Boston Herald Bashes iPad

[richman]

Just like for the itouch, 3rd party companies make stuff for these devices and I'm sure OPENING up the option for SD slot or USB port would have added more uses for the IPAD. I prefer to use USB port instead of SD slot, since my usb hard drive hold more. But if no usb at least give me a SD slot so I could import my photos or take with me SD cards filled with stuff I use for work or pleasure. And to allow others to show me their stuff on the IPAD. I guess you can convince yourself you don't need USB or SD slot on the IPAD but really I think you will miss it over time. I know I would have liked to have SD slot on my Itouch or zune. It would turn the IPAD into something that could play all my media on my hard drives. 3rd party apps could do it, just like 3rd party apps do all the other cool stuff on my itouch. And my apps are always being updated.

[scottjl]

Apple is giving you a SD slot, it's coming as a $29 accessory in a few weeks. Apple's software is limiting it to importing photos (and maybe video). But it might be possible to import other file types, we'll only know when it's finally available. No, it isn't a built-in slot, but at least it will be an option.

[richman]

Originally Posted by scottjl

Apple is giving you a SD slot, it's coming as a $29 accessory in a few weeks. Apple's software is limiting it to importing photos (and maybe video). But it might be possible to import other file types, we'll only know when it's finally available. No, it isn't a built-in slot, but at least it will be an option.

Thanks for the heads up. At least that is an option. I'm sure over time they will be able to make usb port using the same adapter type principle. 3rd party apps can always expand the uses, we all know that. Maybe I'm not being fair about no sd slot/usb port, because I'm sure lots of companies are figuring out ways to make an adapter that does turn the apple port into a usb port!

[scottjl]

Apple iPad connection kit

[richman]

It looks promising and it seems to do both SD/ and usb options on it. And although apple is not gonna expand on the USES, 3rd party companies sure will!

p.s. I saw take down pictures of IPAD and there is a lot of free space available on the inside of unit, probably next years version could have usb port inside, since this adapter in effect turns the apple port into usb port. I guess apple realizes too that if it's gonna be a MEDIA device you need to be able to add media too it on the fly.

[scottjl]

if apple lets them. i don't know if apple provided APIs to 3rd party developers to access these devices. it would be nice, but don't hold your breath.

apple could add internal ports, but they would require extra hardware and drive the cost up. if this turns out to be a big seller, then apple might look into it. but if people don't go out and buy this connection kit, then the demand obviously isn't there.

just a note, this type of connection kit (well the SD reader) was available a few years ago for the iPod. it allowed you to upload photos into your iPod for storage until you got home (cleaning up a card for your camera). it wasn't a big seller back then and was dropped by apple. rumor is this SD card reader is exactly the same, but i don't know of anyone who has both in-hand and opened them up to check.

[richman]

The bottom line is MASS appeal, I'm sure Apple is doing all types of focus group studies to see what would make a person buy this product and what feature the "study" found that a large segment of population would NEED to have on a device like this. If it is profitable to apple they will add the feature.
Over the next year , we will start to see how it plays out, the NEXT month is the HONEYMOON phase , the next 11 months will show us if apples plan worked or not. So much hype the last month , pro and con , it's all good for apple. At this point I take my netbook/laptop with me because usb hard drive option gives me complete access to all my media. This IPAD limits me to the small 16/32/64 gigs of storage that has to be linked with itunes (if apple can help it).

p.s. For me, the IPAD with regular usb port that can see my MS drives as hard drives and be able to play media on those drives would sell me on the IPAD. My laptop/netbook/media player can do it, I would want my Portable IPAD to do it too!

[stustaff]

there will not be a USB port because it wont 'just work' think about it. as Scott said not everything will work, the basic stuff might eg HD's and keyboards etc...
however will my new camera plug in? what about my new media keyboard 6 months down the line or my webcam etc etc

Apple will never want a situation where mr non tech joe public see's a USB port on the iPad! because then Joe will think he can plug in his X USB device and when nothing happens he will think device is flawed.

Launching the SD/camera kit as a very specific device is really the only option as this wont cause the same end user issues.

[richman]

Thing is I do understand what you and scot is saying BUT , and it's a BIG BUT, just like everything else for the Itouch and Iphone, companies would put out stuff that would say on the package "this works with the IPAD". Plenty of stuff I see in stores works for MAC and other stuff works with MS , and some stuff works for PS3 and some stuff works for xbox 360. I'm saying that would NOT be a problem because 3rd party companies would let us know what products would work if we did have USB on IPAD. And companies could create apps that would work if given the chance.

And if apple doesn't want to give them a chance, than I'm out of there and others like me would look for a similar device that would ALLOW that FREEDOM. Somebody will step to the plate unless this "apple" model convinces other companies they can make more money tieing people to their product and selling them our MEDIA. Which is what APPLE is trying to do.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by richman

I guess you can convince yourself you don't need USB or SD slot on the IPAD but really I think you will miss it over time. I know I would have liked to have SD slot on my Itouch or zune.

Well, it just depends on what you need to do. I would like USB just to make it easy to get my PDFs and other documents on and off the device--but again that's moot without having a file system nor drag and drop--so for now (and likely for good) the iPad is out of the question for me.

But otherwise SD/USB aren't a big deal on a tablet due to how I'd use it:

I want a tablet for:

-Reading and marking up scholarly articles, Word docs etc.
-Reading newspapers, magazines comics etc. in apps or downloads
-Streaming video from network apps, netflix etc.
-Surfing the net.

