To take part in discussions on talkSFU, please apply for membership (SFU email id required).
Apple iPad is Official
I'm not sure I really like the name, but I really like the device. There weren't many surprises, since the rumored "iTablet" has gotten lots of speculation over the past few months but I am stoked that it's finally official. It's basically a full-blown version of the iPhone that does everything a laptop or netbook would do but in a very stylish and intuitive way.
Alongside all of the typical media features like Photos, HD Video, and Music, it also has a digital "bookshelf" allowing you to store and read books...and *ahem* textbooks. The addition of iBooks is significant, because no other electronic device has the ability to display full color, multimedia pages in a seamless format like the iPad. Remember that video clip that your professor showed in your last lecture? Imagine if it was embedded in your textbook page like a YouTube video. The possibilities are endless, and I think the iPad is on the right track to revolutionizing this industry. As the production and distribution costs of electronic textbooks approaches "zero," it should drastically bring textbook prices down while maintaining the same profit margins for the textbook companies. (fingers crossed)
Another great feature of the iPad that no one really expected is the addition of a whole new productivity suite called iWork. This is going to allow people to use their iPad for work as well as entertainment. This means you'll be able to create papers, spreadsheets, presentations right on there. Another nifty part of iWork is the paint program, which allows you to finger paint, sketch, and draw right on the screen using the best multi-touch technology in the industry (am i turning into a fanboy?).
In summary, if you like your iPhone you will probably love the iPad. It takes the iPhone OS platform as far as it could possibly go (other than video calling) and I'm really excited to get my hands on one in a few months. If anyone wants to watch the full keynote, check out the link below.
Resources:
Hardware specs and High Res pics: http://mac.appstorm.net/general/app-news/an-in-depth-look-at-the-apple-ipad/
Mashable's Summary: http://mashable.com/apple-tablet/
The full Apple keynote in HD: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1001q3f8hhr/event/index.html
Comments
A list of cons:
-500-830 dollars
-ugly exterior, looks exactly like an iphone
-no multitasking, this is ridiculous
-ibooks are apparently 15 bucks a pop, kindle still shits on this
-no flash player
-i'll laugh everytime i see someone running an iphone app on these (pro?)
- doesn't have a camera, or abilities to phone (less functionality than the iphone, haha)
This is a glorified facebook browsing machine. No sane person would buy this over a netbook. And come on Simon, a productivity suite was expected for sure. If this thing came out without one, people would have walked out on the keynote. Oh yeah, and each app (keynote, numbers) is supposed to be 10 dollars a piece.
the ipad is fucking dumb.
I can see some specialized uses for it, like those synth-pad apps for the iphone - but on the whole, I'd rather have a netbook.
as lazy mentioned the cons far outweigh the pros... in fact i cant think of any pros... typing on a touchscreen is a bitch and a half
don't get me wrong i like tablets and am looking to get one but this thing is just a joke and usually apple products have looks going for them but IMO this thing looks hideous
It's just not a replacement for a tablet "pc". It's more like an oversized touch screen toy.
This tablet shows promise though.
For example, compare uninstalling a windows program vs uninstalling a mac program. Mac programs are self-contained, so once you delete the application all the files go with it. Whereas on a windows computer, there is the program files, and a loose network of files created by that program, including drivers (.dlls), registry entries, etc. that get left behind, go corrupt, or simply crash when they want.
As for Flash, I'm glad it's on the way out. HTML5 is right around the corner, and we'll be able to add videos and music to web pages simply by using a tag such as . I've never liked flash (mainly because it's a resource hog) and the only reason so many computers have it today is because of the popularity of YouTube. Good riddance.
Sure there are other touch screen devices that try to do the same thing that the iPhone or iPad does, but how many of them actually do them well? Who even thought about using capacitive resistance based touch screens before Apple did? Because of the iPhone, the whole mobile web has been revolutionized. No one gave a crap about optimizing their web sites for display on mobile devices before the iPhone came around. Even Google is taking advantage of this, by keeping the screen dimensions of the Nexus one exactly the same as the iPhone screen dimensions (so all the iPhone optimized sites will work on the Nexus).
Another thing I'll mention is that I greatly appreciate the fact that Apple filters apps that go into the app store. The system favors quality over quantity, which is a nice change from the years of "shareware" and open software repositories where you have to download 4 different programs to find one that finally works. I have to reformat my windows pc every few months because it get's so bogged down by leftover programs, spyware, viruses, and general fragmentation. Whereas I've had my iPhone for a year and a half and it still runs as smooth as day one. I'm expecting nothing less from the iPad, and if you haven't owned an iPhone then you don't even know what I'm talking about.
Instead of focusing on the 140,000 apps that DID get approved, haters love to focus on the garbage that got rejected. The whole reason that people even spend money on apps is because they know they are getting a quality product. Apple acts as the gatekeeper to keep malicious code, buggy programs, and objectional content out of the app store, which ultimately is the best thing for everyone. When I download an app, I know it's not going to cause me any problems.
Speed, efficiency, and reliability are just as important features as a camera or anything else...good design involves tradeoffs. The iPad, like the iPhone is designed with these and many other important things in mind. As always, the numbers will do the talking and the haters will keep hating.
The iPhone doesn't claim to do everything, but what it does do, it does very well. That's what's so great about it, and that's also what makes the iPad such a useful device. It's a personal computer that has been designed from the ground up, breaking the conventions of the computer industry and it's typical users. Less is more people.
