Hands On With Apple IPad 2

adeelarshad82 writes "Yesterday's announcement of the second-generation iPad showed exactly why there was so much excitment around the device. As the video hands on shows, iPad 2 makes up for all the things lacking in the original iPad. The 1GHz dual-core A5 chip does justice to apps like Photo Booth and over all user experience. Moreover, while the screen carries the same resolution, Apple was able to pack it in a noticably thinner iPad 2. Infact its dimensions, 13.4 mm to 8.8mm thick, make it 33% thinner than iPhone 4. Also while the cameras aren't HD, the inclusion itself provides an opportuntiy for Facetime, which is actually more interactive than what we've seen so far on other Apple devices."

Comments

Not enough

[ewe2]

Personally, I'm waiting for iPad 3.5, when it will really be finished!

RE: Not enough

[recoiledsnake]

iPad 3.5 will probably come with Palladium 3.5, where even sites like Youtube will be charged for streaming to iDevice users.

Already, Netflix, Kindle, etc. are on the chopping block on the App Store unless they pay up 30% of the user's fees to Apple. Want to read your Kindle books or Netflix movies on the iPad? Be forced to pay up to cover Apple's tax. The best thing is that according to Apple's rules, the price has to be same for other devices too, so even if you don't use the iDevices, expect your prices to go up because of Apple's policies.

Readability was kicked off the App Store for failing to pay up http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/02/21/apples_rejection_of_readability_ios_app_stirs_subscription_controversy.html

Before you mod me overrated/flamebait/troll etc. maybe reply to tell me why you're doing so?

Re:Not enough

[Shikaku]

I think iPad 3.11 for workgroups will be good enough for me.

Re: Not enough

[dwightk]

Readability was kicked off the App Store for failing to pay up

heh, Readability (the company that charges 30% of revenue to publishers of content) was quoted about Apple's (the company that charges 30% of revenue to publishers of content) policy: it "smacks of greed"

Re: Not enough

[N1AK]

Readability doesn't charge publishers. How ignorant or desperate are you? They offer users the ability to change the layout of content they already have access to. Additionally, the biggest issue people have with what Apple are doing isn't the charge, it is the fact that it is mandatory.

I've been really impressed by the new iPad. I'd snap one up in a second if I didn't dislike Apple's controlling nature and the fanboyism so prevalent among its customers.

Re: Not enough

[oh_my_080980980]

Yeah it's not Like Microsoft or Google doesn't have fanboys. *rolls eyes*

Re: Not enough

[kevinNCSU]

he best thing is that according to Apple's rules, the price has to be same for other devices too, so even if you don't use the iDevices, expect your prices to go up because of Apple's policies.

I'm not a fan of Apple but I think that's a misinterpretation. The rule is that the Apple device user has to be charged the same price if they buy the service outside the app store. So really all companies would have to do would be to add an extra fee on their site to enable streaming to i-devices, right?

Re: Not enough

[beelsebob]

Readability doesn't charge publishers. How ignorant or desperate are you?

Want a bet?

Re: Not enough

[iluvcapra]

They've been on the chopping block for several weeks now and nothing has happened. For example, the latest version of the Kindle app was published on the App Store on the 14th and has been downloadable to this day. Apple's made no statements about how they're going to apply these rules to Netfilx and Kindle, and all we can do is extrapolate.

All we have is one data point from a frustrated vanity publisher who's upset, really, because it's not him getting that 30% instead of Apple. He wants to pretend he's the "content provider" when the independent writer's he's fleecing are doing all the writing and Apple is doing all legwork with the distribution, making the mobile devices and making electronic reading an actual going proposition. All he is is a middleman trying to get his cut for doing nothing more than running a website and doing "classy" branding.

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll take you up on that bet since it seems your skills at reading comprehension fall short.

They don't charge publishers, they pay publishers. They offer a free and paid membership for readers, a portion of the paid membership going to the publishers of the articles you read.

Did you actually read the link you posted?

Re: Not enough

[dwightk]

I will admit that I could be ignorant. I'm not deperate.

Readability takes 30% of the money they make and passes 70% on to publishers. That's what their website says: "70% of all Readability membership fees go directly to writers and publishers." https://www.readability.com/publishers. Did they change that and not change their site?

Re: Not enough

[iluvcapra]

Readability doesn't charge publishers. How ignorant or desperate are you?

No, but they collect membership fees and revert 70% of these to the writers. 30% agency fees, for doing exactly squat besides rebranding and reformatting the content, would be considered exorbitant and unconscionable in just about any other business.

I work with a lot of independent filmmakers and the "Readability" model has been with them for the last 10 years or so -- small fly-by-night "distributors" who take a huge cut of revenue and fees in exchange for making your movie available on their shitty burn-on-demand DVD website and offering it, with zero promotion and for bargain-basement prices on iTunes and Movielink and iFilm and all the other crap distribution channels that have come and gone the last decade. They're slimeballs and all they care about is putting themselves in-between artists and eyeballs, and doing as little as possible for their fees.

Re: Not enough

[TrancePhreak]

The rules don't get enforced until June. So really we're still a ways from seeing what will really happen.

Re: Not enough

[iluvcapra]

Then what's this all about then, if Readability got rejected a week and a half ago under the same rule?

Re: Not enough

[dwightk]

In the same way Apple doesn't charge, they pay.

I fail to see the difference, perhaps I'm ignorant.

Re:Not enough

[Trev311]

I'm waiting for iPad for Workgroups 3.11. You know the ENTERPRISE edition.

Re: Not enough

[Americano]

Already, Netflix, Kindle, etc. are on the chopping block on the App Store unless they pay up 30% of the user's fees to Apple.

While I agree that the In-App Subscription guidelines overreach on Apple's part, I think it's important to point out that the "30% for Apple" ONLY applies in cases where a new subscriber signs up for the services using the in-app subscription functionality. Existing subscribers, and subscribers who sign up using say, a non-iOS device, or the service's website, are exempted from this requirement.

It may affect prices, or services may try to keep their revenue streams intact by adding new subscribers to offset the lower revenue-per-subscriber. Apple's betting that their services and their customers will help developers do the latter. Aggregator / Middleman services like Readability will probably have to rethink their business model, unless Apple relents, and either change the proportion they pass on to publishers, or move away from subscription billing. Instapaper manages without subscription fees, so there's certainly some way to make the economics work.

Re: Not enough

[Reapman]

My understanding is Apple wants a 30% cut. However they don't want providers to charge extra on Apple devices - so basically publishers have two choices:

1) Keep the price the same, and if the provider was making 30% or less already per sale, potentially lose money per sale.
2) Raise the price for all and have non iOS users essentially pay a 30% tax for Apple.
3) Don't release on iOS and lose that customer base.

This is MY understanding. If I'm wrong please let me know.

Re: Not enough

[recoiledsnake]

You think iUsers will take it kindly if their Kindle books and Netflix movies are just yanked off one fine day? Guess Apple's just extorting on the small fish for now.

Re: Not enough

[Angostura]

Given what you say, is there anything stopping companies like Readability simply providing an iApp that lets people read, but not subscribe, thus circumventing the Apple tax?

Re: Not enough

[badran]

Another company coming in and willing to pay the Apple Tax and have a simpler interface.

Re: Not enough

[Americano]

I believe that the rules are structured to prevent that. Something along the lines of, "if a subscription offer is made outside the app, the same or better offer is made inside the app as well, using the in-app subscription functionality that Apple has built." I can't say this is certainly disallowed, but it seems like a fairly obvious loophole that runs counter to the strategy they seem to be pursuing.

Re: Not enough

[cayenne8]

So, maybe this doesn't exactly apply to Netflix?

I mean...I pay them to RENT physical media...dvd's and blurays. The streaming stuff is an incidental free add on service to me.

Ok, I know they have recently added a streaming option only...but that is just the lowest level offered by Netflix. Their main business still is renting media...mailing it to you, you mail it back...etc.

I'd think that argument would suffice to take them out of the Apple Tax setup?

Just a thought.

Re: Not enough

[bonch]

Dirty Percent by Gruber.

Re:Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

I think iPad 3.11 for workgroups will be good enough for me.

I was perfectly happy with iDOS

Re: Not enough

[kevinNCSU]

If that is indeed the case that would seem completely unreasonable to me. But making it so Apple users couldn't just go to the website to sign up and get a 30% discount, while still somewhat of a dick move to their customer, seems less unreasonable towards the publishers then forcing the publishers to raise by 30% across the board.

Re: Not enough

[Concerned Onlooker]

" and the fanboyism so prevalent among its customers"

Oh, please. Knee jek regurgitations of false memes are getting old. File that one in the same drawer as BSOD.

Re:Not enough

[bryan1945]

Nah, I'm waiting for iPad New Technology (NT).

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Readability got rejected for a different provision. It just happened to be at the same time as the other rules got announced.

Re:Not enough

[pokyo]

Really funny. Ah the memories.

Re:Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Greetings from 2013! Yes, we survived the mayan pseudo-doomsday. And here's a partial Slashdot summary for an early hands-on look at the iPad 3

iPad 3 makes up for all the things lacking in the iPad 2

Yeah...the visitors from 2017 told me that Slashdot (while still alive, yay) is still just as bipolar-biased as ever.

Re: Not enough

[recoiledsnake]

>No, but they collect membership fees and revert 70% of these to the writers. 30% agency fees, for doing exactly squat besides rebranding and reformatting the content, would be considered exorbitant and unconscionable in just about any other business.

Really? Then why don't you make a free clone and just give it away? Huh? Why not?

They're providing a needed service and enabling micropayments from people who don't want to see ads but don't want content producers to die due to lack of revenue.

It is Apple that doesn't do anything for subscriptions except payment processing for which 30% is just BS. Unlike the App store downloads,the content is hosted by the developer/publisher and sent through AT&T/Verizon.

Re: Not enough

[myrdos2]

Heh, they fell right into your little trap. If they reply to you, they can't mod you anymore.

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

The streaming stuff is an incidental free add on service to me.

I mainly use Netflix for streaming. I barely use the physical DVDs at all any more.

Their main business still is renting media...mailing it to you, you mail it back...etc.

Not so much any more. In fact, Netflix sees streaming as their primary business model and will be the focus of their strategy going forward, according to a slideshow on the company's own website. The same slide show indicates that Netflix expects the physical DVD-shipping model to peak sometime next year and then decline.

Re: Not enough

[dwightk]

Apple doesn't do anything for subscriptions except payment processing

And shielding the subscriber from giving up their personal information to the publisher.

Re: Not enough

[VynlSol]

They're providing a needed service

The fire department provides a needed service.

and enabling micropayments from people who don't want to see ads but don't want content producers to die due to lack of revenue.

How...magnanimous.

It is Apple that doesn't do anything for subscriptions except payment processing for which 30% is just BS.

That string tied around your finger is only there to remind you to breath, it's not a "fee shcedule" scale by which you can measure business entities against the shit from bulls. Apple is greedy, Readability is greedy...business is fueled by greed. /smack

Re: Not enough

[iluvcapra]

They're providing a needed service and enabling micropayments from people who don't want to see ads but don't want content producers to die due to lack of revenue.

70% of the micropayments, that is. In order to put your content on a device which already allows you to sell your content for the same split, let alone other storefronts and platforms which offer different more-or-less favorable terms -- you can sell on the Kindle store, for example, which gives you a better share and more audience but doesn't let you set the price. And that for just a cut of a flat subscription fee and not per-article or author. These people are just chiselers who are selling a bill of goods to writers who don't know all of the options available to them.

It is Apple that doesn't do anything for subscriptions except payment processing for which 30% is just BS.

If they aren't "doing anything" then why don't you do it? Oh yeah, that's right, you didn't invent, market and distribute a mobile device platform and ecosystem, thus creating the market of customers for electronic written works.

Re: Not enough

[Golddess]

In the same way Apple doesn't charge, they pay.

Erm, who exactly is Apple paying?

Readability charges users a fee. Readability pays writers and publishers 70% of that fee.

Apple says that if there is a fee for using your app, you must use the "In App Purchase API" in order to charge your users. This API takes 30% of whatever you are charging your users, and gives it to Apple. I'm not seeing where money is leaving Apple, just where it is going into Apple.

Re: Not enough

[recoiledsnake]

I guess his/her point is that Apple will be collecting 100% of the money from iSubscribers and then PAYing the Dev(Readability in this case) 70%.

Re: Not enough

[recoiledsnake]

Readability uses Amazon Payments. I am not sure how much personal info is transmitted to Readability from Amazon. But is that worth squeezing 30% from the (dev+subscriber) ?

Re: Not enough

[cayenne8]

Not so much any more. In fact, Netflix sees streaming as their primary business model and will be the focus of their strategy going forward, according to a slideshow on the company's own website. The same slide show indicates that Netflix expects the physical DVD-shipping model to peak sometime next year and then decline.

That sucks...I mean...that would put an end to people making "backup" copies of the media from NF before sending them back...you know, as a personal service in case NF breaks their copy?

:)

I dunno...I stream some things that aren't available in BR, but I don't figure to spend money on a HD tv, only to view things in low quality?

Re:Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that the one with 640k of RAM, which is good enough.

Re: Not enough

[recoiledsnake]

The difference is that Apple is already making billions by selling hardware and software to iBuyers many of who are motivated to buy iDevices because of Apps(Jobs makes it a big point in his presentations) and services such as Netflix/Kindle. Those services already add value to subscribers. If Netflix/Kindle/etc. were pulled tomorrow, won't it reduce the attractiveness of the iDevice? This similar to Net Neutrality, where Comcast etc. were trying to set up virtual toll booths while providing nothing of value except a dumb pipe for which they were already charging subscribers and upstream hosting providers like Akamai.

How can this be equivalent to Readability's business model?

Re: Not enough

[recoiledsnake]

>Oh yeah, that's right, you didn't invent, market and distribute a mobile device platform and ecosystem, thus creating the market of customers for electronic written works.

That doesn't mean they can demand the first-born child of the publishers. This is similar to the Net Neutrality debate. Do you want Youtube, Facebook etc. to be forced to pay your ISP for allowing access to a paying subscriber like you?

Re: Not enough

[BasilBrush]

Readability charges users a fee. Readability pays writers and publishers 70% of that fee.

In the same way that Apple charges users a fee. Apple pays writers and publishers 70% of that fee.

Again, like the other poster said, where's the difference? Are you confused?

Re: Not enough

[recoiledsnake]

Ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :)

Re: Not enough

[TrancePhreak]

Sorry, I should clarify. The rules for apps currently in the store don't get enforced until June. Sony's reader was also rejected already.

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't NetFlix stream in HD if you support it? I guess that probably takes a lot of bandwidth and is less reliably high-quality than putting the disc in your BD player.

Re: Not enough

[indiechild]

Well said. Logic is not a strong point when it comes to haters.

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

>No, but they collect membership fees and revert 70% of these to the writers. 30% agency fees, for doing exactly squat besides rebranding and reformatting the content, would be considered exorbitant and unconscionable in just about any other business.

Really? Then why don't you make a free clone and just give it away? Huh? Why not?

http://hermgreider.posterous.com/use-readability-on-iphone-to-convert-web-page-0

"Using Instapaper's method of creating a Javascript bookmarklet, you can use Readability in Safari on the iPhone. There are two choices. You can use iTunes bookmark sync or create a bookmarklet on the iPhone directly. "

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

you can sell on the Kindle store, for example, which gives you a better share and more audience but doesn't let you set the price.

Only in countries where 30%+ for Amazon is less than 30% for Apple. And that's down from 70% for Amazon just a few months ago - no wait, that drop is only for "periodicals", bloggers still only get 30% of what Amazon thinks your blog is worth.

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

You think iUsers will take it kindly if their Kindle books and Netflix movies are just yanked off one fine day? Guess Apple's just extorting on the small fish for now.

Why would Apple do this? Especially since they don't can? Are you paid by those extorters from Amazon by chance?

Re: Not enough

[iluvcapra]

Do you want Youtube, Facebook etc. to be forced to pay your ISP for allowing access to a paying subscriber like you?

The price they pay should reasonably map to the costs of carriage. The idea that an ISP must provide connectivity of arbitrary quality over arbitrary distance and across any arbitrary network for a flat fee or per gigabyte is ludicrous YouTube and Facebook get rich by taking people's content and renting it back to them without regard for distance or service; they'd stop at nothing to stick the ISPs with the bill for making the entire process seamless over the distances and networks involved.

Re: Not enough

[wrencherd]

Before you mod me overrated/flamebait/troll etc. maybe reply to tell me why you're doing so?

Empty boast?

Or maybe just need to read the mod rules again?

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

What if anything I want can be found on various bittorrent sites and all the iPad is doing is providing a convenient viewing mechanism?

Re: Not enough

[Meski]

iPad 3.5 will probably come with Palladium 3.5, where even sites like Youtube will be charged for streaming to iDevice users.

It'll be a catalyst for this happening.

Re: Not enough

[babyrat]

because there are many uses for the iPad other than Kindle, youtube netflix etc?

Re: Not enough

[stiller]

The best thing is that according to Apple's rules, the price has to be same for other devices too, so even if you don't use the iDevices, expect your prices to go up because of Apple's policies.

Do you really expect these companies to increase their pricing across all devices and channels to all their customers in order to be available on 15 million iPads?
I fully expect there to be an alternative rate for large content providers such as Netflix and Kindle in the near future, since it would benefit both parties.

