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All iPads Tried iPad Air at Best Buy... Not Impressed

macguy360 said:
I am happy using my $229 kindle hdx that is just as high quality and a fraction of the price.
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HAHAHAHAHA!

Seriously?

I have a Kindle Fire HDX - and given the price you quote, you are talking about the 16GB WiFi 7" one. Which is only fair to compare to the $479 16GB iPad Air (since everyone is price-matching Walmart now).

I love the HDX - great little screen, solid performance, excellent sound, and great immersion in the Amazon ecosystem I am already heavily invested into.

But ... and this is a BIG but ... EVERY major app is better on iOS. Facebook, Wordpress, on and on. iOS word processing & spreadsheets tower over what you can use on your Kindle. Games? Absolutely no comparison. It is an iOS first world for gaming. And music making - if that matters to you, which it does for me - again, Android isn't even in the game.

And quality? Really? Seriously? Again, the HDX is nice and is definitely better than the Nexus 7 in terms of build, but there just isn't a serious argument that they are equal.

Keep your HDX - I will certainly be keeping mine - but let's not pretend that these two things are equal.

I mean, heck ... the Kindle Fire / Nexus 7 screen is very small (and wrong aspect ratio) compared to the current iPad Mini, let alone the new Air.
 
I know Apple fans will grab their torch and pitchforks when somebody dares insult their 'precious',(and they will inevitably go the worn out 'enjoy your XXX' or 'you can't afford it) but I get where the OP is going.

I think a some consumers will look at the new iPad and say 'is it worth it?' It seems like it's a really good device. It improved on the iPad in every way imaginable. But for some people there is going to be a question if 'is it worth the cost?'

My wife is one of them. She LOVES her iPad 2. It's one of her favorite possessions. Her only complaint is she is started running out of space.

But when she realized a 32 gig cellular iPad Air 2 was going to run about $800 out the door....she had a hard time seeing where the new model was $800 better than what she has now.

Apple is able to get by this mindset (in the US) by heavy carrier subsidization. But for people who aren't driven by 'bigger, faster, more' in their electronic purposes, there reaches a point where they are happy with what they have and it's not worth it to them.

Others, like me and my daughter, love technology and usually get the new stuff when it comes out.

Nothing wrong with either approach.
 
rmhop81 said:
the free books doesn't work unless it's an actual kindle device
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This is why I plan on buying a paperwhite for reading books. Can't beat free books. I also switched from the mini to the air since I'll be doing my fiction reading with a Kindle.
 
Blakjack said:
The iPad has been out since 2007 and the OP has just now decided to tell us he doesnt see the value in one. Hahahahahah.........tell that to the 170 million people in the world who do buddy.
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2007? That was the iPhone launch. The iPad debuted in 2009.

But agree in general, this OP is a pointless waste of MR bandwidth.
 
I’m not impressed and I did not have to go to bestbuy to know it. I will still check it out after work but I doubt it’s going to change my mind. I always use heavy duty cases so what do I gain if the iPad is lighter?
 
legioxi said:
This is why I plan on buying a paperwhite for reading books. Can't beat free books. I also switched from the mini to the air since I'll be doing my fiction reading with a Kindle.
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the free books aren't worth it since not everyone participates

you need to sign up on the kindle book tracking services to track prices. I bought two WW2 books by Rich Atchison for $1.40 each a few days ago. Regular price is $14.
i get emails as soon as the price drops on any of my tracked books or authors and buy if it looks good
 
macguy360 said:
Don't get me wrong, the lighter weight and form factor was nice. The speed seemed decent, but it just seems to be overpriced for what you get.

I was debating getting one, and the fact that you only get 10gb for $500 after iOS is just not enough space for anything. You can literally put on a few apps and games and a movie. Going up to $600 your looking at $650 out the door with tax, plus $99 for Apple care because you don't want to spend $600 and then accidentally drop the tablet and have it break. So now your at $750 and then you will want a cover for it, which will bring it up to about $800.

For $800 I would expect to be able to get a device with 128gb of memory, 2gb ram, a cover, and warranty.

These things are not selling like hot cakes, theres tons of them at every store i have been to. I'll wait for the next iPad and if Apple starts at 32gb with 2gb ram, then I'll buy one. Otherwise, I am happy using my $229 kindle hdx that is just as high quality and a fraction of the price.
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Enjoy that blue light around the screen, don't have a siezure
 
This was an entertaining thread to read, thank you all. I'm not sure why people tread an online forum as a way to express their reasoning for not buying a product. If I am shopping for a Ford, I don't go to the Chevy Dealerships and tell customers at the dealership that I don't approve of Chevy's products, nor would I think to go on a Chevy forum and express reasons why I don't buy a Chevy.

I think it points to an individual's personal insecurities, knowingly or unknowingly bashing a product they don't own, especially when it's an iPad which is a very successful product. It's got to be personal insecurity, because the same person posting the anti-comments on here would likely not go into an Apple store and say these things to people's face. Wish people would speak on the internet like they were speaking in person.

For the record, I don't have or want an iPad Air. I have a mini, and want a retina mini, but i can CERTAINLY see how many people would absolutely love and see much benefit in the Air!
 
alent1234 said:
the free books aren't worth it since not everyone participates

you need to sign up on the kindle book tracking services to track prices. I bought two WW2 books by Rich Atchison for $1.40 each a few days ago. Regular price is $14.
i get emails as soon as the price drops on any of my tracked books or authors and buy if it looks good
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Thanks for the info. Definitely helpful to know :)
 
macguy360 said:
These things are not selling like hot cakes, theres tons of them at every store i have been to.
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Don't know about hot cakes, but these things definitely look to be selling.
 

