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The Coming Onslaught of iPad Competitors
harrymcc writes "The iPad is selling as well as it is in part because no large manufacturer has had a direct rival out yet. But boy, is that going to change in the next few months. Over at Technologizer, I rounded up known information on 32 current and future tablet computing devices, from potentially worthy iPad competitors to wannabees to interesting specialty devices. By early 2011 these things are going to be everywhere, and it'll be fascinating to see how they fare." Related: the tablet-type device I've been watching most eagerly, Notion Ink's Adam, seems to finally have a realistic manufacturing prediction and price range (by November; up to $498 for the version with 3G and Pixel Qi screen).
Do not want. Any.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
What will I do with 32 tablets in the house?
Most have a question mark next to the review. Steve can sleep at night.
Yep, I bet everyone will abandon the iPad once some of the incredible competitor models are revealed.. I really can't wait for one of those awesome Windows 7 based 'tablets' ... other companies have been making 'tablet' computers since the early 2000's, but not until Apple produced one of their own has anyone
really taken interest in them.
When are all those ARM-based netbooks with Linux that we were promised going to show up? I'll take one with a Tegra 2 processor, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, and a Pixel Qi display please!
I'll pay extra for one in a form factor more like a Macbook Air, with a little extra screen, decent sized trackpad, etc.
Hello? Anybody out there?
Ipad is another short-running, indoor-only battery hog. If I want that, I'll buy a laptop.
Put up a Kindle-like thing that runs Linux and I'll buy it in an instant. Reflective sunlight-friendly display, and should run on commodity digicam or cell phone batteries or (better yet) ordinary AA's. The old TRS-80 model 100 from the 1980's stayed in demand for decades because it did all that.
...when checking the one-liner review verdicts for the devices in this list:
"Engadget didn’t find it terribly satisfying."
"The Android Blog tried one and wasn’t exactly knocked out."
"UMPC Portal’s review says it’s not anywhere near as good as it looks."
"Engadget really didn’t care for it."
"Ubergizmo gave it a semi-positive review."
Does this sound anything like the reviews the iPad got? Hopefully the situation will change quickly to bring competition to benefit us customers.
...run the same programs on any of these tablets? Port some libre software from one to another without paying extra? Release libre software for these tablets?
If they are like the iPad, I guess not...
Palm trees and 8
Since when does more than 5 months count as a "few"?
MABASPLOOM!
I want a good all-in-one reader. PDFs, CBR/CBZ files, Word or Open Office documents... etc. Sure, throw in a media player, but I really just want a book replacement. Most of the ones on the market are limited in scope and frankly, TOO SMALL. Make the screen a standard paper size, make it able to read all kinds of formats, and I will be a happy, happy man.
Oh, and make it cheap.
How about the one that launched before the iPad? AlwaysInnovating Touchbook, anyone?
Alas, it's not available right now -- they stopped production (and quickly sold out) while developing the (unannounced) next model due sometime this summer. I'm greatly looking forward to it...
The iPad is selling as well as it is in part because no large manufacturer has had a direct rival out yet.
Even with a 'direct rival' they will still sell well as some people prefer one brand over another.
Nice try at an Apple bash tho..:)
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Go back about five years in the archives of most tech publications and you can find similar stories about "The coming onslaught of iPod competitors." Look how that worked out.
For some reason, the tech community believes that the commoditize-and-cannabalize cycle that typified the 1980s and 1990s is a perpetual law. It isn't, and Apple's success this decade is a resounding rejoinder to that view. Apple's products aren't, in all respects, better than the competitors; what they are is more polished, more refined, and an order of magnitude easier to pick up on and figure out on your own.
The typical screeds about how Apple's success is due to marketing prowess, reality distortion fields, media sycophancy, etc. are all a bunch of red herrings. Apple makes great products, and it's a real shame that more companies haven't picked up on how they do it and why. It's not rocket science to diligently refine your products while at the same time planning their long-term placement growth; it's just more involved than most companies want to be.
So sure, I'm sure there will be an onslaught of cheaper, different tablets that mindless consumers (Who, I might add, the tech community still believes to be largely ignorant about technology. You know, in 2010.) will buy up and the iPad will be dead. It's impossible that, say, every single one of the competitor tablets will be inferior in one or more significant ways that fails to make an appreciable dent in the iPad's adoption rate. Equally impossible that Apple would refine the iPad beyond its current iteration to entice new customers. I mean, really.
