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1. You bought "iPad 1.0" and it is not reasonable to believe that the software capabilities will never ever in a million years be improved. I'm sure MobileMe support is high on Apple's to-do list. Returning your iPad because the first release doesn't do absolutely everything you think it should is like your parents putting you up for adoption as a 3-month old infant because you couldn't type fast enough. Let's give it a little time to develop.

2. Glass is heavy. Metal is heavy. It's not the computer components inside that are weighing you down, it's Apple's desire to package them inside a high-quality case. They could have gone to a lighter, cheaper plastic and saved a few precious ounces but then you'd be complaining about the crappy scratched screen. They could have gone to a smaller, lighter battery but then you'd be complaining about short battery life. I personally think they made the right choices on both counts.

3. Not having a Finder is the best thing about the iPad/iPhone OS and I wish it wasn't included in OS X. I just want to get my work done; let the computer worry about where its files are stored. Clearly we disagree on this point and I guess we'll just have to leave it at that.
 
The weight is not a problem because I have my trophy wife hold it in front of me as I read.
 
Why in the world would it need a filesystem?

I agree.

Many, many people struggle with this. Yet it is a key concept that needs to change to get to the next level in computing. Data at the root level should be accessable by whatever app that needs it. We shouldn't have to save and organize and hunt and transfer. Data should live in the cloud and be there for when and how We need it. Once persistent access exits across devices that is always in sync, we are done.

Think IMAP email and bookmarks synched in MobileMe.
 
sure, at the moment I will replace it with my old good PowerBook G4 12" 1.5 that comes with me to the work for the last years. It's a bit heavier but he can do a thousand more things than the iPad.

Can it do sat nav? Has it got an accelerometer? Has it got a compass? Has it got 3G? +all the "thousands" of applications for those features ;)
 
Can it do sat nav? Has it got an accelerometer? Has it got a compass? Has it got 3G? +all the "thousands" of applications for those features ;)

I don't need sat nav nor accelerometer nor a compass and I do plug my 3g stick. I don't speak english very well but I'm not stupid. I bought the iPad to replace that PB and I needed very few features that I thought I could do perfectly with the new device:

- Email access: Passed
- Video Player: Passed
- Music Player: Passed
- Internet Browser: Almost Passed. I could not upload pictures to an important website for my work because there's no file system access nor a direct connection between safari and my pictures.
- Basic Text and Spreasheet handling. Not Passed due the disconnection with iDisk & Mobile Me and, again, the prohibition to access the file system.
- eBook Reader: Not Passed, the device is too heavy (for me) and the spanish store is absolutely empty.

I know many people will love it and probably I will do myself in a couple of years but nowadays the iPad is not useful for me and for that reason I have given it back, that's all.
 
well, if you had had a computer before the iPad you would not make that question...

Right.. nice try. I've been using computers since I started programming in the early '80's. I simply see no need for a filesystem on this device.

I spend my days with my head in people's Unix filesystems but seriously it would be nearly useless on an iPad.
 
Data at the root level should be accessable by whatever app that needs it. We shouldn't have to save and organize and hunt and transfer. Data should live in the cloud and be there for when and how We need it. Once persistent access exits across devices that is always in sync, we are done.

That's all fine and dandy, but currently, this data you speak of is not acessible to each and every app. Not every app communicates with this "cloud". And not all apps can communicate with each other (to share this data). Furthermore, people say "cloud" as if it is a single, centralized entity. But, it's not. It's a haphazard scatter of data that has its stores in many different nooks and crannies. This leads to each app having to "hunt" for data from multiple places on the "cloud". In addition, the "cloud" isn't always accessible and no one with important work to do should rely on it.

I wouldn't want or need an elaborate file system, but a simple one. People may not think of it this way, but our photos are stores in a "file system". Obviously Apple thought a file system was needed for photo (and even our music), so why not have a similar system for documents?
 
I wouldn't want or need an elaborate file system, but a simple one. People may not think of it this way, but our photos are stores in a "file system". Obviously Apple thought a file system was needed for photo (and even our music), so why not have a similar system for documents?

That's it, thanks kas23. Pages, Numbers and Keynote create documents and documents are files. I think is not so extraterrestrial to miss a simple Finder or a kind of Home folder...
 
