Ipads overhyped or not ??

taff63

taff63

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Been looking at iPads thinking of getting one BUT been looking at other tablets so got me thinking are they over hyped over priced I know lots of people use them but are there any other tablets you would recommend ie samsung blackberry or any others
Mark
 
ipads are overhyped, but the competition is not very good either. Blackberry is nearly dead, and pretty out of date; samsung probably is the best from 'the rest'. Android 4 is barely picking up, and hardware isn't up to ipad level. Perhaps wait for win8 tablets, at least then you will have the full picture.
 
No, i use my ipad for pretty much every think, satnav, this forum, banking, fb,twitter, emails, txts it does every think you need, its instant! I was subious at first but now i wouldn't be without it!
 
I would be lost without my iPad. I held off for a long time as I really didn't see the point. Then I took the plunge and the rest is history, as is my laptop.

It is the most versatile tool that I have. It plays a massive part in my photography business as well.

One thing that stands out for me.... And why I love iPads and iPhones, they just work. This iPad (currently using) I've had over a year. It's never been turned off, never crashed and just works.

I would also suggest a 3G version, he's you can generally tether from your phone, but why go to that bother lol
 
Of course they're overhyped - they're an Apple product. Good but not great and there are some awesome tablets out there.
 
And that marketing hype "they just work" is nonsense too. They break down just as readily as any other product, but people who have good ones repeat the mantra until it becomes a meme.
 
I resisted the iPhone and I resisted the iPad, I couldn't see the point, thought they were over-hyped and couldn't be as good as everyone was saying. I've now got an iPhone and an iPad and I wonder why I waited so long!
Neither has ever let me down, battery life is great (one of my greatest worries) and I use the iPad for all sorts of things, it's portable and the range of apps is amazing ... photo tutorials, videos, books, Office compatibles ... the list goes on. I have a 3G version and it really comes into its own for working on site at customer's premises.
 
Regarding hardware. I regularly deploy 100 to 300 iPads in very odd locations, from trains, to planes, to conference halls, to parks. I have not had one go wrong on me yet. When deploying laptops from Dell, HP, Samsung etc in similar scenarios I have to build in a 5 to 10 % overstock on hardware to ensure full coverage on critical projects.

I have seen issues on a hardware level with mac books and mac pro's but even then I see far less issues than I see with the huge number of wintel boxes we have around.

Having said all that; I did not see the point in iPads until recently. You could pickup a Mac book of good spec for about twice the iPad cost. I felt I would rather have a real keyboard, proper storage and a decent screen, However, Apple seem to be tiering the Air as the low end laptop model now and I really don't like them, very overpriced for a posh netbook.
 
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My Win7 machine has never crashed in 20 months of daily use.
 
The23rdman said:
And that marketing hype "they just work" is nonsense too. They break down just as readily as any other product, but people who have good ones repeat the mantra until it becomes a meme.
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I don't think the "it just works" was ever really aimed at reliability - everything breaks eventually, it was more "you don't have to b****r around with it too much to get it to do what it should do".

Apple did put a lot more effort into simplifying the steps necessary to perform a given task early on in their 'rebirth', but this often came at the expense of flexibility.

But back to the OP, hype aside, the iPad (and presumably other similar devices) could be viewed as a solution looking for a problem - until you buy one that is, then you will wonder why you managed without one for so long!

If you're already invested in the iPhone / iTunes store / Apps, the iPad is an easy choice, as everything is transferable. If not, go look in store and test out the others.

Personally, I'm more than happy to recommend the iPad.
 
I went the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 route. What a stupid mistake that was! Firstly, the dire amount of Android tablet apps is a real issue. Compared to what's available in iTunes, it's a joke! Secondly, I decided I wanted to put a movie on it.....OMG the hoops I'd have had to go through just to do something like that! Even to get the laptop to recognize the Galaxy Tab as an external storage device requires seeking out and installing software. Never again. It's sat on a shelf doing nothing.
I now own the latest interation of the iPad. Better in every way. It DOES just work. Mine is the 3G model. I have the iPhone too, so really could cope with just the wifi model as tethering the two is simple.
 
