Apple's iPad Megathread

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

6 - What does it to the best? Lap viewing movies, photos, web (ex flash), and email. No one can sit there and say that any netebook - heck any notebook does this better than the ipad.

Great write up, but I completely disagree with the take that it'll do email best. Email requires typing. It is not possible to comfortably type on this thing without a table in front of you to prop it up and lay down an external keyboard.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

It is not possible to comfortably type on this thing without a table in front of you to prop it up and lay down an external keyboard.

the same could be said about laptops, and certainly netbooks, IMO.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Great write up, but I completely disagree with the take that it'll do email best. Email requires typing. It is not possible to comfortably type on this thing without a table in front of you to prop it up and lay down an external keyboard.

Why not. People use their iphone to type on, cant see how something with a 3-4X more surface area will be worse. From all accounts you an type on it, just not as quickly as on a normal keyboard.

I think what macbreak said is 100% true, there will be skeptics until you go to mac store and play with the thing, that will sell you - not you Frequitude but you in general.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

As for demoing websites, that's another awesome use for the iPad. Say goodbye to expensive and clumsy laptop/projector combos... Maybe not for a huge-room presentation, but certainly for those small ones around a single table.

If I tried to demo a website on a 10" screen I'd get laughed out of the room.

[nfotiu]

1 - This is meant to replace the netbooks that alot of people are currently buying that dont need it. My mom, aunt, cousin are perfect examples. All purchased one in the last 18 months, all they do is use it to read email, chat on messenger and light surfing while in the kitchen, in bed, watching TV etc. It has a camera and they could use it for skype but they never do.

They don't need a $250 netbook, but need a $500 dollar tablet that has no keyboard for chatting, emailing?

2 - This is a big FU to (not amazon) Sony and Nintendo. I give it max 18 months before the iphone/itouch/ipad are bigger players in the mobile game market than Sony or Nintendo combined.

I'll take that bet, touchscreen seems like a very weak interface for gaming, especially with the giant bezel.


4 - Ecosystem. All I own from the iTunesStore is about 30 songs that I have purchased. Think if you have $100, $500, $1000+ more invested in that ecosystem. When you go to buy your netbook - I think most people (who already have a home computer of some sort be it a laptop or desktop) will purchase this instead of the crappy netbook that does everything worse than their current home computer.

5 - Price. I listened to the whole macbreak podcast and was frankly disappointed until $500 for the base model price was announced and I literally fell off my chair - at $600 Cdn, why would I buy some low powered netbook that does everything poorly rather than this which doesnt do everything, but what it does - it does the best.

Does the best? What does it even do particularly well?

6 - What does it to the best? Lap viewing movies, photos, web (ex flash), and email. No one can sit there and say that any netebook - heck any notebook does this better than the ipad.

Movies: Seems like it is worse than netbooks for a dozen reasons, and better than them at nothing. ie, no widescreen, stuck with formats quicktime supports, no flash video...

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

the same could be said about laptops, and certainly netbooks, IMO.

Hardly. Keyboards need to be flat. Monitors need to be angled so you look at them straight on. Therein lies the form factor of laptop...adjustable angle monitor attached to a flat keyboard. Quite comfortable to use in your lap.

[octothorp]

I think you have to consider its shortcomings in two categories: hardware and software. The hardware ones are legitimate gripes, but this was essentially a hardware release. And while they were demoing various software features, most of those features were simply to position it: yes it can browse the web, read email, play games, read books, etc. I wouldn't read too much into specific software features and functionality: the fact that multitasking wasn't shown here doesn't negate the likelihood that multitasking will come out on the next OS release. Ditto flash support.

[FanIn80]

This is all the kind of stuff people said about iPods.

"What are you talking about, no CD player? Yeah right. Like that will ever work. This iPod thing will fail miserably, and people will keep buying Sony Walkmans."

The coolest thing about this iPad anouncement is how, in spite of how much people of changed, how little people have really changed.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Why not. People use their iphone to type on, cant see how something with a 3-4X more surface area will be worse. From all accounts you an type on it, just not as quickly as on a normal keyboard.

I think what macbreak said is 100% true, there will be skeptics until you go to mac store and play with the thing, that will sell you - not you Frequitude but you in general.

But the form factor of an iPhone lends itself to typing with your thumbs. The ergonomics of 10 digit typing is completely different. Surely no one will type on this thing with their thumbs, the touch screen keyboard will be too big.

