The Ipad ?? Seriously ?? What .. why ???

[WalkinTarget]

Thoughts on the freshly announced Ipad:

It's like walking backward all the way to your destination. It still gets you where you want to be, but with a lot more inconvenience!

Spoken best by a poster on ShackNews:

Why the iPad is useless:

I have an iPhone. It mostly gets used for trivial, pointless sh*t, but occasionally it's really useful. That usefulness is predicated on the fact that it's small enough to carry everywhere.

I have two different laptops, a 15" Macbook Pro (provided by work) and a 13" Dell (bought by me). I can do a lot more with them, and get a lot of real utility out of them. But, they're limited because it's not really feasible or desirable to carry one of them everywhere.

I also have an ebook reader, which is a bit less portable than the iPhone and a bit more portable than the notebooks, but has phenomenal battery life and doesn't induce eyestrain.

The iPad seems to combine all the worst aspects of the first two with few of the advantages of any. It's mostly only good for pointless, trivial sh*t, but lacks the iPhone's portability. It's nearly the size of a notebook, but lacks a notebook's (or even a netbook's) versatility. It won't have anything close to the battery life of a ebook reader, nor will it have an ebook reader's e-ink technology.

So it's not replacing anything I already have, and it's not filling any perceptible unfilled niche. It seems like a solution looking for a problem.

on the above; I had to hear the Mac zealots I work with who appeared to have an instant crush on any new Apple product. They smile, they look soo happy, they do a little dance in anticipation of buying the newest shiny Mac product.



List your pros/cons on this new piece of technology. Why do you need one, or why do you dislike it ?

[BigTwinky]

Dude, its a closer step to being in a world of Star Trek.

The MP3 was created after the guy watched an episode of Star Trek:TNG, which led to the iPods and such today.

[mapes]

Dude, its a closer step to being in a world of Star Trek.

The MP3 was created after the guy watched an episode of Star Trek:TNG, which led to the iPods and such today.

Other weird fact about mp3... The format is optimized for Suzanne Vega's voice. Apparently the guy kept tweaking the algorithm until "Tom's Diner" sounded good.

[Rand{CLR}]

Da da DA da, da da DA da...da da da da da da da da. Repeat several times. Tom's Diner is a great song.

iPad is a dysfunctional, overpriced piece of junk that will sell a bazillion copies. Typical modern Apple product.

-Rand

[DougBob]

Dude, its a closer step to being in a world of Star Trek.

The MP3 was created after the guy watched an episode of Star Trek:TNG, which led to the iPods and such today.

That's exactly where I was going to go. It's the first step towards the work pad used in Star Trek. The iPhone is the first step towards the tricorder

[Skud]

Walking backwards and paying through the ***, or at least from my take on this article. Not only do you get to pay for Apple's trendy designs, but also for stuff that I now browse free of charge. Sounds like a great deal, for suckas!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/te...ref=technology

People who have seen the tablet say Apple will market it not just as a way to read news, books and other material, but also a way for companies to charge for all that content. By marrying its famously slick software and slender designs with the iTunes payment system, Apple could help create a way for media companies to alter the economics and consumer attitudes of the digital era.

Or:

Their optimism for the tablet also stems from consumers? willingness to spend money using mobile devices. In the last decade, while people downloaded music illegally to their desktop computers, they happily paid small amounts of money on their cellphones to download ring tones and send text messages.

The iPhone has provided further proof that the economics of mobile devices are unique: the Apple App Store is expected to generate an estimated $1.4 billion this year, according to an analysis by Piper Jaffray.

?The iPhone was a harbinger,? said Trip Hawkins, a founder of Electronic Arts and now chief executive of Digital Chocolate, which makes games for cellphones. ?When you have a device that is this convenient and fun for consumers to use, you can get a lot more people interested in paying for and engaging with the content. Big media companies should be all over this like a cheap suit.?

[Jenan]

iPad? What is this nonsense!

[FieryDragon]

iPad? What is this nonsense!

Actually, that's what I thought it was. Don't ask me why!

[Duke{CLR}]

Something was needed to keep the Late sipping mac users in line.

My Brother in law is the is the network administrator for a large company here and he is always talking about how great Mac stuff is. When I got my wife a Kindle for Xmass he told her that it would be obsolete in a few weeks because this thing was coming out so there is a little part of me that wants this thing to FAIL.

