The  buying experience at the Regent Street store was a mixed one, first I was ignored by all apple sales people, this went on for about 1 hour, then I went and asked someone, who was quite irritated that I didn’t know how to buy an iPad. So the way to buy an iPad is to go to the counter/till and ask for one.

I did just that and was quite grumpy at the time…because of being ignored and rudeness of staff. The guy at the till was brilliant, he offered help to setup the iPad there and then which I initially refused, but then thought why not, it’s part of the experience …

So we waited for a mac to be free so that we could connect the iPad at the store and activate to get the 3G access etc. I chose the 1GB plan with O2. Plan to get out a bit with the new iPad.

Before buying spent quite a bit of time researching to see that it would match my requirements, one of the main issues was lack of multi-tasking , which is actually not a problem.

Named the iPad Judy after my first pet. So Judy is quite busy these days, especially when I feel like having a lie in (Churchill style) and do some work !

So some of my research before buying Magical and Revolutionary Judy was

1. Cutting sim to micro sim  — if you plan to buy a non expiring normal sim for vodaphone and use on iPad

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2741292

http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=137

2. iPAD  UK vs USA [¬£699 vs ¬£520] ¬£180 difference
I was thinking of going to New York to purchase the iPad, so that I could save £180 and at the same time check out the city. But was not going to wait until I got time off to do this.

List of requirements
———————
Ethernet port  –> Not on the iPad
Jailbreak -> still waiting to do this, need a windows box to run the jailbreak software, won’t work from a windows on a vmware running on a mac
Skype –> obviously no video ! but chat and audio works fine.
word/ openoffice –> NO, planning to use iWorks or pages
Dropbox –> installed the app but yet to login, I am waiting to jailbreak first, so that my files will not be accidentally deleted while syncing.
shell access need to run Bash, php, python–> Jailbreak w/ sprit, no idea whether judy can run python
Flash –> http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-install-flash-on-your-ipad-complete-how-to-guide/ –> yet to try
Frash
GPS –> the free app works fine with 3D GPS

iPad Jailbreak guides/ tutorials

http://www.redmondpie.com/jailbreak-ipad-3.2.2-ios-with-limera1n-video-how-to-guide/

http://www.macstories.net/ipad/how-to-jailbreak-the-ipad-with-spirit-and-install-your-first-cydia-apps/

Finer points when JailBreaking

Turn iPad into airplane mode.

Cydia did not show until I powered off and on again my iPad

http://docgadget.blogspot.com/2010/05/apptrackrorg-excellent-site-for-yr-ipad.html

Apptrackr

DocsToGo
Atomic Web browser
LogMeIn injector
iTeleport
I use iSSH, great VNC support, nice keyboard, function key, and scaling.
I also use it for straight SSHing into my Macs and Linux boxes.
iFile

Hope this helps, will update when I jailbreak Judy and clear up when I get time.

iPAD is for

1. Surfing the Internet
2. watching video
3. streaming music and
4. reading e-books

Steve called this the ideal replacement for netbooks, which are just cheap laptops !. According to industry experts this is an attempt at gaining market share on the

1. sony ebook
2. Amazon Kindle
3. Barnes & Noble

ebook niche.

Steve Jobs is doing a great presentation in San Francisco as I write this, to launch iPAD. From what has been released so far this is a

1. Hybrid between an iPhone and a Macbook, like a giant ipod touch. Actually more like a giant iPhone !
2. All iPhone apps can be run on the iPad
3. 1GHz Apple A4 processor
4. 16GB, 32GB, 64GB built in flash memory
5. 10 inches (9.7 inches)
6. 1.5 lbs (about .7 kg)
7. only half (.5) inch thin !!!
8. 10 hour battery life with video / 1 month standby capacity !!!
9. Wifi only  ($499 (16GB), $599 (32GB) and $699 (64GB)) or
10. WiFi + 3G ($629 (16GB), $729 (32GB) and $829 (64GB).)
11. Wifi  802.11n, with backward compatibility
12. 3G
1. Two 3G data plans with AT&T, $15 (250GB) and $30 (unlimited) each month
2. No contract !
13. Bluetooth 2.1
14. LED-backlit display with IPS technology
15. Display adjusts according to the way you hold it to give optimized viewing (accelerometer)
16. No multitasking ? not too sure about this one
17. No voice calls
18. Flash ?
19. Soft onscreen virtual multi touch keyboard,
20. Finally the price has been announced,  $500 ? more information from http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/appletablet/appletabletb543.jpg
21. No camera ?
22. Is iPad a replacement for macbook ?
23. will be available late March  2010, the 3G only version will be available world wide in about 2 months time (by the end of March)
24. iTunes built in, but you need to purchase new apps etc even if you own them on iphone or elsewhere.
25. Smooth scrolling
26. iPhone style virtual sliding switch for unlocking
27. Curiously the ipad.com domain is now owned by Apple !