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iPad Review
The packaging is minimal and sleek. Almost nothing comes inside the box: just a cable, power cube and some minuscule documentation that nobody will read. The iPad itself arrived fully charged. It is usable out of the box without any syncing, but I chose almost immediately to pair it with my laptop just to get all my apps and data on it. This syncing process took forever. It's kind of amazing how long it takes to sync 20 or so gigs of movies and mp3s. This isn't unique to the iPad of course, but I never really noticed it on the phone since I don't sync video there.
The UI and functionality is pretty much as expected: It's a big iPhone. There are some minor differences (like being able to drag different numbers of items to the sticky footer menu). The new calendar application is nice. But the star is the mail client. Reading mail on my iPhone has been the "Last Resort," but the speed and clean layout and usability of the iPad mail app makes me prefer it to my desktop. I need a faster way to mark spam, but that's not necessarily the end of the world. Writing mail on the iPad is a different story. More on that below.
The new photo app is decent, but if you have a large number of albums and events it gets tough to find specific stuff quickly. I can't figure out why the iPhone and now the iPad don't make use of folders. Their mac equivalents both let you create nicely nested hierarchies of albums or playlists, but those both get lost on their little cousins where screen real estate is even MORE important. The video app seems to do strange things with thumbnails: it seemed to want to give videos the same thumbnail icon if they share an "Album." This means navigating my home movies category is lame because all 15 or so videos have the same thumbnail. It shouldn't be that way.
My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS. But applications were constantly asking me for permission to use my location. This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask! Even the built-in Map app asked me for information that it could not possibly have.
Finally, time to test Safari: I tested out Slashdot first, and it renders pretty well. There are a couple of minor layout glitches and a few trickier functionality problems. The problems are mostly the same as the iPhone, but having the larger screen makes it a lot more obvious. I'll probably get some tickets into the system this week to clean up these bugs.
When I started browsing the net at large I noticed a few interesting problems: The first is that a lot of websites are serving iPhone pages to the iPad. So you get a number of ridiculously minimalistic pages on the big bright screen. It's laughably annoying to see these teeny tiny menus. Most sites seem fine, but I was surprised at the number of mainstream sites that thought I needed this. The lack of Flash is MUCH more noticeable than I thought it would be. The good news is that YouTube seems to embed cleanly and in-place, so a lot of video oriented websites still work fine. But the lack of Flash hurts. Apple has made their position known on the subject, so I'm not expecting anything to change. The lack of a real scroll bar make sites that make use of frames for navigation not really work properly. At the end of the day, I was surprised at the number of sites that actually had SOME problem with them. Most worked fine, but when something fails, I noticed more than I do on the iPhone. I think this is simply a user expectation thing: on my phone I expect things NOT to work and am happy when they do. On the iPad I expect things to work as well as they do in Safari in my desktop, and am irritated when they don't.
I tried out a good number of apps. The NetFlix app is really nice, but it doesn't let me rate selections using their little star system. Since I'm OCD about that, this bugs me. Epicurious is a fantastically elegant little recipe system that really shines on the system. ABCs app works but meh. The Weather Channel has a nice little app, and several of my old favorites have ports that make at least some use of the big screen. I suspect it'll be a few months before we really see what the unit has to offer since many of the most popular apps haven't been ported yet. I'm thinking Facebook and even the Apple Remote are very overdue. But hey, the old versions work, they just look like crap.
Let me talk about User Accounts. An iPhone doesn't have them, which is fine because one phone sits in one person's pocket. But your laptop is passed around, and the user account system on a Mac is necessary in any place where you want multiple people sharing a computer with any regularity. The iPad needs it: since this machine wants to be seen in a public place and be handed around, my wife shouldn't have to keep logging out of Gmail and Facebook. And I shouldn't have to leave my iPad on the coffee table signed into my mail. And I shouldn't have to sign out every time I put it down, leaving a brick on the table unusable by guests.
Finally let me talk about the device itself. It's heavy. I mean, surprisingly heavy. The specs say that it is 1.5lbs, which sounded very light on paper. For the first few minutes, I liked the heft; I felt that I was holding a solid, well-crafted item in my hands. But then I started trying to figuring out ways to type. I wrote a number of emails of moderate length and slowly realized that I just don't like typing on this thing. It's fine for URLs and names and passwords and a sentence here and there. But to actually sit down and write a thousand-word review well, there's just no way. I tried many different angles, but in order to hold it in your lap and type, you sorta need to prop it against your belly. Holding it up one handed made my arm kinda tired fairly quickly: unless I'm willing to squish my thumb against the center of the screen. When I do this, the center of gravity shifts and it's much more comfortable to hold, but there's a giant thumb blocking my screen, making it impossible to type. You can cradle it in your arm and type one-handed. That seems like the only way to use it while standing. But I just don't see myself writing anything lengthy. After a day of heavy usage, I felt a little sore. The size and shape is nearly perfect. But all that screen and battery sure feels heavy when it's spread out like this.
But I'll tell you what I like: Having a casual PC at arm's length for a quick lookup of something. Working within the screen size of the iPhone often makes simple internet tasks unwieldy, but provided whatever you need doesn't use Flash, this is a great little web browser. Fast and pretty.
Since the announcement of the iPad, I've wondered what its role could be. My first big question was whether it be a complete replacement PC for "Grandma." Like many of you, I'm occasionally called upon to do little tech support tasks on PCs that do very little, and I was hoping that this might be the solution. After just one day I know this is not going to work for them. The difficulty of using the keyboard. The missing Flash. And the lack of video camera for chatting with the grandkids make this device simply not ready for them.
My other big question is how much of a replacement PC it could be for a power user. Now I can work around Flash and rarely need a camera, but what is clear to me is that a huge percentage of my screen time is spent staring at iChat. While I don't usually need a camera or microphone, my iChat is connected to 4 different networks, and I simply can't do my job without the steady stream of co-worker notes and bot notifications that I rely on. I've yet to find an app that lives in the background and is capable of connecting to the 4 distinct networks that I use. (AIM, SSL'd Jabber and Non-SSL'd Jabber)
I'm not expecting a WoW client or anything, but Chat? Seriously, Apple: You're on iPhone 3.something-or-other and you can't give us a chat client? I can only hope that the end of the exclusive AT&T era means that Apple will no longer be tied to some secret back room deal that forced iPhones to try to shove users to the crap SMS network to pad a telco profit margin despite the fact that our devices are living on a Wi-Fi network.
So, what does Apple need to fix?
- Lose several ounces. PLEASE.
- Video Camera
- iChat
- User switching (or at least an Anonymous mode)
I used it for a day and a half and think that it will be an excellent couch companion PC. I'm also certain that on planes, long car rides, and vacations it will be a great little machine. The battery life is pretty dang amazing. But this is a 1.0 piece of hardware running 3.0 software. The size/shape is great. The speed is wonderful. And 2 years of Moore's law might make this a device to be reckoned with if Apple sells enough of them to continue heavy development on the software and hardware. This version isn't a replacement PC for anyone yet, but future versions might be. You probably want to save your cash until then.
Considering that the last time he passed comment on an Apple handheld, his prediction was pretty lame
I don't think this is the ultimate device for keyboard-focussed nerds, but (as usual) that's not who Apple is aiming at. I guess we'll have to wait and see how well it really does, but selling 300k in one day, in one country compares pretty well to the 3G and 3GS phones (which sold ~1M in 3 days, in 21 countries worldwide).
[Aside - not directed at the review]
perhaps it's just me, but the qualifier "just" in "just a bigger iphone/ipod touch" seems somewhat questionable. Does anyone here want to trade their HDTV for an SD model ? Thought so. With a TV, all you do is view it. On an iPad you'll interact with it - that 5x screen-estate isn't a "just", it's a "crucially", IMHO.
[/aside]
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
The lack of Flash is MUCH more noticeable than I thought it would be.
This is true. Just try browsing the web without plug-ins enabled; you find a need to enable them surprisingly often for Flash. You probably think that you don't visit so many video or flash game sites, but a lot of times slashdot links to articles that have videos, or you're reading about gaming news and it has a trailer or gameplay footage you want to see. However in this case you can't even turn Flash on when you want to.
After just one day I know this is not going to work for them. The difficulty using the keyboard. The missing Flash. And the lack of video camera for chatting
So basically there's no good use for iPad. No big surprise there - just blatant stupidity from over-excited Apple fanbois.
I beg to differ.
No Flash. Less usability than a netbook. Lame
Please, enough of the iPad. I'm a Mac user, and I find the iPad a potential tool for some of my clients, but enough already.
... and for what? 48 hours of availability? It's going to take a lot longer than two days to decide if the iPad is well suited for its market niche or if its going to run into problems. Failure is much easier to measure, but determining success takes time.
I can't think of anything that has gotten this type of media hype
This weekend saw the delivery of iPads into hundreds of thousands of filthy hands. I managed to get my hands on a 32GB unit... I take that you count yourself amongst the unwashed masses, then?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
You don't need 3G for GPS.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that the iPhone, and therefore most likely the iPad, can get location without GPS via Skyhook and the known locations of wireless access points. So apps asking permission to use your location is not a bug.
If you don't have a GPS, it uses wifi-location. So its not ridiculous at all to ask; maybe you should
have tried it before complaining?
It works rather well, actually.
Just a note, it was asking for the location because it can do wifi based location.
Just like your phone can do.
Seriously, even a geek should be able to handle 1.5 pounds in a device without it overtasking them.
I'm not expecting a WoW client or anything, but Chat? Seriously apple: You're on iPhone 3.something-or-other and you can't give us a chat client?
Does gmail chat/facebook chat not work in the iPad browser? If it does, this is probably better for most than some proprietary chat client. Quite frankly, I'm inclined to place the unavailability of multi-task greater than iChat.
The keyword is the point that it isn't a replacement PC for anyone. I sincerely hope people realize that, so the flame wars can move on and debate about something else.
Oblivion Awaits
I don't think this ever will be, or is intended to be, a replacement computer, even for stuff as simple as writing emails. It's intended to be an entertainment device and sometime organiser. Reading the newspaper, watching TV, playing games, finding recipes. Stuff that we did before computers, just an electronic version of such stuff. If there's a big enough market for that, and I think there might be, this will do very well.
Has anyone tried it with a bluetooth keyboard? Does that integrate well?
Interesting that it gets the iPhone web pages... that would be irritating.
Also, any reports on how that second-monitor app works on it?
The GPS is pretty accurate and the highlighted radius surrounding my current location in maps isn't huge. I'm under the assumption that the WiFi iPad *does* have regular GPS.
This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask! Even the built-in Map app asked me for information that it could not possibly have.
google wardrives everyone's wifi while they update streetview; your unique 48 bit mac address uniquely identifies your location if you are on a recorded wifi hotspot.
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Even my old 8330 Blackberry has several chat clients. And why do you need to use SMS if you have a data plan? With that you have email, duh. OTOH last.fm doesn't have a Blackberry client. Verizon CDMA 1XEV doesn't have as much mojo as AT&T's GSM does but it almost does AND it sure has better coverage so I'm not so sure that Apple is going to do anything here for the long term. Android is slowly but surely picking up steam and it doesn't have as much crazy vendor lock in.
I guess that's OK for those that want stuff to just work, but what if it doesn't. Apple isn't mistake free but is given more of a free pass here than other machines.
But what about when you want to quickly use some other app? Then you have to close your chat. It's things like this that demand multitasking.
