Apple iPad Gets Reviewers Thumbs Up

Both reviewers found Apple’s custom processor to be very fast, and seemed impressed with AT&T’s 3G offering, though the model with both 3G and WiFi is not yet available – both men tested Wi-Fi-only iPads. The AT&T service fee will be $15 (£10) for 250 megabytes or $30 (£20) for unlimited cellular Internet service. Plus, the fee applies to one month–there’s no annual contract.

“The other carriers are probably cursing AT&T’s name for setting this precedent,” Pogue wrote.

Both Pogue and Mossberg made note of the fact that because Apple turns up its nose at Adobe Flash, there are websites with white boxes where video or animation should be.

“There’s no multitasking, either. … Plus no USB jacks and no camera,” Pogue added. “Bye-bye, Skype video chats. You know Apple is just leaving stuff out for next year’s model.”

Apps Are Where Its At

But then there are the apps, an area where Apple has long excelled.

Apple has rebuilt key iPhone apps for the iPad, adding more sophisticated features, such as a “popover” menu that lets a user see his choices without leaving the screen he’s on.

There are also specially designed iPad apps, of which Apple says it will have 1,000 as of the iPad’s 3 April launch. These apps, Pogue wrote, are “where the real fun begins.” He found the Marvel comic-book app “brilliant in its vividness” and enjoyed the real-newspaper look and layout in the iPad newspaper apps.

Apple also offers a $30 (£20) suite that includes a spreadsheet, presentation program and word processing application. Mossberg generally enjoyed these, explaining that they can import Microsoft Office files – though not always accurately or with their formatting intact.

Quibbles, frustrations and all, Pogue concluded, “The iPad is so fast and light, the multitouch screen so bright and responsive, the software so easy to navigate, that it really does qualify as a new category of gadget.” And Mossberg agreed.

“Because the iPad is a new type of computer,” Mossberg wrote, “you have to feel it, use it, to fully understand it and device if it is for you, or whether, say, a netbook might do better.”