The puck mouse was style over substance, for sure—and spawned a market of tail clips to compensate.
But come on—the PowerBook Duo, the G4 cube, and that 20th Anniversary overpriced gaffe that someone would come in a limo wearing a tux to install in your home—these were all far worse than the iPad.
I'm not surprised you're missing the point that a company who is afraid to fail never runs the risk of making anything inspiring.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
Edited on Thursday, January 28, 2010 8:14 am (2 years ago)
I think the biggest drawbacks for me personally are the battery issue, the lack of multitasking, flash,...and that it isn't really meant to be a stand alone computer...more of an attachment for what you already have...seriously, it has system requirements just like any peripheral device, I find this a bit odd..
I don't take my lap top, and plug it in to my desktop...
yeah...the first gen of this thing is just a big disappointment, they should have waited for something better...
I may not live there anymore, but my dancing feet will always be from L.A.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
Look Steve Jobs watches all the same movies we watch, so he sees Avatar and is like "Damn, that little computer screen without a keyboard in that guys hand is SWEET! I want that!"
The difference is that he is in a position to make it happen. Practical or not.
It's clear that the tablet / e-reader / netbook markets aren't going to diminish, they are going to grow and morph into "something." Apple wants to be that something.
It's a strong entry that will only get better in the next iteration. But I, like a lot of geeks, don't see this underpowered device as adding much beyond the cool factor.
Now, I'm going to go hug my $300 hackintoshed Dell Mini (with multi-tasking, built in camera, flash, and 6-8 hour battery.)
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
I dunno. I drag my laptop to meetings because it's easier than carrying paper and then trying to integrate everything back into my files later. With an iPad, I can do everything I need to do during a work meeting in a small 1.5lb machine without messing with my laptop.
The vast majority of stuff that I do that doesn't require major machine horsepower is web & cloud based. Why do I need a 3.5lb laptop with 4GB of RAM, and a Core2Duo for that?
So, after doing a lot of reading on it, and of course this is all still based on the vert earliest of impressions from reviewers and having not seen on myself.
I want a device like this one, but I don't want this one.
To use Zenin's list:
Browsing - I understand that people can live without Flash, but why wouldn't the latest and greatest technology be able to see and use the entire content of the internet?
Email - I can live with a portable keyboard and a kickstand, and still come in way under the bulk and weight of my MacBook.
Photos - I'm not interested in a camera for taking pictures, that is something that a specialized device can do WAY better. What a camera would be great for is videoconferencing, chats, facial recognition, etc.
Video - Why it's not 16x9 is beyond me. Seriously. I'm wondering if it is a limitation of the iPhone brought over for the use of the same apps and OS? Playing out through an HDMI cable, it would be nice but it's not a dealbreaker.
Music - It absolutely has to multitask.
Games - It's clearly not a gaming machine, so no problem for me there. It is an web/personal interface device.
eBooks - This is a tough one. I would love a device that gave me eInk as well as the rest of the features of the LCD screen. But I don't see that happening. A friend of mine proposed a clear (when off) LCD screen over an eInk screen as a solution. That would be cool.
Peripherals - I want to be able to connect something to the device without having to have the docking station, or a million adapters. There are some areas where function should trump form. It looks like it even needs an adaptor for a standard USB cable.
Unless I'm blown away by some innovative apps, I'll wait for Gen 2 or 3, or something better. Now I just have to decide if I want an iPod Touch or an eBook in the meantime.
Now, all that said. I think Steve Jobs is a smart man and this product will be a success, in spite of the stupid name.
The market is clearly iPod Touch and iPhone users. What this will do for the rest of us, is help to establish an expectation of the way you interact with the web, and perhaps with technology in general. It's hands on, you touch it. You manipulate it by touching something on the screen and moving it. You don't use a mouse or a keyboard that is removed from the experience itself. It's a more direct way to use the web, and when usable ona scale larger than a phone, we may see some very interesting websites designed for that sort of interaction vs. a standard mouse and a keyboard.
My guess is that the reason that it is so limited is to keep the price down. Get epople using it, they will create a buzz and they will upgrade when the next one comes out. People interested but waiting for a better device will buy the upgraded device anyway, so you don't need to worry about them.
