Like many, I was eager to get my hands on it. But Apple changing their rules mid-game and a probable removal of the Kindle app left a sour taste in my mouth.
Buy a Kindle unit. It's the best piece of hardware that I have bought in a long time. If you were going to do a lot of reading on the iPad then you can't go wrong with it.
Not grandparent, but will try to answer anyway. I do mostly scientific software development and analytics for a bioinformatics lab. Being able to carry around all the academic papers I need with me at all time, together with supplementary material and online manuals in PDF form, is tremendous for me. What's even better, I can highlight and make notes right in those PDFs with GoodReader. Unlike most other eReaders, iPad has a color screen, and in my field (computational biology and genetics) this is crucial as nearly every paper published in the big three (Nature/Science/Cell) has complex color diagrams in it.
I have been using Penultimate (notebook-like app where you can scribble with a stylus) to lay out nearly all of my ideas. Because I develop algorithms as well, only being able to type (as on a laptop) is not good enough for me. I need to be able to jolt down diagrams/drawings with a pen/stylus all the time. I can immediately email any of my notes/diagrams (or the entire notebook) as a PDF file to collaborators that I have in my Contacts list in the Mail app. I don't have to carry around several unwieldy notebooks in my bag anymore. The only things I carry in my messenger bag now are: MacBook, iPad, vacuum flask with hot coffee (if the workstations at work were Macs, I wouldn't even have to carry the MacBook). No more paper!
The iPad has VPN and an SSH app, so away from work I can login and view how my clusters are doing.
I am able to do the things I listed above on a single device (except software development). The reason I carry around a MacBook is only because I compile code at work for Linux platform and I like to have a second non-Linux but UNIX computer to check code portability, which I wouldn't be able to do with Windows anyway (don't get me started on Cygwin).
1. PDFs are much easier to read on a vertical-format screen unless said screen is very large (would need to twist modern wide-screen laptops sideways). Also, I prefer that my reading device is not heavy and that it is small enough to read while on standing on public transportation -- this way I can get heads up on things before arriving to work.
2. The ability to annotate documents directly using finger input is amazing (I am not talking about handwriting -- I am talking about yellow-highlighting passages and keywords without using the classic trackpad and cursor combo which requires a stable platform for it to be usable).
3. The ability to just take the PDF/document/notes/whatever and bring it over to my boss next door is irreplaceable. Laptop is too heavy and cumbersome to hold with one hand, and email/file-sharing is cumbersome as well -- bosses are generally unwilling to listen to their subordinates tell them to open this or that file while they are in the middle of something on their screen. This is why most offices have stuck with paper for so long -- it is great to be able to carry something in your hand and just show it to somebody across the floor. Likewise, it is easier for my boss (who also has an iPad) to just show me some document without having to print it or email it to me or walk me over across the lab to his computer.
"Laptop is too heavy and cumbersome to hold with one hand, and email/file-sharing is cumbersome as well -- bosses are generally unwilling to listen to their subordinates tell them to open this or that file while they are in the middle of something on their screen."
The importance of this is under-recognized.
A friend realized it is much cheaper to just pre-load an iPad with demo software and mail it free to a prospective client, than to fly to said customer and arrange for meeting times and persuade them to load & run software on their computers. Open an envelope, turn it on, start using the product - send us a check and we'll keep it on and send you more. "$500, it just works" is _cheap_ for what it buys.
I'm a software engineer by day, and a software/hardware hacker at night also working on my own start-up. I require reference to be easy and without lag. Once I build up a flow of thoughts and ideas that I've compiled from a list of sources, I like to be able to reference them and organize them without having books lying about everywhere.
I recently learned Objective-C pretty rapidly by having access to multiple books at the same time and consuming them in parallel. When I would have trouble understanding one concept in one book, I would move to another book that could explain the concept better to me. So I was book-sourcing my learning.
iBooks is sufficient for this, but I've been thinking about building my own tool that processes information the way I do and keeping the journal handy.
My set-up is (left to right): 27Inch Cinema Display, iPad on stand, MacBook Pro.
I use my cinema display for coding and browsing, the macbook for logs/stderr/stdout, and I use the iPad as a book reference. So I can flip back and forth around the iPad if I need to, or I can take my iPad to another workspace on my workbench and not have to deal with lugging my laptop around.
I teach part-time. Being able to use an instant-on, anytime-anywhere networking device lets me juggle an extra class amid whatever sporadic 5-15 minute breaks I can find. My iPad paid for itself in 3 weeks.
I'm in the same boat you are. I love my android phone because I use google apps for my business and gmail for my personal - but I wasn't overly impressed when I played with the Xoom. I love the new format for Google Talk, Gmail and Maps, but the screen quality seemed not as stunning as the original iPad. I'm waiting myself to see the iPad 2, but I will be getting something this time around as well.
Yep. I planned on buying the iPad 2 but I’m not so sure anymore. I will probably wait another few months and play around with the competitors first. That WebOS tablet also looks great but I don’t know whether I want to wait that long.
I'm trying to think of features that would get me to trade up from my original iPad.
A Retina display would do it, but it sounds like that's not happening this time round.
FaceTime? I already have a couple of devices that do FaceTime.
Thinner or lighter? It would have to be significantly lighter before I'd even consider it.
So I'm quite sure I will stick with my original iPad, at least until v3. It's a killer device that's completely changed the way I read, the way I watch TV, the way I spend my "leisure computing" time, and the way I listen to music at home, and I'm certainly very happy I jumped in early.
A display that is readable is bright sunlight. I'd pay another $800 for that one. Ok, I'd at least think about it. :-)
Also, if it could handle pen input and finger input sensibly. There are hacks for iPad stylus input, but they're all a little unwieldy, especially if you want to rest your hand on the device.
I held out. As much as I like dead tree CS books, lugging relevant ones around has become too much of a pain. Add to that the awesome offer from O'Reilly for $5 ebook versions of books you already own, and the ipad becomes irresistible to me.
I've just been holding out for a lighter version. I think the original ipad is just a bit too heavy.
O'Reilly sells DRM-free ebooks through their store, so they're unaffected. You load the ebooks onto the iPad using the usual transfer methods for media.
It's one of the nice side-effects of selling DRM-free books: they don't need an app that has the DRM baked-in -- you can use iBooks or any third-party reader.
A downside to this approach is not having an easy way to purchase books without a computer. iBooks has a great checkout experience and the only way O'Reilly could have something similar is by coughing up 30%. Tech savvy users can figure installing something like GoodReader and then downloading the PDF in MobileSafari and sending it over to GoodReader, but it's a UX nightmare. O'Reilly at least has technical users, other publishers are even more screwed if they want to go non-DRM.
Given that O'Reilly books are of technical nature, and you can't actually code on an iPad (unless you're using SSH/VPN), this is a perfect fit for the O'Reilly... you'll need a computer anyway.
Furthermore, I'm never on vacation and think, Oh, I'd love t read up on RoR... I usually already have the book.
I want to get one tablet, and a new phone. I also want one iOS device, and one Android device. As soon as it is clear which combination of OS and form factor is optimal I will buy. Probably leaning towards Android phone, and iPad at this stage, but still not quite ready to buy.
I held out for several months but broke down in July and picked one up as a reward to myself for getting a job :) I'm jumping right on the iPad 2 when it comes out though. I'll just sell my old iPad, thanks to the good resale value of Apple gear.
I've been waiting for the iPad 2 to see what it can do, but after this subscription stuff and a potential removal of the Kindle app makes me care much less.