The readability case actually seems pretty reasonable, since they actually appear to be a publishing app and even charge you for republishing other people's (free) content.

Re: Not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

The advantage of the Apple tax is that your personal information is not sent out to anyone who wants to know. You're buying a subscription again, not selling your private info for a cheap subscription.

The loser is the middle man, the winner is the user.

But like Readability says: they can still use the web to reach iOS-users.

Re: Not enough

[Patch86]

Presumably the company who actually programmed and maintained the service needs a cut of the profits to make it worth their while. More so, I'd say, than the company that just alllows your programme to be installed on their computer.

But the point is, if the service wants 30%, and Apple wants 30%, you quickly reach a point where the service isn't profitable. That's certainly true of the wafer thin margins in daily news publishing.

Re: Not enough

[Hognoxious]

No, but they collect membership fees and revert 70% of these to the writers. 30% agency fees, for doing exactly squat

Then set up your own and charge 25%. Don't forget to budget for servers, customer support staff, a sysadmin or two and someone to tend the unicorns.

P.S. Do they also do the needful?

Re: Not enough

[juasko]

I would put overrated, but preferred telling you why.

Youtube is accessible trough a browser, so you free to use it, no fees.

Apple just asked that the app makers would have in app purchases for content they have other distribution models for to the same app. True in app sails would benefit 30% to apple. But your not forced as a customer to use that channel if you don't want give apple a cut of it. Nor you could still get content from other source. Which means content makers could have different pricing from different locations. It's not rocket science.

So to be informative, be it.

Re: Not enough

[juasko]

Well when you use that API consumers pay Apple, Apple pays 70% of that to who ever it goes to.

Re: Not enough

[juasko]

I know but didn't mod.

Re: Not enough

[Golddess]

Ah, that makes sense. Not being an iDevice developer, I'm not up on the intricacies of the operations, so all I had was what was provided in the link. Thanks for being so nice about the reply.

Re: Not enough

[Golddess]

Ah, that makes sense. Not being an iDevice developer, I'm not up on the intricacies of the operations, so all I had was what was provided in the link. Thanks to you too for being so nice about the reply.

Re: Not enough

[Golddess]

Not confused, just not an iDevice developer, so not exactly up on the intricacies of the operations. All I had was what was provided in the link.

Nice selective quoting by the way. You completely omitted the part where I illustrated how money is flowing into Apple (aka, charging) but not out of them (aka, paying). Turns out I was wrong about the process as 2 others nicely informed me, but still, thanks for making it sound like I hadn't even considered Apple's side.

Re: Not enough

[Golddess]

Not a hater, just not an iDevice developer, so not exactly up on the intricacies of the operations. All I had was what was provided in the link.

But thanks for assuming I hadn't even considered Apple's side. I see BasilBrush's selective quoting of my post worked.

Re: Not enough

[juasko]

well neither am i a developer, but an apple user I do follow their keynotes.

WHAT?

[stanlyb]

What??? iPad is lacking FEATURES!!!! Common, are you some troll :P

Dup

[Animats]

Product was covered yesterday. This is an article about a review.

Re:Dup

[maxume]

There's a link to yesterday's article right there in the summary, so there may have been some awareness and intention behind this posting.

Re:Dup

[ifrag]

What does that have to do with anything? THIS IS SLASHDOT!

Re:Dup

[Anonymous Coward]

Right and the summary (as usual) is wrong. It is not 33% thinner than the iPhone 4. It is 33% thinner than the iPad 1. That's what Steve said and that's what the Apple site says. But just because the screen shots showed that it was a little thinner than the iPhone (iPhone 4 being 9.3 mm and iPad 2 being 8.8 mm) at the same time as Steve was saying that the iPad 2 is 33% thinner - a couple of people decided that it was 33% thinner than the iPhone. Bzzzt. Wrong. They should pay attention next time.

makes up for all the things lacking in original...

[Locke2005]

Well, except for Flash support and user expandable memory...

Does the Bluetooth support an external mouse and keyboard?

Two corrections...

[moosehooey]

1. It is 33% thinner than the first iPad. It is also thinner than the iPhone 4, but only slightly.

2. The rear camera is, in fact, HD.

Re:Two corrections...

[killmenow]

...It is also thinner than the iPhone 4...

Yeah, but does it have an app that will build you an island and fucking transform it into a jet and fly you there?

Re:Two corrections...

[jbarr]

"2. The rear camera is, in fact, HD."

True, but don't let the "HD" label fool you. Yes, it is 720p resolution for video, and comparable video on the iPod Touch 4G is quite respectable and decent. But resolution will also be 720p for stills as well--similar to the camera specs of the iPod Touch 4G--something like .7 mega pixel. (Yes, that's "point seven".) The resolution will be a far cry from the iPhone's 5 mega-pixel resolution.

As a long-time iPod Touch owner, and current iPod Touch 4G owner, I can say that ANY camera on an iPod Touch has proven to be useful, and I speculate the same will be for iPad users.

Re:Two corrections...

[jdastrup]

Am I the only one who gets annoyed when someone claims a camera or a display is HD? HD means nothing. There is resolution. It can be higher or lower relative to another resolution. When does a particular relative resolution become HD? The marketers seem to have that one nailed down. And that's not even considering overall picture quality, bit depth, bitrate, lens quality, aperture, light sensitivity, etc. Plenty of "HD" cameras on phones take crappy pictures.

Re:Two corrections...

[Anonymous Coward]

...It is also thinner than the iPhone 4...

Yeah, but does it have an app that will build you an island and fucking transform it into a jet and fly you there?

Don't be silly!

You can go and get an app that shows how to build one out of coconut husks, banana peals, and bamboo using the coconut and palm oil for fuel.

But, for the heterosexual iPad user, there's an app on how to get a 1960's era Mary Anne to be with you on that island with no fucking jet so she can't leave and the app that shows you how to make be a sexual pleasing mute.

Re:Two corrections...

[itsdapead]

True, but don't let the "HD" label fool you. Yes, it is 720p resolution for video, and comparable video on the iPod Touch 4G is quite respectable and decent. But resolution will also be 720p for stills as well

Which is fine for video calling, barcodes and getting an image when you don't have anything else. Plus, lower resolution often translates to better low light performance and lower noise. For taking proper photos, use a proper camera with a lens bigger than a baby's thumbnail. Even a phone is better ergonomically than a 10" fondleslab.

Re:Two corrections...

[mikestew]

HD means nothing.

No, "HD" has meaning. The wikipedia article even defines it relative to other resolutions. Did you just not bother to look and see if there's a spec for "HD"?

Re:Two corrections...

[jdastrup]

Read the very first line of the article you linked. "...any video system of higher resolution that standard-definition.." higher = Relative. Then it goes on to list the "common" resolutions regarded as high definition. Still, no standard, just commonly accepted resolutions. According to that definition I can send you a picture; grainy, blurry, dull, complete crap, but if it's 1280x720 pixels, then it is HD. Apple might as well take the CMOS out of my 12-year old first digital camera that's 1 Megapixel - It's HD!!

Re:Two corrections...

[gstoddart]

Even a phone is better ergonomically than a 10" fondleslab.

Fondleslab? Oh, god, that's brilliant. It almost sounds like faux-German. Bravo, sir.

However, I own a 1st gen iPad, and I also own a good quality DSLR plus a small digital point-and-shoot -- for me, I can't imagine why anybody would *want* a camera in that device, but someone must because it's one of the things I see people bitching about the most. Then again, my cell phone is used only for, well, phone calls ... and even then, not very often.

The device may not be what you want, but for the stuff I use it for, I actually find it to fit my needs quite well.

I'm interested in seeing the gen-2, but except for the dual processors there's very little in there I find overly compelling. And, even the dual processor isn't something which I particularly care about.

Re:Two corrections...

[Overzeetop]

You probably are. If you'd been around before HD, you would probably remember that HD is at least one million pixels - well, at least "nominally" one million. You can argue about which side of 1M matters, but 720p (720x1280=920k) is HD, - you can thank the TV guys who advertised that a 12" TV screen was really 13" because the tub was that size, you just couldn't see it since there was a bezel in the way.

If you want to know my feeling, interlaced video had no business existing past about 1975, so I've always hated 1080i, and felt is was actually inferior to 720p.

Re:Two corrections...

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Am I the only one who gets annoyed when someone claims a camera or a display is HD?

Yes. The rest of your kind died out at the turn of the century.

Re:Two corrections...

[Em Adespoton]

Back in the day I had some 3.5" floppy disks that were HD. That was 1.44 MegaBYTES! You'd think that when they set the new standard they'd at least use the same data size instead of one that's half the capacity (that was just called "double sided" or MD back then).

Interesting point of reflection though... you can fit two (TWO) HD stills on an HD 3.5" floppy disk! Assuming 30fps, that's... 1/15th of a second of video!

Re:Two corrections...

[iluvcapra]

"Higher" is relative, but "standard definition" is absolute. SD is 480i/60.

Re:Two corrections...

[mikestew]

Sorry, I can't help the fact that the commonly accepted definitions for "HD" don't fit what you think it ought to be. My Panny plasma does 720 lines of resolution: HD. iPad camera does 720 lines, too: HD. HD is also commonly used to describe video systems, whereas your complaint seems to be based on still photography. I suppose the term could be (and probably is) used in relation to still cameras, but that is not how Apple is marketing it.

Re:Two corrections...

[shutdown -p now]

Which is fine for video calling

For video calling, you won't be using the "720p" camera on the back. You'll be using the one on the front, and that one is VGA (ugh!).

Re:Two corrections...

[Altus]

I could see augmented reality being fairly valuable and I kind of like the idea of taking quick videos and being able to edit them right on the iPad (I would like that on the iPhone), never mind the front facing camera allowing for Facetime.

Re:Two corrections...

[samkass]

", I can't imagine why anybody would *want* a camera in that device, but someone must because it's one of the things I see people bitching about the most."

The front-facing camera has obvious utility for video chatting. The back-facing one, in my mind, is for vertical-market purposes. If you've got iPads in a warehouse tracking inventory it would be nice to scan a barcode... Or hospital records, etc.

Re:Two corrections...

[uniquename72]

I think GP is complaining that people think HD means good (and it's certainly presented that way by the marketing for various devices), when in fact HD can be very, very shitty.

Re:Two corrections...

[Vectormatic]

fondleslab

Just posting here to agree with gstoddart and congratulating you on this awesome word

If i had modpoints, you would have gotten +1 whatever you want, funny, insightfull, interesting, informative, i cant decide which would be best!

Re:Two corrections...

[LiENUS]

I see a lot of people who've never used facetime. It's actually pretty nice especially if you have small children. You can flip it so its using the rear camera instead of the front camera so in the middle of talking to someone suddenly they're looking at the baby and you can still see them. Sure you could turn the device around instead but try it its actually pretty danged convenient.

Re:Two corrections...

[jbarr]

I'm there with you. The whole point is that the "HD" aspect is being used to market the video capabilities, while diverting attention away from the fact that the camera does NOT have the resolution that most users will expect when taking still pictures. It will be great to have any camera built-in at all (two, in fact) but many will be disappointed by the still image quality.

Re:Two corrections...

[darrylo]

Even a phone is better ergonomically than a 10" fondleslab.

Fondleslab? Oh, god, that's brilliant. It almost sounds like faux-German. Bravo, sir.

Bravo^2. We have a new meme. :-)

Re:Two corrections...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ummm... I hate HD for the one fact that it is nearly impossible at the moment to find TFTs with resolutions *higher* than "full HD". Come on! My 2004 Acer laptop had 1400x1050 on 15". Where are those now except on built-to-order-overpriced-Macbook-Whatever-Thingys?

Re:Two corrections...

[Anonymous Coward]

That HD on disks were for "High Density". HD in this concept is "High Definition".

Re:Two corrections...

[jedidiah]

"HD" is meaningless for video because it doesn't completely describe the video.

It doesn't provide enough information to let you know that some video can be played back on the device, even if it's already in Quicktime format and playable by a factory fresh Mac.

Re:Two corrections...

[bill_mcgonigle]

It is 33% thinner

So is Steve Jobs.

Re:Two corrections...

[FangVT]

I kind of like the idea of taking quick videos and being able to edit them right on the iPad (I would like that on the iPhone).

Then get an iPhone 4, go to the app store and buy iMovie, for 5 bucks.

Re:Two corrections...

[itsdapead]

If i had modpoints, you would have gotten +1 whatever you want, funny, insightfull, interesting, informative, i cant decide which would be best!]]

-1 plagarized, I'm afraid - see belated acknowledgment above. Can I mod myself down?

(The word is awesome, but not my own invention).

Re:Two corrections...

[Omestes]

However, I own a 1st gen iPad, and I also own a good quality DSLR plus a small digital point-and-shoot -- for me, I can't imagine why anybody would *want* a camera in that device, but someone must because it's one of the things I see people bitching about the most. Then again, my cell phone is used only for, well, phone calls ... and even then, not very often.

Everything needs a damn camera. I'm pretty sure I have over 12 cameras, or devices that can be used as such, sitting around the house right now. I really don't understand it. You aren't a "high tech consumer good" unless you have a semi-crappy camera glued on. I don't see the point, how many people actually use that as a buying point... Man, I want to spend a large sum of money on a tablet computer, but I won't unless it has a crappy camera attached (that takes pictures as good as my ancient cheap point-and-shoot).

From now on I won't buy anything unless it has a camera. I was going to go get a new kitten, but it didn't have a 3.4 megapixel camera taped to its head, so I didn't.

Re:Two corrections...

[shilly]

Jeezus, and to think this used to be a tech forum. Fondleslab is what the Register has been calling the iPad forever. The OP was making an obvious reference.

Re:Two corrections...

[darrylo]

Hehe, the Register is one place that I intentionally avoid.

And not to mention...

[Anonymous Coward]

...it inspires impartial and unbiased Slashdot articles!

Re:And not to mention...

[Nikker]

We would tolerate nothing less!

Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[chispito]

What about an SD card slot or USB port?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

these are available through the main apple i/o connector with the camera connection kit. it includes adapter for standard usb 2.0 and adapter for SD card. USB comes with complete support for larger variety of of photo and video camera's including iPhone. It is also works with a variety of keyboards and headphones.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

so like all apple things, for $20-40 extra you can do what most normal tablets would be expected to do...

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[killmenow]

You beat me to it. Those two things right there contribute to making the iPad a no go in our corporate environment even though some of our senior management loves the shiny things. USB Host port plz. And not via a fscking apple port adapter. Put a native USB port and native SD slot (with HC and preferably XC support) and a native HDMI out on the sucker. Then maybe we'll get the SDK, port some bespoke apps and start equipping our sales reps with these things.

Until then, hey, they're cool for checking the weather forecast from my couch.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[alen]

so where are these tablets with the same or better specs than the iPad but cheaper price?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Drakino]

No different then the Xoom. For only $55, and a call to cancel service you didn't need, you can have WiFi on your new Honeycomb tablet. ($20 mandatory one month 3g service to enable WiFi + $35 activation fee for said 3G service).

I appreciate Apple more for not charging for WiFi, vs Google and Motorola allowing Verizon to charge for WiFi.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[kevinmenzel]

It's not like device manufacturers didn't literally have YEARS to get their drivers in order for Vista. YEARS.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Overzeetop]

WTF are you letting your people put removable storage into your devices? I thought that was phased out a decade ago to keep virii from jumping on the corporate network. And what are you going to use it for - it all comes with wireless N, email and a web browser that can be pointed to your internal server. You're not going to get any faster transfer with a marketing USB dongle (that is usually dog slow) or a class 6 (or even class 10) SD card. I suppose I can buy the HDMI thing, but you're going to have to carry a dongle for that VGA connection anyway, and presuming you even allow Macs on your network they already have to carry an adapter to go from DP to, well, anything useful.

Now, if you want to complain about having to install iTunes on your corporate machines - THAT is, imho, a real issue.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

But the Xoom DOES do SD cards and USB out of the box, so...

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[fermion]

To many people having hundred ports, 30 access ports, and a 20" screen is what makes a computer. For those people Apple is not the choice. I don't often need all these ports that everyone else does. I usually only hook up my computer to zero or one monitors, and if I do use a monitor I usually leave the dongle attached to the monitor. I don't need more than two USB ports, and the only thing I miss on the some macs is the FireWire port so that I can connect high speed devices.

The real problem with the iPad is the lack of a file system that can be used to transfer documents between computers and the tablet. This is going to be a big problem. Basically, as on a Mac, the iPad should be able to synch with an WebDav server. For those us who use this, the USB and the like are much less critical.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[ideaz]

I dont think that Apple will ever launch anything with removable storage on it. Don't know why but its seems so from the past. They tried to safeguard every possible potential vulnerable path.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MMC Monster]

Errr... Apple sells a video out cable for the iPad. I bought it. Kinda useless unless you're going on a trip and want to watch TV on the hotel screen, but it does exist.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Drakino]

Actually, no, the Xoom doesn't do SD cards out of the box. It has a slot, but the OS ignores it.

And sure, it has a USB port that lets you add content to the device. Out of the box the iPad also comes with a cable with USB on one end that does the same, and also charges the device. The Xoom's USB doesn't charge. So whats the benefit of it over the iPad?