[juneau]

Da da DA da, da da DA da...da da da da da da da da. Repeat several times. Tom's Diner is a great song.

iPad is a dysfunctional, overpriced piece of junk that will sell a bazillion copies. Typical modern Apple product.

-Rand

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[WalkinTarget]

Apple product comparisons:

The iPod was a personal music and later a video and limited "game/app" device. The latter obviously more of a "can do" versus "is made for".

The iPhone was primarily a phone with PDA functionality and an iPod built in. Feels like either an iPod with phone functionality or an iPhone with iPod functionality. Not sure which, but it was replacing something you already carried in your pocket. Ok, I get the need.

The iPad.

Ok, it can't make calls.
It's an unportable iPod.
It's an eReader with a bright ass screen that will strain your eyes.
It can do limited word/spreadsheet processing.
It surfs the internet the way Apple says you should (no flash, IE: no Hulu, etc).
It plays limited games so it's not going to dominate the handheld market.
It only plays video from the apple store but the iPod et al already do that albeit on smaller screens.

I just don't get what niche this thing is supposed to fill. Is it a crippled laptop or a huge iPod?

And starting at $500 for the version without 3G surfing capability, which arguably is it's strongest trait, I don't see the "Well, I already had one of these in my pocket (cell phone) and this one does it better plus it does tons more (iPhone), so I must get one." argument.

[MTJ=DK=]

Da da DA da, da da DA da...da da da da da da da da. Repeat several times. Tom's Diner is a great song.

iPad is a dysfunctional, overpriced piece of junk that will sell a bazillion copies. Typical modern Apple product.

-Rand

[Rand{CLR}]

The iPad.

Ok, it can't make calls.
It's an unportable iPod.
It's an eReader with a bright ass screen that will strain your eyes.
It can do limited word/spreadsheet processing.
It surfs the internet the way Apple says you should (no flash, IE: no Hulu, etc).
It plays limited games so it's not going to dominate the handheld market.
It only plays video from the apple store but the iPod et al already do that albeit on smaller screens.

You forgot these:

It has only 64 GB of memory for the "top" model.
It cannot multi-task (no background program capability).
It does not have expansion slots.
Nobody has said whether or not it can print.
It has 10 hours of battery life, but doing what? Sitting there, or running video?
It requires AT&T payments, though granted in a new scheme that does not involve locked contracts.
It has a terrible name that is already the source of many jokes.

-Rand

[homosapien15]

I really don't understand what people have against Apple. I have both PC and Apple. I love being able to do whatever I want to a PC, but let me tell you something about Apple quality. I HAVE NEVER EVER RMA'd, returned, replaced, reset, troubleshot anything Apple. They make a good product, the problems are price and exclusivity of software, hardware etc.

iPad struck me as useful in one major regard. If I was doing it all over again I wouldn't have bought a laptop for college. Professors sometimes don't want them in the room, there are computer labs everywhere etc. An iPad though wouldn't be too bad to replace it. It has basic functions that would be useful for a student.

I won't buy one, i have 3 ipods, my macbook, etc.

[ryanbatc]

I'm going to post before I read any replies lol.

A few months before Christmas I bought a 32GB iTouch. So far, so good. The calendar function works pretty well (not as good as my old Palm Tungsten though argh) and like the article you paraphrased, I mostly use it for trivial stuff.... it turns into an expensive game player 75% of the time LOL... Since it's not an iPhone and we don't have wi-fi at work or in my city the only time I get internet services is at home.... So maybe I went a little overboard thinking about getting it in the first place! I believe the iPhone is a better piece of hardware than the Touch because you have internet access.

Now, my thoughts on the iPad.

1) Worthless... why?

Because it's like a cross between a laptop (without a tactile-feedback keyboard - I'm still getting used to the screen on the Touch and dislike it) and the iPhone (similar functionality except for the fact that it's large and you wouldn't want to drop it)

2) This is a product made only for the Apple elitists.... And they will buy it, yes, they will buy it.

3) It will make you look cool... But I'd still rather have either a netbook with a card for mobile broadband or a laptop with the same... Plus you'll get your greasy hands all over the iPad's screen.... Using a laptop you don't notice it as much on the keys.

EDIT: now I have read all the replies... you guys bring up great points about the expansion slots and the lack of software/plugin support.