the Apple iPad

[leo8877]

p.s. what's the general consensus on size?  I store all my music on a zune 32 gig MP3 player so I won't be putting any music on it beyond a few.  I'll mostly be using it for netflix and for app store games.  Will a 32 gig be sufficient?

Unless you are storing movies and tv shows, 32 GB will be more than enough, imo. 

[hepcat]

Yeah, I just loaded a bunch of games onto it and it barely dented the storage.  I think i chose wisely.

[Dreamshadow]

I'm up to 15 gig of apps, but many of those are from my ipod touch and ones I've gotten free from Free App a Day... gonna start weeding out the Ipod only apps soon, as they do look really bad in some cases.

[rittchard]

This is pretty cool, 100 greatest Atari Hits coming out soon:

http://toucharcade.com/2011/04/06/atari-brings-100-retro-titles-to-ios-in-ataris-greatest-hits/

But making it potentially even cooler:

http://toucharcade.com/2011/01/07/icade/

[ydejin]

I haven't bought Small World yet, but that's one that has always interested me at game stores. The board games I like tend to be of the simple to learn, Lifetime to master variety.

Small World is a very well done port.  However, having only two player (or one-player vs. the AI) does cut down strategy a lot.

[Misguided]

I got a 64 but was willing to take a 32. I think 16 is kind of small because the size of apps seems to be increasing.

[hepcat]

Let me guess:  you also had to wait in a line at the Apple store only to eventually be told exactly what you could buy?   

[Misguided]

Let me guess:  you also had to wait in a line at the Apple store only to eventually be told exactly what you could buy?   

Not exactly. I was happy to walk away. My first choice would have been a 64 wifi but I ended up w a 3G model. It was a gift from my folks, and I was trying not to break the bank but my wife and my mom both encouraged me to get the 3G model.

[CeeKay]

uh-oh.. the AT&T store I walk by at least twice everyday put out a big iPad 2 sign today.  It took all my willpower to keep on walking when I saw it.

I'm doomed.

[rittchard]

uh-oh.. the AT&T store I walk by at least twice everyday put out a big iPad 2 sign today.  It took all my willpower to keep on walking when I saw it.

I'm doomed.

iPad 2 speaking.... "Ceekay.... I love you!!!!   Please buy me, I need your warm fingers to touch my screen, slide them all over with your huge multiple finger gestures...."  

[hepcat]

I can't recommend Kingsburg for the iPad after all.  It's apparently still just an iPhone app and using it on the iPad results in missing text from splash screens and other weird graphical anomalies.  hopefully they'll release an update to address this in the near future.  The same problem exists for Roll Through the Ages, another game I would love to recommend but can't until they update it for the iPad.

On the other hand, found a great little game called Corpse Craft.  Tower Defense with a puzzle quest component and a really eccentric storyline.  

In addition, I grabbed an alternate web browser called Atomic that's much better than Safari in my opinion.

Neuroshima Hex, Small World, Civilization Revolution, Catan, Dead Space and parcours.robo (a robo rally clone) are all great though!

edit:  anyone using the mobileme service?  i enabled it because it was listed on the "steps to setup your ipad" page I visited after getting my ipad.  i thought it was free, but a coworker who has an ipad also said he thought it was 99 bucks a year.  is this true?  while nice, it's not worth that much to me.

[papasmurff]

My understanding is that the basic MobileMe account just allows you to track and lock your iPad remotely.  There is a mobile me service that allows you to store data and retrieve it from anywhere.  Without looking I believe that is the service you are referring to that costs money.

[hepcat]

Well, I'm now up to about 70 bucks in the appstore since Wednesday.  Boardgamegeek.com has a fairly comprehensive list of boardgames available on the iPad and I've been just buying them left and right.  I think I have a problem.   

I shudder to think what's going to happen once Puerto Rico and La Havre come out soon...as well as the GMT games they've announced (including Washington's War  ).

[Roman]

In addition, I grabbed an alternate web browser called Atomic that's much better than Safari in my opinion.

I love Mercury. Has tabs for browsing etc etc and tons more offerings like integrated drop box etc etc.

[SkyLander]

In addition, I grabbed an alternate web browser called Atomic that's much better than Safari in my opinion.

I love Mercury. Has tabs for browsing etc etc and tons more offerings like integrated drop box etc etc.

The only issue I have with the 3rd party browsers is none of them have punch to zoom in/out and hte double tap zooming done nearly as smoothly or nicely as safaris. As much as I hate safari.

[ravenvii]

In addition, I grabbed an alternate web browser called Atomic that's much better than Safari in my opinion.

I love Mercury. Has tabs for browsing etc etc and tons more offerings like integrated drop box etc etc.

I'll go ahead and point you guys to iCab, which is my alternative browser of choice.

[Misguided]

I played Roll Through the Ages on an original iPad and it was fine, so it must be something on the new model.

[hepcat]

The partners in my company heard me extolling the virtues of my new ipad and after messing around with it for about 15 minutes, they've asked me to get them each one as well.  I asked if I could get a 64 gig version and give one of them my 32 as they both said all they wanted were 32's and they said okay since I'm the one waiting in a line on Monday morning.    Hopefully the apple store will actually HAVE the damn things in that size that day.  

p.s. the targus ipad 2 vuscape...best case i've found.  

