Other The iFail- wait sorry, iPad, is officially out

It was the way he put it like 'Son, I am disappointed.....'.
I was thinking the same thing anyway, he proved my point.

 

I think the real benefit of this is that it doesn't dictate the way YOU as a user have to position yourself to read it, like a Laptop does. Just think how clunky and "static" a laptop is when you try to read on it. This handles more like a real book/magazine and gives you a way more comfortable reading experience by giving you the freedom of how you hold it.

/btw. no "real" multitasking sucks,with all this innovation they could at least come up with a tap system for apps :-/
edit: Oh and WTF do I need an adapter for USB?! (or basically anything els)

 

Or like a Tablet PC doesn't ? Or like something like the HP Slate doesn't ? But this device has not even a quarter of their functionality.

 

Looks pretty, and as tablets go I'm sure it's pretty good.

No camera - don't care.
No flash - still not too bothered.
No multitasking - wait WHAT? You have to be kidding, I hope this is eventually patched out in some way.

Biggest let down is "what would I use it for?". I'm not saying there isn't a use for it, but for the mass market (I know it doesn't HAVE to be designed with the mass market in mind) I fail to see appeal (apart from the obvious oohhh look at my shiny).

 

True, but they still run windows, an OS thats designed with Keyboard and Mouse in mind.
The prob. of most of those devices is that the win input concept doesn't work that well with
touch an gesture based input methods. Anyway I'd still loved to have a similar functionality with the
ipad but with a more touch friendly OS.

 

I'll just leave this here...


Oh, and the fact that there is no multitasking, uses the iPhone OS, and is unbelievably extortionate for the specs (even if it IS a tablet) makes me think that this will go straight down the pan

 

+rep

 

What is the point of HD video playback when you have fingerprints all over the screen?

 

You'd be surprised...

 

I predict this will go the iPhone way. i.e: wildly positive sales, angry PC-geeks and another geek-community divide.

If nothing else, Apple can sure play the PR game to perfection.

 

it's the ONLY thing they are good at

 

Right I may as well stick my bit in as well, and I'll open with a disclaimer that I am a quite avid Apple fanboy...

I wouldn't mind having an iPad at all, especially if the rumours of supporting bluetooth keyboards etc are true like most journos from the hands-on are saying it is. However if I were to buy such a device it would need to be a decent price and I'm not exactly gonna go into it all guns blazing, especially with the payg 3g which I'd rather just fall back on wifi for the most part unless o2 comes out with some epic "second sim for your iPad with unlimited internets for not much money" kinda plan.

Next up would be people's talking about Adobe Flash. Everyone should remember that 60 days is a long time in which to make additions and changes from what we see today, and something that for me gives a big hint that flash may well be on the horizon is the fact that on a website that was visited during a demo there was just the plugin icon where a flash applet would have normally lived.

In relation to the previous point about flash is that we're currently seeing iPhoneOS 3.2 in that iPad according to posters at the hands-on.. Summer is coming, new iPhone WILL be on the horizon and whilst 3.0 is still quite new, Apple hasn't gone a year yet without doing some decent upgrading to the OS, so it is likely we may see more functionality including multitasking in non-native apps.

Next we have pricing, $499 for a 16gb wifi tablet. I think people are losing sight of how much flash memory still costs at the moment and have been spoiled by the fact that the iPod Touch and the iPhone both have what is admittedly a lot of it, for not much money. And comparing a device like this directly to only one other device on the market is pointless. But some lend themselves to it rather well, example one for myself being the Amazon Kindle DX - Currently priced at $489. That's a mere $10 less than the base model iPad.

Just to do a quick comparison of the two based purely on things we can compare.
-The kindle has 4gb flash (3.3gb user accessable) the base iPad has 16gb.
-Kindle has a grayscale e-ink display - iPad has full colour multitouch
-Kindle is soon to be releasing an SDK for some new apps - iPad can already use almost all the apps available plus new ones specifically for the device.
-Kindle has access to the Amazon store only (purchasing books directly) - iPad has access to apple's own store with many of the big publishers PLUS the Amazon Kindle App is already in the app store, and they may well release a iPad version.
-Kindle has 3g for book purchases and limited internet (in america only) - iPad has option of 3g for FULL internet use and other functions PLUS wifi.

