Seriously, stop lying to yourselves

[WhySoSerious]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

[TraceyS/FL]

Epic Fail for you.

Win for me. Everything that needs to be done on the one we will be buying - is currently being done on a Touch, we just wish for the larger screen space.

Epic WIN for my house :D

[Tower-Union]

There are naysayers for almost every Apple product that comes out, time will tell if this becomes another iPod or a G4 Cube. Seems to me it would behoove a lot of people to reserve judgment and wait to see what happens.

To be clear I'm not saying don't discuss it, or critique it, but this sort of lashing out seems unnecessary.

[LIVEFRMNYC]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.



LMAO..... That's the exact same thing I said in another thread. They didn't even make the icons big enough for the screen. Looks like they just grabed them from a touch and glued it on.

[Gav2k]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

I can see several things that make it differ from an iPod touch tbh. For me it's ideal for my kids.

[ucfgrad93]

There are naysayers for almost every Apple product that comes out, time will tell if this becomes another iPod or a G4 Cube. Seems to me it would behoove a lot of people to reserve judgment and wait to see what happens.

To be clear I'm not saying don't discuss it, or critique it, but this sort of lashing out seems unnecessary.

Agreed. Time will tell. I am looking forward to seeing one in person. I wonder when the stores will get them.

[marcopolo007uk]

It will replace my Netbook for any light emails/browsing/blogging. (Which is all I use my Netbook for)

It looks more comfortable than using my iPhone for the above tasks, which I sometimes use due to netbook boot up time.

Each to their own... I think it will fit into my life.

[CylonGlitch]

I have been one of the disappointed people here. I wanted it to be a slimmed down version of OSX instead of a scaled up version of iPhone OS. Sure under the hood they are the same but the UI don't impress me that much. I would have liked a little multitasking so that I can have two apps open at the same time; able to add more then 4 items to the task bar, etc...

That being said, yesterday afternoon I went to my son's TKD studio. There, the master and his wife were looking forward to this. Anyway; when I arrived they were all excited and almost everyone there wants one! The master (being a very smart guy) wants one, but is one of the few who said he will wait and see before buying one. But all the other people want one and want it now.

I'm guessing the market is not the hardcore computer users / fans, but the mass market. None of the parents there yesterday I would consider hardcore people, many barely even use the computer.

I am guessing this is no mistake; Apple knows their market, they know how to make money. There are many more people who don't need a hard computer for day to day use, and this will fit their needs. In my quick poll of the 10ish people there, 2 (myself and the master) aren't buying right now, 2 were unaware of the product, and then there are 6 who are excited about it and want it ASAP. From a sales point of view, they lost two sales but picked up six, that is where you want to be I guess. I hope it all works out well for them.

And yes, someday I MIGHT get one... maybe v2. . . . then again, maybe not.

[r0k]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

The print media isn't in as much need of saving as the music industry. The music industry was pushing archaic business models of trudging through the snow to pick up a physical item simply to listen to music when the infrastructure was in place to deliver music instantly. The publishing industry OTOH has a successful business model with electronic distribution making only a small dent. There are thousands of book stores but only a handful of music stores. People still like books. The Kindle, Nook and Sony Reader are nice but they are still gimmick gadgets. For e-publishing to take off, the delivery has to not suck. Also the gadget that delivers books can't be "yet another thing" to carry around. By bundling ebooks with the world's most successful music platform, Apple is finally offering them on a viable platform.

I'm disappointed that there was no mention of replacing college texts in yesterday's demo. I bet the negotiations got stalled. Once college texts can be "rented" on the iPad, I know my son will be getting one. His books cost close to $1k just for one semester.

There is something to what you are saying about print media, but it is true for periodicals not books. Newspapers and magazines indeed need saving and the iPad will help them.

One of the things I like most about my iPod Touch is Kindle. One of the things I like least is the small screen for reading books. I hope the iPad version of Kindle ships soon because that would seal the deal for me. I would already own a library of books to read on the iPad.

[liketom]

lets see what the sales figure say in 6 months to see if this is a failure or not

[fridgeymonster3]

Yeah I agree it just looks pathetically put together. It's as if they never had aspirations of designing a tablet until about 3-4 months ago. Then they stick an existing OS on it and the icons do look tiny. I'll wait to actually see it in person and play around with it, but as of now I don't have any interest or see any real purpose for it.

I mean, it's not portable like an iPod Touch or iPhone, so it's not going to be used for gaming, email, etc on the go. I don't see how an LCD screen is going to replace E-Ink ebook readers, I'm not keen on having to stare at an LCD screen even more in my life to read a book. I'd prefer the kindle, again as of now until I see it in person. A kindle is much more portable also, imo.

[phobic99]

Why so serious?

Couldn't resist. :o

[mac jones]

I'm sorry but you have to buy one it's the new rules.

If you keep posting like this you have to buy 2

[REM314]

Stop calling things a fail. It makes you look like an idiot. But I guess thats fine because thats probably what you are.

I'm sorry you have no need for Apples new product. I hear there are a lot of other tablet computers coming out. Maybe one of those fit your need. Or maybe its a good time for you to sell you Apple stock and invest it in something different, like Microsoft, if you're that put off by this machine. This tablet wasn't designed to be a laptop, its really too bad you overhyped yourself for one.

[kroeks]

why would you even post this?
whatever you think of it, It seems a lot of people like it.

Yeah, It looks like a big iPod touch.
but for people with fat fingers like me, this is perfect.

[bigjnyc]

At the end of the day all you can is form your own opinion, everyone is going to have a different view on it, some will secretly dislike it but will defend it because they feel loyal to Apple and anything they do. Some will geniunely love it and have a need for it.... the point is going back and forth and assuming everyone feels the same way you do about it pretty pointless.

That being said I am in the same boat as you, I feel this is a total piece of crap and Apple should be laughed at for making an oversized iPod touch and trying to pass it off as a new "magical" product lol. In my eyes they look really stupid right now, BUT i'm willing to bet this thing sells well and they make a ton of money from it. I definitely will not be buying it since i find it pretty stupid and have no need for it since I have an iPhone and a MBP.... but the guy standing next to me might have his credit card out already.

[PhoneI]

The print media isn't in as much need of saving as the music industry.

As somebody that works in the Print media, I think I can safely say "you are out of your mind". The print industry in this country is dying a fast death. Nobody reads newspapers or magazines anymore. Everybody goes to the internet and gets their news for free.

[fridgeymonster3]

I can see several things that make it differ from an iPod touch tbh. For me it's ideal for my kids.

How old are your kids and why do you think it's ideal? I'm interested because I don't have kids yet and I'm thinking of the iPad along those lines

I'm disappointed that there was no mention of replacing college texts in yesterday's demo. I bet the negotiations got stalled. Once college texts can be "rented" on the iPad, I know my son will be getting one. His books cost close to $1k just for one semester.


I feel the iPad has a long way to go before it takes the place of physical textbooks, especially for students of certain disciplines. I was a psychology major and I'll be entering law school next year and I highlight and write notes all of my books. If perhaps there was a stylus to write physical notes, and perhaps and app that would let you actually insert pages of notes into the textbook, where you could see your actual notes by page, or if you like, completely separate from your textbook, then I would say this would be great. Even without this, it would be nice to have all your books in one place so you wouldn't have to lug around textbooks; however, in college I found that students rarely need their textbooks for classes.

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I have been one of the disappointed people here. I wanted it to be a slimmed down version of OSX instead of a scaled up version of iPhone




QFT!!! That's exactly what I expected.

[liketom]

but the guy standing next to me might have his credit card out already.

yep i'm the next guy, but no where to swipe my Plastic:D

i have a 1st gen Mac Book Air that this will replace for internet/youtube/ Mail/photo/movie playback and iTunes - job done

but hey that's just me what will be happy - not the OP :p

[-aggie-]

It's not an iPod Touch.

It's a BIG iPod Touch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3OxXLjoWVY).

[mrkjsn]

Just because you don't need it doesn't mean no one else does...

Much like yourself, I have no need for this. I own a MBP and an iPhone. But my wife on the other hand; she's big on web browsing, e-mail, YouTube, and photos, but that's about it. Buying another MBP for her would be a complete waste since she won't use 80% of what the MBP can do. The iPhone does what she needs but it's just too small for everyday use. We've looked at Netbooks but they're too cheap and flimsy. Unknown to my wife and I until now, but my wife fits perfectly in Apple's third product category.

[bobob]

Watch for the OP to be raving like a delirious fanboy in later this year when he's had his first iPad for a couple of months...

;)

[chris975d]

I can't get over the amount of people that actually thought that the tablet would be MORE than exactly what was released. If you know how Apple works, they always ADD more revenue channels that DO NOT cannibalize any of their existing revenue streams, and you should have seen a "big iPod touch" coming. They purposely didn't make it with a full blown desktop OSX, USB ports, SD card slots, etc because that would have stolen sales away from their laptop lines. Why would people who barely need a basic Macbook buy the Macbook if they could get what they wanted in a cheaper tablet? Now, instead, they will just find a way to spend more and get the Macbook. People who want iPod Touch features, but want a larger screen, can now spend more and get it. People who want iPod Touch features but also true portability can buy a Touch. People who want all those features but also want it to be able to make phone calls can get an iPhone. People WANT Apple products, for whatever reason. Apple knows this, so they can get away with doing exactly what they are doing. And they won't change UNTIL their sales and revenue numbers drop, which they obviously aren't yet. Apple will never introduce a product that cuts sale of another one of their products on purpose, like the PC manufacturers have done with the stupid netbooks. "Hey, lets offer a tiny laptop that does 99% of what our big, money making models do, for less than a third of the cost of those big models!" And they wonder why their full sized laptop (the one's that they actually make a decent profit on) sales are crap? Apple's a business, and they know exactly what they are doing.

[nikhsub1]

There are always those who love to hate and those who blindly love... just the way it goes. Even though the OP's tone is very crass, I do generally agree with him. I also agree with those who said it is just another vehicle to the itunes/ibook/app store... This device can NOT be used without an additional computer - it can not be your only computer. I know I'm not saying anything that ya'll don't already know, just thinking out loud. I can't help but think that if the ipad DOES do well sales wise, that it may grow into it's own and become much much more than what it is now... kind of like if you compare the usefulness of the iphone June 2007 vs. the iphone now. I guess only time will tell - but for Apple to say it is the WHOLE internet is a lie. Say what you will about flash, it is there and used. In Steve's keynote yesterday when he went to the New York Times page, there was a HUGE flash section that just showed the blue box - I could not stop laughing. Apple needs to get over it and provide some kind of flash support.

[WhySoSerious]

i feel almost insulted, intellectually, by Apple for this "creation" of theirs. i mean, there is zero creativity in the iPad, there is zero evolution in the iPad, there is zero uniqueness in the iPad.

Apple just said to themselves, "hey, we saved the music industry by creating an mp3 player and music store people love....now we need to cash in on the print media side of things to double our profits." "people don't like reading on small phones and bulky laptops, so lets just enlarge the iPod Touch and create a bookstore!!"

i appreciate commerce and trying to make money...I don't fault anyone for that. what i fault Apple for is being freaking LAZY as LAZY can be on a new product. if you open up your dictionary app on your iPhone and type in "lazy", a picture of Apple executives sitting around a iPad will pop up. They put no thought or ingenuity or creative juices into this product. this product was only "created" to get a quick product out there like other netbook/kindle companies and cash in.

with all their R&D available and being, according to Jobs, the WORLDS LARGEST mobile company....you think they would have spent some of that 15.6B profit and utilizing some of those thousands of patents they filed to create something REMOTELY unique. i mean d@mn ......the iPad doesn't even have one freaking unique feature to set it apart from an iPod Touch.

just ridiculous imo.......complete joke

I just pray, PRAY, PRAY the updated iPhone this year and 4.0 OS has some creative value placed into it.

[mrgreen4242]

You say that like it's a bad thing... I have friends who have been saying "if I could hook a keyboard to this touch/iPhone I'm not sure I would need a laptop, or at least a netbook, anymore" for a year. I agree, a little, with them. The bigger screen lets you have a better/full office suite (which they implemented day 1, thankfully) and makes it just a little more suitable for that sort of use.

I carry and use every day an iPod touch and a Dell mini 9 (running OSX 10.5). I am really thinking that an iPad and a shuffle (and one of Apple's BT keyboards) will do what I need even better. It's not for everyone, of course. Some people NEED a full computer on the go, and some people refuse to carry anything that won't fit in their pockets around with them. But for many people this is just about the perfect sub-note/netbook/media device.

Oh, and the highres VGA output means another device that can play my iTunes movie library on my projector (not having to move the ATV up there or fight with my PS3 to make it play my videos back). Plus, it's big enough for the wife and I to share in bed and watch stuff, so probably save me $150 on a small TV for the bedroom (and having to figure out how to get content to it without another $150 ATV).

[fridgeymonster3]

You say that like it's a bad thing... I have friends who have been saying "if I could hook a keyboard to this touch/iPhone I'm not sure I would need a laptop, or at least a netbook, anymore" for a year. I agree, a little, with them. The bigger screen lets you have a better/full office suite (which they implemented day 1, thankfully) and makes it just a little more suitable for that sort of use.

I carry and use every day an iPod touch and a Dell mini 9 (running OSX 10.5). I am really thinking that an iPad and a shuffle (and one of Apple's BT keyboards) will do what I need even better. It's not for everyone, of course. Some people NEED a full computer on the go, and some people refuse to carry anything that won't fit in their pockets around with them. But for many people this is just about the perfect sub-note/netbook/media device.

Oh, and the highres VGA output means another device that can play my iTunes movie library on my projector (not having to move the ATV up there or fight with my PS3 to make it play my videos back). Plus, it's big enough for the wife and I to share in bed and watch stuff, so probably save me $150 on a small TV for the bedroom (and having to figure out how to get content to it without another $150 ATV).

Dude, you actually own an atv and are considering buying another?

[WytRaven]

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

New rule for me starting post this post. Completely ignore any opinion expressed by anyone that uses the word "fail" or "epic" as it automatically implies a brainless teenager or light starved nerd at the keyboard. Neither of which generally has any clue about the real world.

[WhySoSerious]

I can't get over the amount of people that actually thought that the tablet would be MORE than exactly what was released. If you know how Apple works, they always ADD more revenue channels that DO NOT cannibalize any of their existing revenue streams, and you should have seen a "big iPod touch" coming. They purposely didn't make it with a full blown desktop OSX, USB ports, SD card slots, etc because that would have stolen sales away from their laptop lines. Why would people who barely need a basic Macbook buy the Macbook if they could get what they wanted in a cheaper tablet? Now, instead, they will just find a way to spend more and get the Macbook. People who want iPod Touch features, but want a larger screen, can now spend more and get it. People who want iPod Touch features but also true portability can buy a Touch. People who want all those features but also want it to be able to make phone calls can get an iPhone. People WANT Apple products, for whatever reason. Apple knows this, so they can get away with doing exactly what they are doing. And they won't change UNTIL their sales and revenue numbers drop, which they obviously aren't yet. Apple will never introduce a product that cuts sale of another one of their products on purpose, like the PC manufacturers have done with the stupid netbooks. "Hey, lets offer a tiny laptop that does 99% of what our big, money making models do, for less than a third of the cost of those big models!" And they wonder why their full sized laptop (the one's that they actually make a decent profit on) sales are crap? Apple's a business, and they know exactly what they are doing.

listen, i'm fine with what it DOES, but i'm not fine with the lack of creativity. i'm not saying it should have had OSX or USB or Card Slots on it....but what about haptic touch feedback, or a new/creative way to type (instead of just a blown up iphone keyboard), or a camera for taking pics (since this thing was hyped by Apple as some "magical" photo machine....ya think they would have allowed you to snap pics with it). there are thousands of patents Apple filed that could easily be used on the iPad, but they didn't. in fact, the iPad has LESS features than an iPhone and Touch. weak product, very weak.

[ucfgrad93]

As somebody that works in the Print media, I think I can safely say "you are out of your mind". The print industry in this country is dying a fast death. Nobody reads newspapers or magazines anymore. Everybody goes to the internet and gets their news for free.

Yeah, newspapers and magazines are hurting, but what about books?

[Cyroceon]

It's not an iPod Touch.

It's a BIG iPod Touch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3OxXLjoWVY).

Hilarious video. I love it.

[Hmac]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.


Why do you care? If you don't like it, it doesn't meet your needs...don't buy it. For those of us whose needs it does meet, we will.

You seem to think you have the right, or the insight, to judge Apple's market and the needs of all its users. Sorry, you just don't seem to be that smart.

[REM314]

listen, i'm fine with what it DOES, but i'm not fine with the lack of creativity. i'm not saying it should have had OSX or USB or Card Slots on it....but what about haptic touch feedback, or a new/creative way to type (instead of just a blown up iphone keyboard), or a camera for taking pics (since this thing was hyped by Apple as some "magical" photo machine....ya think they would have allowed you to snap pics with it). there are thousands of patents Apple filed that could easily be used on the iPad, but they didn't. in fact, the iPad has LESS features than an iPhone and Touch. weak product, very weak.

It also has more features than an iPhone and iPod Touch. Who knew?

Also, maybe you should wait for developers to really start to explore the iPads technological medium.

[iBlue]

Now, you look here. I won't be having this crap talk about Apple products. They are perfect in every way. Say, you look thirsty...

http://upc.edesignuk.com/uploads/images_other/steve_koolaid.jpg

:D

[chris975d]

There are always those who love to hate and those who blindly love... just the way it goes. Even though the OP's tone is very crass, I do generally agree with him. I also agree with those who said it is just another vehicle to the itunes/ibook/app store... This device can NOT be used without an additional computer - it can not be your only computer. I know I'm not saying anything that ya'll don't already know, just thinking out loud. I can't help but think that if the ipad DOES do well sales wise, that it may grow into it's own and become much much more than what it is now... kind of like if you compare the usefulness of the iphone June 2007 vs. the iphone now. I guess only time will tell - but for Apple to say it is the WHOLE internet is a lie. Say what you will about flash, it is there and used. In Steve's keynote yesterday when he went to the New York Times page, there was a HUGE flash section that just showed the blue box - I could not stop laughing. Apple needs to get over it and provide some kind of flash support.

Actually, I think the opposite of what you just said. If this iPad does sell well, why on earth would Apple change a thing about it? Other than the nominal token storage updates and minor processor updates that they do with all their products. Apple does things the way an efficient business does things...they don't change a successful thing until it's apparent that sales are hurting if they don't change. Think of the iPod...since introduction, there really hasn't been any groundbreaking changes made to it SINCE it became the top selling mp3 player, other than storage increases and slight design tweaks. Same with the iPhone really...storage increases, slight processor bumps, but nothing groundbreaking other than the AppStore. Look at the laptops for goodness sakes! They have old a** processors in them, specs that are far less than high end Windows laptops, yet they still sell them in record numbers. No SMART business is gonna change that until they feel it in the pocketbook, so to speak. No reason to add additional manufacturing and R&D costs to something to "improve it" if it's selling better than any competitor. I think the only way Apple would dare change this iPad in the way you're talking (making it more of a stand alone device) is if sales were horrible. Then, they might do more with the tech and integrate it into a device that REPLACES one of the laptops in their line-up. But again, Apple is NOT gonna make something "revolutionary" that takes sales away from one of their current products, unless it's actually replacing that product in the line-up. This is "good business 101", really.