Heck, the more I think about it the more I've come to realize that it'd be a fun device for digital media and browsing the web anywhere. Of course there are many times I'd wish my iPod touch was bigger or that it had 3G support. And for $600 the price is almost right to even just have it for hockey pooling on the couch. But its just not something I need so I won't be buying one.

People are right that this isn't meant to be a laptop, that it is an in between device. But I'm in the market for a new laptop. I wish Apple made a sick tablet/laptop hybrid that ran a full OS. I'd pay a couple grand for that thing tomorrow.

[photon]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

I find these "not a real OS" claims to be pretty funny. Can someone tell me one jealousy-inducing thing that they can do with their netbook OS, that I can't do with my iPhone OS?

It's not about the OS, obviously you could do anything (including having a flash player) on the OS if they put it in, it's about a closed system.

For some that is too much of a limitation. Some people use specialized apps, or file formats or whatever, and the iPad isn't going to work well for them because it is a closed system.

Apple not allowing Flash obviously isn't a limitation of the OS, but it is a limitation nonetheless.

Originally Posted by FanIn80

It takes 30 seconds to set up a free US iTunes account. Also the book reader uses the open-book standard ePub format, and has a section of the disk partitioned as a storage drive. This storage drive is accessible by any 3rd party app, and shows up in your compute as regular old thumb drive.

I can't see them using ePub and not letting you read your own books. It would be like an iPod not letting you play your own MP3s.

You can, though I'd be leery of using a US iTunes account to buy books, it's unlikely that they'd ever crack down on but if they did I don't like the idea of losing all my books over it.

One thing I did like that they said they'd do is let you load your purchased app store apps on it without having to repurchase them.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

This is all the kind of stuff people said about iPods.

"What are you talking about, no CD player? Yeah right. Like that will ever work. This iPod thing will fail miserably, and people will keep buying Sony Walkmans."

The coolest thing about this iPad anouncement is how, in spite of how much people of changed, how little people have really changed.

FanIn80, this thing is cool, no doubt. But I don't think its that revolutionary. There's not much worth changing towards.

The laptop world is expanding its borders into the tablet form factor, that we know. Apple should blow everyone out of the water by making a MacBook Pro Tablet...a MacBook Pro, that flips into a tablet incorporating their state of the art touch screen technology, with a full OS. THAT would be revolutionary. They'd sell a hundred million.

edit: I pretty much just said the same thing in two posts. Except, hell, I'd pay $3000 for what I'm describing.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Hardly. Keyboards need to be flat.

Why? Do they not work if they are angled?

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Monitors need to be angled so you look at them straight on.

Which can be done easy with an ipad. The separate space for screen and keyboard can cause space issues, when you don't have a lot of space. I've thought many times while lying in bed with a laptop that it's just too cumbersome - impossible to get the screen where you want it.

You also don't have the option of holding a laptop in one hand, and typing/pointing with the other - at lest not well and for very long.

A netbook with it's smaller screen and small keyboard isn't really great for typing either.

[FanIn80]

Yeah for sure. Don't get me wrong, guys. I would have loved to see this thing run the full OS X. Who knows? Maybe 18 months from now, they'll come with a "business class" iPad that is essentially a 13" MBP with an inverted lid and multi touch. We'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, I held off on buying a Kindle because I wanted to see what this was going to be... and I'm glad I did. This is the reading device I've been waiting for.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

FanIn80, this thing is cool, no doubt. But I don't think its that revolutionary. There's not much worth changing towards.

The laptop world is expanding its borders into the tablet form factor, that we know. Apple should blow everyone out of the water by making a MacBook Pro Tablet...a MacBook Pro, that flips into a tablet incorporating their state of the art touch screen technology, with a full OS. THAT would be revolutionary. They'd sell a hundred million.

edit: I pretty much just said the same thing in two posts. Except, hell, I'd pay $3000 for what I'm describing.

Who, knows, that may be coming in the future.

When refinements come, and plenty of full featured apps available, I bet you see a powerful high end version of the iPad too - probably with MacOS.

[Pastiche]

2 - This is a big FU to (not amazon) Sony and Nintendo. I give it max 18 months before the iphone/itouch/ipad are bigger players in the mobile game market than Sony or Nintendo combined.

