In-depth Review: Apple's iPad 2 running iOS 4.3 - Page 2

How does grandma set it up without a PC?

You're full of it. My Aunt does not have a PC and cannot used computers so I tried to recommend an iPad to her, but had to stop mid recommendation as she wouldn't be able to set it up. There are zero Apple stores in our country and I don't want her iPad to be tied to my computer. It's a con because it's a con, and calling me out saying: "you just want to bitch" is completely crap.

Sorry Archos, thought my points were obvious.

Also note, I'm an Apple product fan (more or less). i have an iPad 1, 2 iPhones, 4 Mac laptops, 2 Mac Mini's, and my original Mac 128. That doens't mean I'm going to become a blind fanboi and pretend everything they do is great or putting my interests ahead of their media games.


Flash 10.1 has existed for mobile for a while, 10.2 is out too. Are you saying that Apple wanted it on there, but Adobe is holding it up? Or are you willing to concede that your point was a poor one (just a distraction)?


SD card don't have to have a spot for dirt (see MacBookPro), and it certainly isn't worse than the dock port Apple has. So your point is weak. I don't need SD, but others like it. I would like USB or video without a dongle though.



My point about keyboards is with the iPad 1, Apple gave us a lame one (the wobble-top). I would have liked some options, and in a few months, 3rd parties will provide it. But many companies try to guarantee that there are options like this on release. (The current ones with integrated cases don't exactly fit the new form factor well).



4) Foxconn is just one of the manufacturers (that Apple picked). Apple is the distributor. They could have far better distribution mechanisms if they wanted. I already gave a few ideas for better distribution:

a) they could just tell the lines that are waiting how many machines they have for sale that day and what variants. (they do this right before they open the door -- after people have waited all night).
b) they could offer security so that they could let the waiters in the mall, instead of outside.
c) they could open the store when they get the delivery and not wait until the exact preset time
d) they could reinstate the lame inventory system they had for the iPhone 3G that showed which stores had inventory
e) they could improve it so it told number of units (they have that in their inventory systems)
f) the vouchers would work fine: you just take their ID information when you give them so they can't sell them
g) since you know what's coming to the store the next day (if the rumors that they pre-stock them is wrong), you could just presell them one day earlier. Just book the sale that day, and let them pick it up the next day. Thus people don't have to wait in line all night.

I could go on, and on.


The facts are, we know Apple could put their customers first. We know they aren't making it convenient. That kinda leaves one to wonder if they just aren't that smart, or if they are doing this on purpose. I suspect the latter -- they like the press. But you're free to disagree. But you don't look very wise (or make Apple look very smart) when you pretend that there's no possibility that you could be wrong.

Have you noticed that I remained polite. But those that don't want to hear anything but Apple is perfect, are somewhat rude. So far, I have to be stupid or a moron because I think there's a better system to distributing iPads than making people camp out all night and wait until 9:00, when Apple knows well in advance exactly what inventory they have (or are going to have) at that store? Really?

Yet you can go to the Android marketplace and download flash for supported Android devices now, so what exactly were you trying to say?

Let's see what happens in Lion.

It's not, unless they frame it as the Post PC world means you have a PC as a hub and your mass consumption devices working together freeing you up to be mobile or localized, as you wish.

Tied to your computer? Once it is activated there is nothing else to do. How is it different than plugging it in to any random computer to upgrade the OS. You never have to sync. Just be a nice boy and upgrade it for her once and awhile.

Ahh! Free is my favourite price. Printopia has some nice features like being able to print to DropBox but this illustrates my point nicely. If other people can implement this feature why can't Apple? The patent argument doesn't hold up for me as there are obviously non-infringing ways to accomplish this.

Not sure if we are talking about the same thing, but I used Air Print fix from ChuckG when the developer OS had that feature but they stripped it out on final release. If you Google it I believe it is still out there. I thought that possibly Apple made a deal with HP, if they supported it then Apple would give them an exclusive for a given period of time sort of like the Intel, Apple deal with LightPeak.

Apple doesn't make people camp outside their stores, the people choose to camp all night.
Are you suggesting Apple drives up its costs by opening all Apple stores 24 hours a day?

This is, of course, nonsense. For the way many people use it, you don't need a PC. And almost all of the ones who need more advanced services already have a PC.



My Corvette doesn't have a boat anchor, either. I see that as an advantage.

it's not Apple's fault that Adobe has still not released a decent version of Flash that will run on iOS.


A complaint that affects a tiny percentage of people. But if it bothers you, don't buy one. Apple is not obligated to make something that satisfies everyone. They made a device which they feel provides the best balance of features/performance/ price. Given the rate at which they're selling, Apple seems to have gotten it right.


