iPad 2

mutelight

So did anyone end up picking one up?

On Friday a few of the producers in my team headed out to Apple stores around 2-3PM to line up and they were greeted by lines of 500-1000 people. I figured that while the Apple stores will have the greatest amount of stock, I would head down to the Best Buy 5 minutes away from work. Showed up at 5:15PM and managed to snag the exact model I wanted, a white 64GB 3G.

I must say, my previous iPad was no slouch but this one is significantly faster, feels much nicer in the hand and definitely feels like a step up from my previous one.

mantis

I would like to pick one up. I waited for the camera so it can be a home phone as well. A complete home control pad as well as a fun and exciting gaming pad.

SolidSqual

I'm debating which one to buy. I can see myself ripping movies to it for long plane rides. I would also use it to control my music server and the security system in my house. Is there any need for the 3G when I have a iPhone?

mantis

SolidSqual wrote: »

I'm debating which one to buy. I can see myself ripping movies to it for long plane rides. I would also use it to control my music server and the security system in my house. Is there any need for the 3G when I have a iPhone?

I'm not feeling paying another fee for 3g. The iphone does Wifi hot spots which will share it's 3g with other devices. I'm willing to bet it will work with the Ipad.
I also believe if you have a iphone plan ou should be able to just add the ipad to it at no extra cost not a complete new plan.

I probably will get the wifi version.

mutelight

You can tether the iPad to your iPhone but AT&T or Verizon will charge you extra for the ability. Also, if you are grandfathered into unlimited data with AT&T, you will lose that plan. Even though I have an iPhone 4 that has unlimited data and can tether due to MyWi, it absolutely drains the battery on my phone.

Also, with the 3G on the iPad, it is pay as you go and I ended up with the Verizon model so I can get the great speeds with my iPhone and increased coverage with my iPad. Also, the 3G model has the AGPS system built in. I am under the mentality, it is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. My last iPad was 3G, which is used quite frequently as well.

leroyjr1

mantis wrote: »

I'm not feeling paying another fee for 3g. The iphone does Wifi hot spots which will share it's 3g with other devices. I'm willing to bet it will work with the Ipad.
I also believe if you have a iphone plan ou should be able to just add the ipad to it at no extra cost not a complete new plan.

I probably will get the wifi version.

I'd love to get the 3G version also but can't see paying cell phone internet service, home internet service and iPad Internet service. Seems a bit much for Internet service.

toucanet

I purchased three of them: 64Gb, 3G Verizon, Black, with the covers. You're right, this one is faster than the previous one (and lighter). I really am enjoying the camera features.

AsSiMiLaTeD

The marketing guys at Apple are absolute genuises...

leroyjr1

toucanet wrote: »

I purchased three of them: 64Gb, 3G Verizon, Black, with the covers. You're right, this one is faster than the previous one (and lighter). I really am enjoying the camera features.

I've seen a couple on Craigslist where people bought two or three just to turn around and sell them for double. I'll wait..

toucanet

I plan to keep my three (myself/wife/daughter).

danz1906

I plan on getting one next week after everything clams down. I like the
fact that it can control my Apple TV and Xfinity TV-Sweet!

mutelight

danz1906 wrote: »

I plan on getting one next week after everything clams down. I like the
fact that it can control my Apple TV and Xfinity TV-Sweet!

I don't have an Apple TV but my friends do and it is very nice to be able to push media and control it all from my iPad and iPhone.

Also, I use the DirecTV app on the iPad to control my receivers in my place, which is really nice.

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

The marketing guys at Apple are absolute genuises...

You are quite correct. They do an excellent job marketing a very strong product.

leroyjr1

mutelight wrote: »

So did anyone end up picking one up?

On Friday a few of the producers in my team headed out to Apple stores around 2-3PM to line up and they were greeted by lines of 500-1000 people. I figured that while the Apple stores will have the greatest amount of stock, I would head down to the Best Buy 5 minutes away from work. Showed up at 5:15PM and managed to snag the exact model I wanted, a white 64GB 3G.

