PC Magazine reviews Apple iPad: Gorgeous, slim, a winner; Editors’ Choice
Thursday, April 01, 2010 - 09:29 AM EDT
"Having used the iPad for some time, I can tell you that the device just makes sense," Tim Gideon reports for PC Magazine. "When you combine basic-but-essential work tools with iWork, an improved browser, e-mail, iPod, and photo applications, a well-executed e-Book platform with iBooks, and throw in thousands of downloadable apps and games, and package it all in a gorgeous, slim slate with a beautiful 9.7-inch touch screen, you have yourself a winner. Is the iPad cheap? No. Is it flawless? Not at all."
Omissions including support for multitasking...
MacDailyNews Take: Wait a couple of months for iPhone OS 4 (and, it is "cheap" for what you get; only a Windows PC sufferer would complain about iPad's amazingly low price).
A built-in camera for video chats...
MacDailyNews Take: And a wireless network that can handle millions of such chats concurrently. This isn't about checking of a feature list, PC Mag'er. This is about creating a totally new paradigm. You want to take snapshots? Use your iPhone. You want to take photographs, get a real camera.
and Flash support in Safari...
MacDailyNews Take: And they call Mac users dreamers.
Gideon continues, "[All] leave room for improvement, but otherwise, the Apple iPad is a very convincing debut. And it will undoubtedly be a driving force in shaping the emerging tablet landscape... There may be things it doesn't do, but what it does do, it does remarkably well. Aside from the aforementioned limitations, there isn't a lot else to gripe about. And to my great surprise, you can actually get real work done with the iPad. There aren't a lot of directly comparable products in this nascent category. We haven't had enough quality time with the competing Fusion Garage JooJoo, but it will be a huge coup if it can match the utility and grace of Apple's first tablet. I'm curious to see who actually buys the iPad, apart from Apple enthusiasts. But I can tell you that when my laptop eventually dies, I'll be getting one."
Full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: A funny review in spots, as it comes from someone who doesn't quite get iPad (complains about the lack of USB ports), but still wants so badly to get an iPad. Tim definitely seems to be stuck straddling the crack created by Apple's paradigm shift; jump on over, Tim! Anyone who values soon-to-be over a hundred million iPhone OS users - iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users who have disposable income and the proven will to spend it - is moving from Flash video to HTML5. Economics will drive the shift from a buggy, proprietary, sluggish, outmoded plug-in to a universal open standard more rapidly than many seem to grasp. Flash is dead. The review also has its share of mistakes (that's not a "Windows icon" on iPad's Mobile Safari, Tim, that's the "Top Sites icon"), but overall a very positive review to add to the collection.
Thursday, April 01, 2010 - 09:29 AM EDT
"Having used the iPad for some time, I can tell you that the device just makes sense," Tim Gideon reports for PC Magazine. "When you combine basic-but-essential work tools with iWork, an improved browser, e-mail, iPod, and photo applications, a well-executed e-Book platform with iBooks, and throw in thousands of downloadable apps and games, and package it all in a gorgeous, slim slate with a beautiful 9.7-inch touch screen, you have yourself a winner. Is the iPad cheap? No. Is it flawless? Not at all."
Omissions including support for multitasking...
MacDailyNews Take: Wait a couple of months for iPhone OS 4 (and, it is "cheap" for what you get; only a Windows PC sufferer would complain about iPad's amazingly low price).
A built-in camera for video chats...
MacDailyNews Take: And a wireless network that can handle millions of such chats concurrently. This isn't about checking of a feature list, PC Mag'er. This is about creating a totally new paradigm. You want to take snapshots? Use your iPhone. You want to take photographs, get a real camera.
and Flash support in Safari...
MacDailyNews Take: And they call Mac users dreamers.
Gideon continues, "[All] leave room for improvement, but otherwise, the Apple iPad is a very convincing debut. And it will undoubtedly be a driving force in shaping the emerging tablet landscape... There may be things it doesn't do, but what it does do, it does remarkably well. Aside from the aforementioned limitations, there isn't a lot else to gripe about. And to my great surprise, you can actually get real work done with the iPad. There aren't a lot of directly comparable products in this nascent category. We haven't had enough quality time with the competing Fusion Garage JooJoo, but it will be a huge coup if it can match the utility and grace of Apple's first tablet. I'm curious to see who actually buys the iPad, apart from Apple enthusiasts. But I can tell you that when my laptop eventually dies, I'll be getting one."
Full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: A funny review in spots, as it comes from someone who doesn't quite get iPad (complains about the lack of USB ports), but still wants so badly to get an iPad. Tim definitely seems to be stuck straddling the crack created by Apple's paradigm shift; jump on over, Tim! Anyone who values soon-to-be over a hundred million iPhone OS users - iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users who have disposable income and the proven will to spend it - is moving from Flash video to HTML5. Economics will drive the shift from a buggy, proprietary, sluggish, outmoded plug-in to a universal open standard more rapidly than many seem to grasp. Flash is dead. The review also has its share of mistakes (that's not a "Windows icon" on iPad's Mobile Safari, Tim, that's the "Top Sites icon"), but overall a very positive review to add to the collection.
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