I'm just wondering why people keep referring to this iPad as "more of the same" when just about everything but the screen was bumped up! And heck, were there not rumors of a "retina display iPad", I think the public would have been very satisfied with this update. Regardless, nothing can really top the original iPad announcement as we had zero expectations about what the device was about. This time, leaks were plentiful, and renders/cases from China were spot on.
I think what happened is people aren't "wowed" anymore because they know what's coming. That's why Apple tries to be so secretive until announcement day.
Oh, and iOS announcements are usually in March/April. It wouldn't be a good idea to announce the iPad 2 today, and then also change the UI in iOS 5. That's too many competing messages.
In case you haven't figured it out, it finally has features we expected from a tablet since day one. Apple does this, all the time, to milk money from its loyal followers.
And of course it follows the usual irrational design logic of being thinner or smaller in some way. For those who don't understand what that means, look at the ipod nano.
Before the iPad, no "viable" tablets existed, unless you really want to count Windows tablets from 2002.
As a gen 1 device, the iPad stands well on it's own. If you felt like they were "holding back on you", no one was forcing you to buy an iPad. Forcing your own expectations onto a device is just wishful thinking.
And you're the first person I know to complain that being thinner on THIS device was a bad thing. We can discuss how bad the Nano is another time.
There have been plenty of Tablets in the past. Lenovo, Dell, HP, Palm, Panasonic.. but I suppose since Almighty Jobs says his is revolutionary..it must be.
People are disappointed, because like everything apple makes it's already behind the times by the time it comes out..They put the minimal in to make it sell and screw the rest. It's not that anybody feels forced to buy it..it's just the other companies are taking too long to put out a real winner.
I'm not sure I like the extra thinness either. Lighter wouldn't be a bad thing..but ipad classic has overheating issues as it is, and it's already flimsy enough. Personally I would like to see a slight grip on the back of one of these (similar to the nook). As a flimsy and awkward mobile device it needs to be easier to hold onto.
And the reason they said it's more of the same is because put minimalistic hardware in and made the thing almost identical to the ancient one. That, and the iOS is just as boring as ever.
"There have been plenty of Tablets in the past. Lenovo, Dell, HP, Palm, Panasonic.. but I suppose since Almighty Jobs says his is revolutionary..it must be."
No, the *market* has spoken. PC tablets have flopped time and time again while the iPad is probably the biggest hit in consumer electronics. It sold more units faster than other consumer electronics blockbusters like the Nintendo Wii and the XBox 360. More iPads were sold in one year than 360s were sold in *three*. If that isn't mainstream success then I don't know what is.
So yeah, those other tablets you mentioned are irrelevant. Even if you don't accept that, other hardware companies seem to since they are scrambling to replicate what was done with the iPad a year ago.
Nobody claimed that the businessman wasn't good at advertising. Nobody claimed America is full of smart consumers either..and I don't see a reason to discredit the tablets that Jobs stole his ideas from first.
If you believe that other companies are "scrambling" and "replicating" the ancient iPad..you have not done your homework. Take a look at who is now in charge of Google's Tablet OS team. Go take a look at Nvidia's boasting tactics and future hardware (they are almost as full of themselves as the leaders at Apple). Have you wondered why the new macbooks are not using the cards from the king in graphics anymore?
The one thing that Apple did actually bring to the table, is showing the rest of the companies that we are finally in the age where tablets can be popular for simple media consumption for many people. Now that they've done that they can leave.
Many past tablets have been moderately successful, but not so much used for media consumption..just business.
No, they are actually scrambling to replicate what the iPad did, which was to pair a mobile OS and SoC with a large screen. Until then, it was all about putting power hungry desktop/notebook operating systems on the necessary hardware to drive it, with low battery life, running applications that were not optimized towards a 100% touchscreen interface.
It's chasing. And if you believe that it is a 100% media consumption device, you also aren't paying attention. It hasn't even been a year and I've seen a surprising number of iPads get adopted for business use.
The main thing other companies need to worry about, particularly Google, is software. It is actually more profitable to develop for Windows Phone 7. Android users for whatever reasons do not want to pay for apps. Unless Android users on tablets have different spending habits from Andoird users on phones, how are their tablets supposed to compete in terms of applications and practical usage? The hardware is just a platform, it doesn't mean much without software.
Are they replicating the iPad? or the Tablets that the iPad replicated....
When did I say 100%? I know what the iPad is used for, most is media consumption..but no thats not all.
It is used in businesses where people have replaced their old tablets with the iPad trying to get a new and updated model that works faster than their outdated one..and the Capacitive touch screen (by toshiba & sharp) is also highly useful..however, the reason they got the iPad is not because the iPad is particularly good for business use..but because it was the ONLY one at the time worth any thing.
I can't tell you how many people I know are planning on getting the Playbook or a honey comb tablet. Most of them are businessmen/women.
The Xoom isnt great. Cheap LCD screen, Cheap front-facing camera, Cheap buttons, high price, honeycomb still in beta..but that doesn't mean that honeycomb won't be successful on the cheaper, more well built tablets in the future (Eee Pads, etc.)
It may be more profitable to create for other platforms, but that doesn't stop people from developing for the most open platform..haven't you noticed the skyrocketing number of apps available?
I'm sure your hilarity is unintentional, but I must congratulate you. I have just read through this entire comment section because your comments are so amazing. Amazing, because it's a rare pleasure to see someone who has such dedication to expressing the hate they have for a company.
I can only imagine you were kept in focus by the music streaming to your Cowon J3 (?!?!)
Allow me to poorly summarize:
Apple only copied the tablet idea after seeing what other companies had made.
They were successful where others failed due to great marketing.
They limit the consumer in all sorts of ways, but the consumer in America is too stupid to figure out that there are better alternatives.
Businessmen/women are seeking alternatives to the iPad, like the PlayBook and Honeycomb based tablets.
Developers are choosing the open Android system over the iPad.
The iPad suffers from a lack of hardware capability.
You hate Apple.
Now, allow me to poorly summarize some reality for you:
Other companies tried to make tablets, but they were miserable failures because the nobody wanted the junk they were making. Others have already explained why. Apple made something that many people want. There are millions of people who really want an iPad, but haven't gotten one yet (they will). There are maybe thousands who really want a Honeycomb tablet or PlayBook. Many more may get them, but usually as misguided Christmas gifts from others (I saw a lot of this with Zune).
Apple is successful with the tablet because they try to think of what the user might like to do if given the opportunity. They are a user-centric company.
Users don't care about what you want to do with a tablet. They want a tablet that does things they would like to do, and does them well. They want it to sync easily on a Mac or PC. They want the system to work as expected.
Businessmen/women want an iPad. Many already have one. The majority wouldn't even consider an alternative. They don't care about any of the things you have mentioned. You don't know many successful businessmen/women. Successful businessmen/women are not going to buy a product that they feel has a high chance of being abandoned or forgotten. This describes the PlayBook. They also don't want a product that feels rough and unpolished if there is an alternative. This describes the Android experience.
99.99 percent of businessmen/women don't know what the PlayBook is, in this context. 99.9 percent don't know what HoneyComb is. 99.9 percent know what an iPad is. Most would like to have one.
Developers that want to make money (and know how to do so) will develop for iOS first. They will also develop for Android if they have the resources to do so after they have finished the iOS version. A few sorry souls will try to develop for PlayBook, hoping that by being the only ones doing so they will have less competition and make money. Typically, they will not make money.
The iPad has all the hardware it needs to make it an incredibly attractive product to billions of people.
Apple has widely-loved products precisely because they do not cater to people like you. It would be an endless and fruitless chase to worry about satisfying your whims. You have some slight technical ability, and enjoy the fact that you can use that technical ability to overcome annoyances on other platforms to achieve some marginal amount of flexibility as to how your electronics function.
The vast majority of people don't want a toaster that has a scale to weigh the bread. They want a toaster that fits their bread products, toasts well, and is reliable.
Most who are far more technically inclined want that exact same thing. When you spend your days fixing things for others or for yourself, it is a blessing to have a device that "just works". Such a device does not expect you to figure out how to make it perform it's functions. It is carefully engineered to make complex things simple.
One day, you may find some peace in therapy. I hope so, because self-medicating through internet rants is just a mental crutch for a soul with a bum leg.
Your FANtasy world seems fun, how many and what types of drugs do you use to get there?
I cannot stress how much I dislike blackberrys. It's not the same as Apple..I dislike Apple's childish and methodical strategies. I dislike Apple's use of cheap parts and how they boast it's the right choice. The reason I don't like blackberrys has to do with simply how they work all-together. I have 6 uncles and 1 aunt all on my father's side..many many cousins..and 90% of us are huge in business. The reason I say that the playbook is being oogled by businessmen..is because they oogle it right in front of me, constantly. I didn't know what the playbook was until some businessmen and women explained it to me..I didn't search for it on my own until a few days ago when I wanted to see what THAT hype was about. I try to sell them on Android, and they try to sell me on blackberry.
99.9% of people know what the iPad is and most want one? how many billions of sales are you trying to bet on? Your numbers are not just obviously made up, but completely silly.
Apple is a Glutton, "what makes us the most money" type of company. They couldn't give a care what anybody wants on their products, not just me.
I see you believe that the iPad is about as useful as a toaster, and hence doesn't need any extra features..like any advanced technology has.
Now that the iPad 2 has been released, everybody can see that I wasn't lying about the .3MP and .7MP cameras on front and back. How did I know it had the exact same cheap cameras on the iPod Touch? I kind of work for Apple and get to deal with fixing their pieces of junk when I'm available..I also get to deal with the many people who buy their junk and don't know things like what iTunes is. Fixing their cheap manufacturing several times a week does indeed make me long for something that "Just works".. And I'm SICK of fixing iPods/iPhones/iPads.
Just one point re:your comment - Mac's aren't using nvidia graphics anymore due to their incompatibility with sandy bridge chipsets, not due to any rift between apple and nvidia.
Apple could still use nvidia if they wanted too, while they may not use nvidia or ati discrete graphics on their 13inch line of macbook pro due to space and profit margin concerns, that doesn't stop them com using nvidia on their 15 and 17 inch line. Apple choose to use and/ ati on this line of macbook pros as well as the current line of imacs that is saying something.
wrong. Nvidia doesn't make chipsets for Intel cpu's newer than core 2 (inlcuding sandy bridge) but their discrete gpus work with Intel, it's just pci express.
There is no such incompatibility, and their decision has nothing to do with that. Apple regularly changes up the GPU in their machines based on what's the best fit available at the time. This time around, AMD had a better price/performance/power/heat combination at the levels that Apple was targeting, it's that simple. In fact, Intel's increasing IGPU performance (it's doubled in each of the past two generations) was high enough this time around for Apple to ship their 13" MBPs with nothing but the Intel IGPUs. If Intel continues to improve IGPU performance, you'll probably see this next time around too.
Oh I suppose It's just butterflies and rainbows between them..just like Apple and Adobe.
Nevermind Nvidia jumping up on stage and loudly announcing that they plan on dominating the Tablet Market that Apple just started concentrating on..alongside Apple's tablet rival no less.
LOL so can you recount how many of those tablet sold in a year. Face it Apple can in and made the market relevant. You can't deny that. Apple used itunes to set up things that make it hard for others to compete with. Its funny how when it comes to Apple people find short comings to easy but give others a pass. XOOM release with virtually no major software but put a little dazzle and its the greatest thing PLEASE. Give me a integrated solution.
"The one thing that Apple did actually bring to the table, is showing the rest of the companies that we are finally in the age where tablets can be popular for simple media consumption for many people. Now that they've done that they can leave."
??????
Anyways, I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or arguing, but I did actually say the same thing. My point was the iPad was not the first one by a long shot.
And I never said I liked the Xoom..I just don't find it as useless or boring as the iPads
It doesn't matter whether iPad was the first tablet or not. And, Apple doesn't claim it. Thing is, iPad has *shattered* the market by launching iPad product. The actual tablets starting to flood into the markets in huge volumes, it never happened earlier. Naturally, most of big players quickly woke up and started pumping out their tablet versions. Ultimately, the credit goes to Apple for bringing such a revolution in the market as well as for the evolution of a tablet which not only scaling great heights but also cannibalizing the Laptop and PC markets! Do you agree or not?
I do not agree on the point about laptop and pc markets, as I don't really know anybody who actually believes a giant iPod Touch is a PC replacement. The only recent Tablets that could be considered a that would be the Panasonic Rugged Tablets or the Asus Eee Slate. But yes I do agree that it was Apple's doing that caused the other companies to realize that the common people will gladly have a MID for casual Media Consumption as well as everything else a tablet was already used for. Now they are breaking out their long-awaited plans for their own devices and putting them on the market a little earlier than they expected.