People keep demanding USB, but they never quantify why.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

You will never get a Video out from iPad.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC953ZM/A?fnode=MTc0MjU4NjE&mco=MTc5OTU4MjA (HDMI)
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC748ZM/A?fnode=MTc0MjU4NjE&mco=MTc5MzExNjI (Composite)
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC917ZM/A?fnode=MTc0MjU4NjE&mco=MTc0Njk4NzA (Component)
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC552ZM/A?fnode=MTc0MjU4NjE&mco=MTc0Mzg2NTE (VGA)

Yeah, never going to get video output from that.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[ceeam]

It DOES have a microSD card slot, but it DOES NOT work (at least yet, maybe we should wait for 4.0 or something).

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Drakino]

What is the corporate need for actual USB, actual SD and actual HDMI ports on the device? What features would each one bring that the adaptors can't bring that make them mandatory for corporate use?

USB is the most puzzling one to me, since noone ever explains what they want with it. Do you want a USB host port, or a slave port, or both? Which connector? What devices do you then expect to attach to it?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MachDelta]

They're called netbooks :)

*ducks*

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[killmenow]

The business case for the iPad (in our company anyway) would include (a) running bespoke apps to hook into our transaction processing system so reps in the field could enter orders from customer premises directly and/or query order/inventory status for customers while on site, and (b) giving presentations while on site at customers. Most projectors accept hdmi in. As is, via the adapter they could show presentations with projectors but it's yet one more type of specialized cable they have to keep track of instead of a relatively cheap standard short HDMI cable. And it's a PITA and stupid and one more way Apple tries to nickle and dime you, imho.

The removable storage is less for putting things ON the damn thing and more for getting things OFF of it. Like after you've given your presentation and the customer says that was great can you copy it to my USB thumb drive here so I can show it to the CEO later. Yes, you can just say "I'll email it to you" but many e-mail systems limit the size of attachments to 10MB or under and some large presentations and PDFs with lots of embedded images go over that but still well under the limits of even the smallest USB thumb drives. Also, SD card for holding/loading said bespoke apps in standardized/manageable ways, etc.

I can't imagine we'd put iPads directly on our corporate network. But most of our salespeople do have laptops and VPN connections. Replacing those with something smaller, lighter, still able to get e-mail on and run necessary apps and give presentations and do the things they do now...that is also less easy for them to get "YOU HAVE A VIRUS! CLICK HERE TO GIVE US YOUR CREDIT CARD INFO!!!!" phishing trojan crap on is desirable. But iPads don't really fit the bill as of right now.

Plus, considering our corporate web site is now flash heavy (don't blame me, I tried but it's out of my control), it'd be kind of stupid to give our salespeople devices that couldn't even pull up our own company's web site. (Oh...and you're 100% right about iTunes.)

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

so like all apple things, for $20-40 extra you can do what most normal tablets would be expected to do...

well... at least your not paying $20-$40 just to unlock the wfi port

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[H0p313ss]

This was already made available by the camera kit in version 1. What is lacking is the driver support.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[mblase]

USB is the most puzzling one to me, since noone ever explains what they want with it. Do you want a USB host port, or a slave port, or both? Which connector? What devices do you then expect to attach to it?

I assume they want to read/write files from a USB flash drive.

From Apple's POV, though, I imagine the problem with USB or SD card slots is the same as that for the user-replaceable battery: thickness would have to increase. Frankly, I'm surprised the current one has room for the dock connector.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

USB is the most puzzling one to me, since noone ever explains what they want with it. Do you want a USB host port, or a slave port, or both? Which connector? What devices do you then expect to attach to it?

I would like to use a real USB keyboard and mouse, which I already own. I would also like to pop in a flash drive, and read and write it without needing any extra hardware. I don't think that's a lot to ask.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[repetty]

I dont think that Apple will ever launch anything with removable storage on it.

You don't seem to be familiar with Apple products. You should probably refrain from posting about them.

I'm not going to waste my time doing your research for you.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MMInterface]

He probably meant a built-in SD card slot and USB port. An external connector cuts down on portability and is often not there when you it. Also, a built-in SD card slot allows you to use the SD card to expand your storage instead of just swapping content.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Ereth]

Except, of course, that they aren't.

The FAA recently certified iPads for pilots to use for charts. There's never been a netbook that even attempted that task.

A tablet is not a netbook any more than a shrimp is a clam.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[iksbob]

It is also works with a variety of keyboards and headphones.

I've actually been surprised by the number of things it works seamlessly with. Not just headphones, but I plugged in a portable USB microphone/instrument preamp and it recognized and made it available as a stereo audio source and also an output via the preamp's monitor connection. As for keyboards, computer keyboards yeah, but it also recognizes and powers USB MIDI (piano) keyboards. The synth software available on the iPad is a bit limited compared to what's available on a laptop or desktop system, but it's still fun to play with.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Americano]

Sorry, but given the chunk of the tablet market that the iPad owns, I think it's safe to say that you can't expect "most normal tablets" to have those features, because "most normal tablets" are iPads.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[BBTaeKwonDo]

True, and AC posted links to the Apple store which has the various adapters. The VGA adapter seems to have pretty strict limits on what it can show (basically, only non-protected content), so GP's worry about closing the analog hole has some basis in reality (though it is, of course, overstated). The comments about the other analog adapters don't seem to mention these limits, which is odd. The HDMI adapter can apparently show anything.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Drakino]

I have yet to see any tablet offer a USB port directly on the device that accepts a keyboard, so Apple really isn't behind or ahead anyone in this area. They do support USB keyboards when plugged in via the dock to usb adaptor, or bluetooth ones. Most other tablets have only announced support for bluetooth keyboards.

A mouse? Tablet OS from Apple, Google, HP(Palm) and RIM have no concept of a mouse. Plugging this in would do nothing, and adding support would be pretty against the overall design of any of these devices.

It sounds like you need a laptop, or for less portability, a desktop PC. There are many companies that make these devices, and they should meet your needs. Tablets are a different type of device, and as such have different ways to interface with them. Neither is a direct replacement for the other, and choices in both arenas should be available for many years to come.

The flash drive I can somewhat see. Though I find networks much more convenient, and hope iOS 5 adds some support here. The current iDisk support via an extra app kinda works, but it could be better. Passing files around via physical media is something I haven't commonly done now for well over 12 years. The network was already the main way to do it even when I was in school, when floppy disks were still common.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Another slashfag making up words. I stopped reading your presumably insightful post around word 24. Moron.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Known Nutter]

and another err...

The iPad 2 will connect to high definition displays via a $39 HDMI-out cable, which will transfer video (up to 1080p) from your iPad to your HDTV, for example. The connector also charges the iPad while in use.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Em Adespoton]

To expand on your point: file management on the iPad is App-centric. I use an app called SuperFiles that can connect to mobileMe, Drobpox, FTP, SFTP, Google Docs, Picasa, iCloud, SwissDisk, myDisk, myDrive, generic webDAV, Flickr, gMail, generic HTTP and Bluetooth FTP.

This app also has access to all my photos, my media library and a local App-specific filestore.

It can also send documents to any other App that has registered that filetype with the OS.

With all these options for file storage available wirelessly, USB-based file access isn't really necessary.

That said, since Apple is planning to release GarageBand and iTunes for the iPad, this might come up against a storage access performance wall pretty quickly. I'll be interested to see what they do about this.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Angostura]

You don't want an iPad, you want one of those nice little video projectors that take a thumbdrive/SD card.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[godrik]

What about an SD card slot or USB port?

[mod me troll] And a proper Operating System ? [/mod me troll]

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[WillAffleckUW]

Just use the HDMI port - seriously, did you miss that it's the 21st Century already?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Kosi]

How can they charge for WLAN, if you use e. g. your own? They have no control over it!

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[DarthVain]

They likely can't meet the standard for USB. I mean maybe they can't get 5v off the battery, unless perhaps it is plugged in, and then perhaps the whole system isn't made for handling that. Or they don't want people complaining that the battery doesn't last 10 hours when you hook it up to a 2.5" external hard drive sucking down all the juice. Would be useful I would admit, at least while plugged in and changing.

Not having an SD slot is just about product tiers and making money from planned obsolesce by limiting what you users can do. So yeah, that one is pure douchery.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it's just me, but I've never actually used an SD card, except one time when nobody had a USB drive available. As for a USB port, it would be nice, but I expect it would drain the battery pretty quickly. They're better off implementing better wireless peripheral standards.

Plus, I like my gadgets like I like my women: With as few holes as possible.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[uniquename72]

Funny how iTards all the sudden care about price.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[StuartHankins]

+1 Insightful. This is one of the times that a closed ecosystem helps. You can say "original iPad" and know what it comes with without having to specify every little thing. Since there are no real options you don't have to test all the permutations.

(Not saying this is the best choice for everyone, it works for me but you may be different etc etc)

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why dont you want a CF card slot for professional photographers and next to it then the SDHC slot to cover a home users HD videos and then next to them a A/V jacks for Red cameras for professional video producers?

Heck, when we are at it... Memory Stick slot would be nice. A DVD player for easy movie renting and then of course a C-casette deck for those old skool musicians... ?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Dog-Cow]

It's fairly obvious to those of us with working minds that ideaz was referring to the i-Family of devices (iPod/iPhone/iPad). Name one that allows for external storage.

You

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Duradin]

"or USB port?"

The first thing I think about when dealing with a new highly portable device is how many wires I can plug into it. The portability is directly proportional to the number of wires hanging out of it. Or was that indirectly proportional?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

You have no idea why killmenow needs USB and SD ports yet you're providing all kinds of "solutions"... What if his _clients_ are providing him with USB flash drives or SD cards. What if he works with a camera and he needs to connect it. What if the tablet is taken somewhere without wireless access. What if he needs to backup some data onto a large external drive. What if he needs to view data off a large drive... What if he needs to plugin a keyboard. What about a USB device that is specific to the work that he does like some kind instrumentation device... etc.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[smallfries]

It sounds as if distributed these large files would require some kind of transfer protocol to get the file from one machine to another. If only there was some way to integrate that with the hypertext markup language that we use on a daily basis! It would be like some kind of hypertext transfer protocol and then you could distribute your file just by sending somebody a link to where this file existed.

Oh well, keep on dreaming. It will be a long time before anybody invents a working http with links that could embedded in emails smaller than 10MB....

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MorpheousMarty]

so like all apple things, for $20-40 extra you can do what most normal tablets would be expected to do...

Normal Tablets, I heard of them, usually followed by the term "market failure". Sure it would be great to have these features, but lets face it, Apple made a tablet people actually want, and a part of that was taking away features. It definitely isn't for the Slashdot crowd, but I don't recall us being that keen on tablets with these features either.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[killmenow]

You are so stupid and ignorant, your company deserves to go under just for having you on the payroll.

Thank you for your assessment. Please remove Steve Jobs' dick from your ass before posting next time.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[StikyPad]

it's yet one more type of specialized cable they have to keep track of instead of a relatively cheap standard short HDMI cable. And it's a PITA and stupid and one more way Apple tries to nickle and dime you, imho.

Ha... *if only* they were nickles and dimes. Try $50 for about $0.50 worth of components. That's one hell of a profit margin. Monster cables are a bargain by comparison -- at least the copper is worth something.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[steve_bryan]

How would AirPlay capability (vs analog video out) differ from a practical viewpoint? All these "secure" efforts just seem counter-productive in a literal sense. They don't effectively prevent copyright infringement but they do reduce productivity for ordinary customers.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[RebootKid]

I respectfully disagree with you. Host USB is a hard requirement for me. What if I want to use it to download pictures from my camera, to edit up and email them around? Or say I wanted to watch a movie? There is a finite amount of space on the iPad & iPad2. External storage helps work around this limitation. HDMI out, in an easy form, is important. I often give presentations, so being able to hook it to a projector will make things work nicely.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[QuantumRiff]

one of the nice little features of the ActiveSync protocol used for syncing email from Exchange, is you can force removable device encryption. Many mobile devices support it. In fact, the Ipad and Iphone support Internal Device Encryption.. It would be trivial to extend that to the removable devices.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[steve_bryan]

"But most of our salespeople do have laptops and VPN connections."

You probably know this already but just in case you should know that iPads also support VPN connections with built in system software. Also, is there any way I could get you to use the term "custom apps" rather than "bespoke apps"? Please, I'm begging.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[killmenow]

You're right. I do know. We purchased two for IT to test and essentially play around with to see how/if we could fit them into our environment.

And, sure thing. "Custom apps" is fine with me. Any particular reason you dislike "bespoke" though?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Overzeetop]

Well, if your internal sites are flash, you are, indeed, hosed. Since the A4/A5 processors aren't x86 compatible, and you'd have to write your internal apps from scratch anyway, why not move to a secure web interface instead? Then - if you weren't too reliant on a particular browser - you would be cross platform for whomever needed to access the system. Of course, if flash is what the devs are using...well, that sucks on many levels.

As for sending large files, you may as well use a cloud service or your own internal ftp server - upload the file and send the link. You can probably fashion a custom app for that right in you web portal, or just get each person a mobileme/dropbox/spideroak/carbonite/mozy/livedrive account if you don't mind outside branding. That way their presentation is already backed up, cached locally, and available via a custom link.

I don't mean to necessarily defend the iPad for a particular application. I'm pretty disappointed in what was added this year, but given the alternatives, I'm going to get one. One of the oddities I've learned about my iPhone over the past 10 months is that it generally does things well, or it doesn't do them at all. There are very few things it does poorly or inconsistently. As frustrating as it is to have the "not at all" category, it's actually less frustrating than things which function poorly or intermittently. If it doesn't work at all, you find an alternate way of doing things. I've found that I a much more adaptable to working around iOS than I am at trying to force Windows to bow to my will. Both work, but the latter, I find, takes more of my time and effort. I curse Jobs regularly for the little inefficiencies he has put in his devices, but I have come to realize that by skipping all of the technical hard things (wireless sync, removable storage, flash) he has made the device more reliable. In a production environment, there's value in that.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

NYT (subscription) has a write up on the new iPad + a comparison to other models. Scroll down to the Toshiba pad coming soon: Android, usb, mini-usb, front back cameras. Looks like competition is arriving.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Now, if you want to complain about having to install iTunes on your corporate machines - THAT is, imho, a real issue.

Only presuming you allow Windows machines on your network.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Erm...sort of. MS scrapped and redid the OS several times and didn't give manufacturers enough time to adjust. It got sorted (mostly) by SP1 but then it was too late and it didn't escape its own negative press.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[sznupi]

En América!

Sort of. Of course right now, and probably still for quite some time, there are no real contenders for really normal / mass markets. Maybe we have to wait for OLPC again, maybe there'll be similar "industry response" as with netbooks (and less derailed this time...); most of the world still waits for something acceptable (plus if it gets here, it should be a bit different; I expect more something between "large" tablets and smartphones (and not premium priced...), with actual phone functionality still there)

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[sznupi]

Hm, this "a part of that was taking away features" starts to look unsettling if, for the moment, we would consider Kindle to be a tablet...

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[steve_bryan]

Nope, I've got no legitimate excuse for my adverse reaction to "bespoke". Brits use it all the time but having gone through over 50 years of life without having heard it before recently, it seems trendy and redundant. I'll get over it.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Drakino]

Problem is, no mobile device (phone/tablet) is adding a real HDMI port. They are too big and bulky, and single use. The Xoom has mini HDMI, so you still need something other then a standard cheap HDMI to HDMI cable around. And of course that also assumes you have a projector with HDMI. Many are still VGA, so why not also add a bulky VGA port to the device? Because now your are adding more ports to a ultra portable device that can't afford the space to a feature very few customers will rely on all the time.

At some point you just have to deal with adaptors and converter cables to allow mobile devices to get smaller. This isn't a unique to Apple issue, it's industry wide. There isn't a way to meet 100% of peoples demands, so Apple went a route where they could meet most with dongles, and a single port with many purposes. For those that need to do something slightly out of mainstream, adaptors and dongles can be bought, and carried in a bag. Not the most ideal solution, but it still allows for a smaller travel pack when compared to a full laptop with all the right ports built in.

Using SD cards to load apps sounds like a pain in the enterprise. I haven't seen IT people running around with binders of CDs to load onto each individual desktop in ages, so I don't expect they would want to go back to that with handfuls of SD cards either. It's all about using the network now, and the iOS devices do support over the air App installs for enterprise markets.

Sadly bluetooth file transfer seems to be dead, and wifi file transfer is a PITA. Hopefully in time these will become easier to reduce the need to copy to a flash drive. The other alternative now that works well is not e-mailing the content, but e-mailing a link to a file hosted on DropBox or something similar.

I do appreciate you replying, as it does provide me a bit more insight. I haven't worked in a large enterprise in a while, so I haven't been able to see the changes in recent years with more and more consumer tech going into the enterprise. For ages, it's been the other way around, but now people are seeing work related benefits in their new consumer toys.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[605dave]

Well this connection kit has been out for awhile. Isn't that what you were asking for? It's worked perfectly for me.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Americano]

I just don't see the market for an "in-between" device. A 5-6" screen would be awkward to hold & use as a phone, more difficult to carry around in a pocket, and still have a screen that's too small for anybody who doesn't have very good eyesight. I think it's a lot more likely that you'll see the current larger tablets continue, perhaps with small increases in screen size as the weight of the components allows them to keep the larger screens as light as the current crop;

The phones I think are more likely to (eventually - I don't see this happening any time VERY soon) end up growing into "laptop replacements" of a sort - portable, easy to carry & use as a phone, usable compute functions in a pinch with built-in hardware/on-screen keyboards, and then when you get into the office (or your hotel, or your home), you can slap the phone into a KVM dock and it'll essentially serve the function of a docked laptop, giving you keyboard/screen/mouse/power/etc. for when you need to get "real work" done.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot to call him a moron.