[Anuba]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.
Yes, and an iPod Touch is an excellent browser and mail client that fails because the screen is too small. So why is it an epic fail to finally give it a decent screen?

For the record, I'm not a denial kind of guy or an Apple fanboy. I eat brainwashed Apple fanboys for breakfast, as I'm sure some regulars here will remember. But I totally get where they're coming from with this product.

There are MILLIONS and MILLIONS of people who ONLY use their computers for browsing the web, reading email and playing music and videos. They're using a fraction of a computer's capacity. The global CPU load right now is probably around 2%. And a lot of these people aren't on a laptop, either. They have a desktop machine. "I'm going on the internet", they say, so they walk over to some desk, switch on the computer, switch on the screen, switch on the speakers, wait for the system to boot and to load fifty-twelve background processes. Then they grab the mouse and click an icon. Then they surf the web, while the cutting edge processor sits there idly, 3.5 of the 4 gigs of RAM are vacant, and the near-empty 500 GB hard drive spins at 7200 RPM in anticipation of work that never comes.

My parents are like that. They have this giant aluminum Dell tower, a gaming computer that sucks power like crazy. They use it only for browsing the web. All the operating system does is get in their way. Not because it's Windows, but because it's an environment that sometimes needs attention for software updates and what not. If you only want to surf and nothing else, the OS is only a distraction, not a resource.

Imagine if people approached transportation the same way: Everyone would be driving army tanks, bulldozers and greyhound buses to the supermarket. It's not only complete overkill, but the overkill itself presents problems and obstacles.

Now imagine if you give these people a surf pad that's ready to use as soon as you press the power button. When you launch the web browser, there is nothing else going on, the whole screen is a browser. And instead of using a mouse you just point at stuff with your fingers, with no learning curve at all. The thing runs for 10 hours on a single charge and you're never tethered to a desk or a wall socket. And it just works. No more "what's this alert here?", no more "what the hell is a 'security update'?".

The iPad is their product. Apple snobs hate this, since they wanted something for themselves. But Apple weren't going to make yet another portable Mac that eats away at their own sales, they needed a new product category.

[REM314]

Actually, I think the opposite of what you just said. If this iPad does sell well, why on earth would Apple change a thing about it? Other than the nominal token storage updates and minor processor updates that they do with all their products. Apple does things the way an efficient business does things...they don't change a successful thing until it's apparent that sales are hurting if they don't change. Think of the iPod...since introduction, there really hasn't been any groundbreaking changes made to it SINCE it became the top selling mp3 player, other than storage increases and slight design tweaks. Same with the iPhone really...storage increases, slight processor bumps, but nothing groundbreaking other than the AppStore. Look at the laptops for goodness sakes! They have old a** processors in them, specs that are far less than high end Windows laptops, yet they still sell them in record numbers. No SMART business is gonna change that until they feel it in the pocketbook, so to speak. No reason to add additional manufacturing and R&D costs to something to "improve it" if it's selling better than any competitor. I think the only way Apple would dare change this iPad in the way you're talking (making it more of a stand alone device) is if sales were horrible. Then, they might do more with the tech and integrate it into a device that REPLACES one of the laptops in their line-up. But again, Apple is gonna make something "revolutionary" that takes sales away from one of their current products, unless it's actually replacing that product in the line-up. This is "good business 101", really.

This guy is completely right. Apple has now pretty much rounded out its line up. In order to make a dramatic change in one machine they pretty much have to revamp their entire sales catalogue so that every one of their products have a purpose. They pretty much have something for everyone now at all levels. Except maybe a smaller screen high-end iMac that fits in between the 27inch and the base MacPro.

[BobHail]

i feel almost insulted, intellectually, by Apple for this "creation" of theirs. i mean, there is zero creativity in the iPad, there is zero evolution in the iPad, there is zero uniqueness in the iPad.

Apple just said to themselves, "hey, we saved the music industry by creating an mp3 player and music store people love....now we need to cash in on the print media side of things to double our profits." "people don't like reading on small phones and bulky laptops, so lets just enlarge the iPod Touch and create a bookstore!!"

i appreciate commerce and trying to make money...I don't fault anyone for that. what i fault Apple for is being freaking LAZY as LAZY can be on a new product. if you open up your dictionary app on your iPhone and type in "lazy", a picture of Apple executives sitting around a iPad will pop up. They put no thought or ingenuity or creative juices into this product. this product was only "created" to get a quick product out there like other netbook/kindle companies and cash in.

with all their R&D available and being, according to Jobs, the WORLDS LARGEST mobile company....you think they would have spent some of that 15.6B profit and utilizing some of those thousands of patents they filed to create something REMOTELY unique. i mean d@mn ......the iPad doesn't even have one freaking unique feature to set it apart from an iPod Touch.

just ridiculous imo.......complete joke

I just pray, PRAY, PRAY the updated iPhone this year and 4.0 OS has some creative value placed into it.

Good post!

[calderone]

Even if we accept this truth. What is it supposed to change about my feelings about the device?

[amitdoc2b]

I was also disappointed with this release. Even though I felt many more features could have added, the difference between me buying and not buying it was a built-in webcam. If they had simply done that, I would have bought 2 of the best models plus accessories, and spent over $2000 for the pair. I had my credit card in my hand ready to pre-order in case it was available yesterday. Very disappointed, Apple.. and all my friends and family know me as the biggest Apple supporter. Oh well..

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

[ipure]

Epic Fail, XXL iTouch.

[REM314]

This product is pretty much the essential casual computing machine the more that I think about it.

[chris975d]

listen, i'm fine with what it DOES, but i'm not fine with the lack of creativity. i'm not saying it should have had OSX or USB or Card Slots on it....but what about haptic touch feedback, or a new/creative way to type (instead of just a blown up iphone keyboard), or a camera for taking pics (since this thing was hyped by Apple as some "magical" photo machine....ya think they would have allowed you to snap pics with it). there are thousands of patents Apple filed that could easily be used on the iPad, but they didn't. in fact, the iPad has LESS features than an iPhone and Touch. weak product, very weak.

Then vote with your wallet, and convince others to do the same. Because if this thing sells in record numbers, Apple (as any smart company would do) isn't gonna get in any hurry to implement any of the things you mentioned as long as they are selling the crap out of this. Apple's plan here was a new, CHEAP, shiny new revenue stream that also tied in with the AppStore. If they had implemented some of the things you mentioned, the cost of this device would have been much more (any company has profit margin targets they are going to try to meet), and the projected number of sales would have likely been below what Apple desired. If this thing sells in low numbers, you might quickly get the things you're wanting. If the sells are through the roof, you won't...look at the Touch. How many people b**ch about "no camera, no GPS", but as long as each new model sells more than the model before it, do you honestly think Apple is going to ADD to their manufacturing costs (and DECREASE profits) by adding more features? This is how they've gotten over $40 BILLION in cash sitting in the bank..by making smart decisions for the COMPANY, and convincing the customers that they "need" their products. As a business operator, I'm in awe of what they've been able to accomplish and how they do it (even if I'm not in awe of all of their products).

[nickXedge]

I'm sorry but you have to buy one it's the new rules.

If you keep posting like this you have to buy 2

Win.

It also has more features than an iPhone and iPod Touch. Who knew?

Also, maybe you should wait for developers to really start to explore the iPads technological medium.

This is exactly my problem with the iPad. Everyone says "oh let the developers get their hands on it, they'll make it so useful... Blah blah blah!" That's such a load! Apple should be responsible for this! The App Store is a gift and a curse. Apple don't care to add software features because they don't want to waste their own time. They would rather let a third party developer come up with something and then mooch off the profits. For example, the Brushes app from the keynote should be an Apple product that comes standard on every iPad, especially considering the marketing for the invitation for the event.

[WhySoSerious]

Why do you care? If you don't like it, it doesn't meet your needs...don't buy it. For those of us whose needs it does meet, we will.

You seem to think you have the right, or the insight, to judge Apple's market and the needs of all its users. Sorry, you just don't seem to be that smart.

i won't buy it.

but if apple is going to bombard me with catch phrases and marketing as to WHY i should buy this....then i think it's fair for me to "defend" my position back at Apple as to why i WON'T buy it.

my opinion matters. maybe not to you, but to companies that are after my money, it matters. so, you don't seem to be that smart.

[sellitman]

This machine will only be as good as the APPS designed for it. My old crusty 2G iPhone got better and better over the three years I have owned it because of the APPS added and the software updates that Apple wrote and sent me for free.

If the iPad has a similar timeline then I believe this unit will be a hit.

[admanimal]

This machine will only be as good as the APPS designed for it. My old crusty 2G iPhone got better and better over the three years I have owned it because of the APPS added and the software updates that Apple wrote and sent me for free.

If the iPad has a similar timeline then I believe this unit will be a hit.

Anyone who watched the iWork demo in the keynote should have seen the awesome potential for serious software to run on this device. People who constantly complain that it's just a "big iPhone" have no imagination about what exactly it is capable of.

[iWoz]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

Ever thought that not everyone is the same as you?

[master-ceo]

It's not an iPod Touch.

It's a BIG iPod Touch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3OxXLjoWVY).

roflmao

Its designed for Older People

[qtx43]

Yes, and an iPod Touch is an excellent browser and mail client that fails because the screen is too small. So why is it an epic fail to finally give it a decent screen? ...
Exactly! All I can think of when people complain about it being "just" a giant iPod Touch, is that the iPod is too small to use. I'm a programmer, and I definitely need my desktops, but I hate the ergonomics of laptops, and I hate tiny little devices whose only selling point is that they fit in your pocket. So what? Lots of things fit in my pocket, that doesn't make them useful web browsers.

I think the MacBook Air was Jobs' attempt to make a really portable device that was useful, but it is really just another laptop. The iPad is much better.

[iWoz]

Exactly! All I can think of when people complain about it being "just" a giant iPod Touch, is that the iPod is too small to use. I'm a programmer, and I definitely need my desktops, but I hate the ergonomics of laptops, and I hate tiny little devices whose only selling point is that they fit in your pocket. So what? Lots of things fit in my pocket, that doesn't make them useful web browsers.

I think the MacBook Air was Jobs' attempt to make a really portable device that was useful, but it is really just another laptop. The iPad is much better.

Agreed!!

[REM314]

This is exactly my problem with the iPad. Everyone says "oh let the developers get their hands on it, they'll make it so useful... Blah blah blah!" That's such a load! Apple should be responsible for this! The App Store is a gift and a curse. Apple don't care to add software features because they don't want to waste their own time. They would rather let a third party developer come up with something and then mooch off the profits. For example, the Brushes app from the keynote should be an Apple product that comes standard on every iPad, especially considering the marketing for the invitation for the event.

Its just like their computer model. They preload all their computers with the OS and the current iteration of iLife. They have a bunch of other software you can purchase, and a bunch of software from 3rd party developers that you can also purchase. I agree that apple hasn't designed many extra purchasable apps for the iPhone but it seems that they may with the iPad. They're already selling iWork software for it. Maybe there'll be more in the future. At least they're giving 3rd party developers a new medium to work with. Id rather have everyone thinking about creating new apps. Not just Apple.

[kroeks]

roflmao

Its designed for Older People
and for people with fat fingers

[chris975d]

Win.



This is exactly my problem with the iPad. Everyone says "oh let the developers get their hands on it, they'll make it so useful... Blah blah blah!" That's such a load! Apple should be responsible for this! The App Store is a gift and a curse. Apple don't care to add software features because they don't want to waste their own time. They would rather let a third party developer come up with something and then mooch off the profits. For example, the Brushes app from the keynote should be an Apple product that comes standard on every iPad, especially considering the marketing for the invitation for the event.


Again, as a business, why would Apple WANT to devote yet more resources to software development (which equals cost, which equals less profit, unless they then increase price of the device), when they can let a smaller, more "dedicated to the specific software in question" developer make the software (that's probably 8 times out of 10 better than what Apple could do)? And both parties profit! Apple gets 30%, and the developer, who probably couldn't have distributed his software anywhere near as well as Apple can with its AppStore, gets 70%. It's a win-win. Apple doesn't have to create software that it basically has to package with the device "for free", yet they and the 3rd party developer can both profit off of it. This in turn attracts more developers to the platform, as they can profit from good software, and Apple just gets more and more revenue as the software sells on the AppStore. From a business standpoint, what Apple has laid out (with both it's AppStore and products in general) is amazing to me. I'm talking about this whole well thought out business model and plan, not the products specifically. This is why most companies out there envy Apple right now. They make money hand over fist, PLUS have put all the things in place to keep this money coming in, and increasing in percentage. Until customers stop buying their products and therefore destroy this business plan, Apple is gonna keep doing things just the same. Hell, I wish I could get my business to this point, as do most business operators.

[RebootD]

Now that I've had time to come down from my anger cloud of disappointment I can see why Apple made this device, but there are some major issues that need resolving before I'd buy one.

Positives:
1. Wonderful form factor for people who only read email/web/send photos which is probably 90% of the home market. My parents have a $1k machine with 100GB of space and all they do is send me email forwards.

2. Cheap for people (see above) who will never take this out of their home. $499 and 16GB of space is enough for many.

3. Great for people who never learned to type/use a keyboard. If you have fingers you know how to use them and it makes this thing computer-illiterate proof.

Negatives (for the tech guy like me)
1. I own a Mac Pro for work at home, a MBP for work on the go and my iPod Touch for viewing emails/web on the toilet or relaxing on the couch. I have no need for this device right now.

2. No front facing camera (that my MBP has) for video conferencing/myspace portraits.

3. No Mac OS. I don't need a bigger device that runs the same apps as my IPT.

4. No stylus support like a wacom tablet. If this thing had that + mac os + photoshop I'd be the happiest person in the world.

So there you have my list. I completely understand WHY they made this but unfortunately, like many of their products, they aren't aiming for the tech dork anymore but the casual user. Oh well, I'm sure they will sell millions.

[dmr727]

http://upc.edesignuk.com/uploads/forums/MRwhinersOpinionBeatings.gif

[Yaboze]

Remember the Macbook air? Nobody really talks about it anymore, most people just get the 13" Pro or whatever. The Macbook air was thin but it was a little underpowered on launch, no optical drive, etc.

Although the iPad isn't as expensive, I just don't see a need for it, at least in this first revision.

This product reminds me of the Macbook Air, kinda neat but nobody will be talking about unless it has some major updates next rev.

It really is just an iPod Touch with a big screen and a faster processor. It even has the same look and single button.

I can see them making a better revision next year or something but my iPhone can do most everything that iPad can do and place calls and take pictures.

[jb1280]

of course it's just a bigger ipod touch.

It is, however, priced accordingly. iPod touch goes from $199-$399. iPad goes from $499 on up.

[bluefox9er]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.


great post. I agree 100% with you. This device offers nothing new, if anything, it shows how good it *could* have been, but omitting the basic, fundamental features like a USB, multi-taking, disc/card reader etc shows what segment of the market this is aimed at.

now here's the thing...

if you were looking for an ebook reader would you go kindle, or but this for the extra $200 you get more bang for the buck...

or do you buy a REAL book for $9.99 as opposed to something a few kilobytes in size for the princely sum of $9.98?

I'd spend the extra penny every time and buy a real book...

[-aggie-]

If they had made a deal with AT&T and configured the OS to do tethering seemlessly, the iPad would have been what they said it was meant be, something in the middle.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I'm disappointed that there was no mention of replacing college texts in yesterday's demo. I bet the negotiations got stalled. Once college texts can be "rented" on the iPad, I know my son will be getting one. His books cost close to $1k just for one semester.


I dont see why the iPad would make a good book replacement. Why not just get a kindle? Higher res screen and all. The iPad would make more sense as a book replacement if it were possible to take notes without closing the book app, launching the Notes app, saving the notes, closing the notes app, opening the book app again....etc.

If i had to keep books on the iPad i'd still have to carry around a laptop to take notes on, so i would rather spend less money on a kindle and save my eyes a little bit of stress.

[ViViDboarder]

If what you're looking for is an iPod Touch with a bigger screen, then great. iPad away!

But those of you that think this is a breakthrough product, you can quit kidding yourselves.

They hype was unbelievable and the end result is... Ok...

Steve said this fills the gap between iPod Touch/iPhone and Macbook... Not really... It's just a bigger version of the iPod Touch or iPhone.

It's more like an iPod Touch + eBook Reader. It's NOT a netbook killer or Tablet killer. This is all fine and good and makes sense for Apple. They don't want you to stop buying the MBP and buy this instead! They want you to buy both. They want you to use the App Store and not be able to download the same programs available on your desktop. They want you to have to upgrade to the next version so you can get a camera and not be able to buy a USB camera or install your own.

Makes sense because they don't want to compete with themselves. It just make me feel foolish that I was ever excited to see what the next big thing was. I'm just not going to be very optimistic for iPhone OS 4.0.

Oh well... I want that Skiff Reader (http://www.skiff.com/skiff-reader.html) and a newer netbook (I already have an EeePC 900).

[jsbaugh]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

I wanted an Ipod Touch on a 10" screen, so whats your point? I assume you wont buy one, but there are many that will. When did Apple ever say that it wasn't going to be a large Touch? The expectations that you had for this device were driven by the false rumors swirling thru the web for the past year. They obviously didnt meet your expectations so sorry for the let down. Move on!

I will buy one with the dock and put it in my Kitchen. My wife will love it along with my kids. Guess what, that is the demographic apple was aiming at. Im sure I will use it, but I also have an iphone, macbook and Imac.

The hate for this device from some is ridiculous. Get over it, life goes on.

[aluren]

The biggest reason that I don't like the iPad is because it uses the iPhone OS. Had it used OSX, I would have been very impressed. Not many of us Apple followers (most of us are since we're on this forum) wants a big iPod Touch or saw anything innovative since we already know how the iPhone OS works. There's just no need for one since we either have that or a Mac. I recently saw touchscreen desktop/laptop version of Windows and thought that maybe Apple will go that path on their touchscreen version of the OSX, but I guess not.

[chris975d]

of course it's just a bigger ipod touch.

It is, however, priced accordingly. iPod touch goes from $199-$399. iPad goes from $499 on up.

I really don't see everyone's problem with this though. What's wrong with just a "big iPod Touch"? The Touch is a very capable device for it's intended purposes. Why can't we have increasing screen sizes without changing anything else? B**ching about it just being a bigger iPod Touch seems exactly the same as whining about "xxxxx company just came out with a 52 inch LCD TV! Why'd they do that? It's just their 27 inch LCD XXL-sized! Has the same bezel and everything!" Same thing with companies offering the exact same laptop in 13, 15, 17 inches, etc. Why do people buy that 17 inch laptop that has the exact same guts as the 13 inch? Because they may need the extra screen space, for whatever reason. Choice of size of your iPod Touch isn't a bad thing.
Apple made this because they see a market for it. If it doesn't sell, they will either let it die (like they seem to be doing with the Macbook Air and AppleTV), or they will merge the tech into an entirely new product. If you don't like this product in it's current state, don't buy it. If enough people "don't buy it", Apple will either make it into the product you want, or another company will step in and offer what you want.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I really don't see everyone's problem with this though. What's wrong with just a "big iPod Touch"? The Touch is a very capable device for it's intended purposes. Why can't we have increasing screen sizes without changing anything else? B**ching about it just being a bigger iPod Touch seems exactly the same as whining about "xxxxx company just came out with a 52 inch LCD TV! Why'd they do that? It's just their 27 inch LCD XXL-sized! Has the same bezel and everything!"