I think it's all PR, really. Before the pad, there were good devices out like Archos portable media players. They had different apps, browser, wifi, etc. But did you ever see an ad for one? Forget TV or street billboards, how about newspapers, magazines, even Internet? I've been following them since version 4, yet I've never seen an ad for the device. If they had better sales, they could've invested more into R&D and made something like the current tablets. Anything Apple makes gets a lot of hype. That's why they could sell a turd for ridiculous money and make people feel like they just made the best investment in their lives.
I agree with you. there maybe other tablets around but they weren't able to properly sell it or at least never had a good idea how to tell people all its uses. Apple is good with it in all their products.
There maybe tables even before, but people ignore them. Look at it now, everyone wants to own one.
People are so used to tablets now because its everywhere, so with the announcement of iPad 2, it's like normal to them. And I think the reason why there's no WOW factor anymore is because Apple kinda lowered the energy in their announcement since they are aware that iPad isnt a new device anymore and nothing to give audience a WOW. Probably if they release a new product, like a game console or something else, they will make the keynote a big event again like that when iPhone was first introduced.
// In case you haven't figured it out, it finally has features we expected from a tablet since day one. //
Who is we? Given the outrageous (and to me still incomprehensible) success of the iPad, a large number of people didn't expect a whole lot more than it offered.
Good grief. It's a handheld computer, and apple made it easier to hold. You can argue that making an iMac thinner is pointless, but to miss the "logic" of making the iPad thinner and lighter... wow. Just, wow.
I agree. I mean, have you seen the iPad internals? The thing is tight and clean. Make it 33% thinner, lighter. Easy? Perhaps, but I think it's impressive.
Watch the netbooks, even expensive notebooks. When was the last time they became significantly thinner and lighter with the same battery capacity? I see the Acer One, same thing for years, even when it's changing inside.
That means redesign, in my book. A complete redesign. I like that kind of care, I value that. More power, same batttery, thinner.
This is the sad thing about the PC market. I know the manufacturing is outsourced to China, but it seems that even the design is now too. Hundreds of dull cheaply produced case designs, nothing that costs that $20 more.
A 11-12" laptop should be easy to produce thinly. It doesn't even need to have a dvd drive these days.
A board, a 1.8" hard drive, a CPU, some ram. Why do I need a 15" chassis to hold all of that?
Notebook manufacturers lost sight years ago. They keep packing bigger hard drives, stupid amounts of ram and expensive blu ray drives that push up the price and have little functionality.
Then came net books, the underpowered undersized solution. Now we have tablets at the right size. When are the notebook makers going to realise that people want 10-12" laptops, and they are not fussed about quad core processors?
As tablets become more common, it's allure will wear out just like the netbook fad. Netbooks will still be around; however people aren't excited anymore by them. Tablets can enjoy the spotlight for now until the next big thing comes along.
I got an iPad to explore it. My laptop is my main productivity machine. I still use the iPad a lot for a few select tasks and I don't think I would want to go back. It has become a very useful tool around the house. I use it to monitor cams, it's my garage TV, I use it when cooking for recipes and sometimes at the table for reading. I hear what you are saying in terms of faddishness but I don't think this sort of tablet is going away - it just needs to find the right areas of use for individuals and they won't want to give it up.
That's because netbooks are mostly being replaced by two major market segments colliding. The increasingly functional smartphones and lower cost, faster, and more power efficient ultraportable notebooks. Netbooks that can effectively tackle the increasing rich media consumption of consumers are nearing the cost of notebooks. If portability is desired only a small bump in price results in a new ultraportable. Gone are the $2k starting price tags. Those who bought into them for their novelty value will always continue to chase new fads as you pointed out but those who found utility in them now have new options. Of course with a new refresh in Intel devices in mobile arena now dominated by ARM based chips we may see some design shake ups and possibly new convertible tablets. Thus completing the cycle and bringing netbook and tablets full circle into consumer devices.
I do not think that tablets, especially touchscreen, will ever replace netbooks. All of the uses listed above are more of the behavior of a consumer than a producer. Do not get me wrong, it is a great tool for all of that.. But try building a spreadsheet with all kinds of formulas and such, copying and pasting that info into a "word" document... Try editing of music, powerpoints, etc... See what I am getting at.. Although I am sure all of it can be done, it still cannot be anywhere near as efficient as a keyboard and mouse. Multitasking is there, but still not the experience of netbook/notebook/PC.
I agree. Tablets are now role player style devices and they are here to stay. They will stop selling like hotcakes in a couple years similar to the netbook phenomenon, and will join the laptop in ubiquity.
The most important Apple innovation was the development of a modern, robust, and user friendly App market made for consumers by consumers. This is what gave real meaning, novelty, and utility to portable devices. The UI on all of apples most popular recent devices is by and large the same UI, as boring as it is compared to what one can do with Android is of little significance so long as it can maintain critical mass in marketshare to drive App development . Android, iOS, WebOS, Phone 7, etc. are only as relevant as their App experience. This makes me question the legitimacy of things like tablets and netbooks. I would like to see a company release a netbook type device that has only a screen, keyboard, and touchpad in a super slim, lightweight package that can wirelessly pair with my Android phone. said company then needs to make a App market component to drive the thing and voila! You could do the same but with a tablet too... just extend your phone to whatever form factor you fancy.
This all goes back to my dream of desktop performance and storage in a smartphone form factor that can wirelessly pair with every peripheral/appliance I have (monitors, mice, keyboards, speakers, washer, drier, oven, car etc.). Mix in a little cloud action and you could always have everything right in your pocket.
People weren't "wowed" because everything announced from a hardware standpoint is already seen or bested by the competition.
Lastly, it's mostly "more of the same" from an OS perspective. There weren't any significant changes to the UI or multi-tasking/notification aspects of iOS, which some people are waiting for.
As a guy with common sense, I cannot fathom how it would be practical for apple to roll out a ultra hi-res display on a 10 inch form factor. I see two major problems with having 2048*1536 on the iPad for atleast a year or two.
Firstly, the cost would be outrageous. General public does not seem to grasp the idea that it's far easier to bump the density for smaller screen sizes in comparison to larger ones. I do remember seeing a 4.7" 1080p screen prototype somewhere but I still think it's far too early for it to be practical.
Secondly, 2048x1536. Just look at the number of pixels. Everyone seems to forget that to push 4 times the pixels you need very powerful processing power. To put things into perspective, even normal desktops today don't have that many pixels. Also, running games on anything but the latest hardware (I'm thinking about the Radeons and the GeForces) is a complete joke at that resolution. You might mistake them for a slideshow rather than a game.
And finally, the amount of electrical power it would consume would be sizeable. Which, in a market where screens consume the bulk of the power already doesn't seem quite feasible to me.
You confuse fragmentation (ie. the Android market) with product generations. While one can argue that Apple expires enhancements to older products too soon, that's not fragmentation.
I've been using a great open source program called Subsonic. Its a service that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It will stream your music and videos to your browser or to your iOS or Android device over wifi and 3/4g, so you aren't tethered to your house. It does transcoding on the fly to reduce bit rates to your phone if required.
There are 2 or 3 Subsonic player apps for iOS and 1 great free app by the Subsonic developer for Android. I have replaced the media player on my Droid X with Subsonic and now access my full music collection (and also several friend's collections) anywhere I go.
The price seems resonable until you consider that those of us who already own an iPad and want to buy a new one will have to fork over even more than before! With Apple bringing the price of a refurbished model down to a low $349. My gently used base model probably now only has a fair market value of only $299. Thus it has depreciated at least $200 in less than 12 months and will now require me to come up with a difference of at least $200 just to get into another base model. Sure for my $200, I'll get a second core, 2 cams and more ram. But is that worth $200? I think Apple miscalculated the early adopter, and as a result, they will ultimately sit this round out and patiently wait for round 3 IMO!
Whooooaaaaa now... Apple gradually putting out minimalistic hardware to try to coax people into wasting their money time and time again? kuuraazzzyyy person alert
I just did an "Instant Sell" (where eBay makes you an offer) for mine on eBay yesterday for ~$65 below the new retail price. I saw some go for about $100 less than the old retail price last week in auction - so I think the trick for a yearly upgrade is to sell as soon as the next iPad event is announced.
I have to disagree with Anand about iOS looking long in the tooth. Major issue with android is its vertical integration. I have not used Honeycomb but from what I can see its still half baked and was only released to try and get a footing in the market before iPad 2. Having the ability to customize is cool however I am into how can I use this thing. Netflix came to Windows phone 7 before android. Apple is trying to make a device a child can use I know to some in the tech field that may be not as cool but Apple don't forget about people with handicaps when making the device something that is a awesome feature that is useful and changes lives. I am just tired of mind less fanboys. The Xoom has a camera but what can you do with it edit a movie or create music with something similar to Garage Band NO. I want to try out a google device but its annoying that even the flag ship nexus devices can't get timely updates. The market will decide the winners and losers. There is genius in simplicity that must just don't get but then again its genius so must people will not get it. Buy the product that appeals to you and let the product live on its own merits. Competition is good and the more the better for the consumer. So funny how things have change for Apple from the 90's to now. THINK DIFFERENT still rings true.
Garage Band is unique to the iPad now, I will agree. It is a nice little toy app for another $4.99. For real media creation, we need an app with much more versitility. I want FL Studio to move to a mobile platform. If the iPad got a program of that caliber..I would buy it.
As tipoo already asked, where are getting those figures? I think the rear camera is 720p which would be 0.9MP (possibly more for stills - if it does that). Outside of video chat, what other possible applications could a 10" tablet have for photo/video cameras? It makes sense for a phone, with a camera-like form factor, but tablet cameras have a very narrow set of practical use-cases as far as I can see.
"iPad 2 Video Editing: $4.99 Honey Comb Video Editing: Included"
Considering the price difference between the Xoom and a 32GB 3G iPad 2, it's hard to see how this $5 matters.
The Xoom demands a $70 premium ($65 if you count the iMovie tax) - what you get is a slightly higher-res, but lower quality screen (see AnandTech review), a currently anemic app store, much less battery life, a thicker/heavier machine, and (probably) more RAM. Then of course there are cheaper iPad 2 models as well.
Why do people resort to lying and or misleading people to spin things in favor or their preferred brand? You do realize that the Xoom is one Honeycomb tablet and that other Honeycomb tablets will be cheaper, right?
Where do you get "much less battery life"? If you've already seen the Anandtech review, you'll see the battery life is pretty even.
Juzcallmeneo explicitly evoked the Xoom tablet when comparing the cameras - I suppose I could have handled his two comparisons separately.
I stand corrected on battery life - I guess I skimmed that page. That said, considering the iPad 2 is ~120g lighter and a lot thinner with similar internals, you would expect that the Xoom battery should last at least as long.
I understand these discussions can get heated with brand loyalty and whatnot, but while I'm an iPad fan of sorts, I'm pretty sure I'm not intentionally lying or misleading people to "spin" something. I'm generally platform agnostic - while I have an iPad, I use a WP7 phone and Windows 7 PC, and work on RHEL servers all day for work.
I happen to think the iPad is a fantastic product, and if anything, most of the irrationality in discussing tablets comes from the other side - the side that refuses to acknowledge the successful designs Apple has with their mobile products. Yes, a year later we're seeing bulkier tablets that are catching up in performance/battery life to the iPad line, but Honeycomb is essentially app-less and just starting to roll out. Meanwhile the iPad 2 offers the cheapest full-blown tablet experience and at nearly every feature combination (except the 7" space, which it still beats in price in most cases), has an extremely healthy app market, and is best or tied with best in battery life, size/weight, performance, and screen quality - all four are clearly the most important aspects of a tablet. Yet, there's a tremendous volume of negativity and skepticism from a very large portion of this site and others - what gives? People almost sound like luddites on this thread - "why does it have to be so small?" "There have been plenty of Tablets in the past." - and then they point to some piece of junk that barely works.
Granted, Honeycomb tablets are awesome and getting more awesome, but to think that they somehow outclass the iPad right now is foolish. Maybe they have feature A or option B, but at best these make up for the huge volume of apps and other advantages the iPad offers right now.
Ok, I shouldn't say piece of junk - but you have to admit that size/weight/battery-life put the iPad in a totally different class (that Honeycomb is targeting) than those other tablets.
if you are only talking about the very first attempts at an android tablet, then yes they are worthless and the iPad does beat them. it's not the same case for the future of what will be available and the possibilities that Honeycomb will bring us.