If the buzz is large enough, you will create a market for the device where there was none. As others have mentioned, iPods redefined what people expected from an MP3 player, the iPhone did the same for smart phones. This may do the same for laptops. Maybe it will eventually be able to interface with a home-based, more powerful computer for your heavier computing needs, but otherwise provide a light, easily portable platform for 80% of anything else you do on your computer.
Quoted from Ogden eBooks - This is a tough one. I would love a device that gave me eInk as well as the rest of the features of the LCD screen. But I don't see that happening. A friend of mine proposed a clear (when off) LCD screen over an eInk screen as a solution. That would be cool.
Pixel Qi makes a screen that's reflective/transflective switchable on the fly and is starting to make some appearances in netbooks. Perhaps this technology will be sufficiently mature for a 2nd generation that you get that eInk look when you want it, but can still switch back and get that high-res full motion video when you want that, as well.
Quote I dunno. I drag my laptop to meetings because it's easier than carrying paper and then trying to integrate everything back into my files later.
Are you saying you've got a laptop and desktop and sync them up later?
If that's the case the question I'd ask is not why you need a laptop, but why you need a desktop.
My fundamental "meh" regarding the iPad is that Apple is undoing the genius progress they made with the iPhone. I want to carry and maintain fewer devices, not more. This is why I initially combined my Palm pilot and cell phone into a Treo purchase, and later combined my Treo and iPod into an iPhone purchase.
The last thing I am inclined to do is get a NEW peripheral that syncs with iTunes in addition to my iPhone. If it were something that could replace my laptop (personal, not work) it's something I'd probably be waiting in line for but as it is I've got no need for it.
Although, for someone like my dad, it might be great if all he wants to do is surf the web and look up recipes.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
they will probably add a camera in the next version and call it even more revolutionary. then they will add multitasking for 2 or 3 apps and charge everyone $10 for the software update. no thanks, steve.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
About multitasking:
If it's anything like the iPhone, then it will do some limited multitasking, since you can listen to the iPod app while you're running other apps. So it can bi-task, at the most. As long as one of the tasks is playing music.
Yes, it sucks.
This device HAS to multitask, and it HAS to be Flash compatible. They're selling it as a web viewer, and Flash is all over the web. They're selling as a "fantastic" experience, so it needs to do more than one thing at the same time. Luckily these are all fixable at software level, so maybe newer OS versions will support it without the need to upgrade the hardware.
I saw lots of patent files from Apple leading up to this release, and honestly I thought the tablet would do a lot more than just be a big iPod touch. The potential is there though; hence I am still excited about what's to come.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
Quote
I want a device like this one, but I don't want this one.
I'm with ya there. I think the rev 2 of this might be more interesting. I suspect the addition of a camera, more storage, and possibly an SD card slot, but I wouldn't bet on the last one. I suspect that by then, Apple will figure out a way to have multitasking and battery life coexist to their satisfaction.
Quote
Browsing - I understand that people can live without Flash, but why wouldn't the latest and greatest technology be able to see and use the entire content of the internet?
Flash sucks for mobile devices, period. The Flash VM is written like it can and should use all possible CPU power in the universe, even if it has no need for it at all. If you ever play a simple video through a flash player on a laptop, you'll notice the fans start revving up to max and battery life starts to drop precipitously. Until Adobe addresses this or somebody writes a more efficient open source alternative that's actually compatible (sorry, gnash doesn't cut it just yet), I suspect Flash is out because it clashes too hard with Apple's desire for good battery life.
I believe Apple's answer to this is to try to push HTML 5. It's still somewhat early, but HTML 5 is making some headway because everybody agrees that using Flash is not viable for the long-term.
Quote
Video - Why it's not 16x9 is beyond me. Seriously. I'm wondering if it is a limitation of the iPhone brought over for the use of the same apps and OS? Playing out through an HDMI cable, it would be nice but it's not a dealbreaker.
Yeah, this is a weird choice but maybe it had something to do with cost of the panel?
