The iPad

[tapedeck]

Major fun thread...

 

Maybe I'm alone in my thoughts here (and I probably am) but in my opinion I don't judge something's worth by what it 'doesn't' 'do'. (Look's at the Wii and realises it doesn't push HD an online infrastructure that is 'good' or boast what would be deemed expected graphics).

Just as important (to me) is what else a product offers.

 

Firstly: I think we all agree multi-tasking would be a feature the iPad should perhaps come with - and, in time, it may.

But for me, the iPad offers other facets which appeal to me as a consumer. Firstly, the innate ability to just pick up the internet, browse it and experience a plethora of content in a natural, accessible format. Thankfully I won't have to wait for a system to boot up and do stuff behind the scenes when all I want to do is send some e-mails/browse the net or buy a CD/Film.

And although I won't be able to do this whilst running a further 4 applications, the fact that I will be able to have a social (if others are around me) and easy experience means that the iPad is a very interesting product indeed.

 

This ease of use and visual UI is already a proven winner. IMO the iPhone system is sublime when you think about how it functions for the user. I therefore have no doubt that the iPad will be a critical and commercial success in years to come. It seems to take away the drab mouse clicking and lonely time spent infront of a monitor and bring it slap bang into your social life in a manner which could be accessed and enjoyed by all who encounter it.

 

Time will tell. But I'm excited by what the iPad can offer.

Edited January 28, 2010 by tapedeck
major mistake first line = fail

[Ronnie]

I think the reason I hate this thread so much is because the general negativity towards Apple as a company.

 

As opposed to the over-the-top fanboy 'praise anything with an Apple logo on it' ravings in the same thread?

[Caris]

Being able to say "I have an Apple product", priceless.

 

This, right there. Is exactly why I hate a horrible attitude towards most people in this thread.

 

As opposed to the over-the-top fanboy 'praise anything with an Apple logo on it' ravings in the same thread?

 

Fucking hell, do you read? I've just said they have done some major things wrong with this, but I'm looking on the bright side. I'm not a fanboy, I'm not going LA LA LA APPLE CANT DO WRONG THIS WILL REVOLUTIONISE LIFE LOL.

 

I'm just saying less Apple hate on every single product announcement.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Caris

[Daft]

I think you'll find netbooks are the shit.

 

Saying they all look cheap, ugly and run an old operating system is just a stupid comment. There are so many different kinds of netbook.

[Ashley]

This, right there. Is exactly why I hate a horrible attitude towards most people in this thread.

 

It's called a joke.

 

(and furthermore, one said by someone currently on his macbook with his ipod touch charging)

[Caris]

Great timing when all this is going on.

 

Defiantly not adding fuel to a fire.

[Ashley]

Great timing when all this is going on.

 

Comedy is all about timing.

[Jon]

Netbooks are shit, in essence you've got to sacrifice a lot for the saving of 3 inches or so. Yes they have gotten better from when they first came out, but the fact that the vast majority of them only run at a decent speed when they're using a 10 year old operating system is hardly a plus point.. That is not me supporting the iPad; far from it. I think Apple have missed the boat completely with this device. The lack of multi tasking is disgraceful and as much as I'd old hope for new things to come with software updates, that wont be one of them. If Apple had any intention of letting us run all our programs to our little hearts content, it would have done it on the iPhone long ago. Instead, they try to brainwash people with push-notification bollocks. There are other things i'd like to see with it; built in camera, phone capabilties, etc, they need to start with having more than one thing open.

 

 

Netbooks are shit, the iPad is shit. Deal with it.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Jon

[Caris]

Comedy is all about timing.

 

You should work on it then

[Cube]

This, right there. Is exactly why I hate a horrible attitude towards most people in this thread.

 

Apple are a great company.

 

Their image and marketing is providing a great boost for the industry. They get something (that already exists in a better form) and make it popular, thus allowing companies like Creative and HTC to make devices that advance technology and ideas.

 

I imagine that we'll see tonnes of brilliant tablet PCs, probably using various operating systems such as Windows 7, Android and Chrome.

[Caris]

Haha oh dear, Cube.

[SPAMBOT4000]

@Spambot, it's because for years and years I've put it with people jumping on the "Hate Apple" bandwagon whenever they do anything, and I really can't be bothered anymore. If you were in my shoes I think you would understand my attitude.

 

Aye I do know where you're coming from there, some people do have blind hate for Apple. Though at the same time you don't have to stick up for everything they do. To be honest I've been annoyed by people before who blindly say OSX is shit without really knowing anything about it or using it for any length of time.

