iPad announced

[Lee Bartholomew]

No doubt the fruit loving ones are drooling. Already facebook statuses are saying they want one.

WHY????

Can anyone explain? I struggle with the same question for the iPhone.

The iPad:-

Looks like an oversized iPhone
Wont work on the web (no flash player)
Too small to do any computing on (photoshop, dreamweaver etc)
Too big to put in your pocket and carry around
No SD Slot, No keyboard, No USB, No replaceable Battery, No Front webcam, No Multitasking, LCD screen, has only a max of 64Gig storage.
10hr battery life (provided you dont actually use it)


What good is this? Why do people want one? Sounds like a tablet PC from 2003 to me.

[frodo]

Can anyone explain? I struggle with the same question for the iPhone.

The iPad:-

Looks like an oversized iPhone
Wont work on the web (no flash player)
Too small to do any computing on (photoshop, dreamweaver etc)
Too big to put in your pocket and carry around
No SD Slot, No keyboard, No USB, No replaceable Battery, No Front webcam, No Multitasking, LCD screen, has only a max of 64Gig storage.
10hr battery life (provided you dont actually use it)

What good is this? Why do people want one? Sounds like a tablet PC from 2003 to me.
Long overdue I reckon.

If you mostly want a device for browsing and simple apps, it will do the job. Flash isn't needed for many purposes.

An iPhone is just too small if you don't want it primarily as a phone.

Usability aside, the key difference with Tablet PCs is weight. Tablet PCs were at least twice as heavy. You'd think twice about putting it in a bag.

I wouldn't buy it for some of the reasons you've given, but I'd love to have a device of the same form factor, or a little smaller, with SD slot / USB, replaceable battery/storage etc.

[Lee Bartholomew]

Long overdue I reckon.

If you mostly want a device for browsing and simple apps, it will do the job. Flash isn't needed for many purposes.



Other than going on the web. Most pages use flash. Oh and it doesn;t support Java I have been reading. Still web pages from 1996 will be viewable.



An iPhone is just too small if you don't want it primarily as a phone.


and this is too small other than to watch videos on.



Usability aside, the key difference with Tablet PCs is weight. Tablet PCs were at least twice as heavy. You'd think twice about putting it in a bag.



Alot of tablet pc's are only 2lb compared to the iPads 1.6lb and they have larger storage, slide out keyboards, optical devices etc.



I wouldn't buy it for some of the reasons you've given, but I'd love to have a device of the same form factor, or a little smaller, with SD slot / USB, replaceable battery/storage etc.

ie a tablet pc!

[geoff332]

What good is this?Wait and see what comes out from the Apple App Store.
Why do people want one?Mostly because it's Apple. The media frenzy around this has been quite obscene. Why don't tech journalists do some real journalism instead of marketing for Apple?
Sounds like a tablet PC from 2003 to me.I'm waiting to see what google come out with. The whole point of the Chrome OS (initially) is for small form-factor devices - netbooks and tablets.

At a minimum, I'd not consider a portable device unless it can:
Let me browse the web (in all it's glory!)
Download and view my photos (in RAW format) - which means a decent amount of storage, plus the ability to expand storage using cards and USB drives.
Write emails and other text of more than a few lines longBut the killer tablet app for me is simple: fully featured remote desktop to a PC. At present, this means a Windows based device.

It sounds like iPad won't deliver anything I really want.

[straycat]

What good is this? Why do people want one? Sounds like a tablet PC from 2003 to me.

As a long-time foaming-at-the-mouth rabid Apple fan, I can answer thusly.

Haven't the foggiest.

It isn't a big iPhone. It's a big iPod Touch with optional 3G, and far too big to put in your pocket.

If it ran OS X, and I could plug in an external sound card, I'd get one like a shot and use it for DJing.

Since it doesn't and I can't.... it looks like a fun toy that does nothing my iPhone can't, and that I don't need - so clearly I'm not in the target market.