I'm not giving Apple the keys to the kingdom carte blanche, as heaven knows they've made their share of mistakes, but on the whole, I think they've been too successful, too visionary, and too aggressive to continue this endless narrative about how, just when they're about to succeed, the commodity tech market comes up aces and wins the hand.
meeGo?
Not hardware, software!
Wait now, didn't we agree there was no such thing as a market for an iPad? And now we're suddenly discussing what knock-offs will compete for a slice of the profits?
The latter is quite simple, none of the other really get out of the Catch 22. Users don't buy until there's apps and app developers don't develop until there's a market. Unless you're Steve Jobs and provably have millions of followers, then you hit critical hype and get a sufficient quantity of apps and users out there simultaneously to set the snowball rolling. Exhibit A, the iPhone. Out of the box quite satisfactory but nothing special compared to HTC and the other smart phones. But hell, given all the useful and funny and clever (and gimmicky and useless) apps Ive seen for it, even I want one by now. Not because I think Apple is that great, but because that's where the applications are.
I think next they'll make the home entertainment center common - oh they've been around forever with Windows Media Center and such but so had the Windows tablets. I don't really count the AppleTV as one either, it's more of a warmup. Not as a console replacement, but one taking a big chunk out of the "casual" gaming market Nintendo has shown is there with the Wii too. And really bringing that together has the core in your system setup, not a Mac. And possibly finally bring around the TV revolution where more people get series and movies via iTunes over the Internet than over broadcasts and cable. Well, the legal revolution anyway ;).
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
It is the quantity of the iPod killers that counts you know. I am not an apple fanboi but I think displacing the iPad is going to be a pretty difficult task.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
Yes, 'everyone' will abandon 'teh iPad!!!'
Oh wait...one actually has to own an iPad to actually 'abandon' it...
I'm sure the local Starbucks is absolutely packed with Hipster Douchebags all showing off their 'OMG!!! iPad!!!'s to each other. Meanwhile out in the real world...
Well, I'm waiting for something decent to appear. What I need from such a device is Android, 7"+ screen, decent 3D hw accel, capacitive touch screen and HDMI output. Surprisingly, I couldn't find anything meeting these criteria except Viliv X10 (http://blog.laptopmag.com/viliv-x10-android-tablet-blows-our-mind-with-1366-x-768-screen-3d-graphics-hp-video) which seems to have it all but won't be available until Q4.
Lenovo IdeaPad U1 (http://netbookboards.com/2010/01/07/ces-2010-lenovo-introduces-ideapad-u1-hybrid-tabletnotebook-with-detachable-screen/) looks sweet too with detachable screen (that means read keyboard! :) ) but it's unclear when it will be released, in what form or with which hardware specs.
Curiously, none of them are mentioned in TFA.
He totally forgot the Pandigital Novel -- a 7" Android tablet that is pitched mainly as an e-reader but which has many other capabilities. Sure, it's gotten lukewarm reviews, but at least it exists, unlike most of what's on his list.
On a related note, does anyone know if the new WebKit browser on the now-$139 Kindle is any good?
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Why is there still no decent Android-based iPod Touch competitor?
I can't imagine any of the Windows 7 tablets being worth buying. Any x86 chip that can run Windows 7 will burn more battery life and dissipate more heat than an ARM chip. Do you want a heavy tablet (lots of batteries) or a tablet with super-short battery life? I don't. Do you want a tablet with a vent on one side that blows hot air out while you are using it? I don't.
Of the various ARM chips, the exciting one is the Tegra 2. 8 cores: two ARM 9 cores at 1 GHz each, plus audio DSP, video encode and decode, graphics accelerator, an image processor and an ARM 7 core used for housekeeping. All with a typical heat dissipation of 500 milliWatts, or perhaps less. (I saw a YouTube video that claimed a Tegra 2 can decode 1080P video while dissipating only 350 Watts.)
The iPad gets its long battery life and lack of a hot air vent from the A4 chip, which is an ARM core of some sort (IIRC an ARM 8) at 1 GHz. I believe the iPad also has a graphics accelerator. Presumably a Tegra 2 chip can smoke the iPad on performance, and it's already good enough.