Does samsung claim their 52" is "magical" and "revolutionary" compared to the 27"? Does their CEO claim the 52" is "the most important thing i've ever done"? Does Samsung promote the 52" as a completely different product than the 27"?

Apple is marketing the iPad as the 2nd coming of Christ and its just a big ipod. If they marketed it as a big iPod people would be complaining a lot less here, i guarantee it. But no, Apple taks about the iPad like its the most glorious device ever made when its not. Its a 10" ipod touch without the camera.

People would complain about Samsung if they made a new 52" lcd and claimed it was a brand new device, held a big event for it, and called it "magical," but they dont because Samsung realizes that its just a bigger tv, like the iPad is just a bigger ipod.

[mrgreen4242]

Dude, you actually own an atv and are considering buying another?
Do you have one? Have you ever actually used one? It's fantastic. People seem to THINK they don't like the ATV but don't actually know because they've never actually used it. I rip all my DVDs to high quality h264 files (max iPod touch quality, which is honestly 99% of normal DVDs PQ), with the full 5.1 soundtrack+two channel DPLII audio+stereo commentary tracks, and softsubs (closed captions) which ends up about 1.7gb per movie.

I have just over 400 movies ripped right now. I rip TV shows as well (though I often drop surround sound for those) and have probably 25 or 30 seasons of various shows in my library. I store it all on external USB drives in my iMac and stream everything wirelessly to the ATV. It works flawlessly. I (and my wife and son) can watch anything we want, no commercials, no DVDs which means no menus, previews, etc, instant on. It keeps track of where I left off in a movie - for every movie, so I can watch something, my wife can take over with something else, I can come back and pickup where I left off, and she can do the same for her movie.

It's absolutely perfect for replacing cable TV with a $18 Netflix subscription (which I would have had along side cable anyways). I have rented something from the iTMS once, it's convenient but not priced very well. I think I am going to get a season pass for Lost season 6 ,though (no TV at all in my house - crappy antenna reception - and DVR either).

My only complaint is a lack of a subscription service or Netflix Instant Watch compatibility. I would pay a significant sum for a Netflix app on my ATV, and I would also likely buy into a subscription rental service from Apple.

The biggest reason that I don't like the iPad is because it uses the iPhone OS. Had it used OSX, I would have been very impressed. Not many of us Apple followers (most of us are since we're on this forum) wants a big iPod Touch or saw anything innovative since we already know how the iPhone OS works. There's just no need for one since we either have that or a Mac. I recently saw touchscreen desktop/laptop version of Windows and thought that maybe Apple will go that path on their touchscreen version of the OSX, but I guess not.

Have you ever actually used a touchscreen Windows system? I hate them, and I'm not alone. There's a reason that there have been tablet PCs for 10 years and none of them have actually sold well. They fill a small niche market (people who need a handwriting input method on a computer) but all in all, they have 0 mass appeal.

The reason is that laying a touch interface onto a desktop OS just doesn't work well. The iPhone OS was really the only choice. There are a lot of improvements Apple can/should make to the current iPhone OS 3.x to leverage the iPad, but it's a much, much better starting point for a tablet than OSX 10.6 (or Windows) would have been.

[SimonMW]

The way I see it is that most people are disappointed because they built it up in their minds, and in the end it didn't do what *they* wanted it to do.

The iPad is their product. Apple snobs hate this, since they wanted something for themselves. But Apple weren't going to make yet another portable Mac that eats away at their own sales, they needed a new product category.

I agree. This iPad fills a gap. Unfortunately the power users don't seem to be able to get this through their skulls judging by these forums.

[Anuba]

I store it all on external USB drives in my iMac and stream everything wirelessly to the ATV.
And therein lies the rub, you need your iMac running. Personally I use a Mac Mini for my TV so that I can play both iTunes content and DivX movies through FrontRow, and the files are on a NAS drive. When the ATV was first introduced, I was interested until the puny 40 GB hard drive was mentioned. I haven't looked at it since.

[calderone]

The way I see it is that most people are disappointed because they built it up in their minds, and in the end it didn't do what *they* wanted it to do.



I agree. This iPad fills a gap. Unfortunately the power users don't seem to be able to get this through their skulls judging by these forums.

I am a "power user" (actually a sys admin) and I want one of these things. I have a Pro for heavy lifting. My Air, while small, is annoying to use for the quick lookups or a check on the server. I am just going to write a few apps to take care of the typical tasks, after that the iPad will do just fine at replacing my Air.

[Hmac]

I am a "power user" (actually a sys admin) and I want one of these things. I have a Pro for heavy lifting. My Air, while small, is annoying to use for the quick lookups or a check on the server. I am just going to write a few apps to take care of the typical tasks, after that the iPad will do just fine at replacing my Air.

This is exactly what our IT guys have been doing here too, using an iPhone. They are literally salivating waiting to get their hands on the iPad

[PhoneI]

Had it used OSX, I would have been very impressed. Not many of us Apple followers (most of us are since we're on this forum) wants a big iPod Touch or saw anything innovative since we already know how the iPhone OS works.

Well, this Apple follower never wanted a scaled down version of OSX shoehorned into a touch device.

[mrgreen4242]

And therein lies the rub, you need your iMac running. Personally I use a Mac Mini for my TV so that I can play both iTunes content and DivX movies through FrontRow, and the files are on a NAS drive. When the ATV was first introduced, I was interested until the puny 40 GB hard drive was mentioned. I haven't looked at it since.

Well, your mini was, what, $550+? The ATV was $150-200. I leave my iMac on all the time anyways, so it's not a big deal for me. I don't know anyone who turns off their computers anymore (I know it's a power waster, but...).

I convert XVIDs to .mp4s. Lose some quality, but if I wanted high quality files I would get the DVD and do a good rip with 5.1 sound, etc. It would be nice if the ATV could feed directly from a network attached drive, but it's hardly a $300+ problem in my book.

[JohnnyQuest]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

If you don't need it...then don't get it.

It's quite simple.

Maybe YOU are the "fail" in this situation since you expected some crazy, $1000 computer revolution, and instead are disappointed in a great product...

[chris975d]

Does samsung claim their 52" is "magical" and "revolutionary" compared to the 27"? Does their CEO claim the 52" is "the most important thing i've ever done"? Does Samsung promote the 52" as a completely different product than the 27"?

Apple is marketing the iPad as the 2nd coming of Christ and its just a big ipod. If they marketed it as a big iPod people would be complaining a lot less here, i guarantee it. But no, Apple taks about the iPad like its the most glorious device ever made when its not. Its a 10" ipod touch without the camera.

People would complain about Samsung if they made a new 52" lcd and claimed it was a brand new device, held a big event for it, and called it "magical," but they dont because Samsung realizes that its just a bigger tv, like the iPad is just a bigger ipod.

Ok, good point. I see where you're coming from on the advertising part of this. But, Apple has always advertised like this, with words and catchy slogans, phrases, etc. But I do understand what you are saying.

[colmaclean]

The biggest reason that I don't like the iPad is because it uses the iPhone OS. Had it used OSX, I would have been very impressed.

Use VNC on an iPhone to connect to a Mac and you'll find OS X is a crap experience using a touchscreen.

[SteveSparks]

Epic Fail for you.

Win for me. Everything that needs to be done on the one we will be buying - is currently being done on a Touch, we just wish for the larger screen space.

Epic WIN for my house :D

I am the same.

Win for the screen size
Win for the optional 3g
Win for new iBooks
Win for Dock with Keyboard
Win for iPhone app compatiable
Win for the closed Eco-system
Safer for my Kids/Family
No Porn Apps

This device will replace my wides computer when it comes to
Email
Web
Database for Kitchen (bento)

This device will replace
My Kindle
Using both iBooks and Kindle App
My Netbook
Upload photos to it when I travel
Which I check email and surf during my lunch break at work
My Touch
Which I have to listen to music so my iPhone wind be dead if work calls.

[dagomike]

It's funny how people need to justify both buying and not buying these products. Not buying is the most entertaining because they need to rip the product to shreds. I remember the original iPhone (ZOMG $600?!) 3G (ZOMG ATT 3G SUX) 3GS (ZOMG it looks the same).

Call it a giant iPod Touch. It is. it's much more powerful. And much bigger. And does more. What's wrong with that?

[Anuba]

Call it a giant iPod Touch. It is. it's much more powerful. And much bigger. And does more. What's wrong with that?
I think you need to look closer at the psychology of it. People honestly don't think it's all that "wrong" with a giant iPod Touch. The anger has much more to do with the minimal effort involved. How hard is it to size up an iPod Touch, really? They already had multitouch. They already had the iPhone OS. And from an engineering POV it can't be all that difficult to do for people whose traditional challenge involves constantly making things smaller. So why did it take 2.5 years and where's the monumental accomplishment?

[aluren]

Use VNC on an iPhone to connect to a Mac and you'll find OS X is a crap experience using a touchscreen.

Hmm... then maybe a variation of the OSX would work better. In any case, I just don't think the iPhone OS is right for the iPad since the iPhone OS is optimized for small screens, condensing everything to fit it. Apple should've had a hybrid OS for the iPad.

[fridgeymonster3]

Do you have one? Have you ever actually used one? It's fantastic. People seem to THINK they don't like the ATV but don't actually know because they've never actually used it. I rip all my DVDs to high quality h264 files (max iPod touch quality, which is honestly 99% of normal DVDs PQ), with the full 5.1 soundtrack+two channel DPLII audio+stereo commentary tracks, and softsubs (closed captions) which ends up about 1.7gb per movie.

Yes, I've used one before at a friend's house. Works, but outdated and under performs. It can't handle 1080p Blu-Ray rip playback with HD audio. Forget the HD audio, it can't handle 1080p, even if you extract 5.1 DTS/DD from DTS-HD or True-HD. Oh, and it has that 4 GB, give or take, file size limit.

[fridgeymonster3]

Hmm... then maybe a variation of the OSX would work better. In any case, I just don't think the iPhone OS is right for the iPad since the iPhone OS is optimized for small screens, condensing everything to fit it. Apple should've had a hybrid OS for the iPad.

Yeah a hybrid OS and multi-tasking where two things I thought would definitely be incorporated into a tablet. Just using the iPhone OS with no multi-tasking on that 1 ghz that "screams" seems pretty pathetic to me.

[bobob]

This device will replace my wides computer...

I'm no expert on marriage, but I'm pretty sure that referring to your spouse as your "wide" is a recipe for disaster.

:eek:

[dgree03]

Exactly! All I can think of when people complain about it being "just" a giant iPod Touch, is that the iPod is too small to use. I'm a programmer, and I definitely need my desktops, but I hate the ergonomics of laptops, and I hate tiny little devices whose only selling point is that they fit in your pocket. So what? Lots of things fit in my pocket, that doesn't make them useful web browsers.

I think the MacBook Air was Jobs' attempt to make a really portable device that was useful, but it is really just another laptop. The iPad is much better.

Ipad is better than a laptop? Hmm do tell...

[dagomike]

I think you need to look closer at the psychology of it. People honestly don't think it's all that "wrong" with a giant iPod Touch. The anger has much more to do with the minimal effort involved. How hard is it to size up an iPod Touch, really? They already had multitouch. They already had the iPhone OS. And from an engineering POV it can't be all that difficult to do for people whose traditional challenge involves constantly making things smaller. So why did it take 2.5 years and where's the monumental accomplishment?

Well first, there's no reason to think the iPad product was green lighted before Jobs returned to Apple last summer. Second, there most certainly were many obstacles in making this product a reality at its price point, on top of prepping the iPhone OS.

Anyway... so it doesn't make all your dreams come true. Evaluate it for what it is, not what you wish it to be.

The iPod Touch and iPhone have a lot of potential that's limited by its screen size. The iPad addresses this.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I think you need to look closer at the psychology of it. People honestly don't think it's all that "wrong" with a giant iPod Touch. The anger has much more to do with the minimal effort involved. How hard is it to size up an iPod Touch, really? They already had multitouch. They already had the iPhone OS. And from an engineering POV it can't be all that difficult to do for people whose traditional challenge involves constantly making things smaller. So why did it take 2.5 years and where's the monumental accomplishment?

This. There was such a huge buildup and elaborate presentation... People couldnt sit still in their seats... They had to know what Steve was going to show them. They couldnt wait another day to hear about the "latest creation"!!!!

Then all that instantly melted away when it ended up being a giant ipod. Sure, its a faster ipod. Its got a very pretty screen. But its still just a big ipod (sans camera, too!). There was huge potential but apple didnt run anywhere with it. They took an ipod, stretched it out, and added a book store.

People yearn for the apple from several years ago. The apple that was dripping with innovation and progression. This keynote took away all the "magic" (so to speak) of Apple's events.

[ViViDboarder]

This. There was such a huge buildup and elaborate presentation... People couldnt sit still in their seats... They had to know what Steve was going to show them. They couldnt wait another day to hear about the "latest creation"!!!!

Then all that instantly melted away when it ended up being a giant ipod. Sure, its a faster ipod. Its got a very pretty screen. But its still just a big ipod (sans camera, too!). There was huge potential but apple didnt run anywhere with it. They took an ipod, stretched it out, and added a book store.

People yearn for the apple from several years ago. The apple that was dripping with innovation and progression. This keynote took away all the "magic" (so to speak) of Apple's events.

Tada!!!!

Haha. If you want a giant iPod touch, there you go! But the OP was right. If you think this is more than that, you are lying to yourself.

Heck, the Nexus one does more with the same speed processor. Only downside on that one is the smaller screen!

Anyone with an iPhone getting this? What you want an eBook reader? There are lots of those that have ePaper screens, which are easier on the eyes anyway. There was no breakthrough technology yesterday. The magic they must be referring to is that some people will still want it!

The Apple TV was the same way. It doesn't do anything that you can't do with a better alternative device. I can stream iTunes anything to my Xbox360 or PS3 just fine and it's the same price. I can do anything the iPad can do and more on a Nexus one. Even if I buy it without a plan and just use Wifi.

[JonHimself]

"Remember thread #855728" doesn't have the same ring to it as, "Remember thread #500?

[mrgreen4242]

Yes, I've used one before at a friend's house. Works, but outdated and under performs. It can't handle 1080p Blu-Ray rip playback with HD audio. Forget the HD audio, it can't handle 1080p, even if you extract 5.1 DTS/DD from DTS-HD or True-HD. Oh, and it has that 4 GB, give or take, file size limit.

There's the fundamental issue. I see no reason to compare the ATV to a BD player. First, I don't want or need 7.1 sound. 5.1 is perfectly adequate, imo. I bet you could hang up 7 speakers in a room, turn off 2 of them, sit someone in the middle of the room and tell them it's 7.1 and they'd have no idea.

Second, the tradeoff of 1080p and a disc and 480p with no disc is a non starter for me. I don't like discs. Third, being able to keep a single file that will play on my iMac, netbook, AppleTV, and iPod is a great convenience. Lastly, DVD quality (480p) content looks good to me, even on my 98" projector screen. I make no claim that 1080p doesn't look better, but for me, movies beyond 480p widescreen show a diminishing return. There's a healthy bump at 720p, but not as much as from VHS (which was sub 480i, as I recall) to DVD (480p), and the move to 1080p is almost negligible compared to 720p.

That's just, like, my opinion, man. (If you haven't seen The Big Lebowski, go now... it's good at even YouTube quality levels).

[spazattack674]

If perhaps there was a stylus to write physical notes, and perhaps and app that would let you actually insert pages of notes into the textbook, where you could see your actual notes by page, or if you like, completely separate from your textbook, then I would say this would be great. Even without this, it would be nice to have all your books in one place so you wouldn't have to lug around textbooks; however, in college I found that students rarely need their textbooks for classes.

That would be a product worth buying, and would make the iPad something othe than another outlet for Internet/music/email and would set it apart from Amazon's Kindle, which at present, is far better for reading books.

[daneoni]

Agreed with the OP and i find it even more funny that they didn't even bother to 'enhance' it a bit with multitasking, video conferencing, flash support, Newton-style hand writing recognition etc.

Nope. Just make iTunes/iWork/iPhoto prettier, ripoff Delicious library, scale everything up to a 9.7" screen and eh presto!...the new 'revolutionary' iPad ladies & gents. NOT!

It's LITERALLY an iPod Touch (even an iPhone has more functionality) with a 9.7" screen. The End!

[JonHimself]

Agreed with the OP and i find it even more funny that they didn't even bother to 'enhance' it a bit with multitasking, video conferencing, flash support, Newton-style hand writing recognition etc.

Nope. Just make iTunes/iWork/iPhoto prettier, ripoff Delicious library, scale everything up to a 9.7" screen and eh presto!...the new 'revolutionary' iPad ladies & gents. NOT!

It's LITERALLY an iPod Touch (even an iPhone has more functionality) with a 9.7" screen. The End!

If I can't trust that you understand what the word "literally" means, how can I trust the rest of your post?

[powder90]

right now it's a big iPod touch. once software has been designed specifically for the iPad, it will become much more.

bottom line, millions will be sold. the people that say they will never own one will buy one. if they don't, they'll walk around hating on everyone with one.

i think people may have actually been expecting a cure for cancer or world hunger... sheesh.

:D

[bossxii]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.


... and yet somehow crying and screaming on some forums that you hate it doesn't make you look silly? :rolleyes:

[qtx43]

Ipad is better than a laptop? Hmm do tell...Yes it is, for the way I use it. I find a trackpad almost impossible to use, and keeping my legs steady and hunching over to type doesn't work either. However, I do read books in chairs and in bed all the time. This is about the size of a book, and with the OS's interface designed for touching the screen, it should work out great.

Now you tell me how easy it is to read a book, or browse the web, on a tiny little cell phone? Or how easy it is to use a laptop or a mouse in bed? Yes, calling it 'magical' is over the top. That's what Job's does, he's a salesman. People also love the iPhone (I don't), but it doesn't do anything that other smartphones already did, but with a slicker interface. That's the big advantage Apple has over Windows -- Mac OSX and variants.

[luxx80]

2. No front facing camera (that my MBP has) for video conferencing/myspace portraits.

3. No Mac OS. I don't need a bigger device that runs the same apps as my IPT.

4. No stylus support like a wacom tablet. If this thing had that + mac os + photoshop I'd be the happiest person in the world.



+1

:)

[powder90]

... and yet somehow crying and screaming on some forums that you hate it doesn't make you look silly? :rolleyes:

not to mention the use of phrases like FAIL and EPIC FAIL. too funny.:o

[NoSmokingBandit]

Anyone with an iPhone getting this? What you want an eBook reader? There are lots of those that have ePaper screens, which are easier on the eyes anyway. There was no breakthrough technology yesterday. The magic they must be referring to is that some people will still want it!


Thats the kicker. If someone has an ipod touch or an iphone the only benefit is that the iPad has the bookstore. So instead of spending $500 on an iPad why not spend $300 on a kindle that will last longer on one charge, wont kill your eyes, and has free 3g access to books anywhere in the world.

So then what about people who have no iphone/touch. They get all the features of the touch, plus books for $500. Or!!! They could buy a touch to keep in their pocket at all times, and get a kindle to read with. Thats $300 for a 32gb touch and $200 for a used kindle (why not used?). Thats $500 and you get a whole lot more than the iPad offers, even if you do have to carry two devices. Though i would prefer the touch/kindle combo because i have all the functionality of the ipod in my pocket and i only have to grab the kindle to read. With the iPad you have to take the whole big thing with you even if all you want is safari.