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macguy360 said:
Don't get me wrong, the lighter weight and form factor was nice. The speed seemed decent, but it just seems to be overpriced for what you get.

I was debating getting one, and the fact that you only get 10gb for $500 after iOS is just not enough space for anything. You can literally put on a few apps and games and a movie. Going up to $600 your looking at $650 out the door with tax, plus $99 for Apple care because you don't want to spend $600 and then accidentally drop the tablet and have it break. So now your at $750 and then you will want a cover for it, which will bring it up to about $800.

For $800 I would expect to be able to get a device with 128gb of memory, 2gb ram, a cover, and warranty.

These things are not selling like hot cakes, theres tons of them at every store i have been to. I'll wait for the next iPad and if Apple starts at 32gb with 2gb ram, then I'll buy one. Otherwise, I am happy using my $229 kindle hdx that is just as high quality and a fraction of the price.
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You get around 14GB out of the box. Demo units have third party apps installed, iOS is only around 700MB.

iPads have never sold like hot cakes. They cost as much as a normal computer, they are luxury devices for most everyone. I walked in an Apple store to buy the first retina iPad (3) on launch day, they had plenty of stock. iPad 2 was a small line. Only the original iPad was "difficult" to acquire right after launch, but that is just because they didn't know what kind of demand to expect.

Go buy an asus t100 if you want value for money. 2GB RAM, 64GB memory with an sdhc slot, and included keyboard dock. I bought one but it is going back because it sucks as a tablet and it sucks at being a laptop. Like it or not, Apple is still the king of tablets and they are charging accordingly.
 
I think they are in stock by the stores allllll got way more to start with. For previous launches, the apple store rep would come outside just before 8 with a handful of cards representing iPads in his hand. They would run out of cards long before the line was over. Today that had a decent line but a whole box full of cards representing the available iPads. I'm guessing they had at least 200 wifi models alone at the store I went to.
 
Was I the only one who was laughing at him bragging about getting free books and movies? Or is this one of those forums where I have to pretend I don't download every bit of media I have for free? :eek: uh...yea... I totally spend all my hard earned money buying songs from an iTunes store... LOL.

My imaginary collection of 10,000 MP3s is totally illegal and I would never break the law and put them, along with my 20GB folder of Comic book CBRs and EPUB files, 50GB folder full of Bluray rips on my 128GB iPad for absolutely $0. I will totally write a check to each movie & music producer first and then cry because I didn't think to buy a "Kindle HDXTRA Super + Totally Better Edition".

If anyone deserves my money it's Amazon! Those tablets aren't cheap because they suck and simply plaster a phony interface over a free open source operating system they didn't create. It's totally not because they force people to use an inferior version of the perfectly established Google App store that's already built for the platform they stole. It's because they are totally rad and Amazon totally doesn't care about money.

Apple are corporate devils in comparison for charging so much for that in house hardware design & operating system built in tandem, specifically catered to create a beautifully fluid interface and experience unmatched by any other company!
 
I think what people are getting at is that in 2010 16GB of storage on a divice that had very few games etc. was a great value for 500 bucks. Now its not, apps are huge and 16GB fills up WAAAAAAY faster than it did 3.5 years ago. Every other non-i-device gets a minimum spec bump in storage at the low end every year. 16GB for retina sized apps just doesn't cut it anymore. Argue all you guys want but it is becoming comical how year after year Apple just keep everything at a 16GB starting point. 32gig should be the minimum on their flagship large tablet.

Apple is like...HERES A FERRARI!!!!!! With a 3 gallon gas tank.
 
txa1265 said:
Did someone say 'troll'?

Oh and YES, you should always be ashamed to be a d-bag, a$$hat pirate. Always. Period.
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Stop hurting my hypothetical feelings, sir! I almost feel hypothetical guilt at the mercy of your fists of hypothetical judgement! I want to be like you....just like you! :cool:
 
macguy360 said:
Thanks! I love being able to download movies, books and tv shows for free rather than paying $10-$20 per movie and $5 per book. In the end I imagine I will save a lot of money.

Also theres no need for cellular because I can just download the shows or movies I want to watch ahead of time. I also enjoy being able to play all the same games on my kindle as what is on the Apple apps because game loft and all the other game makers make games for kindle too, and they run just as well. Hmm, I guess I miss out on typing papers or making power points but I have a 15" rmbp for that so oh well.

Having quick access to buy things and have free 2 day shipping is also great. I appreciate your comment!
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You will never change the die-hards. They are fanatics for a reason. I always laugh at people on here when new stuff comes out.
 
jonnyb098 said:
I think what people are getting at is that in 2010 16GB of storage on a divice that had very few games etc. was a great value for 500 bucks. Now its not, apps are huge and 16GB fills up WAAAAAAY faster than it did 3.5 years ago. Every other non-i-device gets a minimum spec bump in storage at the low end every year. 16GB for retina sized apps just doesn't cut it anymore. Argue all you guys want but it is becoming comical how year after year Apple just keep everything at a 16GB starting point. 32gig should be the minimum on their flagship large tablet.

Apple is like...HERES A FERRARI!!!!!! With a 3 gallon gas tank.
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That is exactly what I was getting at with my purpose of starting this thread. I went to the store and played with an iPad. The device is nice but the baseline model and cost of memory increase is absurd for the luxury item it is.
 
I bought one today. I think they'll sell just fine. They are quite a bit lighter than the previous generations.

iPad launches aren't like iPhone launches. Never have been.

Why would they be? The iPad costs more because people aren't getting subsidies. I don't need a huge storage one. That's what iCloud is for. I traded an old 2... I spent 342 dollars to buy a WiFi only 16GB iPad Air. That'll work, for my needs.
 
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