Quote
Music - It absolutely has to multitask.
Well, if you ask Apple, I'm sure they'd say "Well, you can listen to your iTunes music in the background today." and that suits their business model just fine, thank you. I think what people are griping about here is being able to listen to Pandora or other music apps in the background. Again, I suspect this is coming in the next rev of the OS, it's just a shame the OS wasn't ready for this launch.
Quote
Games - It's clearly not a gaming machine, so no problem for me there. It is an web/personal interface device.
That depends. It's not something you'll be playing Crysis on, but it's definitely trying to continue being something good for casual gaming like the iPhone/iPod-touch. Though, I suspect the argument for this is weaker on the iPad because people casual game on an iPhone/iPod because it's usually readily available in their pocket when they're doing something boring like standing in line or riding the bus or what-have-you.
Quote
eBooks - This is a tough one. I would love a device that gave me eInk as well as the rest of the features of the LCD screen. But I don't see that happening. A friend of mine proposed a clear (when off) LCD screen over an eInk screen as a solution. That would be cool.
I think eInk has to get more mature and lower price before they can make it into the iPad.
Quote
Now, all that said. I think Steve Jobs is a smart man and this product will be a success, in spite of the stupid name.
Possibly. This could either be the iPod, where everybody said "Lame, it's not even as good as my Archos!", or it could be the AppleTV. Time will tell.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
One other thing that would have been nice is if the iPad could have used 3G for voice instead of just data. Think of an iPad with a bluetooth headset. You throw the iPad in your backpack/bag and take calls through the headset. This reduces the need to carry around both an iPhone and an iPad.
I'm sure that idea didn't sit too well with Apple, but, it would have made the product a little more compelling.
I would expect any modern computing device to handle multitasking and flash. if I'm gonna drop $500-800 on it, then yes I would expect major updates to be included if that functionality is added later.
there are android slates from msi, dell, and hp all due out this year. presumably they will even have an SD slot. flash is coming to android this year. so I don't know how apple gets away with not including what I would think is pretty basic stuff.
like I said before, it looks decent enough for what it is. but my 1st gen ipod touch can also get news from the new york times...
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
Edited on Thursday, January 28, 2010 1:19 pm (2 years ago)
As I mentioned earlier, lack of multitasking and flash are the biggest issues for me.
Thinking about it some more, I also think the locked down nature of software ecosystem would also start to annoy me more with the iPad than with the iPhone/iTouch. Why? Whereas the iPhone was a dramatic expansion in the capability of a phone (even compared to many existing smartphones), this feels more like a restriction in the capability of a laptop. Yes you can surf the web, but you don't get Flash. Yes you can run apps, but you can't multi-task. And Apple's control over what apps are available, while fine for little smartphone apps may come to feel like a bigger deal with the iPad, which has enough screen space and battery power to do all the things a basic laptop can.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
Yeah, I agree. The iPhone is an improved phone. The iPad, it seems to me, is a stripped-down laptop. I would want to use it like a laptop. And I can't imagine using any computer these days if it doesn't have multitasking.
Quoted from Keither I dunno. I drag my laptop to meetings because it's easier than carrying paper and then trying to integrate everything back into my files later.
Are you saying you've got a laptop and desktop and sync them up later?
No. What I'm saying is that I take my laptop to meetings currently because the other option is using pen & paper. I keep tasks & notes in the cloud. If I use pen & paper, I have to be faithful about transcribing them when I get back to my desk. If I use my laptop, whoosh! They're in the cloud.
An iPad is a much smaller, lighter device that can do all of the cloud stuff I need without requiring me to lug my laptop. I don't need 2.4GHz of power in a meeting. I just need something cloud connected, and I imagine the typing experience on the iPad is significantly better than that of my iPhone.
Yeah, Skype's OK, but it's just not the same as just having a "normal" cell phone connection. Especially if the device is already connected to the cellular network.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
I said this to Nando on FB, but what will make this device a winner for me is the ability to tether it to my iPhone's 3G connection. Then I can buy the cheap one and use it on wifi most of the time, and then in "emergencies" I can just tack it on to the $30/month plan I'M ALREADY PAYING FOR.
