Live Coverage of Apple's 'Come See What 2011 Will Be the Year Of' Event

[tron1971]

I liked the last minute rumor that Apple was requesting the CEO resellers in Europe to fly to the UK for the iPad 2 announcement. If this was really true, I would be rather irritated but that's me though.

Well I am outta here till the next rumor which should either be the iPhone 5 or iMac or Mac Mini...

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

I love Steve Jobs misquoting people in his keynote also. I thought that was kind of unprofessional. I found this keynote to be full of unprofessional and childish jabs. I usually really enjoy listening to Steve talk. It sounded to me like he may have some shred of worry about the competition.

 

[dgree03]

Well that's because it's hard to find one of the 6 people on the planet that actually bought a Xoom...

More jokes, less answers... its the apple way.

It is even how they do there product annoucements. Joke about Honeybombs "100 apps," Joke about motorolas price on the USA released xoom.

Funny thing about jokes, it there arent there for facts, only for fun. So save the jokes for the improv.

 

[modit]

Get real!

dyslexic?

More like iPhone auto-correction fail. It should have been "wonder" instead of "wore". Not my fault as I was running to a University midterm exam. Think before you judge!

 

[sishaw]

In your opinion, of course. The dual cameras plus FaceTime will be "must have" features for a lot of people, gamers will appreciate the faster processor, and I'd likely upgrade for the video mirroring alone.

OMG, too true! I remember when iPad 1 came out, EVERYONE (well, all the complainers and haters) were saying "if only it had a front-facing camera for conferencing/skype/facetime."!! And suddenly now that it has it, it's negligible or not important.

Just goes to show, haters will hate no matter what.

 

[samcraig]

OMG, too true! I remember when iPad 1 came out, EVERYONE (well, all the complainers and haters) were saying "if only it had a front-facing camera for conferencing/skype/facetime."!! And suddenly now that it has it, it's negligible or not important.

Just goes to show, haters will hate no matter what.

or people have realized that those features really aren't all that important. I don't think you can make assumptions and keep them so broad.

 

[rovex]

* 10.1" Screen vs. 9.7"
* 1280x800 vs. 1024.768
* Tegra 2 vs. Dual Core A5 (wash.)
* iPad has more built in Storage but the Xoom has an SDCard slot (and you can actually save stuff on the Xoom.)
* Better Camera and Dual LED Flash
* LTE Support

I think that would sum up the price difference. You get a better camera, a better resolution and negligibly larger screen, more storage options, LTE support.

Edit, just found this. Great little link.
http://mobiletrends.info/2011/03/02/apple-ipad-2-vs-motorola-xoom/

Apple were behind in technology with IPad 1, and guess what? They are STILL behind in technology with a product yet to be released.

Who in the world would of thought Motorola would have a higher resolution screen on their tablet? Don't Apple pride themselves in the most advanced screen tech?
We can't just keep this under rug, we need to expose Apple for their failures, and this case is one of them.

 

[dgree03]

OMG, too true! I remember when iPad 1 came out, EVERYONE (well, all the complainers and haters) were saying "if only it had a front-facing camera for conferencing/skype/facetime."!! And suddenly now that it has it, it's negligible or not important.

Just goes to show, haters will hate no matter what.

Its neglible because there is competition now, otherwise it would be a even greater feature than apple has already lead you to believe.

 

[colinmack]

More jokes, less answers... its the apple way.

It is even how they do there product annoucements. Joke about Honeybombs "100 apps," Joke about motorolas price on the USA released xoom.

Funny thing about jokes, it there arent there for facts, only for fun. So save the jokes for the improv.

First of all - I'm here until Thursday, so be sure to try the veal.

Second - it might have been intended as a joke, but you're the one insisting on first-hand feedback about a product that virtually nobody owns (and very few are likely to ever buy), so like many jokes there's a fair bit of truth behind it.

...oh, and I assume you meant "Honeycomb" - bit of a Freudian slip there ;-)

 

[Torajima]

or people have realized that those features really aren't all that important. I don't think you can make assumptions and keep them so broad.

Yeah, and when the haters bitch about the next release even though it has a retina display and a USB port, I guess they'll have realized that those features really aren't all that important either.

 

[samcraig]

Yeah, and when the haters bitch about the next release even though it has a retina display and a USB port, I guess they'll have realized that those features really aren't all that important either.

Why is someone a hater because they aren't gushing? You do realize you can comment or critique something and not HATE it or be a HATER...right? Or are things only black/white in your world?

 

[AaronEdwards]

I love Steve Jobs misquoting people in his keynote also. I thought that was kind of unprofessional. I found this keynote to be full of unprofessional and childish jabs. I usually really enjoy listening to Steve talk. It sounded to me like he may have some shred of worry about the competition.

Agree.

When you're at the top and you aren't worried about the competition, you ignore them. That's not what I got from this keynote.