The23rdman said:
My Win7 machine has never crashed in 20 months of daily use.
Click to expand...

I should have said, I was talking on a hardware level, but you raise a good point on software level. The app store helps keep IOS devices stable by acting as a walled garden for apps. App store QC means you should not get a badly coded app onto your IOS device. You might get something stupid designed to put cats heads on to photo's but it should be well enough coded to prevent your device falling over.

Of course any platforms OS is only as reliable as the least reliable app you have installed and how astute you are at performing any routine maintainance.

The point about a solution waiting for a problem. Thats right and thats what Jobs was so good at: inventing things we didn't realize we needed.
 
iPad's are very good for basic things, web, email, viewing photos/videos, travelling with, which is basically what they are made for.

I use a pc at work and get so frustrated with it, crashing all the time and slow. I come home and use a mac or a iPad, so much easier and a lot less stressful, they just work, but you do pay the premium for them!
 
Longimanus said:
iPad's are very good for basic things, web, email, viewing photos/videos, travelling with, which is basically what they are made for.

I use a pc at work and get so frustrated with it, crashing all the time and slow. I come home and use a mac or a iPad, so much easier and a lot less stressful, they just work, but you do pay the premium for them!
Click to expand...

You must be using a PC that has serious flawes with it then if it is a machine for business and keeps crashing. I have no iphone or ipad and I am still surviving in our tech world we live in. Of coarse Apple products are good, no more than any decent PC is. If all the uses of an iPad were things that were impossible to do on anything else then yes I would say it was great. Just like anything else out there it has it uses under certain situations.
 
Tablet devices in general are not over hyped, I use mine daily but they certainly are over priced.
 
Got my iPad 1 when they came out and love it. Use it constantly everyday and would be lost without it. E.mail, tv, radio, games, Internet, TP forum, photo album, reading books and more. Great battery life as well and far more portable than my laptop which I do not use as much anymore.
 
Nope ipads are not overhyped. They are much better than all the competition. hardware wise nothing can beat the new ipad with it's screen. Content wise android is a terrible operating system with a really weak ecosystem. Google play is a shocking market with very little decent content due to the fact that there is no way of them policing what goes on there. If I wanted to put an app of my self farting in someones face right now, it would be live within minutes.

When you look at a tablet look at the whole picture not just the device - hardware, content, service, support. Everything. Ipads come out on top by a huge margin
 
I've got the new iPad, picked it up after it was recommended on here. The screen is great for photos, it's made my laptop redundant for everything bar Lightroom. My only gripes are sites that are Flash heavy it's useless and I bought a case and stylus which I find easier to use than my sausage fingers at typing. Get one though, they are great.
 
taff63 said:
Do they support flash system cos have heard reports they don't that's why I'm more for android system also could you run ps on them ?
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flash video is supported 90% all other flash is not natively. Adobe have now stopped supporting flash on mobile devices, there will be no more updates from adobe.
 
Definitely overhyped - tablet computers with very similar spec's to the ipad were around over 10 years ago which makes the price of the ipad a bit steep.

Apple are masters of marketing though and punters lap them up.
 
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Furtim said:
What a load of bull.

Take a look at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,939502,00.asp - the 'touch screen' tablet PC from 2003.

Not really that similar.
Click to expand...

I've not checked your link (currently on a phone) but I used a 1GHz tablet with 512MB or 1GB RAM (I forget) in the early noughties. What spec is the iPad?

Let's also not forget Apple's fairly recent attempts to claim ownership of the concept of tablet computers with their iPad, despite the fact that tablet/slate devices have been around for years!
 
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ZoneV said:
I've not checked your link (currently on a phone) but I used a 1GHz tablet with 1GB RAM in the early noughties. What spec is the iPad?
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Which one?
 
The23rdman said:
Of course they're overhyped - they're an Apple product. Good but not great and there are some awesome tablets out there.
Click to expand...