Also, Windows 7 was designed for a mouse. Will the Windows 7 tablets come with a stylus for precision pointing? Or will Microsoft make an all-new GUI environment just for tablets? I'd rather just have Android.
So I'm waiting for a smartbook or tablet with a Tegra 2 and a Pixel Qi screen, running some sort of Linux (likely Android). I had hoped that devices like that would ship this summer but I guess they are delayed.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
What will I do with 32 tablets in the house?
Start a WLAN party and play multiplayer tablet games.
By early 2011 these things are going to be everywhere, and it'll be fascinating to see how they fare."
According to slashdot, they will all fail because despite Apples sales records, no one on earth would want something that isn't a notebook or laptop and falls in between!
It's really sad to see how some manufacturers seem to honestly think that a Windows 7 tablet is going to work well, let alone be an "iPad killer" of any sort. Windows 7 is a great OS, but it's in no way suited for a touch UI and even if you collaborated with Microsoft to make a "for touch UI" Windows version, you would still have the problem of the entire Windows software ecosystem not conforming to the touch UI norms, so that basically won't help you at all. The only 2 potential competitors the iPad might get are Android 3.0 and Meego devices. No, current Android is not good enough.
The iPad and alike competitors should bet on business communication suites. One which has video conferencing, document presentation and sharing collaboration tools will be the most successful. I would like it if I could do an impromptu video conference meeting with anyone remotely as face to face interaction leads to better understanding and communication. Take the meeting collaboration space, have the pads chirp to each other forming a meeting share where they can present documents live and collaborate in the editing. Combine the video conference and meeting function together so remote operations are included just like person to person. You could make a remote desktop viewer that shares to everyone else. Give us a headphone and mic jack for privacy as well. Make a scrum board that has tasks that are passed seamlessly through the pads and updated live remote and interoffice. That is a sweet pad.
lbecause the iPad is just as lame as the original iPod - just ask CmdrTaco http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257
Apple is first and foremost a fashion company these days, which is how they get their amazing margins. The fashion industry defies the normal pricing trend in that not only are people willing to spend more, but costing more can even be a GOOD thing.
The iPod was not the first MP3 player or anything. What it was is a fashion accessory. It was, and still is, trendy to have one. Notice that the white earbuds because a status statement, to the point that 3rd party companies had to start making them. Etymotic said they'd never before had requests for white, but when the iPod came out people wanted higher quality earphones, but only if they were white.
That is what really drives Apple business, and is why their profits are so high. Their margins are extremely high. In the tech industry, this is not tolerated. You find consumers are extremely price sensitive. However in the fashion industry it is, and to Apple's good fortune they've figured out how to sell tech as fashion.
Now as for iPad competitors, well how much that'll matter will depend on two things:
1) How technically good and cheap the competitors are. If the other tablets offer as good or better of a system for less, they'll sell well to anyone buying the tablet as a tool. After all as a tool the iPad is rather expensive since there are few tasks a tablet is truly well suited for. Most tasks, there are other devices that do a better job, other devices people usually own. So a good price will go a long way to making a niche device worth it. Likewise a good technical system (like the ability to install custom apps) will help. If the competitors have that, it'll hurt the iPad.
2) How much the buying is fashion driven. If the iPad becomes a fashion statement, then it won't really matter what competes with it. It'll sell largely on its fashion, and thus the price and utility won't be much of an issue. People will buy it to have it and show it off, and need no other reason. However if it doesn't become a fashion item, then competition will be much more of a problem, since it'll have to compete on price and that is just something Apple doesn't do.
That is really what it comes down to. So long as Apple keeps making devices that are fashionable, they are golden. They will sell lots, and they can sell them for a premium price, which equates to massive profits. If they can't do that, then they are in trouble. Not going out of business in trouble, they survived for many years not doing that, but their big profits will evaporate in a hurry and their sales will plummet unless they change.
Who knows when that'll happen, or if it ever will. Some companies can ride the fashion wave forever, others have their time in the sun and then fade out.
Do you remember the history of the PC?
Apple was the first major player in this market. Sure, there were a few other companies that achieved some level of success, but Apple was by far the first to be really successful with their Apple II. They dominated the last few years of the 1970s, and into the 1980s.
