The iPad

[McPhee]

Ah but you say this now. Apple's official marketing has yet to start

 

I get why people are disapointed but this is all I was expecting; a bigger iPod touch. I don't see what else it could have been really - somewhere between a macbook and an ipod.

 

It ticks all of the boxes in terms of functionality, it just doesn't seem very slick. I was expecting at least a modified version of the iPhone OS that would make good use of the extra power and screen space. Instead it looks like a hack job. It looks like the result of a few months of R&D, not the years that I've heard mentioned.

 

I'm also in the "The iPhone and it's OS are starting to look a bit stale" camp, so seeing Apple churn out another device on the same design was never going to please me.

 

I guess it'll make a nice PMP (especially at $499 for the 16GB) but to dress it up as being anything ground breaking or revolutionary is silly. Steve Jobs himself said that the device has to be better at "browsing the web. Email. Photos. Videos. Music. Games. eBooks." “Or it has no reason for being.”. I'll reserve judgement until I've used one, but from the press conference I don't really see it achieving those goals. I can think of very few circumstances where I'd choose to pack one of these instead of a laptop, the laptop would likely come along as well, and if I have to pack the laptop anyway then were's the point?

Edited January 27, 2010 by McPhee

[Owen]

You can't yet, it only got announced a hour ago...

 

Well Apple normally update there site pretty much immediately with info on the newly announced product, but as they haven't yet...i thought i ask.

[Will]

They have at least one video there already - I'm watching it. Site seems to be getting hammered though.

[Jon]

I think I would have to try one out before buying it anyway...

 

The problem with that is I know I'd buy one once having it in my hands!

 

I'd probably do the same, only to wonder an hour later why the fuck I'd just bought one.

[Caris]

Dunno about you guys but for me I was a little disappointed, but as the keynote went on and they showed off iWork, iBooks, some proper iPad apps, the accessories and then the bombshell price I'm pretty happy now.

[Wesley]

Yeah the price made me think twice... but it's making me think twice about a product that didn't appeal to me on the basis of its functionality...

 

I dunno.

 

I've been interest, not interested, interested... etc, for a while now.

 

I'm just going to stop thinking about it and get on with some work.

[Jon]

Dunno about you guys but for me I was a little disappointed, but as the keynote went on and they showed off iWork, iBooks, some proper iPad apps, the accessories and then the bombshell price I'm pretty happy now.

 

 

I think it's good, but for me personally, I don't see what it offers me over what I already have. I can put up the extra 3 inches of weight my macbook has ove it, plus the many things it can do that the iPad obvioulsy isn't able too.

 

 

The lack of mutli tasking is criminal, though not really a surprise coming from Apple.

[Will]

I was a little disappointed in the early stages of the presentation but now I think it will be pretty good. Once we start seeing some nice native apps I think it could be a really really nice little living room device.

[Daft]

Doesn't exactly set my world alight.

[Caris]

Anyone seen the video over at Apple.com? Looks much better than I thought it was going to be like!

[Sanchez]

If only there was some way they could shrink it down so it would fit in my pocket...

 

It's a cool device and probably the best implementation of a tablet I've seen yet. If it ran OSX or Windows I would consider one instead of a laptop. But as I currently own a Laptop a desktop and soon an android smart phone it really wouldn't fit in my lifestyle.

[Will]

Anyone seen the video over at Apple.com? Looks much better than I thought it was going to be like!

 

Yeah the vid makes it look really nice, I can definitely see me using this for my general browsing/playing and then having an iMac for when I want to actually work. The more I see of it the more I want one.

[Wesley]

I might just buy a ModBook...

 

http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=home

[Dante]

Engadget's Hands-on

- It's not light. It feels pretty weighty in your hand.

- The screen is stunning, and it's 1024 x 768. Feels just like a huge iPhone in your hands.

 

- The speed of the CPU is something to be marveled at. It is blazingly fast from what we can tell. Webpages loaded up super fast, and scrolling was without a hiccup. Moving into and out of apps was a breeze. Everything flew.

 

- There's no multitasking at all. It's a real disappointment. All this power and very little you - can do with it at once. No multitasking means no streaming Pandora when you're working in Pages... you can figure it out. It's a real setback for this device.

 

- The ebook implementation is about as close as you can get to reading without a stack of bound paper in your hand. The visual stuff really helps flesh out the experience. It may be just for show, but it counts here.

 

- No camera. None, nada. Zip. No video conferencing here folks. Hell, it doesn't have an SMS app!

- It's running iPhone OS 3.2.

- The keyboard is good, not great. Not quite as responsive as it looked in the demos.

 

Buyable case:

Edited January 27, 2010 by Dante

[Molly]

It seems to be a piece of kit that's not based on need, but solely on want.

[Caris]

Dante we don't need you copying and pasting in here, we can all find stuff for ourselves.

[Wesley]

I can't, I don't have any hands.

[Caris]

Type with your nose, no excuse.

[Daft]

It's a cool device and probably the best implementation of a tablet I've seen yet.

 

You obviously haven't paid much attention to CES.

 

Edit: And the $100 increment for memory size is a joke.

 

$499 - 16GB

$599 - 32GB

$699 - 64 GB

 

A machine for fanboys if ever I've seen one.

Edited January 27, 2010 by Daft

[Ashley]

No multi-tasking? Really? In something they are trying to sell as their own version of a netbook. Hell they looked down their noses at netbooks, scoffing that they're just crappy little laptops but at least they can multitask. Don't they know people use netbooks for work which tends to involve, at the least, the internet and Word/equivalent.

 

And as that picture said "international deals in July" does that mean its not here until then?

[Will]

They said it will be unlocked and sim free, so I assume we will be able to buy it here and if you want a plan to go with it then you can sort that out at a later date.

[Daft]

I love netbooks. Had mine for a year and a half, it's started falling to pieces (Not, really but the batter has gone... So far it's held out longer than my MacBook) and I have no problem with just buying a new one to replace it - they are so f*cking cheap.

 

Honestly because they are so cheap I treat my laptop a bit like shit. Just gets dumped in my bag, thrown on the sofa. Amazingly robust. I feel I have to treat apple products with reverence because when they break, that tends to be it. *Looks at £650 repair cost for MacBook* (That's more than double what my new Netbook cost. And that doesn't cover the adapter, another £60!!!! Proprietary, of course.)

Edited January 27, 2010 by Daft

[Caris]

It will be but you won't be able to use the 3G till then.

[Molly]

I found the Netbook scoffing a bit offensive actually *strokes lovely shiny does everything I need netbook*

[Charlie]

A quick thought... If it's running iPhone OS 3.2 then will you be able to jailbreak it in the normal way?

 

Backgrounder + Proswitcher = fantastic multitasking.

 

 

I can see why someone who just has a desktop computer would like something like this over a laptop/netbook but it's just not for me at all. I've got my laptop which does me extremely well. The only thing which tempts me in the slightest is the fantastic battery life for videos.