[qtx43]

Thats the kicker. If someone has an ipod touch or an iphone the only benefit is that the iPad has the bookstore. So instead of spending $500 on an iPad why not spend $300 on a kindle that will last longer on one charge, wont kill your eyes, and has free 3g access to books anywhere in the world.

So then what about people who have no iphone/touch. They get all the features of the touch, plus books for $500. Or!!! They could buy a touch to keep in their pocket at all times, and get a kindle to read with. Thats $300 for a 32gb touch and $200 for a used kindle (why not used?). Thats $500 and you get a whole lot more than the iPad offers, even if you do have to carry two devices. Though i would prefer the touch/kindle combo because i have all the functionality of the ipod in my pocket and i only have to grab the kindle to read. With the iPad you have to take the whole big thing with you even if all you want is safari.I'm glad for you that that combo works for you, but a $259 kindle only has a 6" screen, and the iPod Touch is completely useless to me as it is too small. The newer 9.7" kindle is very nice, but only does one thing and is only $10 cheaper than an iPad.

[eezing]

At the end of the day all you can is form your own opinion, everyone is going to have a different view on it, some will secretly dislike it but will defend it because they feel loyal to Apple and anything they do. Some will geniunely love it and have a need for it.... the point is going back and forth and assuming everyone feels the same way you do about it pretty pointless.

That being said I am in the same boat as you, I feel this is a total piece of crap and Apple should be laughed at for making an oversized iPod touch and trying to pass it off as a new "magical" product lol. In my eyes they look really stupid right now, BUT i'm willing to bet this thing sells well and they make a ton of money from it. I definitely will not be buying it since i find it pretty stupid and have no need for it since I have an iPhone and a MBP.... but the guy standing next to me might have his credit card out already.

+1

Steve Jobs sounded like a jerk off yesterday spouting words like "magical" and "most advanced". I'd take a Windows 7 tablet over that thing any day of the week.

[colmaclean]

Thats the kicker. If someone has an ipod touch or an iphone the only benefit is that the iPad has the bookstore. So instead of spending $500 on an iPad why not spend $300 on a kindle that will last longer on one charge, wont kill your eyes, and has free 3g access to books anywhere in the world.

I have an iPhone, want this device and have no interest in the book reading facility. The bigger screen is a game-changer - surfing on the iPhone is for short-term fixes only.

[bossxii]

Thats the kicker. If someone has an ipod touch or an iphone the only benefit is that the iPad has the bookstore. So instead of spending $500 on an iPad why not spend $300 on a kindle that will last longer on one charge, wont kill your eyes, and has free 3g access to books anywhere in the world.

So then what about people who have no iphone/touch. They get all the features of the touch, plus books for $500. Or!!! They could buy a touch to keep in their pocket at all times, and get a kindle to read with. Thats $300 for a 32gb touch and $200 for a used kindle (why not used?). Thats $500 and you get a whole lot more than the iPad offers, even if you do have to carry two devices. Though i would prefer the touch/kindle combo because i have all the functionality of the ipod in my pocket and i only have to grab the kindle to read. With the iPad you have to take the whole big thing with you even if all you want is safari.

I'm sorry you cannot see any use for this beyond an ereader, but to each his own.

I'll be enjoying my movies on a larger screen, my email in a much better format. I'll really enjoy running my Slingbox app streaming TV to a 10" vs a 3.5" screen when I'm away from home.

As I have stated in another thread, I don't find a single app on my iPhone that I think "OMG this is going to suck on a 10" screen". It's funny how any other product line, such as a monitor for your computer... everyone wants a bigger one! but yet they don't' so anything different than the smaller one right? Oh well sure they give you screen real estate so you can be more productive? Go figure...

Why do people bother with any TV's larger than 19" hell it does the same thing as those 60 or 70" flat screens? What is the point? It's just a BIGGER TV! Why the hell would ANYONE want that?

Having the same, plus some expanded use out of a device we already enjoy using sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I understand people want everything on the iPad their Quad core iMac, Mac Pro, MBP etc... has but that's not what Apple believes will sell at the price point they set. They put out a media device they believe will sell to the masses. I for one believe they are right.

It's not perfect, sure I "wish" it has some other features, but it still will make a great device as it is. If you don't like it, move on. Simple as that.

[daneoni]

If I can't trust that you understand what the word "literally" means, how can I trust the rest of your post?

I don't need you to

[SnowLeopard2008]

Thats the kicker. If someone has an ipod touch or an iphone the only benefit is that the iPad has the bookstore. So instead of spending $500 on an iPad why not spend $300 on a kindle that will last longer on one charge, wont kill your eyes, and has free 3g access to books anywhere in the world.

So then what about people who have no iphone/touch. They get all the features of the touch, plus books for $500. Or!!! They could buy a touch to keep in their pocket at all times, and get a kindle to read with. Thats $300 for a 32gb touch and $200 for a used kindle (why not used?). Thats $500 and you get a whole lot more than the iPad offers, even if you do have to carry two devices. Though i would prefer the touch/kindle combo because i have all the functionality of the ipod in my pocket and i only have to grab the kindle to read. With the iPad you have to take the whole big thing with you even if all you want is safari.

E-Ink not E-paper. The latter is a very different technology. The Kindle's screen is not easy on the eyes. Human eyes were made to see color while the Kindle only does like 16 shades of grey or something. If you have no trouble looking at your computer screen for a few hours, the iPad is no different. How much time do you spend reading emails, articles, forum posts, IM sessions, etc. on your computer?

Let's do a comparison:

iPad - $500
eBook reader
iPod, music, movies, pictures, etc.
App Store (140,000+ apps), gaming device
Email
Wifi (3G costs $129 more)
Web browser
Word processor, presentation and spreadsheets
9.7" capacitive multi touch
Picture frame!

Kindle - $250
eBook reader

I'm not paying $250 for just an eBook reader and a crap screen. Yes, I can read books under 100% direct sunlight so what? E-Ink displays are not practical. Slow refresh times, absurd prices, and only black/white. No thanks. Why not just buy a real book? It's not like I'm going to actually read 2000 books or whatever the Kindle can hold.

The iPad is an eBook reader and more. It's got 140,000 apps. It's got eBooks, games, movies, music, etc. I can even do word processing, create and give presentations, and do spreadsheets. Not only that, I get a bigger, brighter and *GASP* COLOR screen. Sure, there's glare but who is going to force me to read under 100% direct sunlight? I don't notice glare nor am I affected by it when I do notice it on my iPod touch or MBP. I can see my iPod screen just as clearly outside as inside.

I'm not paying $250 to buy a JUST book reader. I don't even get any books. I have to spend more money to buy books just for my book reader. It's like spending $100,000 for a Ferrari and the dealer doesn't give me any gas nor an engine for the drive home. I''m already paying a premium, and for what? To limit myself to reading books under 100% direct sunlight in order to actually benefit from the E-Ink display and seeing only black/white when my eyes are capable of color.

[elmancho]

LMAO..... That's the exact same thing I said in another thread. They didn't even make the icons big enough for the screen. Looks like they just grabed them from a touch and glued it on.

Haha, so true!

[muttonhead411]

Try looking past the manner at which the OP wrote his first post and look instead at the matter that he wrote. He does make sense, and if you dont agree with him, thats fine. However if all you can do is mock him, you are the person he (and the many others) are describing in this thread.

[jezza69]

im a disappointed by the ipad im sure it will sell really well and also do whats its made to do really well but i would have liked to have seen a slimmed down os x on this thing or keep what they have for a base model and have higher spec model running os x for a little bit more coin would have been really nice...

[r0k]

Apple with iPad is in a similar position M$ was in with XBOX. It can lose money for a while and it's no problem. There have been many times I have been sitting with my iTouch or my laptop thinking they were clunky and uncomfortable to use. I believe the iPad will sell quickly and sell well, not because it is God's gift to the world and a stroke of genius but because it is comfortable to use, has decent content, and made (some) of the right compromises. If I get one, and I probably will get one, I plan to get a bt keyboard so I can use the full screen in portrait mode for creating documents. I think I can live with the $500 model if I keep my files on NAS. There's a lot of compromises to get to $500 but I think the iPad will be a winner. Feminine hygiene jokes aside.

[colmaclean]

im a disappointed by the ipad im sure it will sell really well and also do whats its made to do really well but i would have liked to have seen a slimmed down os x on this thing or keep what they have for a base model and have higher spec model running os x for a little bit more coin would have been really nice...

Wouldn't a slimmed-down OS X only run specially-written slimmed-down applications?

[skubish]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.
Right on!
Apple couldn't even put flash in the thing.



iPad=iFail

[Kristenn]

iPod Touch/iPhone can't run iWork. You fail. GTFO

[sinsin07]

There's the fundamental issue. I see no reason to compare the ATV to a BD player. First, I don't want or need 7.1 sound. 5.1 is perfectly adequate, imo. I bet you could hang up 7 speakers in a room, turn off 2 of them, sit someone in the middle of the room and tell them it's 7.1 and they'd have no idea.

Second, the tradeoff of 1080p and a disc and 480p with no disc is a non starter for me. I don't like discs. Third, being able to keep a single file that will play on my iMac, netbook, AppleTV, and iPod is a great convenience. Lastly, DVD quality (480p) content looks good to me, even on my 98" projector screen. I make no claim that 1080p doesn't look better, but for me, movies beyond 480p widescreen show a diminishing return. There's a healthy bump at 720p, but not as much as from VHS (which was sub 480i, as I recall) to DVD (480p), and the move to 1080p is almost negligible compared to 720p.

That's just, like, my opinion, man. (If you haven't seen The Big Lebowski, go now... it's good at even YouTube quality levels).

This sounds delusional. Go here, http://www.avsforum.com, study the forums for about six months and you might learn something. I wouldn't post any comments though, you might get your ass handed to you.

[GermanSuplex]

This sounds delusional. Go here, http://www.avsforum.com, study the forums for about six months and you might learn something. I wouldn't post any comments though, you might get your ass handed to you.

It doesn't sound delusional at all to me.

I agree with most of it. 720p looks good, but I often still buy DVD's or SD iTunes movies because the convenience far outweighs the quality for me.

Obviously the people on the forums you mention are well educated in home theater, but that doesn't mean the majority of people can tell a difference between 7.1 and 5.1.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I make no claim that 1080p doesn't look better, but for me, movies beyond 480p widescreen show a diminishing return. There's a healthy bump at 720p, but not as much as from VHS (which was sub 480i, as I recall) to DVD (480p), and the move to 1080p is almost negligible compared to 720p.

Im being completely serious here.
If you dont notice a massive jump in quality from upscaled 480 to 1080p you should go have your eyes checked. I have a 47" lcd in my living room and its a night/day difference going from 480 upscaled to 1080p. I notice quite an increase in detail going from 720 to 1080 as well. You either have a projector calibration issue or your eyes arent as good as they should be.

[sinsin07]

It doesn't sound delusional at all to me.

I agree with most of it. 720p looks good, but I often still buy DVD's or SD iTunes movies because the convenience far outweighs the quality for me.

Obviously the people on the forums you mention are well educated in home theater, but that doesn't mean the majority of people can tell a difference between 7.1 and 5.1.

First, you took only part of what the other poster is saying and commented on it. Secondly why you go out and buy DVDs is irrelevant in this topic, that is a personal choice, not a technical subject. If you took the time to look, not everyone in there has a home theater. But they do have ATVs, HTPCs, Blueray, projectors, PS3, Xbox, etc..

[GermanSuplex]

First, you took only part of what the other poster is saying and commented on it. Secondly why you go out and buy DVDs is irrelevant in this topic, that is a personal choice, not a technical subject. If you took the time to look, not everyone in there has a home theater. But they do have ATVs, HTPCs, Blueray, projectors, PS3, Xbox, etc..


I didn't just comment on one part. And ATV, Blu-Ray, PS3, etc. are used by some for home theater purposes.

I didn't feel the need to break down every point because I agreed with the general point of his post and it didn't sound delusional at all to me. Whether you agree or not is one thing, but he didn't seem uneducated on the issue or delusional as you tried to make it sound.

[mashinhead]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.


No offense dude but I don't think you get this product entirely. What this is, is the future of laptops, it is a touch screen computer that, though not yet, but in the future will run desktop applications, and will change the way we interact with computers. That's the 'revolution', is that in this product, not entirely but it will be, I mean look at iphone 1 vs 3. You'll see that kind of evolution with this product.

[dave1812dave]

I'm glad for you that that combo works for you, but a $259 kindle only has a 6" screen, and the iPod Touch is completely useless to me as it is too small. The newer 9.7" kindle is very nice, but only does one thing and is only $10 cheaper than an iPad.

"too small" to do WHAT, exactly?

[dave1812dave]

No offense dude but I don't think you get this product entirely. What this is, is the future of laptops, it is a touch screen computer that, though not yet, but in the future will run desktop applications, and will change the way we interact with computers. That's the 'revolution', is that in this product, not entirely but it will be, I mean look at iphone 1 vs 3. You'll see that kind of evolution with this product.

You can't be serious! You think that everyone will want to be hampered by an onscreen keyboard? one that takes away from the size of the displayed application? I bet you thought that computers would spell the doom of paper, too. "the paperless office" What a joke!

[GermanSuplex]

"too small" to do WHAT, exactly?

You don't think browsing the web for long periods of time or reading an ebook would be better on this than an iPod touch? Don't get me wrong, my iPhone is nice for those things, but if I'm on a flight or waiting somewhere, this would be way better at those things.

[specialbuddy]

The only Apple product I have bought is an iPod Touch. I love the thing. I think everyone was excited about a tablet that could run OSX. This thing just seems like a waste of money. It has none of the features of a netbook(usb ports, real OS, sd card, display port, headphone jack, camera) but costs the same. It might still work but I think most people outside of the MacRumors world are not impressed with this device. I agree with the op.

[NT1440]

The device does have a headphone jack. Just so you know.

This is supposed to change how we interact with computers, why everyone keeps comparing it 1:1 with a netbook is beyond me. I really think its one of those things youll have to hold to appreciate the overall experience.

[fehhkk]

If the iPad ran OS X, I'd be all over it. That's the biggest dealbreaker, the iPod touch OS.

[calderone]

The only Apple product I have bought is an iPod Touch. I love the thing. I think everyone was excited about a tablet that could run OSX. This thing just seems like a waste of money. It has none of the features of a netbook(usb ports, real OS, sd card, display port, headphone jack, camera) but costs the same. It might still work but I think most people outside of the MacRumors world are not impressed with this device. I agree with the op.

1. It has a real OS, if by real you mean it exists. If you mean something more, then clarify what a "real" OS is.

2. You can add a camera kit, which allows you to plug in a USB port or SD card via 30 pin connector. Of course, this only works for cameras.

3. It has a headphone jack. Come on, did you even look at the specs page?

4. It has video out adapters for connecting to displays and projectors, albeit not high res.

[specialbuddy]

1. It has a real OS, if by real you mean it exists. If you mean something more, then clarify what a "real" OS is.

2. You can add a camera kit, which allows you to plug in a USB port or SD card via 30 pin connector. Of course, this only works for cameras.

3. It has a headphone jack. Come on, did you even look at the specs page?

4. It has video out adapters for connecting to displays and projectors, albeit not high res.

The gallery on their site doesn't show one. Still, the thing is a waste of money.

[calderone]

The gallery on their site doesn't show one. Still, the thing is a waste of money, in my opinion.

Can you read or do you just look at pictures? And, yes, it is in the gallery, it just isn't labeled.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

And I fixed that for you.

[NT1440]

The gallery on their site doesn't show one. Still, the thing is a waste of money.

I guess reading is a bit too much to ask when trying to support your own arguments right?

[specialbuddy]

Can you read or do you just look at pictures?

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

And I fixed that for you.

I found some pics on Engadget. Sorry, it does have a headphone jack but it's still missing everything else.

Yes I can read. I didn't read the specs because it's a boring product. Thanks for putting me down though because I don't love the iPad.

[NT1440]

I found some pics on Engadget. Sorry, it does have a headphone jack but it's still missing everything else.

Yes I can read. I didn't read the specs because it's a boring product. Thanks for putting me down though because I don't love the iPad.

I put down people who don't bother to do their homework when bashing things. I don't love the iPad either, I just like some honesty in the discussion.

[calderone]

I found some pics on Engadget. Sorry, it does have a headphone jack but it's still missing everything else.

Yes I can read. I didn't read the specs because it's a boring product. Thanks for putting me down though because I don't love the iPad.

No, I put you down because you are willing to bash something without even looking at the damn product page.

[specialbuddy]

I put down people who don't bother to do their homework when bashing things. I don't love the iPad either, I just like some honesty in the discussion.
So sorry. I'll be more careful next time.

[NT1440]

No, I put you down because you are willing to bash something without even looking at the damn product page.
b-b-b-ut it was too boring to look at, yet somehow a hot enough topic to warrant him wanting to bash it for not being something its not designed to be.

[specialbuddy]

No, I put you down because you are willing to bash something without even looking at the damn product page.

I looked at the gallery page and there was no headphone jack in any of the pictures. Look for yourself. Why can't I bash the product?

[calderone]

I looked at the gallery page and there was no headphone jack in any of the pictures. Look for yourself. Why can't I bash the product?

http://www.apple.com/ipad/gallery/

What do you think that hole on the one labeled "Top" is for?

You can bash the product all you want, although it is a little stale now. But at the very least educate yourself about the product you want to bash.

[NT1440]

I looked at the gallery page and there was no headphone jack in any of the pictures. Look for yourself. Why can't I bash the product?

You can bash all you want, but its kinda like looking at "the tea party". Make all the noise you want, but its you that should be embarrassed that your facts aren't straight.

Basically, if you care enough to speak out against something, at least be informed about it first.

[specialbuddy]

You guys get frazzled so easy. Peace out.

[calderone]

You guys get frazzled so easy. Peace out.

Read: "I just got told. I am going to cry in the corner now."

You brought that on yourself by not doing the research. Don't turn it around on us and suggest we are "frazzled." Trust me, you are but a Higgs-Boson on the window of my life.

[specialbuddy]

Read: "I just got told. I am going to cry in the corner now."

You brought that on yourself by not doing the research. Don't turn it around on us and suggest we are "frazzled." Trust me, you are but a Higgs-Boson on the window of my life.

Yeah you guys totally schooled me over a headphone jack. Gold star for you.

[calderone]

Yeah you guys totally schooled me over a headphone jack. Gold star for you.

Do you really want to keep pushing this? You were the one who put your foot in your mouth and can not look at pictures and discern various components.

[NT1440]

Yeah you guys totally schooled me over a headphone jack. Gold star for you.

The gracious thing to say would be "Yes, I was wrong on that front and it was my mistake. However, my other points...."

[andiwm2003]

i don't get why people are dissappointed with the iPad because it is just a large iPod touch. the only reason why i'm not happy with my iphone is that it's screen is too small and i can't view and edit (very limited) in iworks. so it fit's exactly what is needed. it's a good thing that it is a large iPod touch. i always wanted a big ipod touch.:confused:

the things that are negative are not the concept of the device per se. it's some missing features like webcam, sd card slot, hdmi out. but the concept is perfect. just maybe a bit expensive for some people.

i would use it probably 2 hrs a day during work and quite a lot at home in the evenings.

hell, i use my iphone at home to check news and mail because i don't want to carry a laptop around, open the screen, log in just to see if I have new mail. but then when I get a mail with an attachment the screen is to small to really read it. the ipad solves that problem.

it's a web browsing toy for the couch, a email checking device that's semi mobile and i can be productive in certain niches (carry manuals with you as a repair engineer, show patients data and xrays in a dr.s practice and such).

someone please explain me why it is bad that it is a big ipod touch?