Then IBM released their PC, which itself was followed by various PC clones. By the late 1980s, Apple was nearly destroyed. They went from the top of the industry to near the bottom, in around a decade.
It will likely happen again. Apple will again hit rock bottom, as they did the first time around. Their business model of selling expensive devices to hipsters (basically the same model they used in the 1970s and 1980s) results in a quick adoption rate among those with money to burn, but soon market forces bring in competitors who appeal to the other 98% of the population. Apple will again be relegated to the 2% marketshare they "enjoyed" in the PC market for so many years.
When the ipad was first announced, many commentators predicted that there would be a deluge of Android-based competitors with more features (Flash!) for less money. Here we are almost seven months later and frankly, this article sums up the sorry state of competition. Most of the devices are unavailable and many don't even have firm release dates (others are late). The predictions about beating Apple's pricing fell through (e.g. the JooJoo is $499, though it's a larger and significantly different device).
Eventually we will have a nice selection of tablets, just like we now have a nice selection of smartphones. But you may have to wait a year or two for them; meanwhile, Apple will sell lots and lots of ipads, establishing a solid market for which developers will make lots of apps.
Frankly, if I was waiting for one of these competitors I'd be getting pretty frustrated. The Notion Ink Adam has been hyped up all over the place, and keeps getting pushed back. The currently available devices (like the one from KMart) get pretty horrible reviews; it's clear that trying to go too cheap on the tablets leads to some huge sacrifices in quality of the screen, for example.
What's interesting to me is that the major ereaders have responded to the ipad. Amazon and BN released apps for the ipad (Amazon on launch day!), while they both substantially dropped their ereader prices (responding to each other, too). They're carving out a niche - dedicated ereaders with eink screens getting down to the price points where people can buy them as gifts for each other in this coming holiday season. BN's nook actually runs Android, though it has to be jailbroken to make use of it.
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
Windows 7 is a PC OS. That is what it is designed for, that is what it does well. It was designed to run on a desktop or laptop. Wonderful, doesn't mean you want to put it on a tablet. Part of the point of a device like that, the reason you'd get a system without some of the normal features you might want (like a keyboard) is the fast, appliance like boot times. You run an OS that is designed to be kind of "always on/hibernated" like a phone so when you grab the device, instant boot. Windows 7 isn't designed to do that.
The problem with the Ipad is that it's $500 These "alternatives" are also $500... they don't solve the problem. People want to surf the net, read books, and maybe do word processing on these things. There's no reason they need to be so built up that they cost $500. I can build a relatively high-end gaming computer for that much. There's no reason a pad should cost that much.
So many mediocre tablets from startups trying to cash in.
How about a quality unit from a top tier company?
BTW just read this bombshell.
Oracle is now suing Android over Java!!!
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15762198?nclick_check=1
DRM? Like how they took all the DRM off all the iTMS downloads?
It's not called "iTunes Music Store" anymore. Just about everything in the iTunes Store except music is still DRM-laden.
Fuck and die Apple faggot.
It's time for computer companies to admit they have no idea who their customer is, or what their customer wants. Most computer products try to be everything to everyone and end up disappointing all.
The secret to Apple's success is simplicity - identifying the smallest list of features that their customer base will find useful. Sure this makes some people unhappy, but the vast majority of their customers are happy with the feature set, and delighted by the ease of use that results from a device that doesn't try to do everything.
I used to want my computing devices to do everything. This usually resulted in building computers that could heat an entire house or carrying a laptop bag that weighed 50 lbs. Since converting my life to Apple's products (AppleTV, Mac Mini server, iMac, iPhones, iPods and iPads) I've been happier.
I was hesitant to get an iPad fearing that it's limited feature set would relegate it to a dust-collector in my technology scrap pile. I couldn't have been more wrong. On a recent weekend in Las Vegas, I didn't even bring my laptop bag. I was able to get remote access to my entire work network, read books and magazines, watch movies, and listen to music. Battery life was fantastic and I never once wished that I brought my laptop bag the entire weekend.
It was damn cool to walk on the plane with only an iPad and a pair of headphones in tow.
I'm not saying Apple's way is the only right way. There may be another company out there that figures their customers out as well as Apple has, but for now, I haven't seen it.
