One of the guys in the office brought in his ipad at the end of last week, so I got a quick play with it.
And it’s a lovely thing, the screen is pin sharp and browsing the Wired Magazine (as a magazine format rather than website) was a great user experience.
I’ve had an eye on getting one since the first reviews came out from the States but I’m hesitating for a few reasons:
1. Dosh – this isn’t a cheap piece of kit and I’ve got some other calls on my money (some practical, some more camera-lens-shaped.
And if I did have the money ..
2. there’s the recent news of horrendous working conditions in the Chinese factories that make components for the ipad. This is a real issue (okay, I have an iphone and no, I haven’t give it back).. and I don’t know enough about how directly Apple are linked to the component supply chain and therefore practices but they should be intervening now to make a positive change in the factories if the news reports are right.
3. I read that some of the big publishing houses won’t (yet) release their catalogues onto the apple ibook store due to fees disagreements. One of the main reasons I’ve been considering getting one is for the eBook convenience and experience. So until there is as wide a choice as possible, no go on purchase.
This may well have changed in the last few days and I’m sure all publishers will want to have the ipad as another route to market, whether Apple’s slice of the end price is unreasonable, I can’t comment, as I don’t know the full mechanics of publishing world but that seems to have been the gist of some of the debate I’ve read.
4. I am still trying to focus on the mono-task thing (see last post here .. ) and having an ipad would mean every night would be a watch Tv and surf the web at same time night.
5. There’s going to be fierce competition in the tablet space so it might be better to look at an Android or Windows based device.. and the Panasonic ToughBook CF-U1 may be better for me as I’m very accident prone !
See some alternatives to the ipad here :
(tech radar)
6. Finally, I may wait for the next version as Apple will hopefully have ironed out some of the common gripes I’ve read about .
Summed up here in the Guardian:
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Some interesting points there Mark and most of them are spot on, although as you say, some of them are personal. There is a totally valid case to make about the 1st generation device, but this didn’t bother me half as much with the iPad as it did when the iPhone 2G first came out. I think there was always the chance with iPhone 2G that peole were going to buy it because it was such a new concept. This total newness was much less with the iPad (for me anyway). The OS and the apps is a much slicker and more organized experience.As far as usage goes, i am finding it incredibly useful as a laptop replacement where sitting in front of the tv or at meetings, the iPad is much less obtrusive than with any other device.