will wise up eventually
iPlayer - not so good over 3G unless it's a very good connection, ditto TVCatchup but superb on wifi
Reeder - a great RSS reader
Stuff I've installed
Dropbox
Skype
Todo
Corkulous
iTap RDP
BBC iPlayer (safari web link)
TVCatchup (safari web link)
Google Reader (safari web link)
Teamviewer
TakeNotes
Evernote
BlogPress
iBooks
National Rail Enquiries
Calculator HD
Wikipanion
AccuWeather
eBay
Google Mobile
Drawing Pad
Rightmove
Google Earth
Dictionary
Night Stand HD
GoodReader
Reeder
FlightPath HD (game)
Iambeatbox (game)
In summary - it's an amazing device, obviously more so for an Apple newbie like me (iPhone owning friends tend to say where is the wow/nothing new...but after a few minutes of browsing on it are bowled over)
For a commuter like me 3G is essential..without it the device would not appeal anywhere near as much. The 3G coverage is pretty good apart from a couple of small dropout areas and this always connected nature is such an important aspect of this device for me...I no longer have to make mental notes to remember to look something up when I am connected again. Another great aspect of the device is that it's ready to go instantly, no waiting to boot. Battery life...excellent at the quoted 10 hours moderate use...much longer just on standby I reckon but I've not left it long enough to find out! My recommendation, certainly for a commuter is get the 3G enabled version...I've hardly scratched my 10GB monthly limit yet and reckon I would have been fine with a 3GB package.
Thankfully I'm just out of contract with the HTC so I'm waiting in line for an iPhone 4 upgrade from Orange...the sooner the better is all I can say! The iPad is impressive to say the least, if the iPhone is anywhere near as good I'll be over the moon...(roll on the iPad iOS4 update too, scheduled for September)
Location:Hatfields,Camberwell,United Kingdom
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