I know that might seem a bit one sided but it's a fair point, and if you want to compare it to any other tablet currently on the market, then double the price and weight, half/quarter the battery life and you'll have the ugliest device on earth with an OS which really wasn't designed to utillize a NUI, and just emulating a mouse for any kind of usable functionality.

On the subject of design. I will gladly admit, the iPad looks like Steve Balmer sat on an iPhone. Yet, it still looks not too bad for it, and remember guys, this is the first itteration of the device we're seeing currently, there's plenty of room for change as is there always with apple products.

So to round up, basically I want one, and has now completely halted any ideas I previously had of buying a Kindle (especially with the comparative price), however I would treat the purchase of an iPad in exactly the same way; it's most definitely not necessary for my daily life, it's a luxury product and as such will be one of those things I'll toy with the idea of buying for a long time and finally get when I actually have "spare" money to buy one. And when I do, unless something good happens with the 3G side of things, I'll probably just get the wifi version in whichever size best suits my (future) needs at the time.

 

Wow, this is even worse than I thought it would be. Half the damn thing is bezel, there's no camera, no FLASH (how the hell can you describe this as a browsing device if it doesn't support Flash?!), it takes adapters to use even the simplest items with it, and it harks back to the bad old days of 4:3, so I can't even watch proper HD video?

Even worse, it still falls into all the predicted problems. IPS is very nice, but it's just not E-ink and that means this will be a mediocre eBook reader at best; in addition, we now have the iBookstore, which presumably means an iTunes-Store-esque lockdown on the book formats you can use and more DRM than you can shake a stick at. Even better, the predicted 'revolution' in user input that was being trumpeted from Engadget towers is just a really big version of the iPhone's keyboard. They can consider my mind totally blown. Did the predicted MacBook upgrades get a word in edgeways? That's a product I can actually see a use for, as opposed to a product that people might want to own for no particular reason.

...And you STILL cannot multitask? iPass.

This man, he speaks the truth. Have you seen the keyboard attachment yet? Portable computing for the win.

 

With regards to flash, the reason for the lack of it on both this and the iPhone/iPod touch is to do with Apple's frankly ridiculous app rules. Basically Apple fear if they had flash as a browser plug in it would essentially be allowing un-approved apps. Which is why the closest we'll ever get to flash on an iDevice is in the form of Flash to iPhone ports

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/iphone-flash/

tl;dr - iPhone/iPad will never have browser based flash support

 

The problem is that Tablet PCs haven't really moved on in the last five years. The tech has, but all we've seen so far is a lacklustre prototype at Balmer's presentation, and only in an attempt to pre-empt the iPad. The much more intriguing Microsoft double-screened book-like device remains vapourware.

And yes, CES had some interesting prototypes. But again they were unfinished ideas, and the general response was: "meh...". Fair enough. But now Apple launches theirs, which while being not significantly better certainly isn't worse, and everybody gets with the hatin'.

Meanwhile people are not getting its major strength: the context within it has been lauched. A media/web device with an already established media distribution system and an OS specifically designed for touch screens, streaming audio and video and low power and CPU needs. It is the whole package, all bases covered. This is not just a new gadget; it is another building block in a user infrastructure Apple has been planning, designing and building for over a decade. Unlike with other tablets, we don't have to wait for the applications or compatible infrastructure to come along. It is all already there. It is a finished product. That is what makes Apple successful, not marketing, not the hypey launches.

 

Now, you fail to realize that the iPad isn't merely being heralded as an ebook reader, but instead as a magical new piece of technology that is so much better at its role than the iPhone/iPod and the Macbooks. Sadly, however, that isn't the case. Truth be told, it lacks dearly when compared to a netbook and your optimistic attitude about the inclusion of Flash in the next 60 days is downright naive. Have you seen Adobe and Apple snuggling up recently? It won't happen and you shouldn't set yourself up for disappointment.

 

Also note that it goes on sale in 60 days. That means that in 60 days they will be built and shipped already...

 

I'd only buy one if I was still travelling to Uni via the train, as I could of read stuff on it without carrying large books about everywhere. That's the big appeal, but I left Uni so have no real need when I have a macbook which is just easier to use.

 

That might be due to the rumour-hype and Apple claiming that it's 'magical'.

I feel extremely disappointed by the iPad frankly, a more open OS and handwriting support for maths based input and I think Apple would have a tempting device for students.

 

I think you will find they have,

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/touch

Windows 7 introduces multi-touch, not previously seen, a host of features for touch devices.