Opinions - Apple iPad: a new lease of life for the ill-fated tablet?

[HEXUS]

Looking past the hype and hysteria, we examine the credentials of Apple's latest creation.

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[CK_1985]

I was all ready to completely disagree with this article, right up to the last paragraph - which is exactly what I was thinking!

In its current form it's just too compromised , basically taking everything I don't like about my iPhone and bringing it into sharper focus (and charging me £500+ for the privelege!), but with Flash and multi-tasking (not too fussed about camera personally) I think it would be an extremely desirable piece of kit.

As always with Apple, wait for the second generation...

[Stringent]

Typical Apple. Leave some 'features' out for the next version.

How about Bluetooth so you could connect to your phone and use that as your data carrier? Oh no.

[Stefan_C]

Very good article. The most balanced I've read so far.

[SuGaR847]

I know of at least one home this will not be going into... Mine.

[usxhe190]

We just need the Microsoft side of the world to be able to build beautiful pieces of hardware.

[gz5ztg]

I think the people moaning about Flash are missing a point. You mention iPlayer for instance, iPlayer works just fine on the iPhone and will work on the iPad too. Why? because they build in an alternative h.264 based rendering method. As YouTube is also working on too. Eventually the world will move to HTML5 and h.264 and leave Flash behind. It is CPU (and therefore power) hungry and full of security holes.

Multitasking matters for geeks. Not for normal people. Look how many relatives and other non-techies you see with a million windows open on their PCs because they don't know they should close them. Most people do one thing at once. You will be able to listen to music and write an email. That is all most users will want.

So you can't use Spotify and browse the web? Suits Apple as it makes people use iTunes. The fact is that this device will be easy to use for "normal" people, those who using a PC at the moment is a tremendous trial that they have to learn lots of new skills for.

[just_laze]

The large bezel is for holding onto it. If it were any thinner your thumb/palm would obscure the screen.

[Andeh13]

Id still be awfully scared of damaging that massive screen. You couldn't put it in a bag for travelling, or risk catching it on something whilst you walk around or else you'll write off the entire device.

Multi tasking is hugely important if you ask me, listening to music whilst browsing the web, doing work (research for example) or even just use MSN whilst browsing the web. I honestly think multitasking is what a lot of people take for granted & taking it away for a couple of days would prove it. This has the potential for being such an incredible device...but they are missed out some truly vital things imo.


As for Photo editing, how would you edit photos with such poor connectivity? Buy additional adapters? Good luck with apples pricing structure!

[mcwildcard]

I don't see where it fits into the market tbh, I can only assume that Apple are aiming to create a new market for such a device. Doing that without damaging sales of the iPhone might prove a bit tricky though.

[Saracen]

As far as I'm concerned, it's just not versatile enough for a notebook replacement, and largely because of the lack of a keyboard, which makes text entry a pain. It also lacks some things it ought to have like GPS and versatility in connectivity. And from what I read, it's neither powerful enough nor has sufficient battery life (and I know those two are kinds mutually exclusive, but that just proves we badly need a revolution in battery technology to make this viable). It certainly doesn't double as an e-reader because of screen technology.

Will it sell? Probably, because it's Apple and will probably be seen as the latest flash gadget to have (even if it lacks Flash) so it's budding "icon" status will assure it of some sales. But it's too big to be too sexy, too compromised to be a genuinely revolutionary device and looks to be too expensive anyway.

Is this the way of the future? In the sense that the box Brownie heralded the arrival of HD video cameras, maybe. Make it a genuinely portable replacement for a phone, laptop/notebook, GPS and e-reader, with an easy-on-the-eye screen and decent battery life, together with enough power for voice recognition text entry and maybe, just maybe. Until then .... not for me, and not even the power of Apple's mighty hype .... sorry, publicity machine will do anything to ring my bell with this.

[Astridax93]

I am angered by this release. As a student I had been waiting for a touch capable device that was inexpensive, could use flash, could support multiple video formats and decode hd video. This is a dissapointment. It isn't as versitile as a laptop or netbook. Due to the propreitory processor windows nor mac osx will ever go on it. Linux may as you can recompile the source, thats assuming you have access to the boot loader (unlikely).

Why couldn't they just have used x86 nvidia ion as the processor and thereby made it customizable rather than crippling a relatively good device hardware wise with Apple Iphone OS.

Even if Ion would drain the battery like hell, they could have used the Snap Dragon, at least this supports Linux!

As for the multi tasking comment, I often need to do multiple tabs worth of research on my internet browser or don't have enough time to close them, comforted with the knowledge I have finished with them. I've once had 70 tabs open at once, as one website led me to another etc. Multi tasking is imperative, I can't view a pdf and transcribe to a word processor flicking back and forth without throwing the device out the window. This is just a big ipod touch and until Apple do anything to improve its functionality it will remain for people who want to play tap tap on a large screen.

My friends also agree with this opinion!

Oh flash support will never die, if all you use flash for is Iplayer I am very surprised. It has 99% computer penetration and almost all websites have flash, ajax etc reliance. I play the odd flash game, watch videos on youtube. In fact flash must be the most used addon to my browser! It would take far too much time for the whole of the web to forget flash for adaptive content, and why bother, the developers are experience in it, and it performs well when a decent flash app is made! In fact most applications such as word processors etc are heading that way (google docs etc). Web apps and cloud computing seem to be the future.

[Zak33]

last night, I was lying in bed, watching iPlayer for half an hour, on my missus iPod Touch. It was just a little to small for her to see.

iPad... result.

I think, as with all sorts of hardware.. sme people will want to hate it, some wil want to hate it but get to like it, some will be dying to love it but grow to hate it and others will just be besotted.

Each unto their own

I think it's lovely.

[dangel]

'cept it'd suck a bit if you happened to be watching 16:9 material on it's 4:3 screen... oops.

I've warmed a bit to it having seen the video of it running but V2 with new-super-gee-whizz-multitasking is a must (perhaps a jailbreak will cure this?). It's interesting people talk about flash being used *only* for video when it does quite a bit more than that - and what of silverlight? Yes it's new but it's very powerful and we're starting to see some neat stuff there too. Problem is one of a closed eco system - the only framework apple allow is their own: no java, no .net, no flash etc etc which is a huge drawback (speaking as developer) coupled with the mantra of "thou shalt only run the apps which Apple doth approve" which I really hate.

I am going to play with one in the Apple store - because I think the UI has been done very well (again) and I am a potential buyer (of a tablet, not the ipad specifically) too.

[Saracen]

....
I think, as with all sorts of hardware.. sme people will want to hate it, some wil want to hate it but get to like it, some will be dying to love it but grow to hate it and others will just be besotted.

.....

And some, like me, will be "Ho hum. Yawn".

[mikerr]

I think apple is loving its appstore 30% cut of all apps / tunes /films too much.
That's really why they relased a locked down ipad with no way of receiving content other than appstore.
Its not a general purpose laptop, just an itunes client.

How long before we see an app store for OS X ?
How long after that will we see apps ONLY on app store?