Review iPad Review & TP Update Thread

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Hey all :wave:

Just got my mits on a 32Gb iPad.

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Out the box:
Packaging is minimal as we have come to expect from ecopple these days. First impression upon opening the box is that yes it is indeed a massive iPhone.

Weight - it sits nicely - not to light that it doesn't feel solid, but light enough to be held one handed or passed around. As soon as I picked it up I thought of Edinburgh Garys' comments about using one to share a portfolio with potential clients. I can definitely see these being used for that - even more so if/when flash is added and you could browse portfolio from the togs website. Aluminium back feels very solid and the 1st Gen iPhone esque curves make it sit nicely in your hand.

Buttons/External Features
- No suprises here - very similar to the iPhone. Volume, mute (switch slides down towards home button rather than away from user), speaker, headphone socket and wake button. All in same places as iPhone 3G with exception of speaker.

Connect to PC/Mac - Plugged in and welcomed to an iTunes screen with the setup page. Next up is the legal agreement. Next is new - you 'Register Your iPad' to your itunes account - my guess is for warranty and comms purposes. Next is asking to confirm address details. Lastly it asks what you would like synced with your iPad eg all music/apps etc. Syncing is roughly the same speed as the iPhone - the sync interface is much the same - with labels across the top eg music, tv shows, apps etc. The apps screen is very nice - check boxes to the left and a layout screen to the right - you can rearrange icons on the iPad using iTunes. Interesting - whilst syncing it states 'Not Charging' next to the battery. Cooooomee oooooon SYNC FASTER!! :D

Start Up - First shock - a resounding click when unlocking the screen - totally missed the fact that the iPad has a set of speakers built in! (y) The screen is nice and bright.

Safari - How AWESOME. Finally a proper touch screen experience that is useable regularly and for more than a few minutes at a time without straining. Seems faster than iPhone. Toolbar is across top. Keyboard interface is really nice. TP LOOKS AWESOME!:
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Navigation around TP is slick - the full WYSIWYG editor is viewable but changes are still shown in code. Viewing pictures in thread is superb.


iPod - Interesting new layout - much more like the PC/Mac iTunes interface. Playlists/items left and music right. Search button! Yay! When you click to play as song the album art appears out of nowhere to fill the screen. Speaker is fairly tinny but fairly loud! Weirdly mono for a device of this size. Superbly responsive to changing orientation - much quicker than iPhone.

Mail - Really nice improvements to the interface now it is on a bigger screen. Different layout - navigation to different mailboxes/folders is done via a Inbox button top left. Using this navigation is going to take some getting used to. Keyboard is nice to use two handed (using thumbs to type) or alternatively hold with one hand and type with the other. Landscape orientation is really nice to use for email and typing.

iPhoto - Only had a brief play so far with the photo features. It will sync photos from iPhoto, Aperture or your Pictures folder. (No Lightroom support yet :thumbsdown:). Options are there to auto import from Faces, Albums, Dates etc etc. Really tempting me to switch to aperture 3 for faces and full iPad support... Tested using a recent album... Extremely fast - pinch movement can open/close albums. All pictures have a white border.... Slideshow is a lot more advanced - options to play music and change transitions. Really nice navigation across the bottom of a photo when you have one open:
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iPhone/iTouch Apps -
Run well on iPad. They open up small in the middle of the screen at the same size as the iPhone. There is also a 2x button bottom right that stretches the app to full iPad screen size - but obviously makes it pixelated.

Overall - Performance is extremely fast even compared to the 3Gs. The responsiveness of the whole device is extremely slick - from opening closing apps to changing screen orientation. Minor gripes so far - the white border around the pictures, and the speaker(s) could be a lot better - even if it was just adding another to the left for slightly better stereo sound.

To Come...
Will be hooking up bluetooth mouse and keyboard and having a play tomorrow. Will report back.

Hope this helps you guys and gals in reviewing some of the basic features.

Oh and no wifi issues here.... touch wood. Am using an Airport station though.
No app store working yet - 'Not Available in this Country yet'.
 
