iPad

[bascule]

Well, Apple has announced their newest unnecessary gadget for everyone to go out and buy. What do you think about it?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

For unnecessary gadget, it's pretty well done. I like the ideas, the user interface seems good, etc. etc... I just don't see me having a use for it.

 

But then I may not be the best example. The App Store is nifty, but I like a device I can tinker with and install anything I want on. I often fire up the Terminal to tinker with other servers or start shell scripts I use for various tasks (like backing up SFN).

 

Now, for folks who don't do anything but listen to music, write reports, and use the Internet (like most college students I know), this would potentially be a great idea. Small form factor, iWork, Safari, etc.

 

So no, I don't see myself getting one. I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro as it is, and I have a Kindle for portable reading purposes. Any more Internet access and my brain may melt. But it's a really cool idea.

 

edit: wait, damn. They just announced it'll be $500. Nice.

[Mr Skeptic]

Well, I'm holding out for the iRocket to go on the iPad.

[Sisyphus]

A smartphone you can fit in your pocket and have with you at all times. A laptop you can sit down and get some real work done on. A tablet, I guess, would be a really awesome replacement for anyone who uses a clipboard. Right now, I just don't see any use for it. I'm open minded, though.

 

And of course, iPad is a really stupid name. But not as stupid as the premium version, the Max iPad, for total connectivity saturation.

[bascule]

But then I may not be the best example. The App Store is nifty, but I like a device I can tinker with and install anything I want on. I often fire up the Terminal to tinker with other servers or start shell scripts I use for various tasks (like backing up SFN).

 

I'm sure this device will get just as hacked as the iPhone and you'll be able to install MobileTerminal and a full *IX environment onto the thing

[swansont]

A smartphone you can fit in your pocket and have with you at all times. A laptop you can sit down and get some real work done on. A tablet, I guess, would be a really awesome replacement for anyone who uses a clipboard. Right now, I just don't see any use for it. I'm open minded, though.

 

And of course, iPad is a really stupid name. But not as stupid as the premium version, the Max iPad, for total connectivity saturation.

 

There's an obvious joke about bleeding edge technology to be made, but I'm not going to do it.

[Baby Astronaut]

iPad, some use it about once a month.

[Mokele]

Being serious, I could see it being useful of reading PDFs of science articles (since kindle is awful for that), but I'm sure as hell not paying $500 for it.

[CharonY]

I use a tablet notebook for that. It is a bit more expensive but it also serves as a full fledged computer. The only advantage I could see is that it is a bit lighter, but for the price it is not really an incentive for me to get one.

[Pangloss]

Some of the jokes I've heard around the 'net:

 

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Will my wife send me to the Apple Store in the middle of the night to buy her an iPad?

 

If a group of women all buy iPads at the same time, will they sync with each other?

 

Is there a scented model for days when my data isn't so fresh?

 

Will iffy Wi-Fi coverage be called iSpotting?

 

I've heard the iPad is slim and light, but can you swim with it?

 

Does the iPad come with a belt?

 

Can I get the "period tracker" app for free?

 

Is there any truth to the rumor that L7 singer Donita Sparks once threw her used iPad into the audience?

 

------------

 

But the thing I wonder is, what woman would buy one if it leads to an automatic implied joke, e.g. "that woman is on the iPad"?

 

Oh well. Personally I thought the idea was rather clever -- the twist on 'iPod' and all that.

[bascule]

I use a tablet notebook for that. It is a bit more expensive but it also serves as a full fledged computer. The only advantage I could see is that it is a bit lighter, but for the price it is not really an incentive for me to get one.

 

I think the main advantage of the iPad is that all of the applications are designed for a touchscreen interface. There's no cursor.

 

I assume you use a stylus to control your tablet PC? I'm not a fan.

[npts2020]

The two best things I have heard about it are that it will hook up to almost any kind of wifi network and has a 10 hour battery life under heavy use.

[Ouroboros]

'Max iPad', 'glorified clipboard'. comical.

Its definitely the next logical step in consumer electronics. Unifying the features of smart phones, laptops and ebook readers into one device. And all at a very respectable price.

Impressive, but still fairly useless.

[Sisyphus]

'Max iPad', 'glorified clipboard'. comical.

Its definitely the next logical step in consumer electronics. Unifying the features of smart phones, laptops and ebook readers into one device. And all at a very respectable price.

Impressive, but still fairly useless.

 

The problem is that it's not really unifying the features, IMO. A smart phone fits in your pocket. Really, that's the defining feature of a smartphone as opposed to other computing devices. And it seems like it will probably be too much of a closed system to really replace laptops, no matter how big the "app store." Can it even multitask? I mean, I'm all for unifying functions, but if that's the concept here, then so far I'd say it's a fail.

