I gave iPad a chance....

[Voony]

The problem with a question like this is everyone will have a different experience. Some will say it was horribly slow and others will say it was faster than wifi.....so that being said I use speedtest.net a lot and I have found I get around 1-2 Mbps pretty much everywhere in Phoenix Arizona. I have the same speedtest.net app on my iphone and the ipad consistantly is faster by several hundra kbps. This to me feels pretty quick. Plus the iPad renders the page very fast further enhancing the experience. Also, when i go to the basement in my work i loss phone service but the bigger more powerful radio of the 3g doesnt notice at all. Anyways, I love the 3G!

I know that everyone's experience is different but I wad curious to know if someone who has both the iPhone 3G and the iPad 3G could tell whether or not the 3G on the iPad is faster than on the iPhone.

I think this is a good question

 

[RavingMac]

I have both but have not noticed a difference . . . which means I probably need to do a side by side test. Will try it and post the results.

 

[RavingMac]

Hard to do a good test without someone to act as timer, but putting my iPhone and iPad side-by-side and trying to access TUAW, Facebook, Fandango and a few other internet based APPs, I get on a little quicker with the iPhone.
Most of the time difference appears to be in rendering the larger screen. For instance, with the TUAW APP both come up immediately with the space holder icons for the articles, but the iPad lags slightly behind the iPhone in downloading/displaying the accompanying image . . . at least in my informal test.

Hope that helps/answers the question somewhat.

 

[XJ-linux]

Must resist... must wait for version 2.0... so hard...

Say, someone should start a thread along the lines of total cost of ownership". No so much on the cellular plans, but on how much is costs to get your iPad in shape for each individual's personal taste. i.e.: cost of adding apps to increase functionality and the like. It would be really interesting (to me at least) to get an idea of how much or little it really costs the average Jose or Josie, on top of the hardware, to get to where it replaces a laptop for x or y or z tasks. Just a though.

 

[Kash]

It really varies from person to person. There are some people who have no problem paying for a bunch of apps whereas others prefer primarily free apps. I know people who have spent $60 on apps since they got their iPad while I've only spent about $4.

I imagine I'll be making lots of in app purchases in the form of books and magazines rather than apps themselves.

 

[XJ-linux]

Yeah, you are probably right. Still, I was just curious what the experiences of current owners are. My wife and I are thinking of grabbing a 3G version 2.0 for her Mother as a Christmas gift, but have no idea regarding cost of ownership. It appears most of the things she would do, are covered by the applications that ship with the iPad. Never hurts to hear the "yeah, it does that, but buy the such-and-such app for a better experience" type of input.

 

[gameniac85]

durkee err

I can totally appreciate that there are many people who not only do not need an iPad "let's face it none of us need one" but also don't enjoy using it enough to merit the cost. I on the other hand look for reasons to use it just because I enjoy it. For example, if I was on my iMac right now I wouldn't bother responding to this thread but because i am on my iPad I am and am enjoying it!! Go figure.......

On the contrary, I actually DO need one .

To summarize my thread from Tuesday for those who didn't read it, I actually need one for school as I will be developing for the iPad. I was considering getting one before I knew I needed one, and once I found out I actually did, I was like "Oh goody! Now I CAN justify the purchase."

I ordered it Wednesday, now it just needs to get here. I used my father's for about 2 hours when he got it on launch day and I was really impressed with it and I can see many scenarios when it will replace my laptop.