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Cheers guys.

EG - white border round photies? Doesnt that make you angry?
 
I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it.

And breathe....


No I still want it. :( :LOL:
 
i don't need, but I oh so WANT!!!!!!

how many shiny pound coins for one?
 
according to apfel... "coming late april"...... so how? Still want one!
 
Cheers for the write up smooth.

Jury most definitely still out for me on this gadget (much as I love my Ipod touch)
 
Got mine from an importer on fleabay. Paid I guesstimate to be about £50 on top of what the 32GB will cost when released here. They made a profit from importing and paying in dollars, plus the iPads will cost more here than in america supposedly due to taxes and more expensive to do business in the UK.

Word of warning - be very VERY careful if shopping for one on ebay - lots of scammers going on at the mo.
 
Off to America very soon, very very tempted. Would be fantastic if it would have OS4 on it now for multiple exchange account too.....
 
Uploading a few albums to it now using the 'select folders'. Takes a while to 'Optimize for iPad' which = shrink for iPad. Seems to be using a fair amount of space though...

Totally agree Barney - had to *caugh* amend my iPhone to enable me to have 2 exchange accounts running....
 
Uploading a few albums to it now using the 'select folders'. Takes a while to 'Optimize for iPad' which = shrink for iPad. Seems to be using a fair amount of space though...

Totally agree Barney - had to *caugh* amend my iPhone to enable me to have 2 exchange accounts running....

didnt know you could do that.... any clues you can offer up?
 
I really must stay away from Apple stores when this is released! I hate you:LOL: but thanks for the initial review. Would be great to get a further review when you have tested some more.

I do not need, but jeez do I WANT! The GF loves the looks of them too, this could be hard to avoid!

Will do matey (y)

Been playing all night - my official conclusion stands as Gary succinctly put it - Sexual Gadget. Like the iPhone it will take some getting used to - but I can see this quite quickly becoming an arm extension just as the iPhone did. I am yet to even ponder how much I will now use the iPhone for email etc....

IMO It could quite easily become the mysterious gadget - ie follow in the iPhone footsteps where lots of people said "no thanks dont see why I would need one" then quite quickly become addicted and use it as a serious tool.

If people like adobe jump on board with lightroom apps etc then this really could become an excellent and must have studio gadget for togs too.
 
I really must stay away from Apple stores when this is released! I hate you:LOL: but thanks for the initial review. Would be great to get a further review when you have tested some more.

I do not need, but jeez do I WANT! The GF loves the looks of them too, this could be hard to avoid!

You'll need two then? GF won't let you play with hers :bonk::nono:
 
Great review (y)

Would love to hear your input on applications you'll be using; in particular, if you are going to use iWork. My guess the iPad is an ideal picture viewing tablet, and almost perfect for casual surfing.

I came close to buying a grey-imported one last week; was going to cost me close to £1000 here (64GB WiFi variant), but I held back; now they're down to £800. I will wait a couple more weeks, if I can :help:


Just stand closer to your iPhone, sorted.

I tried that, got nose-stain on the screen :thumbsdown::nono::shake:
 
When you are using a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, is there a stand available?
 
When you are using a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, is there a stand available?

There is a dock available that is the stand for charging and syncing. Tbh I am a bit miffed they didn't give you one with it.

Will be trying out the keyboard etc today.
 
Great review (y)

Would love to hear your input on applications you'll be using; in particular, if you are going to use iWork. My guess the iPad is an ideal picture viewing tablet, and almost perfect for casual surfing.

I came close to buying a grey-imported one last week; was going to cost me close to £1000 here (64GB WiFi variant), but I held back; now they're down to £800. I will wait a couple more weeks,

On it now Wail. My main uses shall be surfing, email (lots) and picture sharing with friends, family and work clients. I probably will get iWork but I suspect the majority of work I do on it with text/pictures shall be with email. I think you hit the nail on the head with surfing and picture viewing.

Am typing this on it now holding two handed and typing with thumbs - the reviewers were right in saying it takes getting used to but I would definitely say you start to overcome that quickly.