I must say, my previous iPad was no slouch but this one is significantly faster, feels much nicer in the hand and definitely feels like a step up from my previous one.

When using 3G do you ever go over the monthly usage? I got unlimited usage for my iPhone and was wondering how the 2gb $25 monthly plan is for the iPad?

mutelight

I have a Verizon iPad now and haven't setup 3G yet but when I had an AT&T iPad, I only used a little over 1GB a month with fairly heavy browsing and streaming Sirius daily.

bigaudiofanatic

My vote goes to the xoom that thing is a beast and very impressed by reviews.

leroyjr1

Lasareath wrote: »

My dad surfs mainly facebook, the web and he gets and sends email and he uses 500mb a month. We tried to do the $15 plan but he killed that in two weeks so we had to upgrade to the $25 plan.

on my iPhone 4 the most I've done is around 780mb

mutelight wrote: »

I have a Verizon iPad now and haven't setup 3G yet but when I had an AT&T iPad, I only used a little over 1GB a month with fairly heavy browsing and streaming Sirius daily.

Does your monthly bill tell you the usage or can I check on my iPhone or iPad?

Just trying to debate if I will get the 3G version. I'm always on my iPhone and would like to see what I actually use.


Thanks guys!

mutelight

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

My vote goes to the xoom that thing is a beast and very impressed by reviews.

Thicker, heavier, slower and more expensive than the iPad. But, if Andoid is your thing, then it is the best option. However, it does have better cameras, built in HDMI, more RAM, and a higher resolution screen than the iPad. At the same time, the iPad 2 uses a superior IPS panel vs. the TN panel in the Xoom and while having a significantly better GPU in the iPad vs. the inferior GPU in the Xoom with a higher res screen, which will make the Xoom struggle to offer the same graphics quality with a fraction of the software.

leroyjr1 wrote: »

Does your monthly bill tell you the usage or can I check on my iPhone or iPad?

Just trying to debate if I will get the 3G version. I'm always on my iPhone and would like to see what I actually use.


Thanks guys!

The AT&T mywireless app will allow you to check right from your phone too.

bigaudiofanatic

mutelight wrote: »

Thicker, heavier, slower and more expensive than the iPad. But, if Andoid is your thing, then it is the best option. However, it does have better cameras, built in HDMI, more RAM, and a higher resolution screen than the iPad. At the same time, the iPad 2 uses a superior IPS panel vs. the TN panel in the Xoom and while having a significantly better GPU in the iPad vs. the inferior GPU in the Xoom with a higher res screen, which will make the Xoom struggle to offer the same graphics quality with a fraction of the software.



The AT&T mywireless app will allow you to check right from your phone too.

You forgot that it supports flash and expandable memory unlike the ipad. Along with better battery life hence it being bigger and heavier than the ipad. I may love apple stuff but some of their things are not worth the money.

mutelight

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

You forgot that it supports flash and expandable memory unlike the ipad. Along with better battery life hence it being bigger and heavier than the ipad. I may love apple stuff but some of their things are not worth the money.

Expandable memory but inferior battery life amongst its other shortcomings.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20035094-1.html

Also, it will have Flash support which from early reviews, leaves a fair amount to be desired.

AsSiMiLaTeD

No, it HAS flash support, just not right out of the box. Also, I'd take any review done by cnet with a grain of salt.

Better gpu in the apple, what does it use?

AsSiMiLaTeD

I think the xoom is a better product overall, the biggest problem I have with it is the price. If they think I'm gonna for over 8 bills for a tablet they're insane.

Apple wants to tell me what I can and can't do and which apps I can use, so they can suck it as well.

So I have a tangible, price related issue with the Xoom. My issue with Apple is philosophical and runs much deeper.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Also, the biggest advantage of the Xoom over the iPad to me hasn't even been mentioned. Having expandable memory is one thing, but with the Xoom you can plug in a USB drive and it'll read off that, so you basically have unlimited storage.