I'm not sure why you used the word "but" because my post does, in fact, lament the lack of multi-tasking. In any case, the scenario you raise is common for me -- say I get an e-mail and need to refer to some document or website. Windowed multi-tasking makes that so much more convenient -- I believe that iPad's display size would be more than enough space to have some kind of windowed multi-tasking.
Since people get a bit touchy when it comes to the iPad, the standard "this is only my opinion" disclaimer applies to my post.
I think the iPad is indicitive of what tablets could potentially be used for, but is too much like a "beta" to be worth its price (at least for me). No expandability, no USB ports, no flash-card reader...these are things that would be very trivial to add from both a cost and engineering perspective, yet are still lacking. Even in an "internet appliance", having at LEAST an SDHC reader built in would be a huge plus.
Keeping it locked to the appstore will surely please the Apple faithful and the less technically inclined...but considering you can get an 8GB iPod Touch on ebay for around $150, the iPad (at least this current version) is a waste of money.
Tablets have a ton of potential to be awesome devices...the iPad just isn't quite there yet for me, although the necessary changes are minimal.
Again, this is all only my opinion.
Living With a Nerd
"My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS. But applications were constantly asking me for permission to use my location. This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask! Even the built-in Map app asked me for information that it could not possibly have."
IIRC, the iPad uses Skyhook in wifi mode for approximate location sensing. Not as accurate as GPS, but it found my house in Maps. Works well.
or Student Center.
I expect them in droves at my local Starbucks. iPhones used to be all the rage until Droid came along, but still its only Apple user's who seem the need to have their laptops out reading mail. I fully expect iPads to be very evident.
Its like the 40k a year person who wants to look rich by driving a BMW. Sure its flashy but whats underneath?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The post behind this joke. Here it is:
Apple releases iPod
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
I got an iPad 64GB and am using Safari a lot more. It's showing up multi-touch Safari's deficiencies.
In all other browsers, you can open a file on the device's file system. It's called the file protocol because the URL begins "file:". This allows offline prototyping of websites. I use it to define a "jump page" that's crammed full of all the hotlinks I normally use, organized to find them easily. Since we don't have the file protocol in multi-touch Safari, I have to put my jump page out to the actual Internet via iWeb and access it as an unpublished URL. In a sense, that makes sense, because I would only be able to use it if I were connected to the Internet, but it's not as private as keeping it on your own hard drive.
Also no View Source.
Also no default home page (short of saving the URL as an icon in the iPad's home).
Also no back arrow history (have to go back only one page at a time).
Also no Firefox allowed in the App store, which is what would REALLY force multi-touch Safari to get more usable.
Has anyone figured out how to turn of that stupid page flip gesture and animation? I mean, it's cute and all for the first forty pages of Winnie the Pooh, but for fuck's sake, I just want to hit a button and see the the next page.
Just use two fingers and you can scroll inside of a frame.
Good points, CmdrTaco.
I walked into the Apple Store in NYC on Saturday and bought one on a whim, in and out the door in 5 minutes. It's a nice piece of gear but my first thought was, holy crap this thing is heavy. From the iFixIt teardown we know that it's basically all battery under there, and the battery life is great. But if there was an 8-hour version it would balance better in your hand.
It would be 100% more fun to play with if it had a camera. There are so many photo editing/retouching possibilities already, and being able to take and then watch home movies on the iPad would be a lot of fun because of the large display. Alas, we will have to wait for that.
I thought it was okay to type on. Just small enough to use thumbs, but large enough to put in your lap or on a table and touch type. It also makes a decent remote controller (VNC client) for a living room PC or media center.
Yes, except that as an appliance with no multi-user capability, it's not really suitable as all that in addition to a "sometime organiser".
I've always thought that video chat on an iPad would be impractical. You commented on the weight of the device; now think about holding it out at arms length for 30 minutes while you have a video chat. In addition to that, you'd have to hold it in such a way so that the camera shows your face, and not your stomach or the wall above your head. For a company whose reputation is built entirely on user experience, I don't see Apple adding a feature that's as likely to create more headaches/sore arms than it cures.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Reading the newspaper, watching TV, playing games, finding recipes. Stuff that we did before computers, just an electronic version of such stuff.
But we like doing those on a computer. Now Apple is trying to introduce a new paradigm that's backwards from previous trends, where daily tasks are being pushed to our home computer. No wonder many (especially geeks) are resisting.
On the other hand, smart phones are increasingly being used as entertainment devices (a concept that always seemed strange to me), so maybe this isn't quite a shot in the dark -- maybe the new paradigm is already coming, and Apple is just ahead of the game. It certainly explains the design.
My iPad has correctly found me in all four locations I've tried by triangulating WIFI access points.
Apparently mobile users with GPS have tagged my access points.
so the author seems to know exactly what he's talking about.
Best Slashdot Co
Its not a pc replacement. The sooner you guys get that the sooner you can stop being disappointed. But to answer a couple of points:
GPS:it doesn't have a gps chip. Yet here I am and it knows exactly where I am. Is it magic? Turns out cmdrtaco neither bothers to RTFM nor keep abreast of technology.
And no chat??? How many thousands of chat apps do you want?
And as for what grandma wants, why don't you let her have it instead of assuming you know what she wants and what she is capable of!?
And yes I'm typing this on my iPad.
Just wanted to point out that your location can be found via built-in WiFi, which was announced for the iPod Touch during its inception. Apple works with a company called Skyhooks that maps WiFi networks to triangulate your location. It also shows this ability in the iPad Spec page: http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/; just thought you should know.
Its also sports equipment! Watch this video of some American Athletes with their new ipad! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGUppxoJUVg&feature=player_embedded
The original announcement said that there would be a Bluetooth keyboard available, although I haven't bothered to check if it's available now. I'd imagine something like that would be necessary for serious typing. Typing on my iPhone works very well, all things considered, but I wouldn't want to write a review on one of any size.
I still think that the 3G model would be great for my mother-in-law, and that even my mother could use one well. This is based on observation of how they use their computers. They wouldn't video-chat, because they wouldn't figure it out. They don't need Flash for what they use the net for. They would need the keyboard.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
It would be 100% more fun to play with if it had a camera.
Agreed. Could you imagine sitting on a bench, bus, or barstool and skyping from this thing? I hate to toss around the word "killer app," but I do believe that kind of functionality would turn heads.
"My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS. "... Huh?
You don't need 3G to have GPS. Heck you don't have to have any cell phone connection to have a GPS. You need a GPS to have GPS.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
The iPad does use WiFi to locate you just like the Touch and the iPhone when unable to get a GPS signal. My iPad had my location with in 200 yards. I live in a small city in Indiana. Those in more urban areas should be just fine.
For short typing in works just fine. For longer typing at least some sort of prop for the lap would be great. I can't wait for my case from Apple to arrive that will give me that ability. The other alternative is a wireless keyboard.
It is fast.
I can't echo CmdrTaco's notion about anonymous mode enough. Even as I started to open the box with my wife and 10 year old son eagerly looking on, I could tell this thing needs a guest mode. Something that just disables access to mail and the keychain.
Awesome device. I think as developers and designers get their hands on this, like the iPhone the value will just grow.
In my use the past couple of days, I found the Apple folding case makes a big difference when typing on your lap. Folded so the screen is at the ~15 degree angle made it much more comfortable. YMMV.
Did I miss something or did the reviewer not mention anything about how the book reader application is?
I have no plans to get an iPad in the near future, but if I was considering a Kindle this capability might make me consider it sooner rather than later.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
The original announcement said that there would be a Bluetooth keyboard available, although I haven't bothered to check if it's available now.
The standard iMac bluetooth keyboard works with the iPad.
The GPS is part of the 3G chipset; thus, the Wi-Fi version does not have GPS. This is readily confirmed on the specs page. The Wi-Fi version DOES use Skyhook Wireless for location finding, and it works remarkably well.
This is basically the same iPad that was just released, but this one "has wings!"
(Apple may regret calling it iPad...)
You don't need 3G to have GPS. Heck you don't have to have any cell phone connection to have a GPS. You need a GPS to have GPS.
I don't think these come with GPS built in, but isn't it rather trivial to use triangulation to figure out a user's location?
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
The 3G iPad also has a GPS chipset. The Wi-Fi only iPad does not.
There are really very few use cases for which actual multitasking (or, more accurately, allowing third party background tasks) is required on a device like this.
Frankly, the requirements for "a device like this" are defined by the user. I would suggest that since almost every operating system on a device with a screen resolution of the iPad supports windowed multi-tasking, it's probably something that is wanted by the user. Just a guess, though -- just as I suspect with your opinion, I do not have data from a user survey to back this up.
You hit the 'Home' button, go do whatever you're doing, and come back. Yes, the chat app will technically quit in the background, but it will re-launch almost instantly, and you'll be notified of any new incoming messages via push notifications even while it's closed, so what's the difference?
What if you get an e-mail from a business associate asking for a price of one of your widgets? You would have to memorize what the quantity was, go to your spreadsheet app, and pull that price from the list and memorize it. Then you have to go back and write it in the e-mail. Room for error? I think so.
Am I saying that everyone is going to be using this thing for purposes other than youtube or reading the news? No, but it would be nice if you could, wouldn't it?
User switching (or at least an Anonymous mode)
Looks like someone is using their iPad to access their iPorn.
The video app seems to do strange things with thumbnails: it seemed to want to give videos the same thumbnail icon if they share an "Album." This means navigating my home movies category is lame because all 15 or so videos have the same thumbnail. It shouldn't be that way.
This is the same on the iPhone/AppleTV, so it's not something unique to the iPad. If they're set as an album, and a "compilation", they'll all show the same icon (much in the same way that all the mp3s that are part of a compilation will show the same album art). Use iTunes to remove the "compilation" tag from the videos to have them each displayed as their own icon.
Magic doesn't work in my presence. My power of disbelief is too strong.
More blatant disinformation from the MKHOSTESS cabal, I see. It is a well-known fact that Twinkies are an artificial lifeform first developed in the 1930's. Twinkies digest mold.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The new photo app is decent, but if you have a large number of albums and events it gets tough to find specific stuff quickly. I can't figure out why the iPhone and now the iPad don't make use of folders.
Isn't that why you use metadata? The iPad should have system wide search that will find any photos tagged with your metadata, which will import from iPhoto.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Reading the newspaper, watching TV, playing games, finding recipes. Stuff that we did before computers, just an electronic version of such stuff.
But we like doing those on a computer.
Ehh I still prefer reading the news at my dining room table. I also like to have my recipes with me in the kitchen, rather than down on my computer. I can definitely see the use for this.
Try the Meebo application. You're going to ahve to sign up for a meebo account, but, it works for me. Then again I have nothing that requires SSL either so. YMMV.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
After a day of heavy usage, I felt a little sore.
Methinks Cmdr Taco needs to get to the gym more often....
Well, it was 2001. Some of our users were eating all their food out of gerber jars at the time.
So wait, your review of the iPad was almost entirely how stuff other people have made shows up in it... isn't that kind of like basing a review of Firefox on how a "Made for IE 5.5" website displays in it?
News Flash: Apple doesn't have control of the HTML on Slashdot, therefore that information doesn't belong in an iPad "review". When a web designer has put special code to make a website display differently in an iPhone, and the website mistakes the iPad for an iPhone, that is on the web designer's shoulders... not Apple's. If Slashdot can say that they are sticking directly to W3C standards always, then you have something to base your criticism on... but my guess is, that like every web developer out there, they have done little work arounds here and there to make sure the site looks good to a wide audience. Once you do that for even one browser, then I say that you have made your own bed, so stop whining.
