iPad Without Pixel Qi, the Apple iPad fails

[Charbax]

Originally Posted by charleski

The primary issue was probably one of availability. With screens only coming into production now I doubt PixelQi could have guaranteed Apple the quantity of screens they'd want.

Pixel Qi is designed to be mass manufactured according to demand from day one. If Apple puts a billion dollars on the table, you can be sure Pixel Qi would deliver just as many screens they need.

Originally Posted by mores

direct-sunlight-reading is one of the last things I am bound to do

Pixel Qi does not require direct sunlight to be readable. In fact, ambient light is better than direct sunlight on the screen. Ambient light such as reading in the shadow of the sun is the best way to read on the Pixel Qi screen.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Frankly, I think it's barking mad to suggest that the iPad is going to be a "failure" because it doesn't use a specific screen technology. (...)

I confidently predict that it will be a huge success.

During the next few months, several other companies can unveil $200 10" Tablets that run 50 hours on a battery, that are actually readable using Pixel Qi screen technology, and that will be able to multi-task and do all the other much better things that Android does so well and that will only do even better for higher resolution larger screens.

The ipad will not sell more than the Apple TV, if you want to call that a failure or not, I dunno. That's still potentially a few million devices, it's just not going to revolutionize anything.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Precisely, and I think that's the point that some people may be overlooking. The majority of buyers will be purchasing it for music, video, web browsing, etc, not as a book reader.

Music is better on a pocketable device, video is better on the HDTV, web browsing is better on the laptop. A 10" Tablet can only be good if it is good for reading. If you are the type at all that enjoy reading and eventually taking notes on A4 sized pages.

Originally Posted by delphidb96

That is not to say that the 3Qi tech won't be better, just that I'm not really ready to commit to a 'product' which can't state it *is* available or will be available within the next two months.

Apple prides itself (and by its legion of fanboys) for being an innovating company, which means that Apple should be one of the companies pushing new technologies into the market. I just don't find them innovating at all if they don't push the market forward using Pixel Qi screen technology.

Originally Posted by Sonist

Regardless of what a few here and there think, Flash is one of the most widely adopted internet technologies, with practically 100% install rate. (...) the lack of Flash (is) unacceptable

Let's use Android Tablets instead. Full Flash 10.1 support in Android is imminent. No reason Android Tablets can't do as much if not much more than the ipad.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Charbax

Music is better on a pocketable device, video is better on the HDTV, web browsing is better on the laptop. A 10" Tablet can only be good if it is good for reading. If you are the type at all that enjoy reading and eventually taking notes on A4 sized pages.

But if you're that type and will be taking the tablet everywhere for reading, note taking etc., it's nice if it can do music, video, web, e-mail, be your PDA for calendar and contacts etc. so you don't have to carry the tablet and a laptop and an MP3 player and a PDA etc.

I want something for reading and marking up academic pdfs mainly, but I'd really like it to do the other stuff as I'd get more use out of it, vs. pulling it out to read and mark up some documents each month.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Charbax

Let's use Android Tablets instead. Full Flash 10.1 support in Android is imminent. No reason Android Tablets can't do as much if not much more than the ipad.

Sure, no reason at all-from a technical standpoint. Just wondering why they aren't already out there in droves. The OS was released around the same time as the original Kindle (Nov. 2007).

[Charbax]

Originally Posted by kjk

Sure, no reason at all-from a technical standpoint. Just wondering why they aren't already out there in droves. The OS was released around the same time as the original Kindle (Nov. 2007).

Archos has what I think are much better value Android tablets. The Archos 5 Internet Tablet is pocketable, available for $249 in Radio Shack, and the 7" version will be available next month probably even cheaper at $199, the the 5" Archos price will probably go down as well.

At CES, I filmed several large screen Android Tablets by MSI, Asus, ICD, Freescale, HP, Sony, and there are dozens more in my Tablets category http://armdevices.net/category/tablets/ , among all those are giant manufacturers of consumer electronics.

Google has yet to officially support large Tablet screens with Google Marketplace and other official higher resolution and larger screen support. Though all these Android Tablets are obviously going to be supported officially by Google very soon which will accelerate the rate of them being released to the market.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Charbax

Archos has what I think are much better value Android tablets. The Archos 5 Internet Tablet is pocketable, available for $249 in Radio Shack, and the 7" version will be available next month probably even cheaper at $199, the the 5" Archos price will probably go down as well.

At CES, I filmed several large screen Android Tablets by MSI, Asus, ICD, Freescale, HP, Sony, and there are dozens more in my Tablets category http://armdevices.net/category/tablets/ , among all those are giant manufacturers of consumer electronics.

Google has yet to officially support large Tablet screens with Google Marketplace and other official higher resolution and larger screen support. Though all these Android Tablets are obviously going to be supported officially by Google very soon which will accelerate the rate of them being released to the market.

Looking forward to seeing them!

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

No, again it's that it would cut into their app business as many of their games, apps etc. are free on the web in flash applications.

