DDI and IPAD

[catsclaw227]

3G models won't be out until the end of the month.
Apple - iPad - Price starting at $499

The service is still through AT&T, however, there is no contract. So you can buy a month of 3G with no obligations. Otherwise the 3Gs will work like the wireless ones.

OK... I see.

It's $30/month for an unlimited data plan? That means the iPad is basically gonna cost $1000 after the first year, $360 per year afterwards.

And from what I can tell, you CAN'T use this like a phone?

 

[OchreJelly]

I don't believe AT&T has announced anything about bundled service but I could be wrong. No the iPad has no phone or camera capabilities.

A friend of mine thought it would be hilarious if you could use it as a giant phone.

For those with questions on the device itself, I think this is the best review I've read:
Apple iPad review -- Engadget

It's pretty evenly measured and nicely asks you, the reader, if you are the target audience for such a device.

 

[Enclave]

Well, specs just dropped on the Slate, per Engadget. Decent, but I don't think it's going to be enough to fulfill the title of "iPad Killer". Only 5 hours of battery life is going to be an achilles heel. Running Windows 7 with 1GB of RAM on an Atom processor may not provide the speed of the iPhone OS on the iPad, though I'm sure it will be decent for most casual tasks. The iPad has gotten marks for being fairly fast at its tasks...it remains to be seen how well the Slate will perform. It looks like a good piece of hardware, but I'm not seeing it stealing a huge chunk of the iPad's market share. Especially since it comes in around the same price point as the least expensive iPad and has no 3G options by itself. Also, the lack of speakers seems pretty odd, when they're showing the use of skype video in the ad.

I think a large part of the problem is that many are looking at the iPad as a laptop replacement, when at best it's a netbook replacement. Great for a specific set of tasks. Just like I don't consider my iPhone to be a replacement for a real laptop or even netbook...but for e-mail, facebook, twitter, youtube, wikipedia access, online store browsing, gps maps and most web browsing tasks, it's become my platform of choice.

Odds are it's running a modified version of Windows 7, probably a version that has a lot of the bloat cut out of it, so that 1 gig of ram shouldn't be a problem.

The 5 hour battery life though, I'm not a huge fan of that.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A friend of mine thought it would be hilarious if you could use it as a giant phone.

I agree- that would be hilarious!

 

[abetterway]

And from what I can tell, you CAN'T use this like a phone?

Skype, TruPhone, etc, etc will let you make phone calls on it if you really want to. Making a phone call on the device might be fun and all, but its not really what it was designed for in my opinion. Its an incredible media consumption device. Web browsing, movie watching, PDF viewing, playing games, displaying my character sheets and accessing my computers at work and around the house are all wonderful on it.

Am I the only one around here who "gets" the iPad? Its an incredible device. Of course I am biased... the iPhone is probably the greatest gadget I have ever owned and this is pretty much just a larger version of the greatest gadget I have ever owned.

Kyle

 

[guivre]

I am confused about something. Does the iPad come with 3G browsing out the gate? According to this article, it only does Wi-FI, and the Wi-Fi is sketchy.

iPad has Wi-Fi problems, some users say - CNN.com

The WiFi has been solid for me. Keep in mind those support comments are a tiny subset of the total current iPad owners. Every device that comes out has people complaining about it. It's just as likely people on networks as it is a hardware issue. At least at this point very few people are reporting problems.

OK... I see.

It's $30/month for an unlimited data plan? That means the iPad is basically gonna cost $1000 after the first year, $360 per year afterwards.

If you get 3G yes. The plan they came up with is great, but they should have negotiated a rider on existing phone plans for less. Had they charged $10 a month extra to my iPhone to tack on 3G for the pad I'd have gone 3G. That being said a data plan with no contract for that low of a price is a great deal. I just don't think it's a must have on the iPad.

No the iPad has no phone or camera capabilities.

Not true actually. It's true that it has no camera, and it doesn't behave like a cell phone but it does have phone capabilities. VOIP works, and if you have access to Google Voice (lucky you, I'm envious) you can use that as well.