And as a web designer and as a Mac user that has Flash eat up my CPU constantly and crash at least twice a day, I say good riddance to Flash. Quick show of hands for all those that whine about no Flash on the iPad: How many of you run the plug-in for Firefox that prevents Flash from showing until you click on it? How many of you actually looked at the Flash ad in the upper right corner of the screen?
There are plenty of legitimate criticisms for the iPad, why waste a review trying to paint it with illegitimate ones?
apple could put a split-keyboard as 2 quarter-circles on the corners of the screen. one for the right thumb, one for the left thumb.
would take some time to get used to, but would allow for lengthier typing without having to place the slab on an awkward position.
this is one (rare) case where microsoft did right, but as usual, at the wrong time. here: http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/03/6348.ars
What ? Me, worry ?
My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS. But applications were constantly asking me for permission to use my location. This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask!
If you're going to review a product, at least make an effort to understand its functionality and features. The iPad (and iPhone and iPod Touch) are capable of geolocation based on your wifi connection. My iPod Touch (1st gen) is able to locate me within about 50-100 meters of my actual location just from wifi information. It's actually quite impressive.
Given that this has been the case for quite a long time and is not a new development, there is no excuse for someone reviewing the product for Slashdot to be unaware of it. Also, given that you apparently are unaware of it, it puts pretty much every one of your opinions on the product into perspective - namely, that you are not sufficiently knowledgeable to be reviewing the product.
In other words, I stopped reading at that point. If I'm going to read a review on a product, I like it to be a vaguely informed view. It has nothing to do with you obviously knocking the device - I read all of Cory Doctorow's review and he blasted the product. I disagreed with the majority of his review, but I read it because it was an informed review. I stopped reading your review because you don't know what you're talking about.
I know I shouldn't, but I expect better from Slashdot...
My question to this whole deal is why does the iPad not run true OSX? I would have bought one the first day if it was a real tablet that ran all of the software i need. I am a graduate student so being able to code and work over X11 is imperative. I also do a lot of data management hence the need for a finder and Desktop etc. I would have wet myself if we had received a tablet that was capable of everything the standard mac was able to do AND had an i-pad mode where it had supreme battery life and access to a few lightweight apps. Yes I am asking for the best of both worlds but Apple is more than capable of providing both and making it work. Take a leap on the development of something new not just give the iPhone some growth hormones. When the iPad becomes useful to more than the casual user I still want to be on board but until then **fist shaking**.
Apple don't intend this to be a replacement for a laptop. You want a nice comfy keyboard, iChat and a camera? Apple make that: it's a MacBook Pro - no, seriously, it's a MacBook Pro.
A lot of people have said it feels heavy - OK, I'll accept that, not seen one, but sure it's heavy. So why does it need a camera? What you said about it being heavy is going to count double if I'm going to hold it at arm's length in front of me. Otherwise I'm either going to be in extreme close up (and trust me, I'm not the kind of person who does well in extreme close up) or a really nice view up my nose (and even Brad Pitt can't make that look good). Honestly, I'll pass on the camera - I also do work in places where cameras aren't allowed (defence and education).
Someday devices like the iPad will completely replace computing as it it known today. Windowing operating systems never really made sense from a user-interface perspective (have you ever noticed how cumbersome it is to move windows and icons around on you desktop?), but no one could figure out a better way to do a GUI at the time. Now with multitouch navigation we are seeing people shift away from the mouse and keyboard. It's easy to see that a work environment with a number of "slate" computers could be much better than the monitor/keyboard/mouse layout. The only thing you will have to keep from the old way of doing things is your keyboard.
Finally, time to test Safari: I tested out Slashdot first, and it renders pretty well. There are a couple of minor layout glitches and a few trickier functionality problems.
A big improvement over Firefox and Chrome on the desktop then!
will it blend?
Great comment.
Its perfect to embed into a table at an internet cafe.
At the bottom he says: You probably want to save your cash until then. That is awefully confident and cocky. Like everything else in life, everyone has different computer needs and habits. I personally, love my iPad, and have convinced 2 other ppl to purchase iPads since I got mine. The iPad fits my needs perfectly. I have been waiting for an device from apple to fill the voice between the phone and the laptop, and this is it. 1.5 isn't a lot when you consider how much weight you would always be lugging around to get more functionality than your phone having to carry your full fledged laptop around all the time. Is this the best iPad that can be, hell no. Hardware revisions by Apple are always thoughtful, whether we think they get all our requests/demands in, or not. But quite frankly, if everyone found the iPad so unusable that you needed to save your cash until then, then Apple would make no money off iPad G1, and they would have no interest or motivation to make iPad G2. Apple is a company first and foremost with share holders. They have to strike a balance between what the consumers want and what the share holders want. If Apple made such bad decisions, they would not be the 3rd richest company in America currently. Apple is apparently pleasing enough ppl in the world. To think that they can do it with fewer items sold than Microsoft is quite frankly, astonishing. I personally bought the iPad G1, thinking it would be a nice toy, but wanted to support them, because I know if they are motivated to make iPad G2, G3 etc, it will get infinitely better than this first one. Do I like my iPad? Yes. Do I think it's for everyone? No. However, if I show you how I use it, and you like it to then why shouldn't you buy it? Are there things I wish were different in this iPad? Yes. But quite frankly, as human beings with our own thoughts and desires, no product is exactly the way we all think it should be. People still bitch and moan about Windows 7, they still bitch and moan about iPhone 3GS et al. If you like it, get it. If you don't like it, don't get it, but don't let someone else to tell you to save your cash. Read their (lack of) usability points, go play with one, and make the decision yourself.
Before, the trend was getting information digitized and into your home.
Now the trend is getting the information to wherever you are. Maybe that's the niche that the iPad will fill.
What's interesting is that I can't see myself using the iPad how Apple envisions it, but I can see many, many possible uses for it. I wonder how people will actually use their iPads.
In its current form, the iPad CANNOT replace a computer but not for any of the reasons listed.
The reason it cannot replace a computer is because you have to HAVE one to use it. I'll mirror my comments I've said elsewhere:
"All system updates have to happen via iTunes. Until it has OTA updating, you still need to have a computer that can run the bloated mess that is iTunes. So yeah, give it to grandma since she doesn't have a computer. It works great until there's a mandatory system update that prevents her from accessing the app store. You want to get stuff OFF the system? Pages documents? Spreadsheets? Gotta have iTunes to do the offloading and conversion"
It's that simple. If all you want is a cheap, fast, easy way to browse the internet then MAYBE the iPad is it but you simply cannot give this to grandma and never expect to have to support it again. At a minimum, you'll still have to either setup Wifi and an internet connection as well as a machine for updates or you'll have to hope she lives in an area with good 3G coverage. Even then you'll still need another computer.
The ONLY reason I would want something like an iPad is for Skype but it doesn't have a front facing camera. A device like this (if it had a front facing camera and OTA updates) WOULD be perfect for grandkid Skype sessions. I honestly don't care about the lack of Flash support but I can understand how that simply is a deal breaker for its most prominent use - browsing the web. As an ebook reader, the weight really is a negative as well. My wife is going to be in bed for 2 weeks recovering from another c-section and while I really did consider buying an iPad for her the weight really can't compare to her Kindle.
Really, the iPad is trying to bridge a gap with an incomplete product. Kudos to Apple for trying something new but outside of the whole tech aspect (Apple ecosystem, lack of tinkerability, restricted usage, no upgrade ability) there are plenty of reasons that the iPad doesn't make sense yet.
"Fighting the underpants gnomes since 1998!" "Bruce Schneier knows the state of schroedinger's cat"
If you leave a mac on, you can login to all your im accounts with adium, and then use growl to send notifications to the iphone running prowl. Works with mac twitter clients too.
I've been thinking about getting an e-reader for sometime... But I want something that I can read e-books, pdf's,
websites, and e-mail. I read more on websites than books these days.. I checked out the iPad, seems to be
really good for this, and some light e-mail composing... But that's about it as far as typing goes... I looked at
using a bluetooth keyboard, but it just felt silly. I want a more traditional keyboard mouse once I set the
iPad down.
I haven't bought one yet, If it were $100 cheaper I probably would have. Probably smarter to wait for
the second generation.
BTW, I wouldn't recommend iBooks for DRM'ed books... If your ipad dies, you can't read your books
anymore.. i.e. no reader for Mac/PC.
Why you ask?
What about all those out there that don't a smartphone?
What about those who send you an SMS? And you want to reply?
Maybe in your part of the Planet, SMS is no big deal but there, Text Messaging is far more prevalent than data plans. For one thing, it works on every frigging phone, you don't need a 3G or other data connection just a couple of bars of Phone Reception.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
CNN had Dan Lyons on this weekend and a very scary point was made: the massive media hype is because Old Media is desperate for the iPad to be the rising tide that lifts their yachts up again. Of course, His Steveness knew these troglodytes would instantly become his biggest shameless cheerleaders.
I'm willing to bet that most J-schoolers don't even know what The Fourth Estate is, let along why it is important. Instead, most of them spent this weekend standing in line outside of their own Crystal Cathedrals.
though. Many of the people into ereaders are excited about it:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=170
I already know it's not a notebook computer. But a similiar sized Kindle DX casts $489. Yeah, it has a e-ink screen, but the contrast (dark gray on light gray) is awful. But the battery life is fabulous. This has pretty good battery life but tell me how the screen is for reading. Please.
I have been thinking about getting a ipad but I just don't see it being able to replace my aspire one netbook. I use my netbook so much that I think it has been a few weeks since I fired up my desktop machine. The battery life is amazing, weighs next to nothing and can load just about any software.
Got Code?
I've never liked being strapped to a desk. Don't get me wrong, I love technology through and through, but having to sit down to harness it is a real bummer. It's not good for your physical health to be sitting down so much! At least with the iPad there's a larger chance of tapping into some tech from a more natural position like on the couch or at the kitchen table. Or even at the john.
Look, I know we all like cool new gadgets, and certainly the iPad is the latest and greatest. As the review points out, it still isn't clear what it is for. My personal main gripe would be that you can't write on it as if it were paper, more specifically a pad of paper. What characterizes flat things about the size of the iPad that have the word "pad" in their names? You write on them with some kind of stylus, be it a pen, a pencil, a piece of plastic, a crayon, whatever. This, of course, implies robust handwriting recognition, which would be truly revolutionary in the form factor and price point of the iPad.
Watching video and listening to music are both well-covered by other cheaper (and arguably better and more convenient) devices. The author above wishes the iPad were better for email, but that will probably take a few years to get right on the iPad, if they get it right at all. I get the impression that somebody pushed the iPad through the pipeline because they thought it would be a damn cool device, not because it would be ideal for any specific, well thought out use cases. They made it because they could. That seems more like dumb and wasteful consumerism rather than intelligent revolutionary innovation.
Google's Picasa is another system where though it can track photo albums through folders, that is only a staging space for a public presentation that is utterly folder-less (Picasaweb, via the "Albums" view in Picasa).
While at first I didn't have a problem, when I started to upload the heavy stuff (photos from vacations in Disney, UK, Italy, California), the need to subdivide became obvious, yet my main front page remains this huge mess (at least it is a huge *chronological* mess, making it better than flickr's photostreams). Back-dated photos from older trips are almost never seen simply because I can't group the N albums of "Italy 2008" into a single entity.
If I had the time, I'd have already written my own front-page using the rss and webdata API's, but, well, I work for a living.