If you want visual proof of the cheap cameras, go to the iFixit video. 0.3 on the front, 0.7 on the back. I own a 7D, and am very much into photography. I know everything about pixels and sensor quality..lens quality..(or lack thereof). These are just plain junk cameras. Granted, 99% of people won't want to use this as their main camera..but these cameras are pathetic and I expected something slightly better at least.
They announced it the exact same way they did the iPod Touch 4th Gen. They do 4:3 video resolutions so that you don't get black bars every time you play back a video like you do when you watch a movie on it. The resolution for actual 720p is .9MP..but thats 16:9. Apple makes them do 960x720, which is .7MP. And they clearly stated that the front camera was "VGA" which is 0.3MP.
If we were talking about the Tablet I support, we can bring in the Eee Pads. I just brought up the Xoom because its the first of many honeycombs.
With the Nvidia Tegra 2, you get more battery life & more processing power. And yes, most Honeycomb tablets have twice the RAM as the iPad 2. The Quad Cores we see in september will probably have at least 2GB of RAM. If they have more RAM and more battery, whats the downside?
"With the Nvidia Tegra 2, you get more battery life & more processing power. And yes, most Honeycomb tablets have twice the RAM as the iPad 2. The Quad Cores we see in september will probably have at least 2GB of RAM. If they have more RAM and more battery, whats the downside?"
I'm pretty sure the iPad 2's A5 will be comparable, or perhaps slightly exceed the Tegra 2. It's not confirmed, but odds are it will have a dual core Cortex A9 like the Tegra 2, and the GPU may outperform it (if it's the dual 543 GPU that was rumored). I also don't see any indication that the Tegra 2 has better battery life, since the Xoom is bigger and pretty much matches the iPad in this category.
I agree that Honeycomb tablets seem to have 1GB standard and the iPad will probably have 512MB (still not confirmed), but until Quad core Android tablets come out, the iPad 2 is pretty much on even footing with Honeycomb tablets, but is thinner/lighter, has tons of apps, and tends to be cheaper.
I'm really not trying to say the iPad is the greatest or anything - I just don't understand why people claim it's not a good product. It's an excellent, top-of-its-class product. The iPad 1 defined the category, and the iPad 2 puts the hardware at the same level as the Tegra 2 tablets while reducing size. Why are people bashing it so much?
They claim to have "as good" battery life from the ancient iPad..and Tegra 2 has proven to have better battery life than the first one..so unless they are wrong about their claims then the Tegra will outlast the A5. Both are built off of the Cortex A9 Dual Core, yes, but Apple hasn't made hardware in ages if you think the A5 is their doing. I bet it is another SoC from Samsung, and if it is the one that Samsung just made then it scores almost as good on some things, and significantly less on others. The reason the Tegra 2 is great is because of the ULP geforce 8-core GPU. Superior graphics at a lower cost. And the tablet I plan on getting starts at $399, and is powered by Tegra 2. Not to mention up to 16hr battery.
I see the iPad as middle-of-its-class..using cheaper parts and a smaller, less interactive OS. I wouldn't get a tablet that doesn't have scratchproof glass anymore. And I would rather have a slightly larger tablet that doesn't overheat and is easier to hold onto. its a quirky little neat thing that it's so thin, but not practical imho. But maybe they fixed the overheating issue in this model, who knows.
All the apps I want and use are on Android or have plans to be, that part is easily fixed..cheaper hardware isn't fixed.
Juzcallmeneo, you've made a couple of statements in this thread about ipads overheating. My ipad has barely ever felt warm when using it, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Mind you, I don't live in a tropical country, and don't leave it lying out in the sun, but even when charging and doing intensive tasks it barely feels warm.
Not every single one is going to overheat, but it is a quite well known issue, and from several people whom I know personally..the most annoying thing about it is how long it takes to start working again. Apparently it takes somewhere around 6 hours to come back on? This is what I've been told by iPad owners. If this doesn't happen to you, count yourself lucky.
There are so many false statements and idiotic assumptions in your post that it's pretty clear you have no idea what you're talking about and have no experience with Android whatsoever.
It's ironic that you end your sheep-like post with "Think Different."
The update is nice, as are the new software additions. I would like to see iOS 5 break more between the iPhone and iPad. The home screen layout makes sense on a smartphone, which doesn't really have the screen real estate for widgets, but doesn't really work on the iPad's larger display. Thinner and lighter is good, the new HDMI output is nice. For me it just comes down to use. I just can't think of what I would use a tablet for to justify the price.
That being said, I wish they'd done what they did with the iPhone and continue to offer the original iPad in a base configuration at a reduced price. I know you can get remaining stock at a discount now, but once those are gone, that's it.
The thing is the iPad is successful for the reasons Jobs mentioned. Notably, 65K apps and counting. If RIM, HP and the Android tablet makers want to compete, they're going to need to convince developers of the more successful apps to develop for their respective platforms. They're also going to need a content delivery system that can compete with iTunes. The Xoom may have a larger display, more memory and such, but if I can't get the apps or comparable apps to what the iPad has, or get the content I want, it's useless. Not only that, but as Jobs also pointed out, there's not much of a price advantage for going with another tablet.
One thing I've noticed is that people who bash Apple products tend to only look at the spec sheets. They take the long list of things on one device and compare it to the other, and then base their decision on which one is better based solely on that.
What they fail to include however is how well the software works with the hardware. What can you do with that hardware. How well does it work, and are their any glitches or issues with it.
This is one of Apples strongest features that most people who hate Apple always seem to glaze over. All they see is missing I/O ports, and slower hardware, but don't see things like how polished the OS is and how well it works without issues. Or how you get timely updates to your software. You know how many times I've seen Android customers complaining about not getting OS updates in a timely fashion?
You have to get out of the PC mindset, and start thinking about the TOTAL PACKAGE. The device is not just a sum of all its hardware specs.
One thing I've noticed is that people who praise Apple products tend to pretend as if the software has no glitches or any issues with it, and likes to tell people that it is a perfect blend of software and hardware when it isn't. All one has to do is read real reviews for Honeycomb and iOS on the iPad to realize that the Xoom not only has a better spec sheet, but also an excellent blend of software and hardware that is the TOTAL PACKAGE.
In general, sean has a point. Many really forget, how well iOS works. But what he forgets is, that "people who love Apple products" don't even CARE about the other options. As you said: Honeycomb offers many things and does many things really good.
"Don't look on the spec sheet" has been used since the early iPhones. Maybe it was right then, but it certainly isn't today. It's only half of the "truth" - because other companies do the same things really well too by now and offer often more. I'm not saying the iPad 2 is outdated, I'm saying that you can get similar things (also software wise) from Android for example. And updates will be there for honeycomb immediately, because there is only one UI - so this argument is also flawed.
In addition I'd like to add some other things:
-The iPad can't play back 1080p video, allthough it can output 1080p. That's a fact, that is often ignored (to be honest: I don't care, but just wanted to point it out) - Regarding the price: you forget, that you have to pay about 80$ or more EXTRA to get the same connectivity options like other tablets. You don't get HDMI, you don't get SD Card. Whether you need it or not is irrelevant here: fact is, if you do, you need to pay 80$ extra, whereas you don't with other tablets.
Apple has also had only one carrier and slightly different variations on the same hardware to deal with. As this article states, the CDMA iPhone isn't mentioned in connection with iOS 4.3. Also older/slower hardware is being left behind. Were the situation to approach the level of diversity in Android (all carriers, multiple hardware configurations at different levels of performance) there is no guarantee that Apple would be getting upgrades out much faster.
Without issues? My iPhone often has issues. Apps won't start up, or crash. Just the other day I wanted to look at my calendar while on the phone - multitask - and while it USUALLY works, my iPhone failed miserably to do it. I have to reboot my iPhone 3GS about once a week. Which interestingly enough, is a lot more than I reboot my Windows 7 computer.
The bugs in Apple products are the reason I stopped using them. They just never seem to go away, like you're always waiting for that one fix. People complain about the slow updates of my Galaxy S, but the truth is I've had to reboot maybe once because of a beta app that I wanted to try out. I've had it since it was released.
@sean.crees When you ignore hardware, you ignore the fact that this is a technological world and is advancing faster and faster. In order to have a faster, more versatile machine you need the hardware to back it up. Without it you hit a wall of what you can do and then you're done. With the new line of Android products, they all seem to have the same internal specs (thanks to nvidia), with only a few slight differences.
And are you trying to tell me that a buggy, closed smartphone OS is better than a fresh new Tablet OS..for Tablets? Trying to tell me more integration is a bad thing? including creative apps is a bad thing?
I suppose it depends on how common your personal experience is. My 3GS works pretty well and is anything but buggy. I did get a replacement because the back started cracking, likely the reason Apple switched to glass as I'm told it's not an uncommon issue with white 3G and 3GS models. But don't assume everyone has had the same experience you've had.
The hardware is important, but so is the availability of software. Right now Apple has a huge lead. That is what is important for Google and others and the real hurdle they need to overcome. If I can get the apps I want on the iPad, but not the Xoom, why would I buy the Xoom? It's better to be able to do something more slowly than not at all. Bragging rights with respect to hardware specs doesn't really work if I'm playing games, making music, editing movies, etc. and you can't because the software isn't available for your device.
I know lots of people with iOS devices and none have complained about a lack of a card slot, non-removeable battery or slow processor. Overall they're quite happy with them. If Apple had really made crappy, buggy products, I doubt they would have sold well. But they're good products, with a solid ecosystem for delivering content and attracting developers by creating an easy way to get apps to users. Until Android/webOS/Blackberry/MS can match that, Apple will remain on top of the tablet market. Faster SoCs, more RAM and more storage aren't going to change that.
They are having the same issue with the glass back..its just cheap parts. IF they used Gorilla Glass it wouldn't be an issue.. You must be one of the very few lucky ones..All I hear about is problem after problem after problem with the iOS stability, constrainment and cheap manufacturing.
When the iPad first came out, it was the same story with the Brand New Honeycomb OS..not many apps at launch but compatibility with all the old ones and Tons of developers aiming towards them immediately. Give it a few months and you'll be satisfied with the App aspect of it and not just the fluidity, integration, and customization.
They can match it, just look at the rise in Android apps compared to how fast Apple got that many. I don't think that webOS will match up, and I think that Blackberry is just concerned with making theirs more business friendly.
Every phone has its own fcuking issue(s) so don't single out Apple. I own couple of smart phones, examples I have bad experience with N96 so should I go ahead and blame all Nokia phones? That's ridiculous.
Widgets, IMHO, are for my two screens (I have a 19"portrait and a 24"). Why would I want to use widget on a 10.1 max screen? I think my laptop screen, how can I use a tablet fully if not having an app fully maximized?
How long people contemplate the home screen, really? How useful is to have an analog watch on screen, or two partial emails or so? I've seen you tube clips on honeycomb homescreen...it's cute, but...why?
I think iOS homescreen is fine. It does need better notifications and a better app switch system, a la webOS perhaps.
But not widgets. I love my daemon tools widgets on windows 7, cpu and network usage, but that's pretty much it.
Widgets give you quick updates and quick links to the full program. Its so you don't have to open the app every time you want to see who posted the new msg in facebook and what the msg is..who your new email is from..summary of your calendar for the day..quick look at the weather, time, battery life. Not to mention the entertainment value of some (which I know are not for everybody). One widget I use constantly is the one that turns on the light in the back with one push. Another is the Pandora Widget. Just hit play or pause, skip tracks at any time. It's all about the little things.
One of the great things about Android..is you can CHOOSE to have the widgets or not..same with how many home screens you have. Customization is never overrated.
Well I tell you what, you continue living in 1984 where you are told what you do and don't need and can't envision a reason to ever think outside of the box you've been placed in. Other people will consider products that give them a choice of widgets or not, and you can have what you like.
To be honest, using widgets on small, <4" smartphone screens isn't very good, because you can only place like 1, maybe 2 on one single homescreen. But it's still pretty useful. Example:
On my main screen, I immediately see my upcoming appointments, the weather. Swipe to the left and in the next second I see my full calendar, with every appointment. Swipe to the right and I see a scrollable list of all my mails, messages, calls. If you are a very social person you can also include facebook and twitter messages.
Yes, you can do the same things with apps, but it takes longer and is just more troublesome.
And now, on a tablet, you can have everything I mentioned before and MORE on one single screen. Using the AppLauncher (the only thing "apple people" know) is kind of pathetic nowadays - you only use it for rarely used apps.