Yeah, the cellphone companies need to figure out a better way to charge people for data as individuals start purchasing more and more connected devices. Expecting people to spend $30-50 for each additional device is ludicrous.
Why not simply do something similar to what they do with family calling plans. Charge a small additional fee for each device that shares the same quota (i.e. the standard 5 GB cap)? So, charge $10-15 for each additional gadget. You can charge $30 for heavy users who want a separate quota for their second device.
Quoted from mrz Flash sucks for mobile devices, period. The Flash VM is written like it can and should use all possible CPU power in the universe, even if it has no need for it at all. If you ever play a simple video through a flash player on a laptop, you'll notice the fans start revving up to max and battery life starts to drop precipitously. Until Adobe addresses this or somebody writes a more efficient open source alternative that's actually compatible (sorry, gnash doesn't cut it just yet), I suspect Flash is out because it clashes too hard with Apple's desire for good battery life.
Yes, I agree that Flash a total resource hog, but I think the decision to exclude it has more to do with protecting Apple's business model and AT&T's network. Enabling flash would open the door to competition from Flash-based apps outside Apple's control and streaming video (which would compete with their video sales as well as dramatically increase data usage on AT&T's already fragile network).
Also, isn't the upcoming Flash 10.1 supposed to support offloading of work to the Graphic Processor? Right now, Flash is CPU-intensive, which is why I advise folks who want to watch lots of hi-def steaming video to avoid netbooks. But in the future, the load should be reduced.
The problem with Apple's decision is that it takes away choice. If I want to burn through battery watching flash, why shouldn't I be able to? Just another example of Apple's paternalism.
Originally posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 (2 years ago)
Riddle me this, how is the iPad better then:
iPhone 3GS
+ Universal Dock
+ Video Cable
+ TV Set
+ Bluetooth Keyboard
A single device that's easy to carry and use anywhere. When you get home and want to do more serious email, whatever you drop it in the dock and poof...it's on your screen and you can type from a good wireless bluetooth keyboard? Of course, exactly this consumer friendly setup is exactly why Apple doesn't (natively) support bluetooth keyboards on the iPhone...but Jailbroken phones do and hardware manufacturers even sell bluetooth keyboards explicitly for Jailbroken phones.
Face it, the iPad is nothing but Apple trying to get another $500 to a $1000 out of you by "solving" the problem the iPhone already can solve better. A fair number of the major artificial limitations of the iPhone are in place for no other reason then to try and con you into buying an iPad too.
Apple's IPad Tablet Announcement?
It should be today. I'm really curious. Here is a leaked video of it. First Apple Tablet Review Get Live Updates Here
Page(s): < Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ... Next > (236 items total)
Unlocked or Not, Your iPad Won't Be Able to Use T-Mobile's 3G Network
The puck mouse was style over substance, for sure—and spawned a market of tail clips to compensate.
But come on—the PowerBook Duo, the G4 cube, and that 20th Anniversary overpriced gaffe that someone would come in a limo wearing a tux to install in your home—these were all far worse than the iPad.
I'm not surprised you're missing the point that a company who is afraid to fail never runs the risk of making anything inspiring.
I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more.
Hilarious, Matthew. Very creative. Nobody else has realized that "Pad" can have two meanings! Innovative humor.
We are the keepers of Funny, the Judges, the Whisperers. We are Superior Naysayers And Rebukers of Knavery. We are SNARK. - Boosh!
I think the biggest drawbacks for me personally are the battery issue, the lack of multitasking, flash,...and that it isn't really meant to be a stand alone computer...more of an attachment for what you already have...seriously, it has system requirements just like any peripheral device, I find this a bit odd..
I don't take my lap top, and plug it in to my desktop...
yeah...the first gen of this thing is just a big disappointment, they should have waited for something better...
I may not live there anymore, but my dancing feet will always be from L.A.
As long as it's a useful as this, I'm happy.
Look Steve Jobs watches all the same movies we watch, so he sees Avatar and is like "Damn, that little computer screen without a keyboard in that guys hand is SWEET! I want that!"
