IPad 2

[Neo_VR]

Four days to go. Looks like it will be launched over here on time. People are still queuing in the USA at any store they think may have them in stock. When will the first person start to queue in London? Will they sell their place in the queue like first in the queue did in New York. I believe it was sold for $900: their place in the queue that is.

Looks like the UK will be a better launch with more stock in more places: all the phone shops, apple, argos, hmv, pcworld etc

launch is allegedly 5pm so ill take the afternoon off work and go for a wonder round manc.. or if im feeling lazy i can reserve one in pcworld

[fluffmeister]

Looks like the UK will be a better launch with more stock in more places: all the phone shops, apple, argos, hmv, pcworld etc

launch is allegedly 5pm so ill take the afternoon off work and go for a wonder round manc.. or if im feeling lazy i can reserve one in pcworld

Wait until August and I will bring you one back from the states

[SnailUK]

Whilst i think its a great piece of tech, i've never been able to think of a reason why i'd want an ipad.

There is one really good use, that loads of people at work have figured. Kids. Keyboards and mice are a nightmare for dirt, yet a lovely wipe clean screen is soo useful.

Not sure i can justify £400 for a kid to play with, but its a great tool if you have the money.

[LEW]

The iPad 2 can be ordered right now from the Apple Store. Unfortunately the dispatch estimate as at 06:45 was 2-3 weeks...

Update: Just received email confirmation for my order placed online at 06:45 for an iPad 2 with Wi-Fi 64GB - White. Delivery details are: Dispatched 15 April 2011 and delivers 26 April 2011 (standard service).

Edited 25 March, 2011 by LEW

[Neo_VR]

Well..... I haz one!

Queued up in manchester for 6 hours lol... there was about 500 people by 4pm.. and i know some left empty handed.

The white ones were far more popular than black too.

[Crawfsyeti]

Well..... I haz one!

Queued up in manchester for 6 hours lol... there was about 500 people by 4pm.. and i know some left empty handed.

The white ones were far more popular than black too.

Well done you. Interested to know if Facetime would let you register tonight.

[LEW]

Well..... I haz one!

Did it ship with iOS 4.3.1?

[Neo_VR]

Did it ship with iOS 4.3.1?

No.. an update was the first thing it did.. followed by about an hour of syncronising with all my old iphone apps

[mannyo]

Loads available today at Currys in Stevenage, nobody playing with them either so no queues if I had wanted to buy one.

[Neo_VR]

Loads available today at Currys in Stevenage, nobody playing with them either so no queues if I had wanted to buy one.

Thats interesting actually.... the general "feeling" was that the resellers/non apple stores would only get a handful of stock... numbers batted around of 2-8 of each model... after 5pm when the apple store had opened, there were several people walking past with ipads in pcworld/currys bags lol

[*tim*]

Mines arriving next week

I also thought that non Apple stores were only getting a few of each. Apples own website is showing 3-4 weeks, and other online places are OOS. Perhaps Currys got lucky...

[vRSLen]

I have a MacBook and an ipod touch and find both brillinant to use I also have a few systems runing Linux and windowz 7......

What will the iPad do for me?

[MartynVRS]

As others have said I don't see the point of it. It has too many disadvantages for me like no flash and being expensive (for me anyway). As others have said a decent netbook would be better.

As for Apple stuff in general there are loads of people who buy the latest models because they absolutely have to have them and I just can't see why. Also getting fed up of Apple product placement in adverts and TV programs. In the BT one EVERY device is an Apple product. It makes people think that it's Apple or nothing else. The Tesco one does have an Android tablet so that's something.

I don't own any Apple products and I'm pretty sure I never will. I don't like you have to rely on iTunes, don't like the price, don't like how new products come out what seems like every 6 months. I don't like the fanboyism that seems to go with them. It's worse than the console war between the PS3 and the 360 was in the beginning. I also hate that all audio accessories seem to be for Apple and nothing else especially when it comes to those dock systems with speakers. Got a normal MP3 player sir? I'm sorry we don't have anything for you.