And as Juzcallmeneo says: you don't have to use them and can fill all of the precious space just with icons, like on the iPad or iPhone...it's up to you.
Can Skype or Google Chat make use of the front facing camera on the iPad 2 or iPhone 4?
Would be a real shame if everyone was forced to use Apple's Face Time app. I'd rather use Skype as I have a larger contact list on that. I don't see why Apple should be allowed to block access to the camera for this use, would be pretty anti-competitive.
No, the iPad 2 isn't overspecced or even revolutionary in specs. But as tech minded people we need to consider why the iPad was popular in the first place. If it was all about specs, convertible notebook tablets of many years past had the iPad dead to rights. It's not about the flexibility or customizability of the underlying OS. When Jobs trotted out on stage to give his presentation he clearly reinforced Apple's commitment to combining the liberal arts and technology. Apple is introducing the experience top to bottom with everything from standout store fronts and best-in-class customer service to fashionable aesthetics and underlying utility in the product. Apple doesn't compete on true specs, they compete on faux marketing specs. You may find that deceptive, but Joe public doesn't even understand what a pixel is; only perhaps that screens contains them. You can ask any non-techie friend why their iPhone 4 screen is so awesome and they won't quote you some ppi spec because frankly they don't remember it and it just isn't important. The screen is decently readable in sunlight, has razor sharp text and graphics, and has a cool sounding name like Retina Display. Now they may have even forgotten about the last part but they're constantly reminded of how nice the product looks overall. But then why even trot out a new product every so often to meet competition? It's a fair question that you might ask. The answer would be the same as why your son or daughter has 5 iPods. Its likely because it's new and in-style.
Apple competes the same way a fashion designer releases the new spring collection. Apple keeps it's products at the forefront of style; always trotting out a feature or two that sure to ooh or awe, but only serves to provide an excuse for consumers to drop bills on a brand new fashion accessory; because that's exactly what they are. And to that effects that's why apple has certain design standards that they even hold their developers to. They also don't allow you to customize as that would go against the predetermined color, shape, and design of the year. So, no widgets for you! Apple doesn't think they're in style. And it's not like they haven't given it some though. That calendar app that comes with iOS devices is a clear indicator it was investigated and dropped. Perhaps it's just not it's ready for the spotlight.
But more than simply create an expensive paperweight the second part of the equation requires that Apple fulfill the devices utilitarian purpose. In that goal it's not about how many widgets you can cram on screen, how can stack windows, or multitask them as cards. The interface is simple because it's unobtrusively designed to let you complete your task. If you want to play a game it gets your there quickly. If you want to chat it let's you quickly launch your app. The user experience is also refined so that it flows and appears smooth and natural. Unlike most competitors, the only one that really picked up on these elements is Microsoft with Windows Phone 7. While power users and techies will flock to the logical, customizable, spec driven devices that are most similar to their beloved computers, Apple themselves stated they want to move beyond the tradtional PC experience. And for most consumers that's exactly what they want-- a device that's not a device. If they can forget they're even using something akin to a pocket computer that is a true meter of success. In fact, the most ideal device is likely something that is ubiquitous and simply carries out whatever task you ask of it. No buttons, no fidgeting, and no artificial human interface layer. Natural human communication and transparent augmentation is utimately the goal. Who doesn't want the Star Trek computer for some Q&A or the Holodeck for games and recreation? But since we're not there yet, Joe and Jane will just have to settle for a device that a monkey could figure out and one that just works.
If I'm sitting down at a desk (the situation in which the dock would be most useful), I'm going to sit down at the full-sized computer I already have, since it's a dual-monitor workstation with a full range of productivity apps and more capable browsers (don't get me wrong - the iPad browser is fine, but it defaults to HTML editing in Wordpress and Blogger and a lot of the sites where I spend my time, which is just annoying enough to keep me from using it unless there's an emergency).
I actually have and use the bluetooth keyboard sometimes, but again, if I'm out travelling I'm more likely to bring my laptop than my iPad. The nice thing about the keyboard is that you can put it away when you browse and bring it out when you work, but for all of the stuff I have to do, it's easier for me to work on a full-size laptop and put up with the extra bulk.
It's also worth noting that both of these peripherals add to the price of the iPad.
I'm not saying there aren't keyboards available and I'm not saying that it's impossible to work on the iPad, I'm just saying that at this point I prefer working on more traditional computers when given the choice. I could have said this in the article but it's a bit off-topic. :-)
Yes, it helps me understand what you mean. But then again, in your article you just pointed out the lack of dedicated keyboard for iPad in wrong perspective. The conclusion is, that every tablet is not for you as content creation device, not just iPad 2. Lack of integrated phisical (not dedicated!) keyboard is one of these things which makes tablet... a tablet, you know ;) It's a feature, not a flaw. To make things worse, there are dedicaced keyboards for iPad, so your statement in above article is just misleading in my opinion.
There was a rumor that it would use the SGX 543MP2, the dual-GPU version of the 543. If they are claiming 9x the graphical performance, isn't that more likely than the single GPU version?
They're calling it more of the same because it's . . . more of the same. Other than the cameras, it's fundamentally the same device with improved components that aren't strikingly different from the old, just faster versions of the same. It's not a complaint, it's a description: more, because it's the same package but faster, and the same, because they didn't add a bunch of new things, change anything to anything dramatically different, or take anything significant away. Seems pretty simple to me.
I currently use VoIP service to route all calls to my iPhone over 3G. It's beginning to make me rethink my strategy. I may ditch the iPhone all together and use the new iPad for every daily routine (phone, light computing and web apps) to save money. With all the calls routed over 3G, my data usage hardly exceeds 100 Mb per month since I only use the web whenever I have Wifi–or most of the time. Also now that the iPad becomes very capable of handling light-duty computing, I will certainly don;t mind carrying it around–a complete integration indeed!
"Today, Steve Jobs took a sabbatical from his sabbatical to hop up on stage and tell us all about the iPad 2, the next revision of Apple’s wildly popular tablet PC."
In what way is the iPad a PC? The PC is a hardware platform. PCs were originally called "IBM Compatibles", but as IBM departed the scene it has evolved and come to be identified with x86, and a number of other signature buses and instruction sets and vendors that have shifted over the years. ARM chips, however, have never been part of the PC platform. The iPad may (or may not) be awesome, but in no way is it a PC.
"The Tegra 2 is not the fastest CPU/GPU combo, it is easily beaten by the new A5 Cortex 9 and the PowerVR GPU found in the iPad 2."
I would wait for an Annadtech review before stating that claim. And pray that the iPad2 has a little more than the expected 512MB. 512MB??? WTF is that? Bleeding edge specs????
Nvidia created much turmoil over the Tegra2, that after all was only 20% faster gaming wise, but much better video quality wise. And Nvidia reputation forinflating hardware specs is no where NEAR AS TARNISHED AS Apple.
The iPad2 is a good tablet, hopefully is would yield a better use experience than the iPad1. Anyone that has a Galaxy Tab would even conseider using that slow humongous piece of bloatware.
Give me a x86 tablet OS, even at half the battery life!
I find it pretty had to take a lot of comments here seriously. Twelve Months from the ipad launch, it's pretty blind of anyone to criticize the original ipad as being "ancient", "overpriced" and "cheap" when it quite simply was the first device of it's kind. I understand it's not for everyone, but come on, who are you trying to convince?
Form is everything.
Now I use the term form literally. In many cases, it is not the enemy of function, but the first layer between the user and a device - the parts that you interact with. The physical appearence, the size and weight; the build quality, the screen quality, the battery life, the UI and it's simplicty, responsiveness and clarity.
The tablets coming out now are devices (and many people have said this) that I wanted ten years ago. It is a device that replaces the magazine (plus adds a fair bit more). I can't understand criticism for an ipad being "media-centric" and I can't understand the denial of the importance of it being the first to actually produce the device that "many people" have wanted for a long time.
Apple got it right this time - deal with it. Other companies are blatently immitating, and they will very likely exceed it at some point (65,000 apps might seem like a lot now, but it's the first drop in the ocean).
Hardware arguments can get pretty stupid. It's all about balance. At any given moment in time, you can only fit so much technology in and without sacrificing weight and physical form; you can only make it so thin without sacrificing power; you can only set the price so low without sacrificing everything. Etc etc.
Apple has always been very good at finding this balance. In fact, I think that's one of their most important aspects along with marketing, style, friendly UIs and "first to market" "gimmicks". Apple products have never been for everyone due to the fact that they will ruthlessly stick to they're interpretation of a perfect balance. Now that's absolutely fine. Personally, I don't have an ipad at all, mainly becasue I'm still waiting for a decent enough, thin portable sketch-book device with a touch sensitive screen and a lot of battery life to come along, but also because I don't think I "need" a magazine formed tablet to fill the gap between a smart-phone and a computer at all ...yet.
Another important part of the balancing act is remembering what the product actually is in the first place. Just as Nintendo remembered that the gameboy, first and foremost, should be portable, have long battery life and simple fun games (sacrificing the power of their competitors). Just as Amazon remembered that a dedicated book reader should be cheap and have a visible screen. Apple remembers that the ipad is primarily a coffee table device, NOT a laptop, and it won't be purchased using the same ghz oriented selection process. The hardware is in there to serve a purpose, it just so happens to be very capable hardware, but the form, quality of screen (widescreen xoom? really?), ease of use (and so on) are important things that can't be forgotten in the coffee table battle that currently being fought. This is why people are currently buying ipads.
Now there are interesting things happening from google with honeycomb. But it's definitely NOT due to public stupidity that the ipad has been so successful. As someone pointed out, the "sheep" comments are really making the anti-apple brigade look like luddites.
...Damn I wish there was an edit button here. Apologies for the spelling mistakes.
Anyway. I'm also sorry to get involved in the "grate apple debate". ...That wasn't a spelling mistake this time! ;-)
For 30 years it's been going on and it always makes both sides look stupid. I usually try and avoid it, but I genuinely feel that in this case the anti apple guys' "Steve Jobs resistance pants (tm)" are going into override.
ipad2 is awesome, double the speed, nice! but too expensive, right? well there is a way to get 400 dollars a week for 20 dollars a month, yes. check is out 400aweek.com Join 180,000+ members. this is revolutionary!
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dagamer34 - Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - link
I'm just wondering why people keep referring to this iPad as "more of the same" when just about everything but the screen was bumped up! And heck, were there not rumors of a "retina display iPad", I think the public would have been very satisfied with this update. Regardless, nothing can really top the original iPad announcement as we had zero expectations about what the device was about. This time, leaks were plentiful, and renders/cases from China were spot on.I think what happened is people aren't "wowed" anymore because they know what's coming. That's why Apple tries to be so secretive until announcement day.
dagamer34 - Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - link
Oh, and iOS announcements are usually in March/April. It wouldn't be a good idea to announce the iPad 2 today, and then also change the UI in iOS 5. That's too many competing messages.sprockkets - Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - link
In case you haven't figured it out, it finally has features we expected from a tablet since day one. Apple does this, all the time, to milk money from its loyal followers.And of course it follows the usual irrational design logic of being thinner or smaller in some way. For those who don't understand what that means, look at the ipod nano.
dagamer34 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Before the iPad, no "viable" tablets existed, unless you really want to count Windows tablets from 2002.As a gen 1 device, the iPad stands well on it's own. If you felt like they were "holding back on you", no one was forcing you to buy an iPad. Forcing your own expectations onto a device is just wishful thinking.
And you're the first person I know to complain that being thinner on THIS device was a bad thing. We can discuss how bad the Nano is another time.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
There have been plenty of Tablets in the past. Lenovo, Dell, HP, Palm, Panasonic.. but I suppose since Almighty Jobs says his is revolutionary..it must be.People are disappointed, because like everything apple makes it's already behind the times by the time it comes out..They put the minimal in to make it sell and screw the rest. It's not that anybody feels forced to buy it..it's just the other companies are taking too long to put out a real winner.
I'm not sure I like the extra thinness either. Lighter wouldn't be a bad thing..but ipad classic has overheating issues as it is, and it's already flimsy enough. Personally I would like to see a slight grip on the back of one of these (similar to the nook). As a flimsy and awkward mobile device it needs to be easier to hold onto.
And the reason they said it's more of the same is because put minimalistic hardware in and made the thing almost identical to the ancient one. That, and the iOS is just as boring as ever.
