We bought an iPad a few weeks ago and I thought I'd do a review for people thinking of getting one. We got the 32 GB wifi+3G. Keep in mind that I have never had an apple product before in my life. I have actually never even touched an apple product before in my life (not even an iPhone). I've been on DOS and Windoz my whole life, so this was a real eye opener for me.
First, we have 2 apple stores in the nearby city. Went to store #1 before the iPads were released to see what was up with apple stuff. We were treated like royalty in that place. I asked and received correct answers (as it turns out) for well over an hour. I told the guy up front I was not buying today, just learning. He helped me well beyond what you would expect in any store by today's standards. I have heard many good things about the apple face-to-face service, and it was bang on. That's 1 giant plus for Apple.
Next we booked ourselves into an iPad workshop, at store #2 as it turns out, for scheduling reasons. We were treated exactly the same as at store #1, so that first impression was not a fluke. They gave us each an iPad to use and went through everything "apple" such as how the apps work, settings etc. Well worth the hour. Almost ready to buy now.
Then a few weeks ago I called Store #1, they did not have the exact product in stock that I wanted and they told me to go to Store #2, which we did. Bought it, and they took the time to show us how iTunes would sink things up with my home laptop (PC). She spent about 1/2 hour with us, after the sale, to make sure we would be fine with our first apple product ever.
Have been using it and enjoying it every day since then. When you use an iPad for what it was designed for (surfing, apps, book reading etc) it is a thing of beauty!!! I love this little thing! Purchased the North America GPS app and it works very well. With the top down, you just need to up the brightness to max or close to max and you can read the screen in the bright sun. That is a very good app with 1 minor drawback.....It will get you very close to your destination and the maps for my part of Canada are accurate BUT it falls short on final destinations. It's been off by as much as 1/2 block, and one time even had the business on the other side of the street. All in all, I like that app for GPS though. I built my own iPad holder for the car, cost me 1 used coat hanger and some hockey tape. Holds the iPad securely, and I can still work the stock radio buttons, and climate control knobs and there is no danger of anyone stealing it, cuz it's so ugly looking.
Now comes the parts I don't understand the "what were they thinking about" parts.
#1) I buy an iPad that must sync up to another computer in order to get music, movies, pictures etc onto it?? I have a networked house, with a Network Attached Storage drive that contains all these sorts of files. I cannot just navigate on the iPad to the music on the NAS drive (which is controlled by iTunes on another PC). I have to sync up via iTunes with that computer to see my music. Stupid.
#2) I can't store anything on this freekin thing! I would like to move a few pictures from the NAS drive to use as screen saver, back ground etc, should be simple but nooooooo. First I have to go to my Windoz PC, start up the apple product iTunes, and add the pictures to it there. Then I have to sync up my iPad to be able to see them. Stupid.
#3) In order to sync up the iPad, I need to "plug it in"...WTF??? It's blue tooth and wifi capable, it's already on my network for internet access, but it's too stupid to see my PCs, printers, NAS drive etc and communicate with them? A Cord? Really? Is it 1992 again? Stupid.
#4) There is no app that will work the same as Excel, 123, Word etc no matter what people tell you. Pages/Numbers might be able to weakly display some documents, but you cannot edit and save or edit and export them to Excel/Word I spent $10 on what was supposed to be the best app, better than Pages/Numbers. When it opens a file, 50% of the formatting and 30% of the formulas don't work. It's totally useless and if that's the best app for this purpose, the iPad will NEVER replace a real PC for work.
#4b) In order to get that Excel file to a point where the iPad could open it, I had to e-mail it to myself because the thing is too stupid to recognize the mass storage device and go there to get it. Stupid again.
#5) The e-mail app is also from 1992 it seems. I cannot create folders for storing e-mails, I cannot extract attachments and store them on the iPad, there appears to be no Filtering method in it either. I am used to using Thunderbird mail and this rudimentary standard e-mail program that comes with the iPad is like throwing rocks at a sniper. Stupid.
*IF ANYONE KNOWS OF A BETTER EMAIL APP, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!
#6) I had to buy the 3G version for $130 bucks more than the standard wifi model in order to have a GPS capable iPad. Here's how it works. You can buy an app that has built in maps like the North American one I bought. That means your iPad can still tell you where to turn etc without being connected to any network, as long as it knows where you are right now. Apple, in their wisdom, didn't include the GPS Receiver in the non-3G units. A $1.48 savings on manufacturing I'm sure. So what you say? Just go get a blue tooth GPS receiver for $40 and the iPad will be able to know where it is by talking to the receiver using blue tooth. NOT. None of the manufacturers thought their units would be able to talk to the iPad, and Apple said they did not know. Apple also does not sell one either. So what was I supposed to do, save the $90 difference and hope it worked? No, I coughed up for a 3G unit with a free sim card that I will never use. Stupid.
So you can see (if you're still reading!) that I quite like this little piece of technology if you use it for what it's best at, but I have to say, I am not going to be drinking that Apple cool-aide anytime in the near future. There are just too many proprietary rules, and weird things for me and that syncing up thing is moronic. It uses a Cord for God's sakes....sheeees.