"But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
-- Joe
Thanks for the straight forward review
Apple's keyboard is virtual, so they show fewer keys at the same time. As a result, keys are about the same size as on their desktop keyboards, which is to say, comfortably large. In addition, since the key boundaries are not defined by their geometry, they use the same predictive technology as on the iPhone which enlarges or shrinks each key's hit area depending on how likely it is to occur in a given context. The net result is that the keyboard is surprisingly good, if you keep the constraints in mind. I found myself typing at a pretty decent WPM right away, but I do have to look at it every now and then due to a different layout. Once I get used to that, it will be perfectly fine.
I expect to see "design wins" using it.
1. Exercise equipment with universal iPad display instead of LEDs..
2. Kiosks in the Mall for quick reference. (assuming the display is really tough...)
3. In autos on a pole (like the police have) {dont need keyboard}
I am an Androy-Fan, but I expect people will want to touch the iPad, so they will be built into stuff.
Open Speedlimit Database
You might. There are a lot of people who outright hate the way current computing platforms work. You just don't see this articulated in forums frequented by tech enthusiasts, because tech enthusiasts are, basically by definition, people who like the way computers work...
And having played with an iPad, I have to say, even a fair number of tech enthusiasts will probably find they like the way this works better. I mean, really, managing window clutter and file system hierarchies, interacting the the computer via a device that provides only a single point of interaction, messing around with software installation and uninstallation, waiting around for the computer to respond, having to sit at a desk (even with laptops) for non-akward ergonomics.
How good is the user experience with current computing devices, really? Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a little super-responsive nearly zero-maintanence device with 10 hours of battery life?
This space unintentionally left unblank.
I like how you put this review together: Pluses, minuses, questions left unanswered, thoughts on how the device could be improved. The religious debates will continue, and I'll be right there in the thick of it, but it's nice to see someone attempting to discuss the iPad objectively.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
I recently tried to convert my main work laptop to Ubuntu, I spent a good 2 months using it before going back to Windows 7. My laptop is designed somewhat poorly in that it's heat sinks are in the armrest before the keyboard. One thing I noticed about the Linux version of flash is how CPU hungry it is, simple sites like Youtube, or any site with flash video playback would consume an entire core on my laptop. I spent some time researching why and everything I've seen so far indicates that Adobe has just implemented it poorly on Linux. Some posts indicate its implemented just as poorly on OSX, using WAY more CPU than it does on Windows. So while in Linux not only would my laptop get hot, but it would kill it's battery in a heartbeat. Considering these poor implementations I can understand why Apple has taken the stance it has against flash. Using flash or not isn't a deal breaker when it comes to the web for me, but I found it EXTREMELY annoying under Linux. I think it's actually a good thing that Apple is pushing more for alternatives away from flash.
http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/05/steve-jobs-drops-by-apple-store-on-ipad-day/
Apparnetly Steve Jobs dropped by an Apple store, filled with hundreds of Apple fanboys getting their iPads. I wonder how many of them put down their iPad and pulled out their iPhones to snap a picture of this exciting event!
[insert crying here...]
Many GPS's exist in the form of 3G Modem/GPS combo cards/chips. The Ericsson F3507g in my Thinkpad is a good example...
It's still a good idea. With bookmarks you can't "open in new window". With a jump page, you can right-click on a hotlink and select "open in new window" from the context menu. (The multi-touch equivalent of right-click is press and hold. That works in multi-touch Safari.) Open in new window is easier to use than the Safari for Mac/PC's "snapback" feature (which doesn't exist in multi-touch Safari). Just close the new window to return to the page you were at.
Also, with a TON of bookmarks accumulated since the early '90s, it's easier to find the one you want on a jump page.
I gave some thought to why there's no video camera. I mean, it seems obvious that this thing should have a camera, right? And the teardown shows exactly where the camera was supposed to go.
I bet the software wasn't ready yet. Apple couldn't get the software ready in time for launch so they pulled the camera out. If they had left it in then they would have to open up its functionality to Skype and every other app writer who wants to put out video chat functionality. By putting the camera (in iPad 2nd generation) and the software on the same schedule, Apple makes video chat part of the core functionality of the device and gets to lock out every other video chat app.
Now the question remains as to why the software wasn't ready, seeing as how iChat would seem to be a fairly easy port to the iPad. Maybe they have something new and cool in mind for video chat? Or maybe there were some carrier restrictions. In any case, be thankful that they couldn't include the camera or right now you'd be at Starbucks trying to read Slashdot on your laptop while listening to some hipster having a video conversation with his hipster friend at the Starbucks on the other side of the street.
That's right - new things take time to shake out. See this recent Obama speech where he makes the same point about health care reform in a pretty darn funny way.
So you're advocating replacing mouse-based GUIs with something even more annoying?
My main quarrel with Apple is heuristics. It tries to use heuristics with everything and to have the computer think for the user. This is a problem for many people who want a computer to behave exactly as they tell it to and to follow rules they've defined themselves, i.e. "do nothing by default".
Yet Another Tech Blog
(but so much more, including game and movie reviews)
http://yanteb.peasantoid.org
Until the first time someone spills coffee, drops a fork, spills a packet of sugar, or even sets a hot mug down on the surface of the screen.
If you want people to interact with it, the screen surface has to be exposed. Once you do that on a table at a cafe, it'll be about 5 seconds before someone destroys it.
If you just want a display, you can get 10" screens that can show content non-interactively for about 1/5 the price of an iPad.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Everyone wants to call it a fucking computer; it's not. It's not a laptop. It's not a replacement for a laptop or a desktop.
It's something to grab on the couch to look up a movie in IMDB, check the weather for tomorrow, send/check a simple email, play a simple game and so on. Sure, you CAN do all those things with a netbook/laptop/desktop, but not as conveniently or attractively as an iPad seems to make them.
Yes, you can even do them on phones, but the iPad makes it easier to do without going blind.
The haters seem obsessed with what it's not without seeing the value of what it is. Sometimes the value in something is not in what it is but in what it is not.
Now if I can only convince my wife it's something I need...
Oh really? How will you create applications for this magical new paradigm? On said magical new device?
"Fighting the underpants gnomes since 1998!" "Bruce Schneier knows the state of schroedinger's cat"
Skype video on my new Hp Tm2 convertible tablet is, IMHO, my current killer app. It all feels very "Star Trek". As does the Microsoft Surface Globe thingy.
Da Blog
"no USB ports"
I saw a reply to a Washington Post article on this point, the clearly infatuated apple fan said quite sincerely:
"This is a new device, filled with new possibilities. You don't want to use just any old USB device"
The funny part is, this person was being serious.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
While I don't have any empirical data or specs to back up this claim, I strongly suspect the greatest contributors to the overall weight of the iPad are the glass screen and the battery. So, the only way to substantially reduce the weight would be to go with a plastic screen and a smaller battery. If they did that everyone would bitch about scratches and poor battery life.
or Student Center.
I expect them in droves at my local Starbucks. iPhones used to be all the rage until Droid came along, but still its only Apple user's who seem the need to have their laptops out reading mail. I fully expect iPads to be very evident.
Its like the 40k a year person who wants to look rich by driving a BMW. Sure its flashy but whats underneath?
In my BMW 333hp. In new ones 412. Either way, enough to win usually.
Someone has been sitting on their ass at a keyboard too long. Time for a new weight set beside the laptop.
I don't think this ever will be, or is intended to be, a replacement computer, even for stuff as simple as writing emails.
... in which case I really don't see the point in it.
If you have a laptop, an iPad is an expensive and unnecessary add on.
If you don't have a laptop... well, we're being told that the iPad is not an adequate substitute.
I think it can only get mainstream domestic success (depending on your definition of success!) if it evolves to become something someone could use as their only home computer.
On the other hand, I can think of lots of uses in factories, warehouses, retail etc.
I really have no intention of sharing my iPad with anyone. It would be like sharing a physical address book, calendar or notebook with someone else. This is an exceptionally personal device, much like the iPhone and the iPod. Being that way dramatically reduces the number of steps between thinking something and doing something. If you want a device you can share, then you want something else. It is not a multipurpose laptop, and that is why I like it.
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
Ehh I still prefer reading the news at my dining room table. I also like to have my recipes with me in the kitchen, rather than down on my computer. I can definitely see the use for this.
They have these things nowadays called "laptops" (and netbooks).
Yeah, it has a e-ink screen, but the contrast (dark gray on light gray) is awful.
It also happens to not cause nearly as much eye-strain, as well as working in bright light.
As far as I can see it, iPad is a perfect device for certain on-the-floor uses in a business. Think warehousing, production, etc. A lot of businesses use some almost-custom, already obsolete and expensive to maintain solutions as far as handheld thin clients go. An iPad is a really slick think client, and about the only thing that's missing is a built-in barcode scanner. Perhaps someone will come up with a bluetooth barcode scanner that somehow snaps onto an iPad; there are of course multiple bluetooth barcode scanners out there, they are just quite bulky in themselves.
For typical floor applications, they can run just fine in the browser. Safari has all the necessary functionality to develop quite slick apps.
Basically, for on-the-floor business uses, you can choose between iPod Touch where small screen is OK, and iPad where you need to see more detail (like plant operation diagram, status pages, etc). I'm certainly thinking of coming up with a nice way to integrate iPad into a small-scale instrumentation manufacturing business. It'd be a perfect companion for quality control, testing, etc.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Taco may have skipped this issue, but other reviewers haven't:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/193389/ipad_as_ereader_glaring_problems_promising_apps.html?tk=twt_strohmy
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ipad_ebooks_kindle_for_ipad_ibooks.php
Based purely on my iPhone (also known as "the precious"), I would skip the iPad and get a Kindle if reading is your primary goal. If you want to do all sorts of stuff, and read books too, then you may be happier with the iPad.
I've been using Trillian on my PC and my iPhone for ages, and it works perfectly. No native iPad app yet, but it works fine on the iPad in doublewide mode. I'm sure its just a short hop to a beefed up main version. Works with Jabber/Aim/MSN/ICQ/Gtalk and can even deal with twitter and email if you want it to.
Apple's CoreLocation framework can do location with WiFi, Cell Tower, and GPS. They use the SSIDs in range to determine where you're located... so the core location frameworks likely work with the WiFi only model.
Here's a summary of the cons of the iPad:
http://www.ryanmag.ca/Ryan/Home/Entries/2010/4/5_The_Honest_iPad_Reviews__A_Summary.html
You don't need 3G to have GPS. Heck you don't have to have any cell phone connection to have a GPS. You need a GPS to have GPS.
OTOH, if you have 3G you don't need GPS for many applications: UMTS, the protocol suite used by 3G devices, is capable of providing your location to 50m accuracy guaranteed, usually better. This is good enough for most "location aware" applications, if not actually for providing directions.
Its like the 40k a year person who wants to look rich by driving a BMW. Sure its flashy but whats underneath?
Uh, quite a bit, actually:
The BMW 3 Series is the company's top seller in the United States and a favorite in the marketplace for good reason: It's a well-built, premium compact vehicle endowed with world-class fit and finish, ample power, and a comfortable ride and handling trade-off that is unmatched by most cars at any price.
http://www.edmunds.com/bmw/3series/review.html
I have never found back-lit LCD's to be good for reading. The Kindle battery life and comfortable reading, plus wireless that works pretty much everywhere, make it a great device for people who read. I emphasize that because few people actually read. I've read about studies indicating that only 10% of people who buy books read them to the end. I read almost all my books to the end. I like to read, thus I am in the minority of readers.
Most people like the idea of reading, but rarely actually read. These people are in the majority. They often buy books, but not in the quantity of the people who read. I certainly see them buying more iPads than Kindles, but how many books are going to actually be purchased by them? Kindle owners buy books all the time - a blog I follow linked to a short book being sold by a community member for $4 on Kindle, and a few days later the author thanked the community for downloading and reading his book in measurable volume.