 

[fahadqureshi]

Apple were behind in technology with IPad 1, and guess what? They are STILL behind in technology with a product yet to be released.

Who in the world would of thought Motorola would have a higher resolution screen on their tablet? Don't Apple pride themselves in the most advanced screen tech?
We can't just keep this under rug, we need to expose Apple for their failures, and this case is one of them.

most people dont care about raw technology. in the end its all really about the os. if ios works fast and flawlessly with a 512ram there is no need to upgrade it to 1gb just so people can show off and compare specs.

and so far from the 2 reviews i have seen on mobileburn and technobuffalo of side by side comparison of the ipad and xoom both reviews have said the ipad screen is better then the xoom screen. they acknowledge the xoom's screen is higher resolution but state the quality of the ipad screen is far superior.

 

[samcraig]

Agree.

When you're at the top and you aren't worried about the competition, you ignore them. That's not what I got from this keynote.

It could also be argued that having Jobs there was to further propel the iPad 2's release as something more amazing as it brought him out of his medical leave to announce.

Would the event have been as "magical" without Jobs? One wonders...

 

[SandynJosh]

Tablets are probably going to run on the more laptop-ish minimum 2 - 3 year consumer upgrade cycle.

Now if 2012's iPad changes little from the iPad 2 but throws in the iPad version of the iPhone 4 Retina display, you might get my attention. But that's a year away.

Boy are you ever going to be surprised! The tablet market is hotter then anything except maybe the iPhone market. I can't remember any thing ever hitting the market and catching fire like the iPad.

Therefore, this being a whole new ball game, I don't expect Apple, or anyone else, is going to treat it like the laptop market. There are even rumors that the iPad2 could get refreshed again this Fall.


On another note, I found it amusing that Apple is declaring the PC a dead end product, Twice in the presentation Steve commented about, "Looking forward to the post-PC era..."

 

[samcraig]

Boy are you ever going to be surprised! The tablet market is hotter then anything except maybe the iPhone market. I can't remember any thing ever hitting the market and catching fire like the iPad.

Therefore, this being a whole new ball game, I don't expect Apple, or anyone else, is going to treat it like the laptop market. There are even rumors that the iPad2 could get refreshed again this Fall.


On another note, I found it amusing that Apple is declaring the PC a dead end product, Twice in the presentation Steve commented about, "Looking forward to the post-PC era..."

I imagine that one day that will happen - but not for many many many years. Consumers might be earlier adopters as well. But, for example, the entertainment industry will need something meatier than what tablets will be able to do for several iterations to come.

 

[dgree03]

First of all - I'm here until Thursday, so be sure to try the veal.

Second - it might have been intended as a joke, but you're the one insisting on first-hand feedback about a product that virtually nobody owns (and very few are likely to ever buy), so like many jokes there's a fair bit of truth behind it.

...oh, and I assume you meant "Honeycomb" - bit of a Freudian slip there ;-)

I have one, So you have your source right here. I have one after having an iPad for 9 months. I have used the xoom exclusively for the last 6 days, without an iPad crutch to lean on. This is so I could learn the nuances of the OS and be able to see its strengths and weaknesses as they are intended to be discovered.

So when people come here and make ridiculous claim and start spouting off "SJ talking point" I have to come here and put it too rest. Not because it is my duty, but because I love shutting up uninformed, apple worshippers.

I am at Macrumors because i either own(Macbook Pro, Ipod touch) or owned (Ipad, Iphone) iOS stuff.... so its not that I am an apple hater.. i just try not to get sucked into the same distortion field most "fans" are. I comment in hopes that someone can have an adult conversation about a product and not always stoop to Jokes and FUD. I can take so many jokes, but I cannot take FUD. I see the followers mimic the creator in that aspect because SJ is the KING of SPIN... Tazmanian Devil Spin. What makes it worst is, then the followers spout his spin as fact... and other followers rejoice in the spin..

With all that spin going on, how can anyone get facts in that tornado?? Well that what I try to do... and us other "Haters"

People say it doesnt matter what the hardware specs are without software? I agree.

Just like I say, its doesnt matter what your rebuttal is without facts.

 

[fahadqureshi]

Agree.

When you're at the top and you aren't worried about the competition, you ignore them. That's not what I got from this keynote.

at the same time it is also important to let the people who are trying to decide between an android or ios device why they should pick one over the other.

 

[blueraja]

* 10.1" Screen vs. 9.7"
* 1280x800 vs. 1024.768
* Tegra 2 vs. Dual Core A5 (wash.)
* iPad has more built in Storage but the Xoom has an SDCard slot (and you can actually save stuff on the Xoom.)
* Better Camera and Dual LED Flash
* LTE Support

I think that would sum up the price difference. You get a better camera, a better resolution and negligibly larger screen, more storage options, LTE support.