Nonsense. It has a keyboard built in.

If you don't like that one, there are external keyboards, anyway.


It's amazing how many bizarre conspiracy theories people manage to come up with. We heard the same thing with iPhone 1, iPhone 2, iPhone 3, iPhone 4, and iPad 1, too. What plausible reason would there be for Apple to limit availability? They're selling every one they can make - they'd be foolish to pass up sales. They certainly don't need any more hype.

It is not easy to set up production of a product that sells millions of units per month. Apple apparently switched over to the new design as soon as all the testing was done and the configuration finalized. Would you rather have them switch product before it's ready?


Funny how gullible people always seem to latch on to false information - as long as it's negative.

The test you're referring to didn't measure Safari's performance. Instead, it measured the performance of the embedded browser - which is about 60% slower. Since everyone I know uses Safari itself for browsing, that's a MAJOR flaw in the 'study'.

You would be a moron if you camped out on the sidewalk just to be the first to get an iPad.

Apple has been doing this for a while so they may have learned a thing or two. You offered some suggestions but I would be surprised if you actually had any real experience in launching a new consumer electronic device on an international scale. Just go online and order one, Apple will get it to you in due course. What's the hurry?

Really? That's what you got from me offered a dozen different ways they could better distribute iPads? (none of which included 24 hours a day -- which wouldn't help at all if they're out of inventory anyways).

My suggestions were ways they could behave like a big-boy company and try to communicate with their customers where the inventor was hiding (which they know), instead of making the customer play the shell game or 3 card monty.

In a perfect world...

I think you give the buying public way too much credit. You may think you have better ideas but when put to the test my guess is that any of these ideas wouldn't improve the system that much.

Exactly... just order it online. People chose to stand in line... Apple doesn't force them to go there. That's the best distribution system for me and it's worked like a charm every time.

Do you think that's an intelligent post, or just trolling? (I think the latter, so will ignore).



Two falacious arguments in a single paragraph, I'm impressed. (But probably not in the way you want to impress people).

1) The point was a reviewer is supposed to make an objective list of limitations. (Not just ones for him, but ones that other people might find important). I think omitting one of the higher complaints out there would be worth a mention (if you aren't a rabid fanboi). It doesn't matter if YOU want it, it matters if others do. And many do. Just chatting in the line I waited at this morning, I had people ask about Flash. (It was on their minds).

2) Really dumb argument to claim because it's selling, it is good. By your illogic Milli Vanilli were better musicians than Bach or U2 because one of their albums outsold the other. The point in being a good analysts isn't looking at how well something is selling, but how far below peak it is selling because of omissions or flaws. Do you really think there's nothing that Apple could do, no tradeoff they could make different, that would make the product better? If you say "none", then you prove your bias (you think Apple is just perfect). If you say, "probably so", then you prove my point, and that yours was lame.



:rollseyesback: My point was I would have liked a better optional keyboard with tactile feel. Apple could have worked with an IHV or internally to improve that situation. It's not a major flaw or anything... but when doing a review, it's a reviewers job to try to think of ways that they could have made it more appealing to more people. (Or where omissions might be). By ignoring what a lot of customers want, you only prove you wouldn't make a very good reviewer.


Wow. Just wow. I only said it 3 or 4 times so far, and you couldn't get it from all of those?

Apple gets free press for having long lines. They seem to value the press more than their customers convenience, or as you said, they would have tried to learn from the iPhone 1, 2, 3, 4 and iPad -- and made things better. Instead they REMOVED systems (like their inventory website) to make the lines longer. Are they stupid? Or just might there be a reason they're making it less convenient for their customers?



Not really. Most people I know use Apps. It's a valid point that Apple cripples their embedded browser when the competitor does not -- especially when Apple encourages people to create Apps using that embedded browser.

But I go appreciate the clarification that it's only significantly slower on Apps that use HTML and not in Safari itself. Though I've still heard and seen otherwise. But like I said in my initial point -- that speed difference wasn't significant enough to matter to me either way. But a reviewer would be remiss to not point it out.

I'm taking up a collection to buy Sue Denim a Xoom tablet and a free membership to a fanDroid site. Any takers?

Actually I'm a bit confused by Sue. The last time she was posting a couple months ago the writing style was completely different and the points she made were not so over the top trolly and actually somewhat logical. Maybe this is a shared user account over at the Adobe Propaganda Department and it is a different Sue on this shift. If not, she seriously needs to put down the crack pipe.

Yes... a lot of customers want a better keyboard... Apple could sell an extra 1000 iPads a month if they followed Sue's suggestion.

