Apple's iPad Megathread

[You Need a Thneed]

I also think there will be lots of people out there, who won't get the iPad to add to the devices they already have, but rather, seriously look at one when they are ready to replace one of the devices they have. Maybe they have a laptop now, and it works fine - however, when the time comes to replace the laptop, they realized that the iPad does what they need better. Or perhaps they currently have an iPod Touch, which works fine for them now, but when they are looking to upgrade, they want to get one with a bigger screen.

My feeling is that lots of people out there (especially when lots of apps start coming out), are going to be seriously considering iPads instead of the laptop that would have been their only option before - whether as a replacement, or just to buy new.

[Frequitude]

They should make the iPad class 1 div 1 rated, so I can view and mark up drawings in the plant. Speaking of, does anyone even make something like that??? That would be siiiiick.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

I also think there will be lots of people out there, who won't get the iPad to add to the devices they already have, but rather, seriously look at one when they are ready to replace one of the devices they have. Maybe they have a laptop now, and it works fine - however, when the time comes to replace the laptop, they realized that the iPad does what they need better. Or perhaps they currently have an iPod Touch, which works fine for them now, but when they are looking to upgrade, they want to get one with a bigger screen.

My feeling is that lots of people out there (especially when lots of apps start coming out), are going to be seriously considering iPads instead of the laptop that would have been their only option before - whether as a replacement, or just to buy new.

For sure, but probably only for their secondary devices hey? I don't see the ability for this thing to be anyone's primary (and only) computer.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

For sure, but probably only for their secondary devices hey? I don't see the ability for this thing to be anyone's primary (and only) computer.

No, Apple sure didn't spec it out to be anyone's primary or only computer. For the way that many would like to use it, I think that's a shame.

If I was a college student on a budget, I'd totally look at this to be my only computer, but the lack of memory could definately hold me back.

Could you hook an iPad up to an external hard drive? Does it able to recognize one and use one? It does have a card reader accessory, so I suppose it's likely able to.

[bomber317]

What are the chances of Apple fixing the multitasking/flash problem before the iPad is actually released?

I guess the question is, will the new OS be released within 60 days and if the new OS will support multitasking/flash?

[mykalberta]

Its kind of strange that the ipad looks like the que e reader that was shown at ces.

http://www.que.com/

Price isnt even close, Apple destroys them on price.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Its kind of strange that the ipad looks like the que e reader that was shown at ces.

http://www.que.com/

Price isnt even close, Apple destroys them on price.

They are going to have to significantly drop their price if they want to sell even a single one of those.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Its kind of strange that the ipad looks like the que e reader that was shown at ces.

http://www.que.com/

It's kind of strange that a Porche has 4 tires and a steering wheel, just like a my Cavalier does...

Also, Que is black and white, no App Store (at least not one with any kind of developer support to speak of) and costs $800 for an 8GB model with WiFi and 3G.

It's still a pretty interesting option though, I guess. Unless, you're insinuating that a device Apple has been working on for years was copied from something that was just demo's a few months ago... That would be even more interesting.

Edit: This thing is nothing more than an eReader with document support. Like the Kindle with the ability to edit Word docs. It's almost 2x the price of an iPad too.

Edit again: I think it's strange that this Que looks so much like a giant iPhone...

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by bomber317

What are the chances of Apple fixing the multitasking/flash problem before the iPad is actually released?

I guess the question is, will the new OS be released within 60 days and if the new OS will support multitasking/flash?

I think there is a strong possibility that multitasking will come in OS 4. The increasing amount of memory and processing power in the iPhone device lineup makes this likely. Keep in mind that they took over a year to implement cut and paste - they will take their time and come up with an elegant way of handling multiple background tasks. The iPhone OS is fully capable of multitasking and multithreading, its just not exposed for 3rd party developers, nor is there a user interface for managing it.

Flash is never going to show up on these devices. I have no passion on the issue (well, I do run a flash blocker and find the web a much less "flashy" place), but I don't think it will happen.

[photon]

The Que is a 10" eInk screen, that's why it's that expensive.. the $250 ebook readers are mostly 5" or 6" screens.

Same reason the screen size of the iPad is what it is for the price it is.. going with a widescreen probably would have driven the price up due to availability of LCDs.

[sclitheroe]

Here's a good quote:

“You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.” - Steve Jobs

[Barnes]

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.

Plus you are not locked into buying Sony or Nintendo authorized games. Oh wait, yes you are. Long Live The Open Atari.

[calculoso]

For all of you that say Flash is dead.. I hope that you let the Flames know this. They have excessive amounts of it, although some of it used in good ways, on their website.

[Cliche]

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.

All revision's of the DS have sold 125.3 million units. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62136

Iphone alone has a long way to go, even with 43million Iphones out there.

Even if you include the ipod touch sales, http://theappleblog.com/2010/01/28/i...elling-iphone/

That's still 75 million units, and maybe your game will get picked up or not.

So in relation to gaming.. This is still Apples half-hearted attempt at introducing games to the casual user, except for 600$.

Hey you can get the multitouch version of the asus T91MT with windows 7 home premium. Of course, it's got a 1" smaller screen, and half the battery time, but you get multi-tasking. You won't be getting the built in itunes and other "i-" stores, but you could turn it into a hackintosh and still get snow leopard onto it. Also it's price 549$. so....50$ cheaper for something smaller heavier that lasts a lesser amount of time than it's rival, but there's the entire WWW to take advantage of, FUD and all.

[Flames0910]

So in relation to gaming.. This is still Apples half-hearted attempt at introducing games to the casual user, except for 600$.

Nope.

[fundmark19]

I was just thinking about this on the bus ride home. How incredible is this going to be for watching movies while on road trips. Bigger screen then portable dvd players. Way better battery life. And it can just sit in your lap instead of fighting for a good place to put the dvd player.

[Cliche]

Originally Posted by Flames0910

Nope.

Oh wait, they already had the iphone for that, and gaming wise, this doesn't even register.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

I was just thinking about this on the bus ride home. How incredible is this going to be for watching movies while on road trips. Bigger screen then portable dvd players. Way better battery life. And it can just sit in your lap instead of fighting for a good place to put the dvd player.

except for the 4:3 ratio.

[QuadCityImages]

I guess the reason some of us complain about the openness aspect is that it seems like Apple is moving the opposite way that the best tech companies are going. Openness is the future. Firefox, Android, linux are all gaining market share left and right, and they're all open source or at least open-oriented. Even iTunes dropped DRM, and considered that an improvement, so why all the efforts to lock down what people can do? If you don't want to risk unapproved apps, no one makes you install them. Android even makes you flip a Settings switch to allow non-Market apps.

[I-Hate-Hulse]