I am considering getting one, for if anything, just to make sure the websites I build are fine on the ipad. How is it for development though? Can it run photoshop and such? Or is that not a good idea? Very curious about this one!
[FONT=“Georgia”]Why would you want to code on an iPad, iPhone, Blackberry or anything?
Just to boast that you can?
Work on your computer! It’s faster and easier. Turn on, get it done fast, get out of there.
Plus, when you’re away from your machine, you might actually be able to think of other things, other than work. Instead of always thinking, “I should be coding…”
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Back on the original subject: I highly recommend you stick with a traditional PC or Laptop, the iPad and iPhone may have some useful apps, but they won’t and aren’t intended to run anything for the PC or Mac which isn’t especially converted for that platform. Intensive applications like Photoshop aren’t made for something of such restriction and limited power. You can’t really develop using that platform, but at least making your stuff work on the devices fairly easily. 
Funny, any phone with a hap-hazard and inefficient touch screen feels like a clunky toy to me. I’d never consider either of those phones again. (I used to be an iPhone owner) Now I use the BlackBerry Bold 9700 [a.k.a. Bold 2]) though I’d be happy with an outdated BlackBerry Curve over either those touch screen toys.
That said, it’s really a matter of preference. I like my phone to take care of business easily and quickly. I don’t need games, videos or any of that jazz. (Which is about the same reason I recommend Windows workstation over Apple – I like things to work quickly not look pretty. I don’t need all the fancy interface stuff.)
The iPhone makes the Blackberry Storm seem like a clunky toy, though it is actually a nice phone.
All the smart phones are going to have limitations and issues of some sort compared to desktop/computers. They’re not necessary tools to own, but with more and more of the population moving to mobile devices it’s a good idea to make sure your sites are working in them.
Ok, so it sounds to me as though web developers should have an iphone and ipad for basically only seeing how their work comes out. That is a bummer! I was hoping to have a slick new toy to develop on. Oh well!
thanks Alex - you are the bomb! I just saw the website you pointed me to and it appears to be able to use flash. i think iphones can’t see flash though, so maybe it isn’t entirely non buggy?
I laughed when I saw this.
Being I consider Apple’s most powerful system to be a glorified toy, you can imagine my opinion of trying development on an iPad. (Although I am a former Apple stockholder [only a few shares])
The thing doesn’t even have a real keyboard… That just can’t be conducive to development.
It appears to use a 1GHz Apple A4 as the CPU and have AT MOST a data capacity of 64GB. (source) I wouldn’t even want to think about trying to use modern-day Photoshop on a system like that. I imagine the touch screen precision also isn’t very adept to graphic design.
As far as I’m concerned, the iPad is a bloated eBook reader. I’d be looking at the Amazon Kindle for that. For development, I’d be looking at a Win 7 workstation. If you really need a small and mobile machine for intermediate development I’d consider high-end netbooks or low-end laptops rather than what is essentially an eBook reader.
I’m not quite sure.
I don’t actually use tools like that, I was just presenting alternatives. I write code with the intent to provide graceful degradation and hope for the best (and I’m not usually too far off) on such devices. Might want to check this out.
If it seems that way to you because of something I’ve said, then let me be very clear… I would NOT recommend ownership of EITHER of the devices you’ve named.
For a smart phone, I’d look at a BlackBerry. For an eBook reader, I’d look at the Amazon Kindle. (as I said above)
For testing you’re development on iPhone or iPad I would recommend close attention to the Webkit based browsers such as Chrome and Safari and beware of their specific issues. (such as the CAPTION element) Also, you can use this website for testing your iPhone specific rendering. You really DO NOT need those devices to do proper development.
Seems more like saved money to me! I’m grateful to have avoided a pointless purchase.