It IS your favorite word right? Seems like you use it in every other post you make.

Oh and since you haven't seen something, then it must not exist. I think you would be hard pressed to find a projector made in the last year, for business or home use that doesn't have an HDMI connection.

Being a techno-weenie in a fortune whatever company doesn't qualify you to make sweeping statements, but then again....that's kind of your thing isn't it?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[jedidiah]

"or USB port?"

The first thing I think about when dealing with a new highly portable device is how many wires I can plug into it. The portability is directly proportional to the number of wires hanging out of it. Or was that indirectly proportional?

Sometimes it's useful when portable devices talk to each other and USB is one of the current existing standards.

Without USB, iPad users are stuck with hacks and workarounds that would seem absurd to Apple fanboys if it was anyone else perpetrating them.

Everything that an iPad does comes with arbitrary unecessary limits. This is why no Apple tablet will displace proper portable computers.

Sometimes it's useful to allow a portable device to talk with another device without the platform tyrant getting in the way.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Duradin]

If only bluetooth and wi-fi weren't proprietary Apple protocols.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

As my phone already has and my future OH's tablet will have a mini HDMI out, I took the obvious step of ordering a mini HDMI -> HDMI cable for TV. Works brilliantly on my phone. No dongles.

Now just need the laptop to adopt mini HDMI instead of needing a different cable or adapter.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Karlt1]

Sometimes it's useful when portable devices talk to each other and USB is one of the current existing standards.

You mean an existing standard like BlueTooth?

Exactly what can you actually plug into an Android device with USB?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

"less for putting things ON the damn thing and more for getting things OFF of it"

Jesus H Christ. Buy the 3G models and setup a fucking webdav account - stop emailing attachments. "Oh, but the users want..." They want a fucking iPad. They'll make due with this superior solution.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[jo_ham]

Yes, they're all canned replied to canned troll attempts.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[jo_ham]

Well, price wasn't really an issue before - people using Apple stuff paid the premium price, and just had to deal with a ton of neckbeards yelling "zomg its overpriced!!".

Now the tables are turned for the moment and no one seems to be able to make a decent tablet for less than or equal to the iPad's price (and now the iPad 2), despite the 6 to 7 months of crowing from the /. crowd that "cheaper, better Android tablets" would soon come along and topple the iPad's dominance.

Instead, we had a virtually unchallenged revision 1 product at a price point that was initially much lower than the estimates on the run up to the release that has just not been caught yet. The best shot so far has been the Xoom, which looks excellent, but is $799. As good as the iPad 2, but more expensive than the comparable model (by $70) and *a lot* more expensive than the non-3G ones (one of the few times Apple has lower-spec options and competitors don't if you really don't want the 3G).

They sold 15 million of them, uncontested, in 9 months, more than every other tablet ever made combined, and are now on revision 2 - matching many of the the Xoom's advantages (faster cpu, graphics, gyro, cameras) and still coming in at less than it costs.

Yet *still* neckbeards are saying it is too expensive. Perhaps for them - it doesn't seem to be affecting the sales.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[jo_ham]

If by "never" you mean "right now, supported on the iPad 1 via the video out adapter", then you are correct.

Do Apple bashers even look up the nonsense they spout?

What next? "You'll never get audio out of an iPad!" ?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Antisyzygy]

The problem with fanboi's is they consider ANYTHING to be a troll. Apple isn't perfect and if I were to point out one of its many flaws all the sudden my inbox would get bombarded by / , updates from Apple-heads.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[jo_ham]

You can do that *right now* with iPad 1 - the adapter has CF and SD slots and a standard USB port on it. It connects to the dock connector, and supports (officially) USB mass storage and PTP and unofficially other stuff (like usb keyboards and so on).

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MorpheousMarty]

I don't get what the kindle has to do with this, but it lacks a ton of features, and is great because they "took away" video, color and backlight in exchange it is cheap, very low power and is attractive.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[RebootKid]

On the flip side, I can do it *right now* with an Archos device, and not having to have the adapter, just the normal cables.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Ender_Wiggin]

So go buy a netbook

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually that isn't true at all. I purchased my Xoom off contract from Best Buy and didn't pay a dime for 3g service. Originally, rumors claimed you'd have to purchase at least one month of 3g service from Verizon in order to activate wifi, but that was only FUD. Just like your post.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[painandgreed]

Errr... Apple sells a video out cable for the iPad. I bought it. Kinda useless unless you're going on a trip and want to watch TV on the hotel screen, but it does exist.

...or you're and artist that wants to carry around your portfolio, a business man that wants to carry around presentations, or a father than wants to carry around videos of your kids to the grandparents. The doctors I support are already thinking about dumping their laptops for trips and seminars if they can carry everything they need to present and answer their email with the iPad.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

I just took some pics with my pocket camera. How do I enable the wireless on my camera to view them on the ipad again?

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[jo_ham]

Yes, but then you have an Archos, which is a serious downside ;)

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, you'll have to totally rewrite apps to move from x86 to ARM, because like 99% of internal apps are written in assembler....

OTOH, unless there's a COBOL implementation for ARM, you may have a point.

(And yeah, I do know most apps will have to be largely rewritten, since they're most often UI-heavy frontends for some db, and the iPad UI will want to be significantly different, but you mentioned CPU varchitecture, so I'm calling you out on that -- and a rewrite now with, say, Qt could let you move to a common codebase for tablets, handhelds, and desktops, reducing future maintenance costs and making everyone happy.)

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[kevinmenzel]

Once. They scrapped it ONCE. After which, there were 2.5 years before RTM, and another 2 months before release.

2 years and 8 months to do driver development. Yes, it was a bit of a moving target during that time, but the new audio model and the new video model were early developments in that process.

I had problems from two companies during that time: ATi as soon as they were bought by AMD and fired most if not all of their driver developers (at least on the All-In-Wonder side of things - before then they had been releasing beta drivers with full support for legacy hardware during the beta process - including my All In Wonder cards - and I mean full support, as in they were working on Media Center integration), and Sound Blaster, who specifically refused throughout the process to release drivers for their legacy product line, giving beta testers good indication that the hardware they had would not get Vista drivers at least a year before Vista hit stores.

There was an extensive public beta process. If you wanted to know which manufacturers were on the ball and which weren't, it was easy to tell without paying any money to Microsoft. My Roland sound card had constant updates for audio drivers during the beta process. My legacy NVidia cards had constant updates for video drivers during the beta process. When Vista went gold in November 2006, every single piece of hardware I had in my primary machine was fully supported by Vista, because I had two years as a user to chose to support companies that worked WITH the changes Microsoft was making, instead of complaining about them.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

HDMI: plug tablet into projector for meetings. Tablets being super portable, this is a lot easier than a laptop, plus you could, of course, be using the touch interface on the tablet to drive what you're doing with the video output. But with the need for a dock, you'd probably (at a corporate office level) end up needing to buy one dock for every projector, plus one dock for the desktop of every employee who'll have an ipad. Otherwise you're stuck dragging docks everywhere.

SD: quick and easy bulk data transfer without needing a PC and dock. Or if they accepted USB flash drives, or if they had some kind of bluetooth protocol. I guess currently you'd have to bounce it through a server on the internal network, through wifi, which of course won't work if you're somewhere not covered by the internal corporate network's wifi.

USB host: flash drives, mainly. Or those 2.5" external USB-bus-powered hard drives. Possibly also a mouse and keyboard; although those are bulky, being able to use any random standard USB mouse and keyboard would be better than needing a proprietary one or a dock; two cheap things, instead of one or more expensive things and/or still also needing the two cheap things. (Hell, in a corporate environment, on the scale of years, USB keyboards, mice, and flash drives are damn near disposable commodities. Extras accumulate.) Also, any time you're already meeting in person with someone anyway, USB flash drive sneakernet is probably faster than the wired or wireless network.

Do I think that's all *necessary*? I'm ambivalent. But I'm trying to think about it the way a large corporation would, which is that they'd like to just buy a bunch of ipads for all their managers and project leads and have them already work with everything else without having to buy a bulk shipment of docks and dongles.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[darrylo]

The best shot so far has been the Xoom, which looks excellent, but is $799. As good as the iPad 2, but more expensive than the comparable model (by $70) and *a lot* more expensive than the non-3G ones (one of the few times Apple has lower-spec options and competitors don't if you really don't want the 3G).

While the iPad2 will probably win out, the Xoom isn't quite that expensive, if you want 3G (and many people do). You can get the Xoom for $600 wiith 2-year contract. Also, I'm not sure, but, if you're a Costco member, Costco appears to be selling the Xoom with a 1-year commitment for $640 (part of the page says "1-year", but another part says "2-year" -- I should walk into the nearby Costco and ask)..

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why removable storage? So I can slot in my camera's sd card and process photos and post /email them while on holiday / business trip, or give that word doc / spread sheet / pdf / whatever to a friend or colleague. Or grab an avi / mkv from a friend so I can watch it tonight (oh wait it still can't play those).

and imo, removing functioanlity from a computer to protect it from viruses is doing greater damage than a potential virus.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Kyusaku Natsume]

In an Apple survey I requested them that they should add a eSATA port for the iMac and Macbook Pro line since they ship with very good applications for content creation, especially video but even Firewire 800 is very slow compared to eSATA. Now, if someone develops an eSATA adapter for the new Light Peak/Thunderbolt port I will begin to consider upgrading my late 2009 iMac i7 or my Macbook Pro to the new versions.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[paimin]

I'm "part of the Slashdot crowd" and I think the iPad is fucking great. Oh, you mean the overly-vocal whiney douchebags that have infected this site in the past five years? Oh yeah, it's not for them. But then again, said crowd will be spewing off about whatever the easiest hate target is regardless, so really...who gives a rat's ass what they think? I mean, except them. They really really really care about what they think. We get it.

You know, when the iPad was released a year ago, one of these mindless idiots loudly proclaimed, on this very site, that it was a pointless and doomed product. I responded by asking if, in a year's time, the iPad was actually a huge success, would they at least admit how completely and utterly wrong they were? That dumbass probably has an iPad now.

Get over yourselves people. If you're really nerds, you have way better things to do than bellyaching about consumer products that you think it's "cool to hate on".

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[cbope]

The card reader that connects to the I/O connector is mostly useless in my opinion. What if I want to use a large SD card for supplemental internal storage? That doesn't work very well with the card reader sticking out of the I/O connector. Apple doesn't want to sell you a cheaper iPad with less internal memory and allow you to expand the storage with a cheap SD card, they want you to spring for the more expensive 32 or 64 GB models where they rape you on the incremental storage costs.

Seriously, this lack of user-changeable storage is a deal killer for me. Also, the cover should come with the device, it's ridiculous to have to pay extra for a cover for something sold at this price point.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MemoryDragon]

SD Card slot will happen sometime, but dont expect too much, apple has limited the SD Card usage in its adapter kit big time, all it does is to read in your digicam pics. As for the USB port which one do you want, standard usb female, you have it mostly but no target disk mode. Read my lips, this will never happen in apple land to allow a universal target disk mode due to apples fear of jailbreaking. If you want it go for android, Android has target disk mode out of the box.

As for plug in your usb device. Also unlikely same as on android since there is no driver infrastructure yet to support such things. Both would be nice, because one thing the ipad severely lacks for instance is a mechanism to plug in game controllers.
(Jailbroken you can use blutooth and the wiimote for emulators)

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MistrBlank]

Hell, I'm at a point where I wonder why they bother with the dock connector, they could just as easily have dropped in an induction charger with magnetic response and forced syncing over wireless network or bluetooth.

I don't want any ports including headphone port (as soon as Sennheiser gets off their butts and develops a nice overear bluetooth headset).

I'm actually dreaming of a point where the iPad doesn't have ANY buttons or ports. That is the ultimate goal in my opinion.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MistrBlank]

It is a proper OS, so says my Jailbroken iPad.

And don't give me Android crap, it requires rooting (which might as well be called Jailbreaking) too.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[ideaz]

*smell fanboy here* nvrmind

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[MidnightBrewer]

They've had that since the beginning: http://www.maclife.com/article/feature/seven_hidden_features_ipad_camera_connection_kit

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[Em Adespoton]

err... iMovie, not iTunes.

Re:Makes up for all the things lacking in iPad1?

[dalesmatrix]

http://www.eye.fi/ perhaps

meh

[Anonymous Coward]

less space than a xoom. no wireless. lame.

Re:meh

[BitZtream]

Much like Taco's iPod comment, I predict people won't care and will be happy to buy and use them.

Re:meh

[itsenrique]

Much like the sound of the wind, I predict that joke went right over your head.

Re:meh

[alen]

i've been burned buying on specs, most notably the sega 32X and genesis compared to the SNES

as an android and iOS user, the apple app store is much better than the android market for most people. i agree that the hot chick's asses live wallpaper is cool for some, but for most people they prefer the simplicity of the iPad.

even as a geek i recommend iPhone over android to non-techie people. the only reason i tell them to buy android is that you can get a nice phone for free on contract

Error in summary

[Anonymous Coward]

The iPad 2 is 33% thinner than the original iPad. It's thinner than the iPhone 4, but not 33%.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[VolciMaster]

I used an Apple bluetooth keyboard with a friend's iPad last summer

A review of a video demo

[Anonymous Coward]

How desperate can we be?

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Anonymous Coward]

Does the Bluetooth support an external mouse and keyboard?

Yes. Well, they keyboard at least. (Why would you use a mouse with it?)

Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desires

[DavidinAla]

I've been using a bluetooth keyboard with my iPad since last spring, when the iPad took the place of my laptop. I wouldn't know about a mouse, because there's no need for a mouse with it. The Flash issue has been covered to death. You either understand why its exclusion is a good thing or you don't, so there's nothing to add there. As for user-expandable memory, I can't figure out why people bring this up. It's a trade-off. There are certain advantages to having sealed, fixed memory, and it's a tradeoff to get them. If you don't want those advantages, buy a product that requires the user to manipulate a file system, but you're NOT going to see those in iOS products. Period.

But has it appeased Hitler?

[Lead Butthead]

Truely, if it is perfect, we should not expect another Hitler Rant video...

Re:But has it appeased Hitler?

[H0p313ss]

The appropriate Hitler rant here would be the CEO's of the competitors who have not even managed to compete with the iPad1, and here's Apple shipping version 2 before half the competitors have their tablets shipping.

Re:But has it appeased Hitler?

[Kosi]

What are you talking about? Did somebody make up a video of Hitler ranting about some gadget?

LOL, there is a German comedian (Gerhard Polt) who took video footage of a speech Hitler held, and overspoke the audio with a rant about being conned in a leasing contract. Search Youtube for "Hitler Leasingvertrag" if you understand German, I still have to laugh after having it seen approx. 50 times.

Re:But has it appeased Hitler?

[jwhitener]

I was curious too: hitler rants

Re:But has it appeased Hitler?

[grouchomarxist]

Probably referring to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcU3a-rO7KY

A while back there was an internet meme going around where people were taking that scene from the movie Untergang and putting on their own subtitles to have Hitler rant about various subjects, then the films producer started asking for them to be removed and many disappeared from youtube and elsewhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untergang#Parodies

Re:But has it appeased Hitler?

[matthew_t_west]

Ask and you shall receive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoX3X3QhnNM

Enjoy!

M

I Like this guy's iPad 2 better.

[Anonymous Coward]

iPad 2 Review - Hands On [HD] 17th of February 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct1_r_61sk8

Re:I Like this guy's iPad 2 better.

[rwade]

That was...hilarious. What is this guy, sweedish?

Fact Checking Anyone?

[ptifan23]

Wow, could this article be any more wrong? The iPad 2 is 33% thinner than the iPad 1, not the iPhone 4. Also, the rear camera is indeed HD.

Re:Fact Checking Anyone?

[mindstormpt]

"Yesterday's announcement of the ninth-generation iPed showed exactly why there was so much excitment around the device. As the video hands on shows, iPed 8 makes up for all the things lacking in the original iPed. The 1THz eigth-core A9 chip does justice to apps like Video Booth and over all user experience. Moreover, while the screen carries even more resolution, Orange was able to pack it in a noticably thinner iPed 5. Infact its dimensions, 1.34 mm to 0.88mm thick, make it 93% thinner than a sheet of paper. Also while the cameras are 4K, the inclusion itself provides an opportuntiy for Fecetime, which is actually more interactive than what we've seen so far on other Tomato devices."

Looks like it could be wronger.

ram?????

[Anonymous Coward]

i just want to know what the RAM is in the thing

Re:ram?????

[Anonymous Coward]

The exact same as was in the original iPad.

