Who is Dean Solecki? And why do I want to take the time to read a huge post like that? And if he is so well esteemed why does he have to resort to posting it here?
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Dean Solecki's guide to the iPad killer: (flame on)
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The only way to truly 'kill' the iPad/iPhone, is to have a kick-ass product(hardware AND software), that hides all the techie stuff(have that available under the hood) in a way that appeals to the average consumer.
Whilst having that, it must also be dead-easy and a pleasure to use, competitively priced with an awesome marketing campaign to transcend the gadget sphere it's in and embed itself into the psyche of the general public.
Beating it in specs alone will never get the job done.
Whilst having that, it must also be dead-easy and a pleasure to use, competitively priced with an awesome marketing campaign to transcend the gadget sphere it's in and embed itself into the psyche of the general public.
Beating it in specs alone will never get the job done.
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Just three things I see in the future
Screen recognition. Let me jot notes with a pen (real or plastic fake thing, should not matter) and that will give Apple a run for its money. They just beg to be written on and there is no reason they can't be setup to do so. MS was working on something similar.
Ability to use in FULL SUNLIGHT.
Less than a pound.
Screen recognition. Let me jot notes with a pen (real or plastic fake thing, should not matter) and that will give Apple a run for its money. They just beg to be written on and there is no reason they can't be setup to do so. MS was working on something similar.
Ability to use in FULL SUNLIGHT.
Less than a pound.
So, it needs a keyboard, a system of using it without needing to connect it to a PC and be able to do multi tasking to beat the iPad. good idea, maybe you could call it iLaptop?
You laugh, but I think a lot of us (and I'm not apathetic to the iPad 2; I spent 4 hours in line for it) would be pretty impressed if apple rolled out a tablet with a stand-alone OS. I guess the question could be, How many years will it take for apple to cut the iTunes umbilical cord? (The answer, for reasons we could all think up, might be never)
@gomff - I haven't seen any web dev apps so that is beyond me, but the file system relates to what I was saying above; iTunes is the chimera of all Apple's works, and I doubt we'll be rid of it soon. (The file system doesn't need to be part of an independent OS, but I can't imagine seeing it while iOS is a parasite of iTunes)
@Chupa Chupa - It's a big internet, I suppose you could read another thread. If you need help finding one just ask.
@The rest of ya's - Good Points.
So, it needs a keyboard, a system of using it without needing to connect it to a PC and be able to do multi tasking to beat the iPad. good idea, maybe you could call it iLaptop?
The problem is that Apple has a vested interest in segregating the iPad from it's laptop range, since it doesn't want one to eat into the other's sales. This is standing in the way of progress, since at times the tablet form factor is preferable and more appropriate, but not always. I'd rather have a mobile computer that could be an iPad sometimes and a laptop at others.
I don't believe the solution is a Flip screen laptop like the one Dell have just released, because I don't think it's necessary for the keyboard to always be attached. I'm saying there should be the option of using a keyboard, mouse, controller etc.....The system should be flexible and unconstrained.
FWIW, I believe Microsoft shot itself in the foot when it canceled the courier.....That was a system with great potential and the double screen design was useful & clever.
Yeah, its like Porsche, you don't want to up the performance on the cayman so it will seal sales from the 911
as it is they are clearly separated and I think apple are happy to keep it that way. (mac stuff not porsches) I don't know if you guys are up on this... but HA!
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...an_microsoft_for_ios_5_voice_recognition.html
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...an_microsoft_for_ios_5_voice_recognition.html
+1 I sure wouldn't want to be wandering around dictating one of my university assignments out loud. Sometimes it is just easier to type rather than speak.
Just another 'wannabe' who has invented nothing and trolls about a super well selling device that's been very well marketed.
The things that turned me off right away right away was:
1) any review that uses the word 'killer' in it (highlanderism),
2) what's with the '(flame on)'?
Just a self pleasuring 'review' with generic whine.
You obviously didn't get the tongue in cheek undertone. That's cool. I'm not sure why I would "troll about" a device that I own and make a point of saying I have already bought and spent 4 hours waiting in line for. But again, you didn't seem to get the facetiousness of the post, so it is irrelevant.
I only dragged this to the top to point out that, despite major flack from you guys, Apple at least thinks speech input is going to be a big deal in the near future.
Some others on here also seemed to get that point; for the sake of fairness.
@OP: Reading your original post, you might be surprised to learn something. It's been done before, and available for years. It's called a windows tablet. Speech input, 'real' software, the lot.
As to the details:
- speech input isn't practical. It's ok in a quiet place, anywhere else you need a microphone or headset so it can hear you clearly (try making a call in a busy place with your phone on your lap At that point, it starts getting clunky. Plus, it's never going to be 100% accurate.
