iPad - buy one or not?
Still weighing up an iPad purchase when they are released here? I’ve had mine for just over a month and I thought I’d share my opinion on the device and tell you how I’ve used it so far at home and at work. Read on for my thoughts.
Like so many millions of people round the world a new Apple product excites me. It started with an iMac, then an iPhone 3G, then a MacBook. Now it’s the iPad. I must have read every review about them after release, I weighed up whether or not it was worth it, should I wait till it was released here or find one by other means? I think for about two weeks I changed my mind every day about getting one or not. Once I’d convinced myself and reasoned it in my mind that I would get one it became a matter of when. This led to daily searches on trademe and the like until I was happy with a price. I finally bought an Australian 32GB model back in June.
The first few hours are just brilliant. You find yourself doing everything you’ve seen on the Internet. Using iBooks to read Winnie the Pooh and turning the pages so slowly, every time being amazed how the page tracks your finger. Unfortunately iBooks has no NZ store as yet so only free books are available. The photos are a lot of fun; pinching open an album to see the pics inside and hitting the slide show button on the lock screen are as good as you’ve seen elsewhere. Internet browsing is great and I’ve had no wifi issues that were reported by some people. The pop up keyboard works brilliantly. I can’t touch type but for my two finger typing it is so easy that I’m writing this post on the iPad. I think my favorite part of the keyboard are the lumps on the F and J keys for touch typers to use to know where they are; Great touch Apple! The games you instantly gravitate to as the big brother versions of iPhone games make such good use of the bigger screen. Flight Control is even more addictive and Angry Birds is a whole heap of fun all over again.
Flight Plan HD - Even more addictive than before!
Once this initial play is over you sit and ask yourself just what is this iPad going to be for? I decided that it couldn’t just be for home use, that’s what the laptop is for. So it had to become useful for work and travel.
The travel side is easy. A trip down to Mt Ruapehu with friends showed what it is capable of. Playing scrabble when the mountain was shut, reading books on a lazy afternoon and even entertaining bored children of our friends with Shrek Kart HD all proved how useful the iPad can be. The children were 6 and 8 and seeing how easily they used the iPad thanks to their dad’s iPhone was amazing, the intuitiveness and familiarity of the operating system made it a breeze for them to select games to play.
The work side is an ongoing road of discovery and ideas. I’m a maths teacher and I have tried to come up with ways to use the iPad in class and, along with a colleague who also has an ipad at school, how we could implement iPads on a bigger scale in education. The two main useful apps I have used so far are iThoughts HD and Mental Case. I have used mind mapping for many years now at work and I figured the iPad is a perfect tool for this as the creation of a map is as important as the map itself for the memory. The iThoughts app makes a mind map very easy to produce. A few swipes, taps and a bit of typing and you have a nice memory/revision aide for your class. You can then email it to the students for their use. It would be nice if apple allowed you to project your screen through the VGA adapter but for now passing the iPad around the class or using it with a small group works best. The second app I have used with my Year 10 class is Mental Case. This is a flash card app and I set up a case of notes to help revise angle properties. Some of the students recorded the audio for the cards and the creation of the slides was easy and it took only a matter of minutes to make the whole set. The students took turns to work through the cards and revise for their test and again the ease in which they used the iPad was a sight to behold. The only problem is they want to use the iPad in every lesson now!
iThoughts - a mind map for Year 13 Stats
Mental Case - Flash Cards app
More recently another friend of mine was amazed by the iPad after an hour of using it. He is a recent convert to apple products and felt it was so easy to use the iPad to surf the Internet and even catch up with some British newspapers through the PressReader app. In fact he declared that when he returns to England he will get an iPhone 4 and then an iPad because “the iPad now makes perfect sense to me”.
My partner has found a use for the iPad with her piano playing. With the piano music displayed on screen via the PDF sheet music reader app she only needs to touch or swipe to get to the next page of music which is much easier than having to turn a page of a book whilst still playing! Anything that gets her excited about one of my geeky gadgets is always welcome.
Reading music on the iPad
My early conclusion is that I don’t regret buying an iPad. I’m happy that I got the wifi only version, though I can see the benefit of the 3G one. I have my iPhone for use on the go and being able to use the iPad at home and work on wifi is, at the moment for any case, all I need. I can see a huge market for iPads in education and I hope more and more apps become available for teachers in the future. It won’t replace my laptop but that isn’t why I wanted it. I still can’t tell you what it is or really where it fits but every time I use it I am amazed by everything it can do. Unless the website needs flash – has this topic ever been discussed? 
Have you bought an iPad before the NZ release? Are you thinking about buying an iPad when it is released? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
I bought a 64GB 3G model in Melbourne last month, and I love it!!! The display really is amazing and things look so good on it!
It also hasn’t replaced my laptop, but it’s great for lying in bed reading a book, playing a game, watching videos, or doing the same when on a plane or killing time on the couch.
I had a prepaid mobile broadband SIM on XT which I’ve cut up and put inside, and that also works well so I can still use the Internet when I’m out and about. If I’m away from home for a while then I’ll use my NetComm MyZone 3G router to create a wireless hotspot (also on XT) so that my MacBook Pro, iPhone, and iPad can all share the one connection.
My wife also uses it quite a bit, so for us it was a great buy!
(corksta has made 28 comments)
hey Dan
I got my ipad 4 days ago, and after 3, I sold my laptop. I no longer need one as I just use the library computer to sync.
