Well as I have had this for a few days now I thought I would post up my initial findings after some pretty extensive use. I would like to point out before I start that this review and any comments in it are MY own personal opinion and should not be affiliated with MK5GolfGTi.co.uk in anyway shape or form.
Firstly the reason I got the Wifi only version is due to the amount of travelling I do. For when I am in countries that have a mobile network I have an unlocked MIFI which enables me to put in any sim card. I also have PAYG 3 & Vodafone sims and I also have an iPhone on O2 whose sim I can use in the MIFI if I cant get a signal on 3 or Voda. The 3 sim came with the MIFI incase your wondering why I have that.
So to the device itself. Initially when i first heard, saw and read about the iPad like many others I thought " overgrown iPhone " however I couldn't have been more wrong. Apart from the fact you cant make calls on it ( well actually you can but I'll get to that later ) it would look daft at the side of your head.
The device itself is, like all Apple products, very aesthetically pleasing and very well put together. It is very easy to hold for long periods as it weighs no more than your average hardback book. Also the Apple Case ( Seperate Purchase of £30 but IMHO well worth it ) enables you to place it in either portrait or landscape mode on your lap, desk, table etc if your hands do start to get tired. I'm typing this in Landscape mode on my lap now.
So what does it offer over an iPhone. Well apart from the obvious increase in screen real estate you get quite a powerful device. The Apple made 1Ghz chip certainly makes it very slick at going from one app to another and playing videos etc seamlessly. I listening to iTunes now whilst on the Internet typing and there is no slow down in either application. Yes you can do that on an iPhone but not as easy due to the limited size of the touch keypad.
I'll talk about each aspect of the iPad that I find are a real benefit.
The screen.
The screen is a 9.7" touch screen same as what you find on an iPhone. If anyone tells you it is oleophobic they are talking sh*te as this thing collects fingerprints better than a forensic pathologist. However you don't notice them until the device is off/in sleep mode as the screen is very bright and vibrant. The screen does however clean very very easily so a quick wipe with a micro fibre cloth or LCD screen cloth and it's as shiny as new again, until you touch it! No doubt iPad 2 will have oleophobic screen. Other than that the screen is very similar to my MacBook pro in terms of colour depth and how it makes video and apps appear rich an vibrant. The shiny coating no doubt helps especially when viewing photos.
Battery life.
This is were the iPad really comes into it's own versus the iPhone. The past few days I have done some pretty serious work for the iPad. I have surfed the web, played angry birds HD or Real Racing HD, watched videos both online and using the in built video app, listened to music, downloaded apps & videos, sent various emails and even had phone conversations ( I'll explain in a bit ). The least I have had the battery get to is 36% and that is after a good 12 hours use so Apple's 10hour battery life seems a little under estimated. I have no doubt it wouldn't last 10 hours watching videos but I reckon you would get a good 5 hours which for a device this thin and a screen that big is astounding.
Making Calls
This can be done via Skype. Very easy to do as long as you have the Skype App. The iPad has a built in microphone next to the headphone socket so there are no need for special headphones. I haven't tried it but have been told that the iPhone headphones with built in mic work well too. I would advise having headphones in though if you are wanting to keep what is being said to you private.
Applications
Any iPhone app will work on the iPad. You can run it in it's native size or double the size to almost fill the iPad screen. However they only work in portrait mode. Even if they go landscape on the iPhone they won't on the iPad. However for the major apps that you will use the is probably an iPad native version on the AppStore. Some of the apps are really good especially the games like Angry Birds HD & Real Racing HD. There are some apps on the AppStore that are native to both the iPhone and iPad and these are denoted by a + symbol on the price when viewing the AppStore on the iPad. The new video app is good giving instant access to just your videos rather than going through the iPod app. They get split into videos and TV Shows automatically if you have bought them via the app store. If not you would have to manually do it in iTunes on your Mac/PC and then sync over.
iBooks
Yes this is an app itself however I thought it deserved a mention in it's own. This is far far better than any e-reader I have seen. The text is extremely easy to read in either landscape or portrait. The swipe to turn a page is as instinctive as actually turning a page in a real book. The added bonus over an e-reader as well is that you can read in the dark.
Processor
As already mentioned this is a 1ghz Apple made chip which really does make the device very slick and smooth and capable of doing at least 2 things at once. How this will fair when multitasking is brought out in OS 4.0 remains to be seen.
Sound
The sound from the built in speaker is surprisingly good and it makes you wonder how they got such a good sound from such a thin device. You can easily sit and watch a video or listen to music without the need of a set of headphones. If your watching Porn though i recommend earphones!
Capacity
If you are going to buy one of these then I definitely recommend the 64Gb one. I have since my last report downloaded a few more things to the iPad from the iTunes store. I currently have
1202 Songs ( I do have more in my iTunes but I only synced across what I listen to most )
66 Videos
37 Apps
3754 Photos
8 Music Videos
2 Series Of South Park
Season 1 of the Detonators
7 Top Gear episodes ( all the specials plus a couple of classic episodes )
2 Jeremy Clarkson episodes
Seasons 1-3 of Bottom
Complete Black Adder Goes Forth series
5 Books
I still have 21.6Gb available so as you can see you can store plenty on the device.
Now as this is not a biased view I will point out little niggles I have found with the iPad.
Lack of Camera
Now a lot of people are complaining about the lack of a Camera. No doubt those feature will appear in iPad 2 and yes a forward face g camera would be nice for Skype but that is the only thing I could think of needing a camera on it for. It's the same as when people complain about the camera on the iPhone. If you want to take sh*t hot pictures then buy a proper digital camera. No phone is ever going to produce the quality of a dedicated camera and to be honest apart from video calling/messaging you would look pretty daft pulling out your iPad to take a happy snap.
Fingerprints.
As I mentioned earlier the screen is not oleophobic and this would have been nice. Apple likes to make shiny devices so why not help us keep it shiny. After some research some experts are saying it would just cost far too much at the moment due to the screen size. It apparently costs $30 dollars approx for an iPhone 3GS screen. Well the iPad screen is almost 6 x the size ( I have measured it using my iPhone) so you would be looking in the region of $180-200 just for the screen which would make the device way too expensive.
Lack of connectivity
By this I mean USB/SD card reader. I know you can buy the camera connection kit but it would be nice to be able to plug in an SD Card om your camera to view photos on a large screen straight away. Again no doubt this will be resolved in iPad 2
So my verdict overall.
The iPad has by no means replaced my MacBook Pro. However it has replaced the MBP as my main device for surfing the web, sending emails, watching online content and reading books ( although the latter I never did on the MBP ). If people view this as a replacement for a laptop then you will be disappointed as it never could. But that's not what Apple ever intended it to be imho. The reason it has replaced my MBP as mentioned is because of it's ease of use. I can just leave it in sleep mode, charge overnight and then as and when I need to, use it. I haven't experienced any wifi issues as some users reported. It is just so easy to use, the on screen keyboard is very very easy to use ( I have just typed out this review with it ) and due to the screen size viewing web pages, watching video, playing games, viewing photos or reading books really is a joy to do.
Apple really have made a fantastic device. Initially I was unsure of why I would need one. I thought about what use it could have and to be honest convinced myself I needed one. Could I have lived without one? Of course I could, however I am glad I did get one. After using one it just makes so much sense for my personal needs. Has it made my life better? No it hasn't no gadget IMHO ever could. My iPad makes my web surfing, emailing, book reading etc easier. My wife makes my life better.