This is absolutely insane. Do you have any idea how many DS' Nintendo has sold? Do you really think gamers are going to buy a $600 portable gaming system? DS' cost $150 and are way more portable. 18 months? I'll give Apple 18 friggin years and they still wont be anywhere further in the mobile gaming market.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

1 - This is meant to replace the netbooks that alot of people are currently buying that dont need it. My mom, aunt, cousin are perfect examples. All purchased one in the last 18 months, all they do is use it to read email, chat on messenger and light surfing while in the kitchen, in bed, watching TV etc. It has a camera and they could use it for skype but they never do.

They don't need a $250 netbook, but need a $500 dollar tablet that has no keyboard for chatting, emailing?

2 - This is a big FU to (not amazon) Sony and Nintendo. I give it max 18 months before the iphone/itouch/ipad are bigger players in the mobile game market than Sony or Nintendo combined.

I'll take that bet, touchscreen seems like a very weak interface for gaming, especially with the giant bezel.


4 - Ecosystem. All I own from the iTunesStore is about 30 songs that I have purchased. Think if you have $100, $500, $1000+ more invested in that ecosystem. When you go to buy your netbook - I think most people (who already have a home computer of some sort be it a laptop or desktop) will purchase this instead of the crappy netbook that does everything worse than their current home computer.

5 - Price. I listened to the whole macbreak podcast and was frankly disappointed until $500 for the base model price was announced and I literally fell off my chair - at $600 Cdn, why would I buy some low powered netbook that does everything poorly rather than this which doesnt do everything, but what it does - it does the best.

Does the best? What does it even do particularly well?

6 - What does it to the best? Lap viewing movies, photos, web (ex flash), and email. No one can sit there and say that any netebook - heck any notebook does this better than the ipad.

Movies: Seems like it is worse than netbooks for a dozen reasons, and better than them at nothing. ie, no widescreen, stuck with formats quicktime supports, no flash video...

$250 netbook?

Minimum was the Asus Eee Pc from Memory express for $450. Chepest laptop or memoryexpress.com is $430 - where are these mythical $250 dollar netbooks?

Touch intervace is weak for gaming - does the Iphone do games - I guess not.

Here is the link to the $430 netbook, do you have a link for your $250 netbook.

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...9/Default.aspx

When the ipad costs less than $150 more than the google phone, that is crazy.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

This is absolutely insane. Do you have any idea how many DS' Nintendo has sold? Do you really think gamers are going to buy a $600 portable gaming system? DS' cost $150 and are way more portable. 18 months? I'll give Apple 18 friggin years and they still wont be anywhere further in the mobile gaming market.

No gamers will continue not to shower and buy thier systems. I am saying as a % of games dollar sales, apple will be more than Nintendo and Sony combined (mobile not wii/ps3 etc). The same people who buy "games" on facebook, will buy games on the iphone/ipad. Gamers will continue to bitch about what this doesnt have, linux, camera, keyboard, etc etc etc while bitching at how expensive it is.

[octothorp]

I think from Apple's perspective, a big part of this device is how easy it's going to be to repair and replace, much like the iphone. When you start doing the sort of flipping tablet laptop that frequitude is talking about, support costs for the device are going to go way up. My boss has a tablet laptop combo, and it's rife with problems. Our IT guy told me that he's refused to let anyone else get the devices because they're prone to failure. Now, Apple could probably do a better job of making such a device than anyone else in the world, but the cost to do it right would definitely put it outside the range of what the masses could afford, and make it completely irrelevant to the e-reader and netbook market.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

This is absolutely insane. Do you have any idea how many DS' Nintendo has sold? Do you really think gamers are going to buy a $600 portable gaming system? DS' cost $150 and are way more portable. 18 months? I'll give Apple 18 friggin years and they still wont be anywhere further in the mobile gaming market.

The iPod touch is rapidly gobbling up the market for the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP already. Sony and nintendo can't compete when games cost 2 bucks on an ipod touch, and 30 bucks on one of their players.

The DS and PSP are all but certainly dying a slow death.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

$250 netbook?

Minimum was the Asus Eee Pc from Memory express for $450. Chepest laptop or memoryexpress.com is $430 - where are these mythical $250 dollar netbooks?

Touch intervace is weak for gaming - does the Iphone do games - I guess not.

Here is the link to the $430 netbook, do you have a link for your $250 netbook.

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...9/Default.aspx

When the ipad costs less than $150 more than the google phone, that is crazy.

I live in US where it will compete with $250 netbooks, which are common place and free-$200 netbooks tied to wireless contracts.