I have tried a friends Ipad and feels the same with my Ipod touch except with a bigger screen.

I think I would wait for an alternative to the Ipad for easier viewing of e-books.

iPad is simply another device produced by Apple to shift product from iTunes and generate revenue share from more data contracts. Apple know their customers and they knew they would lap up the iPad. Why else would they produce it? The iPad is 'Magical' because it's an iPod that customers pay twice as much for and also sign up to a data contract. The specifications of the device are irrelevant, just as long as it can consume iTunes delivered media simply and effectively. Get over it. I don't use iTunes, therefore I don't need or want iPad. Those masses of people who do use iTunes are bound to be attracted by this product - and who can blame them when they've already been suckered into the iTunes ecosystem.

Yes to the first one, no to the second.
iPads are not carrier locked

Uhm sir.. no contract is required..

Spot on.

Right on...

@ysss

Although there are WiFi only variants, I have a hunch that most Apple buyers will insist on the 'best' - which will include 3G data plans. I imagine that the majority of Apple consumers will simply sleepwalk into whatever data contract the retailer puts in front of them to sign, irrespective of whether the iPad is carrier locked or not. Apple are cute and know this.

When I said 'not carrier locked', I meant the 3G variant can be purchased without any data plans. You can use any GSM sim cards with it.

Don't forget there are 11,000 ipad apps just for the system, to bridge to the laptop market. iwork etc

The only problem with the ipad is that its too expensive for what it is I feel. I wouldn't leave my bag lying around anywhere if I had one. Although if it was ~$250 I might.

As far as the iPad is concerned, I think Apple created too large of a chasm between OS X and iOS. I had logged many hours with my iPod touch before I read my first iPad review, so when the guy decided to try the iPad with the dock and the wireless keyboard, I understood why he had a less than optimal experience.

For me, I see a tablet nicely wearing both a laptop/netbook replacement hat, and a handheld hat. Imagine being able to switch between a desktop UI and a handheld UI by a simple or an automated toggle. And for stuff such as multi-document viewing, also imagine some kind of cluster or master/slave configuration with two of these things side-by-side. This is what a MeeGo or a Ubuntu could bring to the table(t). This would have been my wish for Apple, but no OS X was certainly a show stopper for me.

I specifically asked, and it's not just one person, there are at least 4 people in my office that have one. My officemate happens to develop iApps in his spare time, and is quite Apple knowledgeable, so many of the other people with iThings come to him for help/advice. He, in particular, does have the 3G model, but others in the office have the wifi-only version, and have all said they see about the same run time before it needs power.

It's pretty clear you haven't used a win-based tablet in a while. The base OS has minor setting tweeks in XP and beyond that make it very finger friendly. And many apps designed for tablet solutions are also quite friendly. The only difference is that you can run non-finger friendly apps if you want to for productivity reasons.

As for the big/heavy, short battery life, etc: Have a look at the links I posted to imperiallight. Most of those devices have run-times longer than the iPad, and weigh about the same +/- a few ounces. I think if you give current tablets a real look, you'll see that most of the issues you have had with them in the past will be missing. Yes, you can still find slate tablets that double as small convection ovens and weigh 80 pounds. But you'll also find devices like the iPad, with more functionality and more flexibility than playing bejeweled and surfing sites that have taken the time to design their pages to look ok on a crippled browser.

From what I've seen of sites I've browsed with the iPad, the rendering is not the best. I guess if you consider Hulu and ABC "second tier", then you're claim is valid. Realistically though there are many, many sites that simply don't work or are garbled on the iPad (and the iPhone), which work fine on competing tablets like JooJoo and the U1.

That's a bit ingenuous don't you think? No, they're not carrier locked yet, but they use micro-sims, which are officially only available from AT&T. Once other GSM providers start getting their hands on micro-sims, I'm willing to bet AT&T will raise a stink and iPads will start to be locked down. (And don't even mention sim-cutting. Yes, you can do it usually, but most people aren't going to do it. the few that do will be fewer than the number that jailbreak their iPad.)

Anyway.. I have stuff to do.. so this will be my last reply for a while. I think on many points we agree. I just think people don't realize that the iPad is not new technology, and there are other (in most cases better) solutions out there that simply lack the Apple logo. Folks that even after being shown other tablets with better run times and faster processors still insist that the iPad is the bees knees in technology and Apple got the jump on everyone, when clearly it's mainly marketing smoke and mirrors. It just bugs me when people refuse to see or acknowledge reality, since never in the history of man has that ever lead to anything good.

Why we have such threads?
Next time I will start a thread Why I bought Samsung LCD TV and lets see where it goes.
Go to Mac forums and post it there , who cares why you bought that expansive toy

Why do you think we care?