The difference is that he is in a position to make it happen. Practical or not.
It's clear that the tablet / e-reader / netbook markets aren't going to diminish, they are going to grow and morph into "something." Apple wants to be that something.
It's a strong entry that will only get better in the next iteration. But I, like a lot of geeks, don't see this underpowered device as adding much beyond the cool factor.
Now, I'm going to go hug my $300 hackintoshed Dell Mini (with multi-tasking, built in camera, flash, and 6-8 hour battery.)
Awesome Dance Movies • Teaching Teens to Charleston is Awesome
I think there'll be another iteration coming with Blu-Ray, USB and FireWire ports, and a camera. It's a Star Trek:TNG prop as of right now.
I dunno. I drag my laptop to meetings because it's easier than carrying paper and then trying to integrate everything back into my files later. With an iPad, I can do everything I need to do during a work meeting in a small 1.5lb machine without messing with my laptop.
The vast majority of stuff that I do that doesn't require major machine horsepower is web & cloud based. Why do I need a 3.5lb laptop with 4GB of RAM, and a Core2Duo for that?
So, after doing a lot of reading on it, and of course this is all still based on the vert earliest of impressions from reviewers and having not seen on myself.
I want a device like this one, but I don't want this one.
To use Zenin's list:
Browsing - I understand that people can live without Flash, but why wouldn't the latest and greatest technology be able to see and use the entire content of the internet?
Email - I can live with a portable keyboard and a kickstand, and still come in way under the bulk and weight of my MacBook.
Photos - I'm not interested in a camera for taking pictures, that is something that a specialized device can do WAY better. What a camera would be great for is videoconferencing, chats, facial recognition, etc.
Video - Why it's not 16x9 is beyond me. Seriously. I'm wondering if it is a limitation of the iPhone brought over for the use of the same apps and OS? Playing out through an HDMI cable, it would be nice but it's not a dealbreaker.
Music - It absolutely has to multitask.
Games - It's clearly not a gaming machine, so no problem for me there. It is an web/personal interface device.
eBooks - This is a tough one. I would love a device that gave me eInk as well as the rest of the features of the LCD screen. But I don't see that happening. A friend of mine proposed a clear (when off) LCD screen over an eInk screen as a solution. That would be cool.
Peripherals - I want to be able to connect something to the device without having to have the docking station, or a million adapters. There are some areas where function should trump form. It looks like it even needs an adaptor for a standard USB cable.
Unless I'm blown away by some innovative apps, I'll wait for Gen 2 or 3, or something better. Now I just have to decide if I want an iPod Touch or an eBook in the meantime.
Now, all that said. I think Steve Jobs is a smart man and this product will be a success, in spite of the stupid name.
The market is clearly iPod Touch and iPhone users. What this will do for the rest of us, is help to establish an expectation of the way you interact with the web, and perhaps with technology in general. It's hands on, you touch it. You manipulate it by touching something on the screen and moving it. You don't use a mouse or a keyboard that is removed from the experience itself. It's a more direct way to use the web, and when usable ona scale larger than a phone, we may see some very interesting websites designed for that sort of interaction vs. a standard mouse and a keyboard.
My guess is that the reason that it is so limited is to keep the price down. Get epople using it, they will create a buzz and they will upgrade when the next one comes out. People interested but waiting for a better device will buy the upgraded device anyway, so you don't need to worry about them.
If the buzz is large enough, you will create a market for the device where there was none. As others have mentioned, iPods redefined what people expected from an MP3 player, the iPhone did the same for smart phones. This may do the same for laptops. Maybe it will eventually be able to interface with a home-based, more powerful computer for your heavier computing needs, but otherwise provide a light, easily portable platform for 80% of anything else you do on your computer.
That said, it's still not what I want. Yet.
Pixel Qi makes a screen that's reflective/transflective switchable on the fly and is starting to make some appearances in netbooks. Perhaps this technology will be sufficiently mature for a 2nd generation that you get that eInk look when you want it, but can still switch back and get that high-res full motion video when you want that, as well.
Are you saying you've got a laptop and desktop and sync them up later?
