Thoughts on ipad?

[Spud1]

Its an ebook reader, made to compete with the kindle and the latest Asus one (whos name i can't remember).

For that purpose it will be very good - finally one that has enough power to do things like turn pages quickly and have something crazy like a backlight (sony: take note!), and I bet the iBookstore will work really well, as iTunes does.

It will also work well for browsing the web - thats one thing I use my HP TX2 for in tablet mode as you don't need a keyboard when you have multitouch/gestures etc for browsing the net.

However that is about it really - apple have really missed a trick here i think, they are missing a key feature..a stylus! Adding stylus input would mean it could be a proper note taking device (with an apple version of Microsofts amazing OneNote) which a device like the iPad is perfectly suitable for and it could also work well for graphics design then, allowing it to double up as a graphics tablet. This *can* be done with multi touch capacitive screens - the HP TX2 or Dell XT/2 range proves this (thanks to n-trigg) and that would make the iPad so much more appealing..would have a purpose other than reading ebooks then. I predict this will happen eventually but until then...I won't be going near one. I suppose I should be grateful that Apple have messed this one up as it saves me £500!

This will sell by the bucketload for a while though as Apple will do a great job with the marketing, and heck if they really do a good job with ebooks it may well be justified for that market, but as a tablet or "Pad" computer? No its pants.

edit: oh and I forgot the last big thing they made a mistake on - it's not widescreen...and with 1024x768 resolution it's not going to be the best for video playback..they A4 cpu (which is suspiciously like the Snapdragon in specs isnt it? 1ghz arm with built in GPU...) can cope with 720p so I hear..so surely they missed a trick there too? Crazy..

[Bunjiweb]

I'm sure things I will say have already been covered, I cba to read the whole thread, the whole iPad thing is already doing my head in but I have to add my 2pence...

Essentially as people have said it's a big iPod Touch, In a bewildering size, with huge limitations...

- No Flash - How can this be expected to compete with other tablet PCs if it can't offer a FULL browsing experience backed up by flash and HTML 5? Any other Win7 or ChromeOS tablet on the horizon has flash enabled, as it's specification that should be standard for sure. I mean for Christ's sake, even my Android phone has Flash lite, and will get upgraded to Flash 10.1 like alot of Android phones.

- No Camera - Come on, surely you wan't to be able to conference or skype with your tablet...

- No Multi-Tasking - Now what the hell is this about, I would expect some multi-tasking capabilities with this "magical" 1ghz A4 CPU. If I had a tablet PC i'd imagine listening to music whilst working on a word document, or maybe streaming media to my TV using a DLNA program (such as Twonky), whilst maybe reading a new feed or browsing the net on the tablet.

- No Customising - Like with the iPhone/Touch there is a complete lack of customisation to make things the way you want. You are tied into Apples way of doing things and presenting things...

To me Apple have missed out on some crucial things here, and although obviously the Apple-blinded elitists will embrace this with open arms, I will be giving it a wide birth in favour of a Chrome OS or Android (or both) tablet.....

Think I'll stop there before I get more angry!

Ben

[shaithis]

Its an oversized iphone. It will sell as it has an apple logo. No doubt the fans will buy it.

Well, the main problem with it is that it isn't even THAT!

It's just an oversized iPod Touch. The iPhone has a wealth of extra functionality which seems totally absurd!

[Haiku32]

- No Multi-Tasking - Now what the hell is this about, I would expect some multi-tasking capabilities with this "magical" 1ghz A4 CPU. If I had a tablet PC i'd imagine listening to music whilst working on a word document, or maybe streaming media to my TV using a DLNA program (such as Twonky), whilst maybe reading a new feed or browsing the net on the tablet.

That is something I hadn't even thought about to be honest, having never actually used an iPod Touch or iPhone. So you can only run one thing at a time, without even having music in the background? You can't use it to read a book, change to a notepad app and write some quick notes then change back without actually exiting out of each app first? That's absurd, that would totally do my head in.

It doesn't even sound the least bit practical in my mind, how can you do anything meaningful with no multi-tasking? I mean, I could understand if you couldn't run 2 intensive apps at the same time for the obvious knock in performance, but not even being able to play music in the background... come on. The iPhone, iPod Touch and now the iPad have all evolved from the iPod, so they have their roots in a music player, yet can't even do that.

Quite amazed at that to be honest.

[Champman99]

I dont think even as an e-book reader it holds up well im afraid.

The kindle et al have the "ink" screens that don't tire your eyes as much as conventional screens when reading, well in my experience anyway.

Plus of course apple being apple, books have to be bought through them in their format?