I think the iPad will be similar to iTunes and the Wii. Most people store their own mp3's on their iPods and the attach rate on the Wii is the lowest of all consoles. So the hardware manufacturer will make a killing, but the content publishers are not necessarily in the same boat. That's why RIAA/MPAA focus more on P2P and game publishers invest in Xbox 360 games.
IMHO, the publishers that are working to damage their relationship with Amazon are going to be going back, tails between legs, begging for forgiveness. Meanwhile, an entirely new publishing model will be sprouting to compete with them, because the thing we people who read don't like is buying a $500 device that reduces the distribution costs for the publishers, and then still paying the same amount as the printed version. There's a whole new P2P market being created by this foolishness.
I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.
.. What "must-have" flash sites are there really?
All I see it used for is:
1) Video
2) Annoying site navigation
3) Annoying whole-site delivery for electronic-brochure type sites
Am I missing out on some excellent flash-based sites?
The only thing that I know of that I really care for that's done primarily in flash is stormpulse.com
Yeah, it has a e-ink screen, but the contrast (dark gray on light gray) is awful.
It also happens to not cause nearly as much eye-strain, as well as working in bright light.
I read this eye-strain justification a lot, but truth be told, at the end of a work day, there are very few people out there that feel the effects of eye-strain compared to those that don't.
Sure, there are enough to justify a product that avoids the eye-strain, but its still a minority. Most people still leave work and go home to sit in front of a computer and read blogs, watch youtube, etc for hours without suffering any eye-strain.
"almost nothing in the box" - what else should be init besides the unit, sync cable and getting started manual?
sync 20GB takes a long time. Not much different than moving 20GB from HD to HD!
Doesn't have folders? I put my items in folders and lists on my HD and that arrangement transfers over in the sync.
Apps asking for location: Sounds like an app developer issue, not the iPad. The iPad isnt asking you for location.
The first is that a lot of websites are serving iPhone pages to the iPad. Again, the problem of the site developers not the iPad.
Flash uses mouse events that are not available on a touch screen.
The NetFlix app is really nice, but it doesn't let me rate selections using their little star system. Again, mouse events.
One user account. That's because the content distributors don't want users sharing content. Not really an apple issue. Plus, multiple user accounts will dramatically diminish disk space.
Weight of the device. Lots of people said it was heavier than they expected. However, one review said their pre-teen children said it was light. Maybe we need go outside and play more to tone up.
I'll end up getting one and using it most of the time as digitial picture frame. For the added functionality its a huge cost saving to comparable feature sets.
Where do you guys find your grandma's?
My mother, age 69, is a grandma. She worked as a secretary for many years, as did many women of her generation. She touch-types wicked fast. I'm sure there are plenty more where she came from.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
GPS is located inside the 3G chip in this case.
how it was for reading news and books. this is the main focus of this thing, a kindle killer, all the deals with the publishing companies. I had a kindle and it was OK for reading, but sucked at everything else and was filled with DRM nonsense. You said the battery life was good, what about reading on the screen for extended periods?
I've written up a considerably more detailed summary of the iPad's present shortcomings right here.
But eyestrain definitely isn't one of them; the Kindle is where you get eyestrain. That screen is darned near unreadable, with its low contrast, and the achingly slow change from one page to the next; the way it completely fails in readability as the light dims; the inability to show color... the Kindle is an awful reader, with the single exception of battery life.
I can read for many hours on the Kindle *app* on the iPod touch, because the screen is so much better than the actual Kindle. The iPad is worlds better yet, and I know I'll be reading constantly on it.
Which is not to say the iPad doesn't need work. I honestly think it is the least well thought out product Apple has put out. Oh, very well marketed, of course, but it needs a lot to even begin to stay in people's hands after the "new" wears off. Right now, unless you're a reader... it's just too feature poor.
I definitely expect competition to arise from the likes of Android plus a tablet design with a decent feature set that trumps the iPad -- and that won't be difficult to do, considering that the iPad is missing quite a bit. At that point, we'll probably see a significant iPad upgrade. It's just too bad it didn't come out of the chute with a decent feature set already in place. The saving grace is, as always with this whole line of hardware, the apps. Presuming there will be as wide a selection of them as those for the iPod (which work, but look kind of poor), the software functionality of the iPad combined with the responsiveness is its one and only strength. For an iPod/iPhone owner, though... we've already got a lot of that, and it fits in our pockets. Which is why the iPad will see a lot of table-sitting time.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I don't know what window manager you're using, but if it's that cumbersome, you should stop using it. Really.
Most *nix window managers allow you to move a window anywhere by holding alt, clicking, and dragging (I don't recall which mouse button, because it's an annoying feature that I always turn off) even if they're maximized. More importantly, the paradigm of "click-the-title-bar-and-drag" is fairly well-supported in just about everything except for a handful of domain specific WMs.
Multitouch has its uses and it makes some tasks a lot easier. Unfortunately, the reason why keyboards will likely never disappear is because humans need tactile feedback (at least, if you're a touch typist). For casual sorts who always look at the keys when they type, I suppose it won't really matter. Remember, way back before 2000, there was a short but fairly significant airplay on some future tech shows (Beyond 2000, I think?) about drive-by-wire replacing the "antiquated" steering wheel and linkage. It's now 10+ years later, and I don't yet see that having taken over. Drivers will likely resist market forces that attempt to remove a certain degree of tactile feedback, because we don't rely exclusively on our eyes. Device interaction requires multiple senses, including touch. I do agree that multitouch does have its merits, and it would be absolutely ideal for teaching children technology, because touching things is far more natural to them and they're not apt to write lengthy dissertations at the age of 3 or 4. In fact, I think education and specifically young children would be the ideal target market for a device like this. (See aside below.)
The keyboard, however, will be here to stay, though I'm not sure why you suggested a shift away from mice and keyboards then turn around and implicate that the keyboard has to be required. Weird.
I really hope your idea of a futuristic office doesn't ever come to fruition. I can't imagine trying to write code--or even WRITE in general--on a damn tablet. And let's not even talk about using a stylus--I type far faster than I can write by hand and no one wants to read my messy handwriting. I challenge you to provide an example work environment for which tablets would be be ideal. The only ones I can think of don't involve desk work--maybe managers at construction sites overlooking schematics or some such--but to suggest the outright replacement of traditional machines? You may want to lay off the Koolaid there. ;)
Aside: When I was very young, perhaps in the first grade, I recall that we each had little chalkboards that were supplied by the school to learn how to write on. It was messy (but kids love messy), but it was exceedingly useful for learning how to write numbers, add, subtract, and even write words. It's been so long, I don't recall the specifics, but I can certainly see a circumstance where multitouch displays (so long as they were kid-proof) would be really useful for education. It's just a shame that no one really seems to think "Gee, while we're writing all these apps for adults and whatnot, maybe we should consider that the device would be more useful to other age groups, too!." Of course not--because we're too busy complaining about how the mail app doesn't work right or the on screen keyboard sucks so badly.
I read an article once--and I really wish I could find the link to it--about a guy who took his youngster to work and sat her in front of a
He who has no
Surprised no one's mentioned this yet, but the Wifi-only model *HAS* GPS!! (from http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/)
http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs
Location
* Wi-Fi
* Digital compass
* Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
* Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
If it is a coffee table appliance, then where is the user account login? I would have bought one for the coffee table already, but lack of user accounts is a deal breaker. E-mail is useless without user accounts. Web browsing is nearly so -- my wife doesn't want my bookmarks to clutter hers, and I don't want her bookmark clutter in mine, and as for the kid's bookmarks.... well, you get the point.
I just wonder if there is a way to install an ordinary Mac OS X on this iPad? As it is right now it is completely useless for me. I would love to play around with a desktop on which 4 or 6 such devices are placed and use them simultaniously to interact with a CASE System and some collaborating software development IDE or something like that.
angel'o'sphere
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
> My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS.
Can someone explain this to me? I know there are hokey ways to triangulate location using the cell network but I thought true "GPS" enabled systems had an actual receiver for actual, honest to goodness GPS satellites. So I don't understand why no-3G implies no GPS.
?
Why stick up for big business?
No Flash. Less usability than a netbook. Lame
I know you're riffing on CmdrTaco's old post about the iPod, but honestly this is exactly how I feel about the ipad...
Well, I actually don't care about flash too much. And I don't know (or care) if this device is going to be a huge hit, if it's going to lead a renaissance of tablet computing, or if it'll be more or less a flop. I just know it's not something I'm particularly interested in, not something that would be terribly useful to me. I want to have a keyboard. I want to have a self-standing form factor. If I ever get a tablet computer (which is an appealing idea) I want it to have a Wacom-style tablet built in, not a touchscreen. (At least, not -just- a touchscreen...) But still I would need to be able to stand the thing up sometimes and type on a keyboard. I think the convertible models are the most appealing option to me, right now, as far as tablets are concerned.
My netbook is horridly slow - largely because of the flash drive, I think... and I think the iPad would perform a lot better as a web browser than my netbook as a web browser... But do you know what I do on the web more than anything else? I type. I read, and write on, forums. I think of stupid shit to post on Facebook, or comments on Slashdot. I update my own websites... And I also use my netbook to write code. So even slow as it is, my netbook is still more useful to me than an ipad.
I have no interest in the ipad - but fans of the device should take note that I don't presume to tell them that they shouldn't like it.
Bow-ties are cool.
He did, when he noted its weight.
If you use the Apple Case for the iPad's protection, the case can hold the ipad in a typable angle on a desk or even on your lap. The case can also hold it for movie watching (straight up).
Look at the 3rd pic here:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/IPAD_CASE
I know -- its one more thing to buy and have at one's disposal, but if you want to type a bit then it makes sense to have that case around...
I have found a solution to Riemann's Hypothesis, but have run out of spac
Whom are you calling a spyware author here:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1591778&cid=31736454
APK
I'm not saying that my implimentation of windowing is cumbersome, I'm saying that the idea itself is cumbersome. It's designed to mimic the way we'd use a real desktop, along with all it's limitations. And I did say you'd need to keep the keyboard, didn't I?
As someone who used an iPod touch for a year and uses an iPhone indoors where there's WiFi but no 3G, I'm surprised that Taco doesn't get it. The iPad WiFi uses Skyhook's geolocation feature, and usually it's pretty good to within a few blocks. It's not an oversight, it's an effective feature.
Many (most?) people consider flash video to be an essential feature of the internet.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
Just wondering ....
I agree. They teach HTML in elementary school now. As for technical users on iPad, if you go to Settings app > Safari > Developer, you can turn on Debug Console. To my way of thinking, that's a LOT more technical than View Source.
Also, for having the nickname "Webz", you would think the previous poster would have a lot more sympathy for Web Developers trying to get their code working in all browsers. View Source is an important tool for that. Sometimes you want to see how someone else did something that worked correctly. Given that server processes sometimes adapt the page they send you based on the HTTP_USER_AGENT string, you might not get to see the source you need to see in any other browser besides multi-touch Safari. But of course you can't see the source in multi-touch Safari either. That's the problem.
But my wife loves it. I think CmdrTaco forgot to read the manual, or just assumed he knows more than any one else.
1. GPS: It knows your location. Maps asked if it. Could get your location. If you had hit Yes, you would have found. Good job you knew better, eh, Cmdr! Hit No because it cant possibly work!
2. The keyboard. I make only slightly more mistakes typing using this keyboard than my regular one. But since the keyboard has correction built in it usually makes more sense than myusual emails.