[Hmac]

So sorry. I'll be more careful next time.

I doubt it.

[miki66]

the ipad, no matter how many times I see it, how much comment I've heard about, it's just a huge iphone. SURELY there's gonna be some people loving it and buying it, but it's never revolutionary nor creative.

[btbrossard]

I like how people are getting pissed at other people because they like the iPad and intend to buy one.

If you don't like it, don't flipping buy one. End of story.

I think it fits my needs for a light web surfing device while I'm sitting on the couch. I know, to most of you, that makes me retarded for even considering spending MY money on such a thing.

[3N16MA]

I think you need to stop lying to yourself and admit you really love the iPad. Don't even try to say that you do not. We all know you secretly want one and will most likely buy it on day one.

[NoSmokingBandit]

i don't get why people are dissappointed with the iPad because it is just a large iPod touch.

the ipad, no matter how many times I see it, how much comment I've heard about, it's just a huge iphone. SURELY there's gonna be some people loving it and buying it, but it's never revolutionary nor creative.

Thats it. People are used to Apple taking a simple idea and making it amazing. Theres so many great paths they could have taken with the tablet. I was ready to buy one if it ran OSX (Garageband + tablet = portable studio for quick takes).

But instead Apple brings out a giant ipod and talks about it like it is the great device everyone wanted it to be.

While i am disappointed its just a giant ipod i would be much less disappointed if Apple marketed it as a giant ipod instead of something revolutionary. A good keynote would have been i3/i5 cpus in the mbps, iLife 10 announced, and the iPad. Instead is was a boring hour long demo of an ipod.

The problem isnt that the iPad is an iPod, its that it could have, and should have been so much more than that. It really just feels like they slapped it together over the weekend and threw in words like "revolutionary" and "magical" so the average idiot and fanboy think it actually is something revolutionary.

[calderone]

You are not looking forward. It is the apps that will differentiate it.

[Whorehay]

I agree with the ranting that this is just a bigger iPod touch.

But it'll sell anyway. Then when developers show up to the new iPad store, 3 million units sold a quarter baby!! Cha-ching for Apple!

[qtx43]

"too small" to do WHAT, exactly?Too small to see anything without a magnifying glass. Honestly, I'm not trying to be nasty, but it's not that hard of a concept.

[admanimal]

You are not looking forward. It is the apps that will differentiate it.

Exactly. The iPad hardware might equal a scaled up iPhone, but the iPad + proper iPad Apps = something new and special. iWork is already a preview of this.

[lilo777]

i don't get why people are dissappointed with the iPad because it is just a large iPod touch. the only reason why i'm not happy with my iphone is that it's screen is too small and i can't view and edit (very limited) in iworks. so it fit's exactly what is needed. it's a good thing that it is a large iPod touch. i always wanted a big ipod touch.:confused:

the things that are negative are not the concept of the device per se. it's some missing features like webcam, sd card slot, hdmi out. but the concept is perfect. just maybe a bit expensive for some people.

i would use it probably 2 hrs a day during work and quite a lot at home in the evenings.

hell, i use my iphone at home to check news and mail because i don't want to carry a laptop around, open the screen, log in just to see if I have new mail. but then when I get a mail with an attachment the screen is to small to really read it. the ipad solves that problem.

it's a web browsing toy for the couch, a email checking device that's semi mobile and i can be productive in certain niches (carry manuals with you as a repair engineer, show patients data and xrays in a dr.s practice and such).

someone please explain me why it is bad that it is a big ipod touch?

iPad obviously could be used for what you described. I am not sure it's the best device for this though. First, it's too big to hold it up. You'll have to put it on something. If you do that, then in most cases netbook will have the advantage - real keyboard, full OS, multitasking (being able to keep IM and other stuff open while browsing or checking e-mail), easier to set the right angle for the screen. The weight does not matter since you are not going to hold it (too heavy for that).

So, I think it is usable but I think netbook can do all iPad can and a lot more.

[lilo777]

Exactly. The iPad hardware might equal a scaled up iPhone, but the iPad + proper iPad Apps = something new and special. iWork is already a preview of this.

Since iPad can not replace a laptop, why would you prefer to use iPad instead of the laptop for iWork?

[NT1440]

iPad obviously could be used for what you described. I am not sure it's the best device for this though. First, it's too big to hold it up. You'll have to put it on something. If you do that, then in most cases netbook will have the advantage - real keyboard, full OS, multitasking (being able to keep IM and other stuff open while browsing or checking e-mail), easier to set the right angle for the screen. The weight does not matter since you are not going to hold it (too heavy for that).

So, I think it is usable but I think netbook can do all iPad can and a lot more.

How is it too big to hold? :confused:

[calderone]

Since iPad can not replace a laptop, why would you prefer to use iPad instead of the laptop for iWork?

You may want to prove the assertion you are making. How can it not replace a laptop?

[chrono1081]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

You sir/maam are a fail. Your acting rediculous. I know many people who have waited for a product exactly like this.

At first I thought I would have no use for something like this but once I saw videos and thought about it I realized I WOULD use something like this quite frequently. It would make browsing the internet much better while laying in bed, or in a hotel room, or give you something nice to take out and play with on a long flight, etc.

Just because it isn't what you expected doesn't mean it doesn't have its uses for other people.

I think Apple did the right thing here by using iPhone OS on it because the tablet is touch and iPhone OS is based around touch. The reason so many other tablets failed was because they had mouse based OS's loaded on them. (Ever use a wacom tablet to run windows or Mac? Not pleasant).

Only time will tell if this is a success or not but I already have friends and co-workers waiting to get theirs.

[fridgeymonster3]

That would be a product worth buying, and would make the iPad something othe than another outlet for Internet/music/email and would set it apart from Amazon's Kindle, which at present, is far better for reading books.

Yeah, if it had that I would really be interested in buying. Also, if textbook publishers got on board, no matter the price, an app that allowed for notes like I detailed would make this great. I think college students then would be interested, especially because most college campuses are chock full of wireless so there would be no need to spring for the extra $130 for 3G. I can only hope that sort of capability is implemented in the future.

There's the fundamental issue. I see no reason to compare the ATV to a BD player. First, I don't want or need 7.1 sound. 5.1 is perfectly adequate, imo. I bet you could hang up 7 speakers in a room, turn off 2 of them, sit someone in the middle of the room and tell them it's 7.1 and they'd have no idea.

Second, the tradeoff of 1080p and a disc and 480p with no disc is a non starter for me. I don't like discs. Third, being able to keep a single file that will play on my iMac, netbook, AppleTV, and iPod is a great convenience. Lastly, DVD quality (480p) content looks good to me, even on my 98" projector screen. I make no claim that 1080p doesn't look better, but for me, movies beyond 480p widescreen show a diminishing return. There's a healthy bump at 720p, but not as much as from VHS (which was sub 480i, as I recall) to DVD (480p), and the move to 1080p is almost negligible compared to 720p.

That's just, like, my opinion, man. (If you haven't seen The Big Lebowski, go now... it's good at even YouTube quality levels).

To tell you the truth, I do have 7.1 surround; however, I moved recently and I just have 2 speakers right now, so I'm not benefiting from the sound quality at all!! Also, I didn't mean Blu-Ray physical discs, I meant full 1080p BR rips, either into the MKV for M2TS format. I've got about 75-100 BR's ripped in 1080p (some in full HD audio as M2TS files and others in MKV with just 5.1 DD/DTS) and about another 100+ movies ripped in 480p. I see a significant difference on my 46" DLP and 42" LCD when watching both (through a WD Live). It's real easy to rip a BR with a Mac now, just need Make MKV and Handbrake (both free) and then of course a blu ray drive, internal or external, or a PS3.

However, I agree, that for the 1080p MKV's or M2TS that I can't have them on my iPhone, which is convenient with my other files; however, I have a Mac Pro so whenever I want to take a movie with me I just re-encode the MKV down for my iPhone the night before bc it only takes about 1.5 hrs to take a 1080p MKV to an iPhone compatible file.

Im being completely serious here.
If you dont notice a massive jump in quality from upscaled 480 to 1080p you should go have your eyes checked. I have a 47" lcd in my living room and its a night/day difference going from 480 upscaled to 1080p. I notice quite an increase in detail going from 720 to 1080 as well. You either have a projector calibration issue or your eyes arent as good as they should be.

Yeah there really is a difference. But it matters how close you sit to the screen for the difference between 720p and 1080p. If you sit too far away, I believe the benefits start to disappear on TV screens, especially in the 30-40" range (I'm talking 15+ feet or so). However, on a 98" projector I would believe that the benefits would be enormous because you would be so close to see the huge difference in detail between 480p and 1080p.

P.S. - sorry this kinda hijacked a portion of this thread

[ViViDboarder]

I'm glad for you that that combo works for you, but a $259 kindle only has a 6" screen, and the iPod Touch is completely useless to me as it is too small. The newer 9.7" kindle is very nice, but only does one thing and is only $10 cheaper than an iPad.

How big is the page on most books? Fine, get the more expensive Kindle! Still save money over the 3G iPad with $15/mo service! Kindle has free 3G.

[WhySoSerious]

once software has been designed specifically for the iPad, it will become much more.


stopy lying to yourself and see it for what it really is.

[Slip Jigs]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

I was about to agree with you on this phantom niche that the iPad is supposed to fill - but then you had to go and use that tired epic fail expression which is boring and played.

Go away.

[ViViDboarder]

right now it's a big iPod touch. once software has been designed specifically for the iPad, it will become much more.
:D

The other issue with that is that developers are going to have the same trouble with restricted apps on the iPhone.

There are a lot of programs that make me thing "Neat! I love my iPhone." But many useful things I use a computer for and expect out of a larger device are not going to make it past Apple's sensors.

As many people have said, they would have no issues with the iPad if it ran a full featured OS. It's running a phone OS!!! Come on! If I want to write my own program for it I have to pay Apple $100!! It's a joke. Major step backwards.

Enjoy your DRM fest! http://slashdot.org/story/10/01/28/1434222/iPad-Is-a-Huge-Step-Backward

[WhySoSerious]

No offense dude but I don't think you get this product entirely. What this is, is the future of laptops, it is a touch screen computer that, though not yet, but in the future will run desktop applications, and will change the way we interact with computers. That's the 'revolution', is that in this product, not entirely but it will be, I mean look at iphone 1 vs 3. You'll see that kind of evolution with this product.

what....are....you.....smoking? pass it to me pls!

seriously, this is NOT the future of laptops. in fact, it's probably a regression! if you can't see HOW it regressed, then you obviously fall into the kool-aid drinking category Apple likes.

and how has the iphone evolved from v1.0 to current? we got MMS now...wow! we got copy/paste now....wow! we got a calculator the transforms to scientific when rotated to landscape....big wow!

yeah, Apple isn't revolutionizing or evolving anything now. the last thing they did that was revolutionary was brining out the iPhone v1.0 and 1 year later the App store.

ever since then, Apple realized that they no longer need to make products that will be revolutionary or hyper-modern. No. apple realized that all they have to do is create virtual shopping carts (iphone, ipad) and roll out virtual shopping stores (app store, itunes, ibookstore) and let others (3rd party developers) create content for the sheep (all the consumers out there) to go "oh, i need this because it's the FUTURE".

the future of what? technology? no. innovation? no. productivity? no. creativity? hell no.

it's the future of COMMERCE and MONEY for APPLE and DEVELOPERS. iphone, ipod, ipad......no longer are they being designed with the mindset for inovoation and productivity. they are all now being designed to get the app store, bookstore, music store in consumer hands so they give their money to providers.

stop lying to yourself that Apple is trying to bring us into the future by creating a revolutionary product to replace laptops. whatever...:rolleyes:

[qtx43]

How big is the page on most books? Fine, get the more expensive Kindle! Still save money over the 3G iPad with $15/mo service! Kindle has free 3G.Why would I pay $15/mo when I have perfectly good WiFi everywhere I would use it? The $499 model we were talking about doesn't even have 3G, so you're not even making sense. I get it, you like linux, you don't like locked down computers, except for the Kindle, which actually has a track record of deleting items you've already purchased. Why would I trust Amazon? Again, you're making no sense. And yes, most books are much bigger than 6", unless you're talking about paperback romance novels. I don't read romance novels.

[littledigger]

Apple just has not been clear who the iPad is aimed at. For me, its a load of rubbish. My iPhone will suffice (only just though). If only they made it more like the macbook air with phone ability and 3g, i would buy it.

[colmaclean]

Apple just has not been clear who the iPad is aimed at. For me, its a load of rubbish. My iPhone will suffice (only just though). If only they made it more like the macbook air with phone ability and 3g, i would buy it.

Get a MacBook Air and a USB 3G adapter. Problem solved.

[littledigger]

Get a MacBook Air and a USB 3G adapter. Problem solved.

thats why apple made the ipad, because of comments like that.

[colmaclean]

thats why apple made the ipad, because of comments like that.

Glad I could help them. Wonder if I can claim one for free?

[ViViDboarder]

Why would I pay $15/mo when I have perfectly good WiFi everywhere I would use it? The $499 model we were talking about doesn't even have 3G, so you're not even making sense. I get it, you like linux, you don't like locked down computers, except for the Kindle, which actually has a track record of deleting items you've already purchased. Why would I trust Amazon? Again, you're making no sense. And yes, most books are much bigger than 6", unless you're talking about paperback romance novels. I don't read romance novels.

... Yea, picture books are MUCH bigger than 6".

I compared to the 3G model because the Kindle does have 3G. As if you're just looking for Wifi, an EeePC One. I dunno... I just don't want it. Like I said, if all you're looking for is a big iTouch, there you go! It just doesn't add any new functionality really.

Also, I wouldn't say Kindle has much of a track-record for that. There was an incident, yes. I actually only mentioned the kindle because it was brought up earlier. I want this badboy! http://www.skiff.com/skiff-reader.html Touch screen. eInk. Shatterproof screen (flexible eInk display cased not in glass but a fleible material cased in a metal for durability). 3G. 11.5" Screen. SD Card Reader. Headphone Jack. Barely over 1lb. 1 Week of battery. The only thing yet to see is the release date and price. Expected later this year though. :D

I would just not jump on the iPad as an eReader so soon. eInk displays are developing rapidly with color and all. You'll regret having the iPads backlit screen.

[calderone]

... Yea, picture books are MUCH bigger than 6".

I compared to the 3G model because the Kindle does have 3G. As if you're just looking for Wifi, an EeePC One. I dunno... I just don't want it. Like I said, if all you're looking for is a big iTouch, there you go! It just doesn't add any new functionality really.

Also, I wouldn't say Kindle has much of a track-record for that. There was an incident, yes. I actually only mentioned the kindle because it was brought up earlier. I want this badboy! http://www.skiff.com/skiff-reader.html Touch screen. eInk. Shatterproof screen (flexible eInk display cased not in glass but a fleible material cased in a metal for durability). 3G. 11.5" Screen. SD Card Reader. Headphone Jack. Barely over 1lb. 1 Week of battery. The only thing yet to see is the release date and price. Expected later this year though. :D

I would just not jump on the iPad as an eReader so soon. eInk displays are developing rapidly with color and all. You'll regret having the iPads backlit screen.

I am dropping my Kindle for the iPad, after realizing that I enjoy reading more on my Air than on my Kindle. E-Ink is just too slow for a decent experience.

I think people are too easily writing off the device as offering "no new functionality." The functionality will come with the made for iPad apps. Apple has pointed devs in the right direction with the iWork apps.

[vassillios]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

Loser. It's your lack of vision that infuriates me. You base your opinion on a presentation....you haven't even seen what developers will come up with.

I envision Adobe creating iPad versions of their software. For instance, an iPad version of Dreamweaver that will allow me to develop my site on the go and migrate these changes to the server.

And before you pull the "why not just use your MBP"....because I don't want to carry a 4 lb piece of equipment (without 3G) and wait for it to boot up.

And to the poster saying "Air + 3G"...get a grip. Yeah, that Air with the dongle thingy is really convenient.

[ViViDboarder]

I am dropping my Kindle for the iPad, after realizing that I enjoy reading more on my Air than on my Kindle. E-Ink is just too slow for a decent experience.

I think people are too easily writing off the device as offering "no new functionality." The functionality will come with the made for iPad apps. Apple has pointed devs in the right direction with the iWork apps.

I don't really see how E-Ink can be too slow... It's not like you're watching a movie on it... You're staring at a page that doesn't move.

But... To each their own.

You realize that the app process is the same as it is for the iPhone? They are still restricted to have Apps that Apple approves. There is much more you can do with any netbook than this.

[vassillios]

How big is the page on most books? Fine, get the more expensive Kindle! Still save money over the 3G iPad with $15/mo service! Kindle has free 3G.

Yeah, that web surfing on the Kindle is KILLER!

[vassillios]

I don't really see how E-Ink can be too slow... It's not like you're watching a movie on it... You're staring at a page that doesn't move.

But... To each their own.

You realize that the app process is the same as it is for the iPhone? They are still restricted to have Apps that Apple approves. There is much more you can do with any netbook than this.

Yeah, those netbook apps and graphics are KILLER!

[SpaceKitty]

Get a MacBook Air and a USB 3G adapter. Problem solved.

I have a MBP with a Sprint broadband card. I can share the connection with anything in my house including the new iPad. It still won't stop me from buying an iPad with built in 3G. I can even share my iPhone 3GS 3G with anything in my house.

I love how people on these forums try to find any excuse to try and convince others not to buy something. I'm all over this iPad. I want one now. :D


once software has been designed specifically for the iPad, it will become much more.
I agree. Just look at how huge the iPhone has become with apps.

[NT1440]

I don't really see how E-Ink can be too slow... It's not like you're watching a movie on it... You're staring at a page that doesn't move.

Refresh rates can be startlingly slow on certain crappy readers, to the point where you ask yourself "was this product made in 95?"


No its not a big issue, but it does certainly take away from a smooth user experience.

[calderone]

I don't really see how E-Ink can be too slow... It's not like you're watching a movie on it... You're staring at a page that doesn't move.

But... To each their own.

You realize that the app process is the same as it is for the iPhone? They are still restricted to have Apps that Apple approves. There is much more you can do with any netbook than this.

The actual interface. It takes forever to get to a book on the kindle. When you are using the 4 way controller, the line under the books doesn't render fast enough, so you may end up over shooting it. Pages turns are slow.

Add to that text persistence all over any graphical content and intermixed with your current page text. And it is honestly not a great experience.

What do the approval process have to do with this? Devs will create apps that are designed for the iPad and that is what will differentiate it from the Touch/iPhone. Sure apps may not get through, but that is not what we are talking about. Are you suggesting that there will be no apps with great functionality that will get through the approval process? Has this been the case with the iPhone and Touch apps?

I don't want a netbook. I don't care that I can do more with a netbook. I have an Air and I am not doing anything that the iPad cannot do with it.

[colmaclean]

And to the poster saying "Air + 3G"...get a grip. Yeah, that Air with the dongle thingy is really convenient.

Well, get a Mifi then. We live in a world of opportunity, don't restrict yourself to Apple.

[pmz]

This is probably my favorite time to be a Mac rumors/AI member.

You get to see the true stupidity and shortsightedness of people. It's fun to watch, as someone who is neither.

