Apple iPad

[Highway of Life]

Of course a car and bike could be stolen, chances are when your bikes stolen your not even next to it.
But I doubt you would leave your iPad unattended? It's smaller and lighter than a car or bike.. so it's much easier to get away then say a car, because a car is a huge object that can be seen a mile away.. something small enough to go in a bag is easier to conceal and rob..

Exactly... BUT! It’s not easier to steal than a cellphone or expensive smart phone. You wouldn't leave a Droid or iPhone unattended any more than you would leave an iPad unattended. The iPad is not easier to steal than a cellphone. And TBH, it’s not really much easier to steal an iPad than a laptop. A lot of people carry around 13” laptops, if left for a second in many urban areas, you’ll find it missing just as quickly as an iPad, cellphone or smartphone.

In the airport, no matter how big your bags are, you wouldn’t leave them unattended for 3 seconds, you could find them missing just as quickly.

Like with everything apples makes it's not all 150% aesthetics, but it has a huge part to do with aesthetics. Steve likes everything to have no buttons.. to be basic yet nice on appearances, but if you compare the price, just get a laptop.. if you had the choice which would you buy a laptop or iPad?

You’re correct that aesthetics play a huge part, Apple prides themselves with great hardware and great software, in functionality, usability and aesthetics.
The iPad has literally no learning curve to it. It’s so easy to use. And you still missed the point. It’s not designed to replace a laptop. I have a laptop because it’s what I use everyday to work on... writing, programming, video editing, and photo editing, but an iPad is meant to suit a somewhat different purpose. It’s meant for consumption of data, not so much creation of data. It’s a fantastic portable device that I would carry around with me, to places I wouldn’t even carry my laptop. Just because it might not suit a purpose that you can think of, does not mean it won’t suit a purpose for someone else, and be a valuable gadget for that purpose.

The price is more than a cheap laptop, so what? If I had the choice between your Acer extensa and the iPad, and both I have tried/used. Then yes, I would choose the iPad in a heartbeat.

[Green Light]

The price is more than a cheap laptop, so what? If I had the choice between your Acer extensa and the iPad, and both I have tried/used. Then yes, I would choose the iPad in a heartbeat.

There is where I disagree.
I could do the same things the iPad can do, and some, except for touch screen.. I might not be able to use it's apps.. but that doesn't matter to me. It's cheaper.

[KevC]

I just had a go on an iPad

A bloke from work bought one (64gig). Delivered to the UK including import taxes for under £600.

It's veeeery nice. But also quite 'heavy'. It doesn't take long for your wrist to start aching a little bit. But to be fair I wasn't sitting on a sofa with it on my legs as you probably would use it. You also tend to switch a lot from landscape to portrait and back as some things look better or work better in one mode or the other so you twiddle it round a lot.

The screen is beautiful. Very bright, sharp and clear. It works exactly like an iPhone or Touch. You just tap on what you want or swipe across the screen. I had a go on wikipedia for a test web page to look at. You get a better view in landscape mode I think as the text is larger. You can wipe your finger up and down the page to scroll and you can click the pictures and pinch to zoom in.

Also had a little go on the pop up keyboard which actually worked pretty well. It's fine for short emails but I don't think I'd want to write long messages like this on it. I also had a go on the books, calendar and itunes which all looked nice.

He had a fantastic4 movie on it. Played nicely but it did look a little pixelly to me. Certainly not DVD sharp.

Then we had a look at a Marvel comic. That was very cool. Very sharp images and you can either see the whole page on one screen or you can tap a 'cell' and just have that on the screen and the flick to slide in the next cell or the other side of a larger one. Very nice fade and scroll effects.

Oh and if you think it's just a big iPhone that can't make phone calls.... it does. He has a VOIP app and used it to call the work phone to demonstrate it.

Would I like one?
Yes

Do I need one?
No

If I was loaded I'd probably buy it as a sort of coffee table toy to surf the net but I've got a MacBook that already does all of the things I need.