[Spud1]

It supports the ePub open ebook format, and others too I think so compared to most dedicated readers it fairs quite well I think.

Ref the multitasking - I am 99% sure that it *will* let you play music in the background on the assumption that it works like the current iPhoneOS - as you can be playing music in the background with the iPhone (or could on my old 2G one anyway), and once jailbroken it was very simple to background processes like SSH etc..but you could not say run 2 apps from the App store at the same time, or safari and also the contacts application.

Still doesn't make it in the slightest bit useful though - oh and I had to laugh when I read that the iWork suite will be available..laughable on a device with no keyboard and no stylus lol.

[Funkstar]

Still doesn't make it in the slightest bit useful though - oh and I had to laugh when I read that the iWork suite will be available..laughable on a device with no keyboard and no stylus lol.

official accessory

[Spud1]

I know you can get accessories for it - but doesn't that defeat the point..? Its like those snap-in keyboard you could add to old erricsson phones to give them a qwerty keyboard - not usable on the move at all and doubles the size of the device...

[Funkstar]

I agree, I don't think there is a lot of point either, I was just stating the fact there there is a keyboard for it.

It would make sense if it was a stripped down OSX instead of the iPhone OS with nobs on.

[dangel]

It supports the ePub open ebook format, and others too I think so compared to most dedicated readers it fairs quite well I think.

Yes aside from two things:

1. apple will use their own ebook format that's completely proprietary and only for apple (yay, we really need more fragmentation in the ebook market!)

2. they can keep there 1024x768 lcd frankly - my e-book e-ink screen pisses all over that for reading

[b0ned0me]

Yes aside from two things:

1. apple will use their own ebook format that's completely proprietary and only for apple (yay, we really need more fragmentation in the ebook market!)

Really? Every ebook forum/blog I've looked at is chuffed to bits that Apple is using bog-standard ePub, same as everyone else apart from Amazon.
I can foresee some DRM aggravation, but then that's hardly new - I had all sorts of fun getting a DRM'd ePub from WHSmith onto my PRS-505.

For us lucky few who already have decent e-readers, decent laptops and decent phones I think this new gizmo has limited appeal (e.g. it might make a decent fist of map/diagram heavy books - a lot of those just don't work on my reader) but if it goes anywhere I think it will be as a compromise 'good enough' e-reader/websurfing/email/to-do-list gizmo, rather than as a 'category killer'.

Right now, I think it's too early to call, no-one knows enough about the thing. As usual, most of the instant commentary on the intertubes is from people who can't even manage to read a spec sheet or a press release. When these things finally hit the street, then some of the negatives people are bleating about will turn out to be non-issues, and some real arse-achers no-one has spotted are bound to emerge.

Next iPhone or Next Newton? Place your bets

[Zak33]

imagine it with a spash proof cover, 1000 recies with videos, and a kitchen.

It's be the dog's knob for that.

/still bemused by self at defending an Apple product that I'l never own.. but feel a bit sorry for the gadget as I've not had a go yet

[scaryjim]

To jump into the eReader argument - I actually *really* dislike e-Ink screens. Why? Because they completely blank out before rendering the next page of text, and I find it really distracting. And I suspect I'm not the only one who finds that. As long as the back light is sensibly adjustable for ambient lighting conditions, I've never found it to be a problem - one of my favourite apps on my HTC Magic is the Aldiko ebook reader, and I've never had any problems reading on it. And of course having a conventional screen and graphics processing means you can have funky page turning effects (if you like that sort of thing ).

[mightymouse]

its not even an extended iphone, its a huge ipod touch if its the wifi only version. what a let down

[dangel]

To jump into the eReader argument - I actually *really* dislike e-Ink screens. Why? Because they completely blank out before rendering the next page of text, and I find it really distracting. And I suspect I'm not the only one who finds that. As long as the back light is sensibly adjustable for ambient lighting conditions, I've never found it to be a problem - one of my favourite apps on my HTC Magic is the Aldiko ebook reader, and I've never had any problems reading on it. And of course having a conventional screen and graphics processing means you can have funky page turning effects (if you like that sort of thing ).

Just blink when you press next page

I have to say e-ink has impressed me vastly - it gets better the stronger the ambient light and it's just so darn sharp!

[Gunbuster]

Thing is we were expecting something on the scale of the first iPod or iMac and we got the next AppleTV. Thats why there is such a back lash.

As a strategic move, it maybe a good one. A foot in the door so to speak. It is kind of a Microsoft-ish move, chucking something out that looks rather underbaked to just get in a market.