Scirocco Central

Did anyone else feel disappointed with the Apple keynote yesterday?

I don't own a Mac but I have an iPhone and generally follow Apple rumors as they tend to be quite revolutionary. The iPad though was a real letdown and I can't really see the point. They've made it too much like an iPhone and not enough like a Mac, no multi-tasking and no Flash.

Anyone else underwhelmed by this?

Yeah I think it's probably one of the most mediocre responses from an Apple launch ever.

Like you, I just don't really get it. If you have a laptop or an iPhone/Touch already I don't think you'd need it. I guess they're trying to get the market of people who just surf and so don't need a full laptop with the hassles of software updates and installing things. In that respect I can see people who would use it. But I think most would say well for another £100 I can get a proper laptop which is more versatile.

I have a MacBook and I can't see why I'd get an iPad to replace it if it broke.

It's Junk.

No multitasking. No flash. No camera. It's basically a big iPhone that doesn't make calls. I love the iPhone but I'm not an Apple fanboy by any means and this is just a wasted opportunity in my mind. Checked out Microsoft's upcoming "Courier" now that looks interesting...

I was more disappointed that there was no mention of iPhone O.S. 4

I'd pay £100-£150 for one, but for what you get, at that price it's very bad value for money. I could get myself a decent netbook which can do much more and still have over £100 spare...

It would be quite good for showing people your photos, and maybe reading some ebooks and browsing basic websites though....

Evil Derboy wrote: I was more disappointed that there was no mention of iPhone O.S. 4

Yeah, I really wanted a mention of this too.

I just had a go on an iPad

A bloke from work bought one (64gig). Delivered to the UK including import taxes for under £600.

It's veeeery nice. But also quite 'heavy'. It doesn't take long for your wrist to start aching a little bit. But to be fair I wasn't sitting on a sofa with it on my legs as you probably would use it. You also tend to switch a lot from landscape to portrait and back as some things look better or work better in one mode or the other so you twiddle it round a lot.

The screen is beautiful. Very bright, sharp and clear. It works exactly like an iPhone or Touch. You just tap on what you want or swipe across the screen. I had a go on wikipedia for a test web page to look at. You get a better view in landscape mode I think as the text is larger. You can wipe your finger up and down the page to scroll and you can click the pictures and pinch to zoom in.

Also had a little go on the pop up keyboard which actually worked pretty well. It's fine for short emails but I don't think I'd want to write long messages like this on it. I also had a go on the books, calendar and itunes which all looked nice.

He had a fantastic4 movie on it. Played nicely but it did look a little pixelly to me. Certainly not DVD sharp.

Then we had a look at a Marvel comic. That was very cool. Very sharp images and you can either see the whole page on one screen or you can tap a 'cell' and just have that on the screen and the flick to slide in the next cell or the other side of a larger one. Very nice fade and scroll effects.

Oh and if you think it's just a big iPhone that can't make phone calls.... it does. He has a VOIP app and used it to call the work phone to demonstrate it.

Would I like one?
Yes

Do I need one?
No

If I was loaded I'd probably buy it as a sort of coffee table toy to surf the net but I've got a MacBook that already does all of the things I need.

Very very nice bit of kit though.

Kev,

You dont work at Vodafone do you? I was stood behind someone in the coffee queue the other day who said exactley the same thing you did.

J.

lol no far from it

In that case you are obviously wise and what you say is true :-) Well at least one other person shares your opinion...

J.

kev posted this yesterday.....

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in the wigit household, harry the cat wants one as it matches his colours and its the first gadget mrs wigit has said when we getting one

Hi,

In case you are wondering, the iPad does not work with the MDI, at least not with the stock iPod/iPhone cable. Tried today and it won't even charge the device:

The cat doing that to the screen = Scratched screen

Apparently not actually. The glass on the front is pretty tough.

I caved in and ordered one today.

Kev wrote:Apparently not actually. The glass on the front is pretty tough.

I caved in and ordered one today.

I will send the cat round to test the theory, the force was strong but the force for a mac book pro at the moment is stronger

Kev wrote:Apparently not actually. The glass on the front is pretty tough.

I caved in and ordered one today.

I got mine 2 days ago. Have to laugh at myself reading my previous post above!

I love it.
Surprisingly it's my desktop not my laptop that's bitten the dust in terms of use.

The F1 timing app is brilliant. There's some great little games out there. I can use youtube, check mail, surf, listen to music etc etc all with a small simple device. The biggest issue people seem to have is lack of flash but I haven't found it to be a problem.

I picked up a few games for the iPad over the weekend.

Angry Birds - like crush the castle but with birds.
Osmos - sort of life game where you absorb things smaller than you to get bigger until you can kill everything else. Very well done.
Harbormaster/Flight control - Neatly done similar games. Draw the lines on the screen to get the targets to where they need to go. Looks easy but isn't.
Solitaire City - excellent mixture of card games and nicely designed too.

So Kev, do you think it's worth £430?
I've just ordered a Dell 11Z 2GB, 250GB HDD, 11" laptop for £229 (play.com), and would loath to spend that much unless it's really a lot better (usability wise)...

Though I must say, am very tempted...

I gather sciroccocentral works fine on it?

Yeah I do. It's not supposed to replace a laptop or a notebook. I've got one of those. It's a different thing altogether. It's a simple way to surf and get mail etc etc. You can easily pass it to someone to show them a web page or mail or movie or whatever. They don't need to know what to click. Better than that you can just flip it over and show them from where you are instead of passing it across. There have been criticisms of a lack of camera (not a problem to me as I never use them on computers) and USB (not a problem either as I use a free online service called dropbox to move files - you can also easily email files to your computer).

The site looks completely normal on it.

My 64GB 3G arrived the day before official release in the UK (ordered at the online Apple store) and I love it!

I'm in and out of hospital (Cancer) and find it the best bit of kit I've owned. I also have an iMac24 and a Macbook, and so does my Wife. Oh, and I have an iPhone of course, so yes we love Macs, but the iPad is just so useable. There are loads of great Apps, many for free, reception is excellent on 3 and fast too. I actually carry mine everywhere now, as it's so handy. I can watch live TV (TvCatchup App), catch a movie I've downloaded, deal with email, do some work using iPad's version of the iWork Suite, read a book, listen to music or loads of other things! And then there's the battery life - 10hrs+...To be honest, I don't use my Macbook much any more.

Cheers

Mike