Sometime in the next couple of months TMO will start testing a real production iPad. I have a few specific questions that I would like them to look into.

How good is the built in speaker? Good enough for music? Skype only? Do you really need to use headphones for much of anything?

If the iPad is in Standby, will Skype wake it up? If I get a Skype call while the pad is sleeping will it ring and wake up or just ignore the call?

Can you read the screen in full sunlight?

Just how tough is the screen? This might involve setting cups, books, bricks, on one until the screen breaks, but better you than me.

For everyone else: What are your iPad questions? What would you like to see the TMO staff check out when they get their hands on one of these devices?

I am interested to know the color options on the eReader.
Can I make it white text on black background or similar options to minimize eye strain.
Bright backgrounds on computer screen at times can trigger one of my migrains so eye have
all the applications that I use for many hours a day set to a dark background which helps a lot.

Such a feature would be essential for me if I were to be able to use the eReader.

Would also be curious as to how well the existing iPhone/Touch readers work on the iPad.

Thanks,

Kirk.

These are fantastic questions, and I can’t wait to see what else shows up in this thread. Please let us know what your iPad questions are, and we’ll start working through them as soon as we get our hands on one.

Does Home Sharing work on the iPad? With the 802.11n, it seems like it would be perfect for this.
Will there be the ability to upload personal eBooks?

I am curious how printing is going to work.  Its great to be able to create content easily with the iWork suite but what about printing it off?  My wife prints content from the web all the time for shopping/school/etc and is drooling over the ipad so much she wants to replace her macbook with it, but if she can’t print its going to toss up an immediate wall.

What about multiple users?  If this is to sit on my coffee table, it makes no sense to lock it down to one person.  Can we each check out mail and calendars independently, have unique favorites, etc?

File transfer and itunes handling is going to be another big question for me.  Currently my content is shared on a Drobo via a Mac Mini server.  The Macbooks in the house use individual iTunes libraries that reference that content but don’t copy it locally.  Can I reference the DVDs and Blu-Rays I have ripped and shared off the drobo with iTunes on the iPad or can I only watch what I sync? 

The picture dongle… I rarely travel, but when I do I create gigs of photographs shooting in RAW.  Can I dump RAW files to the iPad where they will remain unmolested and in that format for easy transfer back to an iMac or MBP for post processing?  How does this work?

These are the bulk of my questions, bear in mind that regardless of the answers I am still onboard and plan on picking up at least 1x16GB WiFi for the house, the question about the Camera dongle depends on if I get another 64GB w/ 3G to travel with or if I still lug around my 15” MBP.

@bushwilliams

Two items,

Will the iPad be able to access a printer on a home network, either network or USB through an Airport?

and

Is there an IR port on the iPad.  This would be an fantastic option with a remote control App. for your home entertainment center.  (although a problem if the device will not multitask)

How well does the iPad handle remote desktops?

daemon - 03 February 2010 10:48 AM

How well does the iPad handle remote desktops?

Yes! There are VNC clients for the iPhone. I always figured the screen was really going to be too small. But if they work well on the iPad it would be huge. For me anyway.

How can I get my photos to it from my camera?

Any chance of file sharing, via bluetooth, between the the iPhone and iPad? In particular: emails, contacts and calenders? Also, any thoughts on this functionality for 3rd party apps like to do lists, notes, etc?

Along the lines of being able to read in bright sunlight:

Can you “bring down” the luminance? So that when I get into bed in a dark room and my wife is already sound asleep, reading a couple of articles doesn’t shout HEY, I’M READING HERE! but whispers, shh, I’m reading here.

I don’t know what it’s like to read E ink in a similar situation but I definitely need a way to ratchet down the amount of light (plus, that would save on battery life significantly).

Two big ones for me:

Will there be a stylus that can be used with a drawing program like Corel Painter, for the whole virtual sketchbook action? Pressure sensitive maybe? (probably asking too much now)

Can you sell PDF books in the iBookStore as well as ePub formatted documents? It’s unlikely that the RPG books I produce and sell can be formatted for ePub due to their heavy table and graphics use. At the very least can PDFs be displayed on the iPad and perhaps even fill out PDF forms on the iPad (a la a character sheet). Mobile geeking done right!

Need clarification, via examples, on so-called “multitasking,” not memory capability.

Can two or more, or all, native iPad apps be open at the same time?

If I have a third party app active, can two or more, or all, native iPad apps be open at the same time, albeit running in the background?

If a native app is active, how many third party apps can be open at the same time, albeit running in the background?

FlipFriddle - 03 February 2010 03:42 PM

Can you sell PDF books in the iBookStore as well as ePub formatted documents?

That reminds me:
Is there going to be any provision for self publishing to the iBookStore or is it just for established Publishers? I can do this in the Amazon Kindle store.

FlipFriddle - 03 February 2010 03:42 PM

Two big ones for me:

Will there be a stylus that can be used with a drawing program like Corel Painter, for the whole virtual sketchbook action? Pressure sensitive maybe? (probably asking too much now)

There are 3rd party styluses that have been made for the iPhone. presumably they’ll also work on the iPad, though as I recall, they had more of a fingertip sized point than a pen sized one.

the iPad has bluetooth for keyboards (and mice?)  Does the bluetooth also support headsets?  It appears from the specs that the headphone port will not support wired headsets.  I’m wondering if Apple had to restrain the device’s abilities to do skype/ Voip in order to get the deal with AT&T for the $30/mo data plan.

I would also really like a comparison of using iWork on the Mac vs iWork on the Pad