-ted
I needs more Linux supported ones. Seriously, it's cheap and the most diverse, it would give linux the boost introduction it needs AND it would provide the best customization options while still fitting with the model's design specs.
It's the software, stupid.
The differences between Macs and PCs are NOT superficial. Macs run Mac OS out of the box. PCs do not. Mac OS is substantially dissimilar to Windows or Linux, which is why every time I try to use Mac OS I find that I'm totally unproductive due to radically different keyboard layouts, filesystem organization, window controls, and so on. These are not "superficial" differences unless you also consider the differences between a wrench, a CD-ROM drive, a spatula, and terrestrial seasons to be "superficial." After all, each of these is all about "turning."
And I can tell you in two words what makes Apple products highly regarded by their users: USER INTERFACE.
On Slashdot, nobody believes that user interfaces matter. Outside of Slashdot, where real people have real lives and real problems, user interfaces are the KEYS to technological competence. Good user interface = conservation of time thanks to shallow learning curve. Poor user interface = waste of time for inverse reasons. And time is money, ergo, Apple makes many people richer.
You and many other Slashdotters will now proceed to assume that I mean this facetiously or that I'm an Apple fanboi, and this explains precisely why (1) Mac OS has taken the niche that would have belonged to Linux, and (2) Slashdotters never get laid or venerated.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
I'm not much of an Apple fanboi, but my observation is that even after 3 years of iPhone, the only semi-contender is Android. Every other imitator has been a half-assed Symbian piece of crap with the typical 4-color graphics and a processor that can barely edge out the 8086.
Sure, a shit ton of idiotic Taiwanese imitations will flood the market, and they will all have the same fundamental shortcoming: poor quality software and no 3rd party apps. Do you really expect app developers to target all these obscure, unsupported, docs-written-in-mandarin slabs of fail ?
It's quite simple: there is room for two platforms. There's Mac, and there's PC. iPhone vs Android. iPad vs ??? GooglePad ? Realistically that's the kind of clout it would take to launch a true competitor.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
(Disclaimer: I am not an Apple fan, I don't have a Mac or iPhone or iPad or iPod; I have programmed on Macs though and I've seen projects for the iPad and the iPhone)
I know only one company that makes computer products for the average consumer, and that is Apple. It's strange, but there is no other company that is in the same category as Apple. All other companies are in a different segment of the computer market, and they occasionally see what Apple does and want a piece of the pie, but they have no idea how to achieve it. Microsoft is in the operating system/office/development/tools/video game market; Google is in the internet apps market; Linux vendors are mostly in the server market; Sony and Nintendo is in the video game market. None of the markets mentioned above has to do 100% with the market Apple is into. There are overlaps between what the others do and what Apple does, but they are different markets.
Apple caught everyone by surprise when they released the iPhone. Did the consumers want an easy to use phone with a multimedia/internet flavor around it? you bet. But no other company has really understood that, because they were busy hyping themselves and their products. Now Apple caught everyone by surprise for a second time! and the others have still not learned the lesson, i.e. that they have no idea about what the consumer really wants. The reviewed tablets of this topic is testament to that: they are either vaporware or inferior to iPad, and I just don't see any iPad alternatives in the future.
Which companies could offer Apple some competition?
Microsoft could not do it because they are a geek programmers' company, they don't have the consumer product mentality in sufficient amounts; their product line is testament to that.
Nintendo knows how to make game consoles, but I really doubt they can do anything else; even internet browsing on their consoles is always a 2nd rate feature for them.
Google doesn't really have the resources to do it, because consumer level products require different operating systems and user interfaces, something that Google doesn't seem to be able to do. There is a lot of fine open source code out there for desktop systems, but pads and phones require a different approach.
Sony is a great big mystery, because they are into mass-market electronic products for many decades, but they have totally missed the point for the last decade.
Smaller companies have some interesting approaches but they always fail to produce a product which is so polished like Apple's products.
Where does that leave us? there is Apple and then there are all the rest companies. This means that if there is not a good tablet out there from another company in the next year, I'll give in and buy an iPad instead. How long can we wait for an alternative anyway?
i think the ipad [form-factor] idea is mostly right, it only needs to weigh and cost three times less to fit the criteria of a somewhat redundant gadget suitable for "*shrug* dunno, i use it when i just don't feel like reading stuff on my pc or hassling with my laptop".
