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

Well love it or hate it, love Apple or hate Apple, they do PR well. This thread is just a testament to that, its getting unprecedented coverage, everyone I talked to today knew it had been released. It may be expensive but its not so expensive that people can't "buy it to try it", it's shiny, it's appealing, it's made by Apple and despite its failings it works. People will buy it.

 

1. No tablet PC comes with a DVD drive (convertibles do). Adds too much bulk.
2. Yeah, because we really need HD on a 12" screen.
3. No Tablet PC comes with a keyboard --unless as a clip-on.
4. Drains the battery alarmingly fast. It is CPU heavy.
5. That is BS and you know it.
6. The iPad doesn't need a power supply. USB charger will do.
7. ...which we all do, I'm sure. In spades.
8. So does the iPad; it just has a proprietary plug at one end. Granted, a USB port would have been preferable.
9. ???
10. Instead you are clamped to Napster, Urge, Amazon or any other Windows Plays For Sure (which it doesn't) MP3 delivery system. Who are you kidding? All commercial MP3 files have DRM. Remember the hue and cry about Windows Vista's DRM management?
11. Hmmm... no. No PC tablet has a webcam.
12. Yeah, because I really need, like, three apps running concurrently on my 12" screen.

What tablet you buy that is better for the same price?

Better buy some extra batteries instead. 3 hours for a standard pack?

 

No doubt, it's a nice idea. However, the pricing, unfortunately, doesn't make this a good choice at the upper end IMO for the UK market. The OS is another problem, I think. If they cut down Mac OS X rather than souped up the iPhone OS (which is a cut down version of OS X itself) it might have been better, with an App Store of its own.

Also, the target markets won't buy this. Presuming it's aimed at home users who want a portable device that does everything, chances are they'll have a laptop (yeah, it's bigger, but they'll already have one). If it's aimed at business users (not really, though they're advertising email capabilities, for example) then they'll already have a laptop too, and will find this doesn't have the power or features for them. It's a bit of a lost one really...sure, I don't think it's going to be a G4 Cube, but it's not going to hit hard at all.

Oops, forgot to add...the size. If this replaces a laptop (which, it isn't supposed to anyway, it's not aimed at that) it's not taking up much less room than a netbook, for example. So, not much difference in a bag. If it's at home...computers are there anyway...

 

I've been thinking about this all day, and the problem isn't that "zomg this device is a monumental piece of garbage!" It's that the the device isn't a tablet PC, it's not a computer. It fudges the line between what is and isn't in some areas, but ultimately it's just simply not a computer. If I can't do everything I can do on a laptop with it, hell even a netbook, then it doesn't qualify as a computer. It's a media reader/player that has internet access.

Now, had apple marketed it as that, people would be doing a lot more ooing and ahhing, and ultimately declaring it a niche market. But apple chose to make a niche market device and slap the label of "Tablet PC" on it. I'm sorry, but that's like inventing a bicycle with three wheels and still saying it's a bicycle. It isn't a bicycle, it's a goram tricycle, and anyone but a fanboy would recognize it as such. It's a square peg in a round hole. It's just not what they claim it to be, and it will never be.

They should have taken the Air, put a swivel-hinge capacitive OLED touch screen on it, and said there you go. A bigass tablet that could be used for something other than dicking around.

like.... word processing. Which seems to be all mac laptops are good for anyway. I've just never understood the appeal that Macs have. Honestly their high-point should've been in the 90s, when windows actually *did* suck and was very worthy of all the bad-mouthing it got/still gets. Every time i've sat down at a mac, I've failed to see where the appeal is. It's just a dumbed-down PC with limited access to anything truly important to the machine. I guess they're great machines for anyone who's afraid of a POST or BIOS screen. Also: in before BSOD. I refuse to accept BSOD arguments so long as Apple uses the spinning BBOD (Beach Ball Of Doom/Death), something I have seen more first-hand in my time on macs than I have BSODs on my XP/Vista/7 boxes.

I digress... when my Acer Aspire One can play WoW at 15-30fps (not fabulous, but fine for running around and questing when you're stuck waiting at the DMV and pirating wireless from someone nearby), then I declare anything less an epic fail. My netbook is almost 2 years old now, I paid $250 for it new in box, and it does more than a $600 ipad.

"iPad, release your inner 5-year old and... FINGER PAINT! All for the low-low introductory price of $599. Which really isn't cheap, but you can FINGER PAINT! You can touch your finger to the glossy-ass screen and make a smudgy, painty mess!" Offer void where prohibited, dock and requisite micro-fiber cloth sold separately.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smqslH0qw5U

Amazing what someone years ago came up with is actually better then what Apple have.

 

I kinda get the impression you like it?

And I thought I was the only ...

 

fine, battery on a stock 3-cell is a little slim, but at $45 for a 9-cell battery (my stock 3-cell gets 3-4hrs unless I'm playing WoW/GW on it) still puts my netbook at a price tag under $300, and 9-12hrs battery life.

iFap lose.

 

Will it be sold next to Tampax on supermarket shelves? Or have I got the wrong thread again?

 

You made a VERY good point there, it really isn't a computer as such. It's many many thousands of applications that do a massive multitude of 'things'. It all adds up to a remarkable amount of 'things' it can do, but ultimately it isn't a computer. And maybe that is a large part of why the Apple haters have put their jackets on today and are parading on the forums like they've won a war.

Thing is, I'm even tempted to buy my mum one ... because she is really getting on in life but loves getting the silly spam crap we all hate, and if I get her one of these then I won't have to keep driving 1 hour down the road to set her up again because she's turned something off or she's forgotten to do something.

