Early iPad Reviews Appear

[mdatwood]

Please, calling a term paper and a long essay serious writing is laughable.

You have to knock it up a notch. Academic users spend hours upon hours reading actual books and taking notes for their research projects. That's serious writing. Scribbling things down from Wikipedia or the web is the least reputable source you should consider touching. In fact, you would get laughed at.

Besides, I doubt 1% of the users in here can actually use programs like Word to their full potential to begin with.

You do know that most research papers are available in PDF now? Last time I was writing research papers back in grad school I used very few non-digital sources. Everything was papers that I downloaded from various services. I would usually have 2-3 open while highlighting in the pdf reader and taking notes on the computer. The iPad would not function for writing any papers in this manner.

Assuming that the only digital source out there is wikipedia shows you haven't done any serious writing in a long time.

 

[Hirth]

I'm actually starting to warm up to this first version of the iPad. My biggest disappointment was the maximum storage capacity. There is something satisfying to me about being able to take "everything" with me and 64 GB isn't quite enough for that. However, I think I'll play with one in the store and see what it is like to use. Still, unless I can envision a way that I will use it, I can't decide on 3g vs wifi only.

 

[Peter Harrison]

I've decided Wifi-only. I think I'll use 3G from time to time, but not all the time like my iPhone. It turns out it is much cheaper for me to get a pay as you go Mifi unit than the 3G version of iPad. So that's what I'm doing when the UK gets it. Wifi-only, and £49.99 for Mifi pay as you go if I ever need it. Better than another £103 (estimate) on top of normal wifi-only price.

 

[Spankey]

Like already the early reviews from engadget and gizmodo these new reviews now also say that the keyboard pretty much suck for any longer text writing. And because Bluetooth support is lacking you also can't use a tiny foldable keyboard.

And as it doesn't offer handwriting support or speech recognizion it won't really work well for college stuff either.

If you are talking about the touchscreen, that's the whole point of the keyboard/dock. Take the keyboard in a bag with you from class to class. If not taking becomes intensive, break out the keyboard.

How is Bluetooth lacking? You can use a wireless keyboard as well.

 

[fabulicious]

Take the blinders off

LAME article on MR. A bunch of cherry-picked Kool-Aid drinkers reviews:

Here's some OBJECTIVE reviews including the "bad" (unlike what's found here):

* Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, "Apple iPad Review: Laptop Killer? Pretty Close"

* David Pogue, The New York Times: " Looking at the iPad From Two Angles "

* Ed Baig, USA Today: " Verdict is in on Apple iPad: It's a Winner "

* Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times: "iPad is Pure Innovation-One of the Best Computers Ever"

* Tim Gideon, PCMag.com: " Apple iPad (Wi-Fi) "

* Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing: " Apple's iPad is a Touch of Genius "

http://www.pcworld.com/article/193104/apples_ipad_the_first_reviews_are_in.html

The bad: "If you need to create or edit giant spreadsheets or long documents, or you have elaborate systems for organizing email, or need to perform video chats, the iPad isn't going to cut it as your go-to device."

The bad: "When the iPad is upright, typing on the on-screen keyboard is a horrible experience; when the iPad is turned 90 degrees, the keyboard is just barely usable (because it's bigger). A $70 keyboard dock will be available in April, but then you're carting around two pieces."

The bad: "Another quibble: Controls to start a flick from the beginning or to resume where you left off are buried in settings rather than presented when you launch the videos app."

The bad: "When compared with a netbook on the netbook's terms, the iPad is a mixed bag. Even the cheapest $499 model is close to twice the cost of a decent netbook. The iPad has a terrific library of software, but a netbook can run most of the same software you're running on your Windows desktop. And its open file system is reassuring."

way to watch a movie."

The bad: "Inexplicably missing [from the iPod app] is the visually pleasing Cover Flow array of sweepable album covers and titles. Instead, a grid arrangement of albums, artists, and genius mixes utilizes the same tap-the-cover-to-flip function that shows song titles and other information."

