Apple Event - Live Blogging/Streaming Coverage

[LS650]

I have noticed a lot of "it's just a big iPod Touch" comments. To me that's what's appealing: I have an iPod Touch and think it's a terrific device that I use every day - but the screen is way too small. I can definitely see buying the 16GB model and carrying it my backpack when going to work, travelling, etc.

That said, I don't think it's quite the "game changer" that the iPhone was, rather a fairly large incremental step to the next generation of multimedia internet devices.

[kilron]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Are we sure about the "no multitasking" part?

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

My take on it from the announced details:
-No Multitasking. Lame, would want to listen to music while reading, have a web window open while marking up an article to allow searching for other articles etc.

multitasking is something most people don't care about. the iPhone and iPod touch also do not have multitasking for the most part. however the functionality to switch between programs and have your same info be there is something that IS there.

saying that it doesn't have any multitasking is actually incorrect. i'm sure it will multitask just like an iPhone and iPod touch. what does that include?
you can listen to music from your iTunes player while using any other app (mail, web browsing, eBook reader, 3rd party apps, etc..). also, email can be setup to check periodically in the background as well.

there are always a few people who want multitasking, but the VAST majority of users really couldn't care less about it other than listening to their music while in other apps, which is ALREADY has the ability to do. the dark side of multitasking on battery based devices is that it both slows processes down considerably and also drains battery life much faster.

so the question is, how are we judging this? are we judging it as a multi-purpose mobile device or as an eBook reader? i don't think most people see lack of multitasking as a negative when talking about eBook readers.

[dioib]

Originally Posted by kilron

multitasking is something most people don't care about. the iPhone and iPod touch also do not have multitasking for the most part. however the functionality to switch between programs and have your same info be there is something that IS there.

saying that it doesn't have any multitasking is actually incorrect. i'm sure it will multitask just like an iPhone and iPod touch. what does that include?
you can listen to music from your iTunes player while using any other app (mail, web browsing, eBook reader, 3rd party apps, etc..). also, email can be setup to check periodically in the background as well.

there are always a few people who want multitasking, but the VAST majority of users really couldn't care less about it other than listening to their music while in other apps, which is ALREADY has the ability to do. the dark side of multitasking on battery based devices is that it both slows processes down considerably and also drains battery life much faster.

so the question is, how are we judging this? are we judging it as a multi-purpose mobile device or as an eBook reader? i don't think most people see lack of multitasking as a negative when talking about eBook readers.

You've got to have an enormously big heart not to care for multitasking..

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by kilron

so the question is, how are we judging this? are we judging it as a multi-purpose mobile device or as an eBook reader? i don't think most people see lack of multitasking as a negative when talking about eBook readers.

It's clearly not an e-reader. It's a multimedia tablet that had reading as one of it's function. I think e-books was the last bullet point on Apple's early slide listing it's features. As such it shouldn't be compared to e-readers. It should be judged as a multi-media tablet.

One can of course discuss how well it does with e-books, but it shouldn't be held to the same standards as a dedicated reader. It should be judged on how well it does everything that a person who wants such a device wants to do with it.

And for the earlier part of your post, of course we're all only talking about what we want/need out of a tablet device.

If most people don't need multitasking, that's fine.

For me, I want something that's basically a PC that I can comfortably hold like a legal pad and read and mark up academic PDFs, student's papers etc. And it would be nice to have the internet up at the same time to run a search related to that. To have music playing so I don't have to bring an mp3 player along with it etc.

But I'm still impressed. Nice technology and $500 for the 1st generation model is a lot lower than I expected. Now I'll just wait for them to add multitasking, stylus annotation in a later generation. Or for someone else to put out a tablet that fits my needs for a similar price in the meantime.

[jupstin]

Originally Posted by philippd

I am really disappointed that the ipad hasnt got a pixel qi display. Apart from that it might become a nice-to-have device. But it's not a must-have like an iphone

I completely agree. I don't think Steve Jobs mentioned eye strain during the entire presentation. If it had a PixelQi screen, I woul dalmost certainly get one

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by lifevicarious

I'm not saying their claim is true, but it says what it says...

Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music

I see what you're saying now, but I think that the specs are just badly worded. There's no chance at all that you'd get the same battery life listening to music as you would watching video. Every tech review I've ever read of a multimedia device, bar none, always shows more battery life for music than video. The presentation seemed to say that you could expect 10 hours total out of the device. That's not bad for what it is (a lot of netbooks can get 8, and I've heard of a few that can get 12, so 10 is probably average), but it's a different thing from 10 hours of continuous video.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

I think e-books was the last bullet point on Apple's early slide listing it's features.

I've watched/read live blogs of Apple's presentations for a while-this one was good, but felt a bit uneven. I think there was probably more stuff they wanted to have ready (streaming TV, newspaper deals, etc.) that just didn't make the deadline. I bet eBook negotiations went up to the last minute as well, hence it being added last.

