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Retail giant confirms it?s stocking the Apple iPad as it opens its second UK store near Southampton.
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Retail giant confirms it?s stocking the Apple iPad as it opens its second UK store near Southampton.
GOD DAMNIT! Why oh why cant they open a store in Plymouth? Seriously all thats around here is Pcworld/currys/comet and one or two tiny shops, I would like to go into a electronics store and be able to pickout good prices please :P. I only go in the above stores if theres one of them massive sales/random discounts and thats about it however i would rather have a scan store or something here :P.
Fry makes the point that the "hate boys" are inclined to going a bit over the top and that the negative emotional reaction against all things Apple has, perhaps, overtaken the positive emotional reaction that the fan boys have been getting on everyone's nerves with for some time now.
I can't fully understand how things became so polarised and heated, especially when all dedicated Windows users I know seem to despise Microsoft and all Mac users I know concede that their loved products are consistently overpriced. There are doubtless other concessions, which would be made by both parties as long as they did not feel overly compelled to do so.
We don't HAVE to be the Sharks and the Jets. There is more than enough space and common ground for open-minded discussion and compromise.
I like Stephen Fry - but he really doesn't offer a balanced view on things-with-fruit-logos in all honesty. There's much to love about Apple but (like anyone) they're far from perfect and it's nice to have a more neutral assessment of their products and so I don't really give him much reading when I want to know about new products like the iPad.
Me, i'll be getting my hands on one in-store and having a go. But I don't really want one anyway.
I personally think the Apple notebooks and desktops are great although somewhat expensive.
However when it comes to the iPad there are other alternatives like the Dell Streak too so people should not be pulled in by the fruity marketing too quickly! ;)
If you have done your research and the still want it fine but many people are probably pulled in by the marketing so it is important they actually know what they are getting.
It would not surprise me if many people will buy this device thinking it will replace a notebook for general usage.
Quoting Agent from another thread:
"We have a guy at work with a shiny new iPad who insists on flashing it about at every opportunity. Thing is, he doesn't actually do anything on it apart from the odd bit of browsing (keyboard + mouse please! :)). He bangs on about how cool X and Y apps are, but their real world use is minimal - with laptops / netbooks / desktops beating it in the situations he mentions.
Look at the app market - some cool stuff.....for 10 mins. At which point you'll quickly realise that the number of apps you'll use day in, day out is tiny and a laptop / netbook would probably be better suited for.
Of course, all IMO, but I'm yet to see the iPads killer app."
http://forums.hexus.net/small-form-f...ml#post1929646
The iPad is basically an iPod Touch with a 6 bit IPS screen and a bigger battery!
http://www.chipworks.com/Apple-iPAD-Teardown.aspx
From the article:
"Apple has relied on tried and true technology for the first generation of this device. In some cases, technically speaking, Apple has even gone backwards from what we saw in the latest generation iPhone that we have torn down.
Case in point, Apple is not using the do-all touchscreen controller from Texas Instruments that it used in the iPhone 3G, but has instead gone back to the three chip solution seen in the iPhone 2G. Of course, the same space limitations aren't there in a large device, and so we would speculate that the three chip solution had a lower overall cost. You can see from the image that, relatively speaking, the iPad is basically a giant battery with a tiny board attached to it (outlined in red), with some space left over for a future 3G mobile communications board."
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.downloads...e-internal.jpg http://www.chipworks.com/uploadedIma...-Image3-sm.gif
I drove past this the other day while going to the Sainsbury's at Hedge End and thought I was seeing things, because I was sure there was only one store, and it wasnt there.
Phew, I'm not going crazy!
£100 for a 3G module on top of a data plan says it all. Can't believe people are buying them.
Well if it had a USB port they wouldn't need to, because they could get at least in theory get a third-party USB dongle. It's kindof amusing anyway.. a fool and his money are easily parted. They're boosting the economy. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by ilh
Exeter will have one before us (LOL) ! :crazy: Always the Apple store in town by M&S ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hicks12
"Personally" I have no need for something like this, its too large & its a status thing !...
Well you could just use a MiFi with the wifi version.Quote:
Originally Posted by ilh
But bear in mind only the 3G version has GPS too.
