next »

[nutballs]

they keep getting it wrong about the kindle comparison, which is annoying. The small kindle is $250 and the kindle that is the same size as the douchepad is the same price as it.

now mind you, i will probably buy one anyway... lol

[rcjordan]

>the kindle that is the same size as the douchepad is the same price

Yeah, there's mention of that in the comments on that last article.  Hell, I didn't even know there was a 10" Kindle.  But I couldn't pass up the  "only twice as expensive" soundbite.

>buy one

I think I'm going to wait for ver2. Or the Eeepad.

[rcjordan]

>whoop-de-do-all-thumbs-up-gotta-have-it review

Found one, though it struggles.

Why Apple's iPad will change gadget world
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_14279787

[DangerMouse]

I've been waiting for a decent tablet for ages... and am still waiting from what I've seen.

Its really disapointing because, as has already been pointed out, it could have been such a fantastic device. Worse, the reason its not a fantastic device is Apple are once again first to market, so they're going to try and squeeze every penny they can get by limiting technology and improving it at a slow rate... I can see the Q4 press release now: "zomg! iPad with front facing camera and... wait for it... Flash, a must upgrade!" - some of the simplest and most ubiquitous technology on Earth and Apple hold it back for the sake of a few extra bucks.

DM

[rcjordan]

http://twitter.com/#search?q=iyawn

[jammaster82]

the no contract 3g thing makes it better, if nothing else as a
hand held vnc portal to WHATEVER ... im doing okay on 3g running
vnc to a host computer that can actually

  *DO FLASH*

I tried so hard not to say anything but damn, no flash?!? wtf.

[nutballs]

zactly. thats the 1 reason i probably will buy this god forsaken thing.
VNC, RDP and SSH.
basically a mobile manager tool.

BUT

I would buy it if it had a forward facing cam... so... I am also thinking to wait a year and see the upgrade.

[isthisthingon]

The thing is, that it "could" actually be worth it at $500. I just think they missed a few features that would have made it a no brainer like I said earlier.

But at the very least, if you want a big ebook reader, why the hell would you go with a kindle at this point?
That in itself is a huge hit to amazon once people start realizing that.

Two reasons: 1. You value your eyesight.  2. You prefer to get around 8 days - not 8 hours - out of a single charge.  Well those are the reasons anyway.  I'm looking for the iMaxi, I mean iPad to drop a little lower in price and I'll probably pick one up.  But for around $250 (nook for $259 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/features/) you get a decent reader so I would need to see a little more justification to double that amount before jumping in.

[isthisthingon]

I tried so hard not to say anything but damn, no flash?!? wtf.

Dear Lord,

Will you bless us with concurrent threads of execution??

In Jobs' name we

[deregular]

I'll get it when someone works out how to hack it and access the apache/sql stuff.

... And when the price comes down of course.

It would be great to take out to clients to show your work on.

[rcjordan]

>great to take out to clients to show your work

You're right, it would be excellent for small presentations.

[perkiset]

Finally back - sorry lads had promised the boys a day on the slopes - got thwarted on Sunday so today was the day.

Yup, missed out on like, every single hot rumor that was out there - controls on the back, front facing camera, background processing, Verizon - you name it.

But I do have one issue particularly with just about everyone here: The thing is *impossibly* thin and light. Sorry guys, "It should have this and why doesn't it have that" FFS, there's only one company on earth that's doing the research to make things that tiny and light. They're doing great stuff there. The hardware is stunning, I don't care what anyone says. No, there's no equal in the world. There's also no one doing the kind of multi touch work that Apple is - there are phones, computers etc that do some - but there's nothing in production to any level close to Apple with the kind of forward thinking multi touch that they have now. They are on the front edge and they're going to take some arrows for it. They certainly deserve some props for what they have accomplished.

A couple simple thoughts. First, of course I'll be buying some - in fact, I'll purchase a low-powered one immediately and then wait till April when the 3G version comes out and purchase 2 fully loaded ones for PinkHat and I. Why? Because we have to know/understand it. But that said, PinkHat and I *often* are in bed or in some place other than our desk where we want more than the phone, but I don't want to take my entire laptop. This device is not everything - but it is a lot. It is a great bridge/gap device between the phone and a notebook.

Natch: SSH, VNC etc on the iPhone is useless. With this, those iPhone apps are useful.

And I'll say one thing that may cause ripples in the medical world: Citrix Receiver. It's a simple XenAPP client for the iPhone. Small and useless there except for absolute emergencies ... but on this thing, they would be useful. I just got done working an exercise with doctors where they abandoned tablet PCs because they are too heavy and crappy. Installed thin clients but they are just not sexy enough. This little device, held in hand and taken with a doctor will be HOT SHIT. And as soon as the cloud and virtuals become more common, this little device will be great for that as well.

I read books on my iPhone, but I dislike it. I don't want another device, but I'll concede for one with all the apps that are at the App Store. Particularly iWork - having a real word processor that I can do emergency touch up work will be hot. This *most likely* be a replacement for me taking my notebook on vacation. with SSH, VNC and such tools, I could effect real change where necessary, without the overhead. Additionally, being able to have that same device be our in-flight movie handler etc will be great. Much better than both the phone and notebooks.

