iPad: To buy or not to buy...

[cardfan]

I'm thinking more along the lines of "to sell or not to sell"

I'm leaning towards selling but haven't decided.

[Weaser999]

What sold me on the iPad was battery life. I used to use my laptop to surf the web but was ticked my battery only lasted 2 hours. I hate looking for a plugin. The iPad with 9 hour surf time, or 40 hour music listening, etc. makes me enjoy mobility much more. For work i use a cheap laptop... for everything else, iPad and Pre.

[likeobama]

I'm in desperate need for some advice. The iPhone 4 has eliminated my desire for an iPad, EVO, the next Pre, etc. I'm now trying to figure if I should just get on the cheapest AT&T plan possible and use my Palm Pre as a mifi device to prevent data overages with their latest plans.

My current Sprint bill is about 75 bucks a month, its a EPRP New Sero Plan + Insurance. I could take the insurance off and that could drop me down to $68 a month. I was researching ATT plans and the cheapest I saw was 39.99 voice plan with the $15 DataPlus (200mb per month) + 200 Text for 5 bucks which would be about $68 with tax.

My reasoning for keeping Sprint is the quasi-unlimited data they give out. A mifi device would be about the same price per month. My total for both phones would be about $136 (or more if I add DataPro $150) a month. Does this sound outrageous? I'm really going crazy right now, nitpicking everything about my Pre, trying to convince myself this is the right decision to make.

[lawtony]

After using iPad for a week, I decide to return.
I am not based on comparison it to net book but to webos.
I discover that webos is really really could be a windows os alternative.
And iPhone os has not that intention or capability.
However the webos potential, it still a 10 time easier os than windows.
There is a rumor of 4.3 inches pre 2', I thought the market is trying a bigger smartphone that could merging a net book + smartphone into one single device.

If u are planning to iPad, u should think the alternatives

1 carry one single bigger size smartphone?
2. Carry a smaller size smartphone plus a net book
3 carry a smaller size smartphone plus a iPad

It all depend to u special needs.
2.

[miata]

Originally Posted by lawtony

After using iPad for a week, I decide to return.
I am not based on comparison it to net book but to webos.
I discover that webos is really really could be a windows os alternative.
And iPhone os has not that intention or capability.
However the webos potential, it still a 10 time easier os than windows.
There is a rumor of 4.3 inches pre 2', I thought the market is trying a bigger smartphone that could merging a net book + smartphone into one single device.

If u are planning to iPad, u should think the alternatives

1 carry one single bigger size smartphone?
2. Carry a smaller size smartphone plus a net book
3 carry a smaller size smartphone plus a iPad

It all depend to u special needs.
2.

I don't have an iPad for my self, but got one for the wife. I have to say that the combination of the itsy bitsy Pixi Plus on Verizon with the free WIFI Hotspot and the iPad with the big screen and long battery life is a pretty sweet combination.

The only problem is that you get spoiled using WebOS especially with how application switching works. Hopefully, the iPad will get better application switching sooner rather than later.

[SDash]

isn't there an alternative application launcher out for the iphone os?

[lawtony]

Originally Posted by miata

I don't have an iPad for my self, but got one for the wife. I have to say that the combination of the itsy bitsy Pixi Plus on Verizon with the free WIFI Hotspot and the iPad with the big screen and long battery life is a pretty sweet combination.

The only problem is that you get spoiled using WebOS especially with how application switching works. Hopefully, the iPad will get better application switching sooner rather than later.

I have try a pretend multi-tasking program in IPAD.
However, since there is no gesture area in ipad. The result is far from WebOS. I don't even think of any other inventions that could compare how WebOS intutiative handling of multi-tasking. No kidding not even PC, TV, DVR, Remote control..... all should have gesture area ( Is that what HP's CEO recently trying to convey the complicate idea of installing gesture area in their every products?)

My 13 year daughter has played Iphone & Palm Pre a lot. She and her teenage friends said one cannot deny WebOS is much better than Iphone OS

If anyone has never used WebOS, he will satisfied with Ipad for sure.
But for the Palm Pre users, we want more.

[likeobama]

Originally Posted by SDash

isn't there an alternative application launcher out for the iphone os?

Three words...Jailbreak(Takes 30 Seconds and is reversible). Proswitcher(Allows the WebOS Cards with badges). Activator(Allows the gestures).