[chwhale]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.


Amen. There is nothing "revolutionary" and "magical" about taking the easy way out and just cloning a pre-existing device and making it bigger. Steve iPhoned this one in.

[fridgeymonster3]

I am dropping my Kindle for the iPad, after realizing that I enjoy reading more on my Air than on my Kindle. E-Ink is just too slow for a decent experience.

A decent experience? My Kindle refreshes a new page as fast, if not faster then flipping the page in an actual book. How fast do you want the page to flip? Are you some sort of genius speed reader? The increased speed of turning from page to page is only going to be slightly discernible with the iPad, over a properly functioning Kindle, because your eyes need to adjust from the bottom of the page to the top and then your brain needs to interpret the letters.

[fridgeymonster3]

What do the approval process have to do with this? Devs will create apps that are designed for the iPad and that is what will differentiate it from the Touch/iPhone. Sure apps may not get through, but that is not what we are talking about. Are you suggesting that there will be no apps with great functionality that will get through the approval process? Has this been the case with the iPhone and Touch apps?

I don't want a netbook. I don't care that I can do more with a netbook. I have an Air and I am not doing anything that the iPad cannot do with it.

The approval process has everything to do with the iPad. Steveypoo stated that the iPad is the gap between the smartphone and laptop, basically competing with netbooks, and in his opinion a much better alternative. However, all applications are controlled by apple; therefore, I can't write my own program and stick it on my iPad. The iPad is a completely locked device, just like the iPhone & Touch, which people have accepted (unless you jailbreak). Nobody accepts a company dictating what they can and cannot install on their computer. I'm angry about this new form of DRM that Apple is promoting with their iPhone, Touch, and now iPad.

[ViViDboarder]

The actual interface. It takes forever to get to a book on the kindle. When you are using the 4 way controller, the line under the books doesn't render fast enough, so you may end up over shooting it. Pages turns are slow.

Add to that text persistence all over any graphical content and intermixed with your current page text. And it is honestly not a great experience.

What do the approval process have to do with this? Devs will create apps that are designed for the iPad and that is what will differentiate it from the Touch/iPhone. Sure apps may not get through, but that is not what we are talking about. Are you suggesting that there will be no apps with great functionality that will get through the approval process? Has this been the case with the iPhone and Touch apps?

I don't want a netbook. I don't care that I can do more with a netbook. I have an Air and I am not doing anything that the iPad cannot do with it.


Well, that part about the Kindle UI makes sense. I haven't actually used one.

As far as the apps... I am saying that nothing revolutionary will be created for the iPad.

Think about it... The only reason the App store was amazing was because you got to have all this stuff ON YOUR PHONE!!! That's gone now. With something that big you might as well have a netbook or even a notebook.

I can't think of one app on my iPhone that could not be easily replaced by a computer. It's just REALLY nice to have on my phone. That's why I love it and put up with the App Store.

[calderone]

Well, that part about the Kindle UI makes sense. I haven't actually used one.

As far as the apps... I am saying that nothing revolutionary will be created for the iPad.

Think about it... The only reason the App store was amazing was because you got to have all this stuff ON YOUR PHONE!!! That's gone now. With something that big you might as well have a netbook or even a notebook.

I can't think of one app on my iPhone that could not be easily replaced by a computer. It's just REALLY nice to have on my phone. That's why I love it and put up with the App Store.

Amazon hasn't really explored categories in the way I would like them to, which would speed up the interface.

I think the B&N had the right idea with the Nook. Reserve the e-ink for the book, and use a faster touch display for the interface. Too bad the Nook's firmware right now is terrible and the device runs very slow and crashes very often.

I can still have all that stuff, on my iPad. I have shared elsewhere the things I will use this for. Which is far more than browsing. I have an Air and I simply don't like using it much of the time, for the things I do with it. With the iPad, I can still have VNC and server management. I am sure there will be some dev apps in the future as well, which will allow me to touch up a script or some other code quickly.

Everything I do most often on my Air can be done on the iPad as it stands right now. That functionality will only increase as devs start creating for it. I also plan to do some in house apps for it as well.

I can replace my Air with a smaller slab device that is more flexible in how it can be positioned. I don't want a Netbook. I have an iPhone but I can't do the same things that I do on my Air with it, comfortably.

[WhySoSerious]

Steve iPhoned this one in.

lol....that made me laugh a bit at my desk. kudos :D

[Mademan12321]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.

the ONLY, ONLY, OOOOONLY reason this iPad was created was because the print media market saw what Apple did with the music industry, iTunes and iPods.....so they wanted the same thing. they wanted Apple to "save" their business models by creating a devise/gimmick to save them. so, apple just took their best selling device, the iPod Touch and made it larger to accommodate ebooks....opened an "ibookstore" and threw out some catchy words (magical, revolutionary, blah, blah...) to the common folk.

Apple wasn't trying to develop anything revolutionary. they were just trying to catch lightning in a bottle the lazy way by riding the coattails of the iPod cash model.

so please, stop lying to yourselves. this iPad is just an iPod Touch. it does nothing different....just the same on a 10" screen. stop buying the hype, you look and sound silly.

Here's the thing. People have the right to work and buy whatever they want. Why are you so upset about it and calling people silly as that comment makes you look silly? If someone make 300K a year they can buy it and have zero regrets about it. If you make 25 - 45K a year you'll have to consider if it will " Feel in the gap".

I'll agree with you that to does feel like its a giant touch with a bigger screen and feels limited in capabilities compared to a laptop, netbook or other announced pad style devices coming soon. Also no flash (a lot of my research at school involves me watching videos using flash :mad:) and using 3g service with ATT really hinders it for me to even consider buying it.

The thing is no one has released one, some people are not technophiles like me so my opinion doesn't fit in there reality, the idea of a lager touch appeals to enough people for them to turn a profit, and some people are total fanboys for apple and would buy a aluminum cased turd with the chrome apple logo on it.

If they want a simple device then that's totally fine. It may serve its purpose for:

An entry level device for parent to teach there kids how to surf and navigate online.

People tired of the old looking e-ink kindle and would like to see vivid, colorful, reads of books like comicbooks, newpaper articles, and magazines,

Soccer moms who love to look trendy and use it as a over glorified PDA to input junk. (that's sad but if your in Texas go to Frisco or Southlake and see if I'm fibbing

For business travelers who do nothing but work on special projects, spreadsheets, and graphs and only have time to read the news or an ebook (which is about %65 - 75 of travelrs here in the D/FW area during the weekday)

For people who just really love apple products. I have a friend who doesn't read anything but facebook, does zero travel, and is a total fan of apple due to his need to buy flashy things to impress people. Guess what, he'll probably have one on day one. To me it's boggles the mind that his personality can't carry enough weight to make friends and stand out in society. However, he has the money and it's his world and he can do whatever he want's. I don't have to insult him but instead understand he is different from me and I love that fact. :p

Just let it go as people will still buy it and the world will just keep spinning. It's different stokes for different folks my friend. There are always fanboys from TV products, to console systems, to race, to religion, to food, to clothing etc. The only thing worse than a fanboy is an anti-fanboy as they usually have to start the party off with insults and anger in there text. We as humans have evolved at an incredible rate but our unhealthy constant need for conflict due to indifference keeps us from ever achieving peace, prosperity, and perfection.

[ViViDboarder]

Amazon hasn't really explored categories in the way I would like them to, which would speed up the interface.

I think the B&N had the right idea with the Nook. Reserve the e-ink for the book, and use a faster touch display for the interface. Too bad the Nook's firmware right now is terrible and the device runs very slow and crashes very often.

I can still have all that stuff, on my iPad. I have shared elsewhere the things I will use this for. Which is far more than browsing. I have an Air and I simply don't like using it much of the time, for the things I do with it. With the iPad, I can still have VNC and server management. I am sure there will be some dev apps in the future as well, which will allow me to touch up a script or some other code quickly.

Everything I do most often on my Air can be done on the iPad as it stands right now. That functionality will only increase as devs start creating for it. I also plan to do some in house apps for it as well.

I can replace my Air with a smaller slab device that is more flexible in how it can be positioned. I don't want a Netbook. I have an iPhone but I can't do the same things that I do on my Air with it, comfortably.

I see. As far as touching up code goes... If your server is linux then get an SSH emulator and use VI. :D That's what I do from my iPhone. It should work for an iPad though.

I guess I do see the iPad being a really cool home device. Kind of like a massive remote to manage every aspect of your house. More convenient than having an iTouch for that because that is hard to spot. Kind of a niche though, but you have some good ideas.

[calderone]

I see. As far as touching up code goes... If your server is linux then get an SSH emulator and use VI. :D That's what I do from my iPhone. It should work for an iPad though.

I guess I do see the iPad being a really cool home device. Kind of like a massive remote to manage every aspect of your house. More convenient than having an iTouch for that because that is hard to spot. Kind of a niche though, but you have some good ideas.

It is OS X server, so I can SSH. I have done it from my iPhone and on my Hero. It works, ok. I mostly deal with AppleScript, but also some shell and python.

I am actually going to start work on an IDE for the iPad, similar to Espresso and "sugars." I will probably keep it in house only depending on the progress I make.

While it may be niche if one uses it that way, this thing will really be replacing my Air, which includes all the tasks I use it for. Sure I can't test my new Netboot images with it, but I have another test notebook for that.

[ViViDboarder]

It is OS X server, so I can SSH. I have done it from my iPhone and on my Hero. It works, ok. I mostly deal with AppleScript, but also some shell and python.

I am actually going to start work on an IDE for the iPad, similar to Espresso and "sugars." I will probably keep it in house only depending on the progress I make.

While it may be niche if one uses it that way, this thing will really be replacing my Air, which includes all the tasks I use it for. Sure I can't test my new Netboot images with it, but I have another test notebook for that.

Are you a member of the Apple Dev though? See, I've thought about making in-house apps, but you can't really install them on your device without paying Apple $99 unless you jailbreak.

Which is what I mean about it sucking that it's a closed system. It would be nice to do exactly what you're saying and install any IDE you wanted on it and still just be able to use the soft keyboard if you wanted.

As it is... An IDE would be really awesome to have for the iPad AND iPhone. Obviously there would have to be some UI changes to slim it down for the iPhone, but to make some quick changes it would be awesome. Ideally if it integrated SFTP or something so you could just edit remote files. :D See, I guess we can come up with iPad apps. Haha.

[TheSpaz]

I think the biggest reason for this thing is... the screen size. Browsing the internet would be more comfortable on a screen this size. You can see your email and inbox in the same screen. You can read text easier instead of having to zoom in on everything.

It's great for people who do light web browsing and basic things. To be able to point and click (literally) it will really make it easier than having to manipulate a tiny cursor with a trackpad on a laptop. My Mom would LOVE one of these things. I see her struggling with the laptop all the time and there would also be less tech support needed because there's no file system to screw up. Also, my Mom won't be able to install anything that will hurt the device either (such as buggy plugins or flash).

It is what it is and there is definitely an audience out there. The bigger screen will make things a TON easier than on an iPod touch.

I'm gonna push my Mom to get one of these things, I think she'd really take to it.

[ViViDboarder]

I think the biggest reason for this thing is... the screen size. Browsing the internet would be more comfortable on a screen this size. You can see your email and inbox in the same screen. You can read text easier instead of having to zoom in on everything.

It's great for people who do light web browsing and basic things. To be able to point and click (literally) it will really make it easier than having to manipulate a tiny cursor with a trackpad on a laptop. My Mom would LOVE one of these things. I see her struggling with the laptop all the time and there would also be less tech support needed because there's no file system to screw up. Also, my Mom won't be able to install anything that will hurt the device either (such as buggy plugins or flash).

It is what it is and there is definitely an audience out there. The bigger screen will make things a TON easier than on an iPod touch.

I'm gonna push my Mom to get one of these things, I think she'd really take to it.

We've found the purpose of the iPad!

It's the Jitterbug of Computers!!! :D

[Diapason]

...

but if apple is going to bombard me with catch phrases and marketing as to WHY i should buy this....then i think it's fair for me to "defend" my position back at Apple as to why i WON'T buy it.
...

Is there any company that says for its new products "please, don't buy it"?

Be serious ... :D

[qtx43]

... Yea, picture books are MUCH bigger than 6".

I compared to the 3G model because the Kindle does have 3G. As if you're just looking for Wifi, an EeePC One. I dunno... I just don't want it. Like I said, if all you're looking for is a big iTouch, there you go! It just doesn't add any new functionality really.

Also, I wouldn't say Kindle has much of a track-record for that. There was an incident, yes. I actually only mentioned the kindle because it was brought up earlier. I want this badboy! http://www.skiff.com/skiff-reader.html Touch screen. eInk. Shatterproof screen (flexible eInk display cased not in glass but a fleible material cased in a metal for durability). 3G. 11.5" Screen. SD Card Reader. Headphone Jack. Barely over 1lb. 1 Week of battery. The only thing yet to see is the release date and price. Expected later this year though. :D

I would just not jump on the iPad as an eReader so soon. eInk displays are developing rapidly with color and all. You'll regret having the iPads backlit screen.I'm not a bandwagon jumper, you don't have a clue about me. No doubt there'll be some great picture books for the iPad. When you get tired of jonesing for e-Ink, and what vaporware might be available at some time in the future, you may just realize that a giant iPod Touch (with color right now) is a pretty useful device, even with its shortcomings. And it has a real release date. And it will do far more than an iPod Touch. But I'm not trying to tell you your choice of devices suck. The iPhone just sucks for me, it has a nice slick interface, and I love OSX (which iPhone's OS basically is) but it's too damn small to do anything other than make phone calls.

edit: You're wanking all over the Kindle and you haven't even used one? Good God, you're clueless.

[ViViDboarder]

I'm not a bandwagon jumper, you don't have a clue about me. No doubt there'll be some great picture books for the iPad. When you get tired of jonesing for e-Ink, and what vaporware might be available at some time in the future, you may just realize that a giant iPod Touch (with color right now) is a pretty useful device, even with its shortcomings. And it has a real release date. And it will do far more than an iPod Touch. But I'm not trying to tell you your choice of devices suck. The iPhone just sucks for me, it has a nice slick interface, and I love OSX (which iPhone's OS basically is) but it's too damn small to do anything other than make phone calls.

edit: You're wanking all over the Kindle and you haven't even used one? Good God, you're clueless.

Ummm... Hostility comes from where?

Seriously... I never said I wanted the Kindle... Did you read the text you quoted? Half of it was about the Skiff Reader. NOT the kindle. I've done a lot of reading and you know there are color eReaders as well now?

Oh oh!!!

"You're wanking all over the iPad and you haven't even used one? Good God, you're clueless."

See what I did there?

Settle down buddy it's a discussion. I never said I knew a thing about you. It was you who insinuated that I read romance novels. Be a big boy, this is the internet after all. ;)

Enjoy your iPad. I'm holding off for the iPon. :p

[WhySoSerious]

The point is, it's not just me or a few of us that think this iPad is a complete junk product. There are people all over the world knocking this item. This is Newton reborn here....


"The word 'pad' connotes that it can be used to scribbling down notes but it doesn't do handwriting recognition. Perhaps iTab would be more approrpriate but if fall far short of a tablet PC. In fact this device doesn't do much of anything and it should be named the the iDont. It doesn't do flash, it doesnt do Sync, it doesn't do handwriting recognition, it doesn't do HDMI, it doesn't do mapping, it doesn't do iFiles, it doesn't do web iChat, it doesn't do USB, it doesnt do multitasking, it doesnt do much of anything!"

"Come on people. Apple could have named it "iEatBabys" and people would still buy them out of stock in the first day.... It doesn't matter what they call it. there is enough of a following and fan boys to make a good market. As for all the add-ons, we all know why. Apple only wants to drain Americas cash as fast as possible. I have big problems with the product. Just like all of Apple's products. Over-priced. if you get the biggest capacity hard drive, its $840.00. You can get a new laptop for that with two or three times the capacity and the ability to run as many programs or apps as you want, AND complete connectivty between all of your other electronics such as your TV, other computers, iPod or other MP3 device. And i'll bet top dollar that your new laptop will have a built in webcam. its not worth the money. it never was, and may never be."

"The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do, and certainly isn't going to offer a better browser experience no matter what nonsense Steve Jobs says. Even the PSP has Flash compatibility, and that plays a heck of a lot better games than this ever will."

"I'm not apple fan. I will say the iPhone is an awesome device though. Seems apple is taking two steps back with this iPad. People were asking for a tablet PC from apple not a giant sized iPhone with limited capabilities. Sure future generation might address these issues but why would you release this product if you know you can improve it now. It will not be a kinderl killer. The reason the kindler does as well as it does is that it does not have a back lit LCD screen that burns up your eyeballs. Now if Apple would have a feature to turn that off and change the screen to look my like the kindler it would help. Simple put this product does nothing to the Apple name its just an oversized iPhone almost like an 80's era cellphone. It should have pushed the technology further and not just stop and enlarge the same product."

"I was looking for something more like a COMPUTER, not an oversized IPOD :/ I am really let down by this! I would also NEVER in a million years try and get a DATA plan for it! The IPAD on ATT! ATT Can barely handle the IPHONE, and now there gonna let IPADS with FULL WEB Browsers run on it? ATT is just asking for a collapse! "

[TheSpaz]

The point is, it's not just me or a few of us that think this iPad is a complete junk product. There are people all over the world knocking this item. This is Newton reborn here....


"The word 'pad' connotes that it can be used to scribbling down notes but it doesn't do handwriting recognition. Perhaps iTab would be more approrpriate but if fall far short of a tablet PC. In fact this device doesn't do much of anything and it should be named the the iDont. It doesn't do flash, it doesnt do Sync, it doesn't do handwriting recognition, it doesn't do HDMI, it doesn't do mapping, it doesn't do iFiles, it doesn't do web iChat, it doesn't do USB, it doesnt do multitasking, it doesnt do much of anything!"

"Come on people. Apple could have named it "iEatBabys" and people would still buy them out of stock in the first day.... It doesn't matter what they call it. there is enough of a following and fan boys to make a good market. As for all the add-ons, we all know why. Apple only wants to drain Americas cash as fast as possible. I have big problems with the product. Just like all of Apple's products. Over-priced. if you get the biggest capacity hard drive, its $840.00. You can get a new laptop for that with two or three times the capacity and the ability to run as many programs or apps as you want, AND complete connectivty between all of your other electronics such as your TV, other computers, iPod or other MP3 device. And i'll bet top dollar that your new laptop will have a built in webcam. its not worth the money. it never was, and may never be."

"The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do, and certainly isn't going to offer a better browser experience no matter what nonsense Steve Jobs says. Even the PSP has Flash compatibility, and that plays a heck of a lot better games than this ever will."

"I'm not apple fan. I will say the iPhone is an awesome device though. Seems apple is taking two steps back with this iPad. People were asking for a tablet PC from apple not a giant sized iPhone with limited capabilities. Sure future generation might address these issues but why would you release this product if you know you can improve it now. It will not be a kinderl killer. The reason the kindler does as well as it does is that it does not have a back lit LCD screen that burns up your eyeballs. Now if Apple would have a feature to turn that off and change the screen to look my like the kindler it would help. Simple put this product does nothing to the Apple name its just an oversized iPhone almost like an 80's era cellphone. It should have pushed the technology further and not just stop and enlarge the same product."