Yes... Apple does get free press for having long lines. Oddly enough... when I went to get my iPad 1 there weren't any lines at all. Of course I had to wait a month to buy it... it was excruciating...

Sue, seriously, your rants are blithering nonsense. Apple has no desire to hold inventory back. It is rumored that what they are doing is not releasing new shipments until the next day to give everyone an EQUAL chance at opening rather than selling in a random manner, a quite reasonable approach. Further, it has always taken them a week or two to get the notifier system up and running online once shipments have become more regular and the pipeline more predictable. Also a very reasonable approach.

Unless they limit how many each person can buy, and then predict what each person in line will buy (IF the particular model they want, out of 18 different iterations, is even in stock), they have absolutely no way of knowing how many people will be able to purchase one so your point is ridiculous.

It is offensive that you would claim that they are treating customers "like garbage". Get a life!

I'm in! But do you really think she's bright enough to be able to use it?

I'm glad you mentioned "pipeline"... at least that's something Sue will understand.

I'm curious since I don't think I posted in over a year. But also which point is so over the top?

1) that this reviews list of only 3 possible cons is more symptomatic of fanboi'ism than a really objective review?

Generally, if you list 7 pros, it's a good idea (for objectivity) to list at least as many cons, or mention obvious limitations of those pros compared to the competition: 3G = lack of 4G. strong clean design and size = lack of expansion or ports without dongles. Facetime = proprietary. App store + apps = lack of flash. These are just balancing things in any good review

2) That this is really the best Apple or any company could possibly do to distribute their products. You're actually arguing that things like having an inventory count on their website is a bad idea? Or that Apple couldn't go out when they have a line of 400 and know they only have 50 devices, and tell them the count and models? That somehow this would destroy the iPad and Apple as a company, and not be a way to improve convenience of people waiting in line?

Yeah, I've been trying to get the same question answered. If I'm displaying a slide show (we know video is limited to 720p), how many pixels are being rendered? 720p is sufficient for video. The motion hides the lower resolution, to a degree. But with still photos it makes a bigger difference. And any vector graphics, fonts, etc, rendered at "768p" and then scaled to 1080p will look at little jaggy.

Overall, nice review Daniel. One suggestion, check your TV for a setting overscan on the HDMI inputs. Some TV's slightly overscan to hide any artifacts along the edge of the picture. That might help fill the screen with a little more of the mirrored image.

I never mentioned it before, but now that you have somehow attributed this to me I will admit that I consider it completely unnecessary. Does any other company offer that service?

Honestly, I really don't think you will enjoy an iPad, so you shouldn't buy one, it will only anger and frustrate you.

When the first iPad came out I was a little disappointed that it didn't have a user accessible file system among a few other missing features, but I bought one anyway just to check it out. As it turns out, I really think they did a great job designing it. It doesn't do a lot of things that a full computer does, but that simplicity is part of the design. If you want to have all those computer like features that you mentioned, then you don't yet understand the philosophy behind the iPad.

yea. Guess I'll stop posting for a while.

I find it interesting that only one person answered the question, "do you really think this is the best Apple could do [to inform their customers of inventory]?", or "or do you really only see wins in every single tradeoff made in the product".

If you say yes, then you tell me all I need to know. It's a waste of time to try to reason with those that have no room for reason. This comic comes to mind: http://xkcd.com/386/

I dont understand how it's tied to your computer? You plug it in, it activates, and it never has to see your computer again? It sounds like you're just being spiteful.

The "post truck era" is not something anyone ever touted, hence the discrepancy.


If it's in the future, then by definition, we are not in the post PC era.

This article isn't just a love letter to Apple, this is full frontal iPad 2 porn.

What? Crticiscm of an Apple product in an AI article? I hope DED is okay.

That's the whole point of 'Post PC'. Meaning you already have a PC, here's something you can do with it. Same with the iPod. You can't use that without a computer either. Also, your iPhone wouldn't be so attractive if you didn't pair it with your computer.

I think you're getting the wrong idea on the definition of 'Post PC'... From your post I think you're replacing the word 'Post' with 'New' or 'The Next' in your personal idea of the definition.

Yaknow, its possible that what's being referred to as the "PC era" or the "post-PC device" is really just a euphemism for something else. Replace "PC" with "Windows" and it gets more accurate, I think. We are seeing the end of the Windows era and the beginning of the post-Windows device.

In this new era, Windows is no longer the dominant player. This era starts now.

The term "Post-PC" is going to be flung around by Apple pundits (DED, and that daring fireball guy) until Steve comes up with the next catchphrase, just like 'curated' came and went, as did 'bag of hurt' before it.