WTH Apple? (Pre-Orders)

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok... I saved my pennies, nickels and dollars for the new iPad. Even gave up on getting the old one for free as a possible XMAS gift. Well now that iPad 2 if officially for sale, I want to buy/order mine now. Well one would think that should be easy enough. Go to the store in person or the online store. Well, I tried both and no luck. So, I gave Apple a day to get their online store sorted out and even called one of their stores. The word from the stores is that you need to check web site to have any chance of ordering one. Otherwise, you are stuck in the cattle gates in front of the Apple stores for their "5pm" sale time on 3/11. 5pm on a Friday WTH Apple?

So I chatted with someone on the Apple Online store and they confirmed that no preorders of any kind and it will be first-come first-server on 3/11. Their "reasoning" seems to be that they had a lot of problems with pre-orders last time and this should solve the problem. Well, I don't know about that.. but my guess is that their is possibly a distribution/production issue where they do not want a million orders at once or they want some big PR with long lines. I don't know.. but Apple is really trying my patients with this move and making me think long and hard about this purchase.

Re:WTH Apple? (Pre-Orders)

[dmacleod808]

Apple is making me "long and hard" with this device as well.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[kevinNCSU]

That sounds starkly familiar.....

As for [multi-threading], I can't figure out why people bring this up. It's a trade-off. There are certain advantages to having [only one program running] and it's a tradeoff to get them. If you don't want those advantages, buy a product that requires the user to [recharge their device more often], but you're NOT going to see those in iOS products. Period.

The razor wire

[ThatsNotPudding]

topping the walled garden is now 33% sharper too.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Ihmhi]

There are certain advantages to having sealed, fixed memory, and it's a tradeoff to get them.

I absolutely agree! I'll list some for the detractors:

• Nobody can open your iPad and steal your RAM, leaving the iPad a useless husk.
• There's no chance of accidentally putting in the wrong RAM and causing a short.
• You can avoid the classic "My kids thought the VCR was a toaster" situation. No young'uns will try to make Ritz Cracker toast on your RAM slot!
• The chances of cutting yourself on the sharp edges of RAM are vastly reduced.
• Everything comes in one convenient package. There's no costs to upgrade the iPad, ever! (Because you can't.)

Say what you will but the iPad kept its value...

[Phizzle]

I bought my iPad 64GB Wi-Fi+3G on day one it was available. A month ago, in anticipation of the iPad 2, I sold it for only 50 bucks less than the price I paid. I cant think of any other brands notebook, netbook, computer, smartphone or pad that comes even close to holding its value this well for this long. iPad2 preordered :)

I will wait for the iPad 3, 4 or even 5.

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Still needs a better display like Retina Display.

2. An SD card slot of some sort. I understand streaming content to the device but being so mobile I would like to take with me and my content too.

3. USB port, thunderbolt type of connection.

        The card slot and connection port need to be fully & smoothly integrated into the body.

4. Finally a real GPS with off-line maps. none of this A-GPS crap. 90% of the time I need a map I am no where near any internet connection type.

Following the micro step improvements that Apple tends to do there product line I suspect slight improvement (not full blown implementation) of each item. So by the 5th or 6th version the feature will be acceptable for my purchasing dollars. in the mean time the competition is coming on strong and will have all I want in just a year or two, although lacking the 10 million fart apps.

Time will tell.

Re:I will wait for the iPad 3, 4 or even 5.

[mini me]

Finally a real GPS with off-line maps

A-GPS is real GPS. The difference is that it can use cellular information to find the GPS signal faster than a regular GPS device. While it is true that the bundled Maps app does need an internet connection, there are lots of different mapping apps in the store that work just fine while offline.

Re:I will wait for the iPad 3, 4 or even 5.

[Dog-Cow]

It's not real GPS, as in, it doesn't receive and act on signals from the GPS satellites.

And if the GP really wants to spend a several grand to get the equivalent of the Retina display for a 9.7" screen, more power to him.

Re:I will wait for the iPad 3, 4 or even 5.

[nlawalker]

It's not real GPS, as in, it doesn't receive and act on signals from the GPS satellites.

Yes it does.

Re:I will wait for the iPad 3, 4 or even 5.

[mini me]

It's not real GPS, as in, it doesn't receive and act on signals from the GPS satellites.

Sure it does. Where else would it get the information from?

The first generation iPhone used cell triangulation because it didn't have a GPS chip on-board.
The iPods use WiFi geo-location because they don't have cell or GPS chips on-board.

But neither have the accuracy of the GPS-enabled devices.

Apple missed the mark again

[SilverJets]

My opinion only but I think Apple dropped the ball with the iPad again. Why not provide a stylus and an app that would make the iPad behave like electronic paper. You could take notes in class, in meetings, draw tech diagrams, etc? Have it do OCR on whatever you write and have it produce a typed document (PDF) and keep the original handwritten work as well.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[H0p313ss]

All available from third parties. Welcome to 2010.

Best iPad Stylus Pens Review

WritePad for iPad

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[iluvcapra]

Why not provide a stylus and an app that would make the iPad behave like electronic paper.

You know the real revolution of the Sholes and Glidden was that you could type on it faster than you could write. If something has a keyboard, and you can take for granted that the user population has keyboarding skills, handwriting recognition is useless baggage.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Overzeetop]

The iPad is a large form factor, personal media consumption device with social networking. It's not for taking notes, or writing term papers, or shooting a Filipino horror movie in NYC. I don't think capacitive screens will do what you want to do with any sort of accuracy. Its the trade off of a smooth, finger based interface - accuracy sucks.

Personally, I'd like the idea of that feature, too. I'd also like a higher resolution camera and a "digital copier" function that would let me capture pages to PDF with all the lighting fixed automagically. It's a "known limitation". I haven't found another device that meets all my specs yet either, though.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Anonymous Coward]

My opinion only but I think Apple dropped the ball with the iPad again. Why not provide a stylus and an app that would make the iPad behave like electronic paper. You could take notes in class, in meetings, draw tech diagrams, etc? Have it do OCR on whatever you write and have it produce a typed document (PDF) and keep the original handwritten work as well.

Yeah. Because the success of the stylus-based MS Tablet PC proved that what people really wanted was an expensive, clumsy replacement for pen and paper. When will Apple learn? I bet Steve Jobs is kicking himself, watching all the pen-based tablets fly off the shelves while iPads gather dust. And to think, Apple's own Newton was such a big seller in its day; you'd think Apple would have tried to replicate its overwhelming success.

Apple clearly does not understand what people want.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[mini me]

There are many vendors who sell styluses for the iPad already. They don't have the ability to sense pressure like, say, a Waccom tablet, but they are fine for things like general note taking. I agree that it would be a really nice feature for Apple to add, but I can see why it is not their top priority – there is only so many hours in the year.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[SilverJets]

Look at the nubs on those stylus pens. They are too thick. It would be like taking notes by using the tip of your finger. They do not allow for the finer control and thinner lines that you get with a pen (or pencil) on a piece of paper.

Watched the WritePad demo. I've seen other software by other vendors. They are all the same. Again, you don't get the fine control like you do on paper with a pen.

What I'm talking about is being able to write more the 4 words on the iPad before you have to refresh the screen for a new blank area to write. Something where you can take detailed notes and make drawings, edits, etc. like with paper. Apple (and third party vendors) are not able to reproduce the "paper" experience with the iPad and I think that is a major shortcoming of the device.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[SilverJets]

Sure. Draw making a sketch or drawing in class with a keyboard. By the time you are done recreating the diagram your prof drew, he/she has already moved on through 2 other topics.

What I want is basically electronic paper.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[rsborg]

Why not provide a stylus and an app that would make the iPad behave like electronic paper. You could take notes in class, in meetings, draw tech diagrams, etc? Have it do OCR on whatever you write and have it produce a typed document (PDF) and keep the original handwritten work as well.

You do realize this was the entire premise of the Microsoft Tablet PC platform, right? You know, the one that's been selling for nearly a decade?

If Microsoft hasn't dominated the tablet market in that time, from their position of utmost strength, then perhaps the pen/tablet strategy isn't the solution (and Apple realized this).

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[iluvcapra]

What I want is basically electronic paper.

"People don't want automobiles, they want faster horses." Use Dataviz for graphs, or one of the several vector-based drawing apps on the store, or one of the several iPhone painting apps to render basically anything. To be honest, it sounds like what you really want is an iPhone app that makes keeps your writing illegible ad gives you wrist pain.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[iluvcapra]

or shooting a Filipino horror movie in NYC.

Nice placement there, but not nearly google-friendly enough.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Anonymous Coward]

God damn you're a fucking retard. Fortunately, the invisible hand of capitalism is smarter than you and everybody who did what you want went bankrupt. Because it's a stupid idea. Use a pen and paper, you cum-burping mouth-breather.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[H0p313ss]

Have you actually tried it? My only problem with the iPad + a stylus is that my handwriting sucks, I'm much faster just typing.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Em Adespoton]

Interestingly, the iPad has handwriting recognition built-in -- but I have yet to see any way to access it. It's one of those things Apple absorbed into OS X from the old Newton OS, and is still in both the OS X and iOS codebases AFAIK. I don't know why Apple hasn't enabled it on iOS though; you can use it on OS X if you've got a tablet attached.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Americano]

There's an app for that: http://www.phatware.com/index.php?q=product/details/writepad

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Antisyzygy]

The problem is, a lot of notes require graphs or diagrams or math. I really want to have something that will read my math notation and store it as LaTeX. That would be fricking awesome.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[SilverJets]

God damn you're a fucking retard. Fortunately, the invisible hand of capitalism is smarter than you and everybody who did what you want went bankrupt. Because it's a stupid idea. Use a pen and paper, you cum-burping mouth-breather.

Right. I'm a retard because I want a device that would allow me to take all my notes, drawings, diagrams, etc. and store them for me and be able to OCR them into PDFs as well as carry an entire library of books, provide access to information via the web and all in a small enough form factor that makes it very easy to carry around.

If your going to insult someone at least have the balls to not do it as an AC.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[iluvcapra]

Go nuts

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[binary paladin]

People around here need to learn the difference between "dropped the ball" / "missed the mark" and "the product didn't meet my needs." Their sales numbers seem to indicate that if there was a missed mark, it wasn't very big.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Pulzar]

My opinion only but I think Apple dropped the ball with the iPad again. Why not provide a stylus and an app that would make the iPad behave like electronic paper. You could take notes in class, in meetings, draw tech diagrams, etc?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=stylus+for+ipad

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Antisyzygy]

I fail to get what you are trying to say. Make my own app? Or one exists?

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[retupmoca]

Why not provide a stylus and an app that would make the iPad behave like electronic paper.

I would pay good money for electronic paper. It doesn't even need to have anything else - just a good electronic paper device.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[steve_bryan]

I think you are right that there may be an opportunity for a device like this. In fact Apple made something quite like this almost 20 years ago called the Newton. I wouldn't expect an iPad update to change course so radically (focus is of paramount importance) but maybe they could introduce a new device if handwriting recognition were actually made to work (notice the subjunctive case). But with the Scully taint and the bruising they absorbed with Newton handwriting recognition, Apple may not be the company to pursue this.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Anonymous Coward]

So you don't see the difference between a native iPad app that works like paper (free) and WritePad ($10)?

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Anonymous Coward]

The ignorance here is mind blowing.

Why should a tablet device not have a natural and intuitive support for stylus input? It makes perfect sense to be able to "write" on something that is the size of a notepad.

I don't understand why people have to be polarized to one side or the other.

While I agree that many people do not want or need a stylus, there are gobs more people that would. Any student in any school would relish a light tablet like device for pen input to take notes on, rather then carrying around 10 pounds of paper and binders. In fact, get all your text books published electronically and you just got rid of the need for a back pack.

At works, I always have pads or scrap paper lying around to sketch out ideas and notes. I want to stop wasting paper in favour of something digital and nobody has done this right yet.

Generally I think its a lack of innovation that Apple doesn't support a stylus, not because they have deemed it deprecated. Or perhaps because then it would be too much akin to the original Newton which Apple would shamefully prefer to ignore. HTC just announced a tablet with a groundbreaking new feature, a stylus, hopefully this might become a staple of the android platform, but I personally welcome the day when I no longer have to waste paper to do something a natural as picking up a pen and writing which no "modern" tablet device should claim is not important.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Anonymous Coward]

God damn you're a fucking retard. Fortunately, the invisible hand of capitalism is smarter than you and everybody who did what you want went bankrupt. Because it's a stupid idea. Use a pen and paper, you cum-burping mouth-breather.

Right. I'm a retard because I want a device that would allow me to take all my notes, drawings, diagrams, etc. and store them for me and be able to OCR them into PDFs as well as carry an entire library of books, provide access to information via the web and all in a small enough form factor that makes it very easy to carry around.

If your going to insult someone at least have the balls to not do it as an AC.

I'm not the same AC, but you do realize that Windows Tablet PCs do all of this, right? They have pen styluses, they have handwriting recognition, they have custom note-taking software (OneNote has special features on a Tablet PC.) And of course you can print as PDF if you want.

And really, nobody wants that. Most people are out of school by the time they can afford anything more expensive than a notebook for note taking. And most people who aren't in school don't take enough notes to make it worthwhile.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Enter the Shoggoth]

They did this on an older model. Unfortunately his Steveness decided it wasn't very good.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[jo_ham]

"again"

They sell 15 million of the first generation in 9 months - one of the most successful product launches ever, and the new one is very similar with some incremental updates and new features and you say they "missed the mark again"?

How could they have been any more successful if they tried? They were selling them as fast as they could make them!

The iPad also does support a stylus, Apple just doesn't sell one, but there are a number of third party ones and a number of apps that make use of them.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[quacking duck]

Try out CamScanner+ or its free/demo version. I've used it to capture whiteboards, it's smart enough to detect and adjust for the edges when taking the picture from an angle, and adjusting the colours and contrast to. It did a decent job on the few pages I've thrown its way, too.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[H0p313ss]

So write one, it's a free world dude.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[jcr]

I'm not the same AC, but you do realize that Windows Tablet PCs do all of this, right?

AC #2 is right. Microsoft tried like hell for years to sell that idea, and nobody went for it. Apple found a way to appeal to millions of users with the iPad, and the people who won't buy it because it's not like MS's failed approach are statistical noise.

-jcr

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[The End Of Days]

No, he's saying keep bitching about it. That's totally helping matters and not irritating in the least.

Re:Apple missed the mark again

[Antisyzygy]

I wasn't bitching at all. Eat shit and die ass-bag.

It does NOT "make up for all the things lacking"

[Anonymous Coward]

"As the video hands on shows, iPad 2 makes up for all the things lacking in the original iPad."

No it doesn't. I want a USB port and/or an SD card slot.

I could care less that it is X mm thinner or Y% faster. I want standard connectivity and upgradable storage without having to pay extra for some stupid port adapter I have to dangle off the edge of it and swap off every time I want to use a different port. It's flagrantly obvious that additional ports were one of the main requests left over from the original iPad, and Apple did nothing to address that deficiency. That is a disappointment.

CmdrTaco says that it's Overrated!

[supremebob]

No Flash support. Less storage than a laptop. He still can't play World Of Warcraft on it. Lame. ;)

Re:CmdrTaco says that it's Overrated!

[Drakino]

CmdrTaco needs to try harder then for his WoW needs:

http://media.techeblog.com/images/ipad_worldofwarcraft.jpg :-)

Just the beginning

[g8oz]

Tablets are getting me excited about computing again. A look at Texas Instruments' OMAP SoC roadmap promises some very interesting upcoming capabilities that will find their way into future devices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omap#OMAP_5

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

You either understand why its exclusion is a good thing or you don't, so there's nothing to add there.

Wow. That's some arrogance. Did you really mean to say: "Either you agree with apple, or you are wrong."

There are certain advantages to having sealed, fixed memory

Can you actually name any that are relevant?

Not having to manipulate a file system isn't one by the way. My car stereo handles CDs, mp3 disks, flash memory, and ipods, and all the complicated file system stuff is completely invisible... I just push the source button. I guess that would be too overwhelming for an iDevice user?

Another example is the Nintendo Wii file system management which a 4 year old has no trouble with.

Meanwhile the multiple advantages of removable storage however are blindingly obvious.

Arguing about the trade-offs of expandable/removable storage its about as idiotic as as arguing about the trade offs of wearing a motorcycle helmet. (In that yes, there are circumstances where not having a helmet on would be advantageous... but the disadvantages thoroughly outweigh any advantages.)

but you're NOT going to see those in iOS products

This same arguments about how you didn't need were made about native application development and multi-tasking...

The main reason there is no expandable memory is that:
a) Steve Job's obsessively hates slots and buttons, and is more than willing to sacrifice function to get form.

b) If you can slide in your own 8GB SD card for $50, why would you pay hundreds of dollars extra for one with extra memory?

Re:Say what you will but the iPad kept its value..

[FatAlb3rt]

P.T. Barnum is still smiling.

Re:Say what you will but the iPad kept its value..

[Crudely_Indecent]

There's a sucker born every minute

Congratulations to you for finding one of them.

Hands On With Apple II?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it really a news? I think it exists since 33 years :-(

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Anonymous Coward]

-Sturdier.

-Cheaper.

-Smaller / thinner.

-Lighter.

You're right, these aren't compelling reasons at all for a hand-held device.

Bandwidth for Face Time

[MyLongNickName]

Does anyone have a clue what the face time bandwidth requirements are for face time? I run an IT department for a company with four locations. I've wanted to go the video route for a long time, but haven't had any really good options.