I popped in at lunch (Work 2 minutes walk from it).
Very impressed with store but prices not much better than PC World (minus the weekend opening deals).
From what I remember -
PC games seems to be roughly RRP (COD:MW for £25, COD:MW2 £35).
[Prototype] Preowned on Xbox was £30 - I purchased for £13 in game the other day.
Logitech X-210 (Which I've wanted for a while) where £29 - You can get these for £21 online. (The X-540 where £60).
Bluetooth headsets started at £20 (Tesco there about £15).
HDMI leads started at £15!
USB leads £9.
Picked up a Toshiba HDMI dvd player for £15 - very pleased but did turn down the £15 HDMI cable!
Also only saw one person purchase a ipad and someone trying desperately to show one off at the exit (Only had a few people looking at the demo as well).
Thats terrible, exeter getting it before us? :D. Im not interest in Apple branded stuff just simply would like an electronics store that KNOWS about electronics and doesnt just hire computer rejects to sell items.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andi-C
Correction, it has A-GPS (assisted by the 3G network and wi-fi hotspots). Proper GPS (like I have on my Android smartphone) is a completely different thing...Quote:
Originally Posted by mikerr
Apart from this, I'm glad this forum is home to some well balanced mentally stable people that are intelligent enough to not get drawn into the extreme amount of bullsh*t surrounding the iPad, why on earth all these hundreds of thousands of people need one is beyond me. About it's only perceived use to me would be for someone who has NEVER had a computer before and wants an easy door into the world of portable computing, without the confusion of a PROPER OS with FULL connectivity that a latptop / netbook / proper tablet would give them!
And I think that's enough use of the word 'proper' for one day!
Ben
The 3G version has "proper GPS" just like an iPhone 3G has proper GPS.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunjiweb
AGPS is *in addition* to GPS , that's why its called "assisted":rolleyes:
The non-3G version has no GPS at all.
To further what Mike said, A-GPS is better than normal GPS as it can get a lock quicker if it hasn't been used in a while or in a new location. It uses the cellular network or known wireless hot spots to get an approximate lock, before working out where the satellites are.
Have a good look through YouTube on Best Buys and their Geek Squad. It's not been all roses for the stores in the USA. They've been very naughty on occasion to their customers.
:O_o1:
Spotted it yesterday - its about 5 miles from me - huge queues outside too. Once the hype has died down I must take a look and see how it compares with the US stores.
Got someone next to me in my office right now, who bought a non-3G iPad yesterday. It know where we are, so I have to assume that there's some kind on GPS functionality there.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikerr
Guys: Just because you don't perceive a value in it for yourself, it doesn't mean that others are wrong to do so for themselves. While this product, like all others from Apple these days, is overpriced (especially for 3G) and absurdly overhyped, it does not necessarily mean that it is also a pile of crap. Try to be balanced critics and give some credit as well; it's a new product and it's social and technological significance is far from established at this early stage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyhook_WirelessQuote:
Originally Posted by hermano pequeño
[qupte]At the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2008, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that both the iPhone and iPod Touch will use Skyhook's WPS as the primary location engine for Google Maps and other applications. Skyhook WPS is also available on the Apple iPad, launched in March 2010.[/qupte]
It's using known wireless networks in your area (whether is it connected to them or not) to estimate it's position. This is not GPS. GPS uses satellites to triangulate it's location anywhere in the world, that's why it's called Global Poitioning System. A non-3G iPad will not know where it is if it can't find any networks, a 3G one will find it's position anywhere in the world.
Oh and this technology freaked out a friend of mine when he got an iPod Touch :) He didn't know they had integrated this software into the Touch and he couldn't understand how it knew where he was. It's normally him that tells me about things like this.
There's actually 4 different types of A-GPS, which I previously hadn't appreciated. One is as I described and uses the GPS location of the cellular towers together with triangulation of multiple towers to provide a location.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikerr
Other, seemingly newer definitions are as you've described. This is the problem when these terms are not industry standards.
Next time however, try not using the :rolleyes: smiley.... It seems rather condescending.
Ben
Don't forget to go to your local Maplin Electronics store. It has HDMI leads from £9.95. Sells iPod and computer stuff too.