[Misguided]

Just mentioned this in the iPhone thread, but if anyone has been eyeing Death Rally, it's $2.99 today and pretty sweet.

[hepcat]

Just mentioned this in the iPhone thread, but if anyone has been eyeing Death Rally, it's $2.99 today and pretty sweet.

you enabling bastard...

[CeeKay]

Just mentioned this in the iPhone thread, but if anyone has been eyeing Death Rally, it's $2.99 today and pretty sweet.

you enabling bastard...

there's also a big EA sale I posted about in Steels & Molest Hepcat's Wallet Deals.

[Misguided]

Just mentioned this in the iPhone thread, but if anyone has been eyeing Death Rally, it's $2.99 today and pretty sweet.

you enabling bastard...

there's also a big EA sale I posted about in Steels & Molest Hepcat's Wallet Deals.

I'm waiting for Scrabble to go on sale, but it's not in this one, bummer.

[Hetz]

I originally got a 16GB iPad 1 and I was constantly having to take stuff off my iPad because I was running out of space. So, I now have a 32GB iPad 2. Much better!

[Hetz]

I can't recommend Kingsburg for the iPad after all.  It's apparently still just an iPhone app and using it on the iPad results in missing text from splash screens and other weird graphical anomalies.  hopefully they'll release an update to address this in the near future.  The same problem exists for Roll Through the Ages, another game I would love to recommend but can't until they update it for the iPad.

On the other hand, found a great little game called Corpse Craft.  Tower Defense with a puzzle quest component and a really eccentric storyline.  

In addition, I grabbed an alternate web browser called Atomic that's much better than Safari in my opinion.

Neuroshima Hex, Small World, Civilization Revolution, Catan, Dead Space and parcours.robo (a robo rally clone) are all great though!

edit:  anyone using the mobileme service?  i enabled it because it was listed on the "steps to setup your ipad" page I visited after getting my ipad.  i thought it was free, but a coworker who has an ipad also said he thought it was 99 bucks a year.  is this true?  while nice, it's not worth that much to me.

I concur with the Civ Rev recomendation. It's awesome on the iPad!

[hepcat]

...and no iPad 64 gig versions at the store this morning.  so much for my hope of upgrading.  ah well, 32 should be fine...at least until the iPad 3 comes out.

[rittchard]

For you artists out there, this looks pretty cool:

http://www.photoshop.com/products/mobile/eazel

particularly with the brush:

http://nomadbrush.com/


If anyone told me a few years ago someone would be using a paintbrush on an LCD screen I'd think it was ludicrous.

[ydejin]

Just mentioned this in the iPhone thread, but if anyone has been eyeing Death Rally, it's $2.99 today and pretty sweet.

you enabling bastard...

there's also a big EA sale I posted about in Steels & Molest Hepcat's Wallet Deals.

I'm waiting for Scrabble to go on sale, but it's not in this one, bummer.

Scrabble for the iPad is definitely solid.  Probably my most played game.

[rittchard]

Anyone seen this weird pseudo 3D demo thing using the front facing camera?  I don't understand how it works and how it is that even in the Youtube video you can kind of see the 3D effect?!?

http://gizmodo.com/#!5790990/this-app-turns-the-ipad-into-a-3d-display-that-doesnt-need-glasses

[Turtle]

All that does is track the position of the viewer and change the angle that a 3D object is shown to you on screen in relation to where you're viewing it from.

It's not actually 3D at all, if you saw it with both eyes so you had some depth perception, the screen would still be just as flat.

The tech has been in use for a while now, and even a few DSi games used it. The video they show makes it look a bit more flashy than it is, but it's still a neat trick.

[CeeKay]

looks like it's time for more iPad 3 rumors:

Wall Street Journal:  iPad 3 in early 2012, with the Retina Display.  of course this fits with their release schedule so far (April and March), so now one must debate whether to wait 7 months or so for a better display.

[hepcat]

Late to the party, I know, but I just read that Apple is asking for 30 percent of all sales generated from purchases made within apps.  Found this out when I realized the Store button was missing from my kindle app.  As mentioned, it has forced Amazon to drop the Store feature from their Kindle app and then ultimately to release a web version of their app with the Store back in place.  The web version sucks though as it doesn't support a lot of the features of the app AND it oftentimes crashes when trying to sync purchases (at least in my experience).

Nice way to treat the companies who primarily drive sales on your device, Apple.  

[Dreamshadow]

Late to the party, I know, but I just read that Apple is asking for 30 percent of all sales generated from purchases made within apps.  Found this out when I realized the Store button was missing from my kindle app.  As mentioned, it has forced Amazon to drop the Store feature from their Kindle app and then ultimately to release a web version of their app with the Store back in place.  The web version sucks though as it doesn't support a lot of the features of the app AND it oftentimes crashes when trying to sync purchases (at least in my experience).

Nice way to treat the companies who primarily drive sales on your device, Apple.  

the only feature missing is the store button.  It just means you have to browse out to the store manually to send stuff to your Kindle app on your Ipad.