3. Grandmas. It is NOT a PC replacement thank goodness. My wife loves it. So much easier than the Eee or our 14" notebook.
The iPad has A-GPS which gives more or less correct positions much faster than GPS. Also the GPS function is part of the 3G chip. So without 3G you don't have GPS (on an iPad).
The Firebug Lite for Safari at getfirebug.com is for Safari for PC/Mac, not multi-touch Safari.
To get anything into an iPad, you need it to be in the App store. Even then, I can't see how it would be able to install itself into the iPad's Safari. I'm pretty sure that Apple would set the Unix file permissions to prohibit 3rd party modifications to Apple apps.
On all of my sites, I load jQuery into every page. In many ways, that's much better than having Firebug Lite. If you know how to create DOM elements with JavaScript, you can create a script element that points to jQuery and put the code to do that into a "bookmarklet". Then on any page you need to do a lot, you can just invoke the bookmarklet from Bookmarks. (Google the word bookmarklet if you don't know what I'm talking about.)
So you want the iPad to be lighter, but you also want a video camera on it. I fail to see how that would be possible.
I have never found back-lit LCD's to be good for reading.
Except for the one you're using now, right?
All fair points, but I'd add a few thoughts. First, people are reading more now then they've been reading in years - unfortunately, they're not reading books, they're mostly reading blogs and facebook pages. Sure publisher's have handed a few bloggers big advances for books, but does anyone really think that's the direction this is going? What I think is most compelling about the iPad is the fact that it is a more traditional "medium" - which is to say it's about the same viewable size as book or a magazine, a naturally comfortable size and medium for us humans - but it delivers the words that people are actually reading, right now. So that's my first point.
The second point - and this is coming from someone who, like yourself, reads actual books - is that, if, when you think "book", what you actually think is "literary novel", then you are forgetting that these aren't the books that make money for publishers anyway. On the other hand, the industry's golden calfs: educational texts, children's books, pretty much any trade paperback or casual illustrated non-fiction, could all benefit from delivery on a screen instead of a page.
The iPad presents opportunities for major publishers to actually dynamically alter the *editorial* content of books, to enhance it so to speak. In the world of non-fiction, I'm sure its obvious that if a college student can carry all their books on a 1.5lb device, and enjoy rich media that actually enhances the content they're studying, this kind of device is a no-brainer. Toss in surfing the internet and entertainment apps, and I think it's appealing in ways that the Kindle (in current form) simply isn't.
You can argue that the publishers will save costs on distribution, and they will, but they're going to have to hire scads of software engineers to replace them, and engineers are more expensive than printing press operators, unfortunately. You can argue that books are over-priced now, and I'd probably agree with that to, but then I look around and see publishers going bankrupt left and right - and this is all while they're model has not been pulled out from under them, as it was with the record companies.
"My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS. But applications were constantly asking me for permission to use my location. This seems like an oversight: if you don't have a location sensor, don't ask! Even the built-in Map app asked me for information that it could not possibly have."
At first blush this seems like a reasonable comment, but it actually isn't. Depending on where you are, your WiFi-only iPad may well be able to find itself using the Skyhook service that Apple uses, which uses a database of WiFi base station IDs and their coordinates. I was shocked the first time I pushed the "where am I" button on my iTouch ... and it found me to within a few feet.
jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com
Dupdnds oh you're difinshun of idoit? I but it an its bery bery gud' Mama no rise no idoit'
"My iPad has no 3G, therefore it has no GPS."
Sorry CmdrTaco, but you need to read up a little on GPS. GPS relies on satellites, you don't need cellphone connectivity to pick it up - for example TomTom and other car satnavs and hikers' Garmin eTrex GPS receivers. GPS would be pretty useless in the world if it only worked within range of 3G enabled cellphone networks.
What you're thinking of is probably the aGPS that's enabled on the iPhone, this uses other networks to help increase accuracy and triangulate position. Wikipedia article here.
Games will drive this. It is that simple. Read? No, let's game.
Anyone seen my jagged little pill?
Except what you typically do at a computer isn't reading. You are typically looking away a lot, gazing at images, or gazing away from the monitor. Reading is something different. Reading is sitting there entirely engrossed in what you are reading never really looking away for extended periods of time. For that type of reading something like a Kindle is IMO far better. I have a Safari Books Online subscription, and I'll occasionally try to read extensively at my computer. Most of the time I end up just pulling out my Kindle DX and bringing up the mobile version of their site to read it on there. There is a level of distraction trying to read at my computer, and there is a level of discomfort reading on a high contrast black on white screen. Contrary to the low contrast "problem" people like to complain about with the Kindle. I find the images low contrast but still with crisp letters and very easy to read.
IM+ is the iDevice multi-chat client you're looking for. It costs $10 (up from $6 when I bought it). It's made by Shape who apparently makes it for several different cell phones. With it, you can stay logged in (via PUSH) to your Skype, AIM, MSN, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Google Talk (Jabber), ICQ, MySpace and any Jabber accounts for up to 3 days without opening the App. All chat messages are displayed as popup\system messages on your iPhone.
It's called a laptop. Manufacturers started making them a few months or so before the ipad was announced.
Don't complain about non updated apps less than a week after launch. If Facebook doesn't want to update why should they. The website itself works fine on this device, so why not just make a home screen icon for it and be done with it. As for apple remote it's a piece of free software, again don't complain, personally I'd rather apple devs work on core functionality first. Remote is a toy and the existing app works fine in double mode. I've lost no functionality. The user account stuff is ridiculous. Every home I've been in every computer has 1 active account that everyone uses or multiple computers. Yes I know that you can do it, yes I know even as a techie guy it would be great to use but the fact is that if the vast majority won't use it then there is no reason to build it. Moreover it would just complicate the system that otherwise is designed so anyone can pick up and use. Sorry for you that it doesn't have a porn mode and that you basically needed to tell everyone that. Really all you've told me is that you hate the third party software on a 3 day old device (which btw most developers didn't see how their apps would even look on the real device). You dont like that it doesn't have a useless multiuser mode for a device meant for one person. You don't understand how the device uses location tracking (which is why it still asks without the gps module) and you don't like that they didn't provide a chat program on a device that is meant for it's viewing capabilities and not it's communication. I got one and in three days I've done more useful work with it than the net book I bought last year. That alone makes it worth it to me. Maybe I should complain about the crappy comment editor on this site that forces me to write my replying notepad on my iPad and paste it over here because the scrollbar (that's supposed to appear) isn't there. And you're an editor on this site?
Finally, time to test Safari: I tested out Slashdot first, and it renders pretty well. There are a couple of minor layout glitches and a few trickier functionality problems... I'll probably get some tickets into the system this week to clean up these bugs.
Any plans to fix the Slashdot bugs that have been in desktop Safari since the 2.0 makeover over a year ago?
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I emphasize that because few people actually read. I've read about studies indicating that only 10% of people who buy books read them to the end. I read almost all my books to the end. I like to read, thus I am in the minority of readers.
Most people like the idea of reading, but rarely actually read. These people are in the majority. They often buy books, but not in the quantity of the people who read. I certainly see them buying more iPads than Kindles, but how many books are going to actually be purchased by them? Kindle owners buy books all the time - a blog I follow linked to a short book being sold by a community member for $4 on Kindle, and a few days later the author thanked the community for downloading and reading his book in measurable volume.
What? You read about studies. You like to read -- why not read the actual studies? Does this alleged majority that only reads 10% of books read the same number of books? Do you know that they don't read 10% of the books they start, but they start 20x as many books as people who read 100% of books and thus actually read twice as much? Were these figures adjusted for page count?
A blog you follow mentions a book that Kindle users downloaded in "measureable volume"? And this proves your point? And how do you know that the downloaders read the book. Oh wait, they are Kindle users -- of course they read it.
Y'know, most people like the idea of being better read than everyone else. . .
I've read about studies indicating that only 10% of people who buy books read them to the end. I read almost all my books to the end. I like to read, thus I am in the minority of readers.
Citation needed.
Also, self-important narcissistic jackass filter needed.
The iPhone and iPad can both find your location using Wi-Fi.
"Programming is like sex - one mistake and you'll have to support it for the rest of your life."
What? You read about studies. You like to read -- why not read the actual studies? Does this alleged majority that only reads 10% of books read the same number of books? Do you know that they don't read 10% of the books they start, but they start 20x as many books as people who read 100% of books and thus actually read twice as much? Were these figures adjusted for page count?
A blog you follow mentions a book that Kindle users downloaded in "measureable volume"? And this proves your point? And how do you know that the downloaders read the book. Oh wait, they are Kindle users -- of course they read it.
Y'know, most people like the idea of being better read than everyone else. . .
I don't have time to read everything that I would like to. I usually read the summaries and determine if they make sense with what I have observed, and I have observed that most people do not finish most of the books they purchase. I have also observed that people who do not read books also tend to not have large book cases full of books. This is not meant to insult anyone, it's just an observation.
The author did not state the actual number of books sold, but given that the blog gets about 30,000 views per day and the nature of the book, I wouldn't be surprised if he sold a few thousand - the book was only $4. My point here is not that these people read the book, it's that there is a different distribution model for publishing the book. Instead of an author being picked up by a publisher who then promotes to a distribution channel, the author self-publishes electronically and gets promoted through a blog.
I don't care if I read more books than other people nor if other people read more books than me. I read for myself.
I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.
Even though I don't finish every book I buy, I still consider myself to be a reader.
The percentage of books I do finish increased when I started using an ebook-reader though. Mostly for practical reasons - I can take my books with me without feeling their weight, and read whenever I have some free time.
So maybe I'm not the kind of reader who has a separate study room with reading as its sole purpose, maybe I don't invest as much time in reading overall as you maybe do. But you can't go and say that people who don't finish their books aren't readers, that you're a minority because you actually like to read. That borders on elitism, and doesn't do your point much good.
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
I don't understand the ad hominem attacks and I can't keep evidence for every scrap of information I pick up in life. You are free to reject the evidence if it doesn't meet your standards or match up with your observations.
I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.
How does being in the minority translate to elitism? I own 4 motorcycles, one of which can only be used on a race course. I know full well I'm in the minority for this but I don't feel superior because of it. It's just something I enjoy doing.
If someone buys books, but doesn't finish them, how is this person a reader? It seems this would be more of a book purchaser. I made several large purchases of stuff from Home Depot to do some work around my house, and much of it is still sitting in the Home Depot bags in my garage. Does this make me a home repair person? No, it makes me a Home Depot customer. But I know I don't spend nearly as much money at Home Depot as a close friend of mine who regularly completes projects around his house.
I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.
And the answer is a resounding yes
Am I the only one who (anonymously) thinks that this device will be absolutely awesome for holding in one hand and watching pov smut in bed? My 1008HA just doesn't cut it - not to mention the video is less than smooth, despite having stripped down xp.
Guessing location doesn't require GPS, and GPS doesn't require 3G. Everything that has an internet connection has at least a crude location sensor. Shit, Firefox 3.6 on my wifi-less desktop machine knows where it is, within a couple blocks.
The assumption that other people don't like reading, that you're part of some illustrious group that sets itself apart from the masses that allegedly don't read their books (not finishing a book is not the same as not reading them at all), that's what borders on elitism.
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
Yeah, pretty sure; I like high-res displays far too much for "little" to ever really do it for me. Even my 15" laptop feels restrictive in that respect. (Hell, so does my 19" CRT, hence I'm currently lusting after a 25" or so that'll do 1900x1200). That said I do want a smartphone (probably an HTC Desire), but certainly not as a replacement for either of my real computers.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Exactly. Have to read some online technical documentation? You can do it hunched over your desktop/notebook, or you can grab a tablet, lean back and read it like you would a hard copy. The closest I've found to this with a notebook is to have it on my lap in a hammock.