"I was looking for something more like a COMPUTER, not an oversized IPOD :/ I am really let down by this! I would also NEVER in a million years try and get a DATA plan for it! The IPAD on ATT! ATT Can barely handle the IPHONE, and now there gonna let IPADS with FULL WEB Browsers run on it? ATT is just asking for a collapse! "

Funny... people were saying the same thing about the iPod when it was announced. Before they even got to use it.

"An mp3 player? That's it?"
"That's not revolutionary at all"
"Other mp3 players have 20GB hard drive and iPod only has 5?"
"This thing will never take off"
"This is going to be just like the G4 Cube"
"Too expensive, nobody will pay that much for an mp3 player"
"What a joke! Where's the Newton 2?"

Just because it doesn't have any value for me, it would be soooooo great for someone like my Mom. It's a dream come true to her. It's not for hardcore computer users, so get over it.

If you don't like it or need it, then don't buy it. You know how many things in the world I don't need? Just because they don't fit my needs, doesn't mean I hate them or think they're a stupid idea. Everything has a market. The iPad will sell. To you? Maybe not. To a college student? Hell yeah.

[vassillios]

The point is, it's not just me or a few of us that think this iPad is a complete junk product. There are people all over the world knocking this item. This is Newton reborn here....


I agree.... a bunch of people WHO HAVE NEVER EVEN TOUCHED this product.... knocking this item.... it must be amazing to have the gift of knowing how great an object is, or is not, without even having a first hand experience....amazing!

[lordhamster]

"Come on people. Apple could have named it "iEatBabys" and people would still buy them out of stock in the first day.... It doesn't matter what they call it. there is enough of a following and fan boys to make a good market.


Nice hedge there. So when if it succeeds you were right and if it fails, you were right.

You should be in politics.

[BaldiMac]

The point is, it's not just me or a few of us that think this iPad is a complete junk product. There are people all over the world knocking this item. This is Newton reborn here....


"The word 'pad' connotes that it can be used to scribbling down notes but it doesn't do handwriting recognition. Perhaps iTab would be more approrpriate but if fall far short of a tablet PC. In fact this device doesn't do much of anything and it should be named the the iDont. It doesn't do flash, it doesnt do Sync, it doesn't do handwriting recognition, it doesn't do HDMI, it doesn't do mapping, it doesn't do iFiles, it doesn't do web iChat, it doesn't do USB, it doesnt do multitasking, it doesnt do much of anything!"

"Come on people. Apple could have named it "iEatBabys" and people would still buy them out of stock in the first day.... It doesn't matter what they call it. there is enough of a following and fan boys to make a good market. As for all the add-ons, we all know why. Apple only wants to drain Americas cash as fast as possible. I have big problems with the product. Just like all of Apple's products. Over-priced. if you get the biggest capacity hard drive, its $840.00. You can get a new laptop for that with two or three times the capacity and the ability to run as many programs or apps as you want, AND complete connectivty between all of your other electronics such as your TV, other computers, iPod or other MP3 device. And i'll bet top dollar that your new laptop will have a built in webcam. its not worth the money. it never was, and may never be."

"The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do, and certainly isn't going to offer a better browser experience no matter what nonsense Steve Jobs says. Even the PSP has Flash compatibility, and that plays a heck of a lot better games than this ever will."

"I'm not apple fan. I will say the iPhone is an awesome device though. Seems apple is taking two steps back with this iPad. People were asking for a tablet PC from apple not a giant sized iPhone with limited capabilities. Sure future generation might address these issues but why would you release this product if you know you can improve it now. It will not be a kinderl killer. The reason the kindler does as well as it does is that it does not have a back lit LCD screen that burns up your eyeballs. Now if Apple would have a feature to turn that off and change the screen to look my like the kindler it would help. Simple put this product does nothing to the Apple name its just an oversized iPhone almost like an 80's era cellphone. It should have pushed the technology further and not just stop and enlarge the same product."

"I was looking for something more like a COMPUTER, not an oversized IPOD :/ I am really let down by this! I would also NEVER in a million years try and get a DATA plan for it! The IPAD on ATT! ATT Can barely handle the IPHONE, and now there gonna let IPADS with FULL WEB Browsers run on it? ATT is just asking for a collapse! "

Amazing that every single quote that you picked contains factual inaccuracies.

[vassillios]

"The word 'pad' connotes that it can be used to scribbling down notes but it doesn't do handwriting recognition.

Jesus H Christ. Ever hear of a keyPAD?!?

[vassillios]

Amazing that every single quote that you picked contains factual inaccuracies.

You are surprised?

[vassillios]

Nice hedge there. So when if it succeeds you were right and if it fails, you were right.

You should be in politics.

Nice!

[ViViDboarder]

Amazing that every single quote that you picked contains factual inaccuracies.

Amazing that your one sentence contained factual innaccuracies!

Where were factual inaccuracies? The oppinons in them were far-fetched but the facts were facts.

[dgree03]

Amazing that every single quote that you picked contains factual inaccuracies.

would you care to point them out?

[vassillios]

"The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do, and certainly isn't going to offer a better browser experience no matter what nonsense Steve Jobs says.

Holy crap! I didn't even see this tidbit before....you need help.

[ViViDboarder]

Holy crap! I didn't even see this tidbit before....you need help.

Really? Why? My $100 netbook shows more webpages in their true form than the iPad does.

The web was DESIGNED for interfacing with Mouse and Keyboard. Many things use rollovers and flash that will not work on the iPad.

If the web was completely redesigned to be iPad friendly, then yea... iPad would offer a better experience.

[ViViDboarder]

Amazing that every single quote that you picked contains factual inaccuracies.

I'm getting bored waiting...


"The word 'pad' connotes that it can be used to scribbling down notes but it doesn't do handwriting recognition. Perhaps iTab would be more approrpriate but if fall far short of a tablet PC. In fact this device doesn't do much of anything and it should be named the the iDont.
Opinion

It doesn't do flash, it doesnt do Sync, it doesn't do handwriting recognition, it doesn't do HDMI, it doesn't do mapping, it doesn't do iFiles, it doesn't do web iChat, it doesn't do USB, it doesnt do multitasking, TRUEdoesnt do much of anything!" OPINION


"Come on people. Apple could have named it "iEatBabys" and people would still buy them out of stock in the first day.... It doesn't matter what they call it. there is enough of a following and fan boys to make a good market.
OPINION As for all the add-ons, we all know why. Apple only wants to drain Americas cash as fast as possible. FACT, Apple charges devs to develop for the iPhone/iPad, takes a cut of their profits and charges manufacturers to make accessories for their devices.
I have big problems with the product. Just like all of Apple's products. Over-priced. OPINION if you get the biggest capacity hard drive, its $840.00. You can get a new laptop for that with two or three times the capacity and the ability to run as many programs or apps as you want, AND complete connectivty between all of your other electronics such as your TV, other computers, iPod or other MP3 device. And i'll bet top dollar that your new laptop will have a built in webcam. its not worth the money. it never was, and may never be." FACT http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/19/asus-ion-packing-eee-pc-1201n-gets-official-gets-handled/ This one is even the same price as the iPad.


"The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do, FACT, You can buy a GPS module for any computer that has USB and do the same things or a 3G modem for any computer. That's the beauty of having USB which the iPad doesn't
and certainly isn't going to offer a better browser experience no matter what nonsense Steve Jobs says. OPINION, but another computer will offer a more FULL experience
Even the PSP has Flash compatibility, and that plays a heck of a lot better games than this ever will." FACT


"I'm not apple fan. I will say the iPhone is an awesome device though. Seems apple is taking two steps back with this iPad. People were asking for a tablet PC from apple not a giant sized iPhone with limited capabilities. Sure future generation might address these issues but why would you release this product if you know you can improve it now. It will not be a kinderl killer. The reason the kindler does as well as it does is that it does not have a back lit LCD screen that burns up your eyeballs. Now if Apple would have a feature to turn that off and change the screen to look my like the kindler it would help. Simple put this product does nothing to the Apple name its just an oversized iPhone almost like an 80's era cellphone. It should have pushed the technology further and not just stop and enlarge the same product."
ALL OPINION

"I was looking for something more like a COMPUTER, not an oversized IPOD :/ I am really let down by this! I would also NEVER in a million years try and get a DATA plan for it! The IPAD on ATT! ATT Can barely handle the IPHONE, and now there gonna let IPADS with FULL WEB Browsers run on it? ATT is just asking for a collapse! " Opinion as well, but the iPad web-browser isn't even a FULL WEB browser. So they gave it too much credit. It's the exact same browser that the iPhone has.

[lordhamster]

Really? Why? My $100 netbook shows more webpages in their true form than the iPad does.

The web was DESIGNED for interfacing with Mouse and Keyboard. Many things use rollovers and flash that will not work on the iPad.

If the web was completely redesigned to be iPad friendly, then yea... iPad would offer a better experience.

What came first, the Chicken or the Egg?

Fact is nobody is going to re-design their pages unless there is a demand for them to do so. By your logic we will NEVER get away from the Keyboard/Mouse.

BTW... there are now hundreds of sites on the web formatted specifically for mobile devices with tiny screens. Are you saying phones should have never been given browsers either?

[BaldiMac]

Amazing that your one sentence contained factual innaccuracies!

Where were factual inaccuracies? The oppinons in them were far-fetched but the facts were facts.

Okay. But I thought they were pretty obvious.

"The word 'pad' connotes that it can be used to scribbling down notes but it doesn't do handwriting recognition. Perhaps iTab would be more approrpriate but if fall far short of a tablet PC. In fact this device doesn't do much of anything and it should be named the the iDont. It doesn't do flash, it doesnt do Sync, it doesn't do handwriting recognition, it doesn't do HDMI, it doesn't do mapping, it doesn't do iFiles, it doesn't do web iChat, it doesn't do USB, it doesnt do multitasking, it doesnt do much of anything!"

It does do sync. It does do chat. It does do USB. It does do limited multitasking.

"Come on people. Apple could have named it "iEatBabys" and people would still buy them out of stock in the first day.... It doesn't matter what they call it. there is enough of a following and fan boys to make a good market. As for all the add-ons, we all know why. Apple only wants to drain Americas cash as fast as possible. I have big problems with the product. Just like all of Apple's products. Over-priced. if you get the biggest capacity hard drive, its $840.00. You can get a new laptop for that with two or three times the capacity and the ability to run as many programs or apps as you want, AND complete connectivty between all of your other electronics such as your TV, other computers, iPod or other MP3 device. And i'll bet top dollar that your new laptop will have a built in webcam. its not worth the money. it never was, and may never be."

Apple does not only want to drain Americas cash as fast as possible. They want other things too.

And you can't get a $840 laptop with complete connectivity between all of my other electronics.

"The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do, and certainly isn't going to offer a better browser experience no matter what nonsense Steve Jobs says. Even the PSP has Flash compatibility, and that plays a heck of a lot better games than this ever will."

The iPad can do things that a mythical $100 laptop cannot do. Multitouch for one.

"I'm not apple fan. I will say the iPhone is an awesome device though. Seems apple is taking two steps back with this iPad. People were asking for a tablet PC from apple not a giant sized iPhone with limited capabilities. Sure future generation might address these issues but why would you release this product if you know you can improve it now. It will not be a kinderl killer. The reason the kindler does as well as it does is that it does not have a back lit LCD screen that burns up your eyeballs. Now if Apple would have a feature to turn that off and change the screen to look my like the kindler it would help. Simple put this product does nothing to the Apple name its just an oversized iPhone almost like an 80's era cellphone. It should have pushed the technology further and not just stop and enlarge the same product."

LCD screens do not burn up your eyeballs

"I was looking for something more like a COMPUTER, not an oversized IPOD :/ I am really let down by this! I would also NEVER in a million years try and get a DATA plan for it! The IPAD on ATT! ATT Can barely handle the IPHONE, and now there gonna let IPADS with FULL WEB Browsers run on it? ATT is just asking for a collapse! "

AT&T has bandwidth problems in limited areas that will probably be resolved in the next million years. AT&T is not the only provider. What's the difference between the iPad's "FULL WEB Browser" and the iPhone web browser? As relates to bandwidth, of course.

[ViViDboarder]

What came first, the Chicken or the Egg?

Fact is nobody is going to re-design their pages unless there is a demand for them to do so. By your logic we will NEVER get away from the Keyboard/Mouse.

BTW... there are now hundreds of sites on the web formatted specifically for mobile devices with tiny screens. Are you saying phones should have never been given browsers either?

You basically affirmed my point... But no, I'm not saying that phones should have never been given browsers... I'm just saying you're kidding yourself if you think a phone's browser is a more full experience than a computer browser.

And... No. We weill NEVER get away from Keyboard and Mouse. Multitouch and such is nice... but not as efficient. I can do things much faster with the keyboard and mouse. Well, just keyboard. It's the least amount of movement required to do tasks. Hotkeys FTW!

Okay. But I thought they were pretty obvious.

It does do sync. It does do chat. It does do USB. It does do limited multitasking.

I'll admit this one does not have any factual errors, but that's only because it doesn't have many facts. And I would be willing to bet that a Apple product called iEatBabys would not be a big hit even among fanboys. And the price comparisons are a pretty big stretch.

The iPad can do things that a mythical $100 laptop cannot do. Multitouch for one.

LCD screens do not burn up your eyeballs

AT&T has bandwidth problems in limited areas that will probably be resolved in the next million years. AT&T is not the only provider. What's the difference between the iPad's "FULL WEB Browser" and the iPhone web browser? As relates to bandwidth, of course.

First, iPad doesn't sync with everything. It syncs with iTunes. You can't put any file you want on it. Second, it does not DO USB. You can't plug in a USB camera or a USB drive. You can charge it over USB and sync with iTunes! Yippy! No expandability of a Universal Serial Bus. Mulititasking is often referring to the ability to run multiple apps at the same time. The fact that mail runs in the background is not a feature. If you're doing something and you get an email (unless you're in safari) you still have to close your application to check it. For chat, they were referring to iChat. It has no camera. Of course it can text chat. The iPhone and even a Moto Razr can "chat".

Multitouch isn't so much a feature. It's just a different way to interface. How about I say the 100 laptop has a mouse! So it's better! I'll go a step further... Windows computers have a second mouse button! The multitouch and the keyboard mouse accomplish the same task in different ways and it's debatable that Multitouch is "Better"

The things I didn't rebut were because they were opinions.

EDIT: Saw that tidbit about the computer for 840... Yes... You can. See my link. My EeePC 900 does that and it was way under 840. All you need is a VGA cable to connect to almost any HDTV and a USB port for any iPod or MP3 player. I can even host videos on it to stream to an Xbox 360 or PS3 in HD!

[Trek2100]

roflmao

Its designed for Older People

:DNo profiling allowed:D

[lordhamster]

You basically affirmed my point... But no, I'm not saying that phones should have never been given browsers... I'm just saying you're kidding yourself if you think a phone's browser is a more full experience than a computer browser....

...
Second, it does not DO USB. You can't plug in a USB camera or a USB drive.
...
How about I say the 100 laptop has a mouse!


No I didn't affirm your point. You said the web is designed for keyboard and mouse therefore the iPad will fail. By your same logic there would exist no Mobile specific websites such as pda.continental.com etc

The more iPads sold, the more iPad friendly websites there will be. Youtube already supports HTML5 for example.

also,

Please let me know where I can find this fantastic $100 laptop you keep talking about.

[ViViDboarder]

No I didn't affirm your point. You said the web is designed for keyboard and mouse therefore the iPad will fail. By your same logic there would exist no Mobile specific websites such as pda.continental.com etc

The more iPads sold, the more iPad friendly websites there will be. Youtube already supports HTML5 for example.

also,

Please let me know where I can find this fantastic $100 laptop you keep talking about.

Ok. I wasn't trying to be so extreme. I'm saying that the majority of pages were written by people assuming you're NOT on a mobile device. That doesn't mean it will fail, but it's just not true to say you'll get a BETTER experience of the web on a mobile device. There is no doubt in my mind that the iPad will be the BEST mobile experience. The screen size gives it the edge of the Nexus One in my mind.

Maybe not $100 dollars for a decent netbook... but for roughly half the cost of the iPad you can get a device that does just this. For starters here are some of the best. http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/engadgets-holiday-gift-guide-netbooks/

Edit: I should have just tried a Google search. Mythical $100 netbook! http://www.laptopical.com/100-netbook-now-official-conveniently-in-time-for-holidays-8098.html There you go!

[BaldiMac]

First, iPad doesn't sync with everything. It syncs with iTunes. You can't put any file you want on it.

I didn't say it syncs with everything. The claim was "it doesnt do Sync." That is false.

Second, it does not DO USB. You can't plug in a USB camera or a USB drive. You can charge it over USB and sync with iTunes! Yippy! No expandability of a Universal Serial Bus.

Again, it does do USB. As you pointed out right after you said it doesn't. And you can plug in your USB camera with an adapter.

Mulititasking is often referring to the ability to run multiple apps at the same time. The fact that mail runs in the background is not a feature. If you're doing something and you get an email (unless you're in safari) you still have to close your application to check it.

You can run multiple apps at the same time. You just can't run third party apps in the background. Again, it can multitask, just not very extensively.

For chat, they were referring to iChat. It has no camera. Of course it can text chat. The iPhone and even a Moto Razr can "chat".

They actually said "web iChat". I didn't know what that means. The statement made no reference to video.

Multitouch isn't so much a feature. It's just a different way to interface. How about I say the 100 laptop has a mouse! So it's better! I'll go a step further... Windows computers have a second mouse button! The multitouch and the keyboard mouse accomplish the same task in different ways and it's debatable that Multitouch is "Better"

The statement "The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do" is obviously false. If you won't admit that, there is not much point in a discussion.

The things I didn't rebut were because they were opinions.

LCD screens do not burn up your eyeballs. That is not an opinion.

EDIT: Saw that tidbit about the computer for 840... Yes... You can. See my link. My EeePC 900 does that and it was way under 840.

I can't imagine that your EeePC 900 supports every connectivity protocol to every device for $840. Firewire 800? Gigabit Ethernet? Mini DisplayPort? Optical audio? So many more.

[BaldiMac]

Edit: I should have just tried a Google search. Mythical $100 netbook! http://www.laptopical.com/100-netbook-now-official-conveniently-in-time-for-holidays-8098.html There you go!

Subsidized with a two year data plan. :rolleyes:

[ViViDboarder]

I didn't say it syncs with everything. The claim was "it doesnt do Sync." That is false.

Again, it does do USB. As you pointed out right after you said it doesn't. And you can plug in your USB camera with an adapter.

You can run multiple apps at the same time. You just can't run third party apps in the background. Again, it can multitask, just not very extensively.

They actually said "web iChat". I didn't know what that means. The statement made no reference to video.

The statement "The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do" is obviously false. If you won't admit that, there is not much point in a discussion.

LCD screens do not burn up your eyeballs. That is not an opinion.

I can't imagine that your EeePC 900 supports every connectivity protocol to every device for $840. Firewire 800? Gigabit Ethernet? Mini DisplayPort? Optical audio? So many more.

It's as if you don't understand the term CONTEXT! There is no point to this discussion. If you think that having a 30pin connector means you "have usb" you are a fool. An "adaptor"? Do you know that you can plug in a camera? Can you plug in a USB stick? No. It DOESN'T have a USB port. They didn't mean that you can't charge the device over USB. If so, my bluetooth headset has USB!

I'm not sure what they meant by "Sync" but the device is a CLOSED system. You can only do what Apple lets you. Meaning you can't transfer any file to it. I guess a better argument would be that it has LIMITED sync capabilities.

