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

How did you arrive at the £800 figure? I just checked the AT&T website (since you specifically mentioned your opposition to jailbreaking it), and the 32GB iPhone 3Gs was $299, which should convert to something around £190 (assuming a straight conversion - although that's unlikely).

Looking at Orange, the most expensive iPhone I found in the "Select your plan" widget was a 32GB 3Gs model for £280 (with £30 monthly cost). Unless I'm misreading the chart, you can even get a free 16GB 3Gs model with an 18 month contract (with monthly cost of £60).

 

I'd hope, at £800, he's taking into account the monthly contract fee, which admittedly seems kind of redundant.

 

No, buying a SIM free iPhone 3gs was about £800 a few months ago on play.com, and in fact still is:
http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/...ocked-3-0-Megapixel-Mobile-Phone/Product.html

Sam

 

Bloody hell that's pricey. Get them from Germany. Only about 400 Euro give or take.

 

Erm, yeah. iSuppli’s estimates are based on the cost of components expected to be used in the iPad, and not on an actual teardown of the device, with some other estimates of what components like the screen should cost if scaled up from the known cost of the iPhone/iPod Touch screen. I note they left out the sapphire glass sheet (pricey), and the actual friggin' cast/CNC'd aluminium housing for the thing. Nor do they include other expenses such as hardware development and testing, software development and testing, packaging, marketing, sales and distribution, warranties, licencing fees and royalties.

 

Hence why I said "At least according to the analysts".

 

That will be 0, then... thanks to all the hype and free advertising the internet has generated.

Please, nexxo, do not try to say that ANY apple product is good value. They may be a lot of things, but one thing the most certainly are not, is value for money. End of story.

 

I'm not saying the analysts you quoted are wrong necessarily, but most in my view are biased and jaded.

In the stock markets, you only need an analyst to wake up on the wrong side of the bed and announce that the future of technology is paper and pen, and then Intel, AMD etc all lose billions off their stock values. Or more famously and more current, that we're all making a triumphant exit from recession ...

Oh look, the financial markets just collapsed again.

 

Depends on what you consider value for money. My Motion Computing LE1600 Tablet PC cost a bomb (new): £1200,--, which seems ludicrous for a glorified laptop with the keyboard taken away. But it is well built: it will survive a drop on a hard floor. It is light, thin, tough, fully featured (3 USB, VGA, DVI, PCMCIA, SD card reader, 3 microphones, 2 speakers, bluetooth, WiFi, fingerprint scanner) and has a good battery life. It has a daylight readable screen (brightness toggled by light sensor, auto-rotating by inertia sensor) with toughened glass and Wacom pressure-sensitive touch sensors. You can clip on two batteries to run it up to 8 hours straight. Each battery comes with a natty LED status indicator. It runs a 'real' OS (whatever that means).

You can buy a laptop for nearly a quarter of the price. But is it as good? Depends on what you want in the product.

 

Exactly. The LE1600 is value for money. The iPad is not. How many of the features of your LE1600 does the iPad have?

USB -no
dvi -no
PCMCIA -no
SD card reader -no
microphone - 1
speaker - 1
fingerprint scanner -no
active digitizer -no
replaceable battery -no
full-featured OS -no

And yet it looks like it will cost 2/3 of the LE1600's (launch?) price. A quick google search shows an LE1600 for £750 (used. ebay).

 

USB - cable included in box to achieve USB.
DVI - iPad outputs at VGA so the likelihood of a cable at a later date to expand connectivity is high.
PCMCIA - I'm not sure what value this would add for me.
SD card reader - shame it hasn't got this.
Fingerprint Scanner - ... no thanks. lol.
Active Digitizer - sounds great ... what is it?
Replaceable Battery - Never needed to do this, ever, apart from with a torch, or a drill ...
Full-Featured OS - Part of the iPads beauty is its simplicity. 3 elderly folks in my family have put their names down for these. Girlfriend wants one as well after upgrading her phone to 3GS, she's loving it's usability and speed.