KoolAidMan1 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
"There have been plenty of Tablets in the past. Lenovo, Dell, HP, Palm, Panasonic.. but I suppose since Almighty Jobs says his is revolutionary..it must be."No, the *market* has spoken. PC tablets have flopped time and time again while the iPad is probably the biggest hit in consumer electronics. It sold more units faster than other consumer electronics blockbusters like the Nintendo Wii and the XBox 360. More iPads were sold in one year than 360s were sold in *three*. If that isn't mainstream success then I don't know what is.
So yeah, those other tablets you mentioned are irrelevant. Even if you don't accept that, other hardware companies seem to since they are scrambling to replicate what was done with the iPad a year ago.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Nobody claimed that the businessman wasn't good at advertising. Nobody claimed America is full of smart consumers either..and I don't see a reason to discredit the tablets that Jobs stole his ideas from first.If you believe that other companies are "scrambling" and "replicating" the ancient iPad..you have not done your homework. Take a look at who is now in charge of Google's Tablet OS team. Go take a look at Nvidia's boasting tactics and future hardware (they are almost as full of themselves as the leaders at Apple). Have you wondered why the new macbooks are not using the cards from the king in graphics anymore?
The one thing that Apple did actually bring to the table, is showing the rest of the companies that we are finally in the age where tablets can be popular for simple media consumption for many people. Now that they've done that they can leave.
Many past tablets have been moderately successful, but not so much used for media consumption..just business.
KoolAidMan1 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
No, they are actually scrambling to replicate what the iPad did, which was to pair a mobile OS and SoC with a large screen. Until then, it was all about putting power hungry desktop/notebook operating systems on the necessary hardware to drive it, with low battery life, running applications that were not optimized towards a 100% touchscreen interface.It's chasing. And if you believe that it is a 100% media consumption device, you also aren't paying attention. It hasn't even been a year and I've seen a surprising number of iPads get adopted for business use.
The main thing other companies need to worry about, particularly Google, is software. It is actually more profitable to develop for Windows Phone 7. Android users for whatever reasons do not want to pay for apps. Unless Android users on tablets have different spending habits from Andoird users on phones, how are their tablets supposed to compete in terms of applications and practical usage? The hardware is just a platform, it doesn't mean much without software.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Are they replicating the iPad? or the Tablets that the iPad replicated....When did I say 100%?
I know what the iPad is used for, most is media consumption..but no thats not all.
It is used in businesses where people have replaced their old tablets with the iPad trying to get a new and updated model that works faster than their outdated one..and the Capacitive touch screen (by toshiba & sharp) is also highly useful..however, the reason they got the iPad is not because the iPad is particularly good for business use..but because it was the ONLY one at the time worth any thing.
I can't tell you how many people I know are planning on getting the Playbook or a honey comb tablet. Most of them are businessmen/women.
The Xoom isnt great. Cheap LCD screen, Cheap front-facing camera, Cheap buttons, high price, honeycomb still in beta..but that doesn't mean that honeycomb won't be successful on the cheaper, more well built tablets in the future (Eee Pads, etc.)
It may be more profitable to create for other platforms, but that doesn't stop people from developing for the most open platform..haven't you noticed the skyrocketing number of apps available?
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/07/exclusive-inter...
takumsawsherman - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
I'm sure your hilarity is unintentional, but I must congratulate you. I have just read through this entire comment section because your comments are so amazing. Amazing, because it's a rare pleasure to see someone who has such dedication to expressing the hate they have for a company.I can only imagine you were kept in focus by the music streaming to your Cowon J3 (?!?!)
Allow me to poorly summarize:
Apple only copied the tablet idea after seeing what other companies had made.
They were successful where others failed due to great marketing.
They limit the consumer in all sorts of ways, but the consumer in America is too stupid to figure out that there are better alternatives.
Businessmen/women are seeking alternatives to the iPad, like the PlayBook and Honeycomb based tablets.
Developers are choosing the open Android system over the iPad.
The iPad suffers from a lack of hardware capability.
You hate Apple.
Now, allow me to poorly summarize some reality for you:
Other companies tried to make tablets, but they were miserable failures because the nobody wanted the junk they were making. Others have already explained why. Apple made something that many people want. There are millions of people who really want an iPad, but haven't gotten one yet (they will). There are maybe thousands who really want a Honeycomb tablet or PlayBook. Many more may get them, but usually as misguided Christmas gifts from others (I saw a lot of this with Zune).
Apple is successful with the tablet because they try to think of what the user might like to do if given the opportunity. They are a user-centric company.
Users don't care about what you want to do with a tablet. They want a tablet that does things they would like to do, and does them well. They want it to sync easily on a Mac or PC. They want the system to work as expected.
Businessmen/women want an iPad. Many already have one. The majority wouldn't even consider an alternative. They don't care about any of the things you have mentioned. You don't know many successful businessmen/women. Successful businessmen/women are not going to buy a product that they feel has a high chance of being abandoned or forgotten. This describes the PlayBook. They also don't want a product that feels rough and unpolished if there is an alternative. This describes the Android experience.
99.99 percent of businessmen/women don't know what the PlayBook is, in this context. 99.9 percent don't know what HoneyComb is. 99.9 percent know what an iPad is. Most would like to have one.
Developers that want to make money (and know how to do so) will develop for iOS first. They will also develop for Android if they have the resources to do so after they have finished the iOS version. A few sorry souls will try to develop for PlayBook, hoping that by being the only ones doing so they will have less competition and make money. Typically, they will not make money.
The iPad has all the hardware it needs to make it an incredibly attractive product to billions of people.
Apple has widely-loved products precisely because they do not cater to people like you. It would be an endless and fruitless chase to worry about satisfying your whims. You have some slight technical ability, and enjoy the fact that you can use that technical ability to overcome annoyances on other platforms to achieve some marginal amount of flexibility as to how your electronics function.
The vast majority of people don't want a toaster that has a scale to weigh the bread. They want a toaster that fits their bread products, toasts well, and is reliable.
Most who are far more technically inclined want that exact same thing. When you spend your days fixing things for others or for yourself, it is a blessing to have a device that "just works". Such a device does not expect you to figure out how to make it perform it's functions. It is carefully engineered to make complex things simple.
One day, you may find some peace in therapy. I hope so, because self-medicating through internet rants is just a mental crutch for a soul with a bum leg.
Juzcallmeneo - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
Your FANtasy world seems fun, how many and what types of drugs do you use to get there?I cannot stress how much I dislike blackberrys. It's not the same as Apple..I dislike Apple's childish and methodical strategies. I dislike Apple's use of cheap parts and how they boast it's the right choice. The reason I don't like blackberrys has to do with simply how they work all-together. I have 6 uncles and 1 aunt all on my father's side..many many cousins..and 90% of us are huge in business. The reason I say that the playbook is being oogled by businessmen..is because they oogle it right in front of me, constantly. I didn't know what the playbook was until some businessmen and women explained it to me..I didn't search for it on my own until a few days ago when I wanted to see what THAT hype was about. I try to sell them on Android, and they try to sell me on blackberry.
99.9% of people know what the iPad is and most want one? how many billions of sales are you trying to bet on? Your numbers are not just obviously made up, but completely silly.
Apple is a Glutton, "what makes us the most money" type of company. They couldn't give a care what anybody wants on their products, not just me.
I see you believe that the iPad is about as useful as a toaster, and hence doesn't need any extra features..like any advanced technology has.
Now that the iPad 2 has been released, everybody can see that I wasn't lying about the .3MP and .7MP cameras on front and back. How did I know it had the exact same cheap cameras on the iPod Touch? I kind of work for Apple and get to deal with fixing their pieces of junk when I'm available..I also get to deal with the many people who buy their junk and don't know things like what iTunes is. Fixing their cheap manufacturing several times a week does indeed make me long for something that "Just works".. And I'm SICK of fixing iPods/iPhones/iPads.
dcaxax - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Just one point re:your comment - Mac's aren't using nvidia graphics anymore due to their incompatibility with sandy bridge chipsets, not due to any rift between apple and nvidia.Roland00Address - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Apple could still use nvidia if they wanted too, while they may not use nvidia or ati discrete graphics on their 13inch line of macbook pro due to space and profit margin concerns, that doesn't stop them com using nvidia on their 15 and 17 inch line. Apple choose to use and/ ati on this line of macbook pros as well as the current line of imacs that is saying something.shiznit - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
wrong. Nvidia doesn't make chipsets for Intel cpu's newer than core 2 (inlcuding sandy bridge) but their discrete gpus work with Intel, it's just pci express.Guspaz - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
There is no such incompatibility, and their decision has nothing to do with that. Apple regularly changes up the GPU in their machines based on what's the best fit available at the time. This time around, AMD had a better price/performance/power/heat combination at the levels that Apple was targeting, it's that simple. In fact, Intel's increasing IGPU performance (it's doubled in each of the past two generations) was high enough this time around for Apple to ship their 13" MBPs with nothing but the Intel IGPUs. If Intel continues to improve IGPU performance, you'll probably see this next time around too.Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Oh I suppose It's just butterflies and rainbows between them..just like Apple and Adobe.Nevermind Nvidia jumping up on stage and loudly announcing that they plan on dominating the Tablet Market that Apple just started concentrating on..alongside Apple's tablet rival no less.
Nihility - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
The iPad 3 will have super ultra mega amazing magical new feature... a STYLUS!Stas - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
woa... Jobs hasn't even invented it yet, and you already know about it? O.Otechbwoy - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
LOL so can you recount how many of those tablet sold in a year. Face it Apple can in and made the market relevant. You can't deny that. Apple used itunes to set up things that make it hard for others to compete with. Its funny how when it comes to Apple people find short comings to easy but give others a pass. XOOM release with virtually no major software but put a little dazzle and its the greatest thing PLEASE. Give me a integrated solution.Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
"The one thing that Apple did actually bring to the table, is showing the rest of the companies that we are finally in the age where tablets can be popular for simple media consumption for many people. Now that they've done that they can leave."??????
Anyways, I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or arguing, but I did actually say the same thing. My point was the iPad was not the first one by a long shot.
And I never said I liked the Xoom..I just don't find it as useless or boring as the iPads
akula2 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
It doesn't matter whether iPad was the first tablet or not. And, Apple doesn't claim it. Thing is, iPad has *shattered* the market by launching iPad product. The actual tablets starting to flood into the markets in huge volumes, it never happened earlier. Naturally, most of big players quickly woke up and started pumping out their tablet versions. Ultimately, the credit goes to Apple for bringing such a revolution in the market as well as for the evolution of a tablet which not only scaling great heights but also cannibalizing the Laptop and PC markets! Do you agree or not?Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I do not agree on the point about laptop and pc markets, as I don't really know anybody who actually believes a giant iPod Touch is a PC replacement. The only recent Tablets that could be considered a that would be the Panasonic Rugged Tablets or the Asus Eee Slate. But yes I do agree that it was Apple's doing that caused the other companies to realize that the common people will gladly have a MID for casual Media Consumption as well as everything else a tablet was already used for. Now they are breaking out their long-awaited plans for their own devices and putting them on the market a little earlier than they expected.Stas - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
I think it's all PR, really. Before the pad, there were good devices out like Archos portable media players. They had different apps, browser, wifi, etc. But did you ever see an ad for one? Forget TV or street billboards, how about newspapers, magazines, even Internet? I've been following them since version 4, yet I've never seen an ad for the device. If they had better sales, they could've invested more into R&D and made something like the current tablets. Anything Apple makes gets a lot of hype. That's why they could sell a turd for ridiculous money and make people feel like they just made the best investment in their lives.owen_x_10 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I agree with you.there maybe other tablets around but they weren't able to properly sell it or at least never had a good idea how to tell people all its uses. Apple is good with it in all their products.
There maybe tables even before, but people ignore them. Look at it now, everyone wants to own one.
People are so used to tablets now because its everywhere, so with the announcement of iPad 2, it's like normal to them. And I think the reason why there's no WOW factor anymore is because Apple kinda lowered the energy in their announcement since they are aware that iPad isnt a new device anymore and nothing to give audience a WOW. Probably if they release a new product, like a game console or something else, they will make the keynote a big event again like that when iPhone was first introduced.
mason.s - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
"Forcing your own expectations onto a device is just wishful thinking."What a silly thing to say. The market is driven by customer expectations.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
+1tim851 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
// In case you haven't figured it out, it finally has features we expected from a tablet since day one. //Who is we?
