Apple iPad

[Seraphim989]

Oh, and i'll tell you one thing it wont do.

 

RIGHT CLICK!

 

 

So if you personally are unable to do something, it can't be done? Because I assure you its very easy to right click with a mac

[Xaccers]

Oh Titleist you do make me laugh.

There are a multitude of Windows phones which wipe the floor with the iPhone, the Blackstone is a prime example.

Here's just a some of the things it can do that the iPhone can't:

Multitask

Run flash

Bluetooth files to others

Cut and paste without needing a update

Run any application without needing to "jail break" it

Synchronise emails/contacts/calendar wirelessly and via cable without producing duplicate entries

Run different ROMs without having to "jail break" it

Play movies on a 800x480 screen

 

I've got a HP 2710p for work, it's less than an inch longer on it's shortest length and about 2 inches longer on the other, although the screen is bigger and widescreen (1280x800) compared with only 1024x768 on the iPad.

Most of the time I use it in laptop mode, simply because that's more practical.

I've tried using it to read ebooks (of course, it can handle .lit files too) in both MS reader and Adobe, but it's not a practical size so I prefer to use my blackstone for reading. Best of all, no annoying page turn animations!

 

The iPad will sell, of course it will, there's plenty of people out there who'll buy anything that apple produce without thinking, but then apple don't target the thinking public, if they did they wouldn't have produced a computer you can't eject the floppy from once you turned it off, or a MP3 player which wipes itself if you have to rebuild your computer or get a new one, or a phone which doesn't even do what some of the most basic handsets that were on the market years before can do.

[mattmanic]

Fill a gap that hasn't been filled well.

 

How so? My Windows mobile phone does pretty much everything that tablet does and it has a much more practically sized screen. Granted I got it just over a year ago so it's not as fast as newer models. My phone only has 300mb RAM and a 500mhz CPU but it's replacement has the same tech specs as the iPad. It does everything I want it to. I can watch TV on it wherever I am, I can read e-books, I can do e-mail, browse the e-web, play every media format you would want to on a mobile device, play games, use sat nav, use microsoft office, I can already do everything in between my laptop and my desktop. I can even use my PCs while on my phone with remote desktop.

 

If you have to have an Apple product still, what does this tablet do that a 3GS can't?

 

Given the choice between carrying a phone and a tablet vs just a phone I know what I'd go for. If size is an issue then surely 4.3" is pretty much the optimum? Fits in your pocket (just) and you don't look like a nob if you get it out in public.

 

 

 

I've just had a look at the Mac Book. For $1000 it's not all that bad. You get a reasonably spec'd computer which is more than twice as powerful than this tablet and it's only 3" bigger.

 

/innuendo

 

 

Edit: Xaccers gets it! To clarify the Blackstone is the HTC Touch HD which is what I have. The one in the picture there is the HD2.

[maverick343432]

The iPad will sell, of course it will, there's plenty of people out there who'll buy anything that apple produce without thinking, but then apple don't target the thinking public, if they did they wouldn't have produced a computer you can't eject the floppy from once you turned it off, or a MP3 player which wipes itself if you have to rebuild your computer or get a new one, or a phone which doesn't even do what some of the most basic handsets that were on the market years before can do.

They seem to be thinking a great deal on what they produce. Don't they have the no.1 selling handset and media player line?

Can you name another tech based company that innovate in 3 separate markets and still remain at the top of the commercial market after many years?

[The End]

I like, but I will wait for the reviews to come up first, as well as perhaps the 2nd gen. Its nice, but one thing that concerns me is hte battery. I own a macbook pro for about 2 years now, and I've had to replace the batteries twice already. Also with my Iphone 3Gs, the battery also went bad prematurely, luckily it was under warranty. I like this idea, but I'll wait.

[Chimpy]

A 1ghz Core 2 solo would be a massive amount of power for something that size. The processor is has will most likely be pretty underpowered. A 1.6ghz Atom can't do flash games how's this gunna cope with day to day web browsing?