 

I do think though that there are key, obvious things that are missing on this device and that on this occasion, Apple do deserve criticism. I can see it has the potential to be revolutionary but it's just not here yet.

Edited January 28, 2010 by SPAMBOT4000

[Caris]

Frist decent post in many pages.

[Eddage]

To be fair for every person who hates apple for no reason you get just as many people who blindly follow them and orgasm whenever they release a new product, no matter what it is.

 

I'm somewhere in between. I have an iPhone but have jailbroken to make it... good (yes it was good before but not what it should have been), I want an iMac but they cost a hell of a lot of money for what they are so not sure there.

 

This though...

 

I just really don't see the point.

[Jon]

Aye I do know where you're coming from there, some people do have blind hate for Apple. Though at the same time you don't have to stick up for everything they do. To be honest I've been annoyed by people before who blindly say OSX is shit without really knowing anything about it or using it for any length of time.

 

I do think though that there are key, obvious things that are missing on this device and that on this occasion, Apple do deserve criticism. I can see it has the potential to be revolutionary but it's just not here yet.

 

It makes me laugh people who say that OSX is shit. First off, most have never even used it; it's Apple, so it's automatically shit. Secondly. Without it, people would still be struggling along on Vista, it's pushed the boundaries for everyone else to follow. (Everyone being Microsoft obviously).

[dazzybee]

Like the iPhone I'll wait until they 3rd/4th Gen this up, if I get one.

 

I still don't think it need to be that big.

 

Although the amount apple are patting themselves on the back for this one is vomit inducing. I just watched the video on the apple site.

 

Yeah, that video is cringe worthy isn't it? Especially that guy with the wangy eyes...so disingenuine.

 

As for getting the 3rd/4th like the iphone. I personally think with the iphone it was the best time to get in on the act from generation 1 (if you're on a contract). I bought the gen 1 iphone for £99....I then sold this iphone for about the same as it cost me to upgrade to the 3G. I will then make money on my 3G when I renew my contract soon. Getting an iphone now will either costs you near £200 on a contract or near £500 pay as you go!!

 

As for the iPad....well....I'm really disappointed in it. But I'll probably get one, I do actually think it's a reasonable price. I hate Apple for not having flash and the multitasking and everything else everyones bitching about. They're valid bitches, it's insane and reminds me of Nintendo's idiocy about certain aspects of their business. Why do they have these completely uneccesary limitation on their devices?!!? Anyway....

 

The reason I want one is because the app store IS incredible and I think it will be exciting what new apps and games come out. I have every confidence it'll be spectacular. I'm interested in the e-reader aspects. Although I love books and will always buy books, I'm interested in newpapers and magazines; interested in the extra media features on books. So that'll be good. I think it will be incredible for watching films whilst traveling. I also spend a lot of time reading scripts and docuemnts and need to work on these a lot; although I have a laptop (soon to be macbook air) this will be useful for the times I just need to read something simple etc. It will be very useful.

 

I also love the fact it will be 3GS, so internet literally everywhere (well....depending on signal). This will be invaluable for me.

 

One thing though. This thing is a luxury item. It has nothing that you can't get elsewhere. The laptop/netbook, the smart phone, the MP3 player...I get these. If you want to listen to music on the move you need an MP3 player, you want to have a pocket sized computer get a smart phone, you want a portable computer get a laptop.... this does some things VERY well, better than these; but not essential. It's like going business class instead of economy. You're getting essentially the same experience, but a little bit better. If you can afford it, great. If not, no worries.

[McPhee]

Not surprised at the negative comments. New ideas and technologies always have negative reactions. iPhone was a phone, an established category with billions sold. This is the complete opposite.

 

Eh? This is neither a new category of product or a new technology. Most of the backlash is because of the crappy implementation and lack of innovation, not because people think the concept was bad. The concept was great, Apple just needed to put more effort in.

 

There's a few things that bug me. Firstly, the iPad doesn't seem to know what it is. The IPS panel is great for movies and for the web, but bad for eBooks. The 4:3 aspect ratio is great for eBooks and the web, but bad for movies (especially when combined with that bezel). The lack of flash will hamper the web experience and the lack of multi-tasking is the icing on the cake.

 

Secondly, the product looks and feels like Apple have been a bit lazy. That huge bezel isn't the sort of thing I'd have expected from them. I understand why it's there, but I'd have expected some form of clever solution to the problem rather than adding a 1" border all the way round the device. The Home and Lock screens also look cheap. They're taken directly from the iPhone. It just looks plain wrong. And on a last note, they seem to be relying on the App Store to make this device a "must have" rather than doing the ground work themselves. I want to want the device because it's good, not because it has 100,000 apps.