Originally Posted by lawtony

I have try a pretend multi-tasking program in IPAD.
However, since there is no gesture area in ipad. The result is far from WebOS. I don't even think of any other inventions that could compare how WebOS intutiative handling of multi-tasking. No kidding not even PC, TV, DVR, Remote control..... all should have gesture area ( Is that what HP's CEO recently trying to convey the complicate idea of installing gesture area in their every products?)

My 13 year daughter has played Iphone & Palm Pre a lot. She and her teenage friends said one cannot deny WebOS is much better than Iphone OS

If anyone has never used WebOS, he will satisfied with Ipad for sure.
But for the Palm Pre users, we want more.

I thought the same thing, no gesture area so there could be no swipes right? Well I was wrong, Activator does everything WebOS gestures does and more. Also from the lock screen too.

[solarus]

Originally Posted by likeobama

Three words...Jailbreak(Takes 30 Seconds and is reversible). Proswitcher(Allows the WebOS Cards with badges). Activator(Allows the gestures).



I thought the same thing, no gesture area so there could be no swipes right? Well I was wrong, Activator does everything WebOS gestures does and more. Also from the lock screen too.

Seems pretty cool. Only asking here but do you know if there's any serious impact to the smoothness of the UI when using Proswitcher and activator? In the video I just looked at the transitions seemed a little slower than normal, but I'm not sure if that's just the video not truly capturing the motion properly.

[likeobama]

Originally Posted by solarus

Seems pretty cool. Only asking here but do you know if there's any serious impact to the smoothness of the UI when using Proswitcher and activator? In the video I just looked at the transitions seemed a little slower than normal, but I'm not sure if that's just the video not truly capturing the motion properly.

Smoother than WebOS IMO. Of course it depends on the generation. A first gen iPhone stutters but the higher the gen the better the experience. The jailbreak took about 5 minutes for me, read a couple forums, installed the necessary apps and I have better app switching ability.

The major plus with Activator's gestures is that I can assign different tasks to different gestures in different scenarios. I currently have it setup in lockscreen to start playing music if I do a bottom center swipe up. I can switch songs by swiping up from the bottom right corner and go back using the bottom left corner. In addition to cards there's a whole lot more functionality as well.

[Urkel]

Originally Posted by lawtony

However, since there is no gesture area in ipad. The result is far from WebOS. I don't even think of any other inventions that could compare how WebOS intutiative handling of multi-tasking. No kidding not even PC, TV, DVR, Remote control..... all should have gesture area

This if getting off topic, but the Pre praise of the gesture area is something I have NEVER understood. Why is having a half inch of non-lcd touchscreen such a big deal? Sure, its cool to show off and offers fluid motion instead of jabbing buttons, but most of the time the command I input to that area is (Like "back" in browser) is redundant because a virtual button is right above the gesture area anyway.


So why not reclaim some much needed screen real estate and rely on "boring" but space saving virtual (or thin physical) buttons? I'd prefer more screen than cool gestures.

[pip smith]

Originally Posted by Urkel

This if getting off topic, but the Pre praise of the gesture area is something I have NEVER understood. Why is having a half inch of non-lcd touchscreen such a big deal? Sure, its cool to show off and offers fluid motion instead of jabbing buttons, but most of the time the command I input to that area is (Like "back" in browser) is redundant because a virtual button is right above the gesture area anyway.


So why not reclaim some much needed screen real estate and rely on "boring" but space saving virtual (or thin physical) buttons? I'd prefer more screen than cool gestures.

I think gestures are a great idea and a great feature to have. I think the next webOS phone will have a smaller gesture area> My theory on why it is so big at this moment of time is because of the pearl button on the original pre. But now with the pearl button gone they may look to make it smaller, say half to 3/4 of what it is now. They probably would have done this on the plus but would have required new design and too much time.

[lawtony]

Originally Posted by likeobama

Smoother than WebOS IMO. Of course it depends on the generation. A first gen iPhone stutters but the higher the gen the better the experience. The jailbreak took about 5 minutes for me, read a couple forums, installed the necessary apps and I have better app switching ability.

The major plus with Activator's gestures is that I can assign different tasks to different gestures in different scenarios. I currently have it setup in lockscreen to start playing music if I do a bottom center swipe up. I can switch songs by swiping up from the bottom right corner and go back using the bottom left corner. In addition to cards there's a whole lot more functionality as well.

I have used the bottom up; left corner up, right corner up ... swipping too.
For the flipping, the program could pretend quite well but not for the cards switching
Their cards are only snapshort like teallauncher in the treo.