 

Sorry to burst any bubbles but when I first got online and used the web 1GHz desktop machines didn't exist. That much processing power is total overkill for rendering a web page. Even a DS can manage to do it!

 

Apple & Flash - Simple, Flash support would kill a lot of the casual app store games dead.

 

As said before a N900-esque competitor to this would be perfect but as yet doesn't exist.

 

Given the choice between carrying a phone and a tablet vs just a phone I know what I'd go for.

 

The point Titleist is making is that not everyone on the planet is you. Utility is a funny thing, when I'm out in the hills I carry a multitool and a fixed blade knife. Multifunction devices don't work for everything, especially when you trim down form factor. The compromise can be worth it or it can starkly show the deficiency in the design. It depends on what you are doing.

[ThaFlash]

LOL, windows mobile!

Even Microsoft doesn't take windows mobile seriously.

[Phuncz]

What a bunch of short sighted people. It's a TABLET, not a laptop or desktop computer. I'll make it very simple for the "durrrr it doesn't have a dual core cpu"-people: if you don't want it, you don't need it. But in a year, you'll want it. Because every mayor brand will have a "tablet". And the words "iPad killer" will be quite the memory of the "iPhone killer" days that Nokia and HTC promised us in 2007 but until mid-2009 didn't get to.

 

I'm not even going to look at this topic anymore because I can predict most of the comments that will be posted here:

- no USB so it sucks because I want to hook up stuff to it (why ? it's not a computer !)

- it doesn't have a camera (why ? it's not even remotely interesting for that)

- I can't install stuff like photoshop and dreamweaver (it still is not a computer)

- it doesn't do Full HD video, lol (yeah, you'd want that on a 10" screen)

- it doesn't have SMS (seriously why would you use that on a TABLET ?)

- I can't connect it to my SQL server (WTF?! your WM6 phone needs your nerdy presence)

- you can't replace batteries boooo (that's because most users don't have broken batteries in 5 years)

...

 

Enjoy your last months as hypocrites, the rest of us will see most of you when you come around. Just like the iPod, just like the iPhone.

[Xaccers]

They seem to be thinking a great deal on what they produce. Don't they have the no.1 selling handset and media player line?

Can you name another tech based company that innovate in 3 separate markets and still remain at the top of the commercial market after many years?

 

As I said, they aren't producing devices for the thinking public. I direct you to the post above for a prime example

People don't buy an ipod because it's the best mp3 player on the market, it blatantly isn't, they buy it because they either don't know better or because it's fashionable to have one.

Similarly with the iphone and many other apple products.

[Titleist]

Jack of all trades, master of none. The iPad aims to do a fairly decent spectrum of things exceptionally well. But it can't be a laptop without losing that the mobility of a tablet. It's always a compromise. I know for a fact there are smart phones with more features than the iPhone, but what the iPhone does spectacularly well is that it makes it an easy experience for people who want those features without the frustration. Why I used the ipod as an example is the iphone didn't do anything that the Creative Zen or whatnot couldn't do, what it did was make it a unified experience for those who didn't want the frustration of dealing with those cloogey of devices.

 

Again, I'm real excited not about the hardware, but the social implications for newspapers, books, and magazines. Just like how itunes and the ipod has helped a generation rediscover music if this can do the same for print then that's fantastic.

[Xaccers]

Jack of all trades, master of none. The iPad aims to do a fairly decent spectrum of things exceptionally well. But it can't be a laptop without losing that the mobility of a tablet.

 

HP managed it with the 2710, it's older tech yet not much bigger than the ipad, is a tablet but also a laptop.

So what you're saying is apple aren't up to the task that other manufacturers were several years ago?

[oikoik]

iPad.

yeah, i'll think about it.

but since i havent been moved to buy either an iphone nor ipod touch, i'm not sure.

i have a nano ipod that i barely use - i havent touched it in 6 months.

 

i dont have itunes either - i dont liek its restrictions.

i use free 3rd party windows software to play and manage my ipod - zero restrictions.