If that's the case the question I'd ask is not why you need a laptop, but why you need a desktop.
My fundamental "meh" regarding the iPad is that Apple is undoing the genius progress they made with the iPhone. I want to carry and maintain fewer devices, not more. This is why I initially combined my Palm pilot and cell phone into a Treo purchase, and later combined my Treo and iPod into an iPhone purchase.
The last thing I am inclined to do is get a NEW peripheral that syncs with iTunes in addition to my iPhone. If it were something that could replace my laptop (personal, not work) it's something I'd probably be waiting in line for but as it is I've got no need for it.
Although, for someone like my dad, it might be great if all he wants to do is surf the web and look up recipes.
Oh, hush up. It's just for fun, and I didn't see many images to go along with the written jokes.
they will probably add a camera in the next version and call it even more revolutionary. then they will add multitasking for 2 or 3 apps and charge everyone $10 for the software update. no thanks, steve.
Yeah, you probably wouldn't want to spend 10$ after spending 800$ in the first place. I mean, that's like 1.25% of the original price. OUTRAGEOUS!
About multitasking:
If it's anything like the iPhone, then it will do some limited multitasking, since you can listen to the iPod app while you're running other apps. So it can bi-task, at the most. As long as one of the tasks is playing music.
Yes, it sucks.
This device HAS to multitask, and it HAS to be Flash compatible. They're selling it as a web viewer, and Flash is all over the web. They're selling as a "fantastic" experience, so it needs to do more than one thing at the same time. Luckily these are all fixable at software level, so maybe newer OS versions will support it without the need to upgrade the hardware.
I saw lots of patent files from Apple leading up to this release, and honestly I thought the tablet would do a lot more than just be a big iPod touch. The potential is there though; hence I am still excited about what's to come.
I'm with ya there. I think the rev 2 of this might be more interesting. I suspect the addition of a camera, more storage, and possibly an SD card slot, but I wouldn't bet on the last one. I suspect that by then, Apple will figure out a way to have multitasking and battery life coexist to their satisfaction.
Flash sucks for mobile devices, period. The Flash VM is written like it can and should use all possible CPU power in the universe, even if it has no need for it at all. If you ever play a simple video through a flash player on a laptop, you'll notice the fans start revving up to max and battery life starts to drop precipitously. Until Adobe addresses this or somebody writes a more efficient open source alternative that's actually compatible (sorry, gnash doesn't cut it just yet), I suspect Flash is out because it clashes too hard with Apple's desire for good battery life.
I believe Apple's answer to this is to try to push HTML 5. It's still somewhat early, but HTML 5 is making some headway because everybody agrees that using Flash is not viable for the long-term.
Yeah, this is a weird choice but maybe it had something to do with cost of the panel?
Well, if you ask Apple, I'm sure they'd say "Well, you can listen to your iTunes music in the background today." and that suits their business model just fine, thank you. I think what people are griping about here is being able to listen to Pandora or other music apps in the background. Again, I suspect this is coming in the next rev of the OS, it's just a shame the OS wasn't ready for this launch.
That depends. It's not something you'll be playing Crysis on, but it's definitely trying to continue being something good for casual gaming like the iPhone/iPod-touch. Though, I suspect the argument for this is weaker on the iPad because people casual game on an iPhone/iPod because it's usually readily available in their pocket when they're doing something boring like standing in line or riding the bus or what-have-you.
I think eInk has to get more mature and lower price before they can make it into the iPad.
Possibly. This could either be the iPod, where everybody said "Lame, it's not even as good as my Archos!", or it could be the AppleTV. Time will tell.
One other thing that would have been nice is if the iPad could have used 3G for voice instead of just data. Think of an iPad with a bluetooth headset. You throw the iPad in your backpack/bag and take calls through the headset. This reduces the need to carry around both an iPhone and an iPad.
I'm sure that idea didn't sit too well with Apple, but, it would have made the product a little more compelling.