And my ipad always crash when flipping or switching programs.

[likeobama]

Originally Posted by lawtony

I have used the bottom up; left corner up, right corner up ... swipping too.
For the flipping, the program could pretend quite well but not for the cards switching
Their cards are only snapshort like teallauncher in the treo.

And my ipad always crash when flipping or switching programs.

Yeah they are snapshots, but once you enter the app again its still running so it doesn't bother me much. You can get those number badges for updates above each snapshot so that's nice. In regards to the iPad, I think they are still trying to perfect Proswitcher, Activator and Backgrounder combo for it. Backgrounder works fine I believe.

[mobileman]

Originally Posted by miata

I don't have an iPad for my self, but got one for the wife. I have to say that the combination of the itsy bitsy Pixi Plus on Verizon with the free WIFI Hotspot and the iPad with the big screen and long battery life is a pretty sweet combination.

The only problem is that you get spoiled using WebOS especially with how application switching works. Hopefully, the iPad will get better application switching sooner rather than later.

I know I will get slammed here for saying this, but after running iOS 4.0 on my iPhone, I can now move between apps faster than I can on my pre, and it takes less swipes.

[The Phone Diva]

Well iOS4 is more fully cooked than past versions. It better operate really well, lol.

[voodoochild]

My family just got a "community" iPad for all of us to share, I got home from college at just the right time to play around with it while its still new and shiny. I have always been pretty moderate when it comes to the iPad, a lot of people either love it or hate it, saying its the next coming of jesus, or that it is utterly worthless. I am somewhere inbetween.

As a college student, something like the iPad would be extremely useful to me. If more textbooks were available, I would love to be able to carry the thing around all day and not need to have any books or my laptop, which were HEAVY, especially going up all the hills in the morning.

As I would expect from any apple product, the iPad's hardware is utterly beautiful, and rock solid. The screen is great, and the thing just feels great to hold.

I have found that the iPad, like any other piece of tech, is only as useful as its software. This is where the app store comes it. Having 200 thousand + apps makes the thing very useful and versatile, with the kindle and ibooks apps being what would make this thing truly useful to me. The netflix app is also a killer app, I love streaming netflix, and being able to watch on a tablet is such a win for me.

Obviously, the main draw back of the iPad is the lack of flash, which I consider to be pretty essential (at least for right now) for having a full web experience, even if it does cause crashing, I would like the ability to view flash content, especially on something as powerful as the iPad.

The iPad for now, is a really fun gadget. It is not something I need but there have been many times I'm lounging around browsing on my pre or ipod touch thinking, I could be using an iPad right now.

Knowing apple, I wouldn't consider getting the iPad in its current form. By the next iteration or so, I suspect they will include front and back facing camera, and possibly other features that we wouldn't expect right now, as well as html5 being more widespread, thus making flash less of an issue. Not only that, but I would like to see what the competition comes out with. I see myself getting a tablet within the next year or two, and would love one running webOS granted they get some apps behind the platform.

Overall, I liked the iPad a lot. Whether you love it or hate it, its hard to deny the excitement around it. It is a really nice device, and all of the apps make it really a winner. The solid hardware makes it ideal for someone like me who would carry it around everywhere during the week.

[TheVTech]

I'm still not sure what I would even use one for let alone the fact that I cannot condone Apple purchases. (personal choice is great isn't it)

Even with WebOS I'm not understanding what a device of this type really fills other than WOW COOL! OK now what?

[mobileman]

Originally Posted by TheVTech

I'm still not sure what I would even use one for let alone the fact that I cannot condone Apple purchases. (personal choice is great isn't it)

Even with WebOS I'm not understanding what a device of this type really fills other than WOW COOL! OK now what?

I use my iPad for reading ebooks, newspapers and magazines. I also use it for web surfing at night while I am sitting on the couch watching TV. I use it when I travel for business to check emails, and to join WebEx conferences (awesome app).

I have retired my Netbook and Kindle. While I would buy a device because of the "Wow Cool" factor, I would probably not continue to use it after awhile. I use the iPad every day and enjoy it very much.

[west3man]

Amazing.

WebOS is a great example of style WITH substance. It is not just pretty or cute or cool. It is downright practical and has seriously spoiled me with regard to mobile operating systems.

There are times I grab my Pre instead of my iPad. Multitasking is powerful as hell.

How could you not know?