Many of those games and apps are also free on their appstore too though, I think it's wrong to try and nail down a single reason why flash isn't included when all of them are going to be valid to a greater or lesser extent.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by JoeD

It sounds like the displays are not far from been available in products, from what was said in the video I'd expect we'll see products shipping this year that use it. The quality (as everyone here already knows) of reflective displays for reading comfortably combined with the ability to have colour and video makes this tech really interesting imo, to the point where I would put off an iPad purchase to see what products ship this year using it.

Sure you can put off purchases forever waiting for the "next big thing", but if products will be on the shelves by Q3-Q4 of this year, that's not much time to wait for what may be a real change in display tech.

That's the kind of attitude I have to this stuff at the moment as well, I'd quite a tablet that would complement my existing sony reader, particularly with regards to technical works, comics and magazines and while the ipad could fill this role it seems worth it to wait and see how good something like the notion ink adam or another pixelQi devices turns out in reality.

[Demas]

Originally Posted by Charbax

Music is better on a pocketable device, video is better on the HDTV, web browsing is better on the laptop. A 10" Tablet can only be good if it is good for reading. If you are the type at all that enjoy reading and eventually taking notes on A4 sized pages.

This is a terrific point and exactly why I've been waiting for a true lightweight and fast slate... I'm sure it's too early for proper ink support (public needs to be sold on the slate form factor first to inspire developers to get behind it as integrated input; I can't fault MS for believing, but the public support of the hardware just wasn't there yet), so for now, I'm happy with a true versatile reader.

E-ink's reading experience is way too limiting... good at just long-form linear reading... LCD provides the versatility reading, in general, demands... but at the cost of battery life, daylight, and comfort. Pixel-Qi is exactly the technology a versatile reader needs (even the impressive Mirasol cannot be backlit and is far too expensive to scale).

I can't fault the iPad for not going with the technology because, despite the wild imaginations of buyers entertaining the fiction they will use this on the go, the fragile iPad really is a device that will never leave the home.

"NPD Group also notes that netbook manufacturers have focused on the devices’ portability to market them to consumers, and 60 percent of consumers cite portability as a main reason why they bought a netbook. However, NDP Group notes, 60 percent of buyers said they never took their netbooks out of the house again once they got them home."

However, as a lawyer, I do need a rich, response, open, and versatile reading device and am eagerly waiting for devices like the Notion Ink Adam to hit the market. I'm sure the e-reading experience and versatility will meet or exceed expectations... my only concern is that Google will be slow in supporting non-phone Android devices. It has taken them ages to bring premium Android content to a handful of just phones (G1, Hero, Droid, Nexus One, etc) I fear they may drag their feet with Android devices from smaller manufactures (the big guys seem taken care of, Dell's Streak/Mini5 has Google's proprietary Google Map app) like Notion Ink (Archos, MSI, etc).

That said, those things are ancillary to the reading experience, they're just concerns about getting the most out of an Android device... ironically, even if Google doesn't get in gear, just on pure hardware these Android tables already have many times over the functionality of the iPad.

[scottjl]

Originally Posted by Charbax

Pixel Qi is designed to be mass manufactured according to demand from day one. If Apple puts a billion dollars on the table, you can be sure Pixel Qi would deliver just as many screens they need.

do you think apple in no way considered the Qi? i would think apple considered every alternative and there had to be some reason they went with the screen they did. they didn't just throw a dart a board and see what screen it hit.

During the next few months, several other companies can unveil $200 10" Tablets that run 50 hours on a battery, that are actually readable using Pixel Qi screen technology, and that will be able to multi-task and do all the other much better things that Android does so well and that will only do even better for higher resolution larger screens.

the nice thing about technology is there is always something else coming out 6 months down the road. how long do you wait before you actually make a purchase? i could be using my iPad for lots of things for the next 6 months while you wait on the possibility that other manufacturers might announce a device, and wait longer for it to actually ship.

The ipad will not sell more than the Apple TV, if you want to call that a failure or not, I dunno. That's still potentially a few million devices, it's just not going to revolutionize anything.

can you give me winning lottery numbers too? you have no facts to back up this statement.

Music is better on a pocketable device, video is better on the HDTV, web browsing is better on the laptop. A 10" Tablet can only be good if it is good for reading. If you are the type at all that enjoy reading and eventually taking notes on A4 sized pages.

hmm. i seem to remember lots of boomboxes selling in the 80's that wouldn't fit into anyone's pocket. a lot of video looks just fine on standard definition tv (just ask netflix, they don't even stream hdtv and their president just gave a ton of excuses why). who says web browsing is better on a laptop? you? ok. that's your opinion. i certainly wouldn't mind not having a heavy, hot laptop sitting on my lap while i'm surfing and reading news lying in bed.

Apple prides itself (and by its legion of fanboys) for being an innovating company, which means that Apple should be one of the companies pushing new technologies into the market. I just don't find them innovating at all if they don't push the market forward using Pixel Qi screen technology.

ok. so apple. just because they don't use a screen that you seem to be a fanboy of, is a failure? i don't see any other company coming out with a device capable of what the iPad will be able to do, with the media (music, video, applications, and books) available on day one, in the next 60 days. i'd say apple sure is pushing some new technology into the publics hands and they stand to make a boatload of money off of it.