Prior to January you could only do this on Wifi, but Apple distributed a new SDK while the news was still fresh on the iPad that unlocked the capability on 3G as well. I'll bet anything that taking calls on the iPad is part of Jobs vision and he intends to get there a little at a time... boiling the frog.

I've personally attended teleconferences on the iPad, it works great.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Am I the only one around here who "gets" the iPad? Its an incredible device. Of course I am biased... the iPhone is probably the greatest gadget I have ever owned and this is pretty much just a larger version of the greatest gadget I have ever owned.

I "get" it- I'm just not getting it anytime in the near future. I'm prone to wait a while on new tech.

Heck, I don't have a laptop and I may just get my first smartphone this year. My first iPod is still in its shrinkwrapped box after 4 years- it didn't have enough storage for my purposes.

 

[guivre]

Skype, TruPhone, etc, etc will let you make phone calls on it if you really want to. Making a phone call on the device might be fun and all, but its not really what it was designed for in my opinion. Its an incredible media consumption device. Web browsing, movie watching, PDF viewing, playing games, displaying my character sheets and accessing my computers at work and around the house are all wonderful on it.

I'll place a bet on that I'm positive it's meant to handle direct voice interaction. The move to unlock VOIP on 3G was subtle but powerful and foreshadows their plans. I'd consider betting that Apple has some bigger plans, like their own version of Google Voice, but time will tell.

Am I the only one around here who "gets" the iPad? Its an incredible device. Of course I am biased... the iPhone is probably the greatest gadget I have ever owned and this is pretty much just a larger version of the greatest gadget I have ever owned.

Kyle

Nope, you're not the only one. This is a fantastic device and I think more people will get it in the future. A lot of people have this binary view of consumer devices, they don't have the imagination to understand where a device like this fits in.

Give it 6 months and you'll start to see some killer apps out for it. With any luck more hardware manufacturers will jump on the bandwagon and machines in this form factor will be prevalent.

The uses of a device like this are limitless.

I bought one because I've been waiting for a device like this, but also because I want to fund development for this platform. I don't care who makes it, as long as they're being made.

 

[PaulofCthulhu]

Am I the only one around here who "gets" the iPad? Its an incredible device. Of course I am biased... the iPhone is probably the greatest gadget I have ever owned and this is pretty much just a larger version of the greatest gadget I have ever owned.

Certainly not the only one. It looks to be great for Web Administration, and the 3G version has a great potential as a true field device.

As usual I suspect it's the 'Apps' that will be deveoped for it that will be the "Killer USP", as with the iPhone itself.

I've just thought of a way I could possibly use one to do live podcast creation & streaming too. When I manage to get one, I will have to try it!

 

[OchreJelly]

I also "get" it, and got it in fact! To be perfectly honest I was skeptical but approached it with an open mind. I also am generally not an early adopter when it comes to tech. While I was out shopping my only intention was to try a demo model because I felt it was really something that had to be experienced.

So I tried it and was sold. Now mind you, for me there's a couple things at work: 1) I had gift cards and tax return money burning a hole in my pocket. 2) For years I've been in the market for a secondary device. I don't own a laptop, but was considering getting a netbook for lite computing, media consumption, surfing etc. I was considering this for a long time, but kept waiting for netbooks to get "a little better". I also played with the idea of getting a portable dvd player to have in my office to watch tv while I worked. Again, I put that off for not having a strong enough need to take the plunge.

So when the ipad arrived that familiar itch for a secondary device gnawed at me. I have now had it since Saturday and don't feel the buyers remorse.

But what about DND?
I actually used it to great effect last night during our session. I had need for a quick random encounter, and had the compendium up and ready to pull something up in their level range. Later that night, a player had a question about an item they had lost their card for and no one brought the book it was in. 15 seconds later I had the compendium entry up. Another player imported his character sheet using the iplay4E and it looked great. This probably isn't anything special to those used to having computers at the table, but for me it was an eye-opener. Especially when table space is a premium, this took up no more space than an additional book.

So yes, I like it so far