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Long-time iPad owners: How often do you still use it?

  • Constantly throughout the day, most days of the week.

    Votes: 243 46.1%
  • Several times per day, most days of the week.

    Votes: 185 35.1%
  • Once or twice per day, on average.

    Votes: 63 12.0%
  • A few times per week.

    Votes: 24 4.6%
  • A few times per month.

    Votes: 5 0.9%
  • What, you mean that thing collecting dust over there?

    Votes: 7 1.3%

  • Total voters
    527
* I don't mean to curtail the point of this thread, but that rumour of MS releasing an iPad office version is intriguing. I can think of a large group of people I know who would use and iPad exclusively if they had that available to them. BUT, I think maybe MS is waiting to release their own version for their rumoured tablets...

The problem with MS releasing an iPad version of Office is how to make it feature compatible with the desktop version. Because that's what people want, a word processor that is fully compatible with the desktop Office, not a feature-limited iPad version of Word that happens to be made by Microsoft. But I don't think the multi-touch interface is mature enough to handle full-featured Word, not to mention the limitations of the iPad screen real estate. I think this is the main reason why MS hasn't released Word for iPad -- they can't make a full-featured Word for iPad (yet), and as long as they can't, there's little point in releasing one.
 
Your poll is worthless - you're asking everyone to answer subjective questions with definitive answers. What defines "all the time" to you? It's probably different than me. You should have asked in terms of time, especially in relation to computer usage. Me, I bought the first iPad on launch day and proceeded to use it for 1-4 hours every day for the next nearly 2 years. I just got the new iPad and use it 1-4 hours every day. It replaced my computers for most things, and happily so. That's what you should be concerned about - not the time spent using it, but what it did for the users and whether they're satisfied with that. I'm EXTREMELY satisfied.
 
Your poll is worthless - you're asking everyone to answer subjective questions with definitive answers. What defines "all the time" to you? It's probably different than me. You should have asked in terms of time, especially in relation to computer usage. Me, I bought the first iPad on launch day and proceeded to use it for 1-4 hours every day for the next nearly 2 years. I just got the new iPad and use it 1-4 hours every day. It replaced my computers for most things, and happily so. That's what you should be concerned about - not the time spent using it, but what it did for the users and whether they're satisfied with that. I'm EXTREMELY satisfied.

Relax, it's just a forum poll, it doesn't have to meet strict scientific standards for objectivity.

If I were conducting a thorough poll on iPad usage, then I think I would want to know BOTH user satisfaction and hours of use. But the poll function on this forum isn't really that sophisticated, so it's difficult, or maybe not possible, to make up a multi-question poll. So this particular poll is about how often people use their iPads, and there's been other polls about how satisfied people are with their iPads, and I'm sure there's been polls asking people about their iPad usage in terms of hours, rather than the more subjective terms used in this poll. The thing is, even when asked about their usage in terms of hours, people answering the polls are just estimating their usage, so it's not like "1-2 hours a day" is giving us more accurate information than "a few times a day." I happen to like how this poll organizes usage in a more subjective way rather than try to make people pick from ranges of numbers, but if you don't like this poll and it isn't giving you the kind of information you want to see, then just make your own poll.
 
I've had an iPad 1 for almost two years; it replaced my Acer Aspire One netbook. I use mine a lot and for a variety of different reasons. Web surfing, comic books, portable video, flash cards and presentations (I teach English in Taipei), video games, news (flipboard), and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

Also LOVE Garageband for the iPad, but the iPad 1 is a little too slow/low on RAM to run it properly, so I hope to get a newer iPad soon.

Of course I could use it for things like music and e-mail, but I use my iPhone more for that.

It's great as a teaching tool. If a student asks me, for example, "What's a giraffe?" I can instantly just call up a picture and show them "This is a giraffe." As a commuter, it's also great in places like a subway train where even a small netbook just isn't practical.

I had a MacBook (2007 model) as my main computer, but when I upgraded I got an iMac because I found I simply didn't need a portable Mac anymore.

As you can see by my sig, I'm a guy who likes to have all the latest toys, yet nothing gets used as much as my iPad (although my iPhone comes close).
 
I keep finding new uses for mine. The other day I had to work from home and connect into my work computer using our Citrix server. I got that all set up, and was wondering if there was a Citrix Receiver app for iPad. Of course there is! Not only that, I can also install it on my phone and use my phone as a track pad. Plug in a keyboard and I have my work setup running on my iPad. Not the ideal way to do work stuff, but it sure as hell would do in a pinch.
 
I use my iPad all the time. It's always within reach, unlike my iMac, which died on me last November, and I have not missed having a "real" computer since.

I don't know what I would do without my iPad. I honestly can't imagine not having it.
 
Your poll is worthless - you're asking everyone to answer subjective questions with definitive answers. What defines "all the time" to you? It's probably different than me. You should have asked in terms of time, especially in relation to computer usage.

What poll are you reading? "All the time" does not appear anywhere in this one. Those are your words, not mine. And for what it's worth, I did ask "in terms of time," just not in terms of hours. Regardless, this poll wasn't worthless for me; it gave me a clear sense that the vast majority of iPad owners settle down into regular and heavy usage patterns, reaching for their iPads as a regular part of their daily routines. By the time this thread had reached Page 3, my curiosity had been satisfied, and I bought myself an iPad. :)

Relax, it's just a forum poll, it doesn't have to meet strict scientific standards for objectivity.

