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I can't argue with any of his gripes but due to RSI symptoms if I'm going to surf the web at home it needs to be a non mouse/keyboard activity. As an iPhone 4 owner I'm ok with the Apple ecosystem but I wouldn't mind seeing better multitasking and notifications in iOS 5. I think it has to be more feature rich to continue to be competitive long-term.

Once you learn to not rest your fingers on the virtual keyboard it's a actually reasonably usable.
 
Gee, let me think long and hard.

Being a writer, it may not be the best idea to buy a computer without a keyboard but it's so cool, i'll try to force myself. Do you think that will work?. I hope so. In fact, I hope so so much i'll try and force myself for months and months. Problem is, i'm a writer you see, and without the keyboard I can't make money and my family will starve to death.

I tried to like it, but it wasn't a good fit I guess. I gave a good try, but now my iPad just sits there in it's cradle.

Now for my iPad 2 review!
 
Dang that is a long review....which I just read completely. Good "tech"review but very shallow minded review only stating uses of three people vs actually thinking about what the possible uses are for people in everyday situations. Then again I probably shouldn't expect much from the younger gen tech bloggers, they tend to get wrapped up in their own bias to write anything useful.

They did a great job with the basics but miss the big picture effect tablets have on people in all walks of life.
 
Yeah, I have to say that after reading that entire review, it's clear that once respected tech sites like Anandtech will be left behind in the coming years.
 
I agree that Anand may have made the wrong choices when adding more bloggers to the site.
 
I haven't even read the review yet and I can already tell that they must not think it's the most perfect device ever made. How can I tell? It's the comments here. If a reviewer simply slathers praise on an Apple product, the responses here will be "good read", "excellent review", or "the reviewer did a great job with the analysis." If they find flaws then it's "this review was terrible", "why is this person even a journalist", or "this entire news source is irrelevant". Some of the 12 year olds around here make me sick.
 
I haven't even read the review yet and I can already tell that they must not think it's the most perfect device ever made. How can I tell? It's the comments here. If a reviewer simply slathers praise on an Apple product, the responses here will be "good read", "excellent review", or "the reviewer did a great job with the analysis." If they find flaws then it's "this review was terrible", "why is this person even a journalist", or "this entire news source is irrelevant". Some of the 12 year olds around here make me sick.

Maybe you should actually read the review. They did a great job at evaluating the tech, but fail to see beyond their own use case as to why people would buy or use tablets. Apple or otherwise.

Sorry you were unable to grasp the meaning of some of the commenters that took the time to read an entire review vs come into a thread and have a tantrum.
 
I like Anand's stuff. Their review many different hardwares with a lot more technical details than most mainstream sites. They used to be the site that I typically go to read about processors and video cards. Lately they start doing coverage on smartphones and tablet devices, and offer a lot of insights that you cannot find in mainstream sites like Engadget.

That being said, their review of the iPad 2 is probably aimed mainly at developers and hardcore tech-fans. It's not a review that an average iOS user should base his/her purchase decision on.
 
I haven't even read the review yet and I can already tell that they must not think it's the most perfect device ever made. ... "this entire news source is irrelevant". Some of the 12 year olds around here make me sick.

The Anandtech review is very informative and is a lot of interest those who want to read up on the tech involved, especially the GPU section.

But having been following that site on and off for more than a decade, I just don't think the spec-loving nature of Anandtech's the right one to review Apple products or even any tablet. Also they tend to give out some odd criticism like "the iPod Touch 4 is more like the iPod Touch 3.5" (It only only has a faster CPU, 2X resolution, two more cameras, thinner profile, better battery, but the RAM is the same and the LCD is still TN, so it's not much of an improvement!)

It seems to me they are the types who really love tech for the tech's sake, thus their tolerance of Symbian phones (yes I'm a former Symbian user) and their insistence on the iOS needing to be more like a desktop OS. So..while I do like Anandtech as a long time user, if you're a Mac person you do have to understand where they are coming from.

They seem much happier running benchmarks on new blazing fast chipsets and graphic cards instead of writing reviews like this one, which basically concluded by saying "we like the improvements, especially the benchmark-killing GPU, but personally we don't see the needs for tablet ourselves."
 
I actually thought the review was refreshingly realistic.

I 100% agree about the "amazing" factor that the reviewer speaks of. With my iPhone, I am amazed, 100% satisfied and impressed.

I used the original iPad maybe 10 times while owning it since day 1.

I've already ordered the iPad 2... but I am on the fence on canceling.
 
I haven't even read the review yet and I can already tell that they must not think it's the most perfect device ever made. How can I tell? It's the comments here. If a reviewer simply slathers praise on an Apple product, the responses here will be "good read", "excellent review", or "the reviewer did a great job with the analysis." If they find flaws then it's "this review was terrible", "why is this person even a journalist", or "this entire news source is irrelevant". Some of the 12 year olds around here make me sick.