Edited 27 March, 2011 by MartynVRS

[JLneonhug]

Seriously though, not trying to shooting down the pad2 or anything but can the owners/want to be owners let us naive people know why is it such a must-have item? :|

[Royston]

Seriously though, not trying to shooting down the pad2 or anything but can the owners/want to be owners let us naive people know why is it such a must-have item? :|

I have an original iPad 64gb WiFi only. I too did not understand the reasons for owning such a seemingly frivolous piece of tech before I got it. It was the girlfriend who encouraged me to get one. She christened it the iFlap.

I can honestly say that I've used it every day since I bought it. I like it because there's no boot up time, the net is only a swipe away and it's just a very good user experience. If I need to check something quickly, or have a casual hour's browse of the net, it's just quick convenient and easy. The apps for iFlap are coming into their own now. Gaming is immersive and intuitive. Some of the music apps are quite in depth and serious bits of kit. It's amazing what it can do on limited processing power so I imagine the iFlap2 will be even better.

As long as you realise you have to have more substantive hardware in place to carry out more demanding tasks, the Flap just fits in. You'll never really understand how indispensable it becomes til you've lived with one for a month.

[The Ors]

...I like it because there's no boot up time, the net is only a swipe away and it's just a very good user experience. If I need to check something quickly, or have a casual hour's browse of the net, it's just quick convenient and easy. The apps for iFlap are coming into their own now. Gaming is immersive and intuitive. Some of the music apps are quite in depth and serious bits of kit...

What he said...

I don't actually have an iPad. I've used friends but I know I'd use one because of the way I have ended up using my iPod Touch. I was going to buy an iPod classic but got a Touch because I thought I might enjoy the odd game or book during a boring nightshift.

Now I do most of my email & surfing on my iPod. It's On-Read-Delete-Off. Easy! I just wish the screen was a bit bigger; hence why I think an iPad would get a lot of use in this house.

I never bought an iPad because, although I can see it's usefulness, I think £429 is just too much money. I would've bought a cheap iPad1 at £329 but I'm short of cash atm.

[richardsfavorit]

This is interesting read. Must admit for me to have an iPad it would just be an over expensive toy - something I could spend my money elsewhere on! I use my laptop (Vista installed on HDD ) with a 4GB USB stick with linux on. It boots quickly, log onto the net and check emails etc from where ever I like in the house. Im surprised linux hasn't taken off more as its cracking for basic net browsing and basic word processing. Plus its free! Very tempted to get a faster pc and just install linux on rather than pay out for windows again!

[TriggerFish]

Novatech sell PC's OS free if that's what you're after - save building one if it's not your 'thing'.

Personally, I can sorta see why people would want one, but for that £400ish you could get a 360, and a netbook. Both of which will outperfom the iPad in it's two main roles - surfing and gaming.

Having used one quickly in a shop, what did strike me as an issue, (any owners care to comment?) is that with it held length ways, the screen was too big to get to the middle of the keyboard when holding it with a hand at each end, meaning you had to either use it one handed, or then have it on your lap, and have to stare down at an akward angle, neither of which seemed good for user friendlyness. I'd say my hands are normal sized for a male, maybe a bit bigger than most.

['daiking']

I still want one but have deep psychological issues with paying all that money for one.

I almost bought a mk1 in New York earlier in the year because they were much cheaper. Glad I didn't with the following price drop. I suppose I might still if I could see a good price on a refurb mk1. I'm not sure the mk2 is a great enough change to warrant it being must have compared to the mk1.

[Crawfsyeti]

Hi. Own lots of Apple products. Sold lots of Apple products on various sites at no great loss and sometimes profit. Bought first Apple share at $66 currently $370 ish.

Not a genius but was once told invest in what you like.

Look at the history of criticism Apple has been given. Find where the criticism has matched the truth.

Naesayers abound prior to the event and are only proved wrong with hindsight.

Forgive the waffle above. I tell many friends that 95% of people could replace their computer 95%of the time with an iPad. Sorry to you "old farts" but the percentage goes up!

So what do I do with it:

Wake up: weather, news, share opening prices. Email. Forums, I suppose.

Work:flight plans, passenger weights etc

Email

Book reading

Odd game or two

Check landing performance. Yes all the details are in PDF format these days.

Fill car with fuel and record.

Get home at oh god 30 and catch up with friends on Twitter.

