I’ve read more iPad reviews than I care to remember over the last couple of days, but luckily, not all of them have been gushy, fan boi reviews *looks over at Pogue, Mossberg and co.*
i.e. crap like [no offence, @amandamli] this from LineHive:
iPad reviews from 6 of the most popular publications: general agreement that it’s a new paradigm. http://linehive.com/show/207
So, without further adieu, here are some real [by real, I mean anti-iPad reviews that bring a smile to kittens across the globe] reviews.
Note that I’m probably bastardising these reviews by pulling out a paragraph or so from them, so please do go read them!
iPad danger: app v. web, consumer v. creator via @jeffjarvis
I tweeted earlier that after having slept with her (Ms. iPad), I woke up with morning-after regrets. She’s sweet and pretty but shallow and vapid.
Cute line, appropriate for retweets. But as my hangover settles in, I realize that there’s something much more basic and profound that worries me about the iPad — and not just the iPad but the architecture upon which it is built. I see danger in moving from the web to apps.
The Real iPad Review via @adamkmiec
Let’s just be honest for a second. What need does the iPad deliver on? What consumer problem does it solve? The answer to both is nothing. It’s essentially a bright shiny Apple object and that’s exactly why you’ll buy it. However, what I think you’ll find is that just like so many other bright shiny objects, you’ll be bored with it fairly quickly. Unless of course you’re a 3 year old; then you’ll love it and never want to put it down.
Why I won’t buy an iPad (and think you shouldn’t, either) via @doctorow, @boingboing
Gadgets come and gadgets go. The iPad you buy today will be e-waste in a year or two (less, if you decide not to pay to have the battery changed for you). The real issue isn’t the capabilities of the piece of plastic you unwrap today, but the technical and social infrastructure that accompanies it.
If you want to live in the creative universe where anyone with a cool idea can make it and give it to you to run on your hardware, the iPad isn’t for you.
If you want to live in the fair world where you get to keep (or give away) the stuff you buy, the iPad isn’t for you.
If you want to write code for a platform where the only thing that determines whether you’re going to succeed with it is whether your audience loves it, the iPad isn’t for you.
Verdict after one day via @davewiner
I promised a verdict, so here it is. With the caveat that it’s after one day and I reserve the right to change it at any time: Today’s iPad, the one that I just bought, is just a demo of something that could be very nice and useful at some point in the future. Today it’s something to play with, not something to use. That’s the kind way to say it. The direct way: It’s a toy.
Apple iPad review via @joshuatopolsky, @engadget
Probably the “fairest” review I’ve read, and I have to add it in for some semblance of balance, but there are still more than enough negatives scattered through it!
UPDATE:
iPad app pricing: A last act of insanity by delusional content companies via @Techmeme
Note to Time digital strategists: Sorry caching your site so I can take it with me when I’m on the move isn’t a feature worth your premium pricing.
“I just opened up my brand new iPad and was SHOCKED with what the internals looked like” via reddit
Reboxing via BuzzMachine, @jeffjarvis
c0up 
the kittens over the globe couldn’t care less
There is a famous yiddish saying, "To a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish".@amandamli You are the worm. I am the kitten.
Putting aside all of the fanboi praises and the haters derailments of the iPad, I think there is one sure societal impact ofthe iPad – it dramatically increases user expectations (and demands) from the technology they buy and interact with. This perpetuates throughout the entire technology industry ranging from the agile mobile market to the sluggish corporate systems. Who wants the standard Nokia, when you can have a touch screen Android or iPhone? Who wants the standard iPod when there’s the iPod touch?Who wants to look at Windows XP when you can look at Mac OS X?We’re all becoming accustomed to better designed, more usable interfaces, and as users, we want more of this. This places added pressure on inventors and technology vendors to deliver better services and products. My hope is that in the next decade, we will see a re-vamp of internal corporate systems from intranets to standard applications. It’s well and truly time for these poorly designed, non-usable (but highly functional) systems to be replaced by far superior counterparts that are more usable and as or more functional.These thoughts are further explored in my blog post: User Experience. Steve Jobs’ing the Newspaper Industry– http://bit.ly/905L7mGo have a read!
the PUPPIES couldn’t care less
It’s not so much the better designed and more usable aspects; we already know Apple does that well, and the iPad isn’t impacting society’s growing expectations, because it’s kinda already happened with the iPhone.I agree that functionally it is lacking, and hey, maybe after the drones play with it for a while and overcome the reality distortion field, they’ll come to realise that.Then there’s media swooping in thinking it’ll save them, because of it’s closed, app-based ecosystem. Yeh, good luck with that…