I am looking into iPads for our Executive and Sales teams anyhow... I might be able to kill two birds with one stone. However, I want to make sure I am not going to kill our data plan and/or my corporate internet bandwidth.

Any concrete numbers would be appreciated. Bonus points for info from others who have successfully impleneted video conferencing in a smaller (100 employee) environment across multiple locations. I am willing to award an internet for good info :)

Re:Bandwidth for Face Time

[schnikies79]

I've read, and from I've seen myself, that facetime on the iphone 4 uses about 4mb/min (2mb/min up and 2mb/min down).

Re:Bandwidth for Face Time

[LoganDzwon]

There is wonderful compression, so it highly depends on the motions, activity, and even colors in the image (people shirts, wall-paper vs solid white wall, etc... ) You can rough estimate 400 Kbps per stream. You can use the website http://www.google.com/ for fact checking that number. If you have a good WiFi implementation + decent quality bandwidth it'll work well. If not, it'll work okish.

Re:Bandwidth for Face Time

[MyLongNickName]

Thanks for the information. The hype abounds for the iPad 2 and there is very little in the way of real information. If I were just looking for video capability, I likely would not consider the iPad. but with other corporate needs pointing this way, I am inclined to investigate it further.

Readability has been resubmitted

[rsborg]

It's not clear how this will shake out. Apple's position is not tenable without some clearer wording and compromises. As it stands, they are looking to cut their nose to spite their face... but Apple isn't stupid or crazy and they are probably well aware that their unmodified policy could damage their ecosystem, entice government regulation, and spoil their brand.

My take: they will clarify the rules and target the Amazon (and possibly Netflix) model of apps, while leaving others with minor/no impact... if they don't they might well have just created a reason for App devs to jump ship and formulate a 2nd platform.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[iluvcapra]

Wow. That's some arrogance. Did you really mean to say: "Either you agree with apple, or you are wrong."

It's more like "Either you agree with Apple, or you are not their customer." That Apple has so many customers despite declining to accept the dogma of MOAR CUSTOMISE FOREVAH! is the fundamental conflict here. If Apple was losing customers to this you wouldn't be posting.

Can you actually name any [advantages to having sealed, fixed memory] that are relevant?

It makes the product smaller and lighter, with fewer moving parts and structural compromises.

For the sort of engineering inspiration that keeps Jobs going, I would look at rifles. If the sort of mentality that invented the Motorola Zoom invented a rifle, it would have interchangeable bolts and barrels for different gauge ammunition, six different selectable firing rates and patterns (with a pluggable architecture to create others), would be 25 pounds, have a USB port, and be controlled by an I2C network of Arduinos and require three 9-volt batteries. It would only be accurate to a hundred yards, but we would be constantly reminded that it's only a "1.0" product and that it's really meant for the "power gun user" market instead of for the Joe Sixpack "just-wants-to-shoot" crowd.

All the excitement?

[NitroWolf]

All the excitement? Really? This is the second story I've heard on the iPad 2. Yay... There was far more excitement around the original iPad than the iPad 2. "All the excitement" amounts to "Ho-Hum, a new iPad it the features the first one should have had."

Please... it's a "new" Apple product. Beyond that, there's nothing special about it and the tech news world pretty much agrees. Giving it the same amount of coverage as any other new product from a major company.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Anonymous Coward]

>>I guess that would be too overwhelming for an iDevice user?

Yes, probably.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Locke2005]

We were obviously referring to flash memory (e.g. SD or microSD cards), not RAM. And there are tradeoffs; if it is removable, the OS must check to see if it is there, know when it has been inserted or removed, and handle the situation where what it expected to be stored isn't what is there. It also creates a vector for the introduction of malware or even (gasp!) software not sold through the app store onto the device.

Re:It does NOT "make up for all the things lacking

[vijayiyer]

Since you don't care about size, use a desktop or laptop.
Nothing is "flagrantly obvious" about additional ports being a "main request". Based on what data points besides yourself?

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Anonymous Coward]

It supports the keyboard, and the mouse is for people that don't know emacs.

Users will never need more than 640GB of memory

[WillAffleckUW]

I heard Evil Steve Jobs say that users will never need more than 640 GB of memory.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

"Either you agree with Apple, or you are not their customer."

If Apple was losing customers to this you wouldn't be posting.

I don't have an ipad. Not having the option to install the software I want to install at will, including flash is one of the reasons.

If the sort of mentality that invented the Motorola Zoom invented a rifle, it would have interchangeable bolts and barrels for different gauge ammunition, six different selectable firing rates and patterns...

False dichotomy. It doesn't have to be nothing or everything-under-the-sun.

It could simply have an SD card slot. You know, like virtually every other phone, tablet, and laptop on the market. Even Apple's laptops have one.

but we would be constantly reminded that it's only a "1.0" product and that it's really meant for the "power gun user" market instead of for the Joe Sixpack "just-wants-to-shoot" crowd.

Apparently Joe Sixpack just gets to point. Actually shooting would require an opening to put bullets in and steve jobs thought that would be too much.

Pulling an SD card out of my own or a friends digital camera and sticking it into an iPad to view the photos is about as obvious and natural an application as one can imagine. Even my TV has an SD card slot for the same purpose.

I'm torn...

[Danzigism]

I'm one of those guys that has despised everything Apple is and stands for over the past 28 years. But good god I want one of those things now.

Re:I'm torn...

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny. I'm one of those guys who was a fan of most Macintosh computers for the last 26 years. But good god keep iOS (and the app store) away from me.

Re:I'm torn...

[steveha]

I suggest you get a good Android tablet then.

The Motorola Xoom weighs the same as a 3G iPad, has a great screen, is really fast, has an 8 hour battery life, and is running a pretty much stock Android 3.0. The iPad 2 is a bit lighter, has a bit more battery life, and has a somewhat more polished user experience; but I would say that the Xoom is a perfectly credible option.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is small, thin, and light; it has a 7" screen instead of a 10.1" screen, but at 380 grams it is much lighter than even an iPad 2. It is running an older build of Android, but when I played with one it seemed okay. The Galaxy Tab has a docking port connector (I think it's PDMI) that includes a USB host port. I haven't spent much time with the Galaxy Tab but I think it is another credible option, especially if you want the lightest possible tablet.

It's no longer a slam-dunk that you have to buy in on the Apple ecosystem to get a good tablet. There are Android alternatives, and those alternatives will only continue to get better over time.

steveha

Re:I'm torn...

[Anonymous Coward]

Easy. Write a long rant on how the iPad is missing X, Y, or Z feature, then go buy one in a few weeks. Just make sure very few people know about it.

Re:I'm torn...

[Antisyzygy]

Man, the Macintosh computers they forced me to learn how to type on around 15-20 years ago were pieces of crap. They took forever to load and froze all the time. Its one reason I ended up using Windows. The only good thing was that I could play this Lurking Horror text adventure game on them while I was supposed to be doing typing exercises.

Re:I'm torn...

[jedidiah]

If you have the money to burn on an expensive toy, knock yourself out.

Re:I'm torn...

[Anonymous Coward]

The apps are friggin' expensive. And all the accessories like AppleTV and dongles you'll need (want).
IF you can afford all that (think over $1000), then it's quite good.
Just haven't figured out how to watch my local TV show without Flash and also how to not use iTunes and also how to use external hard drive (and a few other things that are really killing me).

knock knock

[FudRucker]

Hi, want to join the church of the iCult? we have lots of expensive electronics all starting with the letter "i"

not interested!
SLAM!

Re:knock knock

[bonch]

Hi, want to join the church of the iCult?

Because the Windows and Linux communities are so open-minded and independent.

advantages to having sealed, fixed memory

[DarthVain]

Name one advantage.

Its not like it is made faster, or smaller. Its about product pricing tiers, and planned obsolesce.

Basically I am saying the only reason it is done is to limit what the user can do so they can make more money of them.

Re:advantages to having sealed, fixed memory

[binary paladin]

Basically I am saying the only reason it is done is to limit what the user can do so they can make more money of them.

Basically, the reason companies make products is so they can make money off them. There's a fucking a shocker. Have you ever seen what home builders charge for add-ons or how much extras on cars cost? Apple is not exactly doing anything new here. The problem with this crowd and iDevices is that they want to treat them like normal computers. They're not. Anyone tried upgrading the memory in their second generation Kindle? Even Google's Nexus S doesn't have expandable memory.

And I'll name one advantage: aesthetics. Some people, Lord Jobs in particular, DO care about that. It doesn't mean you have to. It doesn't mean it's objectively important. But it is a reason.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[uniquename72]

Rifles can easily be broken down and parts replaced by a knowledgeable user, and there are tons of 3rd party add ons for them that work well across all brands without needing any special connectors, etc.

Try again.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[steve_bryan]

Well, one reason Apple would not be offering Flash support is that last time I bothered to check mobile Flash was still not available on any mobile device. It is not going to be available on Xoom during an initial period and who knows how long that will persist? A probable reason for that absence is that they might not want to have the reduced battery life emphasized in initial reviews. Apple managed to sell 15 million devices and encourage migration to less proprietary (and probably less crappy) technology. The absence of nonexistent Flash support has not been the disaster that the Monday morning quarterbacks have vociferously insisted it would be. When the real world (ie market) tells you that you're wrong, raising your voice is not a winning response.

It probably would make sense for you to buy a Xoom and be happy. You could also come to terms with the fact that many people will have different and valid viewpoints that differ from yours.

Re:Say what you will but the iPad kept its value..

[bonch]

Apple hardware in general have high resale value.

Re:Say what you will but the iPad kept its value..

[bonch]

How does stupid shit like this get modded up? What does P.T. Barnum have to do with the high resale value of a popular device? Do people on Slashdot really think they're more independent and insightful than other human beings? This place is one of the biggest collections of groupthink on the web.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[binary paladin]

And? The lack of multitasking WAS a deal-breaker for me and so I didn't get the device. I don't see how how that does anything but validate the parent's point. I don't care WHY Apple omits things since it's totally irrelevant. What I care about is whether a device meets MY needs.

The problem with Apple products is the vast quantity of asshats around here that really DO want the product "except..." and find themselves personally offended that Steve Jobs doesn't do anything to meet their needs and feel that Apple somehow owes it to people to deliver products they want in a manner they want at a price that they want. Which, clearly, they're doing for enough people that their bank accounts continue to get fatter.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[iluvcapra]

I don't have an ipad. Not having the option to install the software I want to install at will, including flash is one of the reasons.

And yet here we are, arguing about what other people buy. My contention is that it's profitable and successful, I'm not clear what yours is, aside from that people who buy Apple are morons and suckers.

False dichotomy. It doesn't have to be nothing or everything-under-the-sun.

Yeah but it usually does though. There seems to be no end to the parade vendors willing to break their products in order to make some crank with a USB mouse happy.

I mean like, before iPhones I owned all manner of phones with SD slots and batteries and it was all shit. My old Treo 650, you'd loose the little fake plastic SD card that you were supposed to keep in their at all times, or the door broke, and dust would get in there and it would crash. My old Nokia had to go back to service twice because of bad battery contacts. I've been over on that side of it and it's worthless. Just so some 5% of the customers who bought a second battery or an SD card can change it, my phone has to be flimsy. Never doing that again.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[kevinNCSU]

I was more making light of his bold deceleration that said feature will NEVER show up in iOS because Apple has a current reason for not including it and they could never change their minds ;) It's not a matter of what I want or like, I actually own an iphone 3 (no G) and like it but still found the switch in multi-tasking rhetoric amusing.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[binary paladin]

The main reason there is no expandable memory is that:
a) Steve Job's obsessively hates slots and buttons, and is more than willing to sacrifice function to get form.

b) If you can slide in your own 8GB SD card for $50, why would you pay hundreds of dollars extra for one with extra memory?

Yep. Those are the two most likely reasons. Charging $40 for a video dongle is ridiculous and $40 for their magic cover is equally ridiculous.

But so what? I don't get the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth caused by Apple releases. If those prices are too high or you don't like their marketing practices or the devices don't do what you need them to do then DO NOT BUY THEM. If someone else is perfectly happy to pay said prices for said items and they do not care about expandable memory and don't have any idea about Steve Jobs' personal taste then who the fuck cares?

No one needs to own an Apple device. No one is forced to own an Apple device. No one is entitled to own an Apple device.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Daniel Phillips]

I've been using a bluetooth keyboard with my iPad since last spring, when the iPad took the place of my laptop.

Wow, cool. You'd be even better off with an Android pad which is a lot more like a computer. Think of the possibilities.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Daniel Phillips]

-Sturdier.

-Cheaper.

-Smaller / thinner.

-Lighter.

... less useful

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[peragrin]

The zoom is shipping without flash as adobe hasn't certified it yet.

Adobe is taking the stance of ships us a dozen developer models and specs for free pay us to port flash and maybe in 6 months you can have a half ass copy.

As it is many flash websites are broken with flash arm as the features aren't supported. Sure the basics work. But move beyond video and animation and full support falls away.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Anonymous Coward]

Does the Bluetooth support an external mouse and keyboard?

How the fuck are you going to use a mouse on a touchscreen device, the operating system of which does not have the concept of a cursor?

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Rennt]

Well, one reason Apple would not be offering Flash support is that last time I bothered to check mobile Flash was still not available on any mobile device.

Check again. Flash for mobiles was first released with the Nexus One. The REAL reason Apple does not want Flash is they would lose control. It would allow developers bypasses the App Store and target multi-platform.

Sigh...just more fanboi gushing

[RapmasterT]

"Yesterday's announcement of the second-generation iPad showed exactly why there was so much excitment around the device. As the video hands on shows, iPad 2 makes up for all the things lacking in the original iPad.

Really??? My reaction was just the opposite...the iPad 2 brought almost nothing new to the table of any note.

Cameras? Specifically cameras of such low resolution as to be deliberately avoided mentioning specifics on. what would I use them for? the video conferencing that I'm not going to do?

Thinner? wow...I was so wishing I could get 2/10th of an inch of my life back

faster processor? ok, that's good I guess...but I haven't had anything I've wished the CPU was faster for.

2 ounces lighter? see above "thinner" reference. Make it "light" and I'll be happy, lighter is just a way of saying "this brick is lighter than that brick"

still no flash, still no SD card slot, still no wireless sync...I don't see how this qualifies as "makes up for ALL the things lacking in the original ipad". I like my ipad, and I use it every day...but this is an extremely minor update to the platform. It's hard to imagine any objective observer getting excited about the ipad 2 over the original.

Re:Sigh...just more fanboi gushing

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

how would the SD Card slot make things better? That's an extra hole in the side of the case, or worse yet, a potential point for crap and grime to get in.

Wireless sync is slow compared to USB, especially when you're competing for bandwidth with other wireless devices.

Lacking Flash is a feature, not a bug. :)

Unlike the Playbook or the Touchpad, this thing is shipping next week. That's a huge feature over the competition that Apple's always had. They ship shit.

(Unless you want it in white. Yeah, that was a debacle.)

Re:Sigh...just more fanboi gushing

[indiechild]

I think a built-in SDXC card slot and wireless syncing will come eventually, but it might take a year or two. Not a big loss really.

Re:Sigh...just more fanboi gushing

[RapmasterT]

how would the SD Card slot make things better?

Pretending you don't know the usefulness of removable media betrays your bias.

that being said, I never said the Ipad wasn't a useful device, I use mine all the time. My point was that the ipad 2 is NOT a revolutinary upgrade, did NOT address any of the shortcomings of the original, and is not a compelling upgrade. It's an extremely minor tech refresh, nothing to get all moist about...unless you're an apple fanboi in the media desperate to get your gush time.

Re:Sigh...just more fanboi gushing

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

I just don't see the lack of an SD Card slot as a downside. most users don't have SD Cards coming out of their pockets. SD Card slots are ubiquitous, SD Cards though, not so much.

Re:Sigh...just more fanboi gushing

[RapmasterT]

I just don't see the lack of an SD Card slot as a downside. most users don't have SD Cards coming out of their pockets. SD Card slots are ubiquitous, SD Cards though, not so much.

I'll make it easy for you. Apple thinks 16GB of additional flash storage is worth $100. NewEgg thinks it's worth $20.

Holy Bezel, Batman!

[ne0n]

Hope that iPad 3.5 comes with 90% less bezel for reduced eyestrain of spectators. Or, better yet, here's hoping that next NookColor comes with dual cores. The only flaw of NC is choppy in pinch-zooming and stuff like that.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[GooberToo]

The problem is, Apple presumes all users are stupid. If you have stupid users plus multitasking, you will recharge your device more often. I completely agree with that. On the other hand, you can have smart users plus multitasking and not recharge more often; rather, just a more productive user. The difference is, Apple completely removes that option. By definition, Apple is excluding smart users from their target audience.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

You could also come to terms with the fact that many people will have different and valid viewpoints that differ from yours.

I'm not the one who can't acknowledge different viewpoints.

The post I responded to rejected the validity of any viewpoint other than "agreeing that excluding flash was good".

That arrogance is why i responded in the first place.

Tosh.O

[SeNtM]

With it being lighter, will Tosh be able to hit it further?

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[qnetter]

It already does.

Re:waiting

[TaoPhoenix]

In the Hermaphrodite Edition it comes with iBalls

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[steveha]

I have a Motorola Xoom on my desk right now as I type this.