Very very nice bit of kit though.

[god0fgod]

"He had a fantastic4 movie on it. Played nicely but it did look a little pixelly to me."

But can you improve the encoding? I don't know what options itunes has for that.

[keith10456]

I would love to see a tablet device that's similar to the iPad in style but posses the abilities that I actually need.

As it stands, when you put them on a scale, outside of the design/style your average netbook wins by a landslide compared to an iPad.

The iPad has too many "it doesn'ts..." for me - considering the cost. In addition, I don't want to have to use an "app" for every single thing. Apps are fine for phones because they're small. However, a device the size of an iPad shouldn't need "apps"... But Apple isn't giving up that money machine.

I truly wish HP, HTC or someone else create a tablet device with that includes:

• Full Internet access (I want Flash)
• Ports (USB,etc)
• Access to my harddrive (ie netbook/laptop/desktop)
• The ability to install "applications" (not apps)
• Touchscreen technology that matches the iPad
• WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.

[Green Light]

I would love to see a tablet device that's similar to the iPad in style but posses the abilities that I actually need.

As it stands, when you put them on a scale, outside of the design/style your average netbook wins by a landslide compared to an iPad.

The iPad has too many "it doesn'ts..." for me - considering the cost. In addition, I don't want to have to use an "app" for every single thing. Apps are fine for phones because they're small. However, a device the size of an iPad shouldn't need "apps". However, Apple isn't giving up that money machine.

I truly wish HP, HTC or someone else create a tablet device with that includes:

• Full Internet access (I want Flash)
• Ports (USB,etc)
• Access to my harddrive (ie netbook/laptop/desktop)
• The ability to install "applications" (not apps)
• Touchscreen technology that matches the iPad
• WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.

Check out hp.com/slate..
I also heard rumors that google was going to come out with one.

[keith10456]

Thanks for the update. It looks great!

It appears to have a everything I was looking for (and everything the iPad doesn't). One of the deciding factors will be the price.

A front facing camera would be a great addition as well.

I suspect the gen 2 version of the iPad will have one.

[Highway of Life]

Great article about Flash and why it should not be on Mobile devices: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

Personally, I hope Flash will eventually die and that HTML5 will become widely accepted.

[AdamR]

Great article about Flash and why it should not be on Mobile devices: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

And you believed that? That letter is a page straight out of the PR Handbook. It's the whole "give them a bunch of really good sounding reasons why we're protecting them from the evil Adobe, but completely ignore the real reason" routine. They like to use this trick in politics all the time. "Don't worry, these new laws that restrict you will protect you from evil terrorists." The fact of the matter is that Flash would directly compete with the App Store, and they don't want that.

Personally, I hope Flash will eventually die and that HTML5 will become widely accepted.

I would agree that Flash should die. And HTML5 will become widely accepted just like HTML4.1 was. It's inevitable. But it has absolutely nothing to do with Flash. Flash isn't just about playing videos. Technologies such as Flash and Silverlight provide rich media experiences and fully-featured web applications that JavaScript+HTML5 simply cannot provide. Full "cloud" technologies which can interact with the user's computer, such as connecting with webcams and other peripherals.

iPhone OS hasn't been getting Flash support because it would allow developers to create web-based applications which they otherwise have to submit to the App Store. It's that simple.

Google seems to have a different mentality: http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/android-flash/
Maybe it'll put some pressure on Apple.

- Adam

[keith10456]

It's funny how Steve neglected to mention that Apple recently changed their terms so iPhone apps are to be written only in Apple-approved programming languages and not on 3rd party platforms (such as Flash).

Steve seems to think that he is the one that decides if "we" should use Flash or Html5 (or anything else). That decision should be made by the consumers, developers, etc.

Yes... Apple has the right to not support Flash. But don't try to make so we don't have a choice in the matter. Like the Internet community should convert right now because Apple said so. I should run to my desktop and re-design my website - pronto!