I shall be watching developments with interest.

[Dreadful Scathe]

If you mostly want a device for browsing and simple apps, it will do the job. Flash isn't needed for many purposes.

Not really, its under spec'd for anything other than phone apps - better using a phone for them to be honest ;)



Usability aside, the key difference with Tablet PCs is weight. Tablet PCs were at least twice as heavy. You'd think twice about putting it in a bag.

Weight ? I have one of these (http://www.pencomputing.com/frames/sonicblue_progear.html) I bought it ooooh 7 years ago now - and it has some better features than the new ipAd (it runs linux) its only 3.5lb apparently. :)

[Lee Bartholomew]

Wait and see what comes out from the Apple App Store.

Hmmmm, over priced, rehashed Java applications.

[geoff332]

Hmmmm, over priced, rehashed Java applications.Most likely. But the real power of the Tablet is as an application device. And, knowing Apple, it'll be slick and easy to use (as long as you use it they way Apple envisage, not some other way). Plus the media fanboys will tell everyone how wonderful it is until everyone believes it.

Of course, in that size, you could buy something like the Archos 9. It's got a 9" screen, 60GB of storage, and Windows 7. It weighs 800g (about 1.2 lbs). It's even got a USB and a camera. Perhaps most importantly, the back is flat (rather than the curve of the iPad), meaning you can put it on a desk and use it. Of course, there are some big limitations (mostly because Windows 7 hasn't been tweaked properly for tablets) but, frankly, I'd take those limitations over the iPad any day.

Over the course of the year, expect to see a flurry of tablets on the market. Hopefully someone will come up with one that's a genuine killer device. In my view, the iPad is a poor choice among limited options.

Edit:
What I find really funny is this. The iPad is the third from top trending item on Twitter for the UK. Second is #HugATree. Top is #itampon (http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23itampon).

[straycat]

In all seriousness, while I can't see myself finding a good use for it, I can definitely see the appeal. The interface looks beautiful and slick, and it's a nice size to take places where I don't want to lug a laptop around, for jobs that the phone's a bit small for (word-processing, touching up photos, etc)

I just want a bit more versatility... and I very much believe that a great multi-touch interface would be a DJs dream - if only one had enough sound outputs to preview as well as play.

While this certainly isn't the tablet device of my dreams, it's the closest thing I've seen to it yet, and I'm pretty certain that it'll shake the industry up somewhat (if not to the degree that the iPhone did)

Here's hoping good things come from that shakeup, and/or from the future directions of the iPad.

[Lee Bartholomew]

In all seriousness, while I can't see myself finding a good use for it, I can definitely see the appeal. The interface looks beautiful and slick, and it's a nice size to take places where I don't want to lug a laptop around, for jobs that the phone's a bit small for (word-processing, touching up photos, etc)


It's not even any good for that. There is no keyboard or mouse.



and/or from the future directions of the iPad.

Yep i guess they prob are holding some stuff back for atleast the 5th gen release.


I think Apple has pretty ballsed up here as even most fruit fans can see this has major faults. No doubt they will still flock to buy it though, like they did the iphone and everyone will want one becuase they are the buzz word of the day.

The marketing campain for them will make out it is the first tablet machine ever and that you can do much more with it than you can anything else.

As for DJ'ing off it, with only 64gig max internal memory (with alot taken by apps and the os, No flash memory support and no external device support, you had better choose what songs you put on there very carefully. Also I read somewhere earlier that it doesn't even have a headphone socket on it !!!!!!!

[DavidB]

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnNews:Apple_unveils_new_iPhone_for_giants

[Lee Bartholomew]

"Netbooks aren't better at anything - they're slow and have low quality displays," said Steve Jobs as he announced a device with a 1ghz processor, 1gig DDR2 memory and a max 1024-by-768 resolution on a backlight LCD !!!!!!!

