A lot of disappointment here, but I think we're still good for an April release - our pre-release routine is just different from the USA's.
Anyone old enough to remember Ultimate Play The Game from the 1980s? They were very Apple-like in their secrecy.
My eBay iPad is amazing. I've been playing with it for 4 hours straight when I should have been doing plenty of other things. If it's any consolation to the diehards still waiting for the UK release - it's worth it. Oh my, is it worth it.
I love the on-screen, near-full-size keyboard. I learned to type (well, I learned where the letters were) on a ZX81 keyboard. 30 years later, I've come just about full circle. I'm nearly as fast on the iPad as on a regular keyboard. At the moment I find the outer edge of my right hand keeps brushing the keys in the lower right and mucking things up, but I'll get over that with more practice.
We badly need the apostrophe available on the front keyboard. At present you have to tap a button to access another screen of punctuation symbols. Knowing Apple there's a shortcut to the apostrophe on the front I'm not aware of yet - ?
The screen does get unblievably mucky after a very short space of time. But it cleans up just the same as its little cousins.
Using the iPhone after a spell on the iPad is just flat-out weird. It (the iPhone) feels impossibly dinky. Not necessarily in a bad way.
I hesitated over setting up a US iTunes account, as the user agreement specifically forbids extra-territorial use of the iTunes stores. But then I went ahead and did it anyway. I bought some codes on eBay and they were emailed to me an hour later (you have to shop around for the code e-mailers; most sellers seem to be snail-mailers).
I've got myself set up with some choice apps, particularly Pages. I'll be doing a lot of writing on the iPad.
I could go on, but this is a sombre day in this thread. All I wanted here was to share some of the joy of iPad, if I could. I know that if I hadn't taken the eBay route last week I'd be snarling and despondent and ready to cut my throat (and this is only slightly an exaggeration).
p.s. - if anyone's curious, I paid ZERO customs/VAT charges, as my seller was a UK-based one and shipped from within this country. I got a 32GB wi-fi model for £540 - roughly what they'll be here when they come out, I think.
Anyone old enough to remember Ultimate Play The Game from the 1980s? They were very Apple-like in their secrecy.
My eBay iPad is amazing. I've been playing with it for 4 hours straight when I should have been doing plenty of other things. If it's any consolation to the diehards still waiting for the UK release - it's worth it. Oh my, is it worth it.
I love the on-screen, near-full-size keyboard. I learned to type (well, I learned where the letters were) on a ZX81 keyboard. 30 years later, I've come just about full circle. I'm nearly as fast on the iPad as on a regular keyboard. At the moment I find the outer edge of my right hand keeps brushing the keys in the lower right and mucking things up, but I'll get over that with more practice.
We badly need the apostrophe available on the front keyboard. At present you have to tap a button to access another screen of punctuation symbols. Knowing Apple there's a shortcut to the apostrophe on the front I'm not aware of yet - ?
The screen does get unblievably mucky after a very short space of time. But it cleans up just the same as its little cousins.
Using the iPhone after a spell on the iPad is just flat-out weird. It (the iPhone) feels impossibly dinky. Not necessarily in a bad way.
I hesitated over setting up a US iTunes account, as the user agreement specifically forbids extra-territorial use of the iTunes stores. But then I went ahead and did it anyway. I bought some codes on eBay and they were emailed to me an hour later (you have to shop around for the code e-mailers; most sellers seem to be snail-mailers).
I've got myself set up with some choice apps, particularly Pages. I'll be doing a lot of writing on the iPad.
I could go on, but this is a sombre day in this thread. All I wanted here was to share some of the joy of iPad, if I could. I know that if I hadn't taken the eBay route last week I'd be snarling and despondent and ready to cut my throat (and this is only slightly an exaggeration).
p.s. - if anyone's curious, I paid ZERO customs/VAT charges, as my seller was a UK-based one and shipped from within this country. I got a 32GB wi-fi model for £540 - roughly what they'll be here when they come out, I think.