Great advice...but which ones are better? :shrug:



Sorry also a general question to owners....How much have you spent on apps?
 
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ZoneV said:
I've not checked your link (currently on a phone) but I used a 1GHz tablet with 512MB or 1GB RAM (I forget) in the early noughties. What spec is the iPad?

Let's also not forget Apple's fairly recent attempts to claim ownership of the concept of tablet computers with their iPad, despite the fact that tablet/slate devices have been around for years!
Click to expand...

It's not all about clock speed! Sophistication of the chipset itself (both CPU and GPU), size, power consumption, screen, interface, operating system, integration... and so on.
 
I can't recall the exact model tablet I used but there were quite a few available at the time from several manufacturers. I was working in IT at the time and they were the in-thing toy amongst some of the contractors.

Here's a video of a 2003 tablet computer running a Pentium M 1GHz (although based on the older Pentium 3, the excellent Pentium M architecture influenced the acclaimed Conroe (C2D) generation of Intel processors which were released some years later) and 1.5GB RAM, running Windows 7. Not bad for a 9 year old 'pooter. :)

[YOUTUBE]faZ3JTqCcyw[/YOUTUBE]
 
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Look how thick it is though, you could batter an elephant to death with that.
 
Furtim said:
It's not all about clock speed! Sophistication of the chipset itself (both CPU and GPU), size, power consumption, screen, interface, operating system, integration... and so on.
Click to expand...

I agree, but with the exception of the GPU and OS (of course), there's not a lot of difference in performance terms between the two (infact, being a "proper" CPU the Pentium M may actually be a better performer than Apple's A4 CPU, at the cost of battery life of course. Don't forget the 60GB HDD, 1.5GB RAM and Win7 in the Compaq too - which opens the door for more serious "desktop" apps as well as the usual "casual" tablet stuff).

O yea, it even has USB. :D
 
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For general use i.e. web browsing, email, photos/videos browsing then it is fine. For anything else it is useless.
 
ziggy©;4741429 said:
For general use i.e. web browsing, email, photos/videos browsing then it is fine. For anything else it is useless.
Click to expand...

Does that apply to all tablets or just iPads?
 
ziggy©;4741429 said:
For general use i.e. web browsing, email, photos/videos browsing then it is fine. For anything else it is useless.
Click to expand...

Disagree.

It's teaching my daughter how to read. It already taught her how to count. The education possibilities are huge.
 
In a marketing sense, yes they are overhyped, but saying that I bought one because I had a need for it, a solution to solve a problem, not a solution looking for a problem.

Now I wouldn't be without it, to say its just for email, web twitter, Facebook, ect, is just wrong IMHO.
Without it I wouldn't have been able to design and simulate the paternoster lift control circuitry without being tied to my desktop PC, the iPad has given me the freedom to do so anywhere I take it.

:)
 
taff63 said:
Been looking at iPads thinking of getting one BUT been looking at other tablets so got me thinking are they over hyped over priced I know lots of people use them but are there any other tablets you would recommend ie samsung blackberry or any others
Mark
Click to expand...

What do you want to do with it?

Facebook, Twitter, Email, Surfing, Blogging, watching TV and films and a while host of other internet things work pretty effortlessly on it to be honest.

Never had anything else, I bought an iPad 1 a year or so ago, and I can't even find a reason to update that in fairness.

Pretty good value and work reasonably effortlessly :cool:
 
joescrivens said:
flash video is supported 90% all other flash is not natively. Adobe have now stopped supporting flash on mobile devices, there will be no more updates from adobe.
Click to expand...

Still getting flash updates on my Android devices.
 
ziggy©;4741429 said:
For general use i.e. web browsing, email, photos/videos browsing then it is fine. For anything else it is useless.
Click to expand...

You can do a bit more than that! I use mine for all of the above, e-mail being particularly nice compared to a blackberry, but also to VPN into our corporate network for workflow / order approval when out and about, presentations (using the VGA output adapter), mind mapping / interactive whiteboard style in meetings, document prep (I fly a lot, and this really useful when waiting at airport), reading and of course a little light entertainment.