[David Franklin]

"Netbooks aren't better at anything - they're slow and have low quality displays," said Steve Jobs as he announced a device with a 1ghz processor, 1gig DDR2 memory and a max 1024-by-768 resolution on a backlight LCD !!!!!!!I'm not hugely impressed with the iPad, but I'm not sure your statement holds up under examination. Taking it point by point:

Without knowing the exact details of the chip Apple are using, ARM claim an 800Mhz ARM cpu outperforms a 1.6Ghz Atom. And because it's a specialised device/OS, I expect Apple to make it "look" faster than Windows for the same CPU power. Certainly the clips I've seen of the presentation support that.

Most netbooks also come with only 1gig of DDR2. It's nice that you can upgrade the netbook though. It's having to pay Apple through the nose for flash storage that's the bigger annoyance I think.

Most netbooks have only a 1024 x 600 screen. And the iPAD screen is a LED backlit IPS, which should be noticeably better than current netbook screens. Impossible to tell until some unbiased reviews come in though. (Since one thing I want from an e-reader is ability to read in bed with the lights off, backlit is good in my opinion. YMMV).

On the other hand...

A few months ago, I bought a Samsung NC10 netbook as a "toy". But I've been surprised how capable it is in practice - I can run Visual Studio on it and compile real applications. It's not quick, but it's a lot better than nothing. It also runs Flash, which I think is going to really hurt the iPad unless HTML 5 video comes of age fast enough to make Flash irrelevant. The keyboard is amazing for such a small machine as well. As an ebook reader, it's a lot better than I expected; it's light enough that I'm not that bothered about the iPad being about half the weight. All in all, I use it as much as my fullsize laptop, and I'm *happy* using it instead for most things, which I think is astounding.

If I bought an iPad, it would again be as a "toy". Only this time, I think it wouldn't rise above that status.

[David Franklin]

It seems Hitler agrees with you, Lee:

lQnT0zp8Ya4

N.B. Subtitles not safe for work.

[Simon r]

I really can not say to much on this as Nokia design are working on many other variants and technology that far out does the I pad.

It seems rushed to enter the market which is not normal for Apple as we are all working with the same drivers and screens and there are much better concepts in the pipeline for release in 6 months.

I think this is a gap filler which the apple faithfull will purchase then regret in less than 6 months.

I tried to point this out to a friend who got very upset when i suggested not to follow the herd.

It is a great brand idea and the users are so faithfull. I'm just worried some are getting blind to the use as many have pointed out above.

Interesting the target is european, middle class, female's.

[Simon r]

my other thoughts about the iPad:

This is Apples first attempt to 'dumb down' the PC/computer. Windows in the 80's had single-handely desttroyed the PC industry, by popularising hard-to-use and totally un-user-friendly machines that my grandmother used to be scared off.

The iPad is just that... a dumb PC. Why is this the right time for one you ask? Well, in one word - Content. Yes, todays content market has matured just enough to introduce such a device. 20 years ago something like this would be useless, because there was no web, there were no ebooks, there was no music/video/games on the go. Hell, there wasn't even email on the go.

But today, there is enough to justify having a machine that you would just turn on and start using, and it would satisfy 99.9% of your daily PC needs. Ask yourself, do you really want to grapple with Windows, or even Macs, just to be able to surf the web, email, listen to music, watch videos or play games? No, and the iPad is just the answer to that.

Its smarter than a smartphone, but dumber than a PC...its a dumb PC! and it will sell millions, I assure you. I can even see it eating into the PC market, let alone the netbook market.


The reason I use the term 'dumb PC' is because you dont need to use your brains too much to be able to operate an iPad, unlike the PCs and Macs of today. Flash you ask? I have a very strong feeling that the reason Apple is not allowing Adobe to get into the iPods, iPhones and iPads it because they want to come up with some revenue deal with them, which Adobe is not agreeing to. But flash on Apple is inevitable, so as you said, not a deal breaker.