Given the outrageous (and to me still incomprehensible) success of the iPad, a large number of people didn't expect a whole lot more than it offered.
adam75 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Good grief. It's a handheld computer, and apple made it easier to hold. You can argue that making an iMac thinner is pointless, but to miss the "logic" of making the iPad thinner and lighter... wow. Just, wow.RHurst - Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - link
I agree. I mean, have you seen the iPad internals? The thing is tight and clean. Make it 33% thinner, lighter. Easy? Perhaps, but I think it's impressive.Watch the netbooks, even expensive notebooks. When was the last time they became significantly thinner and lighter with the same battery capacity? I see the Acer One, same thing for years, even when it's changing inside.
That means redesign, in my book. A complete redesign. I like that kind of care, I value that. More power, same batttery, thinner.
djgandy - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
This is the sad thing about the PC market. I know the manufacturing is outsourced to China, but it seems that even the design is now too. Hundreds of dull cheaply produced case designs, nothing that costs that $20 more.A 11-12" laptop should be easy to produce thinly. It doesn't even need to have a dvd drive these days.
A board, a 1.8" hard drive, a CPU, some ram. Why do I need a 15" chassis to hold all of that?
Notebook manufacturers lost sight years ago. They keep packing bigger hard drives, stupid amounts of ram and expensive blu ray drives that push up the price and have little functionality.
Then came net books, the underpowered undersized solution. Now we have tablets at the right size. When are the notebook makers going to realise that people want 10-12" laptops, and they are not fussed about quad core processors?
tammlam - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
As tablets become more common, it's allure will wear out just like the netbook fad. Netbooks will still be around; however people aren't excited anymore by them. Tablets can enjoy the spotlight for now until the next big thing comes along.realroz - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I got an iPad to explore it. My laptop is my main productivity machine. I still use the iPad a lot for a few select tasks and I don't think I would want to go back. It has become a very useful tool around the house. I use it to monitor cams, it's my garage TV, I use it when cooking for recipes and sometimes at the table for reading. I hear what you are saying in terms of faddishness but I don't think this sort of tablet is going away - it just needs to find the right areas of use for individuals and they won't want to give it up.jcandle - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
That's because netbooks are mostly being replaced by two major market segments colliding. The increasingly functional smartphones and lower cost, faster, and more power efficient ultraportable notebooks. Netbooks that can effectively tackle the increasing rich media consumption of consumers are nearing the cost of notebooks. If portability is desired only a small bump in price results in a new ultraportable. Gone are the $2k starting price tags. Those who bought into them for their novelty value will always continue to chase new fads as you pointed out but those who found utility in them now have new options. Of course with a new refresh in Intel devices in mobile arena now dominated by ARM based chips we may see some design shake ups and possibly new convertible tablets. Thus completing the cycle and bringing netbook and tablets full circle into consumer devices.BSMonitor - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I do not think that tablets, especially touchscreen, will ever replace netbooks. All of the uses listed above are more of the behavior of a consumer than a producer. Do not get me wrong, it is a great tool for all of that.. But try building a spreadsheet with all kinds of formulas and such, copying and pasting that info into a "word" document... Try editing of music, powerpoints, etc... See what I am getting at.. Although I am sure all of it can be done, it still cannot be anywhere near as efficient as a keyboard and mouse. Multitasking is there, but still not the experience of netbook/notebook/PC.Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/04/asus-eee-slate-...totenkopf - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
+repI agree. Tablets are now role player style devices and they are here to stay. They will stop selling like hotcakes in a couple years similar to the netbook phenomenon, and will join the laptop in ubiquity.
The most important Apple innovation was the development of a modern, robust, and user friendly App market made for consumers by consumers. This is what gave real meaning, novelty, and utility to portable devices. The UI on all of apples most popular recent devices is by and large the same UI, as boring as it is compared to what one can do with Android is of little significance so long as it can maintain critical mass in marketshare to drive App development . Android, iOS, WebOS, Phone 7, etc. are only as relevant as their App experience. This makes me question the legitimacy of things like tablets and netbooks. I would like to see a company release a netbook type device that has only a screen, keyboard, and touchpad in a super slim, lightweight package that can wirelessly pair with my Android phone. said company then needs to make a App market component to drive the thing and voila! You could do the same but with a tablet too... just extend your phone to whatever form factor you fancy.
This all goes back to my dream of desktop performance and storage in a smartphone form factor that can wirelessly pair with every peripheral/appliance I have (monitors, mice, keyboards, speakers, washer, drier, oven, car etc.). Mix in a little cloud action and you could always have everything right in your pocket.
bplewis24 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
People weren't "wowed" because everything announced from a hardware standpoint is already seen or bested by the competition.Lastly, it's mostly "more of the same" from an OS perspective. There weren't any significant changes to the UI or multi-tasking/notification aspects of iOS, which some people are waiting for.
Brandon
SimKill - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
As a guy with common sense, I cannot fathom how it would be practical for apple to roll out a ultra hi-res display on a 10 inch form factor. I see two major problems with having 2048*1536 on the iPad for atleast a year or two.Firstly, the cost would be outrageous. General public does not seem to grasp the idea that it's far easier to bump the density for smaller screen sizes in comparison to larger ones. I do remember seeing a 4.7" 1080p screen prototype somewhere but I still think it's far too early for it to be practical.
Secondly, 2048x1536. Just look at the number of pixels. Everyone seems to forget that to push 4 times the pixels you need very powerful processing power. To put things into perspective, even normal desktops today don't have that many pixels. Also, running games on anything but the latest hardware (I'm thinking about the Radeons and the GeForces) is a complete joke at that resolution. You might mistake them for a slideshow rather than a game.
And finally, the amount of electrical power it would consume would be sizeable. Which, in a market where screens consume the bulk of the power already doesn't seem quite feasible to me.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I agree and have been arguing these same points. I think its closer to 2 years before its going to come around.sprockkets - Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - link
"The iPhone 3G missed out on many of iOS 4's banner features - multitasking and home screen wallpapers being chief among these"Really? No user changeable wallpaper on the iphone 3G? Lame.
strikeback03 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Bet we won't hear much about "fragmentation" among iOS devices thoughFocher - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
You confuse fragmentation (ie. the Android market) with product generations. While one can argue that Apple expires enhancements to older products too soon, that's not fragmentation.wpwoodjr - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I've been using a great open source program called Subsonic. Its a service that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It will stream your music and videos to your browser or to your iOS or Android device over wifi and 3/4g, so you aren't tethered to your house. It does transcoding on the fly to reduce bit rates to your phone if required.There are 2 or 3 Subsonic player apps for iOS and 1 great free app by the Subsonic developer for Android. I have replaced the media player on my Droid X with Subsonic and now access my full music collection (and also several friend's collections) anywhere I go.
KoolAidMan1 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Subsonic is really niceJuzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Wow, that sounds awesome! I am going to look into that. Granted, for my music I use my Cowon J3, but I would use the video part for sure.worldbfree4me - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
The price seems resonable until you consider that those of us who already own an iPad and want to buy a new one will have to fork over even more than before! With Apple bringing the price of a refurbished model down to a low $349. My gently used base model probably now only has a fair market value of only $299. Thus it has depreciated at least $200 in less than 12 months and will now require me to come up with a difference of at least $200 just to get into another base model. Sure for my $200, I'll get a second core, 2 cams and more ram. But is that worth $200? I think Apple miscalculated the early adopter, and as a result, they will ultimately sit this round out and patiently wait for round 3 IMO!Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Whooooaaaaa now... Apple gradually putting out minimalistic hardware to try to coax people into wasting their money time and time again? kuuraazzzyyy person alertsmithg5 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I just did an "Instant Sell" (where eBay makes you an offer) for mine on eBay yesterday for ~$65 below the new retail price. I saw some go for about $100 less than the old retail price last week in auction - so I think the trick for a yearly upgrade is to sell as soon as the next iPad event is announced.bplewis24 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Good summary Andrew.Brandon
techbwoy - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I have to disagree with Anand about iOS looking long in the tooth. Major issue with android is its vertical integration. I have not used Honeycomb but from what I can see its still half baked and was only released to try and get a footing in the market before iPad 2. Having the ability to customize is cool however I am into how can I use this thing. Netflix came to Windows phone 7 before android. Apple is trying to make a device a child can use I know to some in the tech field that may be not as cool but Apple don't forget about people with handicaps when making the device something that is a awesome feature that is useful and changes lives. I am just tired of mind less fanboys. The Xoom has a camera but what can you do with it edit a movie or create music with something similar to Garage Band NO. I want to try out a google device but its annoying that even the flag ship nexus devices can't get timely updates. The market will decide the winners and losers. There is genius in simplicity that must just don't get but then again its genius so must people will not get it. Buy the product that appeals to you and let the product live on its own merits. Competition is good and the more the better for the consumer. So funny how things have change for Apple from the 90's to now. THINK DIFFERENT still rings true.Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
If you like functionality..Then Android was made for you. Integration is it's strong suit. Apple's only work with Apple branded closed junk.iPad 2 cameras: 0.3MP, 0.7MP
Xoom Cameras: 2MP, 5MP
iPad 2 Video Editing: $4.99
Honey Comb Video Editing: Included
http://lifehacker.com/#!5744175/screenshot-tour-of...
Garage Band is unique to the iPad now, I will agree. It is a nice little toy app for another $4.99. For real media creation, we need an app with much more versitility. I want FL Studio to move to a mobile platform. If the iPad got a program of that caliber..I would buy it.
tipoo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
How do you know the iPad's camera resolution?smithg5 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
"iPad 2 cameras: 0.3MP, 0.7MPXoom Cameras: 2MP, 5MP"
As tipoo already asked, where are getting those figures? I think the rear camera is 720p which would be 0.9MP (possibly more for stills - if it does that). Outside of video chat, what other possible applications could a 10" tablet have for photo/video cameras? It makes sense for a phone, with a camera-like form factor, but tablet cameras have a very narrow set of practical use-cases as far as I can see.
"iPad 2 Video Editing: $4.99
Honey Comb Video Editing: Included"
Considering the price difference between the Xoom and a 32GB 3G iPad 2, it's hard to see how this $5 matters.
The Xoom demands a $70 premium ($65 if you count the iMovie tax) - what you get is a slightly higher-res, but lower quality screen (see AnandTech review), a currently anemic app store, much less battery life, a thicker/heavier machine, and (probably) more RAM. Then of course there are cheaper iPad 2 models as well.
bplewis24 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Why do people resort to lying and or misleading people to spin things in favor or their preferred brand? You do realize that the Xoom is one Honeycomb tablet and that other Honeycomb tablets will be cheaper, right?Where do you get "much less battery life"? If you've already seen the Anandtech review, you'll see the battery life is pretty even.
Stop with the pathetic spin.
Brandon
smithg5 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Juzcallmeneo explicitly evoked the Xoom tablet when comparing the cameras - I suppose I could have handled his two comparisons separately.I stand corrected on battery life - I guess I skimmed that page. That said, considering the iPad 2 is ~120g lighter and a lot thinner with similar internals, you would expect that the Xoom battery should last at least as long.
I understand these discussions can get heated with brand loyalty and whatnot, but while I'm an iPad fan of sorts, I'm pretty sure I'm not intentionally lying or misleading people to "spin" something. I'm generally platform agnostic - while I have an iPad, I use a WP7 phone and Windows 7 PC, and work on RHEL servers all day for work.
I happen to think the iPad is a fantastic product, and if anything, most of the irrationality in discussing tablets comes from the other side - the side that refuses to acknowledge the successful designs Apple has with their mobile products. Yes, a year later we're seeing bulkier tablets that are catching up in performance/battery life to the iPad line, but Honeycomb is essentially app-less and just starting to roll out. Meanwhile the iPad 2 offers the cheapest full-blown tablet experience and at nearly every feature combination (except the 7" space, which it still beats in price in most cases), has an extremely healthy app market, and is best or tied with best in battery life, size/weight, performance, and screen quality - all four are clearly the most important aspects of a tablet. Yet, there's a tremendous volume of negativity and skepticism from a very large portion of this site and others - what gives? People almost sound like luddites on this thread - "why does it have to be so small?" "There have been plenty of Tablets in the past." - and then they point to some piece of junk that barely works.