Read the review and you will likely understand. This isn't about Apple and iPad specifically, but tablets and mobile computing in general.
 
That being said, their review of the iPad 2 is probably aimed mainly at developers and hardcore tech-fans. It's not a review that an average iOS user should base his/her purchase decision on.

Actually, many developers are making more money from iOS and tablets than other systems, so saying iPad is without use shows ignorance.
 
Review seems OK to me. Cautionary statements included therein do not seem to be meant for those who have already integrated tablet computing into their workflow (i.e. most people here). So I can see where those statements or those that seem to give the DOA Xoom platform a pass for its release condition may strike a nerve with some here. Face it, if Apple released anything in the condition the Xoom is in they would be evicerated. The softball approach to Xoom and Honeycomb aside, I thought Anandtech represented well.
 
Writing the review while connected to an external display via the HDMI connector? Complaining that the guitar amp in GarageBand isn't ideal to use with a violin?

I think they went out of their way to find the worst possible way of using the device. They obviously don't "get" the iPad. People like that would obviously be better off with a notebook.
 
Now that's what I call disposable income.

No one needs an iPad. Anyone who buys an iPad, or MBP for that matter, has disposable income. I'm not retaliating to your statement, just making an obvious point. A $299 Windows machine will do what a MBP will do, just saying. The MBP is obviously superior in many other ways, but for functionality, you can get by with a lot cheaper.

I probably will do the smart thing and cancel my order, though I am highly addicted to Apple products.
 
Yeah, I have to say that after reading that entire review, it's clear that once respected tech sites like Anandtech will be left behind in the coming years.

To be honest, read the section on the glass. I yern to read that much information from engadget or the likes.
 
Run OSX (at all?) and Mac software at something beyond a snails pace, if at all? Just sayin.

Functionally, you can't deny that there aren't decent PC equivalents to do most anything a Mac could do. If anything, more things are PC friendly than Mac friendly, even in 2011. Does the Mac do it better via OSX? Hell yes. That is not the point. You can edit video all day in Final Cut Pro and do 90% of the same things in Sony Vegas.

The point was made to illustrate what is a necessary and what is luxury, thus a necessity for disposable income.
 
Thanks! Its a great unbiased review!

I like Anandtech's unbiased review of the iPad 2. At least they go through the analysis without much bias and give an honest appraisal of the device. Even if the authors don't prefer to use the iPad in their workflow, its merely a matter of personal preference.
 
... Face it, if Apple released anything in the condition the Xoom is in they would be evicerated. The softball approach to Xoom and Honeycomb aside, I thought Anandtech represented well.

It's not just the Xoom. They just tend to take an oddly hard approach against Apple.

For instance, in the Nokia N8 review they basically said "it's a outdated CPU but yeah, we're sure Nokia made the right choice since Symbian doesn't need a fast CPU and it helps battery life."

Now the N8 had the slowest, most outdated CPU of any phone in that price bracket at the time. I was very puzzled as to why a tech spec loving site like Anandtech would take such a softball approach especially when the battery life of the N8 wasn't anything exceptional. If Apple had the slowest CPU in the business, you know Anandtech would've crucified them for it. Worse for the N8 they just said "It's the best Symbian and we're pleased to see the improvement." (Symbian S^3 still sucks in UI, I mean...Symbian had some good things but it was time to die)

Somewhat like that, Anandtech wondered if the sluggish UI of the Xoom is due to the Tegra 2 processor instead of Android. It seems like a weird excuse considering Android always had some of more non-smooth UI around compared to equivalent iOS, WP7 or PalmOS hardware. Maybe they just have soft spots for cross-platform open OS like Android and Symbian, which would be understandable.
 
It's not just the Xoom. They just tend to take an oddly hard approach against Apple.

For instance, in the Nokia N8 review they basically said "it's a outdated CPU but yeah, we're sure Nokia made the right choice since Symbian doesn't need a fast CPU and it helps battery life."

Now the N8 had the slowest, most outdated CPU of any phone in that price bracket at the time. I was very puzzled as to why a tech spec loving site like Anandtech would take such a softball approach especially when the battery life of the N8 wasn't anything exceptional. If Apple had the slowest CPU in the business, you know Anandtech would've crucified them for it. Worse for the N8 they just said "It's the best Symbian and we're pleased to see the improvement." (Symbian S^3 still sucks in UI, I mean...Symbian had some good things but it was time to die)

Somewhat like that, Anandtech wondered if the sluggish UI of the Xoom is due to the Tegra 2 processor instead of Android. It seems like a weird excuse considering Android always had some of more non-smooth UI around compared to equivalent iOS, WP7 or PalmOS hardware. Maybe they just have soft spots for cross-platform open OS like Android and Symbian, which would be understandable.

Perhaps its that phrase, with great power comes great responsibility. Apple does set the bar high for all the expecting customers out there and what I really admire about the company is that they do deliver most of the time.
 
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