iPad Reviews: Raves For Apple's Latest Product

iPad reviews from technology writers began surfacing Wednesday evening, with most offering glowing appraisals of Apple's latest product. However, one caveat was consistent: iPad's inability to play flash video.

Walt Mossberg, the personal technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, suggested that the iPad could help touchscreen computers overtake the mouse:

For the past week or so, I have been testing a sleek, light, silver-and-black tablet computer called an iPad. After spending hours and hours with it, I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop. It could even help, eventually, to propel the finger-driven, multitouch user interface ahead of the mouse-driven interface that has prevailed for decades.

USA Today's Edward C. Baig says the "stunning" iPad is "rewriting the rulebook":

The iPad is not so much about what you can do -- browse, do e-mail, play games, read e-books and more -- but how you can do it. That's where Apple is rewriting the rulebook for mainstream computing. There is no mouse or physical keyboard. Everything is based on touch. All programs arrive directly through Apple's App Store. Apple's tablet is fun, simple, stunning to look at and blazingly fast. Inside is a new Apple chip, the A4. The machine is the antithesis of the cheap underpowered netbook computers that Jobs easily dismisses.

The New York Times' David Pogue deemed the iPad "polarizing" and wrote two reviews for groups at either end of the spectrum. One for "techies" and one review for "anyone else."

Pogue's review for "techies":

The Apple iPad is basically a gigantic iPod Touch.

It's a half-inch-thick slab, all glass on top, aluminum on the back. Hardly any buttons at all -- just a big Home button below the screen. It takes you to the Home screen full of apps, just as on an iPhone.

Pogue's review for "anyone else":

The iPad is so fast and light, the multitouch screen so bright and responsive, the software so easy to navigate, that it really does qualify as a new category of gadget. Some have suggested that it might make a good goof-proof computer for technophobes, the aged and the young; they're absolutely right.

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The Chicago Sun-Times' Andy Ihnatko described the tablet as "pure innovation":

The iPad user experience is instantly compelling and elegant. It's not every computer and every function. It's a computer that's designed for speed, mobility, and tactile interaction above all other considerations.

The most compelling sign that Apple got this right is the fact that despite the novelty of the iPad, the excitement slips away after about ten seconds and you're completely focused on the task at hand ... whether it's reading a book, writing a report, or working on clearing your Inbox. Second most compelling: in situation after situation, I find that the iPad is the best computer in my household and office menagerie. It's not a replacement for my notebook, mind you. It feels more as if the iPad is filling a gap that's existed for quite some time.

WATCH: ABC's Neal Karlinsky visits a closed Apple store for a hands-on encounter with the iPad and to meet with app developers:

WATCH: USA Today's Graham Jefferson reviews the iPad and shows users what they can expect:

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