Granted, Honeycomb tablets are awesome and getting more awesome, but to think that they somehow outclass the iPad right now is foolish. Maybe they have feature A or option B, but at best these make up for the huge volume of apps and other advantages the iPad offers right now.
smithg5 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Ok, I shouldn't say piece of junk - but you have to admit that size/weight/battery-life put the iPad in a totally different class (that Honeycomb is targeting) than those other tablets.smithg5 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Just to be clear, I'm talking about older, pre-iPad tablets here.Juzcallmeneo - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
if you are only talking about the very first attempts at an android tablet, then yes they are worthless and the iPad does beat them. it's not the same case for the future of what will be available and the possibilities that Honeycomb will bring us.If you want visual proof of the cheap cameras, go to the iFixit video. 0.3 on the front, 0.7 on the back. I own a 7D, and am very much into photography. I know everything about pixels and sensor quality..lens quality..(or lack thereof). These are just plain junk cameras. Granted, 99% of people won't want to use this as their main camera..but these cameras are pathetic and I expected something slightly better at least.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
They announced it the exact same way they did the iPod Touch 4th Gen. They do 4:3 video resolutions so that you don't get black bars every time you play back a video like you do when you watch a movie on it. The resolution for actual 720p is .9MP..but thats 16:9. Apple makes them do 960x720, which is .7MP. And they clearly stated that the front camera was "VGA" which is 0.3MP.If we were talking about the Tablet I support, we can bring in the Eee Pads. I just brought up the Xoom because its the first of many honeycombs.
With the Nvidia Tegra 2, you get more battery life & more processing power. And yes, most Honeycomb tablets have twice the RAM as the iPad 2. The Quad Cores we see in september will probably have at least 2GB of RAM. If they have more RAM and more battery, whats the downside?
smithg5 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
"With the Nvidia Tegra 2, you get more battery life & more processing power. And yes, most Honeycomb tablets have twice the RAM as the iPad 2. The Quad Cores we see in september will probably have at least 2GB of RAM. If they have more RAM and more battery, whats the downside?"I'm pretty sure the iPad 2's A5 will be comparable, or perhaps slightly exceed the Tegra 2. It's not confirmed, but odds are it will have a dual core Cortex A9 like the Tegra 2, and the GPU may outperform it (if it's the dual 543 GPU that was rumored). I also don't see any indication that the Tegra 2 has better battery life, since the Xoom is bigger and pretty much matches the iPad in this category.
I agree that Honeycomb tablets seem to have 1GB standard and the iPad will probably have 512MB (still not confirmed), but until Quad core Android tablets come out, the iPad 2 is pretty much on even footing with Honeycomb tablets, but is thinner/lighter, has tons of apps, and tends to be cheaper.
I'm really not trying to say the iPad is the greatest or anything - I just don't understand why people claim it's not a good product. It's an excellent, top-of-its-class product. The iPad 1 defined the category, and the iPad 2 puts the hardware at the same level as the Tegra 2 tablets while reducing size. Why are people bashing it so much?
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
They claim to have "as good" battery life from the ancient iPad..and Tegra 2 has proven to have better battery life than the first one..so unless they are wrong about their claims then the Tegra will outlast the A5. Both are built off of the Cortex A9 Dual Core, yes, but Apple hasn't made hardware in ages if you think the A5 is their doing. I bet it is another SoC from Samsung, and if it is the one that Samsung just made then it scores almost as good on some things, and significantly less on others. The reason the Tegra 2 is great is because of the ULP geforce 8-core GPU. Superior graphics at a lower cost. And the tablet I plan on getting starts at $399, and is powered by Tegra 2. Not to mention up to 16hr battery.I see the iPad as middle-of-its-class..using cheaper parts and a smaller, less interactive OS. I wouldn't get a tablet that doesn't have scratchproof glass anymore. And I would rather have a slightly larger tablet that doesn't overheat and is easier to hold onto. its a quirky little neat thing that it's so thin, but not practical imho. But maybe they fixed the overheating issue in this model, who knows.
All the apps I want and use are on Android or have plans to be, that part is easily fixed..cheaper hardware isn't fixed.
dborod - Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - link
Juzcallmeneo, you've made a couple of statements in this thread about ipads overheating. My ipad has barely ever felt warm when using it, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Mind you, I don't live in a tropical country, and don't leave it lying out in the sun, but even when charging and doing intensive tasks it barely feels warm.Juzcallmeneo - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
Not every single one is going to overheat, but it is a quite well known issue, and from several people whom I know personally..the most annoying thing about it is how long it takes to start working again. Apparently it takes somewhere around 6 hours to come back on? This is what I've been told by iPad owners. If this doesn't happen to you, count yourself lucky.bplewis24 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
There are so many false statements and idiotic assumptions in your post that it's pretty clear you have no idea what you're talking about and have no experience with Android whatsoever.It's ironic that you end your sheep-like post with "Think Different."
Brandon
robco - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
The update is nice, as are the new software additions. I would like to see iOS 5 break more between the iPhone and iPad. The home screen layout makes sense on a smartphone, which doesn't really have the screen real estate for widgets, but doesn't really work on the iPad's larger display. Thinner and lighter is good, the new HDMI output is nice. For me it just comes down to use. I just can't think of what I would use a tablet for to justify the price.That being said, I wish they'd done what they did with the iPhone and continue to offer the original iPad in a base configuration at a reduced price. I know you can get remaining stock at a discount now, but once those are gone, that's it.
The thing is the iPad is successful for the reasons Jobs mentioned. Notably, 65K apps and counting. If RIM, HP and the Android tablet makers want to compete, they're going to need to convince developers of the more successful apps to develop for their respective platforms. They're also going to need a content delivery system that can compete with iTunes. The Xoom may have a larger display, more memory and such, but if I can't get the apps or comparable apps to what the iPad has, or get the content I want, it's useless. Not only that, but as Jobs also pointed out, there's not much of a price advantage for going with another tablet.
sean.crees - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
One thing I've noticed is that people who bash Apple products tend to only look at the spec sheets. They take the long list of things on one device and compare it to the other, and then base their decision on which one is better based solely on that.What they fail to include however is how well the software works with the hardware. What can you do with that hardware. How well does it work, and are their any glitches or issues with it.
This is one of Apples strongest features that most people who hate Apple always seem to glaze over. All they see is missing I/O ports, and slower hardware, but don't see things like how polished the OS is and how well it works without issues. Or how you get timely updates to your software. You know how many times I've seen Android customers complaining about not getting OS updates in a timely fashion?
You have to get out of the PC mindset, and start thinking about the TOTAL PACKAGE. The device is not just a sum of all its hardware specs.
bplewis24 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
One thing I've noticed is that people who praise Apple products tend to pretend as if the software has no glitches or any issues with it, and likes to tell people that it is a perfect blend of software and hardware when it isn't. All one has to do is read real reviews for Honeycomb and iOS on the iPad to realize that the Xoom not only has a better spec sheet, but also an excellent blend of software and hardware that is the TOTAL PACKAGE.Brandon
Chloiber - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
In general, sean has a point. Many really forget, how well iOS works.But what he forgets is, that "people who love Apple products" don't even CARE about the other options. As you said: Honeycomb offers many things and does many things really good.
"Don't look on the spec sheet" has been used since the early iPhones. Maybe it was right then, but it certainly isn't today. It's only half of the "truth" - because other companies do the same things really well too by now and offer often more. I'm not saying the iPad 2 is outdated, I'm saying that you can get similar things (also software wise) from Android for example. And updates will be there for honeycomb immediately, because there is only one UI - so this argument is also flawed.
In addition I'd like to add some other things:
-The iPad can't play back 1080p video, allthough it can output 1080p. That's a fact, that is often ignored (to be honest: I don't care, but just wanted to point it out)
- Regarding the price: you forget, that you have to pay about 80$ or more EXTRA to get the same connectivity options like other tablets. You don't get HDMI, you don't get SD Card. Whether you need it or not is irrelevant here: fact is, if you do, you need to pay 80$ extra, whereas you don't with other tablets.
strikeback03 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Apple has also had only one carrier and slightly different variations on the same hardware to deal with. As this article states, the CDMA iPhone isn't mentioned in connection with iOS 4.3. Also older/slower hardware is being left behind. Were the situation to approach the level of diversity in Android (all carriers, multiple hardware configurations at different levels of performance) there is no guarantee that Apple would be getting upgrades out much faster.malone46844 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Just a note that iphone's and ipad's are sold in more countries than the USA, i.e. Apple has dealt with more carriers than one.Tyhr - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Without issues? My iPhone often has issues. Apps won't start up, or crash. Just the other day I wanted to look at my calendar while on the phone - multitask - and while it USUALLY works, my iPhone failed miserably to do it.I have to reboot my iPhone 3GS about once a week. Which interestingly enough, is a lot more than I reboot my Windows 7 computer.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
The bugs in Apple products are the reason I stopped using them. They just never seem to go away, like you're always waiting for that one fix. People complain about the slow updates of my Galaxy S, but the truth is I've had to reboot maybe once because of a beta app that I wanted to try out. I've had it since it was released.@sean.crees
When you ignore hardware, you ignore the fact that this is a technological world and is advancing faster and faster. In order to have a faster, more versatile machine you need the hardware to back it up. Without it you hit a wall of what you can do and then you're done. With the new line of Android products, they all seem to have the same internal specs (thanks to nvidia), with only a few slight differences.
And are you trying to tell me that a buggy, closed smartphone OS is better than a fresh new Tablet OS..for Tablets? Trying to tell me more integration is a bad thing? including creative apps is a bad thing?
robco - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I suppose it depends on how common your personal experience is. My 3GS works pretty well and is anything but buggy. I did get a replacement because the back started cracking, likely the reason Apple switched to glass as I'm told it's not an uncommon issue with white 3G and 3GS models. But don't assume everyone has had the same experience you've had.The hardware is important, but so is the availability of software. Right now Apple has a huge lead. That is what is important for Google and others and the real hurdle they need to overcome. If I can get the apps I want on the iPad, but not the Xoom, why would I buy the Xoom? It's better to be able to do something more slowly than not at all. Bragging rights with respect to hardware specs doesn't really work if I'm playing games, making music, editing movies, etc. and you can't because the software isn't available for your device.
I know lots of people with iOS devices and none have complained about a lack of a card slot, non-removeable battery or slow processor. Overall they're quite happy with them. If Apple had really made crappy, buggy products, I doubt they would have sold well. But they're good products, with a solid ecosystem for delivering content and attracting developers by creating an easy way to get apps to users. Until Android/webOS/Blackberry/MS can match that, Apple will remain on top of the tablet market. Faster SoCs, more RAM and more storage aren't going to change that.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
They are having the same issue with the glass back..its just cheap parts. IF they used Gorilla Glass it wouldn't be an issue..You must be one of the very few lucky ones..All I hear about is problem after problem after problem with the iOS stability, constrainment and cheap manufacturing.
When the iPad first came out, it was the same story with the Brand New Honeycomb OS..not many apps at launch but compatibility with all the old ones and Tons of developers aiming towards them immediately. Give it a few months and you'll be satisfied with the App aspect of it and not just the fluidity, integration, and customization.
They can match it, just look at the rise in Android apps compared to how fast Apple got that many. I don't think that webOS will match up, and I think that Blackberry is just concerned with making theirs more business friendly.
bplewis24 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
You will be silenced by the Apple sheep very soon who proclaim that these issues are not possible on an Apple device.akula2 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Every phone has its own fcuking issue(s) so don't single out Apple. I own couple of smart phones, examples I have bad experience with N96 so should I go ahead and blame all Nokia phones? That's ridiculous.RHurst - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Widgets, IMHO, are for my two screens (I have a 19"portrait and a 24"). Why would I want to use widget on a 10.1 max screen? I think my laptop screen, how can I use a tablet fully if not having an app fully maximized?How long people contemplate the home screen, really? How useful is to have an analog watch on screen, or two partial emails or so? I've seen you tube clips on honeycomb homescreen...it's cute, but...why?
I think iOS homescreen is fine. It does need better notifications and a better app switch system, a la webOS perhaps.
But not widgets. I love my daemon tools widgets on windows 7, cpu and network usage, but that's pretty much it.
Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Widgets give you quick updates and quick links to the full program. Its so you don't have to open the app every time you want to see who posted the new msg in facebook and what the msg is..who your new email is from..summary of your calendar for the day..quick look at the weather, time, battery life. Not to mention the entertainment value of some (which I know are not for everybody). One widget I use constantly is the one that turns on the light in the back with one push. Another is the Pandora Widget. Just hit play or pause, skip tracks at any time. It's all about the little things.Juzcallmeneo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
One of the great things about Android..is you can CHOOSE to have the widgets or not..same with how many home screens you have. Customization is never overrated.bplewis24 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Well I tell you what, you continue living in 1984 where you are told what you do and don't need and can't envision a reason to ever think outside of the box you've been placed in. Other people will consider products that give them a choice of widgets or not, and you can have what you like.Brandon
Chloiber - Friday, March 4, 2011 - link
To be honest, using widgets on small, <4" smartphone screens isn't very good, because you can only place like 1, maybe 2 on one single homescreen.But it's still pretty useful. Example:
On my main screen, I immediately see my upcoming appointments, the weather. Swipe to the left and in the next second I see my full calendar, with every appointment. Swipe to the right and I see a scrollable list of all my mails, messages, calls. If you are a very social person you can also include facebook and twitter messages.