I would expect any modern computing device to handle multitasking and flash. if I'm gonna drop $500-800 on it, then yes I would expect major updates to be included if that functionality is added later.
there are android slates from msi, dell, and hp all due out this year. presumably they will even have an SD slot. flash is coming to android this year. so I don't know how apple gets away with not including what I would think is pretty basic stuff.
like I said before, it looks decent enough for what it is. but my 1st gen ipod touch can also get news from the new york times...
Ideally, there's no reason you shouldn't still be able to do that with Skype.
As I mentioned earlier, lack of multitasking and flash are the biggest issues for me.
Thinking about it some more, I also think the locked down nature of software ecosystem would also start to annoy me more with the iPad than with the iPhone/iTouch. Why? Whereas the iPhone was a dramatic expansion in the capability of a phone (even compared to many existing smartphones), this feels more like a restriction in the capability of a laptop. Yes you can surf the web, but you don't get Flash. Yes you can run apps, but you can't multi-task. And Apple's control over what apps are available, while fine for little smartphone apps may come to feel like a bigger deal with the iPad, which has enough screen space and battery power to do all the things a basic laptop can.
Yeah, I agree. The iPhone is an improved phone. The iPad, it seems to me, is a stripped-down laptop. I would want to use it like a laptop. And I can't imagine using any computer these days if it doesn't have multitasking.
No. What I'm saying is that I take my laptop to meetings currently because the other option is using pen & paper. I keep tasks & notes in the cloud. If I use pen & paper, I have to be faithful about transcribing them when I get back to my desk. If I use my laptop, whoosh! They're in the cloud.
An iPad is a much smaller, lighter device that can do all of the cloud stuff I need without requiring me to lug my laptop. I don't need 2.4GHz of power in a meeting. I just need something cloud connected, and I imagine the typing experience on the iPad is significantly better than that of my iPhone.
Yeah, Skype's OK, but it's just not the same as just having a "normal" cell phone connection. Especially if the device is already connected to the cellular network.
I said this to Nando on FB, but what will make this device a winner for me is the ability to tether it to my iPhone's 3G connection. Then I can buy the cheap one and use it on wifi most of the time, and then in "emergencies" I can just tack it on to the $30/month plan I'M ALREADY PAYING FOR.
not to mention that Skype phone only works if you're on a WiFi network.
Yeah, the cellphone companies need to figure out a better way to charge people for data as individuals start purchasing more and more connected devices. Expecting people to spend $30-50 for each additional device is ludicrous.
Why not simply do something similar to what they do with family calling plans. Charge a small additional fee for each device that shares the same quota (i.e. the standard 5 GB cap)? So, charge $10-15 for each additional gadget. You can charge $30 for heavy users who want a separate quota for their second device.
Yes, I agree that Flash a total resource hog, but I think the decision to exclude it has more to do with protecting Apple's business model and AT&T's network. Enabling flash would open the door to competition from Flash-based apps outside Apple's control and streaming video (which would compete with their video sales as well as dramatically increase data usage on AT&T's already fragile network).
Also, isn't the upcoming Flash 10.1 supposed to support offloading of work to the Graphic Processor? Right now, Flash is CPU-intensive, which is why I advise folks who want to watch lots of hi-def steaming video to avoid netbooks. But in the future, the load should be reduced.
The problem with Apple's decision is that it takes away choice. If I want to burn through battery watching flash, why shouldn't I be able to? Just another example of Apple's paternalism.
Riddle me this, how is the iPad better then:
iPhone 3GS + Universal Dock + Video Cable + TV Set + Bluetooth Keyboard
A single device that's easy to carry and use anywhere. When you get home and want to do more serious email, whatever you drop it in the dock and poof...it's on your screen and you can type from a good wireless bluetooth keyboard? Of course, exactly this consumer friendly setup is exactly why Apple doesn't (natively) support bluetooth keyboards on the iPhone...but Jailbroken phones do and hardware manufacturers even sell bluetooth keyboards explicitly for Jailbroken phones.
Face it, the iPad is nothing but Apple trying to get another $500 to a $1000 out of you by "solving" the problem the iPhone already can solve better. A fair number of the major artificial limitations of the iPhone are in place for no other reason then to try and con you into buying an iPad too.
Is there a line in for a mic?
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