 

I meant USB ports on the device so you could connect..umm, I dunno, a keyboard or a mouse if needed (as well as pretty much anything else). And before you say, It's got bluetooth, even apple's own bluetooth keyboard (~£50 on its own) doesn't work with the 3gs, and since the iPad runs essentially the same OS, no bluetooth keyboard/mouse.

Incidentally, because you can't just connect any USB kb/mouse, apple will probably sell you a set for £60+. (and then you'll have to carry it around with you!). As for apple selling you adapter cables for things that should be on the device, I'll pass thanks.

Fingerprint scanners + decent software are a huge boon on this kind of device (ie, without a physical keyboard to type in your passwords for various things on). They also add a bit more security to portable devices in general (would love a fingerprint scanner on my mobile).

Active digitizers generally appeal to tablet PC users and those who do a lot of inking because of the palm rejection, smoother quality of the ink, and handwriting recognition. It does require a special pen, as you said, which makes it ideal for note-taking and for people who either prefer stylus-based (vs. finger-based) interfaces or hate fingerprints/smudges on their screens. But then I don't expect the iPad has any handwriting recognition to speak of.

Replaceable batteries are useful for people who need to make sure that their device has juice when they need it. More importantly, however, being able to remove the battery means that when it stops holding charge you can just buy one off the shelf, pop it in and off you go.

Also DVI=/=VGA, DVI>VGA http://www.thesmallest.com/lessonettes/dviandvga.html

 

I'm looking forward to this personally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA

 

Erm ...

There is a keyboard announced for it, but then you knew that? Mouse ... just touch the icon you want, just drag the screen down instead of using a mousewheel ...

I don't think that because a bluetooth keyboard doesn't work with the 3GS PHONE, I hardly think that will be the same for the iPad ...

Well ... it's more a case of you wanting to see things on the device as opposed to the device really needing those things. Personal preference.

But ... you have a virtual keyboard to type in your passwords ... not sure where the physical benefits over the virtual ... fingerprint reader - non-essential to the majority, essential to you, I respect that.

Ahh I see, active digitizer = pen tablet. You say pen tablets generally appeal to PC users ... and that being the case they don't appeal to ... non-PC users? Cannot hand-writing recognition be coded for iPad? Maybe they'll add it at a later date ... who knows ... can't say it'd bother me really because I can type faster than I write. In fact I just sat here 'writing' with my finger ... can't see any issues there.

Replaceable batteries are from a time when devices ran out of juice 30 minutes after booting up the device. I exaggerate of course, but you know what I am saying. These days, 10 hours of use-time gets a lot of things done.

Yep I know DVI > VGA ... my point being that it has an external connection for screens and projectors. Your point being that lack of DVI is a bad thing. It'll be interesting to see which tablets fulfil your need for a DVI out.

 

If you are going to refer to the moist expensive iPad with 3G, a fair comparison should be with the LE1700 which includes 3G also. Starting at £1600,-- (inc. vat). Then we're looking at about 50% of the price.

Now to your list:

USB -yes, actually.
DVI -yes, through an adapter cable. Not actual DVI of course, but then again it is not an HD device.
PCMCIA -obsolete. You can't find it on any laptop anymore. Irt was replaced by Expresscard but Firewire and USB devices are available for almost all functions that the PC Card interface was originally used for
SD card reader -no. The only thing I'd miss.
microphone - 1. How many do you need?
speaker - 1. Again, how many do you need? It does stereo on the headphones --where you can actually hear the difference.
fingerprint scanner -no. In practice I find it no easier than a password.
active digitizer -no. And the difference would be? Apart from needing a pen?
replaceable battery -no. When do you ever replace the battery on your laptop? I've never needed to replace mine. And at 10 hours run-time, why would you?
full-featured OS -I would like you to explain to me how that benefits a portable device specifically designed for what you'd use a netbook or tablet for. You are not a character from "Hackers", "Sneakers" or "Mission Impossible" trying to crack a Gibson from a phone booth or elevator shaft. Don't kid yourself. You use it to browse the internet, do some e-mails, write some docs (at a push) or play some media or games. You don't need a "full-featured OS" --whatever that means (if you know, please tell me. Nobody has been able to so far).