Edit, just found this. Great little link.
http://mobiletrends.info/2011/03/02/apple-ipad-2-vs-motorola-xoom/

You forgot to mention that the sd card slot right now is useless on the xoom and will hopefully allow for proper storage when updated despite motorola saying its for memory expansion more than hotswapping and will at max give you the equivalent storage of the max sized ipad.

You also forgot to mention that LTE support didn't make it into the xoom and will require a hardware update that motorola plans to offer (hopefully for free) but has no timetable of when it will happen.

Anyone else find it hilarious that a grand total of 256 pixels one way and 33 pixels the other is supposedly the huge difference in low res and high res yet no one mentions the image quality (which according to reviews is quite inferior).

 

[50548]

The only relevant conclusion we can take is:

MS IS DEAD. ANDROID IS DEAD. AND SO IS THE "XOOM".

Thank you for another phenomenal performance, SJ...on medical leave or not.

 

[samcraig]

You also forgot to mention that LTE support didn't make it into the xoom and will require a hardware update that motorola plans to offer (hopefully for free) but has no timetable of when it will happen.

It's been announced by end of March - and it will be free.

 

[Slurpy2k8]

Apple were behind in technology with IPad 1, and guess what? They are STILL behind in technology with a product yet to be released.

Who in the world would of thought Motorola would have a higher resolution screen on their tablet? Don't Apple pride themselves in the most advanced screen tech?
We can't just keep this under rug, we need to expose Apple for their failures, and this case is one of them.

Hilarious. So Apple needs to use the absolute fastest/newest/most expensive of every single component in their devices or they're 'behind' in tech? When people see my iPad they're still blown away. They use components that work extremely well together, and end up with a more than sum of its parts product. To me, the iPad is still extremely smooth and fast for my uses, never stuttering or lagging. And next week, a new one will be released with an exponential increase in performance. Reviews of almost every single android tablet I've read complain of lagginess/unresponsiveness, regardless of the chips used. You're not building a multi-thousands dollar gaming rig here with no regard to price/power usage, where the only thing that matters is raw numbers in some benchmark. Apple certainly has done pretty ****ing well with 'out-dated' tech, and its hilarious how you deride them for using such tech in a product that essentially created a new market and has been a phenomenal consumer success. But I guess you've got a thing or 2 to teach them, right. As for the post you quoted:

- Why is 10.1' better than 9.7'? Most ppl are complaining the iPad is too big and comparing it to 7' tablets. The Xoom is better cause its bigger?
- You'd be insane to think that Apple would slightly bump the resolution. You think it would be worth doing so, and forcing devs to rewrite all their iPad1 apps or keeping them the same and having them uglified on the higher rez screen? To redo their entire OS interface? Its a ridiculous expectation. They're up the rez when they can quadruple it, keeping the same aspect ratio and same art, as they did with the iPhone. To do anything before that would not be worthwhile, in terms of cost/benefit ratio.
- Better camera? The camera is meant for video and facetime. Were you planning on using this thing regularly to take photos? And dual LED, wtf? Really? How many people would appreciate/make use of them?

Apple makes decisions which it deems will benefit the majority of consumers, and not the minority. By viewing your ideology, I suspect Apple would be bankrupt if you had anything to do with their decision making process.

 

[Torajima]

Why is someone a hater because they aren't gushing? You do realize you can comment or critique something and not HATE it or be a HATER...right?

There has always been a small, but vocal, minority on these forums that picks apart everything Apple does, either due to an inherent hatred for Apple, or because Apple can't meet their ridiculously unrealistic expectations.

Not sure exactly what you people wanted. Retina Display wasn't going to happen, it was an unrealistic expectation. Nor were they going to suddenly switch to a 16:9 format.

But here is plenty to be excited about. The new iPads are thinner, lighter, faster, with built-in cameras, better speaker, support for video mirroring, etc. The new OS sounds good and the new apps (especially GarageBand) look great.

But someone always has to be a buzz-kill, whether it is warranted or not. So it might as well be you...

 

[dgree03]

You forgot to mention that the sd card slot right now is useless on the xoom and will hopefully allow for proper storage when updated despite motorola saying its for memory expansion more than hotswapping and will at max give you the equivalent storage of the max sized ipad.

You also forgot to mention that LTE support didn't make it into the xoom and will require a hardware update that motorola plans to offer (hopefully for free) but has no timetable of when it will happen.

Anyone else find it hilarious that a grand total of 256 pixels one way and 33 pixels the other is supposedly the huge difference in low res and high res yet no one mentions the image quality (which according to reviews is quite inferior).

HAHA thanks for proving my last post correct.

So lemme get this straight.. Xoom has the capability and that stuff that WILL be enabled.

Ipad 1 or 2 doesnt.

That makes the XOOM inferior how?

 

[blueraja]

It's been announced by end of March - and it will be free.

Really when did that change? last week Verizon stated that Motorola was aiming for late may to begin the hardware upgrades but it wasnt a firm target.