I definitely don't think the iPad we saw today is going to be the same iPad 6 months from now...we are also waiting for iPhone OS 4.0, which will affect it.

[jupstin]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

It's clearly not an e-reader. It's a multimedia tablet that had reading as one of it's function. I think e-books was the last bullet point on Apple's early slide listing it's features. As such it shouldn't be compared to e-readers. It should be judged as a multi-media tablet.

This is true in general, but on a website called Mobile Read, I think it's fair to expect us to evaluate it primarily as a reader.

[bhartman36]

Personally, if I was in the market for this kind of device, I'd get an Archos 9 PC tablet. It's only $50 more, and you get a webcam and a real OS (not just a cell phone OS).

I think Apple lost an opportunity to put an updated version of OS X on this thing. Sure, the iPhone apps get all the hype, but they're very limited, compared to what you can do with a full-blown PC OS.

[Teddman]

Personally, if I was in the market for this kind of device, I'd get an Archos 9 PC tablet. It's only $50 more, and you get a webcam and a real OS (not just a cell phone OS).

I think Apple lost an opportunity to put an updated version of OS X on this thing. Sure, the iPhone apps get all the hype, but they're very limited, compared to what you can do with a full-blown PC OS.

I agree... It's tough to go from one wait to another, but I'm now waiting to see how the HP Slate stacks up. It's got a similar form factor to the iPad but will run full Windows 7. You can read just about any ebook on the planet on that thing and have full access to the internet and your favorite PC applications.

The iPad is very, very limited compared to the HP Slate (if it delivers).

Personally, I'm more than happy with my 505 for e-book reading. A tablet would be for comics, web media, and drawing apps.

[joblack]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

1024x768 is the resolution.

Yes they adjusted the specs - still not enough for reading DIN A4 pages.

[CyGuy]

My take so far:

Win:
10 hour battery life
9.7” screen
Half inch thick
ePub support
Video support
Multi-touch
Bluetooth
Wi-Fi
Accelerometer



Fail:
No SDHC or SDXC card reader built-in
Tied to iTunes
$130 for 3G ability
Border around screen too large
Apps from their app store only
4:3 aspect ratio
Proprietary sync cable instead of mini USB
Keyboard dock is $399
No USB ports on device

[whitearrow]

Wow, so, it won't play my big collection of xvid video files? I'd have to convert them all? Ugh...

[freecia]

Originally Posted by kilron

so the question is, how are we judging this? are we judging it as a multi-purpose mobile device or as an eBook reader? i don't think most people see lack of multitasking as a negative when talking about eBook readers.

If it were to just be an ebook reader, I would probably have problems with the battery life and the storage structure. I'm already stuck with whatever storage mechanism Apple/Amazon/etc give me.

If I were to use it for my own documents like Word files from work, I want a better way to fetch and file. Fetch, as in how can I easily save it to the device. File so I can find it and clean it up easily.

On the plus side, I must say I'd be happier to read and mark up work papers on a device that I can lock with a code. I don't care if someone makes off with my paperback but my work papers are a different issue (unless it's one of my out-of-print keeper books, that is).

Battery life. Oh how I love having decent battery life. It isn't until I switch over to a battery gobbling smartphone or my laptop battery starts to deteriorate that uncharitable thoughts about the device starts to come. I like to charge mobile devices once every few days. Manually sync maybe once a week. Maybe other people won't be bothered as they already dock/charge 2 or 3 things in preparation for bed and keep chargers everywhere important.

[Daithi]

Surfing The Web
I had a netbook with a 10" screen and I found the screen a tad too small for surfing the web. I really had to squint when viewing a lot of sites. Maybe having the ability to zoom in and out on the iPad's screen will alleviate this problem. I think I would need to see one in person to decide if it would work for me. Having 3G access to the web, wherever I am, definately has a certain appeal.

Watching Movies
This looks like a perfect application for the iPad. The only drawback appears to be the squarish aspect ratio they chose. It is a mystery to me why they didn't choose something closer to 16:9. I would think that the latter form factor would also be better for surfing the web and reading books. I really wonder why they decided to go with squarish aspect ratio.

Games
I don't play a lot of games, but the demo video that showed that racecar game really looked slick. Turning the iPad was like turning the car's wheel -- yeah I could see myself waisting some money buying games, and I'm not even a game player.

Books
This looked really slick too. I like seeing all the covers in color, and having a store in color that loads quickly would be great; even Amazon's store on my PC takes too damn long to load pages -- when I try to scroll and the page does nothing I get pissed. Having books in the ePub format is also great. HOWEVER, I'm not paying 50% more for my ebooks and I don't want to read my books on a backlit screen.

Bottom Line
I like the concept, but I don't think I will take the splurge just yet. I think I'll wait a year and see what is available at that time. I'm really hoping the Mirasol technology pans out, and that by Christmas we'll be talking about Amazon's new Apple Killer.