I've had the iPad now for a few weeks and I can now give some comments on how it works. Keep in mind I am a BB user and have been for some time.
I won't compare this to the Playbook as it's not really fair due to its age and specs. I will say that the PB and its gestures seem more natural to me and from things like having multiple windows open and navigation I find it to be better.
The reason I had to get the iPad was for work. Our municipality uses Sire Agenda to go for our meetings (to reduce paper mainly) and that app isn't available obviously for BB.
The good of iPad
Speed. It is fast in processing, surfing the net and loading applications.
Battery life is great. I was using this yesterday starting at 100 percent and now as I type this in the next morning I'm at 81. So for casual / medium amount of usage it's great.
Calendar. Before BB updated to 10.3.1 I would have given it a tie to BB but given the changes to that recently, I give the iPad the win. The calendar is much easier to use for keeping track of and adding activities as well as the overall visual impact. If BB would just improve that functionality I'd be very happy.
The meh of iPad
Keyboard. I don't care what folks say about the virtual keyboard of any device but it's where BB wins with BB10. I thought I'd have to make some major adjustments to my typing on the iPad but it's not as bad as I expected but still not as good as I thought it would be given my Apple friends talking about it.
Apps. Now here's where I feel the flames will start given where I'm posting this but I'm not an app kinda person. I do have some news apps downloaded like Toronto star and globe and mail etc but really they are just the same as the mobile newspaper sites. Granted they don't work well on Playbook which screen size is comparable and on my BB Classic the screen is much smaller but it's a mobile site to me so its interchangeable in my eyes.
The bad of iPad
Multitasking. With BB Playbook and the Classic or Passport or any other BB10 product you can seemlessly switch windows with a swipe and still have things running in the background. For instance if I'm watching something on YouTube and I get an email, I could simply switch windows to go into my hub and see or read the email and then quickly swipe back. With iPad I have to double click the home button and then go to mail, read it. Then double click to get all open items and select the YouTube to begin watching again. It doesn't run in the background so it has to be restarted again. PITA if you ask me.
No hub. The hub on BB10 is simply awesome. I can put accounts into the hub for all my accounts. My LinkedIn my Twitter my Facebook my Igrann (BB native Instagram account) and several of my emails...all in one area. If I get a tweet I can simply respond to it without having to open up the app. Same for Facebook or any other app in the hub. It can't be done in iOS. Without the hub or a similar feature in iOS I don't think I'd ever get or use the iPhone as my primary driver.
That's just a few observations. Did my fingers fall off or a black hole emerge when I started using an Apple product? Of course not. It works OK for me and what I need it for. Would it be enough to get me to switch from BB to IOS...nope.
There are good and bad in every device I'll give people that. I've tried a few android products in the past like the Samsung Note 4 for example and while the hardware was amazing including what I'd say is the best camera and screen on a device...the lack of a hub location for everything makes it a product I'd pass on as well. I don't like the cartoon like UI for android and it feels even less natural when flipping from app to app than the iPad even.
So there are some of my thoughts. Bash around or comment if you wish. BB always takes a beating from everyone but in my opinion it's still the best OS going right now for a person like me. Like iOS it's not for everyone but we all have our opinions to say the least.
I won't compare this to the Playbook as it's not really fair due to its age and specs. I will say that the PB and its gestures seem more natural to me and from things like having multiple windows open and navigation I find it to be better.
The reason I had to get the iPad was for work. Our municipality uses Sire Agenda to go for our meetings (to reduce paper mainly) and that app isn't available obviously for BB.
The good of iPad
Speed. It is fast in processing, surfing the net and loading applications.
Battery life is great. I was using this yesterday starting at 100 percent and now as I type this in the next morning I'm at 81. So for casual / medium amount of usage it's great.
Calendar. Before BB updated to 10.3.1 I would have given it a tie to BB but given the changes to that recently, I give the iPad the win. The calendar is much easier to use for keeping track of and adding activities as well as the overall visual impact. If BB would just improve that functionality I'd be very happy.
The meh of iPad
Keyboard. I don't care what folks say about the virtual keyboard of any device but it's where BB wins with BB10. I thought I'd have to make some major adjustments to my typing on the iPad but it's not as bad as I expected but still not as good as I thought it would be given my Apple friends talking about it.
Apps. Now here's where I feel the flames will start given where I'm posting this but I'm not an app kinda person. I do have some news apps downloaded like Toronto star and globe and mail etc but really they are just the same as the mobile newspaper sites. Granted they don't work well on Playbook which screen size is comparable and on my BB Classic the screen is much smaller but it's a mobile site to me so its interchangeable in my eyes.
The bad of iPad
Multitasking. With BB Playbook and the Classic or Passport or any other BB10 product you can seemlessly switch windows with a swipe and still have things running in the background. For instance if I'm watching something on YouTube and I get an email, I could simply switch windows to go into my hub and see or read the email and then quickly swipe back. With iPad I have to double click the home button and then go to mail, read it. Then double click to get all open items and select the YouTube to begin watching again. It doesn't run in the background so it has to be restarted again. PITA if you ask me.
No hub. The hub on BB10 is simply awesome. I can put accounts into the hub for all my accounts. My LinkedIn my Twitter my Facebook my Igrann (BB native Instagram account) and several of my emails...all in one area. If I get a tweet I can simply respond to it without having to open up the app. Same for Facebook or any other app in the hub. It can't be done in iOS. Without the hub or a similar feature in iOS I don't think I'd ever get or use the iPhone as my primary driver.
That's just a few observations. Did my fingers fall off or a black hole emerge when I started using an Apple product? Of course not. It works OK for me and what I need it for. Would it be enough to get me to switch from BB to IOS...nope.
There are good and bad in every device I'll give people that. I've tried a few android products in the past like the Samsung Note 4 for example and while the hardware was amazing including what I'd say is the best camera and screen on a device...the lack of a hub location for everything makes it a product I'd pass on as well. I don't like the cartoon like UI for android and it feels even less natural when flipping from app to app than the iPad even.
So there are some of my thoughts. Bash around or comment if you wish. BB always takes a beating from everyone but in my opinion it's still the best OS going right now for a person like me. Like iOS it's not for everyone but we all have our opinions to say the least.
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