Apple iPad 2 buyers and owner's thread (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Headed to Delaware, next post will be from the line. Have fun storming the castle all!

 

[DaveF]

And Pogue says no activation fees, never. It's the only news on it I can find in google from the past 24 hours.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/verizon-clarifies-ipad-activation-fes/

Brenda Raney, my PR contact, acknowledges that for some reason, there’s been “a lot of misinformation on this on the Internet.” She theorizes that people are confusing the iPad 2 plans with the “iPad + MiFi” bundle that Verizon sells; on the MiFi, there IS an activation charge.


But not on the iPad 2. “Since the iPad2 has 3G and built in Wi-Fi, there is no activation charge. You can go back and forth from either network, taking breaks from 3G if you choose, and reactivate on 3G without paying an activation fee.”


I don’t see how it could be much clearer. If you call Verizon and they try to charge you an activation fee, show ‘em this post.

 

[DaveF]

Verizon supports it on twitter

https://twitter.com/vzwsupport/status/46266792716419072


VZW Support (@VZWSupport)
3/11/11 12:50 PM
@stevenhaddox Just announced no activation fee for iPad2. Data plans avail w/out contract you'll hav freedom to activate/cancel any time *GH

 

[TonyD]

At target a half hr ago about 10 people.

 

[Nelson Au]

Oh dear, I'm struggling to decide 3G or no 3G. I survived this long with an iPad 1 and no 3G and I have an iPhone 4 already.


Do you guys with 3G find it useful outside of the home or wi-fi hotspots? I suppose the main draw would be for stuff like navigation, but I do that with the iPhone.

I could buy it and not activate 3g till I need it.


Thanks for any thoughts

 

[DaveF]

Rochester line at bestbuy.

 

[DaveF]

No iPad for us. Bb was out of Verizon when they got to us. Bb mobile in the mall had never even hears of a verizon iPad Verizon store was out of black models and out of 16 GB units. So well wait for a 16 GB VZW iPad 2. Edit: ordered it from apple online.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yeah I just may order online and get it when it comes. There had to be 1000 people at my local apple store and Target got 5. AT&T Stores had none. I'll still ship mine to gazelle and wait for the new one.

 

[TonyD]

Best Buy North Wilmington DE at 5 pm

 

[DaveF]

And back home found to my surprise a slight corporate discount. So canceled iPad order and placed new order through EPP site $13 discount. That's pizza money!

 

[Sam Posten]

I was in that line Dave, they ran out of all 6 att models in under 45 minutes, long before I got in around 200 back, had to settle for a verizon 64gb black

 

[Sam Posten]

Syncing Syncing Syncing.


BTW, if like me, you have apps that Apple yanked from the store, you will no longer get an error each time you try to get app updates if you upgrade to the lastest iTunes!


YAY!


Now if only I could do 'update all but the #dickbar equipped twitter app' =(

 

[Sam Posten]

Ohhhhh yeah this thing is faaaast!

 

[RAF]

I'll be following your posts, links, comments et.al. regarding your new iPad2, Sam. I was in no (health) condition to stand on a line today and Sandy told me that the Apple Store in our neck of the woods had a huge line throughout the mall. There was a good chance that they were going to run out of specific SKUs so it would have been a bit of a crap shoot to order it in person. So instead I ordered mine on-line and I also think that the 2-3 week waiting period will shrink once things settle down. Apple obviously wants to see a lot of lines at the stores making the evening news (there's no such thing as bad publicity) and the 2-3 week waiting period was probably designed to get more people out to the stores. I have no problem waiting a couple of weeks so I ordered mine on line this afternoon. 64G AT&T 3G + WiFi (I'm grandfathered into the AT&T unlimited $29.99/month plan and AT&T will switch the account over the phone when my unit arrives). I also took advantage of the on-line free engraving option ("Purchased by Dr. Robert A. Fowkes") This wording was suggested by one of my precocious grandchildren who knows that they get my hand-me-downs (after Sandy declines any first options) so that "Property of..." doesn't fit the bill for them.

 

[DaveF]

What made my wife's wasted time in line not feel bad was the 80 year old woman behind her. They chatted while waiting outside. She was to buy an iPad to not fall behind in technology. I can only hope her verve when I'm 80! She'd gone in Thurs and bought an iPad. I think BB sold her a 64 GB wifi at full price. Then she got home and saw the news about a new one with cameras coming on Friday. Soback she went to return the first and get in line for the new one. We talked about the options, and I advised her to get a 16GB wifi. And though I didn't get my iPad , I was glad she got hers. She asked and I told her an iPad could print to certain new printers by HP. I hope geeksquad can help her with that. I also suggested she visit the ape store, and ask about their classes for learning new devices and software. Hopefully she's getting her new gadget set up today and enjoying it!

 

[Sam Posten]

The ape store, huh? I met a lot of cool folks in line too. Mostly we talked about how douchey the apple store employees were being. A number of people went for breaks in the line and were not let back in. They argued but did not fight it. Had it been me we would have gone to blows. First big issue: at least here on HTF I cannot x out the suggested auto corrects! Have to hit backspace and retype or it automatically changes!

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

One of my colleagues that ordered yesterday and was quoted 2-3 weeks for delivery got a shipping notification this morning. Certainly seems to me that the 2-3 week predictions may have been done deliberately to drive traffic to the stores. Showing the throngs in line is more interesting for news broadcasts than some guy hovering over a computer keyboard.

 

[DaveF]

Sam, how did they prevent people from getting back in line? Did they not have a partner to keep their spot? In our line, old 80 yo friend went to out a bag she was holding on her car, and I kept get place. Similarly, I walked the line a couple times to see what's what and rejoined my wife without concern. Did apple have a bouncer to block such things?

 

[Sam Posten]

The store had over 20 blueshirts wrangling the lines, mall cops and real cops with guns.


I'd avoid white if you care about color:

http://gizmodo.com/#!5781336/the-ipad-2-burning-question-black-or-white

 

[Nelson Au]

I just got back from my local Apple Store in a Mall here in the West Coast Silicon Valley. There were 2 Apple guys working the line, they stopped letting people in line at about 50 people.

I got there at 9:30am and they had no stock at all. So we waited in line because they told us they knew that they would be getting a shipment between 10 and 12 noon, but didn't know how many. Once they got stock, they'd hand out numbers for each of us. But when the stock arrived at 10:30, they told us we were not going to get one, we were too far back. But some people stayed in line hoping against hope I guess. They must have only gotten in 30 or 40 I'd guess.

I'll try again later. I still have my "old" iPad.


I met some nice people and got to see and hold the new iPad and try it. I have to say, the white one is growing on me! The camera was pretty nice. But I didn't try any apps to compare speed as there were none of the ones I use. It didn't seem that much faster, but I can't judge that till I use it. And I didn't have mine with me to compare thickness and weight. It didn't "feel" that much lighter. But I believe that it is because it is.


The Apple blue shirts were really nice. They answered questions and were fair about the line situation. There were guards too. But all in all, just like when I bought my first iPad. Nice people of all ages and types.