iPad: iPad... probably the most useful thing I've ever bought in my life

[joelovesapple]

...well tech-wise anyway!

I am using it for absolutely everything! I am on my first iPad and so far I cannot take my hands off of it! There are so many, many things that can be done with it and the apps available on the App store are of very high quality.

I will admit that I am primarily a content consumer, therefore it has completely replaced my Macbook for what I was using that for, but I still use my iMac, just not as often as before. When I want to show somebody something on the web, *bam* and it's there, same as if I want to look something up. I am also amazed at how well Siri can understand my instructions. Something about the whole user experience feels, well, *magical*. I can tell that a hell of a lot of thought went into making this thing, and it sure feels like a quality product.

Honestly, I wanted one since Steve demoed it in 2010 and now I know just why I wanted one. I knew it would be used extensively .

One very happy iPad user!

[SeanR1]

Originally Posted by joelovesapple

...well tech-wise anyway!

I am using it for absolutely everything! I am on my first iPad and so far I cannot take my hands off of it! There are so many, many things that can be done with it and the apps available on the App store are of very high quality.

I will admit that I am primarily a content consumer, therefore it has completely replaced my Macbook for what I was using that for, but I still use my iMac, just not as often as before. When I want to show somebody something on the web, *bam* and it's there, same as if I want to look something up. I am also amazed at how well Siri can understand my instructions. Something about the whole user experience feels, well, *magical*. I can tell that a hell of a lot of thought went into making this thing, and it sure feels like a quality product.

Honestly, I wanted one since Steve demoed it in 2010 and now I know just why I wanted one. I knew it would be used extensively .

One very happy iPad user!

Congrats on the new iPad!

[AppleRobert]

Congrats! I just recently tried iOS and iPads. I haven't been using my Andriod tablets that much lately!

[TallManNY]

I use my iPad daily as well. I'm quite confident that everyone (in the modern industrial world) will have a tablet computer five years from now and Apple will have a big chunk of that market. Tablets and computers you talk to is what we have been waiting for. Qwerty keyboards was really just an initial stage of computing that we are in the process of passing through. In retrospect it will be a blip that will seem quaint in retrospect.

[designs216]

It's really cool to see you get into it. I've used mine for watching movies on the road but it could never replace my laptop from a pure utility standpoint.

[skaertus]

Originally Posted by TallManNY

I use my iPad daily as well. I'm quite confident that everyone (in the modern industrial world) will have a tablet computer five years from now and Apple will have a big chunk of that market. Tablets and computers you talk to is what we have been waiting for. Qwerty keyboards was really just an initial stage of computing that we are in the process of passing through. In retrospect it will be a blip that will seem quaint in retrospect.

Not so sure about the pass through the QWERTY keyboards. I just bought an external keyboard for my iPad and I think it made the product much more valuable. I feel I can produce some content now instead of just consuming it.

[smooth]

Originally Posted by skaertus

Not so sure about the pass through the QWERTY keyboards. I just bought an external keyboard for my iPad and I think it made the product much more valuable. I feel I can produce some content now instead of just consuming it.

I could see where the OP is coming from. I use my iPad mainly for reading and my MBP for surfing, facebook and stuff like that. But I could see myself using my iPad for just about everything - if I had a keyboard to use with it. I don't mind typing short little messages or posts on it, but I just don't like typing anything somewhat long on the touchscreen keyboard. Just personal preference I guess.

[RenoG]

Niffty little thing isn't OP. I use mine even more than the MBP myself. I still prefer to use the laptop for creating documents though due to the size of the screen. I use the laptop for managing my itune (tons of music) and dl new ones etc. Also for running a couple hefty programs. Other than that its all on the ipad.

[SnowLeopard OSX]

Glad you enjoy it, OP. I felt the same way after my purchase, too

[Hakone]

I just got mine since the kid(s) hijacked the iPad 2.

Love it a lot! I do wish that I could browse on 1/2 of the screen and have the other side run netflix and perhaps other widgets. Maybe in the future? hmm.

Anyhoot, Glad you love your purchase.

[h1r0ll3r]

Ya, were it not for the fact that my MBP is also my work computer, it probably would've collected quite a bit of dust due to the iPad. Now, my MBP+external drive is now my "desktop" setup and my iPad is now my "laptop".

[gadgets.loco]

it's the first thing I use when I wake up, the last thing I look at before going to sleep, constant companion when communiting and watching the telly.

my wife even declared that I pay more attention to the iPad than to her and she was getting jealous

absolutely agree with OP

[MacIke]

I bought my iPad 1. At first I thought it was nearly useless. Now I use it far more than my MacBook Pro.

Now that I have a iPad Mini with LTE I have a feeling even more use will be shifting more to iPad with the weight and the LTE. I am just stunned how awesome it is and how more useful.

Yeah. and say good bye to cell phone.

[TallManNY]

Originally Posted by skaertus

Not so sure about the pass through the QWERTY keyboards. I just bought an external keyboard for my iPad and I think it made the product much more valuable. I feel I can produce some content now instead of just consuming it.

Agreed. For now. But how good do you think voice recognition is going to be in five years? How about ten years from now? Once voice recognition is nearly perfect and ubiquitous on all computing devices, aren't you kind of done with typing by then?

Assuming computers are here to stay, I think the Qwerty keyboard will look like a quaint and cumbersome input device that had its day in the sun but is best left in the dustbin of history. Let's say we started typing on computers in 1980, when do you think we are pretty much done with that? 2025? That 45 year period will eventually look like a blip.

I suspect that kids born in 2025 when eventually presented with a qwerty keyboard will find it incredible that at one point you had to MEMORIZE the relative position of 30 plus keys just to write a sentence. It will seem an impossible task to them.