Let's use Android Tablets instead. Full Flash 10.1 support in Android is imminent. No reason Android Tablets can't do as much if not much more than the ipad.

here's one good reason. no one has one for sale.

[Demas]

Uh, the not "heavy, hot laptop" is called a netbook which is less expensive than the iPad and provides a more complete web experience if not outright better if you're willing to pay iPad level prices. While they don't provide a smooth capacitive touch experience (barring new-comers like Lenovo's offering), that arguably incidental to web consumption.

As for Android "tablets"... there's already a couple out right now, they've just been dismissed as PMPs, MIDs, etc. Only now that the iPad has been revealed as a large PMP (specifically the iPod Touch), the next generation of Android tablets warrant attention.

The reality is that if you want iPad functionality, you can already get it today... you just don't get the Apple brand (or arguably do if you buy an iPod/iPhone) with an Android device. The near-gen Android slates are that much more capable with that many more kinks ironed out which is why they're worth consideration.

[scottjl]

i have an eeepc 1000. it's light. it has a smaller screen than the ipad will and it most certainly does get hot on my lap. browsing the web on it is a mixed experience. firefox frequently pauses while it churns on media heavy web sites, the fan kicks in on high. it is not the same experience as browsing on one of my desktops.

for the existing android tablets, if they're so great, why aren't they making the news daily and selling out everywhere? as for the next gen devices, see my previous comments about waiting 6 months.

don't get me wrong, i don't hate android. i want it to succeed, competition is a good thing, it drives innovation.

[Demas]

I'd say you need to revisit the netbook market which has changed quite a bit in 18 months (which isn't surprising since netbooks are meant to represent the very edge of value). Today you can get 10" books that run SSD so cool they're fanless, sub $500 easy, with processors a lot better than at the beginning of the netbook phenomenon.

As for the existing Android PMPs, they ARE everywhere in Asia and Europe, affordable and with everything the iPod does minus the app store and plus connectivity/open environments (particularly important in China with interest in pirated media). They're not prevalent in the West as much because we're more brand conscious and can afford to be. Asian PMPs also tend to have resistive screens for character input but there are still capacitive options (and knock-offs of options).

As for "next gen", That means the next generation of the first generation of Android PMPs which predate the iPad, which means they'll be at market essentially the same time as the iPad (before, during, or after is more market strategy than anything else). Most of the Android smartpad/slate (semantics, but I reserve tablet for full tablet computers with full OSes) manufacturers share the same ethic as netbook OEMs (heck many ARE netbook OEMs) so the delay is so they can freeride on Apple's marketing.

Let Apple spend all the money developing American's brand conscious interest in tablets, then swoop in with cheaper more feature filled options that American's didn't know they wanted until Apple told them so. Again, if you REALLY wanted it BEFORE the iPad announcement, you could've looked for that functionality and been surprised to find a several slate-styled PMPs out there... but, in American, it's not until a big dog adopts it do we care.

As a practical example, devices like the HTC HD2 or Dell PMPs are developed first in Europe or Asia until they can get their branding and marketing in order and then come out stateside.

[Demas]

A more concise way to put it... the acronyms PMP (portable media player) and MID (mobile internet device) have been around a long time before the iPad. People are still clinging to the anticipation of a tablet (as in slate form PC with a desktop OS) which is both why there's a lot of resentment about the iPad AND a lot of excitement about it (imputing "tablet" connotations to something that is just a PMP/MID). So much so that people have trouble NOT calling it a tablet (and even Jobs, in his keynote, use the NYT "no one has been this excite about a tablet" quote... though he NEVER used the word "tablet" personally).

But when you take a step back and look at what people ACTUALLY want to do with the device, nearly all of it falls under MID territory which we've had for a while now.

This isn't to say that the branding and ecosystem don't make a difference, of course the do. But at the same time, I keep reading over and over, "This would be perfect for this and that" where people are looking for a purpose for the iPad and nearly always one that could be filled by a MID right now, no wait necessary.

[scottjl]

ok. there have been plenty of MID type devices which have been around, but none of them have been breakaway successes. why?

one important thing the ipad has that none of these devices ever will, is the itunes store. while many of us here are happy using itunes or lame to convert music, and handbrake to convert video, the same can't be said about john and jane public. with the ipad you're not only getting a capable media player, you're also getting an extensive audio and video catalog to purchase content for your device. it's the reason ipods sell so well, the store is so well established.

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by scottjl

do you think apple in no way considered the Qi? i would think apple considered every alternative and there had to be some reason they went with the screen they did. they didn't just throw a dart a board and see what screen it hit.

I think Apple just chose the screentype which has to best colors and viewing angle at @home situations for all type of media.

In this case, I think IPS has more vibrant colors than pixelqi (from what i've seen of pixelqi's demo's).

Sure pixelqi is great for outdoors, but I can count the times I've read outside the 4 years I had my sony reader with 1 hand. However, I can't even imagine the number of times I've read indoors.