I'm not going to put my music on it (already have my whole collection on my laptop, work desktop, creative vision M and some on my iPod Nano). And I don't do digital movies--rather watch on my 50" tv than on a tablet or laptop--just do without when traveling or stream movies on netflix. Don't care about putting photos on it (don't take many pictures--don't even have a working camera at the moment).

But yeah, it's a lot more of a need for people who rip their dvd collection into digital versions, want to play music on it, want to put photos on it etc.

But while I'd like USB for convenience, it's not a deal breaker as I don't need it for storage/media purposes given my use of a tablet device.


But in any case, the iPad will never be the tablet device for someone that wants any USB drive to work (or other USB devices) etc. That's just not Apple's MO. Wait for a good windows 7 or maybe Android tablet for more open support on those and other fronts.

Android is what I'm waiting to keep an eye on. I don't need a full OS sucking battery life given my limited uses for a tablet.

[richman]

Dmaul1114!
Sounds like we have been pondering the IPAD and you have your needs pretty much nailed down, and the IPAD would be able to do the Major stuff you need. You pretty much covered the basic's , and if another company can put out a product like the IPAD with 10 hour battery life and usb and other cool stuff , seems more closer to my Media Needs. Scot already has his IPAD and he is able to live with the limitations and went into it Knowing the limitations. I'm thinking a USB/SD slot is important to ME. And I don't know how important it is for the masses, I guess we will find out.
p.s. I'm sure if a company does create a device like the IPAD that gets great reviews and has the usb/sd slot and get's 20 hours battery life, IPAD 2 will then try to out-do it and rethink it's GAME PLAN. Competition benefits all of us. I don't know if another company can produce a 10-20 hour battery life, I don't like my netbook/notebook because of the 2 hour battery life. You know what I mean, if I leave my netbook sit for a week, I never know if only 1 hour or 2 hours is on it, sucks. Love the small form factor but battery sucks , that's why I was thinking about IPAD.

[dmaul1114]

Yeah, the iPad is VERY close to my needs. Just falls short in:

1. No file management system. It's just too much of a pain in the ass to get PDFs and other documents on it, organize them, have them accessible to all apps that support that file type etc.

2. Going along with that--no drag and drop. iTunes sucks for anything other than music or movies.

3. Screen is a tad small. An extra 1" or so would be a big help with A4 PDFs

4. Would like built in stylus support for document mark up.

So the iPad came close, but I'll wait and see what other tablets come out, what the 2nd gen iPad looks like etc. I really want something that matches the form factor, ease of use (UI etc.), battery life etc, but has a full file system, drag and drop etc.

I'm not big on early adopting things anyway. You just pay a premium to get less features and more bugs. So I usually wait for 2nd or 3rd gen products.

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by scottjl

... apple could add internal ports, but they would require extra hardware and drive the cost up. if this turns out to be a big seller, then apple might look into it. but if people don't go out and buy this connection kit, then the demand obviously isn't there....

Actually, the main reason is not demand, but that if there were internal ports, it may make it easier for users to bypass iTunes and load media on the iPad.

If you could load your own copy of Lost before your trip, why would you pay to get it from iTunes?

If there was USB port, someone may even write drivers and an app allowing a USB TV tuner on the iPad, and there goes Apple's scheme to sell you TV subscriptions in the near future.... You wouldn't want to do this to Apple, would you now?

[dmaul1114]

Yeah, that's the big problem with buying devices from companies that are also content providers.

Their devices will always be more closed and restrictive as they have an incentive to lock people into their store, vs. making the device as open and easy to load with content from a variety of sources as possible.

[scottjl]

Um. I already load all my own TV and movies. I've never bought a single episode off of iTunes. Yes, you have to load them in through iTunes, but you don't have to get them from there. I actually prefer to rip my own music and movies as I tend to do so at a higher quality (lame --preset extreme and HandBrake High Profile) than what Apple sells. So don't tell me you can't load your own content and have to buy from the Apple store, that simple is not true. What's wrong with using iTunes for uploading your content? You don't even have to have the content loaded into iTunes if you turn off the "Copy files into iTunes Media folder when adding to library" option. All my media is shared from a linux server running Samba. I can access it from my Macs, my PC's and other Linux servers in my household, not to mention things like an XBox 360, Wii and Network Media Tank in my home theater. I dump what I want into a playlist in iTunes and that playlist is synced into my iPad. For easy management I have separate music, move and tv show playlists. Easy to drag in and out as I decide to change content. One sync and there it goes. I sync whenever I'm back at home anyway just for backups, so it's not a hassle for changing my content. Would drag-and-drop via the Finder be easier? Actually no. Because with iTunes I don't have to navigate my huge folder structure (albums organized by artist then album name). It's easy to sort and search in iTunes. Ok. I could use Spotlight, but it isn't as easy and I'd still have to use iTunes for Podcast and application management.

Really, what's with the hatred of iTunes? While it has it's flaws, it still is a decent application for managing a music and video library. Could use some improvements to bring it up to Calibre level for books though.

You also have the option to stream using excellent programs like Air Video which even work through 3G. So you don't even have to copy the content over to the iPad, or use up your space if you're on a 16G model.

@dmaul1114, if you're using GoodReader, check out the network mount (aka. Professional Transfer). It allows you to mount your iPad as a network shared drive. From there it's a simple drag and drop, folders, files, etc. using Windows Explorer or the Finder on the Mac. Far easier than the Web page method and great for batch uploads and downloads.