First of all can I thank producttesting.uk.com for selecting me to receive and review the new iPad.
I thought this was a scam website but I can confirm it is 100% genuine so get applying. It could be you next!
So the iPad
Packaging is what you would expect from apple. Quality but just enough. Included items are an iPad, a plug, a USB lead which connects to the plug or you desktop so you can charge or sync with iTunes. There is also a small package of paperwork which doesn’t include a user guide so I would recommend getting the iBooks app and downloading the free iOS 5.1 user guide.
First use of the iPad is really simple. If you are an apple disciple already then it is a walk in the park but if you aren’t then it is still really simple. The new iPad is basically just a bigger iPhone so all the the buttons have the same function. Powering on you are presented with several setup screens to customise your iPad experience. It is here where you can setup iCloud and wifi.
If you don’t already subscribe to iCloud then I would fully recommend it. Not only does it store all of your settings, purchases, apps etc in the cloud, it also keeps your iPhone and iMac, if you have them, completely upto date with regards to calendar, safari bookmarks, notes etc. A really useful thing to have. You can also restore the settings to your iPad if you need to go back to factory settings for some reason.
The screen of the iPad is truly amazing. The retina display shows websites in a really crisp clear fashion. You will notice it does get marked easily with fingermarks so I would recommend keeping a cloth handy just to give a quick clean now and then. The cloth that comes with the iPhone is perfect for the job.
The speed of the iPad is superb. Multitasking is very fast. Navigation through several webpages at once is a doddle. The onscreen keyboard is so much easier to use than the small one on the iPhone. Multigestures are also great on the iPad. Pinching to zoom, swiping through pages, double tapping to zoom in and out. As I’ve said before, all these things are second nature to an apple user already. But they are also easy to pick up for the non apple user too. It shows you how easy apple products are to use.
The sound of the iPad is also good. I would point out that if you are going to use headphones then you have to push them into the socket until it clicks otherwise they won’t work. You might think you are damaging the iPad but I promise you you aren’t.
Movies are also great on the iPad but if you are planning on going away and renting a few then you might want to consider sd rather than hd. One hd film takes up about 4 gb so doesn’t leave you much left if you have the 16gb one like the one I am reviewing. Streaming of films is probably a better experience, assuming you have wifi of course! If you don’t have acces to wifi then you can quickly tether it to your iPhone but it uses up your data allowance really quickly.
The camera on the iPhone is also pretty good. FaceTime works really well on it. Whether you want to be out taking snaps with your iPad is not for me too say. As the iPad is a little weighty it might be easier to use an iPhone or similar to take your snaps and then use iPhoto on your iPad to play about with them. The photo stream feature that apple use is good here as any pics you take on your iPhone or iPad are automatically sent to all your devices via the cloud.
So in summary, the new iPad is a fantastic piece of kit. It makes your iPhone feel really small after a while. The retina display is truly amazing and makes web browsing a pleasure. Electronic books are great to view on the iPad. Game playing is also excellent due to the speed of the processor and the gyroscopes inside also make game playing to a different level.
The new iPad is a multitasking behemoth. I used to think what would I need one for but now I think how did I live without it!!