 

On the flip side though, Apple have basically made me want a 10" web tablet for browsing the internet in bed.

[Ronnie]

The iPad video on the Apple site is funny.

 

Steve Ive always looks drugged up when he's being interviewed for these types of clips and the young guy in the video could quite easily have been wanking as he made every sentence sound as annoying as possible.

[Molly]

My mum's just told me she's definitely getting one instead of a Kindle. All she wants is to browse the web and read books, so there's not much point arguing. I think it will do both of those very well.

 

Is 1.5 pounds quite heavy for something you're gonna be holding alot? (Genuine question, no jokes required).

[Cube]

What kind of things does your mum browse? If it's stuff like facebook (and it's games) then you may want to point out that most of the games won't work.

[Molly]

No my mum isn't a Facebook user and she doesn't play games. She'll be browsing news websites, holidays and more stuff she can buy

 

Edit: that made her sound awful, she's not at all.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Molly

[ReZourceman]

Is 1.5 pounds quite heavy for something you're gonna be holding alot? (Genuine question, no jokes required).

 

Its not heavy at all in my books......

[McPhee]

I think the reason I hate this thread so much is because the general negativity towards Apple as a company. Whenever they bring out a new product, Macbook Air, iPhone 3GS for example people just come striaght in here and moan. It's the same when Sony were the market leader with the PS2, people just used to nit pick every opportunity they got.

 

I HATE Apple as a company. They suck. They steal trademarks and patents from other companies, license tech without paying for it and have a general "Who cares, we'll deal with the court case later. It's just another fine." attitude.

 

Don't confuse that with hating on their products though. They have some cracking products (iPhone, iPod Mini, Macbook Pro, Cinema Displays) and some stuff that's not so great (Apple TV up until last year, Macbook Air, iPad, current iPod Shuffle). The only reason why there's such a large backlash when Apple announce a bad product is because they don't go low-key, they still announce it with a song and a dance and tell everyone how wonderful and perfect it is.

 

There just rubbish, not because Steve said so I've thought this since they came out. There cheaply made, ugly looking laptops that are slow as hell and run 10 year old operating systems. I can see why they stand in the industry but there has got to be something better than them for what they do. I think tablets in general are heading in the right direction.

 

It's kind of unfair to use a $500+ device to beat on a market segment that starts at $200, don't you think? The iPad vs Netbook comparison isn't even vaguely relevant. They don't have the same uses and you don't use them the same way. It's also highly embarrassing when you consider what the average netbook can do that the iPad can't.

 

Still, it's been an interesting 24-hours. If anything it's made me realise the potential of the tablet. If someone can get a cheap one (sub-£200) to market with a decent web browser (Google Chrome OS?) and eBook functionality (possibly using that clever screen from the Notion Ink Adam) then I could definitely see me using one as a complementary product to an ultraportable laptop and smartphone. As for the iPad? It does too much in a "not as good as other devices I own" kind of way to justify the price tag for the web browser and ebook reader alone.

Edited January 28, 2010 by McPhee

[Raining_again]

It's kind of unfair to use a $500+ device to beat on a market segment that starts at $200, don't you think? The iPad vs Netbook comparison isn't even vaguely relevant. They don't have the same uses and you don't use them the same way. It's also highly embarrassing when you consider what the average netbook can do that the iPad can't.

 

Agreed.

 

Netbooks (in my opinion) are one of the best technological advances in a good few years. They run an older operating system, because guess what, the hardware is slower to support the 7 hour battery life, and XP is a pretty solid OS. Its still used in a lot of corporate settings, even though Vista has been out for years and even replaced by 7. So it can't be all that bad.

 

The ipad just feels like something people waste extortionate money on, just to be "technologically pioneering" or something.

 

Yeah it looks nice, but its serious money, and to have to jailbreak it (and invalidate your warantee), just to get it to function in a useful way seems a bit ludicrous to me..

 

I don't hate or love Apple - I do own a nano after all - I'm judging on the product rather than the company.

 

(the last comment I made about Caris loving apple things was more in jest than anything, I noticed people made comment on it a few pages ago)

[flameboy]

I have to be honest again I really not getting the whole web browsing thing...he is sat saying how easy it is to just touch and browse. I can do that on full versions of web pages on my phone and switch between portrait and landscape, hell could plug it into my tv and use it that way if I wanted to. I can play flash games etc.. take for example now I have 4 conversation windows open 3 SMS and 1 chat, my ereader open reading a steven levy book about Hackers and got the new york times, time magazine and n-europe pages open with no chugging at all!

 

OH and got a game running in the background as well!