Apple's I-Pad lunch, whats your view.

[Square King]

I was actually more impressed with the Courier demo than the iPad. I'd like to see them side by side and in-hand to really make a call, even though I'm not in the market for a tablet pseudo mini laptop. I know Courier is essentially a glorified/digitized Moleskine, but that gives me an infinite number of boners.

One thing I admire about Apple -- they know how to design something very, very well. I think Apple is so closely associated with the gen Y hipsters/artphags because that's a group that can see and feel 1950s minimalism/Dieter Rams' influence. The rich kids that get Apple stuff to have Apple stuff should play in a bonfire.

[t0yrobo]

I was actually more impressed with the Courier demo than the iPad. I'd like to see them side by side and in-hand to really make a call, even though I'm not in the market for a tablet pseudo mini laptop. I know Courier is essentially a glorified/digitized Moleskine, but that gives me an infinite number of boners.

I really hope Courier is actually as good irl as the concepts look. Microsoft has been on a bit of a roll lately, it'd be a shame if they screwed it up.

[Mills]

Those dudes are at again. they've bought and destroyed a PS2, PS3, XBOX-360, and now an I-Pad. Video got quickly pulled off youtube, but you can still view it on liveleak.com.

[ASK]

Can it play Starcraft? No, thanks.

It can play C&C Red Alert (or will soon), so maybe it will?

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Personally I think it it for the iFaithful that will purchase anything made by Apple. It offers nothing new, and doesn't do much for the price. It is like the Tiger Game.Com of personal computing devices.

The selling points in the video included the following.
1. Wallpaper
2. Movies
3. Music
4. Touch keyboard

That is all very well and fine but why pay so much money? It looks like it is OK and there is little wrong with it (save the horrid lack of ports).
But why so much for a device that doesn't appear to do anything new?
Why so much for a device that has a battery that is not easily replaceable?
Why so much for a device that aside from size rivals the Palm Pilot (used in vernacular)?
The real killer for me besides the price is the lack of ports, it seems like it is to trap customers into paying for download services and intangible items.

[worstplayer]

And here we have first iPad shmup.
For only $ 510 you can now experience Geometry Wars with awful controls, sub-SNES graphics, and fewer enemies than ever before.

[Lordstar]

Only thing i could see it being cool for me is using it for graphic novlels. Thats a fucking push for me as most the ones I read are black and white. still intend to buy an ereader over this.

[Ex-Cyber]

I still feel like ebook readers are overpriced for their feature set and too tied into DRM. They'll be awesome once we have cheap 300dpi OLEDs of the appropriate size...

(*goes into hibernation until 2030 or so*)

[chempop]

Okay so after some couple days using the iPad here are the main points I think people are overlooking.

Using the iPad is by far the most comfortable I've ever been while using the Internet. While chilling on the couch, on my back porch, even lying in bed. Speaking from experience, a laptop would not have suited me well in any of the situations other than sitting at a desk which I have a desktop for.

Some of the Apps are the best online experience, yes, even better than the Web. In fact I think it is going to usher in a whole new way many people spend time online. Thomson Reuters News App is a good example, as is Ebay, which totally obliterates the www version.

As an Artists tool, it is an incredible medium that opens up all sorts of potential that has never been possible for anywhere near the price. I use a wacom tablet for my desktop, but have a tablet screen is something I have wanted for ages, oh and it's portable. Sketchbook Pro is soooo worth the 7.99 no wonder it's selling like crazy and artists everywhere have really noticed it ability, and just the overall potential of the iPad as an Artists tool.

This weekend I'm going to be buying some of the high profile apps such as Star Walk, Pages, which I use all the time at home and am very curious how the Pads version compares (this is a biggy for me), and that one about the Elements.

Anyway, I highly recommend trying the iPad before you claim it as a hipster rich-kid toy, I think the people who bought it on launch are many businessmen, teachers, artists, and musicians. Maby I'm wrong but from my experience (not just spouting nonsense for once) once people use an iPad there is NO doubt that this is just the beginning of a technological rebirth so to speak, no wonder they launched it between good Friday and Easter.

[Specineff]

"All I want for Christmas is a PSP" echoes resound here. (No offense to you, Chempop.)

[Acid King]

Those dudes are at again. they've bought and destroyed a PS2, PS3, XBOX-360, and now an I-Pad. Video got quickly pulled off youtube, but you can still view it on liveleak.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gA16Fq4SAo

[Vexorg]

I am actually working on putting together a comprehensive review of my iPad which will go on my Blog when it's done, but here's a few of my notes from using it for a few days:

-With the exception of Flash-heavy sites, this might be the first portable device that isn't a full-fledged notebook which I've used that is capable of showing most websites properly without resorting to stripped-down mobile sites, thanks to the high (compared to most similar devices) screen resolution. Unfortunately, some sites default to their mobile versions anyway because the device is running on the iPhone OS (Twitter does this, and makes you change back to the normal site each time) but it works great for web browsing while lying down in bed, something a notebook doesn't do well at all.

-So far, I've actually been a bit disappointed with the apps. Some run quite well on the device (I was surprised at how fast one of the more processor-heavy portions of the Beavis and Butt-Head app I've been testing on runs on the actual hardware) but others slow down a lot, and I also see apps crashing left and right on the device. I suspect this will work itself out as people have more time to test and fix things on the actual hardware as opposed to the simulator, but it's a bit of a pain for now.

-In my experience, screen rotation seems to be more of a pain than it's worth. It seems that whenever I turn the device on when it's sitting on the table the screen is always facing the wrong way, and getting the apps to behave properly when the screen rotates is proving to be a real pain for the developers here. On the other hand, it's making it really easy to find and log bugs...

-Still need to look into some of the drawing apps, but I've messed a bit with Adobe Ideas (the free one) and I've found it really hard to do much more than basic doodling with a finger. I really wish the thing had a stylus for drawing, but if I ever need to do any serious drawing work I've got a Wacom tablet on my PC that'll probably be used instead.

-The iPad has attracted a fair bit of attention here at work and when I took it down to a family gathering for Easter. I find myself just a little bit hesitant to use it on the bus though, at least not until I see other people using them (it seems like most of the people riding the bus here these days have either iPhones or Kindles, so it's just a matter of time.)

[Mills]

Those dudes are at again. they've bought and destroyed a PS2, PS3, XBOX-360, and now an I-Pad. Video got quickly pulled off youtube, but you can still view it on liveleak.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gA16Fq4SAo

Nice one dude its a shame this guys didn't power the unit on so that the viewer can see it running before destroying it.

[D]

Well, Apple never had a Tablet. Now they have.
Hey why not make it a succes to boot.
Super marketing. Which is enough. It will be a succes because of marketing.
And yes offcourse it will be nice to be browsing on the couch, but for most people they do not have that 600 lying around to afford that luxury. It might have potential for some.
Most likely within a few months everyone wants to have one because everyone has one.
Oh I work only on Apple at work, so I´m not one of those biggots.

[Lordstar]

I still feel like ebook readers are overpriced for their feature set and too tied into DRM. They'll be awesome once we have cheap 300dpi OLEDs of the appropriate size...

(*goes into hibernation until 2030 or so*)

there over priced if you dont pay fopr books. A lot of the stuff i read never makes it to print and only exists in digital form so it really does suit me. The major factor in me deciding i needed one was when i was collecting this manga and tokyo pop just decided that they would not be printing the last book in the series for some reason unknown to me.