I don't need sat nav nor accelerometer nor a compass and I do plug my 3g stick. I don't speak english very well but I'm not stupid. I bought the iPad to replace that PB and I needed very few features that I thought I could do perfectly with the new device:

- Email access: Passed
- Video Player: Passed
- Music Player: Passed
- Internet Browser: Almost Passed. I could not upload pictures to an important website for my work because there's no file system access nor a direct connection between safari and my pictures.
- Basic Text and Spreasheet handling. Not Passed due the disconnection with iDisk & Mobile Me and, again, the prohibition to access the file system.
- eBook Reader: Not Passed, the device is too heavy (for me) and the spanish store is absolutely empty.

I know many people will love it and probably I will do myself in a couple of years but nowadays the iPad is not useful for me and for that reason I have given it back, that's all.


:confused:So you didnt want all its unique features but you did want things it cant (out of the box) do... so you went and bought one.

By the way, you have won the super secret international Wizzy® lottery that you never knew you entered. All i require is a small deposit into my Nigerian bank account. I'll PM you the details of where to send the money ;)
 
I got a chance to try Docs2Go's new iPad optimized version and yes it does link to google docs and mobile me. It works fairly well but it munged the formatting of my docs every bit as badly as Pages. Still even with these limitations, it temporarily solves the filesystem, document editing, mobile me, google docs connecting issue for me.

@brentsg: I can agree that having to worry about a filesystem should simply "go away". I don't want to bother with the filesystem but I do want to be able to save a copy of a contract I receive as an email attachment and go back and find it if there is a dispute. I refer to that capability a file system, but I'm not hung up on that terminology. There's nothing "old paradigm" about the ability to store and retrieve information when I need it, no matter what that capability is called. And btw, I do hate the Finder. I own Pathfinder though it isn't my default finder (yet).

@Trinity: Give it some time. International launch was just this past weekend. Spanish and other language ibook titles should start to trickle in. I don't blame you for returning your iPad now, but in the future I fully expect all the objections on your list to be fully addressed without jailbreaking, and regardless of all the flames you've attracted for pointing them out. BTW, your english is fine.
 
I love my iPad. There's only one thing I really hate about it, and that's the amount of RAM. I would not call this thing the ultimate web surfing experience because of one thing. No, it's not flash, which is a shame but I'm over that.

If I visit a webpage with lots of images (insert porn joke here) only half or so will load, the rest are little blue boxes. I find that very disappointing.
 
1. There are apps that syncs with the cloud.
2. Heavy? Someone needs to work out. Btw, I used to carry my 17" MBP on one arm when standing in long lines.
3. GoodReader.

:confused:So you didnt want all its unique features but you did want things it cant (out of the box) do... so you went and bought one.

By the way, you have won the super secret international Wizzy® lottery that you never knew you entered. All i require is a small deposit into my Nigerian bank account. I'll PM you the details of where to send the money ;)

The super secret lottery makes more sense than the OP. It's obvious that he doesn't care about what iPad does well.
 
I really enjoy using my iPad, but I have to agree with iDisk/File Management.

People who claim this device was not intended for "work". Need to check the top paid Apps. The audience (or at least a significant portion of it) want to use the iPad as a productivity device. File management is important for this to work. Anyone who claims that iTunes sync is an acceptable method is trying too hard to defend Apple when it really isn't even under attack. This device screams to have instant syncing for documents. Whether it's taking a spreadsheet from the desktop to the field and back, or adding changes to various documents throughout the day, adding the step of exporting, syncing and then distributing on the desktop is just bad user interface.

Apple IS good interface. That is supposed to be their forte. I expect a solution with iPad 4.0 in the fall.
 
Mac snobs unite!

So someone makes a post that says the iPad is not perfect and obviously he is a weak fool with no taste who deserves to be verbally whipped. Man what a bunch of condescending twits you people are.

The iPad is a limited function media consumption device. It does some things REALLY well, like SOME browsing to sites that don't use flash, and limited email, since you cannot really type long term with thie iPad keyboard.

