The FIRST official reviews of the iPad are now available. Read on.
Critics from both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have praised Apple’s iPad for its ease of use and its phenomenal battery life which according to tests actually lasted longer than Apples claim of 10 hours.
The reviews from both newspapers said that the tablet PC, which will go on sale in just 2 more days, works extremely well for both surfing the web and consuming media such as eBooks and video content.
One reviewer said, ‘If you’re mainly a web surfer, note-taker, social-networker and mailer, and a consumer of photos, videos, books, periodicals and music… this could be for you’. However the review did add that the device does have some quite annoying limitations.
‘The email program lacks the ability to create local folders or rules for auto-sorting messages, and it doesn’t allow group addressing. The browser lacks tabs. And the Wi-Fi-only version lacks GPS,’ he said.
The reviewer described the 9.7″ tablet as ‘so bright and responsive’, but added: ‘The bottom line is that you can get a laptop for much less money with a full keyboard, DVD drive, USB jacks, camera-card slot, camera, the works.’
The eReader War:
The two reviewers were split over whether or not the iPad could beat Amazons Kindle device as the most popular eReader on the market. Currently the Amazon Kindle has a 90% share of the eReader market and is on sale for a similar price as the Apple iPad.
While The Journal’s Walt Mossberg said he preferred the iPad to the Kindle, David Pogue from the New York Times said the device was much too heavy for reading when compared to the Amazon Kindle. The iPad weighs a staggering 1.5lb’s whereas the Amazon Kindle is a fraction of this weighing in at just 10oz.
He said: ‘You can’t read well in direct sunlight’ and ‘You can’t read books from the Apple bookstore on any other machine, not even a Mac or iPhone.’
Apple’s iBook store will not come preloaded on the iPad however which will allow other companies, including Amazon, to create online bookstore apps for the device. Readers will therefore be able to buy eBooks from a number of different suppliers but read them on their iPad.
Amazon said the company would ‘look forward to making Kindle for iPad available very soon,’ but didn’t confirm if the App would be ready for the U.S launch on Saturday.
Once again we will have to wait until the launch of this device to see who wins this eReader war that has developed but from the reviews so far there is no doubting that the iPad is going to be a revolutionary device.