 

*looks over at keyboard-less 10" tablet pc, which came out in 2002*

i already have a wifi-enabled-tablet-with-no-keyboard running a full OS.

 

if the iPad can pump up a full or near full-OS, with instant on, etc, i might be interested.

What i dont want is to be tied to anything or anyone, so itunes would be no for me.

I liked that with my friends ipod touch' it could be turned off and on quickly.

what i hated was being hunched over a tiny screen, and navigating sites such as facebook was a painfull experience.

 

 

otoh, HP and everyone else in the PC world are producing same as, or at least near as, but wholly cheaper alternatives to the iPad, and they - if done right - might really attract me a whole lot more than Apple's iPad would.

why? price and bang for buck.

 

heck, even those el cheapo Netbook makers have tablets, or tablet capable [screen swivels and you get a chunky touch-screen tablet] out this year, and they are already half or a third of Apples iPad price.

 

even in the desktop world [and yes, the laptop world too], the pc vs Apple situation, in the workplace, is now as it was 10 or even 15 years ago.

Apples look nice and play nice, but for your buck, the pc won out. sure it looked *suitcase*, but you got a whole lot of change back, and with investment in pc hardware - regardless of OS - being short, that counts as well.

i actually think Windows is *suitcase*. But i dont like MacOS either. And i like iPhones OS [a version of which the iPad will run] even less.

 

but i'd rather sit with 10" of instant compatability and predictability at a price less than with an upscaled phone OS that cost twice as much.

 

And yes, regardless of my hatred of flash, that means i do not have to worry about it working or not.

Apple mentioned something about combining another app with html5.0 to create a new standard either as a workaround or to replace Flash. Adobe have released a work around that lets Flash content be re-output to work with iPhone/Touch.

I dont particularly care either way.

 

i used to work for the web, i used to work in advertising and i used to work in games and flight sims - so its not like i'm a n00b to this battlefield.

 

i've used apple macs since they were black and white and had portrait screens that had me gagging to get back to my full colour Amiga sat at home.

i've still not been tempted by much of their product.

 

having said all that...

i like the specs of the iPad.

I probably wont buy one though.

I'll look at it, play with it.

Then go buy a pc equivalent...

 

...to go with the one i already have that came out eight years before Apples effort.

 

you know what i'd like? with the specs already announced? is a Windows version of the iPad!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Titleist]

As I said, they aren't producing devices for the thinking public. I direct you to the post above for a prime example

People don't buy an ipod because it's the best mp3 player on the market, it blatantly isn't, they buy it because they either don't know better or because it's fashionable to have one.

Similarly with the iphone and many other apple products.

 

So you've just made a blanket statement that people who like products that function efficiently are in fact stupid. Congrats, you've just invalidated the job of every designer, engineer, and interaction designer in the world. Nice work.

[Xaccers]

you know what i'd like? with the specs already announced? is a Windows version of the iPad!!

 

 

I've been thinking along the same lines with my tablet, if only it had a touchflow interface like my blackstone rather than the pen, but it's old tech so they used what was available.

[Chimpy]

As I said, they aren't producing devices for the thinking public. I direct you to the post above for a prime example

People don't buy an ipod because it's the best mp3 player on the market, it blatantly isn't, they buy it because they either don't know better or because it's fashionable to have one.

Similarly with the iphone and many other apple products.

 

That's cause most people don't care that it isn't the best thing on the market they want something that does what they expect in an easy way and doesn't make them look like a nerd.

 

Calling those people 'unthinking' is elitist dribble they just have different criteria than you do. I can't understand how anyone can use a £20 backpack for anything at all but realise people successfully do so everyday.

[Xaccers]

So you've just made a blanket statement that people who like products that function efficiently are in fact stupid. Congrats, you've just invalidated the job of every designer, engineer, and interaction designer in the world. Nice work.

 

No, I made the statement that apple (that's the company by the way, not their customers) are not targetting the thinking public.