It "multitasks" as much as an iPhone. Also, it's NOT multitasking. You can only do ONE task at a time on it. You CAN switch between applications by closing them and opening new ones. There is no Alt Tab or app switching while something is running. Again. Even Steve Jobs wouldn't call this multitasking/backgrounding (as it's often referred to).

The iChat statement was because people had been talking up the iPad as having a front facing camera to allow web conferencing and video chat. It doesn't. My EeePC does though. And text chat to boot!

Your only argument that my EeePC can't do is multitouch!!! And as I said... It doesn't ADD any functionality! It's just a different way of doing things! You can't click with a mouse! Big deal! I wouldn't hold that against you!

And finally...

My EeePC was 200 bucks and for less than 640 I could buy any adapter for it to connect to GPS, Toslink, HDMI, Firewire, etc. because it has USB! But for the record they only said TV's, Computers, and MP3 players... Which it does out of the box.

The iPad is not useless!! It has plenty of uses. But it's hardly innovative and hardly a value device! Get over it!

[steffi]

If you look at how there is no landscape dock and how there is no full keboard on screen it's clear apple didn't want to canabalize MacBook line

I can't get over the amount of people that actually thought that the tablet would be MORE than exactly what was released. If you know how Apple works, they always ADD more revenue channels that DO NOT cannibalize any of their existing revenue streams, and you should have seen a "big iPod touch" coming. They purposely didn't make it with a full blown desktop OSX, USB ports, SD card slots, etc because that would have stolen sales away from their laptop lines. Why would people who barely need a basic Macbook buy the Macbook if they could get what they wanted in a cheaper tablet? Now, instead, they will just find a way to spend more and get the Macbook. People who want iPod Touch features, but want a larger screen, can now spend more and get it. People who want iPod Touch features but also true portability can buy a Touch. People who want all those features but also want it to be able to make phone calls can get an iPhone. People WANT Apple products, for whatever reason. Apple knows this, so they can get away with doing exactly what they are doing. And they won't change UNTIL their sales and revenue numbers drop, which they obviously aren't yet. Apple will never introduce a product that cuts sale of another one of their products on purpose, like the PC manufacturers have done with the stupid netbooks. "Hey, lets offer a tiny laptop that does 99% of what our big, money making models do, for less than a third of the cost of those big models!" And they wonder why their full sized laptop (the one's that they actually make a decent profit on) sales are crap? Apple's a business, and they know exactly what they are doing.

[chris975d]

If you look at how there is no landscape dock and how there is no full keboard on screen it's clear apple didn't want to canabalize MacBook line

I'm not sure why you quoted my post? Are you disagreeing with me, or agreeing with me? Because what I was saying is basically the same idea as you're expressing.

[Ramius]

I'm disappointed Apple didnt make use of the new technology, that makes physical keys come out of the screen.

Seriously wonder if you can write schoolwork and stuff on this.

[chris975d]

I'm disappointed Apple didnt make use of the new technology, that makes physical keys come out of the screen.

Seriously wonder if you can write schoolwork and stuff on this.

And how much would that cost? I seriously doubt this device would be affordable to most of the population if they had included it. Does the actual technology even exist? Has anyone made it yet? Just because there is a patent on it, doesn't mean it's actually been made yet. Patents are filed for to keep other competing firms from using the tech.

[BaldiMac]

It's as if you don't understand the term CONTEXT! There is no point to this discussion.

There was no context in the original statement. It was simply "It doesn't do USB". That's it. Anything else is added by you. The original statement is false.

If you think that having a 30pin connector means you "have usb" you are a fool. An "adaptor"? Do you know that you can plug in a camera? Can you plug in a USB stick? No. It DOESN'T have a USB port. They didn't mean that you can't charge the device over USB. If so, my bluetooth headset has USB!

I does do USB in a very limited way. It does connect to cameras using USB. It does sync over USB. It does file transfer over USB.

I'm not sure what they meant by "Sync" but the device is a CLOSED system. You can only do what Apple lets you. Meaning you can't transfer any file to it. I guess a better argument would be that it has LIMITED sync capabilities.

That's not true. Third party apps can sync. You can transfer files to it through Apple or third parties.

It "multitasks" as much as an iPhone. Also, it's NOT multitasking. You can only do ONE task at a time on it. You CAN switch between applications by closing them and opening new ones. There is no Alt Tab or app switching while something is running. Again. Even Steve Jobs wouldn't call this multitasking/backgrounding (as it's often referred to).

App switching is not multitasking. It does multitask in an extremely limited way. Look up the word.

The iChat statement was because people had been talking up the iPad as having a front facing camera to allow web conferencing and video chat. It doesn't. My EeePC does though. And text chat to boot!

Again, the original statement did not say that.

Your only argument that my EeePC can't do is multitouch!!! And as I said... It doesn't ADD any functionality! It's just a different way of doing things! You can't click with a mouse! Big deal! I wouldn't hold that against you!

No, that was one example. It is willful ignorance if you think the statement "The iPad cannot do ANYTHING my $100 laptop cannot do" is true. Primarily, a $100 laptop does not currently exist. Others...

Multitouch
Convenient use in portrait orientation
Bluetooth
Sync with iTunes
Use as a picture frame.
Cold boot in 15 seconds.
Wake from sleep instantly
IPS display
Run the same apps that I already purchased for my iPhone
10 hour battery life
Etc...

And finally...

My EeePC was 200 bucks and for less than 640 I could buy any adapter for it to connect to GPS, Toslink, HDMI, Firewire, etc. because it has USB! But for the record they only said TV's, Computers, and MP3 players... Which it does out of the box.

No, they only said "such as" TV's, Computers, and MP3 players. And, again, what you are arguing is not the original claim.

The iPad is not useless!! It has plenty of uses. But it's hardly innovative and hardly a value device! Get over it!

I never made those claims. What am I getting over? I never proclaimed the iPad to be better or worse that any other device. Personally, I will probably go for the 2nd gen as a luxury if I happen to have some extra money saved up. I don't need it. But it would be nice to have.

All I said was that each of the quotes in the post I quoted contained factual inaccuracies. I stand by that statement.

[NoSmokingBandit]

IPS display


I've seen this point brought up a few times and i really dont see how its a great benefit. Sure, IPS displays have great color accuracy, but im 99.9% sure a Spyder 3 wont calibrate it, so there's no point. What does one really need great color accuracy for anyway? Its not like its running photoshop or anything. For all iPhoto is capable of it would be just as effective to have a TN panel.

[NT1440]

I've seen this point brought up a few times and i really dont see how its a great benefit. Sure, IPS displays have great color accuracy, but im 99.9% sure a Spyder 3 wont calibrate it, so there's no point. What does one really need great color accuracy for anyway? Its not like its running photoshop or anything. For all iPhoto is capable of it would be just as effective to have a TN panel.

There is a rumor going around that this is an Enhanced IPS display, which amongst other things, reduces power consumption in the 30%-40%+ range.

[BaldiMac]

I've seen this point brought up a few times and i really dont see how its a great benefit. Sure, IPS displays have great color accuracy, but im 99.9% sure a Spyder 3 wont calibrate it, so there's no point. What does one really need great color accuracy for anyway? Its not like its running photoshop or anything. For all iPhoto is capable of it would be just as effective to have a TN panel.

The main benefit that I've seen mentioned is a wider viewing angle in all orientations.

[mashinhead]

I bet you thought that computers would spell the doom of paper, too. "the paperless office" What a joke!

First of all, the iPad wasn't my decision. It was Apple's. So what I see and what I think their intention is very different me stating that paper is obsolete as you suggest, and if you had any sense of intelligence you wouldn't need me to point that out to you. What I see, is that this is what they are trying to do. That isn't necessarily my point of view as much as it is an observation.

I don't think that making this leap will make paper any more obsolete than car made a bike or a horse obsolete. But I am not so naive as to assume the making a car was not revolution. The act of making a car, or any sort of advancement, doesn't have to render everything before it, obsolete as to be considered revolutionary or impact full. Did making a plane stop boat travel? No, but it sure as hell changed the way we travel. If someone creates a product or service that changes an industry, it doesn't have to change that industry by 100% to be impact full it can do that by changing that industry by 50, 60, or 70%

Why is this a leap, because its more intuitive. If you watched the speech he said Apple has always tried to bring products to the user, and that is the revolution. Its more intuitive to use your hands than a keyboard. When you open a jar of pickles is your first instinct to click the 'open' button using a mouse or to use your hands? (not the best analogy i know, but you get the idea.)

Second its is ridiculous to assume that a keyboard is the only way to input text into a computer. The most intuitive way is to speak to it, voice recognition. I'm not saying all this is there now. What I'm saying is this where its going, and this represents the first step towards that.

You can already see where this will be a revolution:

In gaming, music, painting and drawing, even video editing. They will all be easier and more natural because you can touch things to interact with them. Just like in the real world.

And finally all this backlash is the same stuff we heard, when the mac, ipod, and iphone were introduced. You must have a really short memory man. This company time and time again has proved that they don't enter markets lightly or unnecessarily or even prematurely. They think and study and take their time. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They sure as hell have earned it. They've proven time and time again that they are right more often than not.

The only place I can see that they've failed in this product is in leaving out obvious pieces of hardware, like a camera, gps, and such.


One of the best quotes that sums up the thinking, which Jobs has used is from Henry Ford in which he says, "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." And thats what you are. That customer that wants a faster horse.

I would tell you think different but right now I'd just settle for you to think at all.

[SeattleMoose]

Must be tough to see everything thru a "rearview mirror"......

Everyone has "vision" but few have "vision" that sees (or even defines) the way forward.
:apple:

[bobob]

Must be tough to see everything thru a "rearview mirror"......

Everyone has "vision" but few have "vision" that sees (or even defines) the way forward.
:apple:

In the long run, the OP is going to have to come up with his own answer to the statement he poses in his thread title.

[Ramius]

And how much would that cost? I seriously doubt this device would be affordable to most of the population if they had included it. Does the actual technology even exist? Has anyone made it yet? Just because there is a patent on it, doesn't mean it's actually been made yet. Patents are filed for to keep other competing firms from using the tech.

Well it would not cost as much as you might think.
It's not available commercially yet, but in short time it probably will.

I'm not saying fullscale buttons will emerge. but outdents of 1mm that is activated with an electric frequence through a net, that makes the buttons become actual bumps.

[gdieter]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market. just stop it. you all sound like people in denial. it's just a larger iPod Touch. aside from the screen being larger, there is nothing different.

this is not just a FAIL on Apple's part....it's an EPIC FAIL.



Thanks for your critical analysis. I think you forgot to say "meh".

[King Mook Mook]

Everyone has "vision" but few have "vision" that sees (or even defines) the way forward.
:apple:

Anytime anyone says that because Apple (or any other company for that matter) has 'vision' and hence they will succeed, is either a major fanboy or someone who doesn't understand business (or both). Just because you have vision doesn't mean you will succeed in business or anything else and while it helps it does not guarantee success.

And Apple really haven't defined the way forward here. Apple did not create the tablet. Nor did they create a tablet with a mobile OS. They haven't defined anything here, as many other companies have already made tablets with mobile OSs akin to the iPad. Apple did define the market with the iPhone and the App Store but I fail to see what is defined here.


I'm disappointed Apple didnt make use of the new technology, that makes physical keys come out of the screen.


Okay how do you plan on doing this? It's not as easy as it sounds (and it doesn't sound easy at all). I doubt this is even technically possible (even though they have made a patent does not make it possible, see other Apple patents). Even if it was possible I cannot fathom the cost of this new technology.
But please, prove me wrong.

King Mook Mook

[mtnDewFTW]

ok.

[marksman]

Why doesn't Ford make us a hovercar?

[mtnDewFTW]

Why doesn't Ford make us a hovercar?

OP should answer that. He's obviously smarter than every single one of us.

[TheSpaz]

Anytime anyone says that because Apple (or any other company for that matter) has 'vision' and hence they will succeed, is either a major fanboy or someone who doesn't understand business (or both). Just because you have vision doesn't mean you will succeed in business or anything else and while it helps it does not guarantee success.

And Apple really haven't defined the way forward here. Apple did not create the tablet. Nor did they create a tablet with a mobile OS. They haven't defined anything here, as many other companies have already made tablets with mobile OSs akin to the iPad. Apple did define the market with the iPhone and the App Store but I fail to see what is defined here.




Okay how do you plan on doing this? It's not as easy as it sounds (and it doesn't sound easy at all). I doubt this is even technically possible (even though they have made a patent does not make it possible, see other Apple patents). Even if it was possible I cannot fathom the cost of this new technology.
But please, prove me wrong.

King Mook Mook

Because Apple does it BETTER than everyone else. Are there any tablet computers that are easier to use and understand than the iPad?

Although the iPad isn't enough computer for me, it's plenty for a lot of other people. My Mom is really considering ditching her PowerBook G4 and getting an iPad. She's been thinking about getting a Kindle for some time, but since the Kindle only does books, she's going to get an iPad to do all the things that she wants to do.

For a person like her, the iPad is a GREAT thing. For someone like me, I'm happier using a real full blown computer with a file system interface and window'd apps.

Apple surely does have a pretty big market for these things. You just wait. It's not as dumb of an idea as people are making it out to be.

PS: People thought the iPod was going to be a big flop.

[ViViDboarder]

Because Apple does it BETTER than everyone else. Are there any tablet computers that are easier to use and understand than the iPad?

That's because it's not a computer... It's a big phone.

I think a lot of people are dissapointed and scared that this is going to be the direction of Apple computers in the future. Is everything going to be a gadget running closed OS? (iPhone, iPod, Apple TV) Or are they going to make new and innovative computers running full featured OSes?

That's the really issue.

It's kind of scary as a programmer to think that you have to pay to develop for a platform and that it must be approved and "not be too competitive" for it to be sold. When it was just for the iPhone it wasn't so bad because it was just one device, now that they are expanding that it's kind of like, how far will they take this App Store before the iMac has a touch screen, loses it's DVD drive and the only source of software is the App Store? It just seems like this kind of DRM and control is a tech step back.

Product itself, had the iPhone never been out yet, would be great!

PS: Stevezie gave me a iPad Nano. It's way smaller and it even does phone calls too!!! Sweet!!! :p

[Alvi]

it's a freakin' iPod Touch....that's it.

i keep reading people trying to justify why they are going to get one of these iPads and why it's going to fill a "needed" gap in the mobile market.

Seriously? get a life, i think it's each persons decision to get or not to get an iPad, my opinion which HAS to be respected thinks that it's not a must have but i might get one if i have the money at that time
i absolutely respect that you don't like it, and you don't have to troll around a forum to share your opinion while insulting other ones

[muttonhead411]

I think we need to step back and breath a little.

IMO, this thing is called the iPad and not the iTablet is because as its name suggest, it is not a tablet as we know it. So quit quibbering about how it lacks a full blown Mac os, all the input ports, multitasking, file management etc. IT IS NOT A COMPUTER TABLET!

it is just an enlarged version of the ipod. Why would you go about complaining about a full blown mac os on an ipod with a bigger screen?

The real apple tablet that people want? nope it has not been made yet. Apple wont make it until the need to.

And I hope people who are talking about an impending revolution to the computing industry are just kidding.

how does this sound for a slogan?

"introducing the new iPad, now with video conferencing" Revision 1
"introducing the brand new iPad, now with multitasking" Revision 2
"introducing the best iPad ever, now with an extra usb port" Revision 3

[NoSmokingBandit]

A lot of people are upset because Steve and Phil spent the whole keynote telling us how amazing and "magical" the iPad is when its blatantly not "magical" by any means. Of course Apple always overhypes their products, but this is getting out of control when they act like a giant iPod is the greatest thing to happen since the G3 iMac.

If they came out on stage and spent 10 minutes showing us the iPod XL and announced Macbook updates and maybe some new Pro software people would be alot more friendly toward the iPad. But instead it feels like Apple wasted a whole keynote on the iPad when its not half as impressive as it should have or could have been.

[mustang5jk2]

I just got my iPad a week ago, but have been researching for months. I've always wanted a tablet computer for college, where I will major in stage management. Translation: I do everything you can think of except act. Designing sets, lights, writing cues for scripts, creating rehearsal and crew reports, scheduling auditions and rehearsals...I'm the director's right hand.

During my research, I checked out apps for theatre. It came up with apps for script writing, marking scripts, timing cues, calculating light beam set up, mixing lights, practically everything you can think of. Call me crazy, but I prefer to not have to mark up and highlight and annotate on a screen smaller than my hand.

Yes, in many ways it's like an iTouch in appearances and in software, but it's capable of a lot more things that you simply can't do on an iTouch. It lets you use all the iWork programs, which in my opinion are easier to manipulate and are much more user friendly. It allows you to actually write easily and clearly for notes, designs, or plans...good luck doing that on iTouch. I bought the iPad not only because I've been waiting for the damn thing since before it was announced, back when it was the rumored iTablet or iSlate, but because it's going to be an incredible utensil for me to take to college. It's much more sensitive and much less expensive than any tablet laptop I've seen from Fujitsu , etc and it provides endless possibilities for anyone in any type of business. Whether you're managing a production, training a problem horse, trying to survive freshman year at college, or just looking for a greatly improved iTouch-like product, iPad is definitely the way to go.

[antiprotest]

"Seriously, stop lying to yourselves"

Seriously, stop lying to yourself -- you want one.

[KameronBriggs]

No it's not.

[nixiemaiden]

This thread was started in January...

[Zoobiee]

Couldn't find a decent enough eBooks reader which does PDFs and Coloured images well, so I bought the iPad. Good nuff for me.

But I don't have an iPhone tho..i use a Nexus One.

Z

[oserere]

hey if you don't like it don't buy it, don't go around starting threads just because you don't like it or see the need for it doesn't mean other people don't like it. in fact i'm going to give my ipod touch to my brother and get one cause it fits my needs.

[GinoDotCom]

This thread was started in January...

Would love to know what all the naysayers think of the iPad now, truthfully.

I was one of them but do I love my iPad now :D

[OGDaniel]

Why doesn't Ford make us a hovercar?

That'd be gay. It'd just be a normal car with hover wheels! Stop lying to yourself, you don't need a hovercar! Don't try to justify a hovercar purchase by thinking you need to fill the gap between car and airplane.


:cool:

[DoFoT9]

Heh. I ain't complaining. I'm in love with mine :cool:

[bobob]

The OP is still active in the forums (http://forums.macrumors.com/search.php?searchid=20929533), currently busily trolling away about the iPhone 4 antenna, so perhaps he can drop by and give us an update on his opinion of the iPad now that he's had the opportunity to actually try one.

[WLS]

The OP is still active in the forums (http://forums.macrumors.com/search.php?searchid=20929533), currently busily trolling away about the iPhone 4 antenna, so perhaps he can drop by and give us an update on his opinion of the iPad now that he's had the opportunity to actually try one.

So he has one now? that's hilarious.
Lets ask him to do a followup on his post.
For some reason resurrecting old threads is discouraged by moderators but I think it is perfectly reasonable to look back at those that predicted epic fail of the iPad or iPhone and ask why they were so wrong. It helps us know who the trollers are at least.

[DoFoT9]

HA! yea lets ask for a follow up :D

[yoavcs]

iPad is to iPod touch as

swimming pool is to bath tub



yeah, a swimming pool is basically just a really large tub... but that size enables so many new things to happen.