Hope you find one at a reasonable price soon.
 
Smoothedit, as im surer alot of other people do i use Proshow Gold / Producer to make HD movies of my photography, thought the iPad would be a great way of showing this to future clients. Have you tested HD video such as a slideshow presentation on this.

Overall great review by the way......im sorted (y)
 
I have not Dan - only tried the on board slideshow which is pretty darn good. Have watched a HD tv episode and quality is as good as expected - totally fast enough - much like a laptop.
Another feature that I wasn't aware of is that you can switch on 'picture frame mode' which looks like a sophisticated screensaver that displays your pictures. Could be good for use in the studio.
 
Hmm, picture frame mode sounds interesting. Can you read data from NAS drives, or other shared network resources? Would be good if you didn't have to upload stuff all the time via iTunes.
 
Hmm, picture frame mode sounds interesting. Can you read data from NAS drives, or other shared network resources? Would be good if you didn't have to upload stuff all the time via iTunes.

Not yet as the os is very similar to iPhone - no finder. I can see the technology being implemented in an app though. I don't think apple will release coding to add to iTunes from NAS though.

Cheers all those who have thanked for review and I hope it has part helped your decisions.
 
To Come...
Will be hooking up bluetooth mouse and keyboard and having a play tomorrow. Will report back.
Apparently the keyboard will work but you be SOL on the mouse (which is dumb).
 
Not yet as the os is very similar to iPhone - no finder. I can see the technology being implemented in an app though. I don't think apple will release coding to add to iTunes from NAS though.

Cheers all those who have thanked for review and I hope it has part helped your decisions.

Can already add to iTunes from the NAS by using a MAPped drive from the PC, so not a problem there. Was hoping for a finder of some sort. Dang! Would have made it a great picture frame when charging if you could stream shots from the NAS (assuming you can set the screen to remain active, and not go to "keylock").

Cheers for the good review by the way - forgot to say previously.
 
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Cheers Guys.
Typing on Bluetooth keyboard
VERY responsive and keeps up with keystrokes - non noticeable delay. Very impressed. Advanced features like music control, brightness etc all work perfectly.

Think you may be right about the mouse - cant get it to connect :(
 
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I really want. Might wait for the 3G version though, so I can use it while I roam the wilds of, erm, Green Park.
 
Can already add to iTunes from the NAS by using a MAPped drive from the PC, so not a problem there. Was hoping for a finder of some sort. Dang! Would have made it a great picture frame when charging if you could stream shots from the NAS (assuming you can set the screen to remain active, and not go to "keylock").

Cheers for the good review by the way - forgot to say previously.

Hmmm I bet you could work around this - by adding the NAS location to the iTunes iPad sync. It would only synchronise when you plugged the ipad in to the computer but would certainly mean you had a nearly live reccount...
 
I really want. Might wait for the 3G version though, so I can use it while I roam the wilds of, erm, Green Park.

Fair one Mike - I did consider holding out but would use the iPhone in that instance (which is rarely). Hoping for some sort of tethering still...
 
Thanks for that. The more I see the more I want. It does what I use my iPhone for most of the time (especially at home!) but without completely ruining my eyesight!
 
Thanks for that. The more I see the more I want. It does what I use my iPhone for most of the time (especially at home!) but without completely ruining my eyesight!

:agree: My reasons for purchasing was an easier couch browsing/email experience and portfolio demo capabilities... oh and because its an awesome gadget!

Feels weird reaching for this instead of the iPhone though... and last night I had to forceably stop myself from grabbing the iPhone to check on football etc :)
 
:agree: My reasons for purchasing was an easier couch browsing/email experience and portfolio demo capabilities... oh and because its an awesome gadget!

Feels weird reaching for this instead of the iPhone though... and last night I had to forceably stop myself from grabbing the iPhone to check on football etc :)

That is what worries me! Have the iPad sitting there doing nowt whilst I look at my iPhone. Then again that is what my netbook does now!
 
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