Tell me, how efficient is it to monotask? How efficient is it to have a device which can work out that a contact is for a specific account but can't work out that it's already there on the device? How efficient is it to have to email a file to someone else's phone even though they're only a couple of meters away? How efficient is it to have to re-convert your CDs because you've rebuilt or replaced your computer? How efficient is it to have itunes take over the cd burner so other applications can't burn disks?

Apple could very well produce items which function efficiently, why they don't though is the real question.

[maverick343432]

As I said, they aren't producing devices for the thinking public. I direct you to the post above for a prime example

People don't buy an ipod because it's the best mp3 player on the market, it blatantly isn't, they buy it because they either don't know better or because it's fashionable to have one.

Similarly with the iphone and many other apple products.

Are Ipod touch's not the best music player on the market?

If you can find me a similarly spec'd music player with that much of an app store backing it up, at the same price. Then i'll take one of those.

You can naysay Apple as much as you want, they're not going anywhere soon.

[mattmanic]

So you've just made a blanket statement that people who like products that function efficiently are in fact stupid. Congrats, you've just invalidated the job of every designer, engineer, and interaction designer in the world. Nice work.

 

So having to send your device back to the manufacturer because of a defective or overused battery is clever now is it? I admit that Apple products do do what they do smoothly and simply (most of the time). But I'm sure if another company was allowed to make an OS as restrictive and locked down it would be just as fast. They're not allowed however because people would complain. It's just because it's expected that you can't modify or tweak or personalise an Apple product that none of their customers care.

[Titleist]

Do you understand this is the flipside of windows right? The reason why Windows is such a *suitcasey* experience and so hard to keep stable is because there's absolutely zero control over hardware standards. You can't have your cake and eat it too. And if you convince yourself you can tame that beast then realize that there's a LOT of folks who don't want that headache. Also I've owned a lot of electronics that have failed me, it happens.

 

I on the other hand have had a bad battery in my old macbook pro, I had it replaced within 15 minutes at the apple store, for free. Go figure.

[Titleist]

Also, just to take this to a new level I am SOOOOOO asking Chris and Travis (from magpul) on friday to make a case for the iPad. Just saying.

[mattmanic]

Are Ipod touch's not the best music player on the market?

 

I can't find one with as big an app store but I can find a much better spec'd one.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zune_HD

 

[Xaccers]

Are Ipod touch's not the best music player on the market?

If you can find me a similarly spec'd music player with that much of an app store backing it up, at the same price. Then i'll take one of those.

You can naysay Apple as much as you want, they're not going anywhere soon.

 

My Ipaq cost me less than an ipod touch, has more storage, built in speaker, can view photos from my DSLR, play movies, isn't tied to itunes, has wifi, bluetooth, doesn't need to be jailbreaked to install apps I want, has a wealth of applications, upgradeable OS from windows mobile 2003 to WM6.5, has loads of interfaces to choose from, makes a great ebook reader with it's big screen, SD card slot, has TomTom installed on it, browses the web (with flash).

Course it's 5 years old now.

[Xaccers]

Do you understand this is the flipside of windows right? The reason why Windows is such a *suitcasey* experience and so hard to keep stable

 

Of all the windows machines I've looked after I think the last BSOD I saw was over 2 years ago due to faulty RAM (hardly MS' fault now was it?)

Most instabilities were caused by people using cheap hardware with poorly written drivers.

These days the price of mainstream components have come down and pushed most shoddy manufacturers out the way.

 

 

[Titleist]

But again MS spends most its time trying to reign in these instabilities vs making a more streamlined interface. That's the flipside. Apple locks down it's hardware, yes often times unfairly, but the stability gained is the trade off.

[Xaccers]

But again MS spends most its time trying to reign in these instabilities vs making a more streamlined interface. That's the flipside. Apple locks down it's hardware, yes often times unfairly, but the stability gained is the trade off.

 

Mac's crash you know, some of them I've used crash a hell of a lot more often than windows.

What? Didn't you know that?