 

Great, a keyboard with a Dock Connector. Just what the world needed . It'll probably still cost £50.

Unless I missed a big announcement, the iPad will run the same Os as the 3gs, so if the 3gs can't do it the iPad can't either. Incidentally, that is probably why the iPad doesn't have usb ports or support for media cards, because the iPhone OS cannot work as a usb host.

You are right there. One could argue that these things are not essential but they do make life easier. I defy anyone to type in a secure password using the onscreen keyboard quicker than it takes me to swipe my fingerprint. (not to mention the risk of your password being seen)

They appeal to Tablet PC users... Active digitizer does not necessarily equal pen-only tablet as some manufacturers have dual digitizers that you can switch between at will. Handwriting recognition is difficult to do well (just look at how long it's taken MS to get it right) and it is aided by having an active digitizer which can differentiate between pen and hand. Also, having an active digitizer allows a device to detect "hover" gestures, which passive devices can't.

As I said, some people like to know that if their battery fails (i.e stops holding charge) they can replace it themselves without having to send the device away to the manufacturer.

The Motion LE1600 has VGA and DVI out, as a previous poster mentioned. I brought it up as a comparison point between two premium devices. I agree that it is not essential for many users. However, it's just another thing on the long list of things the iPad can't do. For £800+ this shouldn't be a device that just does the bare essentials. I just cannot see how this device justifies costing more than your average mid-range laptop, while being an oversized phone.

@Nexxo: If you think that the Motion LE1700 is a fair comparison to the iPad, you are so deluded there is simply no point talking to you. This is the Motion page for the LE1700

 

True it will run the same closed-OS as the iPhone, but the iPad is not limited to what the iPhone does. That would be like saying the iPod Touch cannot make telephone calls therefore iPhone will not be able to either.

 

Sorry, but your trying to compare a device that runs Windows 7, which, lets be honest, is a pretty power hungry OS, that is bigger than the iPad, has an ariel that sticks out so you can use it when on the go, and only has a battery life of 3 hours, that's THREE hours, unless you spend more money, that's MORE money on a second battery, then you get upto 7 hours.

It also sports a clunky old hard drive, which is slow, although, granted, a greater capacity, it also has worse Wifi, only A/B/G, the iPad has that, plus N.

Also worthy a mention is the 1.5ghz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, obviously needed to run Win 7, but, also eats your battery, as well as the two speakers you wont need, as well as the Infra Red port, and RJ45 port. The LE1700 is also over double the weight of the iPad, so makes it more awkward to hike about on the train with.

I'm sorry, i know your going to pick at that, but as far as i can see, your argument is pretty silly, it's arguing for the sake of it.

Sam

Slight Edit, i've slightly misread the page, but my comments are still valid, and Back up Nexxo's points.

 

Erm, yeah. You see, you actually have to use one to know. I have to swipe my finger an average of three times before the reader gets it. This is not specific to my LE1600, by the way, but a general occurence with fingerprint scanners. Sometimes they work rightaway, sometimes they don't.

And your typed password really cannot be seen that easily. ***********, remember?

The iPad was specifically designed to be used without an input tool. It is kind of hassly to have to use a pen at times.

Except that an independent study (by a Warranty insurance company) has shown that the iPhone battery is an extremely reliable battery. You don't need to replace it. Really.

Let me stop you right there. Look again at the bold print above. You're the one who started comparing the iPad with the Motion Computing tablet. But I note that you craftily compared the premium 3G version of the iPad with the less expensive, non-3G version of the Motion Computing LE series to argue how expensive the iPad is relative to the LE Tablet. But the premium version of the LE-series is the LE1700 with 3G. Compare premium version with premium version. Fair, no?

If you can't keep track of even your own argument, then there is simply no point talking to you.

 

Meh, whatever. Go buy an iPad if you wish. I will continue to consider anyone who owns such a device as possessed of more money than sense.