No multitasking, no flash, no real OS, no front camera for video conf, AND tied to ATT's miserable network? This is the biggest flop Apple has ever done. It's a giant iphone, nothing else!
Do not want. The talking heads are claiming the Kindle is dead. How can it be dead when this costs 2x as much and has a rip-off data plan associated with it?
There are a lot of little things that don't make sense. For instance, it looks like the only way to hook up a USB camera or SD card is through a dock adapter, which I don't believe you can use when the keyboard's plugged in (to the dock). Even without worrying about the keyboard, the ergonomics of using it in portrait mode with an adapter plugged into the bottom are funky. How hard would it have been to include a USB port or SD card slot?
For the price they're asking, they could have resolved those minor quibbles and found a way to enable multitasking.
Netbook is a better (and cheaper) portable machine and the Kindle/nook is a better e-reader.
I think with the 'iPhone' 4.0 OS which i suspect will come this summer, we might finally see background apps. At which point I would possibly take another look.
People saying this will kill the Kindle have probably never used one. This is everything you DON'T want in an eReader for twice the cost and a fraction of the battery life.
LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited January 2010
Just curious, as I've not read up on any of the 'reader' gadgets. Do the other readers, like Amazon's, have newspaper reader features? I noticed that the Ipad (i-Pad, whatever) has a NY Times subscription available.
This, to me, seems to be something that could be useful for someone who spends a lot of time in a train, or someone who has a lot of idle time to kill in cafes, those that won't kick you out if you aren't buying. Neither one of those categories apply to me, so I'll continue to march on with my desktop and laptop computers. I feel so depressed that I'm not fashionable. Oh, I forget - I have an older generation blackberry that I turn on a couple times a week to check the voicemail box and text messages.
Seriously, my old-fashioned self can't really wrap my hands around what/when you would use such a tablet. I do though, wish Apple well, if they are filling a market niche (a niche for which I am not worthy to enter). The gadget is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it...or so someone might say. Sorry, I see something like that (any manufacturer) and think, well, for $125, it might be a cool gadget to play with awhile, then give to my daughter or hawk on Craigslist.
Yep, other "true" readers have subscription services for papers of record and business publications. Pretty much any paper of note (The Times, WSJ, NY Times, Washington Post etc.) already have content available. And, you don't have to swing for an additional data plan with those readers.
I like it, I'm disappointed that there was no mention of multiple processes and no Flash but the former can be rectified with a quick Jailbreak and the latter I hope we'll see taken up by the Jailbreak community. Otherwise it's pretty much exactly what I wanted minus the cameras I had hoped for. That said, it looks nice, I think it will sell well, but I'm not going to go nuts over and I certainly don't see picking one up right off the bat and I sure as hell won't be waiting at the Applestore overnight.
No, for me the biggest disappointed was that there weren't updates to the iPhone nor update to the desktop versions of iWork and iLife. I had really hoped we'd see a new version of iWork that would include modern versions of Mail.app, iCal and Address Book, the ones that come with OS X are getting horribly outdated.
In the end, iPad looks cool, I'm very glad we can get the damn rumors and speculation posts out of the way and if nothing else, that is a huge win for any of us that read tech news.
In the end, iPad looks cool, but is a device that is not on par with current gen devices and it is x2 the price. GG Apple sell us old tech & call it new!
Of course you like it chris, you like anything Apple
Hardly, I've posted decidedly more criticism of Apple on Icrontic then I have fanboy praise, I get labeled a fanboy here because I don't automatically dislike everything Apple does.
It will effect the Kindle market certainly, though I do think the Kindle will hold it's own much better then most people are claiming. However, you have to remember that Amazon isn't just in the hardware industry for the Kindle, they're in the content delivery business too. There's already a Kindle app on the iPhone, I would expect that it will be on the iPad too, and it's also on Windows, coming to OS X and I think it's on the Android as well (anyone confirm?). The Kindle could die today and Amazon would still be able to make money on the brand, especially if they can offer content that Apple won't be able to on iBooks.
I expect the nook to cut into Kindle sales more than the iPad. I'm surprised Apple approved the Kindle app for iPhone given that it "duplicates functionality". Heck, I half expect them to pull the app now that they are releasing the iPad... make sure there's no competition for the iTunes store on it.
They can't push up the marketing until they can even meet the initial demand. Some people who ordered when it was first announced still haven't gotten theirs, from what I understand.
Thrax
🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
Comments
For the price they're asking, they could have resolved those minor quibbles and found a way to enable multitasking.
I think with the 'iPhone' 4.0 OS which i suspect will come this summer, we might finally see background apps. At which point I would possibly take another look.
This, to me, seems to be something that could be useful for someone who spends a lot of time in a train, or someone who has a lot of idle time to kill in cafes, those that won't kick you out if you aren't buying. Neither one of those categories apply to me, so I'll continue to march on with my desktop and laptop computers. I feel so depressed that I'm not fashionable. Oh, I forget - I have an older generation blackberry that I turn on a couple times a week to check the voicemail box and text messages.
Seriously, my old-fashioned self can't really wrap my hands around what/when you would use such a tablet. I do though, wish Apple well, if they are filling a market niche (a niche for which I am not worthy to enter). The gadget is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it...or so someone might say. Sorry, I see something like that (any manufacturer) and think, well, for $125, it might be a cool gadget to play with awhile, then give to my daughter or hawk on Craigslist.
No, for me the biggest disappointed was that there weren't updates to the iPhone nor update to the desktop versions of iWork and iLife. I had really hoped we'd see a new version of iWork that would include modern versions of Mail.app, iCal and Address Book, the ones that come with OS X are getting horribly outdated.
In the end, iPad looks cool, I'm very glad we can get the damn rumors and speculation posts out of the way and if nothing else, that is a huge win for any of us that read tech news.
The best thing to come out of this is the iTampon trend on twitter.
Hardly, I've posted decidedly more criticism of Apple on Icrontic then I have fanboy praise, I get labeled a fanboy here because I don't automatically dislike everything Apple does.
The Nook looks so awesome but outside of IC I haven't picked up any buzz about it, they really need to push their marketing more.