- apps ARE real software. The only major distinction is that they're packaged up so that the're separated from each other - i.e. apps can't talk to each other, or change the system. Allowing those things also allows all kinds of problems with instability, information theft, malware.. the kinds of problem the average user doesn't want to deal with. That's why apple get away with their locked down system.
- multitasking: yes, but all the apps would have to be re-written to work with it. There's all kinds of problems that would have to be fixed before this can happen. Lets see what apple give us with ios 5 - your ipad killer features here might end up 2 steps behind in a month or so (which happens to many ipad/phone/pod killers about once a year remember
As to the details:
- speech input isn't practical. It's ok in a quiet place, anywhere else you need a microphone or headset so it can hear you clearly (try making a call in a busy place with your phone on your lap
At that point, it starts getting clunky. Plus, it's never going to be 100% accurate.- apps ARE real software. The only major distinction is that they're packaged up so that the're separated from each other - i.e. apps can't talk to each other, or change the system. Allowing those things also allows all kinds of problems with instability, information theft, malware.. the kinds of problem the average user doesn't want to deal with. That's why apple get away with their locked down system.
- multitasking: yes, but all the apps would have to be re-written to work with it. There's all kinds of problems that would have to be fixed before this can happen. Lets see what apple give us with ios 5 - your ipad killer features here might end up 2 steps behind in a month or so (which happens to many ipad/phone/pod killers about once a year remember
While I agree that speech to text would be a valuable addition for many purposes, the tablet is a mobile device. As such, s-t-t won't be a killer app until someone discovers a way to do it silently while on the bus, in the dr's waiting room, etc. Yes, it's rather shocking sometimes the things that people will discuss loudly on their cel phones, but I think that dictating a sensitive company email (or a sexy one to your spouse) might actually get a line drawn.
This I 100% agree with, but I also think that apple is likely to implement some form of it at some point. There are just too, too many times when it's truly useful to have a webpage open while writing notes about it, etc for them to actively ignore it. Just like they eventually solved multitasking itself, I'm confident that at some point in the nest couple iterations we'll get to view at least two apps side-by-side. However, I do not think that someone else doing this will automatically make them an iPad killer without also at least getting the ecosystem problem solved.
Forgot to say, how about this for input instead of the normal touch screen: a 3d display, plus finger tracking cameras (think kinnect but on a small scale, and built into the screen). This way you could interact with 3d graphics in 3d - it'd be touch without actually touching. You could use haptics to give the illusion of actually 'touching' the display.
I know this is an old thread, but did anyone notice that the OP states you can't think faster than you can talk? If that were the case, how come I can read silently faster than I can read aloud? How come I can type faster (at times) than I can speak. How can we have a dream that last longer than the time we were asleep? No the mind can move at much faster rates than speech.
This has nothing to do with the debate about input (since mind input is still completely fiction, just pointing out inaccuracies in the original post).
This has nothing to do with the debate about input (since mind input is still completely fiction, just pointing out inaccuracies in the original post).
From what I gather, a person can hear ~4x as fast as he/she can talk.
Voice recognition at best will complement existing input technologies, not supplanting them altogether. Thus, voice recognition does not an iPad killer criterion make. (Plus, what about other languages, including "bilingual" sentences?)
It's easy to geek out over the potential of a device and completely forget that you are a social being. There are certain things that people around you will not tolerate. Talking to your device is one of them.
Now, if the technology was lending itself to the benefit of everyone in the vicinity, that's different. Folks will deem that acceptable, even needed.
Now, if the technology was lending itself to the benefit of everyone in the vicinity, that's different. Folks will deem that acceptable, even needed.
Agreed.
The day voice input will become acceptable is the day that we actually come to prefer the automated voice prompted assistance when dialing in.. "Say 'one' for English or 'tres' for Spanish."
What's kind of sad in this topic is that the stylus has fallen off the face of the earth. I loved my stylus back in the windows mobile days, and was quite fast with it. The ipad is VERY much missing true note taking ability, and the currently available pens are really a very poor solution. Don't get me wrong, I realize that you are not going to write a book with a stylus, although I did used to write very long patient reports on my tablet with a stylus. For more intensive work a hardware keyboard will always be required until someone invents a new input paradigm.
I just think that to throw out an input method humankind has had for thousands of years doesn't make sense. It's not the total solution, but it is one of the solutions IMO.
I just think that to throw out an input method humankind has had for thousands of years doesn't make sense. It's not the total solution, but it is one of the solutions IMO.
I think the stylus will stay around. I use it mostly for sketching, but it seems like there's a good number using it with notetaking apps and seems to work rather well. You just need a good app with a palm rest area to prevent touch errors.
Gee, we had devices that did that when I went to college. We called them tape recorders.
And yes, professors did permit students to record their lectures.