Yes, you can do the same things with apps, but it takes longer and is just more troublesome.
And now, on a tablet, you can have everything I mentioned before and MORE on one single screen. Using the AppLauncher (the only thing "apple people" know) is kind of pathetic nowadays - you only use it for rarely used apps.
And as Juzcallmeneo says: you don't have to use them and can fill all of the precious space just with icons, like on the iPad or iPhone...it's up to you.
Azsen - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Can Skype or Google Chat make use of the front facing camera on the iPad 2 or iPhone 4?Would be a real shame if everyone was forced to use Apple's Face Time app. I'd rather use Skype as I have a larger contact list on that. I don't see why Apple should be allowed to block access to the camera for this use, would be pretty anti-competitive.
RaggedKarma - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Skype for the iphone can use it, so it would make sense that they would port this to the iPad too.jcandle - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
No, the iPad 2 isn't overspecced or even revolutionary in specs. But as tech minded people we need to consider why the iPad was popular in the first place. If it was all about specs, convertible notebook tablets of many years past had the iPad dead to rights. It's not about the flexibility or customizability of the underlying OS. When Jobs trotted out on stage to give his presentation he clearly reinforced Apple's commitment to combining the liberal arts and technology. Apple is introducing the experience top to bottom with everything from standout store fronts and best-in-class customer service to fashionable aesthetics and underlying utility in the product. Apple doesn't compete on true specs, they compete on faux marketing specs. You may find that deceptive, but Joe public doesn't even understand what a pixel is; only perhaps that screens contains them. You can ask any non-techie friend why their iPhone 4 screen is so awesome and they won't quote you some ppi spec because frankly they don't remember it and it just isn't important. The screen is decently readable in sunlight, has razor sharp text and graphics, and has a cool sounding name like Retina Display. Now they may have even forgotten about the last part but they're constantly reminded of how nice the product looks overall. But then why even trot out a new product every so often to meet competition? It's a fair question that you might ask. The answer would be the same as why your son or daughter has 5 iPods. Its likely because it's new and in-style.Apple competes the same way a fashion designer releases the new spring collection. Apple keeps it's products at the forefront of style; always trotting out a feature or two that sure to ooh or awe, but only serves to provide an excuse for consumers to drop bills on a brand new fashion accessory; because that's exactly what they are. And to that effects that's why apple has certain design standards that they even hold their developers to. They also don't allow you to customize as that would go against the predetermined color, shape, and design of the year. So, no widgets for you! Apple doesn't think they're in style. And it's not like they haven't given it some though. That calendar app that comes with iOS devices is a clear indicator it was investigated and dropped. Perhaps it's just not it's ready for the spotlight.
But more than simply create an expensive paperweight the second part of the equation requires that Apple fulfill the devices utilitarian purpose. In that goal it's not about how many widgets you can cram on screen, how can stack windows, or multitask them as cards. The interface is simple because it's unobtrusively designed to let you complete your task. If you want to play a game it gets your there quickly. If you want to chat it let's you quickly launch your app. The user experience is also refined so that it flows and appears smooth and natural. Unlike most competitors, the only one that really picked up on these elements is Microsoft with Windows Phone 7. While power users and techies will flock to the logical, customizable, spec driven devices that are most similar to their beloved computers, Apple themselves stated they want to move beyond the tradtional PC experience. And for most consumers that's exactly what they want-- a device that's not a device. If they can forget they're even using something akin to a pocket computer that is a true meter of success. In fact, the most ideal device is likely something that is ubiquitous and simply carries out whatever task you ask of it. No buttons, no fidgeting, and no artificial human interface layer. Natural human communication and transparent augmentation is utimately the goal. Who doesn't want the Star Trek computer for some Q&A or the Holodeck for games and recreation? But since we're not there yet, Joe and Jane will just have to settle for a device that a monkey could figure out and one that just works.
maxxl - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
"The iPad still lacks a dedicated keyboard, which will probably always hamper its utility as a content creation device for me"What are you talking about? There's Apple iPad Keyboard Dock, and Apple Wireless Keyboard as well.
You really should do research, before you write about something:
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/ip...
Andrew Cunningham - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Sorry, let me clarify:If I'm sitting down at a desk (the situation in which the dock would be most useful), I'm going to sit down at the full-sized computer I already have, since it's a dual-monitor workstation with a full range of productivity apps and more capable browsers (don't get me wrong - the iPad browser is fine, but it defaults to HTML editing in Wordpress and Blogger and a lot of the sites where I spend my time, which is just annoying enough to keep me from using it unless there's an emergency).
I actually have and use the bluetooth keyboard sometimes, but again, if I'm out travelling I'm more likely to bring my laptop than my iPad. The nice thing about the keyboard is that you can put it away when you browse and bring it out when you work, but for all of the stuff I have to do, it's easier for me to work on a full-size laptop and put up with the extra bulk.
It's also worth noting that both of these peripherals add to the price of the iPad.
I'm not saying there aren't keyboards available and I'm not saying that it's impossible to work on the iPad, I'm just saying that at this point I prefer working on more traditional computers when given the choice. I could have said this in the article but it's a bit off-topic. :-)
Does this help clarify?
maxxl - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Yes, it helps me understand what you mean. But then again, in your article you just pointed out the lack of dedicated keyboard for iPad in wrong perspective. The conclusion is, that every tablet is not for you as content creation device, not just iPad 2. Lack of integrated phisical (not dedicated!) keyboard is one of these things which makes tablet... a tablet, you know ;) It's a feature, not a flaw. To make things worse, there are dedicaced keyboards for iPad, so your statement in above article is just misleading in my opinion.tipoo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
There was a rumor that it would use the SGX 543MP2, the dual-GPU version of the 543. If they are claiming 9x the graphical performance, isn't that more likely than the single GPU version?vol7ron - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
"up to nine times as fast as the original iPad"So if it's as fast, does it make it the same speed? Perhaps you meant faster?
tipoo - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
His sentence was semantically correct, if your going to break in the new guy at least find a real mistake.If I have twice as much money as you, do I have exactly as much money as you, by your logic?
akedia - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
They're calling it more of the same because it's . . . more of the same. Other than the cameras, it's fundamentally the same device with improved components that aren't strikingly different from the old, just faster versions of the same. It's not a complaint, it's a description: more, because it's the same package but faster, and the same, because they didn't add a bunch of new things, change anything to anything dramatically different, or take anything significant away. Seems pretty simple to me.tno - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Just wanted to comment that his was one of the most tightly put together articles I've read in some time. Great job, Andrew!tdtran1025 - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
I currently use VoIP service to route all calls to my iPhone over 3G. It's beginning to make me rethink my strategy. I may ditch the iPhone all together and use the new iPad for every daily routine (phone, light computing and web apps) to save money. With all the calls routed over 3G, my data usage hardly exceeds 100 Mb per month since I only use the web whenever I have Wifi–or most of the time. Also now that the iPad becomes very capable of handling light-duty computing, I will certainly don;t mind carrying it around–a complete integration indeed!Nathelion - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
"Today, Steve Jobs took a sabbatical from his sabbatical to hop up on stage and tell us all about the iPad 2, the next revision of Apple’s wildly popular tablet PC."In what way is the iPad a PC? The PC is a hardware platform. PCs were originally called "IBM Compatibles", but as IBM departed the scene it has evolved and come to be identified with x86, and a number of other signature buses and instruction sets and vendors that have shifted over the years. ARM chips, however, have never been part of the PC platform. The iPad may (or may not) be awesome, but in no way is it a PC.
vision33r - Thursday, March 3, 2011 - link
Amazing how much FUD is spread here. The Xoom is no longer the most powerful tablet, it was for a week.The Tegra 2 is not the fastest CPU/GPU combo, it is easily beaten by the new A5 Cortex 9 and the PowerVR GPU found in the iPad 2.
Go search up the specs and stats and you will see the Xoom was dead in the water with those specs and a horrible LCD screen.
It's ok, we will see another iPad challenger in the coming months.
geok1ng - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
http://blogs.computerworld.com/17907/motorola_xoom...http://www.muktware.com/b/03/2011/797/ipad-2-bette...
So it seens a pretty bold statement that :
"The Tegra 2 is not the fastest CPU/GPU combo, it is easily beaten by the new A5 Cortex 9 and the PowerVR GPU found in the iPad 2."
I would wait for an Annadtech review before stating that claim. And pray that the iPad2 has a little more than the expected 512MB. 512MB??? WTF is that? Bleeding edge specs????
Nvidia created much turmoil over the Tegra2, that after all was only 20% faster gaming wise, but much better video quality wise. And Nvidia reputation forinflating hardware specs is no where NEAR AS TARNISHED AS Apple.
The iPad2 is a good tablet, hopefully is would yield a better use experience than the iPad1. Anyone that has a Galaxy Tab would even conseider using that slow humongous piece of bloatware.
Give me a x86 tablet OS, even at half the battery life!
Griswold - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - link
The hotspot function does not provide 3G to 5 Wifi devices. Its only 3 Wifi devices and one each via bluetooth and USB for a *total* of 5 devices.http://www.apple.com/ios/
pubjoe - Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - link
I find it pretty had to take a lot of comments here seriously. Twelve Months from the ipad launch, it's pretty blind of anyone to criticize the original ipad as being "ancient", "overpriced" and "cheap" when it quite simply was the first device of it's kind. I understand it's not for everyone, but come on, who are you trying to convince?Form is everything.
Now I use the term form literally. In many cases, it is not the enemy of function, but the first layer between the user and a device - the parts that you interact with. The physical appearence, the size and weight; the build quality, the screen quality, the battery life, the UI and it's simplicty, responsiveness and clarity.
The tablets coming out now are devices (and many people have said this) that I wanted ten years ago. It is a device that replaces the magazine (plus adds a fair bit more). I can't understand criticism for an ipad being "media-centric" and I can't understand the denial of the importance of it being the first to actually produce the device that "many people" have wanted for a long time.
Apple got it right this time - deal with it. Other companies are blatently immitating, and they will very likely exceed it at some point (65,000 apps might seem like a lot now, but it's the first drop in the ocean).
Hardware arguments can get pretty stupid. It's all about balance. At any given moment in time, you can only fit so much technology in and without sacrificing weight and physical form; you can only make it so thin without sacrificing power; you can only set the price so low without sacrificing everything. Etc etc.
Apple has always been very good at finding this balance. In fact, I think that's one of their most important aspects along with marketing, style, friendly UIs and "first to market" "gimmicks". Apple products have never been for everyone due to the fact that they will ruthlessly stick to they're interpretation of a perfect balance. Now that's absolutely fine. Personally, I don't have an ipad at all, mainly becasue I'm still waiting for a decent enough, thin portable sketch-book device with a touch sensitive screen and a lot of battery life to come along, but also because I don't think I "need" a magazine formed tablet to fill the gap between a smart-phone and a computer at all ...yet.
Another important part of the balancing act is remembering what the product actually is in the first place. Just as Nintendo remembered that the gameboy, first and foremost, should be portable, have long battery life and simple fun games (sacrificing the power of their competitors). Just as Amazon remembered that a dedicated book reader should be cheap and have a visible screen. Apple remembers that the ipad is primarily a coffee table device, NOT a laptop, and it won't be purchased using the same ghz oriented selection process. The hardware is in there to serve a purpose, it just so happens to be very capable hardware, but the form, quality of screen (widescreen xoom? really?), ease of use (and so on) are important things that can't be forgotten in the coffee table battle that currently being fought. This is why people are currently buying ipads.
Now there are interesting things happening from google with honeycomb. But it's definitely NOT due to public stupidity that the ipad has been so successful. As someone pointed out, the "sheep" comments are really making the anti-apple brigade look like luddites.
pubjoe - Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - link
...Damn I wish there was an edit button here. Apologies for the spelling mistakes.Anyway. I'm also sorry to get involved in the "grate apple debate". ...That wasn't a spelling mistake this time! ;-)
For 30 years it's been going on and it always makes both sides look stupid. I usually try and avoid it, but I genuinely feel that in this case the anti apple guys' "Steve Jobs resistance pants (tm)" are going into override.
lili53 - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
welcomewallet99 - Monday, March 14, 2011 - link
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