So much hyperventilation! Every Apple product out there can be made better, and does get better, but over time and in an evolutionary way.

If you have a problem with that, you should wait before you buy. And stop complaining.

How can a device be Post PC but it needs a PC to be activated.

The Sue Denim of Robots in Disguise? If so, nice to see you here, a long way from Berlin!

Why does a post-PC device need to be sans-PC? Perhaps Apple's current conception of a post-PC device doesn't match yours.

On the Flash point, I have used droids and seen flash drain the battery before my eyes, like 40% usage in about an hour of surfing...if that is the cost of flash on the phone, i will do without, thanks! Besides, most if not all useful content is available in non flash form now, so flash is just a waste land for lazy devs stuck in 10 year old mindsets to make crappy ads for Verizon tablets that run on Apple insider and slow my browser. As a corporate IT guy, if a web dev came to me asking for an upgrade to a new version of Flash Professional, I would say no, use HTML 5 and other standards, dont tie us to that boat anchor.


As to the point about the lines, I can tell you, as one who lined up 4 times last week and got no ipad, that it sucks, I watched people who lined up and got them every day! and they were letting people take 2 each! why not limit it to one per person in line per day if supply is so limited? I refuse to pay $800 for a $500 device on ebay, but the only people who wait in line more than an hour or two after launch day seem to be the ebay whores. I had one guy say "I will sell you my spot for $250 because that is the low end of my margin on this"

Probably not, but I also think there were a couple factors to consider.

1. I don't think anybody, Apple or anyone, expected this kind of turnout for the launch. I live in Plano TX. This is no NYC or LA, but understand that it is higher tech and higher wage earning than the vast majority of the country. I went to the mall that evening to see how the Apple store was doing and see if they might have any iPad 2's on display. I figured, maybe... just maybe, 30, 40 people waiting in line- tops. Like I said this is no NYC flagship store, just some random Apple store. There were easily 500 people waiting in line, probably alot more than that, in a line that stretched all through the mall. It was insane for a v2 product launch. Security was out making sure things went smoothly. Something was up, something beyond and outside normal expectations.

2. Apple is a secretive company. It is their business to have secrecy to foster and build hype for consumer products. You want them to open things up, actually so did I. I wish I could've gone online and seen a list per store of inventory. It makes sense to do right? Except that it is not Apple's business to be open about every detail of its business, and I realize that. Frustrating as it is, you have to acknowledge that it is the right of a business to run itself as it sees fit, provided it is done within current laws.

So yeah, while I do think they could've done better, I don't think they 1. anticipated this kind of demand, it was insane and 2. it is not in Apple's DNA to be open about every detail, and we shouldn't expect them to be.

Consider for just a moment if the opposite had occurred, which is entirely probable (alternate universe time): Nobody wants the iPad2. It's not a real PC, doesn't have enough ports, doesn't run flash and its just a big expensive toy. Ok, Apple posts per-store inventory on their website for the launch to help people find iPad2's, except it turns out nobody wants them. Now its nothing but bad PR for the company: Any schmo reporter can look up online all the overstock iPad2's Apple has in the channel, how they totally misjudged things. Look at all the wasted silicon and glass they have sitting on their shelves. APPL would take a huuuuuuge tumble, the future of the company would come into question. If nobody wants the iPad, and the company was betting its future on this device, what kind of growth can they really expect?

If you were an APPL investor in this scenario, I think you'd be mighty pissed. What the hell was Apple thinking? Why would they be so public about their actual inventory numbers? In this respect posting that info publicly comes with risk, and is a big gamble to shareholders. Especially for a new product category only 1 year old, especially for something that has had unpredictable success and growth in just 9 months when most people, companies and analysts still don't fully understand what is going on.

But to summarize, no. I don't think it is the best Apple can do. I also don't think any of your suggestions quite work.

But look, the bottom line is there is simply way more demand for this product than Apple can produce. I'll get mine in a month or 2 whenever it actually becomes possible. Everyone just needs to take a chill pill and someday (probably around the iPad 5 =) Apple will be able to normalize the supply/demand chain... maybe.

The Xoom has everything Sue is looking for, so I would pitch in.

Is Sue just angry because She can't get one right now, or is she angry because Apple is selling every single one they put on the shelf? I still can't tell after reading so many posts....

In other news, I'm going to call GMC because they don't include a boating package when I buy a truck. I want it to be able to drive on water. The competition does it, so others must want it.... Hell, I see the duck buses (boats) in Boston ever day and get even more angry at GMC for not giving me the option to buy it!!!