An editorial on iPad sales and competition

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Frankly I'm a bit disappointed in the computing power of most tablets. I expect a $500-$700 tablet to have entirely better hardware than a smartphone I can get for $200.

Your smartphone purchase is being subsidized by the phone company for the purpose of getting you to sign a contract. If you buy an unlocked iphone (or any other phone) the prices are very comparable to tablets.

Edit: Correction, an iphone will cost more - $649 for an unlocked iphone 4. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC603LL/A

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

If I only carried what I could fit into my pockets...I'd never leave the house, lol.

Wear these:

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GlennD

Your smartphone purchase is being subsidized by the phone company for the purpose of getting you to sign a contract. If you buy an unlocked iphone (or any other phone) the prices are very comparable to tablets.

Edit: Correction, an iphone will cost more - $649 for an unlocked iphone 4. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC603LL/A

Don't they still make you pay for a data plan?

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I think you gentlemen just need a cute little man purse.

Excuse me, satchel. I think you'll find the lack of space restraints quite freeing.

Actually, it's the restraints that lead to freedom.

What I mean is that having limited pocket space makes me reduce what I carry around to stuff I really need. It's one reason that I don't have a fat wallet - I only keep what I actually need in it.

I routinely carry a tiny pocketknife ("Carrying a pocketknife is the beginning of wisdom" - Mark Twain,) three keys, my thin wallet, eye drops (medical necessity,) a pair of folding reading glasses and my iPhone. I rarely carry coins. Anything else is on a "need-only" basis.

The reading glasses are Microvision glasses, & they come with a very small & unobtrusive belt case.

I do use a "satchel" now & then for particular events, when I need to carry binoculars, chocolate, & other essentials. But I hate having to deal with the thing, and am always afraid I'll forget it under the chair.

So if I make the switch to dumbphone/ipod, it will be a very small phone!

Edit: forgot my symbolic comb in my back pocket.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GlennD

Edit: Correction, an iphone will cost more - $649 for an unlocked iphone 4. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC603LL/A

Way overpriced, since it costs them less than $200 to manufacture.

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Way overpriced, since it costs them less than $200 to manufacture.

Of course - not only are you paying the 'carrier's share', you have to pay a premium for the privilege of getting an unlocked phone in the first place.


To answer your previous question, you don't have to sign a contract for a data plan. But I'd assume you would pay month-to-month like you would for an ipad data plan. I don't know the ins-and-outs of using an unlocked phone, as I've never been remotely tempted to pay the premium for one.

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Wear these:

Or if you want 21 pockets that are far less obvious, check out:

http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/u...go-pants.shtml

I've been tempted by scott e-vest jackets for years. They've got everything from pants to hats to jackets with obscene numbers of pockets and wire conduits.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

You use a mouse with your tablet?

Icky!

Why would I need to use a mouse?

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Way overpriced, since it costs them less than $200 to manufacture.

What about the research, the investments in manufacturing the alloys and other materials, shipping, and the post-sales support?

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Why would I need to use a mouse?

LOL

isn’t it utterly obvious that existing Flash games, which work via keyboard and mouse, wouldn’t work at all on devices which lack both keyboard and mouse?

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/01/29/porno-flash

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

LOL

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/01/29/porno-flash

I'm not touching a link that has the word porno in it, and I don't know what the situation was at the beginning of 2010, but I can tell you that I'm playing flash games by touching the screen with my finger, you know, the usual way. I don't know about all types of flash games, but it definitely works for room escape games and tower defense games.

[din155]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

It really is great stuff. If it weren't for those things, forums like these would be super boring.

You are right.. Karma coming..

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Wear these:

These are rather cute, actually! If they had draw strings at the bottom I could wear them with a cute pair of heels and a tank. Hmmmm.....I could add a string but the color might be off and then there's the whole hem thing....I'm not what you could consider short. Link!

Originally Posted by Harmon

Actually, it's the restraints that lead to freedom.

What I mean is that having limited pocket space makes me reduce what I carry around to stuff I really need. It's one reason that I don't have a fat wallet - I only keep what I actually need in it.

I routinely carry a tiny pocketknife ("Carrying a pocketknife is the beginning of wisdom" - Mark Twain,) three keys, my thin wallet, eye drops (medical necessity,) a pair of folding reading glasses and my iPhone. I rarely carry coins. Anything else is on a "need-only" basis.

The reading glasses are Microvision glasses, & they come with a very small & unobtrusive belt case.

I do use a "satchel" now & then for particular events, when I need to carry binoculars, chocolate, & other essentials. But I hate having to deal with the thing, and am always afraid I'll forget it under the chair.

So if I make the switch to dumbphone/ipod, it will be a very small phone!

Edit: forgot my symbolic comb in my back pocket.

You know, its when I don't have a purse that I loose stuff...but I try to keep my knife on my person, too. It'd get lost in my purse.



Most of my clothes also have rather shallow pockets and are cut too close to the body for carrying bulky items...but I blame that on current women's fashion. I remember a time where I could drop a phone in my pocket and go.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

Most of my clothes also have rather shallow pockets and are cut too close to the body for carrying bulky items...but I blame that on current women's fashion. I remember a time where I could drop a phone in my pocket and go.

Just hang on. When you get old, you make your own fashion. I, for example, wear socks with my sandals. The practical reason is that when it's hot enough to wear sandals, my office is too cold not to wear socks (even though I have...um...done things that can't be done to the non-reprogramable thermostat.)

However, as a result, the fashion is now (1) to wear sandals to the office and (2) wear socks with the sandals. Those who ignore this fashion are not comfortable and have cold feet.

(When you get old, you can wear purple, right?)

[Greg Anos]

Yep, as a geezer in training, (at 54 1/2, no senior discounts yet...), who'd a thunk that I could now carry a library over 1,000 books, and a complete music library as well (over a 1,000 LP's worth of music) and a player, for under a pound (1/2 Kilo).

To quote Old Dorcas (in the Digby Allen series) "Aye, we live in an age of miracles."

(However, like the surgeon in Heinlein's Lost Legacy, I don't find a portable, always with you, phone an unmixed blessing....)