Apple Event - Live Blogging/Streaming Coverage

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

You know what I see this as? A killer student device.

Yes. At all grade levels, including college. People bring laptops to many of my college classes now, and the sound of typing is distracting, as well as the screens sticking up between students and teachers, etc. This would be much more classroom-friendly.

Originally Posted by scottjl

yeah. i don't see the need for 3g. wifi is everywhere. maybe if i didn't have a cell phone i'd go for the 3g. but the wifi is good enough. in the worst case i can "tether" it to my iphone and use that 3g connection. count me in for a 64g wifi.. now what to do with my 2 month old sony reader touch. sigh.

Actually, I often find myself using my laptop in a place with no wifi, so if I could afford to get an iPad, I'd probably go for the lower-cost data plan.

Originally Posted by pilotbob

The biggest problem with this device is that it doesn't run OS X.... you can put any app on it. I assume they went with the iPod/iPhone OS because it was much lighter weight than OS X.

I think they went with the iPhone OS because they wanted to maintain control over apps, probably for ease of support. If people can't install any old code on the machine, it's more likely to keep working. In general.

But it's a turn-off for me, too. I'd much rather be able to work directly with the OS. I'm on the command line on my MacBook Pro pretty much every day as it is.

Originally Posted by poshm

The killer features for me would have been stylus annotation and handwriting recognition software.

It looks smart but doesn't appear to do much over and above what my iPod touch already does - well not enough to get me to press the buy button.

Love the tablet concept but I want one I can write and draw on like my Wacom drawing pad but with a full-functioning computer under the screen.

There is handwriting recognition. See the WritePad app at the iTunes store. If you prefer, you can use something like FastFinga to record "ink" notes, and sync automatically with Evernote, where your handwriting becomes indexed and searchable.

Originally Posted by kjk

Apparently the new SDK makes mention of the iPad camera, which means:
a) its just a mistaken reference
b) it was intended to have one but was removed, or
c) it will have one eventually

I used to think I wouldn't use a camera, but since I've been using Evernote on my iPod Touch, I find that I would actually use the camera to store notes, pictures of whiteboard/blackboard contents, books or magazines I see while I'm out, etc. As a data collection tool, a camera is actually quite helpful. If the next version has one, it would come quite close to my long-coveted InfoPad.

[nekokami]

Info about WritePad (HWR for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad) here:

http://www.phatware.com/index.php?q=...tepad/writepad

[Zorz]

lets just say that Im happy I got my eink, if this is the way the market is moving.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by scottjl

well if you're confusing firefox with an operating system i am.

When did I say Firefox was an OS? I think you misread my post. When you asked what app I would run on the OS I said Firefox.

Originally Posted by scottjl

firefox is an application, just as the included browser, safari, is an application. there is nothing stopping someone from porting firefox to the iphone other than apple, or the lack of anyone bothering to port the firefox APPLICATON over. probably because apple has veto'ed other web browsers. opera was ported over and apple forbid its release to the public. if you'd like to see firefox on the iphone/touch/pad i suggest you take your complaint to apple.

You are really telling me stuff I already know. I have been a developer for over 20 years.

And there you hit the nail on the Head... "Apple Vetoed". If this had a "real" OS that wasn't locked down and you could load and run your own apps without going through the "app store" I would consider it a real or full blown OS.

BOb

[scottjl]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Actually, I often find myself using my laptop in a place with no wifi, so if I could afford to get an iPad, I'd probably go for the lower-cost data plan.

my problem is i already pay $30/mo for my data plan on my iphone. why would i pay for a redundant plan on an ipad. fortunately there are ways to share my iphone's 3g via wifi, so the 3g-less ipad makes a lot more sense. now if i didn't have an iphone or a phone with a data plan then the 3g would make a lot more sense.

if you're in the US free (or cheap) wifi is pretty common. most any starbucks, coffee house, restaurant, even mcdonalds now offers free wifi nationwide. for quick email checks or surfing while eating lunch, i'm sure i can find somewhere.

[windylim]

Originally Posted by stustaff

10 hours watching movies! thats much better than pretty much any laptop or netbook on the market and you say 'meh' looks like you have it in for it no matter what..

I'm not 100% sure, but 10 hours is probably average use, and not 10 hours straight watching movies. Also, most netbooks these days have better specs than Apple ipad.

Take Nokia Booklet for example. The 16-cell battery claims you’ll be able to get 12 hours from this mini-laptop with various tasks including watching couple of movies. It also has better resolution if movies are your thing.

But back to reading books... 10 hrs is not really lasting for reading books.

[basschick]

the ipad's got a 1 gig processor - my son's eee pc has a 1.6 gig processor and it cost less. the ipad weighs nearly a pound more than my cybook. but it's got eye candy and toy factor like mad, and it's nice to have sleek gadgets with tons of fun factor.

[Daithi]

I have to agree with PilotBOb in regards to Apple's policy of restricting applications to only those apps approved by Apple and that can only be purchased through their App Store -- this Orwellian limitation is dreadful. I can understand it somewhat as it relates to their phone, but not so much when applied to a tablet. Like PilotBOb, I'd prefer an open operating system.

[charleski]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

When did I say Firefox was an OS?

You should have said you wanted to run Chrome instead

But seriously, the issue here is that Apple regards the iPad and the iPhone as appliances rather than computers. You turn it on, it works and it's secure (jailbroken iPhones obviously aren't Apple's problem).

For the majority of consumers that makes a lot of sense. They don't want to tinker too much and they don't want to have to worry about configuration issues, etc. They don't want to worry about accidentally breaking the machine by deleting a registry key. They want something that 'just works'.