Also Dan did you get my email? It was about a fp posting….
(iPhone4life has made 6 comments)
I already have an iPhone 3GS 32gb and I’m still trying to decide between an iPad or an iPhone 4. It’s starting to look like I’ll get both (and go into debt)… Still, it seems like my 3GS will still fetch a decent price s/h, so that’s a bonus.
(ALFA has made 25 comments)
Like most people I have been back and forth about getting an iPad. Exactly as you said in the post, I used to change my mind daily. I have decided now and made my mind up not to get one. Why? well I know regardless of what Apple product you buy there will always be a new one 12 months later, but with the iPad not even out in NZ yet already 2 months of those 12 have almost passed. I’d say in another few months rumors will commence about the next gen iPad. If I were to get an iPad now I could live with the next gen one coming next year and having a better screen, faster processor, better battery maybe even bluetooth 3.0…….but I could not live with myself if it got a forward facing camera which given that the iPod touch looks to be getting I’d say is almost a cert. Don’t get me wrong its no good trying to 2nd guess what Apple are going to do next and if I needed a tablet device I wouldn’t think twice but on this I am waiting for the 2nd gen and camera.
(Paul has made 323 comments)
and I find it difficult to believe they would still release it at the same time as the iphone4.
I’m seriously considering getting one from Aussie if nothing is mentioned about a release date this week.
Btw the publish button at the bottom is too close to the bottom line for fat fingers hence the reply split in two.
(commsdelta has made 82 comments)
I’ve had my 64GB 3G iPad for almost a month and I take it everywhere with me. The battery life is astonishing, the interface is a total pleasure to use and my only gripe is the fact that I’m restricted to the applications and features that Apple deem appropriate for us to use. A jailbroken iPad is a better iPad for certain.
I’m thrilled with my iPad and don’t regret purchasing it for a second. It’s so much easier to get my emails and as a sales tool, it’s second to none.
(djrichard has made 19 comments)
i got my laptop, and soon a Iphone
i dont feel a great pull towards getting one,
i did when it first came out, im sure everyone did.
but after stepping back and thinking, i got just about everything i need.
i know the Ipad can remove the need for a laptop
(kiwiboi22 has made 57 comments)
I got one in May, as an anniversary gift. I had been leaning towards getting one when they eventually arrived here, but like many people, wasn’t convinced of its usefulness or how exactly I would use it.
Now, 2.5 months later, I wouldn’t be without one.
I use it primarily at home, and I’m not short on other hardware (laptops, PC, iMac, iPhone), but for me the iPad rules for email checking, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, checking football results and general surfing. I’ve bought a number of books from Amazon to use with the Kindle app, which was great while travelling but are now my preferred option for reading at home as well. And I use it to remote into my other machines if necessary and I don’t feel like getting off the couch.
It’s just packed with so much goodness.
(Tangelo has made 3 comments)
My wife and I bought iPads in the US in early. Mine was always planned but my non-gadget wife bought one the minute she saw the book reading. She now uses it every day for book reading at all hours of the day and night (also for email and web). I bought the 3G model and use it daily for web surveying, emails and a bit of game playing. I’ve also watched a lot of movies when traveling.
We bought a bunch of US iTunes gift cards so we can buy US store content. That has been a real godsend for her book reading. So far she has bought books from Apple, Whitcoulls, Amazon and tried and failed to buy from Barnes and Noble. We bought one book from Waterstones in the UK but can’t get it to run on the iPad. It is in ePub format and can be read on the Mac but doesn’t convert to iPad for some reason.
Anyone know how to convert ePub to iPad?
Overall we love the iPads. The kids have taken to them quickly and we’re often all playing games together. Love the multi player version of FlightCtrl. Also like RealRacing HD, the BBC news reader, Fluent News and Wired Magazine. Magazine reading on an iPad is surely the future for the publishing world.
(abirch has made 5 comments)
I bought a 64Gb WiFi iPad about a week after they were launched in the US, so I’ve been using it for some time now. My wife & I both have jailbroken iPhones & we also have an iMac.
I jailbroke the iPad as soon as the Spirit jailbreak was released.
I think it is just wonderful & would highly recommend it to anyone considering buying one. My kids love using it & it can occupy them for hours, if I allow it.
My wife uses it to watch our extensive collection of movies & TV shows stored on our iMac using the Air Video app (which is phenomenal). It serves as a second TV in bed, in this capacity.
I set up a WiFi hotspot with my iPhone, using MyWi, whenever I need to connect outside of our home WiFi network, so there is no need to service a 2nd data plan with a 3G model.
Once you own an iPad, you will virtually stop playing games on your iPhone. It is soooo much better on the iPad. In fact, if the iPad is around, you will find yourself always reaching for that to do pretty much everything.
(Tincanman has made 2 comments)
iPhone4life wrote:
Andy wrote this article
(Paul has made 323 comments)
I really can't wait for the ipad to be released in NZ. Even though the NZ Apple website still shows 'coming in July' I'm really getting impatient! There has been no mention about the ipad
(commsdelta has made 82 comments)
I plan on getting a 16GB WiFi only model when it comes out in NZ.
(richboy247 has made 17 comments)
Seavus DropMind™ is developing mind mapping application for iPad and it will be released by the end of the summer. More information, coming soon.
(nina has made 1 comment)