;)
i hope the coming no-name tablets will bring us there eventually and it'll become just a common gadget always tossed somewhere in your house, like today's newspaper.
(let's hope they won't make the backside so stylishly rounded, so it can actually be controlled it while lying on a table
Both those manufacturers and the larger part of the /. crew don't get it.
The iPad isn't successful because it is the only tablet device. In fact, it already isn't. Competing on CPU speed, graphics, hardware of any kind, is not competing.
Look, you're essentially saying that the BMW M5 is doomed because Crysler is coming out with a new model as is Ford, Honda and Toyota. But the world doesn't work like that. People who bought a BMW would probably not buy a Honda, even if it "beats" the BMW in all the hard values like fuel consumption, type of engine, crispiness of headlights, whatever.
The iPad is a seamless consumer experience, and that's what people like and want in it. You pick it up and you start browsing the web or reading your e-books. There is almost no explanation required, everything just works, and you are limited in what you can do. For people who are not computer geeks, that is actually a good thing, it makes the device easier to understand.
Put windows 7 on a notebook without keyboard isn't even in the same league. It's not even the Honda, it's a bike. Nothing against bikes, but how many people who were about to buy a BMW do you know that didn't, because some new bike just came to market?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
> By early 2011
For months now, we've been hearing about how iPad was going to get its ass kicked in the holiday season of 2010. Look out Apple! Now that's changed to early 2011, not just here but also in HP's recent leak. I'm looking forward to hearing the iPad competitors are coming mid-2011, and then holiday season 2011, and so on. Such a familiar story. iPod touch is 3 years old and no competitor except Zune HD for 1 year and it did not even sell 1 million.
All this silly talk about iOs, about Android and Windows 7... useless in my opinion. I don't know what OS runs my fridge and what programming is behind the knob in my dishwasher. I'll do the computing on a computer, and for a portable dumb terminal I don't want to care about what OS is there. All I want on my portable touchscreen thingy is a calendar and to-do list application, permanent storage on a SD card and Firefox for everything else. Build it like the Siemens ME45 mobile phone and I'm all set.
The resaon i belive 32 extra tablets will not make any differance is that they are too late apple R&D seem to be able to think and get product that is wanted out in the hands of people.
Most other companies are either to slow or to lazy to make good innovative products for the market. Apple have the balls to try make something differant and then tell everyone how great there life is with the new shinny shinny stuff.
HTC. Blackberry, Microsoft, Dell, HP, IBM and Toshiba, and Intel are all massive companies with massive research budgets but they keep pushing out the same old stuff, i mean the laptop nothing has really changed in 20years (ok lighter faster - but to me that just normal progress) no one is saying what can we do that takes the format to the 'true' next level, the 'true' next generation - or lets skip a generation and give us the product of the future now.
Big companies listen - look at yout dev cycle. is what you are planing on giving to us in 4yrs, really a big step forward in tech, or is the same old stuff. if its the same old stuff - go back to the drawing board and start again. if you want a competative adventage then get your cool tech out first and take the market, dont wait 18months till you bring out an iKiller which everyone know will not be an iKiller it will just have missed the boat...
P.S. iKiller, i will have that copywrited - thanks..
Will we able to install any type on linux we want on these devices? I don't care for Apple control, or the linux bastardisation that is Android. I want to be able to use Arch, Slackware or Gentoo etc. Or even MeeGo at a push.
So really the question is why are these things being sold as closed devices, like mobile phones, rather than more general computing devices like netbooks/laptops?
Are there any tablets/pads/slates for the likes of me?
At least in Safari. All these stupid dialog boxes pop up. Like "Are you sure do you want to turn on private browsing?" "You have typed in text, are you sure you want to go back/forward?" The latter doesn't evenshow up consistently. Just now I pressed back and the box didn't pop up.
I went to OS X to escape that stupid Windows trait. "Are you sure?" OMFG why don't I just use the POS that's called Windows. IF the action isn't going to harm anything, hard to undo, or slow the computer down, etc., then yes fucking do it.
The computer illiterate hate computers because of this stupid shit.