I'll be REALLY interested to see what the new SDK contains. Supposedly the thing comes with a dock that will allow a keyboard connection ... that's interesting. What else is in there? Since Pages/Numbers/Keynote are now 9.99 apps for the thing, that speaks to a lot of new capability ... it is along that line that I think we will start to see some real stuff come to pass. And I'll be interested to see what magazines will be available and what they look like by release date. I've only seen one quick video, haven't seen the actual presentation yet, so at the moment I'm a bit disappointed in how thin demos were. We'll need to see more of that before release date as well.

We all knew that the rumors FAR FAR outstripped what the machine would be, so let's not get too hyperbolic about it. It is disappointing in a lot of ways, but so was the iPhone (think Edge and no apps etc etc) when it first came out. There is NO WAY IN HELL that this thing could have lived up to the hype. This is a PLATFORM. They are now going to let early adopters do real-world beta testing for them, and just like we eventually got the app store and video and more memory and a faster processor and real GPS and and and ... so will this platform grow. I am both disappointed and very excited. I know from the discussions on this board that there is no satisfying a lot of folks - there will ALWAYS be a feature that is missing, ergo it's a pile of shit. I honestly expected nothing different. And ITTO I just have to laugh ... "Apple locks us into paying high fees for their engineering?" Oh FFS. So what you're saying, is that we are unable to restrain ourselves from purchasing Apple products ergo, we are all fleeced? Really? I for one am excited to see one IRL and think that it'll be spectacular.

All of this said, I do not believe that the tablet will be anywhere near the success (at first at least) that the iPhone was, because people don't need it. There will be a great many people like me that will have it because we can afford it and because it does satisfy and interesting need, but not everyone will. Hopefully, however, in a few months they'll drop the price like they did with the iPhone and then it'll make a great gift for the newly-digital book enjoyer. I think that people will have to get one in their hands before real judgment is issued. This may be a slow-start sleeper - now that they've gotten past the unattainable hype, they will have the expected dip in excitement and then people will start using it. Then we'll see.

[isthisthingon]

And ITTO I just have to laugh ... "Apple locks us into paying high fees for their engineering?" Oh FFS. So what you're saying, is that we are unable to restrain ourselves from purchasing Apple products ergo, we are all fleeced? Really?

Jesus gymnastic Christ, you're the greatest all-time Apple fanboi ever!  Organized religion should take lessons from you

But seriously no, that's not what I said nor is that what I'm saying.  What I'm saying is that this tablet, the iPad, is so completely within the expected Apple universe that I'm totally unsurprised.  The iPad is the same old Apple story.

The iPad is more expensive because it costs more to build, and as usual there will be no other options to choose from.  That's the point.  So all the hardware design dickheads at Apple can squawk vomitously about the hopefully award winning "Artware" they've created.  But the same tired truth remains: you either buy the whole ball of wax or you get left out in the cold, period.  It's a simple argument for us privileged haves.  It's just another gap in the digital divide for the have nots. 

I'm siding with the excluded, shivering, rain soaked masses who can't afford the $499 minimum price tag to keep current with the cutting edge technologies that Apple defines for the world. 

[perkiset]

I'm siding with the excluded, shivering, rain soaked masses who can't afford the $499 minimum price tag to keep current with the cutting edge technologies that Apple defines for the world. 

That's a pretty pathetic appeal to sympathy for folks who's lives will be utterly unaffected whether they can purchase an iPad or not.

There's no widening of the gap in the digital divide here. The unwashed, shivering masses can not afford to build or purchase one of your gaming supercomputers either, don't give me that hooie - perhaps not even an XBox. Just because it's something they WANT doesn't mean it's something that they deserve, nor that they need. No one is "left out in the cold" because they can't purchase an iPad, any more than they'd be left out in the cold because they can't purchase a notebook. Or even a netbook.

Silly to me that on one hand we'd talk about the utter triviality of such a new device, and on the other whip the great horse of economic division because po'folk can't have one.

[perkiset]

Here we go, first exposure of some SDK goodness - this may well describe where they're trying to go.

Unrestricted VOIP over 3G is in the trapset of the new SDK:

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/01/27/sdk-changes-open-door-to-voip-over-3g-networks-ipad-phone-calls-possible/

... this is what I was looking for. Going back to a post of a long while ago, I admire ITTO's use of Skype exclusively and this might be a connection in that direction. Another rumor site claimed (however it was not well substantiated) that there are traps for photos and video in the new SDK, hinting that perhaps it was *supposed* to have a camera but they just couldn't get it out in time. Or that perhaps it'll be available with one in MArch, or soon thereafter.

It's a platform. It's going to grow really fast.

(BTW, to respond to earlier RCJordan assertions of no positive press, both Engadget and Gizmodo have pretty damn glowing reviews, although Engadget thinks it feels a little heavy.)