If I were conducting a thorough poll on iPad usage, then I think I would want to know BOTH user satisfaction and hours of use. But the poll function on this forum isn't really that sophisticated, so it's difficult, or maybe not possible, to make up a multi-question poll. So this particular poll is about how often people use their iPads, and there's been other polls about how satisfied people are with their iPads, and I'm sure there's been polls asking people about their iPad usage in terms of hours, rather than the more subjective terms used in this poll. The thing is, even when asked about their usage in terms of hours, people answering the polls are just estimating their usage, so it's not like "1-2 hours a day" is giving us more accurate information than "a few times a day." I happen to like how this poll organizes usage in a more subjective way rather than try to make people pick from ranges of numbers, but if you don't like this poll and it isn't giving you the kind of information you want to see, then just make your own poll.

Well put. That sums it up nicely. :)
 
I have the new iPad.
I thought I would be able to use it for writing on the go.
I soon realized it is not a laptop.
I then used it mainly for reading books and the occasional netflix stream.
I don't play games. The apps- to me- all seemed like a waste of money.
I didn't need any of it.

Last week my wife bought a BN nook tablet
It does everything I use the iPad for.
The screen is great and it's lightweight and small.

I have a MacAir for writing, photo/video editing, etc.

I'm seriously considering selling the iPad for the tablet.
The ipad is overkill for my needs.
 
I use it pretty much exclusively at home. At work though, I use my laptop to create presentations (which are then presented with the iPad as the main control device), or spreadsheets and of course work on tasks that require specific software like epanet or matlab, while the iPad is the main device to show things on the road. Basically at work my iPad is a consumption device and my laptop a creation device, if that makes sense.
 
Several times every day. My desktops at home and work do the heavy lifting, but my iPad2 and iPhone are all I use away from my home and work offices, and on business and personal trips. My laptop is gathering dust, and never got the use my iPad and iPhone get now. Put the other way around, the iPad enables information management everywhere in the house and out and about: music, Internet, email, messaging, games, editing documents, access to reference documents, banking, photos, etc.

Chances are this forum poll is sampling a population of fairly sophisticated computer users, but I think it demonstrates the device has filled a big niche. My wife never browses forums; she only uses her iPad, several times daily and has no other computer.
 
Several times every day. My desktops at home and work do the heavy lifting, but my iPad2 and iPhone are all I use away from my home and work offices, and on business and personal trips. My laptop is gathering dust, and never got the use my iPad and iPhone get now. Put the other way around, the iPad enables information management everywhere in the house and out and about: music, Internet, email, messaging, games, editing documents, access to reference documents, banking, photos, etc.

Chances are this forum poll is sampling a population of fairly sophisticated computer users, but I think it demonstrates the device has filled a big niche. My wife never browses forums; she only uses her iPad, several times daily and has no other computer.

I used to use my powerful gaming tower at home for most of the heavy lifting and my laptop was used more like my iPad. But when I got my iPad, the whole dynamic of my usage changed, especially after iTunes Match was released. I used to use the tower as a media server and to run nightly backups. I was also gaming on it and running some different applications that I needed. (all but 1 are now available on iPad). iTunes Match eliminated most of my Home Sharing usage, so now my big powerful tower runs backups every night and a virus scan once a week. That's about the most intense task it does. My laptop has been sold, and my digital life is spent mostly on my iPad/iPhone. (mostly iPad)

There's something to be said for iCloud too. We have an iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch all syncing to the same iCloud account. My wife and I never have any calendar clashes anymore and we never have to ask each other for family members' contact information. All of our schedules, documents, contacts, and our entire music collection is all in iCloud now.
 
no as much as i used to. Used to get the train to work so would watch tv shows on it each way. Now its summer I cycle instead so it sits in the house. I use with the other half pinches my laptop and that's about it. Half tempted to sell it, only thing holding me back is that it is awesome for sky sports news app when the F1 is on.
 
Just had a warning yesterday from my boss that someone in the office is overusing his or her electronic device (probably cell phone since I'm the only one with an iPad here) and that I should leave it off my desk to not get caught in a storm. She knows I might have used it to check an email or so, but jow, I only use it for navigation during the work time and maybe in the evening. Evenings now are rather occupied with family and PC though.
 
Its been almost 2 years since I got my iPad 1 and use it every single day. O wanted to buy a MacBook Air at the time but too many months passed by and it never came out, so I though the iPad was a good choice since it was a lot cheaper (16GB WIFI). Now Im hooked to the tablet world.

LogMeIn to control my iMac on the other Romo from the couch while watching tv. I take a lot of notes. iWork (waiting for Office app).

Now with iCloud the overall experience is even better.

The best thing on the iPad (or any other tablet for that matter) is web surfing. Its a lot more pleasant than on a Mac or PC.

Just imagine how cool will tablets be in 5 or 10 years...
 
My iPad wakes me in the morning (Night Stand) tells me the weather (TWC) to know how to dress and comes with me to work. I play (Monopoly) during lunch and read during slow processing on my PC (iBooks and Kindle). I check on my accounts (Mint.com or BofA) and listen to my music. Check Amazon, Ebay and JCP apps. Read my magazines (Zinio) and sometimes run a picture slideshow. I take notes at meetings and talk to sister (Facedial). When I get home I watch old BBC TV showes (Netflix), at least one before bed and sometimes I watch clips of The Daily Show or current TV shows (The CW, NBC, TNT) and check movie trailers (Trailers) and show times for the weekend.
 

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