When the iPhone first came out it went through a lot of the same backlash, but since then has gone on to sell 42 million units and become Apple's fastest growing product line. Throw in over 20 million unit sales of the iPod Touch and you got yourself a product line that is far from "serving a very small market." The fact that all three devices (iPhone, iPod, & iPad) are based on the iPhone OS is great for the market that they serve. Cross compatibility of apps, and less of a learning curve are just a few of the benefits.
And the fact that you used 56k dial up modems as an analogy only proves my point further of how Flash is heading towards obsolescence. The dial up modem is an old, inefficient technology that lost it's usefulness and is no longer a standard feature. Next you'll say you want computers to have floppy drives too lol.
Innovation has always been a driving force in the technology industry, whether anyone appreciates that or not...and I would argue that Apple is the most innovative company in the world today.
Would there be a Nexus One without the iPhone? Would there be Android Marketplace without the Apple App Store? Would there be so many Touch Screen electronics if Apple hadn't introduced capacitive resistance displays? Would Windows 7 look and feel the way it does if it wasn't for OS X? Would there be a thriving online music industry without iTunes? If you know anything about business and/or technology, the answer to all of these questions is no.
That and apple is not the heavenly corporation you make it out to be. At the end of the day, they're trying to make as much money off you as possible. That said, I think the way Apple goes about doing that is pretty unethical. The App store filters out whatever apps will lower their revenue (google voice?). They've closed the entire platform so customizability is at a all time low. Why do you think almost everyone jail-breaks their iphones?
This hardly outshines tablet pc's. Have you ever used onenote on a regular tablet pc. That program alone is enough to warrant a tablet purchase. People are jizzing in their pants for the ipad when tablet pcs have been around for years.
Why does the ipad even have a touch screen? Can you write notes on it? Use it as a wacom substitute?
b) I honestly don't believe Apple, or any corporation for that matter, is "heavenly." But due to my interest in the business world, I will give credit where credit is due. Apple is doing exceedingly well in the fields of design, innovation, and engineering. At the end of the day, all corporations have an end goal of maximizing revenue and market share. That's a fact of life in the capitalist society we live in...Apple is therefore just another player in the game. I would love for another serious competitor to come knocking on Apple's door, but all I see so far is half-ass attempts.
c) Why does it have a touchscreen? The best way I can answer that is by giving you my iPhone for a week.
For one thing, the browser support just doesn't exist at the moment. (wiki)
It's also going to take time for the web to switch over completely. It may take years, and until that happens there are still going to be ipad users who come across videos they can't watch, or content they can't access because Apple made a "design decision".
Edit: And there's still multitasking. I want to listen to last.fm while I read my ebooks.
App Store? Quality over quantity? Are we talking about the same Apple App Store? Their biggest criticism is that it's littered with trash with only a handful of gems in the rough. Not to mention their filtering system is completely inane and non-sensical. There's absolutely no standardized guideline for their quality control. And of those 140,000 that get approved, 10 of them are anywhere decent. The rest are shovelware or clones of existing programs. But the iPad isn't going to be as speedy, efficient or reliable as other devices that it'll compete against. Just like the iPod Touch isn't as good as the Zune HD, the iPad likely won't be as good as the HP Slate or the tablet Microsoft is developing. Face it, the iPad is a piece of trash. You're defending it the same way Steve Jobs tried to defend it, with absolutely nothing. No one is excited about this thing. Even all the Apple loving tech-blogs like Engadget and Gizmodo are kind of cold about it.
We all thought this would've been a real tablet PC that designers could use to sketch things, students could use to jot down notes, and etc. But all it ended being is a overpriced and underpowered piece of crap. It does less than a netbook half it's price, and cellphones a fraction of its size. It's a pathetic excuse for a tablet. It's an over-sized iPhone made by a jackass with an over-sized ego and god complex.
[youtube]1aGdG9JFyv4[/youtube]
Hands on With Apple's iPad:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/27/hands_on_with_apples_ipad_with_videos_and_photos.html
My Mom's Next Computer:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/31/ipad-moms-next-computer/
iPad's Limitations are Design Decisions:
http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?994
Flash, iPad & Web Standards:
http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/
Hands on With Apple's iPad:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/27/hands_on_with_apples_ipad_with_videos_and_photos.html
My Mom's Next Computer:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/31/ipad-moms-next-computer/
iPad's Limitations are Design Decisions:
http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?994
Flash, iPad & Web Standards:
http://www.zeldman.com/2010/02/01/flash-ipad-standards/
All right, so maybe there's a place for it even if I would never buy one.
but..
"Hey mom, check out our new band! Here's our myspace page so you can listen to .. oh wait, that requires flash."
"Hey mom, look at this funny video of cats on metacafe .. oh wait, flash..."
"Hey mom, bet you can't beat my score at online tetris .. damn, flash again"
See what I mean?
First, the Kindle's strength is the e-ink technology it uses to spare readers staring at an eye-straining backlit display. E-ink looks like a printed page. The iPad is just a big iPod Touch with the same type of computer screen, and the last thing my tired eyes need is yet another device blasting photons at them.
Second, the iPad is too big. I don't want to lug a 1.5-pound, 10-inch tray of shining glass around. I'd rather take my 10-ounce, 5.25-inch-wide Kindle with me. It's the size and weight of a book.
I did like the iPad's page-turning technique of swiping fingers, and its cool bookshelf, but don't think those are enough to outweigh reading on a backlit screen.
I know, the iPad does so much more than just books, with hundreds of thousands of apps and video and music and a contact book and email and photo albums and the web and--you know what though? That's also partially why I don't want one. Sometimes, I like to leave all that at the desk and jsut walk away with a book, or something close to a book, that doesn't interrupt me in any way while I'm just...reading.