Your long list of silliness about the "Zoom" includes: silly things that imply complexity, "25 pounds", USB port, "three 9-volt batteries".

In order:

The UI is a bit more busy than an iPad, with more little options, but I haven't found it at all hard to use.

According to specs, it is 730 grams, which is exactly the same as an iPad with 3G. Note that the second generation iPad 2 is listed as 600 grams; presumably that is not including the 3G option but it is still a win for Apple. On the other hand, an M16 rifle weighs about 8 pounds, so your innuendo is that the Xoom probably weighs three times as much as the Apple product; clearly false.

Yes, the Xoom has a USB port. That is a good feature and I like it. The iPad has a USB port, but only if you put a special dongle on the special Apple connector. But I guess your point was that it would be silly for a rifle to have a USB port. In that case, please list the actual features of the Xoom that are silly. You might, for example, mock the Xoom for having a barometer; but it adds no significant weight or cost, and it will be very useful for certain applications, and I don't see how you could claim it makes the Xoom harder to use, so perhaps it's not that silly after all.

As for batteries, the Xoom has built-in sealed battery pack, just like the iPad. The iPad claimed battery life is 9 hours for the 3G model; the Xoom claimed battery life is 8 hours, with a faster processor. The iPad 2 claims to have 9 or 10 hour battery life.

I think the actual specs show that the Xoom is not quite as slick as an iPad but it is in the ballpark, and I personally do not want to shackle myself to Apple's ecosystem. If you want a device that gives you the most freedom, then the Xoom is a worthy option. If you want the slickest device currently made, then get an iPad 2.

steveha

That's kind of sad...

[Anonymous Coward]

...you've spent 28 years hating a company for selling stuff? You need to get out more and get a life.

Re:That's kind of sad...

[Danzigism]

troll

CNN's note on iPad2 truth distortion

[cygonik]

Not tryin' to say..

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/03/steve-jobs-reality-distortion-takes-its-toll-on-truth/ ..you know. ..just sayin'.

yeah!

[Anonymous Coward]

And then they release a Win32 app for it. (nice to see history never repeats itself, itself, itself)

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

My old Nokia had to go back to service twice because of bad battery contacts

Because no one has ever had a problem with the dock connector being exposed to the elements.
Same difference.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

If those prices are too high or you don't like their marketing practices or the devices don't do what you need them to do then DO NOT BUY THEM

Any particular reason I shouldn't remark about why I didn't buy them?

I don't get the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth caused by Apple releases

I don't get the fanboi fawning caused by them either. I think the two balance each other out, and its likely that the anti-reaction is in direct proportion to the fanboi-fawning reaction

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[peragrin]

Check again, Flash isn't supported on the xoom for another 1-2 months if your lucky and adobe moves quickly.

Adobe has to certify flash ready devices before it will be allowed. That is why Apple told them to fuck off. Apple doesn't like third parties ruining their devices and making them late to the market.

I would also check again on real reviews of mobile flash. In short it works, but only kinda of, and it sucks down your battery if you got something that actually runs. I have found dozens of flash "apps" that don't work on mobile flash.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[binary paladin]

Any particular reason I shouldn't remark about why I didn't buy them?

Not at all. And if Apple related product discussions were that simple all would be well. However, you weren't stating it for that reason:

I guess that would be too overwhelming for an iDevice user?

That's obnoxious.

When the parent made his retarded remark about Flash and inferring that people who don't agree with Apple are wrong, that was also obnoxious. Attack the parent. That's fine. Implying that all iDevice users are too dumb to handle a filesystem is irritating.

Photobooth lag

[klui]

Anyone notice the apparent lag from Photo Booth's effects selection screen? That lag was not there when Facetime was demoed. Curious how Photo Booth would work on an A4.

Re:Photobooth lag

[boreddotter]

I am sure it has a name but I assumed that lag was caused by the the picture going from the iPad's camera to the projector, then to the screen and from there to the camera that's recording the keynote.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[steve_bryan]

Utter nonsense. But the wonderful thing is that you can buy a Xoom and live happily ever after. What is the sense of whining continually when your opinion has zero chance of making a difference? No iPad for you! (and possibly no soup)

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean like, before iPhones I owned all manner of phones with SD slots and batteries and it was all shit. My old Treo 650, you'd loose the little fake plastic SD card that you were supposed to keep in their at all times, or the door broke, and dust would get in there and it would crash. My old Nokia had to go back to service twice because of bad battery contacts. I've been over on that side of it and it's worthless. Just so some 5% of the customers who bought a second battery or an SD card can change it, my phone has to be flimsy. Never doing that again.

In other words, you tend to buy crappy hardware because you can't be bothered to look at a review? I've had phones with miniSD and microSD slots. I've never had a problem with cards falling out, breaking or jamming. I've never had a phone without a replaceable battery. I've never had a problem with bad battery terminals. But I have had batteries die before the life of the phone was up and have had to spend $9 for a new battery. I've also seen people discard iPhones (and farther back in time, Palm Vx's) for the same crime. I've also woken up in the morning to realize my battery was low and been happy that a freshly charged battery was in the charger ready to go.

But if buying Apple products has solved your inability to pick good hardware, more power to you.

Re:Say what you will but the iPad kept its value..

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod -1: Doesn't get it so thinks insulting people is the answer

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[steve_bryan]

WTF? You are in a discussion about the features of a new gadget telling everyone they are idiots for considering it. Your dismissive opinion is of very limited value in the present discussion. It has been heard ad naseum. We get it. You don't want an iPad from Apple. Good for you. But further discussion of Flash is just tedious in this context. There are plenty of other discussions where people might care about your opinion about Flash.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[brantondaveperson]

That doesn't really make any sense, since safari runs javascript and it's possible to make reasonably nice apps using that isn't it?

lenovo x1xx series

[Anonymous Coward]

get yourself a real machine.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Anonymous Coward]

> Meanwhile the multiple advantages of removable storage however are blindingly obvious.

Can you actually name any that are relevant, other than you don't want to pay more for the higher capacity device?

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[jedidiah]

>> Meanwhile the multiple advantages of removable storage however are blindingly obvious.
>
> Can you actually name any that are relevant, other than you don't want to pay more for the higher capacity device?

I am not limited to Steve Job's take on "no one will ever need 640k".

The storage capacity of a device with some means of reading external media is infinite. That infinite capacity is not dependent on some slow unreliable network that is simply unavailable in places.

No Apple appliance has as much internal storage as my Android.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

Implying that all iDevice users are too dumb to handle a filesystem is irritating.

It was a rhetorical question directed at the original poster to illustrate that I thought his excuse ("file system management") for not supporting removal storage was specious. Nothing more.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Anonymous Coward]

It does. But the bluetooth (as on the iPhone) doesn't support file transfers.
Also, the USB adapter doesn't support external hard drives or thumb drives except for the images and videos stored in a 'DCIM' directory. And even then, you aren't allowed to save files to it.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

You are in a discussion about the features of a new gadget telling everyone they are idiots for considering it

I said no such thing.

At most I called the original poster an idiot for suggesting that removable storage was some sort of balanced trade off.

And also for obnoxiously suggesting that anyone who wanted to run flash was simply wrong.

Re:Say what you will but the iPad kept its value..

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody else is giving you credit, but I recognize that Apple has a nice amortization / resale value rate. A friend of mine paid >1/3rd price for an all-in-one PowerMac that cost $1500+ to a graduating college senior 4 years before. Considering how PC's were still no less than $700 new back then, I thought she had overpaid until I confirmed that mac hardware goes for premium prices for longer.

PCs have much lower 'new' prices, but they have a much faster depreciation rate and you end up owning for longer or giving them away more than Macs. I wonder if their laptops and all-in-ones post-2005 are still that good for the second-hand market.

Re:Say what you will but the iPad kept its value..

[Anonymous Coward]

Do people on Slashdot really think they're more independent and insightful than other human beings?

That's how you want to see yourself in relation to the rest of Slashdot. If you projected any harder, you could show movies on the wall.

Re:Say what you will but the iPad kept its value..

[vlueboy]

Also, PC's have a hard time leaving our hands for more than 100 bucks... My used PC prices compete with cheapo NEW $300 ones, while ~$550 is as low as macs go, and unbelievably less user-upgradable at that, so people I know bought more $1300 macbooks than $550 mac minis. Yup, reality distortion fields are strong.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, except for Flash support and user expandable memory...
  Does the Bluetooth support an external mouse and keyboard?

Look, you clearly don't get what the iPad is and why it's successful. Buy a laptop.

No VLC no money for you Apple

[EEPROMS]

If you can't play mkv,xvid, flac, ogg on a tablet (my android handset does) then in my books you have a media device thats incomplete. So I will be looking for a tegra 2 tablet (maybe a tegra 3 quad core later this year) running android just because 99% of the video files on my media server are "not" mp4. Although Im starting to take a shine to the Samsung series 9 laptops that are about to be released so I may forgo the tablet.

Re:No VLC no money for you Apple

[mozumder]

I wouldn't waste money on all the junk VLC formats. H264 does everything, at a higher quality. Convert your files to that format, and your complaints go away.

The apple solution is to pick the best codec, and let others catch up to the format.

The quicker we can kill off these junk formats, the better off we are. Let's make sure we only support hardware that does H264 only.

Re:No VLC no money for you Apple

[jo_ham]

Blame a VLC developer for that. He didn't want the app on the store, so they removed it at his request ^H^H^H demand.

Re:No VLC no money for you Apple

[quacking duck]

Really, so why did Apple allow mp3 support with the original iPod, instead of only supporting the obviously-superior AAC?

Sony used your exact same argument for some of their (failed) digital media players--ATRAC is superior in every way to mp3, they claimed, so they made the players incompatible with mp3 and forced foolish buyers to convert their music files to ATRAC before they could listen to them on the player. Even Microsoft wasn't stupid enough to make their zune play *only* wma.

Newsflash 1: most video files out there are *not* h264.

Newsflash 2: Doesn't matter if h264 is superior, converting existing lossy files to h264 automatically *degrades* the quality further (and/or the file is bigger to compensate for this).

The other "junk" video formats will never die, not during the lifespan of h264, and I refuse to buy an AppleTV because it ignores this reality. My PS3 plays most formats just fine, so Sony at least learned a lesson.

Attitudes like yours stink to high heaven.

Re:No VLC no money for you Apple

[MistrBlank]

Jailbreak and go install VLC from Cydia.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[jo_ham]

Bluetooth keyboard works on the iPad 1. As of some time ago!

And no flash support, but is anyone really missing it all that much? It doesn't support Silverlight either, but there doesn't seem to be much clamouring over that.

It really did need an SD slot though - I really hoped they would add one.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[ifiwereasculptor]

...as idiotic as as arguing about the trade offs of wearing a motorcycle helmet. (In that yes, there are circumstances where not having a helmet on would be advantageous... but the disadvantages thoroughly outweigh any advantages.)

Actually I find the helmet's disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. Unless I happen to be riding at the time or passing by a construction site.

What?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who edits this stuff? "Overall" is one word, "In Fact" is two...

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[je ne sais quoi]

And yet here we are, arguing about what other people buy. My contention is that it's profitable and successful, I'm not clear what yours is, aside from that people who buy Apple are morons and suckers.

Hah! I think you just summarized every single Apple thread on slashdot. It almost makes it worth it wading through the multitude of useless "I hate apple because they don't do what I want" posts to get here...almost.

As for the ipad2, looks nice. I hate flash, after years of 64 bit flash on linux being abused and ignored by Adobe, I'm now attempting to go flash free (I still keep a copy of Chrome around just in case, which has its own flash implmentation).

In general, I used to think being able to upgrade a computing device was a good thing, but as I get older I find more and more often that I just buy the fastest one they offer at the time with enough memory and enough hard drive space and then I don't have to upgrade it down the road. See? It's like upgrading but I just do that first, when I'm buying the product. It's quite convenient. I bought two batteries for my laptop in about 2005, a couple of years later I realized it was a silly decision since here I was lugging around an extra battery all the time and only actually found myself needing it a handful of times. Now I use a macbook air, I love it. It's like a netbook that doesn't suck.

The bottom line is that Apple's products appeal to lots of people, more non-techie people, but while I'm not a "computer programmer" per se, I can script bash, code c++ and I made my own theme for e17 on linux for my home machine and I still like most of their design decisions, so they're obviously doing something right.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[steve_bryan]

Sorry, I must have been thinking about someone else's comment. In general I am really interested in details of what is present rather than people's misgivings about what they see as being absent.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[indiechild]

iPad would be like the SIG SG550... it's reliable and it just works. Other tablets would be like a blinged-up AR15 platform rifle. You can attach everything + your kitchen sink to it.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[mR.bRiGhTsId3]

I think you are conflating smart with tech savvy. The two are very very different.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

Can you actually name any that are relevant, other than you don't want to pay more for the higher capacity device?

a) I can pull the sd card out of my digital camera and view/share the content on a larger screen. I do that a lot with my laptop. Takes about 5 seconds. What other way for moving 8GB of data from one device to another is there?

Yes, there is a clumsy work around where you copy the multiple gigabytes of data over a usb cable that you have in your pocket at all times... and which can take half an hour or more ... and if your camera's battery is low from taking all those pics...your SOL.

b) I can give a copy of pictures / media / documents to anyone else who has an SD card.

So... you've got 5GB worth of wedding video and photos on your ipad from your brothers wedding, and your sister says... hey can I have a copy ... removable storage to the rescue.

c) A year from now, your idevice is nearing full. removable storage gives you either a trivial way to double or triple your storage... or with a bit more management ... unlimited storage.

d) c-above applies even if you did actually buy the highest capacity device available, and still need more space.

Still not buying one (though I like tablets)

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't help but think they're intentionally limiting its capabilities as to not hurt their MacBook sales. No reason they can at least a USB reader and allow for it to access and write files to an external thumb drive or hard disk. Also allowing it to manage an iPod or iPhone independently. iOS is designed for smart phones first. They could do more to make the OS for the iPad more suitable for running productive applications and multitasking. Until the tablets become a true notebook replacement, and not dependent on another computer, I can't justify buying one. Unless I had $700 to blow for a toy to play with. I think we'll see this happen, but Apple likely won't be leading in that.

Re:Still not buying one (though I like tablets)

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm aware a separate USB dongle is sold to allow digital cameras to connect, but that's it. The iPad has to be jail broken to read and write files to a thumb drive or hard disk using that device.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[mathfeel]

No one needs to own an Apple device. No one is forced to own an Apple device. No one is entitled to own an Apple device.

Yep. It's all too expensive for me (grad. student) anyway who will basically be using it as a pdf reader for academic argicle. I am taking advantage of the (still on going) NookColor sale on ebay and root that thing when it comes to get a $200 Android tablet. It's no Xoom, but also doesn't cost 3-4 times as much.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Anonymous Coward]

The original supports an external keyboard and there is no need for a mouse (its touch screen)

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[sootman]

>> There are certain advantages to having sealed, fixed memory

> Can you actually name any that are relevant?

The fact that there are several kinds of popular removable solid-state media in the world and will likely be more in the future? The fact that it costs money, takes up space, and has mass? The fact that it's one more place for grime to creep in, unless it is covered with a crappy little door which would also add cost, weight, thickness, and be one more thing that might break? ALL design is compromise. Besides, how would the space it be handled? If you have multiple storage partitions then you have to worry about what goes where and running out of space on one or the other. Unless you're in Android, which dictates what can go where on your removable storage... or Windows, which creates a pool from the two devices, thus negating about 90% of the benefits of using "removable" storage. A card reader is not a magical device with no downsides.

Everyone in the world (or, at least, on Slashdot) says "Ooh, it'd be perfect if it just had..."--STOP. That is not what the iPad is for. Apple wanted to make a stripped-down device and in nine months, fifteen MILLION people have said "wow, that's a great idea."

Attention world: APPLE HAS TO MAKE SOME DECISIONS. They can NOT please all the people all the time. If they tried, the iPad would be a laptop: several pounds and many ports. THAT'S NOT WHAT IT'S FOR. Yes, it has limitations. Accept them. You want an SD card reader. Someone else wants CF or Memory Stick or (God forbid) Smart Media. So they stick in a 6-in-1 reader. Great. Now, everyone who NEVER EVER wanted to stick a card in there is paying for something they don't need and it's heavier and thicker.

Join us next week when we go to a BMW forum and complain that the Z3 doesn't have as much room as a station wagon.

You want a tablet with a card reader? Fine, go buy one. Tablet PCs have been around since 2001. And they've sold almost as many in 10 years as Apple has in nine months. And yet here you are, thinking you have valuable advice for Steve and Jony and Phil. Do I need to explain in detail why they won't listen to you, me, or anyone else here? Look at this graph and see if you can figure out why. Hint: fifteen million x $499 = 7.485 BILLION dollars.

Also, this may come as a shock to the "less space than a Nomad" crowd, but sometimes, 16 GB is enough! I bought a 4 GB iPhone and never filled it. Due to AT&T's exclusivity I was able to sell it a year later for enough to buy an 8 GB 3G and I never filled it. Due to AT&T's exclusivity I was able to sell the 3G a year later for enough to buy a 16 GB 3GS and I never filled it. Due to AT&T's exclusivity I was able to sell the 3GS a year later for enough to buy a 32 GB iPhone 4 (the first time I ever sprung for the upgrade) and I have not yet filled it. I have never had the desire to stick an SD card in any of them for any reason.