From a personal point of view, I'd agree with you, though. I'd have to think hard before dropping $500+ on a piece of computer hardware that I can't tinker with and configure to my own desires. And I'd certainly want to be able to run apps without having to get permission to do so.

But in terms of the broader market and the appliance concept, I have to admit I think Apple's approach solves a number of problems.

[colinsky]

The fine print:
iBooks available in the U.S. only.
http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/

Apparently this one is not for me!

[scottjl]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

When did I say Firefox was an OS? I think you misread my post. When you asked what app I would run on the OS I said Firefox.

You are really telling me stuff I already know. I have been a developer for over 20 years.

And there you hit the nail on the Head... "Apple Vetoed". If this had a "real" OS that wasn't locked down and you could load and run your own apps without going through the "app store" I would consider it a real or full blown OS.

well. if you've been a developer for over 20 years you'd know it is a "real" operating system, locked down or not. it runs a "real" kernel, provides "real" services to applications and has "real" system libraries. the operating system does exactly what apple wants it to, and more if you jailbreak it.

btw, if you want to toss around street cred, i've got over 30 years in the IT industry including my development on my first unix systems in 1978 (which OS X and the iPhone of today based), before that CP/M.

charleski is right, apple markets this as an appliance to consumers who just want something to work, not to tinker with and that probably fits a few million people. apple will happily take their money and the users will happily use their new ipads.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

When did I say Firefox was an OS? I think you misread my post. When you asked what app I would run on the OS I said Firefox.

Yes, that's pretty much the only app I wish I could run on my iPhone, but can't (un-jailbroken...I'm still not sure if you can jailbroken). It is something that is a significant negative for me (for the iPhone, as well as the iPad), though possibly not sufficient to dissuade me from the iPad.

...
And there you hit the nail on the Head... "Apple Vetoed". If this had a "real" OS that wasn't locked down and you could load and run your own apps without going through the "app store" I would consider it a real or full blown OS.

BOb

This is not a deal-breaker for me. My specific requirements and limited needs generally are amply-and-more covered by the app store (except for Firefox - all those wonderful fart apps just don't compensate ). Saying that, I still manage to empathise with the above. I can easily see that when it came to a choice between a Linux/Windows/iPhone OS X tablet, the first two would instantly be shortlisted for some due to the more "open" nature of the OS. Full OS X on the iPad might have kept it there too. For me, I just recently had a realisation about my requirements, desires, and abilities, and that for this type of device's slot in my complement of gadgets, I didn't need a "full blown OS".

I'd like a stylus though, and the keyboard dock was a significant clincher for me.

Cheers,
Marc

[nonanon]

I'd much prefer this with a 7 inch screen, or even a 5 inch. This size is just too big to carry around, even my A81 7" screen is too bulky most of the time so I carry my Touch instead. Since this isn't much more than a scaled-up Touch I hope they'll offer a variety of sizes.

I'd have to compare this to a tablet PC like the Asus T91 with a 9" screen. But that device has a keyboard, stylus and a real OS (Win XP) as well as 32 gigs of storage (16 gigs of it removable). It's about twice as thick and 1/2 pound heavier with a shorter battery life but it's also only $454 at Amazon. I doubted the iSlate would be what I wanted and it's not.

I'm sure it's perfect for someone but if you want a big screen for movies you can have bigger than 9" with a much cheaper DVD player. For internet I don't enjoy it much without a keyboard as any touchscreen just takes too long and is error-prone without lots of practice. I don't mind LCD screens for reading, I read a lot on my Touch, but this isn't portable enough and is too expensive compared to most e-readers. For gaming this will be great once some of the apps are ported to support the larger screen but at present you choose between a Touch-sized screen or a fuzzier full screen.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by scottjl

well apparently you don't know much about the iPhone's OS as it is a BSD based operating system just as OS X is. what constitutes a "full-blown" OS to you? it runs a kernel which provides services to applications and access to devices (the screen, the radio, the audio port, the speaker, etc.) just because it doesn't include an apple menu or a start button doesn't mean it isn't running a very capable operating system. jailbreak an iphone/touch and browse the file system some time.

Let me clarify.

1) No multitasking.
2) iPhone apps, as opposed to OS X apps.
3) Very poor output options.
4) No handwriting recognition.
5) Max of 64GB drive space.
6) 1024 x 768 display

Instead of putting out a tablet computer, they put out a jumbo iPod/iPhone (and they even left some features out of that since iPhones have both cameras and voice recognition now).

Originally Posted by scottjl

apple leaving out a webcam was smart for them. first, they'll add it to a later generation device and sell you one of those. second, this is designed to be a media player not a media creator. the touch doesn't have a camera either, doesn't stop them from selling. who is going to want to hold up a large unit just to take a photo? use your cell phone or an actual camera for that.

I have no doubt that they'll release another version (probably within a few months of the release of this one) with a webcam. That's not a plus in my book, though. They'll just be selling the same iPad with "new" features they should've included in the first place.

To me, this is similar to the Macbook Air: An underpowered, me-too product.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Let me clarify.

1) No multitasking.
2) iPhone apps, as opposed to OS X apps.
3) Very poor output options.
4) No handwriting recognition.
5) Max of 64GB drive space.
6) 1024 x 768 display

Instead of putting out a tablet computer, they put out a jumbo iPod/iPhone (and they even left some features out of that since iPhones have both cameras and voice recognition now).



I have no doubt that they'll release another version (probably within a few months of the release of this one) with a webcam. That's not a plus in my book, though. They'll just be selling the same iPad with "new" features they should've included in the first place.

To me, this is similar to the Macbook Air: An underpowered, me-too product.

The iPad isn't much of anything, what it actually might be is a very expensive storefront that you carry about with you, and every time you want to pay Apple some money, you can, right away!!