Quote:
Originally Posted by athlonkmf
Apple's 500 dollar is a hell of a price for what you'll be getting. At least no competitor can come close. hard and softwarewise.
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Competitors can certainly come closer on hardware. Apple isn't doing anything there that can't be done by others, and at comparable or cheaper prices.
Software is another matter. I'm waiting to see what the next version of iOS for the iPad brings to the table. The iPad got knocked for not having multi-tasking. This was deliberate on Apple's part, as a means of conserving battery power - background tasks use it. This limitation is supposed to be addressed by a software update.
The same issue affects Android devices, and there was discussion on the Linux kernel dev list, because Google engineers had submitted Linux kernel patches to allow the entire machine to be suspended that they had implemented in Android and wanted to put in the Linux trunk. Some kernel devs weren't happy, but the feeling seems to be "This is a legitimate issue. Unless someone has a better idea of how to do the same thing, the patches ought to go in. You don't
have to build a kernel with the patches active, even if they're in the source..."
There are an assortment of Android based tablets in the pipeline. How competitive they'll be will be a matter of software, and whether the vendors can craft UIs approximating the functionality and ease of use of the iPad.
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Dennis