Check roster for Reserve Flying role with RAF

Fly over no nonfly zone as and when required.

Email

Book read

Check notams

Read flying orders

Etc etc etc

Do all that on one PC machine guys, I challenge you!!

[Royston]

Went for a play on the iFlap2 today in the Apple shop. Must say I'm impressed with the extra speediness. It's a noticable difference to the iFlap 1. Almost enough to make me want to trade in. Hmmm, I think I'll wait however, as I can't get more than 2Meg broadband where I live, so isn't worthwhile.

I'm top of the list for iFlap 3 though.

[fluffmeister]

Hi. Own lots of Apple products. Sold lots of Apple products on various sites at no great loss and sometimes profit. Bought first Apple share at $66 currently $370 ish.

Not a genius but was once told invest in what you like.

Look at the history of criticism Apple has been given. Find where the criticism has matched the truth.

Naesayers abound prior to the event and are only proved wrong with hindsight.

Forgive the waffle above. I tell many friends that 95% of people could replace their computer 95%of the time with an iPad. Sorry to you "old farts" but the percentage goes up!

So what do I do with it:

Wake up: weather, news, share opening prices. Email. Forums, I suppose.

Work:flight plans, passenger weights etc

Email

Book reading

Odd game or two

Check landing performance. Yes all the details are in PDF format these days.

Fill car with fuel and record.

Get home at oh god 30 and catch up with friends on Twitter.

Check roster for Reserve Flying role with RAF

Fly over no nonfly zone as and when required.

Email

Book read

Check notams

Read flying orders

Etc etc etc

Do all that on one PC machine guys, I challenge you!!

If it's all on PDF I can do all of the above with my android phone,and I can view websites with heavy flash content let alone do it on a PC, unless the apps you are using for the Flying end of things are bespoke iPad?

We could do this for years, each camp could put forward a valid point and it can easily and reasonably be countered.

My Apple experience has been tainted by bad customer service and 2 very badly built 27" iMacs that have needed repairs beyond anything I have ever experienced with PC's (first was eventually replaced, second is almost as bad). I had 3 faultless iPhones before I switched to Android, but in the end I got fed up of Jailbreaking them after every IOS update so that I could customise them a little to suit my tastes.

iPads are neat devices, but overpriced in the grand scheme of things, but nice devices all the same. When I switched from my MBP to the Alienware laptop, it would have cost £1000 more to get a similar spec in a new macbook pro (1920 x 1280 LED screen / I7 940QM / 8GB Ram / Radeon 5850 DDR5 / 120GB SSD / USB3 / eSata etc) and it has onsite warranty.

PC's have faults, Mac's have faults, even linux can break.

If apple knocked say £150 off the price, then I would sing the iPad's praises despite it's shortcomings.

[fluffmeister]

Went for a play on the iFlap2 today in the Apple shop. Must say I'm impressed with the extra speediness. It's a noticable difference to the iFlap 1. Almost enough to make me want to trade in. Hmmm, I think I'll wait however, as I can't get more than 2Meg broadband where I live, so isn't worthwhile.

I'm top of the list for iFlap 3 though.

iFlap 3 could be here by the end of the year based on the rumours on the interwebs.

[Crawfsyeti]

Hi. This is not a competition for the consumer. The more great products are out there the better the choice for us. Choose your purchase. Insist on good after sales care. Use the product as you see fit. Accept it's limitations. If you are happy, good. Don't be ****ed off because others choose different. In the end we all end up dead. It's a great leveller friends.

[hertsnminds]

The thing that Apple does that the competition does not is have some control over hardware and software. Apple spec all the components of a device write the operating system and supply the developers with a set of tools to write the software which they then have some say in approving for sale.

In the Windows/Android/et al World each manufacturer specifies a different set of components that must work together under an operating system written by Microsoft or another third party which then runs software written to no set of guidelines.

For certain markets Apple provides an out of the box solution that no one else can match without bolting together bits from several sources.

If you want a cheaper faster PC you can most definitely spec one. If you want a mobile device that runs flash content you can find them. But the same is true of buying a car (or anything else) each manufacturer will being a different proposition for the consumer and in the end as with other products you pays your money and takes your choice.