If Microsoft would have pulled something like this with one of their products the outcry would be huge! But because it's "Apple" it's OK... Give me a break!!!

[Marshalrusty]

Brilliant invention: on/off toggle.

Proof of Concept:

Flash support: On - Off

People (and the media) have been bringing up the lack of flash support on the iPad (and iPhone) for a while, which Apple now has at least responded to. Most other companies would be concerned by justified criticism or would even have predicted the criticism and rectified the situation. The great news is that it's only software, which means you can ship it as an update after the device has been released. Furthermore, Apple is already planning a major OS revision to add another important feature.

Yet they've decided not to include flash, despite the fact that some percentage of consumers will not buy an iPad or iPhone due to lack of flash support. From my perspective, the reason is what Adam said above: they calculated the expected lost iPad sales due to no flash and compared the amount to the expected long-term loss from apps if flash was included. It's clear which of those is higher, so there's your reason.

Bottom line is that while Apple makes some products that I would generally consider purchasing, their business practices keep me from doing so. For a company that has often been seen as the anti-Microsoft, they are far more closed and secretive. It is not possible to install software on an iPad/iPhone (without jailbreaking it, which they have argued violates the terms of use) from anywhere but Apple. Likewise, they reserve (and exercise) the right to reject any app from being made available by developers. When their ad network is released later this year, they will keep other networks from staying competitive on the devices by limiting their access to information that would properly target ads. While all of this is fantastic from a business perspective, I will have none of it.

[ToonArmy]

Great article about Flash and why it should not be on Mobile devices: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

Personally, I hope Flash will eventually die and that HTML5 will become widely accepted.

I find it ironic that their objections to Flash are Adobe's absolute control over the platform, much like the iPhone OS.

[keith10456]

Great article about Flash and why it should not be on Mobile devices: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

Personally, I hope Flash will eventually die and that HTML5 will become widely accepted.

I find it ironic that their objections to Flash are Adobe's absolute control over the platform, much like the iPhone OS.

Exactly

[JimA]

Great article about Flash and why it should not be on Mobile devices: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

For the reasons already mentioned by the people here above, I disagree with most of the contents of this article. As per Chris, Steve is accusing Adobe here for being closed, but they should look at their own products. Their iPhone OS is closed as well. The fact that they "adopted" open languages doesn't have anything to do with it.

Basically with Apple is doing is controlling everything that their customers might want on their devices. Which is bad, the customer has bought the product and the product has great abilities, why not let the customer decide what to use these abilities for?

Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010. We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath.

This is something that striked me as well. Adobe has been trying for years to get the iPhone "code" so it would have been easier for them to develop Flash for their devices. Apple has resisted to do so and has resisted to provide any co-operation for the reasons that Adam already mentioned. And now Apple's complaining that Adobe is slow in getting Flash on a smartphone? Unbelievable. Even if Adobe would ever be to finish a working engine, Apple wouldn't accept it anyway.

The difference is striking: on an iPhone, for example, H.264 videos play for up to 10 hours, while videos decoded in software play for less than 5 hours before the battery is fully drained.

Well, my laptop does 3 hours before the battery is empty. There's enough people that would accept 5 hours. And who's going to spend 5 hours on and on watching videos? Even if someone would want to, just let them do it. That's the big problem of Apple.

[god0fgod]

Great article about Flash and why it should not be on Mobile devices: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

Personally, I hope Flash will eventually die and that HTML5 will become widely accepted.

I find it ironic that their objections to Flash are Adobe's absolute control over the platform, much like the iPhone OS.

A multimedia platform is entirely different to an Operating system. I believe Apple both use and contribute to open source projects and share many technologies but developing an operating system as a whole should rightly belong to them if they so choose. They can choose to use it solely for themselves, which is what they have done. Flash is used by many devices which makes it different.