[hepcat]

the only feature missing is the store button.  It just means you have to browse out to the store manually to send stuff to your Kindle app on your Ipad.

yeah, that's what I'm doing now as the kindle cloud app isn't nearly as good as the app version, imho.  still, it's an inconvenience (no matter how small of one) that wouldn't be occurring if apple wasn't being a douche about this crap.

[ydejin]

Late to the party, I know, but I just read that Apple is asking for 30 percent of all sales generated from purchases made within apps.  Found this out when I realized the Store button was missing from my kindle app.  As mentioned, it has forced Amazon to drop the Store feature from their Kindle app and then ultimately to release a web version of their app with the Store back in place.  The web version sucks though as it doesn't support a lot of the features of the app AND it oftentimes crashes when trying to sync purchases (at least in my experience).

Nice way to treat the companies who primarily drive sales on your device, Apple.  

Yep.  IMO this sucks big.  A 5-10% cut might be reasonable, but 30% is way too much.

Costs are passed on to us.  For example, when Dark Horse Comics were first announced, they were said to be priced at $1.50 each.  But then Apple announced their 30% surcharge on all items policy, so now we're paying $2 per comic, pretty close to what would need to be charged to make up for Apple's onerous overcharge.  I don't blame Dark Horse for raising the price, I blame Apple.

[Misguided]

I don't get what you are grousing about. 30% is the same amount they charge for app purchases, so I don't see why in-app should be any different, especially when so many games are going to the freemium model.

Having said that I think it would be in everyone's interest if Apple came up with some way to have a reduced rate for apps like Kindle or the Dark Horse comic app where the app is strictly a gateway to further content.

[ydejin]

I don't get what you are grousing about. 30% is the same amount they charge for app purchases, so I don't see why in-app should be any different, especially when so many games are going to the freemium model.

Having said that I think it would be in everyone's interest if Apple came up with some way to have a reduced rate for apps like Kindle or the Dark Horse comic app where the app is strictly a gateway to further content.

The difference between surcharges for purchasing apps and surcharges on in-app purchases is what Apple is actually providing.  For an app, Apple is presumably storing the app on their servers.  They are categorizing the app and providing a store front for the app.  They are tracking which apps the user has purchased and are pushing through updates.  They are checking content for stability (although from some apps I have they seem to be doing a rather crappy job with their testing).

Contrast that with in-app purchases, where Apple often does little, or in some cases absolutely nothing.  With the Amazon Kindle App, for example, the in-app store actually switched over to the website.  Total cost to Apple for purchasing something from the Amazon Kindle App => Zero.  Why should Apple get a 30% cut?

For something like purchases of Dark Horse comics, Apple should get a cut, but they aren't doing anything more than handling the financial transaction.  I believe Dark Horse is running their own servers and keeping track of who has purchased in app because the experience purchasing from their website (which Apple doesn't get a cut of) and purchasing in app is exactly the same, except for the billing procedure.  So yeah, Apple should take a 5-8% cut off the top just like Visa or MasterCard would (5-8% seems high, but I do keep in mind Apple is having to give their own share of the profits to the credit card company).

But 30% charge for handling a financial transaction?  That's nuts.  Imagine paying a 30% surcharge everytime you used a credit or debit card.

Also keep in mind that there is no way to get an app onto the iPad or iPhone except via the App store.  So basically any app which allows purchases inside the app must charge a 30% overhead.  Can you imagine the uproar if Microsoft similarly said that any app that ran on Windows that sold something had to give Microsoft a 30% cut, regardless of whether or not Microsoft resources were used for that transaction?

[Misguided]

I don't think we really disagree here as much as you think. I think Apple had to make this move because so many publishers (e.g. Big Fish) now have all their games as free apps with in-game unlocks. That's why the change was made. As I said before, there should be some sort of contingency arrangement for an app which is strictly a portal device for purchased content.

[ydejin]

I don't think we really disagree here as much as you think. I think Apple had to make this move because so many publishers (e.g. Big Fish) now have all their games as free apps with in-game unlocks. That's why the change was made. As I said before, there should be some sort of contingency arrangement for an app which is strictly a portal device for purchased content.

I can see how from a certain perspective f2p games could be an issue.  OTOH it's not like Microsoft is getting money for f2p games which run on Windows or the manufacturers of your favourite browser Firefox/Chrome/Opera/etc. are making money on f2p browser games which run inside their platform.

Maybe Apple could focus on making a really great platform that has lots of cool stuff on it, and selling lots and lots of iPads.

[Misguided]

Maybe Apple could focus on making a really great platform that has lots of cool stuff on it, and selling lots and lots of iPads.

In the most recent quarter that ended in late June, they sold over 3 million a month. I think that qualifies.

[Arclight]

One of the things I love about my i-pad2 and i-phone4 is I can use the i-phone4 that is 3g, as my tether point and join with my i-pad2, which is only wi-fi.
Granted it uses my data allotment from the i-phone, but I don't use the i-phone for much more than texting-calls now anyway.

Why have two devices with 3G if you only need one?