[EMAN19]

I love my iPad mini. It's also my first iPad as well, and personally, I think it's way better than the larger iPad. The size and weight of iPad mini is perfect. I live in NYC and this gadget comes with me everywhere in my STM Jacket D7. Whipping it out and putting it away on the go is a breeze! I've never had a gadget that I liked this much. I can't wait for a revised version of iPad mini because it's going to break records. I'm sure of it. Can you imagine retina and A6X or A7 packed in this thing?!

[aerok]

Good for you OP

I tried hard to enjoy the iPad, I gave it 2 chances but I could not find any use for it. They would just gather dust.

[RickD1225]

I also agree with the OP. I bought an iPad 3 in April and it has replaced my laptop and desktop for many uses. I still use the other two, but only when I need to produce/modify documents, etc. For email, Internet browsing, reading content the iPad is great especially with the retina display. It is better at consuming content then producing it. The real plus is the portability and the instant on.

[skaertus]

Originally Posted by TallManNY

Agreed. For now. But how good do you think voice recognition is going to be in five years? How about ten years from now? Once voice recognition is nearly perfect and ubiquitous on all computing devices, aren't you kind of done with typing by then?

Assuming computers are here to stay, I think the Qwerty keyboard will look like a quaint and cumbersome input device that had its day in the sun but is best left in the dustbin of history. Let's say we started typing on computers in 1980, when do you think we are pretty much done with that? 2025? That 45 year period will eventually look like a blip.

I suspect that kids born in 2025 when eventually presented with a qwerty keyboard will find it incredible that at one point you had to MEMORIZE the relative position of 30 plus keys just to write a sentence. It will seem an impossible task to them.

I have to disagree with you.

For Facebook and Twitter, perhaps voice recognition will be fine. But that will largely depend on what you are writing.

I can't imagine dictating my 200,000-word dissertation, nor any book. I'd much rather type it. Much faster. And it won't get me any throat problems.

Also, I can't dictate a confidential e-mail or another private document, just because I don't want people to listen to what I am writing. I could reveal some sensitive information, or even get in an embarassing situation, by doing that.

In addition, people at work will continue using keyboards to write documents and e-mails. Can you imagine a firm with more than 100 people in the same room, and all of them dictating e-mails and documents to the computer/tablet? Too much noise, isn't it? Well, it's not hard to wonder why that won't work.

What about taking notes at a class or a meeting? You have to write your notes in silence. You just can't dictate them to your device. Just imagine a classroom with 50 people, and all of them dictating their notes to the device while the professor is talking. Weird, to say the least.

Apart from that, I can imagine lots of situations where a keyboard will still be needed. Voice recognition is OK, but it has a limited function. If you are in your car heading to work, for instance, and you want to send an e-mail while driving, it may be useful. Or if you're at home sitting at your couch, and you just want to send a message or tweet something, voice recognition is OK.

But, for larger texts, confidential information, or environments shared by a lot of people, they keyboard is, of course, the better approach. It won't disappear. At least not by being replaced by voice recognition.

[racoonboy]

I too am still have to turn on my notebook for some other tasks but admit that i used it less and less.

Ipad is good but i can't take it to work with me so the most useful thing for me was my Ipod touch which i sold after the Ipad. Hoping to get one back still.

[TallManNY]

Originally Posted by skaertus

I have to disagree with you.

For Facebook and Twitter, perhaps voice recognition will be fine. But that will largely depend on what you are writing.

I can't imagine dictating my 200,000-word dissertation, nor any book. I'd much rather type it. Much faster. And it won't get me any throat problems.

Also, I can't dictate a confidential e-mail or another private document, just because I don't want people to listen to what I am writing. I could reveal some sensitive information, or even get in an embarassing situation, by doing that.

In addition, people at work will continue using keyboards to write documents and e-mails. Can you imagine a firm with more than 100 people in the same room, and all of them dictating e-mails and documents to the computer/tablet? Too much noise, isn't it? Well, it's not hard to wonder why that won't work.

What about taking notes at a class or a meeting? You have to write your notes in silence. You just can't dictate them to your device. Just imagine a classroom with 50 people, and all of them dictating their notes to the device while the professor is talking. Weird, to say the least.

Apart from that, I can imagine lots of situations where a keyboard will still be needed. Voice recognition is OK, but it has a limited function. If you are in your car heading to work, for instance, and you want to send an e-mail while driving, it may be useful. Or if you're at home sitting at your couch, and you just want to send a message or tweet something, voice recognition is OK.

But, for larger texts, confidential information, or environments shared by a lot of people, they keyboard is, of course, the better approach. It won't disappear. At least not by being replaced by voice recognition.

Hmmm, all good examples. But I bet you are underestimating how much computer technology will change in the next ten years. The computer we are interacting with then will have a pretty solid AI running in it by then. And I suspect voice recognition will be nearly perfect. Your AI will not just take dictation for you but will be writing that dissertation with you by then, and it won't be considered cheating. I don't think writing large texts is going to be easier by keyboard in the future than by dictation.

As for noise pollution, call centers regularly have hundreds of people in the same room talking on the phone at the same time and are able to get by with headphones and microphones. I suspect in a noise polluted environment that would work for interacting with computers in the future. The classroom and notes presents a different challenge and maybe typing is common there. But I suspect that the entire professors lecture will be available by transcript and students will just be annotating it for purposes of their notes. At least that is what I would do, I think.

Anyway, let's see who is right. Maybe I'm right and that talking to an AI is how we will get things done ten years from now. Maybe you are right that we will keep finding it useful to have available to us a whole bunch of input buttons that we know really well and can hit really quickly. Maybe it will be something neither of us foresee.