What can the iPad be used for?

[ReadyAndWilling]

hey guys, i'm struggling to see what the iPad can do really well that an iPhone or a notebook can't?

no multi-tasking, no camera, etc.

i've heard the CPU is powerful, but how powerful is it compared to the iPhone? more than twice as powerful?

someone mentioned it will be attractive to gamers. i don't know many gamers who would be willing to drop $500 on a machine like this.

what do you guys think?

[Defiant]

Well, if it has the same serious security flaws as the iPhone, I imagine it will be used for ID theft and other nefarious purposes - just not by the owners...

Eastern European hackers rejoice: the iPad is here!

[The Stig]

Defiant wrote:

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Well, if it has the same serious security flaws as the iPhone, I imagine it will be used for ID theft and other nefarious purposes - just not by the owners...

Eastern European hackers rejoice: the iPad is here!

The only sucessful hacks in the wild for iPhone OS-based devices are based on a vulnerability created by jailbreaking the phone/device and not changing the root password. That's hardly Apple's fault and it's more than a little disingenuous on your part to portray it otherwise. Android, on the other hand, has actually suffered a legtimate phishing attack from its own Android Store, the fault for which lies entirely at Google's feet due to their hands-off policy on apps published to the store.

[Defiant]

The Stig wrote:

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The only sucessful hacks in the wild for iPhone OS-based devices are based on a vulnerability created by jailbreaking the phone/device and not changing the root password. That's hardly Apple's fault and it's more than a little disingenuous on your part to portray it otherwise. Android, on the other hand, has actually suffered a legtimate phishing attack from its own Android Store, the fault for which lies entirely at Google's feet due to their hands-off policy on apps published to the store.

While jailbreaking an iPhone does make it wide open, I have had an expert in iPhone forensics in our Task Force demonstrate several unpublished vulnerabilities of the iPhone. I have seen them for myself.

Even worse is the capability of certain "benign" apps such as "whoshere" to give away way too much information. It makes social engineering through Apple's "blessed" apps way to easy, and I have investigated child exploitation cases where these "saf" apps have been used for nefarious purposes.

And god forbid anyone get hold of your iPhone physically, because every deleted text, email, chat, and even VOICEMAIL is retrievable, if it hasn't been overwritten.

Apple has simply chosen "Security through Obscurity," which is not a valid way to keep info secure. Once the mechanisms are understood by a particular hacker (which they are in the black and gray-hat communities), or (better yet) if you can get hold of the phone for a few minutes (such as at a border crossing), it's game over.

[Zion Ravescene]

ReadyAndWilling wrote:

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hey guys, i'm struggling to see what the iPad can do really well that an iPhone or a notebook can't?

Serving drinks and hors d'oeuvres with one hand?

[Defiant]

Zion Ravescene wrote:

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Serving drinks and hors d'oeuvres with one hand?

LOL!

And for the record, since I didn't mention it in my previous message, I'm not saying Android is necessarily any better than the iPhone/iPad OS (although I think the open architecture ends up resulting in a more secure environment where security holes are found and fixed faster), but my biggest complaint with iPad is that it gives people a false sense of security.

It LOOKS like a notebook due to its form factor, and people will start doing things like online banking with it. This thing is not an intel-powered notebook with a firewall and anti-virus on it. That's problematic to me...

[Lindley]

Interactive approach plates, en route charts, and other situatlonal awareness tools for pilots, perhaps. You need something that you can just glance at which isn't as unwieldy as a laptop would be in a small cockpit.

[ReadyAndWilling]

Any more serious replies?

[Tom Hendricks]

My wife got the iPad on launch day and I got the 3G so I have to wait to get mine. However in using my wife's I can tell you this. Their is no better way to surf the internet then on the iPad. No squinting to look at things like on the iPhone. The pages launch quickly, so much faster then on the iPhone. On a laptop or netbook, you need to power on and wait to boot. On the iPad, just like the iPhone, you click the on button. Launch the browser and boom your on the internet. I really like the mail app as well, I love reading e-mail on this thing. My wife travels a lot for work and uses her laptop for powerpoint presentations, the iPad has replaced her laptop for most things. So instead of lugging her laptop around, she carries the iPad. Is it a total laptop replacer, no. However for most things it can.