Maybe you can go by a Xoom. I think it does everything you want and it's just $170 more than a comparable 3G iPad. Then you can start saving money with your $50 SD cards. Or, if you DON'T NEED cellular networking, then it's $300 -- a mere sixty percent -- more. Hey, why don't you go to a Motorola site and ask why they don't make a cheap WiFi-only Xoom? Oh, right, because in your world, every device should have every feature and everyone should pay for it.

I'm not saying the iPad is perfect. I don't own one and I don't plan to get one on 3/11. But Apple is doing quite well with it, thankyouverymuch, and Abe Lincoln knew 150 years ago that you can't please all the people all the time. Why anyone expects them to be all things to all people is beyond me.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[PrimalChrome]

You obviously have no experience with firearms. You're describing the AR-15 model.....which is the most popular rifle in the US and the mainstay of its armed forces. Customizable for different calibers...check. Multiple firing rates with changeable patterns with bolt-ons....check. Heavy....no. USB port...quit being silly. Electronics requiring batteries....sure if you have a light, red-dot, other bolt on electronic. Accurate at 100 yards....most rifles are sighted in for a particular range, the difference being that that range is determined by the owner not the factory, and it can be adjusted.

Oddly enough, it works just fine for the power user or joe six pack. Cars are also customizable to a degree.....and most people handle those just fine, even if they keep them bone stock. The iPad is simply aesthetics and profit over function. I don't know why people want to deny this like it's something to be ashamed of. It is what it is...a philosophy.

Yes that is allowed

[SuperKendall]

It's only if you offer the ability to subscribe within your app that you must go with the 30% deal. So Kindle and Netflix COULD simply not offer sales in app.

Kindle will probably do that. Metflix probably will not, because the potential for new customers is far more valuable to them.

You conclusion is odd

[SuperKendall]

-Sturdier.

-Cheaper.

-Smaller / thinner.

-Lighter.

Only on Slashdot would some read that list of features related to a portable device, and come to the conclusion "less useful".

Slashot technodweebs, totally missing the evolution of computing since the introduction of the iPad.

Re:You conclusion is odd

[Daniel Phillips]

Only an Apple cultist would claim that IPad 2 is the equal of Motorola Xoom.
Get an ipad if you need:

  - Low res screen
  - No usb without buying extra stupid dongle
  - No flash slot
  - Awful cameras
  - Locked down applications

Re:You conclusion is odd

[Lershac]

Amazing thing is I find it useful without those things.

I use it for :

an e-reader
game playing
surf the web
operate my home theater and many other home automation stuff
invoice clients when out and about (I send em a PDF invoice via email as a recpt for payment)
email
and a few other things.

I have to breakout the laptop when programming, a need to download a utility or driver update for a client, or I want to compose a long document I could do better with typing on a physical keyboard... and few other things.

I LOVE the long battery life

Re:You conclusion is odd

[Daniel Phillips]

Amazing thing is I find it useful without those things.

Good. Now just imagine how much more useful it would be with those things.

  * Midi interface without a dongle

  * Infinite storage for a device that fits easily in the flap of a photographer's backpack and has a slot for the most common storage format used in digital cameras

  * Can use normal USB peripherals when on the road for example without dongles or cable tangle or gratuitous wastage of desk space.

  * etc etc

You sound like pretty much just a media consumer. That's not me, I actually use my computer equipment for real work, it's not just about having the latest marginally functional totally locked down shiny toy.

Wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not 33% thinner than iPhone4.. Its 33% thinner than the original iPad. Moreover, the back facing camera is capable of 720p which is 'HD', technically.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Anonymous Coward]

And an external mouse is meaningless for a touch-based device.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[hovelander]

This part of the whole flash debate is what is really interesting. What is it about Adobe that just can't seem to get Flash right? After all this time and they aren't even really close to anything other than a half assed kludge? Adobe just never shows any sign that they want or are even REALLY trying to get a fully functional ARM port, let alone a Linux port. (I even hear gripes about OSX Flash...)

They have to know that they are in a race for time here, and most probably have already lost.

I'm not condoning the exclusion of Flash as choice, quite the opposite, as walled gardens always lead to eventual rebellion it seems, but Hot Crispy Christ Adobe. Is Ballmer somehow related to or running the vision for mobile flash?

Such a tremendous lead, with web video alone, and you just starve it in a corner?

Why is it that everything connected to web video in any way is just so cursed? (Thank you Google & Moz for trying to change this.)

To get my rant back on topic:

Ipads are DEFINITELY a luxury toy, but I have to thank Apple for sparking the fire of competition in this segment. Now, after 15 years of waiting for real tablets, we may finally be 5 years out from having good ones! ; )

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Tharsman]

It supports standard Bluetooth keyboards but no mouse. The OS "is not designed with cursor support", although I seen it enabled via jailbreak.

In theory you can develop a case with a built in gamepad that connects via Bluetooth too. Think there is a company releasing such a device for the iPhone. Software would have to I develop support, though (unless it emulates keyboard keys)

I really would hate to install cabled USB peripherals, wish more devices were Bluetooth.

I find Dropbox gives me all the storage I need. Note I also love apps that allow me to stream my video and music over the web so I don't sync either locally. If you rather have everything locally, then lack of expandable or replaceable memory may be an issue.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Anonymous Coward]

I would not say that it supports keyboards, tolerate is a better word.
Sure you can use the keyboard to input text but you cant use it to navigate between text input fields.
You have to use your fingers to navigate anywhere which makes the keyboard kind of useless

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Kyusaku Natsume]

Last spring there weren't any Android pads on sale. For that matter, we could also be waiting for the amazing Microsoft Courier.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[toutankh]

The people you contradict are saying that because of money-related incentives and greed the iPad is not as nice a product as they would like it to be.
Your answer to them is that Apple is right to do what they do because they make a lot of money this way.

Now what is your point exactly?

Re:Except when it isn't...

[N Monkey]

"Higher" is relative, but "standard definition" is absolute. SD is 480i/60.

Except when it isn't: SD could also be 576i (PAL, 720×576 split into two interlaced fields of 288 lines)

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[BorgDrone]

Well, except for Flash support

If it included Flash they would have to lower the price to offset the inconvenience. Flash is a misfeature, I'd pay extra not to have it.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[BorgDrone]

The problem is, Apple presumes all users are stupid.

No, not really.

you can have smart users plus multitasking and not recharge more often; rather, just a more productive user. (...) Apple is excluding smart users from their target audience.

As a 'smart' user, I completely agree with Apple's approach. What you fail to take into account that while I may be able to deal with a multitasking OS, I might not necessarily want to. When I get home after >8 hrs of work, I just want to sit on my couch, browse the interweb, watch some youtube video's and play a silly game without having to think about all the technical details. When I'm off work I want to be a 'stupid' user too, especially since no one is paying me to be a 'smart' user at that time.

Readability? useless.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm so Readability offers something that already exists for most browsers for free and wants to charge the ignorant for it.
When you can do it already, what is the point of the app? Maybe windows is a good place for it.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4560605_block-ads-safari.html
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/

For free.
Plus adblock plus filters out malware as I understand it.

Also they were rejected because they tried to do something which the App Store doesn't allow. All they needed to do was change their software to meet with the App Store policy. I guess they can choose to not do that or write a big stinky open letter about it which they did.

[Services like Readability charge a subscription that is managed through the company’s Web site. Users then log in from their iOS app to access whatever service they’re paying for, bypassing Apple’s in-app subscription system and the new rules.
Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines say, “Apps utilizing a system other than the In App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an app will be rejected,” and the company has now made it clear that it is serious about the “services” part of that verbiage.
“We’re obviously disappointed by this decision, and surprised by the broad language,” the Readability team wrote in its Open Letter. “By including ‘functionality, or services,’ it’s clear that you intend to pursue any subscription-based apps, not merely those of services serving up content.”
The company added:
Before we cool down and come to our senses, we might as well share how we’re feeling right now: we believe that your new policy smacks of greed. Subscription apps like ours represent a tiny sliver of app sales that represent a tiny sliver of your revenue. You’ve achieved much of your success in hardware sales by cultivating an incredibly impressive app ecosystem. Every iPad or iPhone TV ad puts the apps developed by companies like ours front and center. It was a healthy and mutually beneficial dynamic: apps like ours get exposure and you get to show the world how these apps make your hardware shine. That’s why we’re a bit baffled here.]

Moral of the Story!!!! Don't Burn Down Your Bridge while you are on it.
Of course when they choose to come back to the App Store again they ought to have thought better of writing a big stinky open letter about Apple eh?
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/readability_tries_for_app_store_approval_again1/

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[Hognoxious]

A properly designed touch-based device should be able to accept an alternate input method. For one reason, different tasks suit different devices. Secondly, it allows the user to use different muscle groups.

Re:makes up for all the things lacking in original

[bgspence]

They sell the USB and flash card reader separately. Check the Apple Store, they come bundled for about $39.

And once they have Flash, there will be a great market for Flash killers like ClickToFlash.

I owe The Register an acknowledgement

[itsdapead]

While I'd love to take credit for the term "fondleslab" that one comes from the fine journalists of The Register, who have long been selflessly working to bring the subtle and beautiful art of British Tabloid Headline Writing to the world of technology news.

I hadn't realised that this particular mot juste was new to Slashdot.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

Or, people that are smarter than that to put emphasis on more important things.

Ok I agree multitasking is a pain even on iOS4. However, if all apps where allowed to multitask, shit that phone of mine would be rendered useless in a second. The iOS way of multitasking is a smarter way. But few developers seem even to understand how to use it, as you still can't multi task everything you want.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

never had a memory issue with my ios device. I had though on some other with removable memory.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

Totally depends on model.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

Yep to complicated, why press source when it can be done automatically :P

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

Well i had flash support way longer than that on my Nokia, but guess what it's by default disabled and so I kept it.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

IMHO excluding flash is one of the best features of iOS.

You may have a different opinion.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

True, but in my experience the fanboy-fawning reaction is likely in direct proportion to the anti-reaction.

Printing?

[Anonymous Coward]

But can you print from it yet? I mean, actually print - to an actual printer - that you didn't have to buy especially to use with your iPad. You know, like if you're using one out on the road and you walk into another company's offices and you want to print to one of their network printers?

Nah, didn't think so. Still not got much point then.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

In fact the iDevice user would know the difference between a file system and a file handler. And I have for years wanted a system where we can get rid of the file handler. iOS is the first mainstream system to do this. Sure you can consider it a 1.0 on that part.

But heck file handlers sux big time. The biggest obstacle to overcome for raising our productivity with computer systems.

The file system on an iDevise is HFS+. And I'm an iPhone user, so I qualify as iDevice user.

Ahh the irony, we are accused for not being able to handle a file system while the accuser doesn't even know what a file system is.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Wovel]

Indeed Apple may find a way to integrate arbitrary storage space into iOS and then it might change.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Wovel]

Not really. They are only eliminating people who are not quite as smart as they think they are. Most truly smart people will not look at the existence of an arbitrary feature as part of their decision making process...

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Wovel]

Pulling an SD card out of my own or a friends digital camera and sticking it into an iPad to view the photos is about as obvious and natural an application as one can imagine. Even my TV has an SD card slot for the same purpose.

I guess it is good that you can actually already do this with a dongle that weighs like an ounce. Cool thing is your whole tablet does not have be bulkier to support the slot when you are only going to use it once a week!

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Wovel]

Of course you do choose to exclude yourself from the marketplace that includes more than 90% of the paid mobile apps sold in the past year :)

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[peragrin]

I completely agree. I own iphone, and Mac computers but the ipad while the close to the form factor I want is to big for my needs. I am tempted to get a nook color and root it, but it seems like that if I have to break something I just bought to make it useful I am wasting money.

Here is to hoping Samsung will come out with a wifi only tablet sometime in the next year, as the tab is close to what I want.

Of course that isn't actually every going to happen. Wi-fi only android devices will always be subpar as they aren't allowed in the google marketplace, and there for won't be given the energy they deserve.

The twirl effect..

[jcr]

FTA:

The "twirl" effect in Photo Booth looks amazing—you can twist and distort images in real time with your finger just by dragging it around the screen. It's goofy fun—but also something a slow processor would have trouble with.

Evidently, the reviewer doesn't understand that the visual effects in Photobooth are done with GL shaders. The first iPad could do the same thing.

-jcr

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[GooberToo]

Not true in the least. Android and several Nokia devices completely invalidates your counter point.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[GooberToo]

Being able to multitask does not require that one must multitask. Nor does it require you, "must deal" with it." Your response hints at drinking the Apple koolaid.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[GooberToo]

Android completely invalidates your counter point.

Regarding the mouse issue

[Elbowgeek]

I had a jailbroken iPhone with a mouse app, and believe it or not it was quite handy. To set up a keyboard *and* mouse, and to be able to click on icons and screen areas when necessary was quite handy as it gave a certain amount more precision than my meaty sausages. There are many programs where the touchy-feely thing is extremely good, but when one needs to be precise, such as selecting text etc., the mouse is a real help.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Muad'Dave]

Thompson Center/Contender. Interchangeable barrels for a ton of calibers - look under Specifications.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[AmiMoJo]

I think what people object to are the borderline tactics Apple use to set sales, not so much the products themselves. From a consumer's point of view they see flashy (speeded up) adverts of all the cool stuff they can do and this slick looking device, enter a gleaming white store and part with some serious cash. Now they are locked in to Apple's revenue stream in a way that probably isn't obvious to them before hand.

- You have to use itunes to manage the device, which pushes you towards the iTunes store.

- No Flash because Apple only allows Apple approved apps, i.e. ones which don't conflict with it's revenue stream

- Overpriced accessories because they locked out unlicensed products (because they don't get their cut from them)

- Older accessories don't work despite having the same connector and function as newer ones

I could go on... I can't speak for others but I hate Gillette, Sony and the XBOX 360 for much the same reasons.

Plus you can get a nice Android or even Windows 7 tablet for half the price which does pretty much all the same stuff as an iPad and a lot more besides, just with a little bit less smooth animation and the Apple Reality Distortion Field.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

IMHO excluding flash is one of the best features of iOS.

How exactly is "excluding it" superior to "not bundling it, but allowing people to get it if they want it"?

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[vux984]

I guess it is good that you can actually already do this with a dongle that weighs like an ounce. Cool thing is your whole tablet does not have be bulkier to support the slot when you are only going to use it once a week!

No its is not good. Does anybody LIKE dongles?

A dongle is a clumsy solution.

They are far more prone to break, or break the port they are sticking out of than a built in slot. They are far more likely to not be around when you need it.

They cost far more.

They have to be in your pocket at the ready for them to be useful. An ipad's light sleek design is somewhat negated if I'm have to carry a bag of dongles around to use with it.

And its still pathetic and slow as molasses. A worthless iReview on iLounge was glowing about how it transfered 500MB in 2 minutes and used only 2% of the battery.

My current camera uses an 8GB card. So apparently I need to wait 32 minutes and consume 1/3rd of the battery. And that's assuming there will be room to copy it over, which is not a safe assumption at all.

Surely it would be a lot better if it just let me access it where it was right on the card.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[hovelander]

"Wi-fi only android devices will always be subpar as they aren't allowed in the google marketplace, and there for won't be given the energy they deserve."

Thanks for writing this. I had no idea this was the case. Seems EXTREMELY short sighted on Goog's part and I hope this changes.

(Been looking at rooting a Nook myself. Happy to see I'm not the only one tempted by the price point tablets should be at.)

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[peragrin]

I believe the exact wording is that it must have a persistent connection. it is why none of the archos tablets have marketplace, or google applications.

There is another restriction on developers that if you use google marketplace you can't use any other marketplace.

Apple may seem hostile but google is trying to actively kill development.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[steveha]

Of course you do choose to exclude yourself from the marketplace that includes more than 90% of the paid mobile apps sold in the past year :)

That might bother me, if there were any apps that I care about that are not available for Android. So far, the Android Marketplace seems to have everything I want.

Also, if you choose to get an iPad, you are letting Apple veto entire categories of apps for you. Specifically, I want Python on my tablet; and Apple's rules forbid ever having Python on an iPad. (It is an interpreter; Apple forbids all interpreters and emulators.)

So from my point of view, availability of the software I want is exactly the reason I would rather have a Xoom than an iPad 2. It is ironic that you tried to raise this as a negative.

steveha

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

nope it does not, rather the opposite

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

I don't know about you but I was around when Flash 1.0 came out. It's has always been quite a piece of shit.

So yes it is a feature, to get rid of it.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Daniel Phillips]

never had a memory issue with my ios device. I had though on some other with removable memory.

Am I supposed to believe an indoctrinated cultist who doesn't bother substantiating their random blather? Issue with removable memory indeed. Did you insert the correct end? Were you trying to insert it into an IOS device? Because you might have issues with that, like no slot for example.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

Nokia e61, e71 I still have the e71 around.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Daniel Phillips]

I heard that iphone antennas have signal strength issues.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[juasko]

Yeah so did the e71 of mine, same issue.

Re:Your needs/desires aren't everyone's needs/desi

[Daniel Phillips]

You convinced me: neither the e71 nor the iphone is worth getting.

Re:waiting

[bryan1945]

I'd give you points if I could. Very nice.