Heavy? Yes. I ride the train/subway 40-45 minutes each way for work everyday and usually stand as i believe I am in better shape than most people riding with me. I like to read while I ride. Kindle is simplicity itself to hold one handed and read, changing pages with my thumb. The iPad is pretty much impossible to use the same way. If you really honestly can say that you find it comfortable to hold the iPad in one hand, reading an iBook, and changing pages, with one hand, then you have the strength of Hercules and are amazingly dextrous. Realistically to read on the iPad you need either 2 hands or someplace to set the device down.

File system? I live with files of every sort, every day. Power point, word, text, excel, PDF, et al. Hundreds of files. Now, a week later, i am thinkIng, man, where was that write up i saw on whether or not you can use the iPad charger on an iPhone? Maybe I have it wrong, but on the iPad, I have to know where it was - have to know it was a PDF, then open my PDF reader to search for it? On a pc, i just search for it and can find it regardless of the exact form the document was. Or i find the file in the file system. And just open it, independant of the app. Not being tied to the app is so much more flexible. I will admit some apple ignorance here - perhaps there are easier, less obvious ways to do this and i just don't know them yet. My apple experience was limited to 3 years of pain in daily using Macs. The amount of system crashes and lost data from using the Macs was trull amazing - I literally lost hundred and hundreds of hours of productivity because the Macs we were using were so failure prone. So yeah i am a PC user, but I will take my 4 PC crashes a year over the 4 Mac crashes per day anytime.

File sharing? This amazes me. I have a server at home that my PS3 connects to, my Wii, my 2 PCs, and my 2 laptops. I can access files on the server at will, edit from the server, or edit locally and drag it to the server so that another PC can access it immediately. Do that on an iPad. Absolutely impossible. We dont need to share no stinkin files. Wait, on this media sharing device i want to access my media streaming from my home server. Oops, can't. Wait, I want to acces the 100+ movies I have on my home server. Oops can't, unless maybe they are in my iTunes library and i have copied them onto the iPad. But, i can connect to the same server, access those files, videos, music, pictures, AT WILL from any PC in my house - yes PC is so clearly inferior.

Apple and Macs have their place, as does the iPad - I typed this on my iPad for instance - but almost anything you can do on a Mac I can do faster, cheaper, and better on a PC. But i also expect that the chances that any condescending macsnobs would admit that is 0%.
 
Apple and Macs have their place, as does the iPad - I typed this on my iPad for instance - but almost anything you can do on a Mac I can do faster, cheaper, and better on a PC. But i also expect that the chances that any condescending macsnobs would admit that is 0%.

Rather lengthy for flame bait don't you think? Give us a break!
 
So someone makes a post that says the iPad is not perfect and obviously he is a weak fool with no taste who deserves to be verbally whipped. Man what a bunch of condescending twits you people are.

The iPad is a limited function media consumption device. It does some things REALLY well, like SOME browsing to sites that don't use flash, and limited email, since you cannot really type long term with thie iPad keyboard.

Heavy? Yes. I ride the train/subway 40-45 minutes each way for work everyday and usually stand as i believe I am in better shape than most people riding with me. I like to read while I ride. Kindle is simplicity itself to hold one handed and read, changing pages with my thumb. The iPad is pretty much impossible to use the same way. If you really honestly can say that you find it comfortable to hold the iPad in one hand, reading an iBook, and changing pages, with one hand, then you have the strength of Hercules and are amazingly dextrous. Realistically to read on the iPad you need either 2 hands or someplace to set the device down.

File system? I live with files of every sort, every day. Power point, word, text, excel, PDF, et al. Hundreds of files. Now, a week later, i am thinkIng, man, where was that write up i saw on whether or not you can use the iPad charger on an iPhone? Maybe I have it wrong, but on the iPad, I have to know where it was - have to know it was a PDF, then open my PDF reader to search for it? On a pc, i just search for it and can find it regardless of the exact form the document was. Or i find the file in the file system. And just open it, independant of the app. Not being tied to the app is so much more flexible. I will admit some apple ignorance here - perhaps there are easier, less obvious ways to do this and i just don't know them yet. My apple experience was limited to 3 years of pain in daily using Macs. The amount of system crashes and lost data from using the Macs was trull amazing - I literally lost hundred and hundreds of hours of productivity because the Macs we were using were so failure prone. So yeah i am a PC user, but I will take my 4 PC crashes a year over the 4 Mac crashes per day anytime.