What I think make the iPad great is that its so personal. I'm talking about your relationship with it. When you use a laptop, it is so far away. Even if you have it on your lap. The iPad is close, like your iPhone but with a screen size almost that of a laptop.

[FordSVT]

Jack of..... Most Trades, master of none. Except being sexy. Kind of like Jessica Biel.

The thing about it being a laptop replacement.... so many people multitask with their laptops. The iPad is not for people who like to actually do work on their computers, or people who need to use multiple applications at once that interact with one another. It's fine to use as a fancy hard drive for presentations, for example, but would you try to compose that presentation on it? No.

It's a cool piece of kit, but it doesn't push my buttons the way the original iPod Touch and iPhone did. And as for reading I'm already hearing a myriad of complaints about using it as an e-reader, it's simply not anywhere near as good as e-paper readers. Thirty minutes here and there fine, but it will tear your eyes out in an afternoon.

[C.E. Evans]

The vibe I get from the iPad that it's just a really good way to surf the 'net away from home or the office, but I can't help but think this is a very transitionary thing, and that a more versatile (and more smudge-resistant) device is waiting not that far off in the wings that will make the iPad look like a CD walkman in only a couple of years...

I want my Starfleet-issue Personal Access Display Device with its subspace tranceiver and isolinear processor now, dang it!

[Tom Hendricks]

The main reason I got the iPad was to be a e-reader. I have read two books on it and I love it. I have used the Kindle and the Nook and I think the iPad is more akin to reading a book then either of the other two. Both the Kindle and Nook are dark, the iPad is far brighter and whiter.

I never said that the iPad would completely replace a laptop but it comes damn close. Remember people thought laptops would replace desktops, that still has not happen but is coming closer to being a reality. So you have to look at the iPad the same way you looked at laptops in the beginning. The iPad will have multi-tasking come this fall, so when it does what will people change their complaints to? Not trying to be argumentative but actually want to have a discussion what you think its limitations are. I'm also not trying to pursue you. If you have made up your mind. However some people maybe on the fence and I want to give them two views. Also have you actually used a iPad yet? I have found most people who criticize it, have not actually tried one. I think you really need to use one to understand what it really is. Anyone who dismisses it as being a large iPod Touch or iPhone I know have not used it.

[Warp Coil]

The iPad seems targeted at people who want to "consume" content and aren't really looking to "create" content. Meaning, if you want to check your email, surf the web, watch video, listen to audio, play games, read a book, etc. then this device will do it all without the fuss of having to carry around a laptop.

If you need to, say, write a paper or put together a presentation or edit a movie... basically any sort of "creating"... then you still need a laptop or desktop.

The iPad seems like a great tool that could be use as supplementary computers in a household. If you've got one primary computer that is shared amongst a family of four, buying an iPad might make sense.

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I've used it pretty extensively now as someone I know bought one for iPhone/iPad game testing. I spent most of the weekend with it.

The main use for is to browse internet/media while lounging on the couch, which is actually a very pleasant experience.

However, that's about it. It's not a great device on a table, you can't really use it while walking (you kind of can but it's very clumsy that way), it can't fit in your pocket so you need a bag of some sort or to actually carry it, you can't do any real typing on this thing, defenders have created very narrow definitions to make it seem useful (hey, it's a 'content consuming device'! another way of saying, it's only about halfway as useful as it should be). Power users should forget about it altogether as a replacement.

If you are comfortable reading on LCD/LED type screens for long periods of time, then it also serves as a very nice e-reader.

I consider it very much a luxury item. 500 bucks for something to use in limited situations. And I question the need to have to be 'connected' at every point in your life. When a device exists soley to give you media/internet access at every point BETWEEN your smartphone and computer/laptop, you really have to start to wonder: Are you spending too much time staring at a screen?

This would be a mind-blowing device at 250 bucks. at 500? ehhhhh.

[Tom Hendricks]

The Kindle DX e-reader retails for $489. and its just an e-reader. The base price of an iPad is $499. For $10 more you get an almost laptop. So the Kindle, Nook and so on should be about $50 based on your $250 for the iPad.