 

To paragraph one: these bolded statements are the biggest pile of hyperbolic fail i've seen since I saw the iPad. What good is doing many many thousands of things without multitasking? What would be the point of having 12 dicks if you could only use one at a time? Just being able to say "hey I've got 12 dicks?" Seriously! If the iPad were a human being, it would be the downsiest one in history. It fails to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time, amounting to nothing more than a 12" iPod Touch with an expanded feature set. Not a PC.

And secondly, while funny, it really won't solve that problem. Just instead of 'why isn't this turning on', or 'what does this error message mean?' or 'which key is the 'any' key?' You will get questions like "why is there this perpetually spinning beach ball on my screen?" "Why is there a smiling bomb looking at me?" "How did the screen get all zoomed in/out (pinch)?"

Your mum fails at using technology. It's part of being a mum. And the technology world should not have to suffer the wrath of thousands of nerd-raging mac fanboys drooling over a neutered netbook/iPhone with a vaginaplasty.

 

TBH my biggest problem with it is the OS. The hardware is nice, it's powerful enough for its intended use... but an OS designed for a phone is far too crippling. I wouldn't be as bad if it wasn't so locked down but it really does limit its use.

 

I certainly don't hate it. I think it is a decent compromise on cost vs. features and well-pitched to its application.

Gee, isn't that what I said like, a few pages ago? Don't look at the object, look at the context.

Where did Apple say it is a "Tablet PC"? I don't think Apple ever said that. I think it quite clearly said that it is a "new third category device between a smart phone and a laptop".

And you would have been the first to bleet at its increased price (I mean, how expensive is the Vanilla Air?) and that the new features are pointless and why don't people just buy a regular Air.

Yeah, but you are a geek so you like tinkering with OSs and hardware. Many people however are ordinary mortals who just want to use a computer to do work... like word processing. They don't want to hack. They don't want to overclock. They don't want to tweak. They just want the thing to work. To be able to use it to do a job without having to think too much about now to make it do the job. Apple computers fit the bill right there.

Until the battery runs dry. Steve Jobs was right about one thing: a netbook is not better at anything. It is just a cheaper, smaller (or rather, more cramped) laptop. My iPhone can play Quake 3. It can play Unreal 3. Hell, technically it can play WoW. What do you wager the iPad can do the same?

Except that they lost the plot. They're not grokking it. They complain that it is not innovative enough because, ironically, it is nothing like the products they know.

Good deal --if price is a major factor. Other people may like the integrated media delivery infrastructure, the full touch screen, the build quality, the user transparency of the iPad and be willing to pay extra for that. Horses for courses.

And if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a wagon. Your comparison fails.

Actually, most people fail at using technology. We're in the minority. Most people just want their technology to work, do a job, and do it without having to think too hard about how to get it to do the job.

How do you know it is crippling? You haven't done anything with it yet.

The OS was not designed for a phone; it was designed for a compact portable device with a touch screen, a lightweight CPU and limited battery life. In that respect it is suited to the job very well.

I'm sorry, but I really can't get my head around how badly people are not getting it.

"It hasn't got a 16:9 screen". Not useful --in horizontal mode there is no room left for a keyboard.
"It has a bezel". I mean, WTF? The HP Slate has a bezel. Everything has a bezel.
"It is not a real PC". How often do you use your laptop for real hardcore PC stuff? Face it, you use it as a office app/internet/e-mail/gaming/media device. Like, oh, the iPad.
"It has no 'real' OS". OK, try Windows 7 on a touch screen. Seriously. Try it. Set up a network connection, adjust your browser settings, do some serious hardass tweaking that you feel Apple has been denying you. See how well you fare with those tiny buttons and text. Then check videos of the HP Slate at work, and the iPad. See which runs smoother.
"It is overpriced". How much does a Tablet PC cost? Check it out...
"It should have [insert feature here]". What, like the HP Slate hasn't?

When the iPhone appeared, everyone thought it was a piece of overpriced junk. Then Google brings out the Nexus One which is almost exactly the same friggin' thing and everyone thinks it is wonderful. This is all just irrational bias, guys. It is anti-fanboyism. It is Richard Dawkins ranting against religion. Such fervour is almost like belief.

 

You are my new hero


That was the funnest video I've seen in months

 

Nexxo certainly answered you better and kinder than I was going to.

As for its abilities. 140,000 apps on iPhone ... just wait for the developers to get going on that screen real estate.

 

Dude, you're like 10 pages too late.

 

Just thought I'd add, seeing as it came up today:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/adobe-on-flash-and-the-ipad-apple-is-continuing-to-impose-rest/

 

1. My ex's had one.
2. Don't advertise it as an HD capable device then, LIARS!
3. Again, ex's had one.
4. If a palmtop can do it then an iFap should do it.
5. No actually...not really BS at all....
6. So what happens when you are somewhere with no USB? University lecture theatre maybe?
7. I know no end of people that use FLAC and Ogg etc - anyone with mildly capable ears does.
8. Still a cock up
9. I read something about some douchebag memory card reader just for the iFap so you can read SD cards. Idiotic at best.
10. At least they are MP3s.
11. Again, a lie, plenty do.
12. Spotify while browsing?

BOOM! http://www.tabletpc2.com/Review-HP_TX1000_Entertainment_Tablet_PC-Article70020426.html

One example.

And I never said I could buy a tablet for a better price. Well I can, but they are called Neurofen.

 

Oh yes apple lose again:

https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/

 

Dude thats not a proper tablet, thats a laptop with a swivel screen and touchscreen technology.

 

What pisses me off is people saying things such as no office software no connectivity is ****, when actually it's all there and the people complaining are simply jumping on the bandwagon without even giving the thing more than a quick glance.