By the way, that features comes to you not from Motorola or Google, but from one of the awesome devs over on XDA.

mutelight

Xoom will have Flash on the 18th.

GPU benchies, enjoy!
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4216/apple-ipad-2-gpu-performance-explored-powervr-sgx543mp2-benchmarked/1

AsSiMiLaTeD

Those are impressive scores. The iPad 2 is definately looking like a decent machine, better than I thought it would be.

It really depends on what you're looking for I guess. I don't really care about the better camera on the Xoom, don't care about the IPS screen because both devices in reality have great screens, etc etc.

The things that are really important to me are the graphic performance, the storage capacity and the HDMI output. The Xoom wins two of those, but the question is will it be good enough in graphic performance to still be a viable option.

At the end of the day the deal-breaker for me on the iPad is the Apple OS, I like having the options I get with going for an Android platform. That comes with a certain level of risk though, the Android devices aren't as tightly controlled and you have to be careful which device you pick, and all that customization is really only nice for people like me who like to play with that stuff.

Given my current experience with the Motorola Atrix I just purchased (where they have locked the bootloader, thereby defeating the purpose of buying an Android device) I'm done with Motorola.

So I hate Apple and I hate Motorola, so I won't be going with either device. I'm personally waiting for the Asus Transformer to drop in April, IMO that'll be the Android tablet to have.

Until something better comes out I'll stick with my G-Tablet.

exalted512

What is a boot loader?

SolidSqual

Lasareath wrote: »

A boot loader allows you to load multiple OS's and have the ability to choose on boot up which one to use. Like booting Linux and/or windows XP on your desktop PC

This stuff is worthless to the average consumer . . . which is why Apple doesn't include the option.

AsSiMiLaTeD

exalted512 wrote: »

What is a boot loader?

Heh, you've been on that Nexus for how long now and don't know what a bootloader is???

If you've tried any custom ROMs then you've at least been in contact with the bootloader, although everything on that Nexus is so open that you likely wouldn't have noticed.

If you haven't tried any custom ROMs, then you're missing out on alot of things, especially on that particular phone that has such a huge development community behind it.

AsSiMiLaTeD

SolidSqual wrote: »

This stuff is worthless to the average consumer . . . which is why Apple doesn't include the option.

I disagree...

Apple doesn't let you modify the look and feel of the device because they want them all to look the same. It's a (smart) branding strategy - they want you to be able to tell its an iphone instantly when you look at the screen, let's call it free advertising.

exalted512

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Heh, you've been on that Nexus for how long now and don't know what a bootloader is???

If you've tried any custom ROMs then you've at least been in contact with the bootloader, although everything on that Nexus is so open that you likely wouldn't have noticed.

If you haven't tried any custom ROMs, then you're missing out on a lot of things, especially on that particular phone that has such a huge development community behind it.

never ran any custom ROMs. I've always meant to, just never really made the time to sit down and figure it out.

I have T-Mobile, so I have free tethering...and thats really the only reason why I would have made time to sit down and root my phone is to get that option if I had to pay for it. Haven't had to pay for it, so it was never on my list of priorities to do. I'll have to sit down and browse stuff one of these days. I plan on keeping this phone for a minimum of another year. And even then, as long as its still working fine, unless prices on new TOTL phones are cheap...or theres just some awesome feature that I have to have, I'll stick with this phone. I keep waiting on someone to come through with an awesome breakthrough in battery life, but it hasnt happened yet

-Cody

BrettT1

I picked up the $500 model for my wife and she seems to really like it. Got it at my local wally. There were three people in line when I got there. Not sure what I think of it, yet.

toucanet

Here is an update on the "Flash" matter:

Adobe caves in to Apple -- fewer blank spots on i-devices?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/03/14/adobe.flash.war/index.html?hpt=Sbin