File sharing? This amazes me. I have a server at home that my PS3 connects to, my Wii, my 2 PCs, and my 2 laptops. I can access files on the server at will, edit from the server, or edit locally and drag it to the server so that another PC can access it immediately. Do that on an iPad. Absolutely impossible. We dont need to share no stinkin files. Wait, on this media sharing device i want to access my media streaming from my home server. Oops, can't. Wait, I want to acces the 100+ movies I have on my home server. Oops can't, unless maybe they are in my iTunes library and i have copied them onto the iPad. But, i can connect to the same server, access those files, videos, music, pictures, AT WILL from any PC in my house - yes PC is so clearly inferior.

Apple and Macs have their place, as does the iPad - I typed this on my iPad for instance - but almost anything you can do on a Mac I can do faster, cheaper, and better on a PC. But i also expect that the chances that any condescending macsnobs would admit that is 0%.

I'll agree with "cheaper", but not faster and better.
 
"No device is perfect for everyone."

This was said at the beginning of this thread and its pretty much a fact, in my case I found iPad to be almost useless (for me) and felt really limited (for now) as so big device.

After using it for a while, I noticed I could do exactly (almost) same things with my iPhone, and actually I didn't even notice it at first. Yesterday when I was having coffee I took iPhone out of my pocket and start writing e-mails, checking up calendar where to have meeting next, and little things like quick reading RSS feeds and bit of surfing..

I didn't even think about taking iPad from my bag for these things.. It just felt a lot easier to take iPhone from pocket and do these.. So, after my friend notified me from my behaviour I really start to think that why I even have it..

I believe that for people who don't have iPhone and/or actually do reading from screen (what I will never do, I prefer paper) will find it useful "little" device, but in my case, its useless :eek:

I love my iPhone and MBP and I find it best combination for me right now, maybe after year or two when there is more features (and maybe bit more "open"), I will try it again to replace my MBP (especially on-the-go), but now, it cannot do it yet.

Much love to :apple: community.
 
There are 2 iPad/universal apps I know off the top of my head that will allow you to access MS Office documents on your iDisk, edit them, and then save/sync the changed documents back to your iDisk: Office²HD and Docs to Go Premium. I've used both and they work as advertised to easily access documents on your iDisk without having to go through the trouble of transferring them back and forth via iTunes.

Also, I think that some changes to MobileMe and the iWork apps are coming soon. The lack of integration between the iPad and MobileMe is huge and is not something that Apple will let go on for long, IMHO. I'm guessing we'll see some news at WWDC next week.

Appreciate the links r6
 
That's it, thanks kas23. Pages, Numbers and Keynote create documents and documents are files. I think is not so extraterrestrial to miss a simple Finder or a kind of Home folder...

What I believe is needed is a compromise between old-school filesystem and new-school file systems.

It should be fairly obvious these days that OS developers, particularly Apple and Microsoft, are trying to move away from the file/folder paradigm for file systems; with good reason. The new paradigm being put forward is the treatment of the filesystem as a database with a tag and search paradigm complimented by a focus shift from a file-centric system to a task-centric system.

The iPhone OS in it's current form, with a completely app-centric filesystem, is going too far in my opinion. It may work acceptably on a small device like a phone but with the iPad, where the form factor allows for some serious work to be done, it is a bizarre limitation.

What is needed is a simple compromise. We need to be able to get files in and out of the iPad with ease. So let a shared area of the iPad's flash drive be mounted as a removable disk in the host OS. User can drag'n'drop stuff in and out as they see fit.

On the iPad itself file management should still be handled per app with the biggest difference here being that any given app, upon being launched, searches the shared area for any filetypes it understands and displays them to the user for manipulation (open, save, save as, trash). This way any app that can display a PDF has access to all PDFs in the shared area.

Given a system like that I don't think anyone would have trouble getting good work done with an iPad without having to resort to weirdness like emailing things to oneself...

Perhaps if the current iTunes file manager system was left as a default behaviour and something along the lines outlined above was provided as an option to be configured in System Prefs we would all be happy.
 
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