I'm sure most tablets can do much the same, but where it really shines for me, is its interaction with the iPhone and / or my Laptop with iCloud. I can pick up whatever device is most appropriate (iPhone to take a note on the tube, iPad when travelling, laptop in the office, iMac at home) and carry on where I left off on the other device.

Again, you can do this in other ways (via dropbox for example), but the workflow is nicely streamlined on the iFamily (and will improve this July / September with the next releases of OSX and iOS respectively).

Everyone will find their own use (or not), but it's wrong to say is limited to the extent you suggest.
 
Things I used my iPad for this week when traveling:
- email, web, Facebook, twitter, etc normal Internet connected smartphone/tablet stuff
- 4 meetings with slide presentations (1-on-1 meetings) using keynote
- 3 times used it as a whiteboard (paper 53) and emailed the results to all participants
- pulled up product manuals and customer docs from Dropbox for viewing
- several Skype calls and a webex conference I didn't really want to attend
- used offline maps (citymaps2go) a LOT as the taxi drivers etc had no idea where the places I was going to were, this is brilliant
- watched 2 movies and 3 tv series episodes on the planes
- phoned home with FaceTime 3 times so my baby could see me, could have used another VoIP video sw as well though
- kept up with TP and 2 other forums with their great dedicated apps
- played far too many games.. Cut the rope, slice it, carcassonne, angry birds space etc etc :oops:
- took 6 photos hehe but I have the newest ipad which has a decent cam
- showed photos from the smugmug app to, mainly baby pics to clients who wanted to see them ;)
- wrote this post in the Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt while waiting for my flight to Helsinki

Things I did with my laptop:
- edited a monster excel file 3 times
- reviewed and annotated a 30 page word doc
- wrote 2 really long emails that I wouldn't have bothered to do on the iPad
- watched one movie because the iPad was out of battery :D
- demo'd my company's software once to a client, because the demo involves a bit of data entry
- processed 1 photo to put on smugmug and share to family
- used it to charge my iPad but the new iPad charges veeeery slow from a USB port because it has a huge battery due to the screen :(

Could I have gone without my laptop? No. But it stayed in the hotel most of the time and was used in the evenings except for the one demo.

Could I have one without my iPad? Yes. But I won't.

As to photo processing on the iPad, no real experience. If something sucks on the iPad it IS the lack of a SD card slot. Would be so much easier to work with photos and load movies on,

I really hoped android tablets wold be great as I've always been a big Linux fan, and apple needs some serious competition to lower prices. But I'm sorry to say they're crap, just crap. Your mileage may vary but they are not for me. Then again, neither is Linux on the desktop, I've tried that too so many times but while you CAN do lots with it, just not worth the pain and effort to me.

Linux is free if your own time is worthless - unfortunately android is not even free...
 
joescrivens said:
Disagree.

It's teaching my daughter how to read. It already taught her how to count. The education possibilities are huge.
Click to expand...

I was taught to read and how to count by a blackboard and a piece of paper... your, or rather your daughter's experience doesn't mean the iPad is a definitive learning tool.


Just seen these too:


daugirdas said:
ipads are overhyped, but the competition is not very good either. Blackberry is nearly dead, and pretty out of date; samsung probably is the best from 'the rest'. Android 4 is barely picking up, and hardware isn't up to ipad level. Perhaps wait for win8 tablets, at least then you will have the full picture.
Click to expand...

joescrivens said:
Nope ipads are not overhyped. They are much better than all the competition. hardware wise nothing can beat the new ipad with it's screen. Content wise android is a terrible operating system with a really weak ecosystem. Google play is a shocking market with very little decent content due to the fact that there is no way of them policing what goes on there. If I wanted to put an app of my self farting in someones face right now, it would be live within minutes.

When you look at a tablet look at the whole picture not just the device - hardware, content, service, support. Everything. Ipads come out on top by a huge margin
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you guys have both extensively used all available tablets from the competition then, so as to make an accurate comparison...
 
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