[Cruella]

Interesting the target is european, middle class, female's.

Why? Our handbags aren't THAT big! :wink:

[frodo]

The iPad:-

One thing I've just noticed is that you can charge it off USB - which means no separate power brick to carry.

While an obvious thing for a netbook to support, and long overdue, I've yet to see a netbook do that.

[Lou]

Why? Our handbags aren't THAT big! :wink:

Never has a truer word been said. I know Lee goes on about all the technical spec stuff that's missing, but I simply wouldn't buy it because it's far too big to fit in my bag!

[Lee Bartholomew]

It's too big for my man-bag too!

[geoff332]

This is Apples first attempt to 'dumb down' the PC/computer.What about the Mac? Or, a little less facetiously, the Newton.
The iPad is just that... a dumb PC. Why is this the right time for one you ask? Well, in one word - Content.I'm not sure I agree that it's really a Dumb PC - mostly because it's missing too many features. If it had proper USB support, fully featured web browsing, and a lot more flexibility with applications, I'd be inclined to agree with you. Because they've missed some pretty important features, it's really just a big smart phone - without a phone.
Interesting the target is european, middle class, female's.And they call it an iPad? Really? I wonder if they were going to call it iSlate, until HP announced the Slate at CES. It just seems like a rather dumb name if they're wanting to target the female customers.
One thing I've just noticed is that you can charge it off USB - which means no separate power brick to carry.

While an obvious thing for a netbook to support, and long overdue, I've yet to see a netbook do that.Most of the new tablets do exactly that - most of the offering actual functionality rather than just a platform for content and apps. Simon's definitely right that there's a new class of device emerging (and I suspect that Netbooks will die out: the choice will be a tablet or a laptop).
Never has a truer word been said. I know Lee goes on about all the technical spec stuff that's missing, but I simply wouldn't buy it because it's far too big to fit in my bag!The tablets will never be pocket-sized. I think the size is about right. It's designed to be tucked into a bag. For me, it'd fit perfectly in my camera bag. Unfortunately, it'll never go in there, because it doesn't offer any useful means to copy the photos off my camera. And I suspect, being Apple, the fact I shoot in RAW means it won't let me view the photos either.

HP's slate isn't much better: it'll probably have the flexibility I want, but it looks like it'll be a fairly standard version of Windows 7, with all the drawbacks of Windows. Google is likely to release Chrome OS into Netbooks (ASUS and Acer are likely as hardware partners); if they draw on what they know from Android, then they could do a pretty cool touchscreen OS. Nokia's got their Maemo OS they've just released on the N900. And I'd bet there are a few other Linux-based OS' for this sort of device. If any of them can marry functionality with usability, they'll have the best device out there.

[ducasi]

For me, it'd fit perfectly in my camera bag. Unfortunately, it'll never go in there, because it doesn't offer any useful means to copy the photos off my camera. And I suspect, being Apple, the fact I shoot in RAW means it won't let me view the photos either.

You can get connectors for it that gives you USB or SD transfers from your camera. No idea whether it'll cope with RAW, but as the Mac does, there's no real reason why the iPad shouldn't.


I quite like the look of the thing – ideal for web browsing in front of the telly. Might wait to see what the iPhone OS 4.0 brings though. One thing I can promise it won't, is Flash.

[geoff332]

You can get connectors for it that gives you USB or SD transfers from your camera.Which means you have to carry an adaptor around as well. Which is just annoying when they could very easily put a USB on the device itself.
No idea whether it'll cope with RAW, but as the Mac does, there's no real reason why the iPad shouldn't.Mac's also cope with Flash, but the iPhone and iPad don't. And that's precisely the point: it's a phone OS, not a PC OS.