An iPad isn't a computer replacement, but it's going to be a great supplement. One way I see using it is like I'd use a dual monitor setup - document/web page tutorial or reference on the iPad with, for example, code on the big screen.
This is also true, from my own observation, about reading on a Kindle. When I am reading for work or study I find the page turning rate slow and a little frustrating. This is because I am only scanning the page focusing in on important bits, and want to get through the pages quickly.
When I'm reading for pleasure (a novel for example), I find the page turning smooth as silk and not slow at all (I suspect it is faster than a book). I think this is because my reading rate remains constant.
Amongst the literary set, both the kindle and the ipad (as a reader) will rise or fail on the basis of the books that are available.
Are you saying that I am a spyware maker/malware maker?
(Yes or No is the only answer needed)
"That makes you a CRIMINAL and a HACKER who also writes SPYWARE." - by clone53421 (1310749) on Monday April 05, @08:25PM (#31743416)
So you ARE calling me a HACKER now, and a CRIMINAL, and one who creates spyware... YES?
----
"In case you didn't already know this, changing your IP address to defeat Slashdot's anti-spam mechanism constitutes both fraudulently misrepresenting yourself (A CRIME, as I already told you) and also considered unauthorized access to a computer system (HACKING)." - by clone53421 (1310749) on Monday April 05, @08:25PM (#31743416)
Oh, really? Care to show me a legal precedent OR ruling of that being the case, were I switching IP addresses to overcome the "10 posts per 24 hour limit" on AC users? I sign off as APK, so I am NOT "misrepresenting myself" here, in case you hadn't noticed, lol!
(Now, on "changing IP addy"? Uhm, who says I am doing THAT anyhow to beat the restriction - and so what IF I did? I could just as easily say I turned off my modem & PC, & upon restarting it?? I have a new IP address... pretty simple - I'd like to see you backup that b.s., with legal evidence to what you said, because, anyone can turn off their modem & upon restarting be assigned a new IP address, assuming they don't have a STATIC IP!)
Produce some US legal documentation of what you just said... thanks! I, for one, would like to see it - because it appaernty wouldn't account for folks that keep their power off when not using a system... so, show us your LEGAL proof of what you stated now above, ok?
----
"LOL, I find it hilarious that the SPYWARE AUTHOR is accusing me of libel!" - by clone53421 (1310749) on Monday April 05, @01:46PM (#31736694)
So, again: Are YOU calling ME, a SPYWARE MAKER? Yes or No, is all I need.
And, yes, my apps' still there (zero threat levels though - it CAN be "misused" though, this happens to the "best of us", see below in fact)
http://www.ca.com/us/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=51276
They list it - with ZERO threat levels... EVEN THOUGH I PASSED EVERY ONE OF THEIR 21 QUESTIONS FOR REMOVAL!
(It happens - Just as they do to others' wares, such as Nir Sofer's wares (he has this happen ALL THE TIME, wrongfully, because his apps are good, & just like PING could issue a "ping of death"? His apps may be a 'double-edged sword' is all - same thing's happened to a former "colleague" of mine (mid 1990's for Sunbelt Software in Dr. Mark Russinovich of Microsoft, when he & I both made wares for them back then)).
In any event?? Have some balls, answer the question, that's all!
APK
P.S.=> You answer yes to your saying I am a malware maker? You'll be VERY surprised at what will happen after that... apk
Are you saying that I am a spyware maker/malware maker?
(Yes or No is the only answer needed)
"That makes you a CRIMINAL and a HACKER who also writes SPYWARE." - by clone53421 (1310749) on Monday April 05, @08:25PM (#31743416)
So you ARE calling me a HACKER now, and a CRIMINAL, and one who creates spyware... YES?
----
"In case you didn't already know this, changing your IP address to defeat Slashdot's anti-spam mechanism constitutes both fraudulently misrepresenting yourself (A CRIME, as I already told you) and also considered unauthorized access to a computer system (HACKING)." - by clone53421 (1310749) on Monday April 05, @08:25PM (#31743416)
Oh, really? Care to show me a legal precedent OR ruling of that being the case, were I switching IP addresses to overcome the "10 posts per 24 hour limit" on AC users? I sign off as APK, so I am NOT "misrepresenting myself" here, in case you hadn't noticed, lol!
(Now, on "changing IP addy"? Uhm, who says I am doing THAT anyhow to beat the restriction - and so what IF I did? I could just as easily say I turned off my modem & PC, & upon restarting it?? I have a new IP address... pretty simple - I'd like to see you backup that b.s., with legal evidence to what you said, because, anyone can turn off their modem & upon restarting be assigned a new IP address, assuming they don't have a STATIC IP!)
Produce some US legal documentation of what you just said... thanks! I, for one, would like to see it - because it appaernty wouldn't account for folks that keep their power off when not using a system... so, show us your LEGAL proof of what you stated now above, ok?
----
"LOL, I find it hilarious that the SPYWARE AUTHOR is accusing me of libel!" - by clone53421 (1310749) on Monday April 05, @01:46PM (#31736694)
So, again: Are YOU calling ME, a SPYWARE MAKER? Yes or No, is all I need.
And, yes, my apps' still there (zero threat levels though - it CAN be "misused" though, this happens to the "best of us", see below in fact)
http://www.ca.com/us/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=51276
They list it - with ZERO threat levels... EVEN THOUGH I PASSED EVERY ONE OF THEIR 21 QUESTIONS FOR REMOVAL!
(It happens - Just as they do to others' wares, such as Nir Sofer's wares (he has this happen ALL THE TIME, wrongfully, because his apps are good, & just like PING could issue a "ping of death"? His apps may be a 'double-edged sword' is all - same thing's happened to a former "colleague" of mine (mid 1990's for Sunbelt Software in Dr. Mark Russinovich of Microsoft, when he & I both made wares for them back then)).
In any event?? Have some balls, answer the question, that's all!
APK
P.S.=> You answer yes to your saying I am a malware maker? You'll be VERY surprised at what will happen after that... apk
I agree with the need for a camera and user accounts (or at least access levels). The later is an absolute must if they want it to seriously be considered for schools. The weight doesn't bother me but I frequently use my 4.7lb MacBook as a handheld. The big difference IMO is that it's a slate which makes it easier to manage. Typing I think will be a situation similar to the iPhone where people that don't use it often find it awkward but those that use it all the time develop muscle memory and can type almost as fast as on a normal keyboard. For example, email on my iPhone is my preferred mail client. I manage a dozen email accounts and several hundred messages a day on my iPhone. I'm not sure I'll switch to the iPad for this use because I like how minimal it is on the iPhone. Likewise I like to do Facebook more on my iPhone than on my laptop. I mostly use email and Facebook for chat so I rarely feel the need for another chat client but it would be nice to see added. Chat is one of those few things that really makes sense to really run in the background and be accessible while in other apps so that's another good reason for Apple to supply it. I think multitasking is overrated (when apps correctly start/stop instantly) but for music and chat it is a good idea. For me, very much a power user, I have few limitations with the iPad because I can remotely connect to my server and do everything else I need. It would be awesome if Apple offered this as a built-in app. It'd be a really cool if in addition to connecting to your own computer you could have desktops stored in a cloud somewhere. I could see Amazon offering such an app if Apple doesn't.
One thing I'd like to point out about the iPad (and even my MacBook) is heat. Every decent PC laptop I've had has been a portable thermo nuclear heat source with noisy fans that are almost always foolishly placed on the bottom where they choke when you sit the laptop on a soft location like your couch, bed, or lap (and frequently burn the later). The iPad does not have this problem.
To me it's okay that for some tasks my iPhone is best, others my iPad, others my MacBook, and still others my iMac. The biggest annoyance to me, so far, is I haven't found a bag that can carry a MacBook, a Windows laptop, an iPad, and a crap load of cables, tools, and spare parts without looking like a suitcase or having wheels. Maybe I'm a big guy and just don't think of all this as much to carry but I'd like something more like a large briefcase to put it in. I'm okay with carrying around 50-100lbs of equipment in one hand while I cart around my kid in the other. (Possibly this is why the 1.5lb weight seems like nothing to me.)
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
For me, at least in google reader. And what they all said about skyhook wifi faux-gps asking location permission for a LONG while now :-p
"Have you heard of some type of thing?" -- anon
Anyone complaining about the heavy weight of an iPad is a fat-ass raging computer nerd who needs to better understand the concept of, do something that taxes your muscles for even a week, and you will, *GASP* get stronger and it will no longer be a burden. holy crap some folks are out of shape slobs. I'm typing this from my iPad btw, which I totally adore, and even realize has WiFi geolocation capabilities.
So it's an expensive, half-assed replacement for cheaper devices that do a better job in their respective areas.
Another probably otherwise intelligent geek, hamstrung by a brain that insists on strong transitivity, unambiguous verdicts, and of naturally, completely objective standards.
It's not a better eReader than a Kindle -- so it's worse than a Kindle.
It's not a better phone than the Nexus One -- so it's worse than the Nexus One.
It's not better for typing on the go than a Dell Inspiron -- so it's worse than Dell Inspiron.
It's not cheaper than the Asus EEE -- so it's worse than the Asus EEE.
Of course...
It's arguably better for typing than a Kindle or a Nexus One.
It's cheaper than a Nexus One or a Dell Inspiron.
It's a better eReader than, well, everything on the list above except the Kindle.
I don't want to carry yet another gadget
Exactly. You could carry a Kindle for reading, your creative zen for media listening, and a laptop or netbook for typing.
Or you could carry an iPad.
Tweet, tweet.
Let's review:
* You can't play flash games.
* It's awkward to type while holding it with one hand.
* There's no video chat.
Therefore, what?
"there's no good use for iPad."
I can think of a number of productive and enjoyable uses for my laptop beyond video chat (rarely use) and flash games (rarely play), and I don't frequently type while holding it with one hand. If you're among the people who not only don't have any uses for a computer beyond that but can't actually think of any, the stupidity of other people shouldn't be your biggest concern in life.
Tweet, tweet.
I'm on a CRT you insensitive clod!
Archos has a couple Android tablets, and MSI has at least one. (You just haven't been hearing about them on every tech site for the past year, because they don't have a picture of an apple on them.)
Great review! :-)
About 10 seconds later on the tube, the iPad commercial came on...
I noticed they never show it standing up!
it really is an im-mobile device meant for horizontal use.
Vertical markets, missed
but I think I'll still keep my preorder because of the low monthly on data plan$
any US carrier go lower that and I'll just idle to a netlapbook
Most of my reading is done on backlit LCDs -- Fanfic is bibliophile crack. Cheap, easy to find the next hit, and arguably bad for you.
I've got a Sony Reader, and it's great for what it is -- I can feed it army manuals, and find books for it in its native formats.
The problem is that content is too spendy for it most of the time -- Only Baen prices books at a price I'm generally willing to spend for a day's entertainment. Sony's ebook store is windows only, on top of excessive pricing. ($2 for a relicensed Project Gutenberg text? I think they've gone to free, but I haven't played with their store since Summer 2008, so)
Free content -- Fanfic in particular -- is a pain to read on it, 'cause it takes fifteen minutes or more to convert an HTML document or string of them into something the PRS can read, due to certain website's poor support for flat text . . .