[CharonY]

Bascule, the convertible I use can use stylus as well as your finger. I am not too big of a fan of smearing my fingers over the screen though and for making small notes or sketches the stlyus is much more useful to me. It is simply faster to ink in a document than call up a touch keyboard and type stuff in it.

[john5746]

Oh well. Personally I thought the idea was rather clever -- the twist on 'iPod' and all that.

 

Pretty good. What we really need is a device that is very flexible - can be folded to ipod size or expanded to widescreen size. It could be called....the iRag

[bascule]

Bascule, the convertible I use can use stylus as well as your finger. I am not too big of a fan of smearing my fingers over the screen though and for making small notes or sketches the stlyus is much more useful to me. It is simply faster to ink in a document than call up a touch keyboard and type stuff in it.

 

The iPhone, and the success of touchscreen smartphones (e.g. Android handsets like G1, Droid, Nexus One) which don't use a stylus seem to demonstrate that the majority of people dislike them.

 

I expect we'll see this trend repeated in the iPad.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

The lack of multitasking is also a biggie. I spend most of my time on this computer multitasking -- doing web development stuff (for fun or money) often requires email, browser, code editor, and SSH open simultaneously.

[bascule]

The lack of multitasking is also a biggie.

 

This is far and away my #1 complaint about the iPad, however the iPad will ship with iPhone OS 3.2 and multitasking is rumored to be a feature of iPhone OS 4.0.

 

All the more reason to wait until iPad v2 before buying one, IMO. I'll certainly buy it after I'm sure it can multitask.

[CharonY]

bascule, for phones it is a different matter. But my point was that for productivity purposes (and the iPad is simply too big to be directly compared to a phone) I cannot see it being more efficient. Imagine correcting papers. I can sit in a plane, draw circles around stuff that I like to have changed make a few sketches about how the graphs should look like and hope that someone can read me handwriting (or let the software try to figure it out). That does not work with touchscreens. If I was only texting, well yeah then I wouldn't need it. The only disadvantage a convertible has (again, it comes with a touchscreen) is that it is heavier than an iPad.

But then the question is what the iPad may be for. In the current iteration it is not a good working platform, too big for a mobile replacement. It may be ok for a reader, but bloody expensive and harder on the eyes than e-ink.

[Pangloss]

I agree with the call for multitasking. On the iPhone the lack of it makes sense -- it's a daring and thought-provoking design choice that's given an entire industry pause. But on the iPad it's just a limitation.

 

It also can't run Flash, btw, which is a much more serious limitation for this device, given its planned usage, than it was for the iPhone. Now I personally think the industry should move away from Flash for video (HTML5, woot), but for interactive displays it still makes a lot of sense and I don't see it going away anytime soon. So this is a real problem.

Edited January 30, 2010 by Pangloss

[mooeypoo]

I thought this was amusing:

 

 

I think that at the moment the iPad is probably not good enough for actual use, but I can see a lot of potential for it. Specially in terms of a viable alternative for the eBook readers. It's not too far off their prices, and it'll have more features. There's a market for Kindle and its friends, so even if for nothing else, as a fancy eBook I'd see the iPad succeeding.

 

And, of course, it all depends on what applications will come out and how powerful the iPad will end up being. I can see some use for it in the drawing/artist industry if it is strong enough to run good drawing applications. If scrawl-writing will be recognized well enough, it might be very useful for schoolwork - I'm imagining my textbooks *and*notebook all in the iPad, where I can scribble and write word-like documents.

 

That will make it quite useful. I think we need to give it a bit of time, though. It's a first-release. First releases are usually not quite good enough.

 

It has potential.

 

~moo

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Unfortunately I don't think Apple is big on styluses, and I don't know how well you can do handwriting recognition when you're drawing with your finger on the screen. There was a demo of a drawing application at the launch event, though.

[mooeypoo]

First off, you can buy a stylus even for the iphone that simulates a finger press and is more accurate. I think iPad will have to go into that direction at some point (IE be a bit more accurate, either scribbling/writing or drawing) to get into these markets.

 

I would use it as a notebook if I could, but I wouldn't want to type on that keyboard (seems EXTREMELY uncomfortable) or scribble with my finger when I have quantum mechanics to listen to. I assume that they'll go into a direction that will end up giving them money -- the eBook market is probably one of them. Scribbling/drawing seems to me to be another.

[bascule]

It'd be interesting if Wacom released a pressure sensitive pen for the iPad (using Bluetooth I assume)