[azande]

The issue with Apple and Flash is completely different:

http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/

and

http://daringfireball.net/2010/01/blue_boxes

just as two examples

[Lee Bartholomew]

The issue with Apple and Flash is completely different:

http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/

and

http://daringfireball.net/2010/01/blue_boxes

just as two examples


If I develop a web based app, or a website, why should I have to revert back to old tech just becuase of apple?

It's a bit like saying, "well if HTML doesn't work on this device, then print all your web content on paper instead of a website"
Something I do find interesting is that Apple are trying to encourage developers to use Microsofts .NET platform to develop on :confused:

[geoff332]

If I develop a web based app, or a website, why should I have to revert back to old tech just becuase of apple?Flash is likely to vanish at some point and it will be replaced by HTML 5. Google are, unsurprisingly, leading the charge on this - see some examples here - although you'll most likely need the Chrome browser to process the javascript fast enough for them to work (http://www.chromeexperiments.com/). The idea is to make web apps far more powerful, without having to revert to third-party plugins. The main stumbling block is video - HTML 5 supports embedded video, but no-one can agree on the codec to play that video. Apple, Google and Mozilla are all going in different directions. I only hope the agreed upon codec is open-source, rather than replacing one proprietary technology (flash) for another. MS are probably thinking about it too, but they're a few years behind leading edge technology.

Google is betting that app stores are a passing fad. Instead of downloading and installing apps, you will open an app in a web browser and it will run from there (you can, for example, set-up gmail as a web app using Chrome. From a user persepctive, it looks like a mail client).
It's a bit like saying, "well if HTML doesn't work on this device, then print all your web content on paper instead of a website"Not quite: they're trying to introduce new technology. Unfortunately, they're trying to introduce Apple's way of doing new technology, which is very closed - you do things Apple's way, or you don't do them on their devices. This, more than anything else, is why I don't like Apple devices.

[straycat]

If I develop a web based app, or a website, why should I have to revert back to old tech just becuase of apple?

As far as I'm concerned, Flash is old tech. It's beyond time to move on...

[pmjd]

Interesting reading a summary article (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/04/adobe_responds_to_apple/) on the Register about the Adobe CTO's response to the exclusion of Flash from the iphone and ipad.

Especially when he admits that Flash on Macs is crap and always has been compared to Flash on Windows. It's meant to improve with Flash 10.1 and I'll be looking forward to that.

As for the ipad I'll be unlikely to get one as I'm quite happy with my macbook and prefer it for all the extra things it can do. Will be interesting to have a play with an ipad once they come out though....

[Lee Bartholomew]

As far as I'm concerned, Flash is old tech. It's beyond time to move on...

As a developer who uses flash all the time, it's far from dead. I have seen some great things to come from flash in the future including better intergration in to the LAMP environment and inclusion of Hip-HOP which will see sites like ebay/facebook appearing from 100% flash.

[straycat]

As a developer who uses flash all the time, it's far from dead. I have seen some great things to come from flash in the future including better intergration in to the LAMP environment and inclusion of Hip-HOP which will see sites like ebay/facebook appearing from 100% flash.

I said 'old', not 'dead'. PHP integration - well - that's been around a good long while. Considering what hiphop is, I'm a little unclear on the link between it and Flash, but I'm sure you'll enlighten me ;)

[Lee Bartholomew]

As far as I'm concerned, Flash is old tech. It's beyond time to move on...


I said 'old', not 'dead'. PHP integration - well - that's been around a good long while. Considering what hiphop is, I'm a little unclear on the link between it and Flash, but I'm sure you'll enlighten me ;)


Facebook ( who developed hip hop ) are looking at doing the same with flash. Obv more to it than that but I have a 6 hour workshop to write up for tomorrow so that is getting my time at the mo :nice:

[geoff332]

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/iPad.jpg

[Simon r]

http://www.slideshare.net/distimo/distimo-mobile-world-congress-2010-presentation-mobile-application-stores-state-of-play

this is interesting

[philsmove]

the question is will it blend


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko&feature=player_embedded