The iPad looks like it will fit in a cargo pocket, support PDFs, web content, and epub in one form or another. Not a perfect fit, perhaps, but closer than my poor old Sharp Zaurus SL-6000 and the iPaqs that preceded it.
I think the iPad will be similar to iTunes and the Wii. Most people store their own mp3's on their iPods and the attach rate on the Wii is the lowest of all consoles.
The myth that the Wii has a particularly low attach rate is simply false. According to Wikipedia by the end of 2009 509.66M games had been sold to 67.45M Wiis: an attach rate of over 7.5. That's exactly the same as the Xbox 360 claims. The PS3 has sold 174.9M games and 25M consoles to the end of Q1 '09 for an attach rate of about 7. The fact is that the attach rate is not low now. It was initially low, but that is hardly surprising for a new system. What is also true is that most of the biggest selling Wii games are made by Nintendo so it's not a great platform for 3rd party developers. But the idea that Wii owners don't buy games is simply FUD.
The iPad is something out of Star Trek or HHGTTG, the sort of thing nerds have been dreaming about for decades.
Yes, exactly... and just like so much other Hollywood technology, it only makes sense in fiction.
Take another example from Star Trek: the vertically mounted touch screen. Sounds great in theory, but when it was tried in the 80s, people realized that it's really, really tiring to use one for any length of time.
Or look at that other sci-fi staple, the video phone. They're all over TV and movies, a universal symbol of how we'll communicate in the future. In fact, they've existed in real life for decades, but almost no one uses them, because it turns out most people prefer audio-only conversations most of the time; they'd rather not have to put on pants to answer the phone, or give the impression that they're hiding something by turning the camera off. But those thoughts don't occur to them when they see a video phone in a movie.
A tablet computer is one of those things that looks cool on TV and screams "futuristic", but actually isn't very practical in real life.
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
Answer that. I doubt it strongly. You "talk a big game", but you're clearly just another wannabe nobody....
How come you are so stupid?
So buy a laptop. They're good for using on things like, well, your lap.
You do, however, need an iPad with 3G to have GPS. (GPS is not available on the WiFi-only iPad.)
no discounts to students and can not annotate text? not meant for students?
http://buzzintechnology.com/2010/04/is-ipad-not-meant-for-students-no-student-discount/
..and the poor iPad is already experiencing Wi-Fi issues: http://ipad-site.net/ipad/wifi-problem/
Well, if your reading consists of just skim reading comments, for relatively short periods of time, sure. But for those of us who read books, it's a different matter.
What I think is most compelling about the iPad is the fact that it is a more traditional "medium"
More traditional than what? Than the Kindle that he was talking about? Than existing tablets and netbooks? The Ipad may well be an interesting product, but don't rely on Slashdot for your tech news, which covers the Apple ones - there are plenty of other products in this "traditional" meaning.
WTF do you think the book you're reading on your Kindle was written on?
I've been reading reviews and keeping up on the iPad info from various places because it is something that I am very interested in. In reading this review here, it doesn't surprise me that people are bashing it. It seems that the tech savvy folks are attacking the iPad for a whole pile of reasons because it doesn't do what they want it to do. Then we get reviews like this one that go at it because of the lack of Flash and a pile of other things that seriously sound like nitpicking. But, everyone has an opinion and here is mine.
I have yet to put my hands on an iPad but I already know exactly what I would use it for and why it would work so well. I work for a large IT company and have been a tech savvy geek for more than 20 years so I know all about what is good and what is crap, but I also have seen plenty of folks on sites like this bitch about products like the iPad for a pile of reasons that ultimately don't add up to much down the road.
I absolutely can see this type of device being used for CASUAL computing. Not sitting at your desk typing out reports, or spending hours upon hours doing work stuff. But for simple uses like basic web surfing, watching tv and movies, and providing other types of content in an interface that is simple and easy to use. I give you my own experience.
I have a small laptop which could almost pass as a netbook and I have it because it's portable and I can take it places. A lot of times it (or my wife's laptop) sit on the kitchen table and if we want to look something up, we open it up, and check our bank account or other various online activities. I've used it to stream music in our kitchen, but mostly we read the news, check Twitter or Facebook, read our email, or do quick little look ups of stuff. We don't use it heavily in the kitchen but it is there.
I got an iPhone through work and have been using it for almost two years. Around the same time, I was also trying to come up with some sort of multimedia/internet solution for my kitchen. I wanted to be able to stream my MP3 collection and Shoutcast radio to my kitchen amp. I also thought it would be nice if I had a touchscreen interface to access the stations and music I wanted, along with basic internet surfing if I wanted to check my bank balance, or update my Twitter & Facebook. I never got a good solution but I did buy a dock for my iPhone which lets me play music through my amp. I ended up with my or my wife's laptop on the kitchen table to do the other stuff. I always thought that if I had an iPhone that was a lot bigger, it would likely be able to do what I want.
Well wouldn't you know it, the iPad arrives. This gives me exactly what I want.
I'll be the first to admit that my situation is unique, but I would like to point out that Apple is going after a market for people that want an EASY solution for CASUAL internet and multimedia. I'll tell you, nothing irritates me more than when Iopen my laptop and it takes 10-20 seconds for me to get the web browser open because it was asleep and I have to wait for it to come out of hibernation, and then it acquires a wifi signal and blah blah blah. Regardless of what laptop I use, it still takes me anywhere from 15-60 seconds to go from opening the lid of my laptop, to having a webpage loaded. When I do it with my iPhone, I have pages loaded before the browser on my laptop has even opened. My laptops are decent machines with good RAM and are solid, but coming out of sleep mode, they suck.
The idea that I can just grab a tablet, tap the screen a few times, and I have my bank account open is EXTREMELY appealing. Apple is king when it comes to ease and interface. This has been shown again and again. People can argue all they want about being locked in to their app world, and the lack of open source and all of that stuff, but at the end of the day, they create products and interfaces that JUST WORK! I don't have to spend countless hours trying to put something together to give me what I want. I can just buy a product that has it. I could have built
No matter how fast computers get, you'll always be waiting - Matt Klem
Despite the name, a laptop gets uncomfortable there after awhile. Not only do I notice the weight, but the damn thing puts out quite a bit of heat.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
It is usable out of the box without any syncing, but I chose almost immediately to pair it with my laptop just to get all my apps and data on it.
Sadly, the IPAD is not usable out of the box. When powered on, it displays the "connect me to itunes" image. It MUST BE connected to itunes initially and registered. This is a problem for those of us who purchased it for our non-technical parents who have older macs running 10.4.or earlier. No worries though - there's a work-around: you can take the IPAD in to any apple store and they'll register it for you.
Brother do an eInk based reader with the sexy name of "SV-100B". It's a 25cm screen (9.7 inches) and when I tried one out the update speed was considerably better than any other eInk reader I have come across. I'd say for a full page A4 PDF it was about 1 second per page.
Screen contrast under fluorescent light was fine. I code with off-white text on a dark grey background so I obviously prefer something a bit less than full white/black contrast but it certainly didn't seem faint like some eInk screens.
It was pretty close to the A4 eInk based PDF reader I have wanted for a while. A bit of an expensive proposition (£2000, $1500), especially since it's too big for eBooks IMHO (won't fit in my pocket, not comfortable to read in bed etc.), but I think eInk is definitely getting there. If they could sort out wifi with SMB share browsing it would be perfect, but as it is you need to sync docs to it. That actually sounds like something the iPad might be more suited to, except that it would be far cheaper just to get a second hand tablet PC off eBay just for reading docs.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
As some of you know you can't put the iPad on its Dock if it's in its protective case, which sucks, especially if the salesperson at the Apple Store told you the exact opposite.
Here's the fix: http://www.jpmartineau.com/blog/?p=121
--- Worst tagline ever.
Will it blend?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I like this thing. A lot. Does it replace my laptop? - no (of course not)
Is it perfect? - no (of course not)
Is it fun? - yes!
I played with the ABC app yesterday and thought it was great. The screen was beautiful and fast. Real HD quality. I watched a couple of episodes of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution that I'd heard good things about while I was fixing a couple reports in one of my applications. I kept watching while I made a sandwich. Then I just closed it only to have it pick up right where I left off later that night when I wanted to finish watching.
I've been using the Mocha VNC app on my iPhone for... hmm a couple of years I'd guess to do emergency fixes and tasks on windows and mac servers and workstations. But the screen real estate made it very very worthwhile to pull out the laptop and power-up if I had the option. But that's no longer true with the iPad. VNC works great and there is just enough screen real estate to really get something done. Of course there are challenges of using a touchscreen in VNC but I'm long since over that after using the iPhone version.
I think of this thing as a toy really. Yes I can use it to get a bit of work done if the need arises. But really, it's an expensive toy. Happy Birthday to me. No need to take it so seriously. Most of the arguments made against this thing and bashing it are saying that it doesn't do things that it never even claimed to do.
So chill out and have fun with one for a couple minutes in the store then walk away if you don't want the thing.
Oh! I almost forgot. The network speed is fast on this thing. I always hated that on my iPhone CNET's Speed Test app reported about 1/3 of the speed I'd get on my laptop. But the iPad get's the full speed of my connection.
Cheers!
> I am typing this review on my laptop.
The iPad is a printer. It replaces your printer. Nobody ever said it replaces your laptop. You're supposed to be typing the review on your laptop, in the same way that you would type your review on a typewriter if it was 1960. But thanks to the iPad, I don't have to *read* your review on a typewriter.
In 4/7 games section, there is discussion of the future iPad coupled with iPod and iPhone to make a great new gaming machine for those who did not know they needed one. The iPad might be a good platform. As developers put in new apps to use multiple iPods/iPhones as game controllers with public info on the iPAD, I hope against hope that my old time favorite games like the Atari 800's FIRST FOUNDER and warfare games, where you could not see your opponents moves or actions till they show up in public view would be naturals. Previous online war games will be possible in person instead of remotely via offline methods. (wife and I use iPods for Amazon and public domain reading wherever we are.)
"Dear Mr. Kowalski, How is this related to a discussion about Apple iPad? - by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07, @10:48AM
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1591778&cid=31743416
See this quote, & that URL above (where Clone5 outright accuses me of being a "spyware maker" &/or "hacker/cracker" etc./et al) ->
"If you are accusing me of libel, you already have all of the evidence you need." - by clone53421 (1310749) on Monday April 05, @09:33PM (#31743950)
That should answer your question, & he has stopped (for now @ least).
APK
P.S.=> Since he refuses to answer YES or NO, I was just trying to get a straight answer from he is all... apk
"You do, however, need an iPad with 3G to have GPS"
No. If you have an iPad with 3G it includes GPS.
If Apple allowed it you could use a Bluetooth GPS with the iPad or use one that interfaces through the syncing port.
That therefor part is what got me. Like you must have a 3G data connection to have GPS.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
CmdrTaco said:
"But the lack of Flash hurts. Apple has made their position known on the subject, so I'm not expecting anything to change."
What is Apple's position on this subject and where is a link to it?
Thank you in advance,
-=- cpopin
I acknowledged that, if you read the entire post:
He who has no
I see. I'm claiming we'll shift away from interfaces that require a keyboard and mouse towards interfaces where mufti-touch will be the primary method of user interface. I'm sure the keyboard will still be around, but I think it will be an accessory for those applications that benefit from it.
I don't understand the ad hominem attacks and I can't keep evidence for every scrap of information I pick up in life. You are free to reject the evidence if it doesn't meet your standards or match up with your observations.
It's true, you don't understand ad hominem attacks. It's not a synonym for "insult", I suggest you familiarize yourself with the definition before trotting it out again.