No, creative had the first MP3 to use. It was large because hard drives were large. But it was still a notebook HDD and therefore about the same size as a tape walkman when they came out. Nobody seemed to care at the time about not being able to use it.
And iRiver had HDD devices with 1.8" drives with digital optical in and digital optical out, Mass Storage availability, Ogg Vorbis and a handy little remote at about the same time as the iPod was using 1.8" drives. The iRiver flash players were smaller but used standard AA batteries and also had Ogg Vorbis. Being AA batteries, the 40 hour play time was really indefinite.
I'm not an Apple fan, so this isn't one of those responses. However, I do understand that the iPad is a very niche product that has appealed to a segment of the population that is willing to buy yet another Apple product. That same demographic isn't really waiting with baited breath for another brand of tablet. They either bought the Apple one, or they're not going to buy one. Right now, a tablet really doesn't do anything that anyone else needs or desires. If you didn't buy an iPad, chances are pretty good that you're not going to buy someone else's tablet computer because you probably already have your needs met with a laptop. Sure, a few people will buy them as vanity products, but unless they make them so that they do something so awesome, there's really no need. An ereader can be found in anyone of the ones already available, and tablets are already out with the iPad. I almost bought one until I realized I didn't really need one and then bought a new laptop instead.
Sarbonn's blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/blog
Any table that doesn't drop its wifi connection every 5 minutes is bound to do better than the iPad.
I don't worry about audio or video on Linux. Please, the 80's called and they want their anti-Linux screed back.
PS you DO know that Apple are using the Linux-system CUPS for printing, didn't you? If their stuff "just works" why did they dump it?
iPad is to big, iPod Touch is to small. I want my device to be no bigger than paper back novel ( 4X6 or 5X7) with the largest most impressive screen possible. Everything else is would be just icing on the icake.
I've been wanting to update my N800 with newer hardware for a while now, and if I were to go by that list, there's really only one option: the Archos 5. The Augen may also take second, but it's not 5 inches.
That, to me, is sad.
I already am seeing more cellphones with headphones used on CTA in Chicago.
When I close the lid on my MacBook, it goes to sleep right away. When I open the lid, it wakes up right away. It works exactly as well 6 months later. The only time I reboot my laptop is when a software update requires it. This is something that my Thinkpad, Dell, and HP laptops have all had problems with in the past. To the end user, it's a hardware function...close or open the lid.
And the multitouch trackpad on my laptop is so good that I ended up buying a used Fingerworks trackpad so I could get similar functionality on my Dell.
The OS X UI has all sorts of wonky inconsistencies. Which is why (speaking of the iPad), Apple designed an entirely new UI for their touch products. To get rid of some of that crap.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Same way the iPod prices dropped after several models and ebook readers fell. Competitors might accelerate a price trend.
Rumors are that it will be based on the iOS operating system. This implies it will have access to the App Store.
The new iPhone has a display resolution of 960 x 640 pixels. New games are being written for that resolution, and old games being updated for it.
Turn it sideways...640p is not that far from 720p. Since it's a dedicated TV device, Apple could handle the up-res from 640 to 720 in hardware. You'd have a $99 device not much bigger than an iPhone that could store and play hundreds of video games...games that already exist. The device would launch with a huge game library from day one.
You could use your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad as the controller (or buy a dedicated controller if you don't have any of those). The coup de grace would be wireless or cloud syncing so that you could pause a game on the TV and continue it on your mobile device later (and vice versa).
If Apple can get this thing out the door fast enough, it could be the big video game system for the holidays.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Much like the iPhone, the iPad is a leader in design, UI, and usability. The iPhone led out of the gate because no one was doing anything remotely liked it and it stood out. Some negative folks said it wouldn't sell, sat on their laurels, and then when it did they COPIED it (Android, BB, etc.). Same thing with iPad. No one had the balls, or innovative DNA to do it themselves, Apple came out, it's a big seller, and now the Android and BB copies are starting to roll out.
Nothing wrong with copying success, but it would be nice if they had an idea on their own lately instead of photocopying Apple.
Its hard to see anyone putting a serious dent in the I-pad. Everyone comes up with a few items in their device that they can market against Apple's "whatever" device but they just can't bring the same user experience as a whole. Heap on top of that Apples cult like brand loyalty and I'm just not convinced that they have much to worry about.