The bad: "Each app for iPad can't be more than 2 gigs in compressed archive form (a limitation imposed by the zip compression standard at work here, not something of Apple's own design). Data-dense applications like The Elements buck right up against that limit, but future iterations (this and others that go live Saturday were developed with great haste) will likely take advantage of the ability to do background downloading to supplement data."

 

[Otaviano]

Verifies what I thought - not a serious content creation device. Basically a big iPod Touch with a few extra bells and whistles.

Says who? A normal Mac doesn't ship equipped with content creation program. Users install them based on their needs. I think the iPad has the potential to be a great content creation device. Just wait and see.

 

[MikhailT]

Please, calling a term paper and a long essay serious writing is laughable.

You have to knock it up a notch. Academic users spend hours upon hours reading actual books and taking notes for their research projects. That's serious writing. Scribbling things down from Wikipedia or the web is the least reputable source you should consider touching. In fact, you would get laughed at.

Besides, I doubt 1% of the users in here can actually use programs like Word to their full potential to begin with.

You need to get off your high horse, majority of colleges do not accept Wikipedia or non-peer reviewed sources like bloggers, news sites and such. All of my term papers required actual sources: journals, books and as well as digital resources of the journals. You do realize a lot of the journals are now digital? My campus libraries had subscription to hundreds of digital access to the journals and books as well. Web sources are acceptable as long as it comes from reputable sources, that's the keyword. It's the source, not the Web that's the problem.

Speaking of which, this bought back memories of scanning books on the library's printers so I don't have to check them out. Not fun to do with 300-500 pages worth of stuff.

 

[Hurda]

it's because you don't export a pages document, you save a pages document. You export when you need to make it universally compatible. Word

Word and "universally compatible"? Ha!

 

[zacman]

It has bluetooth. Even Apple's website shows the Apple wireless (bluetooth) keyboard as an accessory:

"Apple Wireless Keyboard
The incredibly thin Apple Wireless Keyboard uses Bluetooth technology, which makes it compatible with iPad. And you’re free to type wherever you like — with the keyboard in front of your iPad or even on your lap."

As you point out it has only support for ONE bluetooth keyboard which is big an clumsy unlike those tiny foldable keyboard.

 

[BigJimmyC]

You do know that most research papers are available in PDF now? Last time I was writing research papers back in grad school I used very few non-digital sources. Everything was papers that I downloaded from various services. I would usually have 2-3 open while highlighting in the pdf reader and taking notes on the computer. The iPad would not function for writing any papers in this manner.

Agreed. As a grad student in biology, I could never consider using an ipad to do any actual work on. It will suffice to read .pdf files. But actual writing? Let's not kid ourselves here.

 

[Skoal]

Ahh blurring the line between objective journalism and true review. What are we to believe now that Apple has entered the world of pay/ad multi media! All of these companies stand to benefit from the iPad.

 

[Friscohoya]

Initiate countdown.....3, 2, 1...ignition. We have lift off!!!

 

[queshy]

These reviews aren't quite ads in that all of the reviewers mention some cons, things that Apple won't point out (like lack of multi-tasking) on their website.

If you want to question their integrity, that's fine. People have been assuming that critics are getting "paid off" ever since the first critic uttered his first word.

There's no such thing as an unbiased review. You are free to ignore their reviews, just the same as anyone else who reads them.

You are free to acquire your own unit and provide the rest of the world your own review.

I'm sure these reviews are useful for the masses. I do think, however, that the best reviews come from every day MacRumors users. And yes, all reviews are biased -- and thankfully there are tons of places to read reviews. I don't think any of the reviews in question are inaccurate, but as I said, for someone like me who has been reading about the iPad on MR since day 1, they don't add anything we didn't know.

 

[zweigand]

You can find some of my initial reactions here