Douglas Adams Continuum (DAC)

So, are we all ready for the Apple-tablet-magedon today?

To be quite honest, I'm suffering for a bit of apple-tablet-news-fatigue...and I'm an apple fangirl.

I'm not rabidly anti-Apple, but I don't get it. I don't understand why Apple went forward with this given all the Win-PC tablets out there with full Win 7 systems.

I'll wait and see, but I thought Apple was poised to introduce some really cool tech.

_________________
Shoes. - Doctor #3

I like it

http://www.apple.com/ipad/design/

Though they obviously didn't consult many women on the choice of names.

If they had it would probably be called the magic square thin thingy.

_________________
Her mouth opened, her eyes patients, the variety of age and constitution as a pullets egg, with some gobbits of fat, and the heavy sand.

(... don't piss us off)

Or "poochie"

_________________
D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------

Yeah, the iTampon jokes are starting to race around the web like wild fire.

Anyhow, name aside, I WANT ONE!

Same reason they did they iPhone - the Windows phones were crap.

Looks pretty much what I expected and actually cheaper than I expected. If I wanted this sort of thing, I'd buy one. But I don't as my iPhone and Macbook do everything I want.

_________________
D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------

I agree, I'm fine with my iPod Touch & MacBook, but I see the iPad has having huge potential for un-digital types like my folks who have a difficult time with their pooters. It also has huge potential for the travel industry. An iPad would have been perfect for me during my 5 month stint in the Mid East last year.

The iPad might just get the hooloo-mother on the net.

I have been holding off buying a notebook computer to see what the iPad would be. One of the guys on my Brazil trip had a cute little notebook, small, light, did everything he wanted and was easy to carry around in some of the more remote and exotic places. My Mac Book pro just got heavy after a while. All I wanted was internet/email, the ability to look at pix, record a travel journal and keep a bird list. Looks like the iPad will do it all. Will have to go play with one when it hits the stores and the initial uproar has quieted. It might come down to how much the data plans cost.

It does look awfully shiny.

_________________
vagabond
birds, any birds, anywhere, any time

I'll give you Windows phones (though Blackberries, for my money, are still the best business phones). However, I guess I was hoping that Apple was going to incorporate some more cutting-edge stuff, like the HP Slate or more functionality like this.

_________________
Shoes. - Doctor #3

I havent used a Blackberry for a while but the early one I had at work (a 7200) didn't impress me and I stopped using it and used my own Windows based device (and O2 branded HTC) which, of course, couldn't get push but in all other ways was vastly superior.
When I bought the iPhone. I looked at the then current Blackberry but the support for viewing attachments was still poor as was the web browser.
I am told they are much better on the newest devices but I am also told by long term BB users that, in chasing the iPhone market they have compromised the business focused functionality.

I'm a bit baffled as to why you regard the HP slate or the other device you link as being "cutting edge". The review seems to indicate the screen is very poor whereas the iPad's one is state of the art backlit IPS with capacitive (rather than resistive) touchscreen. It's not just a bigger version of the iPhone one.
I've used an HP touchscreen PC - an IQ800 and it was very nice but HP's touchscreen app for viewing video, pics, etc sits on top of Windows and uses completely different icons and conventions. Close that and the touchscreen is just a mouse replacement.
The other "cutting edge" item on the iPod is the A4 chip. From the demo it looks like this is very fast. Certainly much faster than any netbook.

Having watched the keynote and read the specs it looks very nice and I think they have pitched the price about right. It is important to note, however, what you don't get!
1. There's no camera built in. I think this will be a negative for the Facebook/Twitter/Youtube users that are one big target group. I think a cam that plugs into the iPod port will be a very popular add-on if someone makes it
2. There is no I/O apart from that connector - no USB, no SD slot, nothing. It does talk about a camera interface kit option.

I was a bit concerned that there wasn't going to be even basic word-processing facilities on it but having just watched the presentation, the version of iWork for the Pad looks awesome. A bit disappointing it is an extra $30

I Think it is a mistake to dismiss it as just being a bigger iPhone but I also think it has been massively overhyped.

Patty - looks ideal for what you want! Data plan $29.99/month unlimited in US but the killer will be use abroad (as it is with any phone)

Wouldn't it be cool to have this cover with the Apple logo replaced by the famous large and friendly letters "Don't Panic!"

_________________
D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------

My thoughts on the subject are as follows (from my blog http://www.razumny.no/blog/2010/01/the-ipad/):

Yesterday, Apple announced the long-anticipated, much hyped iPad. Looking like an overgrown iPhone, it sports a 9.7″ screen, with a resolution of 1024×768, multi-touch and your choice of WLAN (all models) 3G (some models) and 16, 32 or 64 GB memory.

A commenter at NRK Beta said it was disappointing that it didn’t have some sort of eInk technology. Now, while eInk is GREAT for reading comfort and battery time, it has a deadly flaw for a device like the iPad; it has a screen refresh rate on par with, well a book (never mind the fact that eInk is so far only available as black and wh … err … gray).

To me, the iPad is NOT ideal for reading, for the exact same reasons why a device with eInk is; backlight and screen refresh. The backlight and screen refresh makes your eyes go tired much quicker, and, eInk having neither, it is actually like reading off darkish paper.

The book function being less than interesting to me, my interest, which, I admit, is piqued, is fading. As a websurfing device, well, it just doesn’t fo it for me. If I want an instant-on, touch screen device, I’ll use my phone. If I want to seriously surf the web, I want a computer, complete with a mouse and a keyboard.

Playing music? Sure, I could, but why not use an iPod or a Creative Zen; they’re smaller and have better power usage times. As for reading and editing documents, I’d rather have a computer to edit and either paper or eInk to read, so that’s out. Photo viewing and editing? Again, I want a computer.

The form factor looks good, but I am still critical of both the weight and how long the battery will last. I notice that, like the iPod and iPhone, the iPad does not look like you can exchange the battery yourself, which I find a curious choice. Sure, for a tiny unit like the shuffle, I can understand it, but for an everyday usage unit like the iPhone? I don’t get it.

Using iPhone OS is an obvious, albeit exciting choice. Apple are basically saying that the iPhone OS is mature enough and powerful enough to be used on this kind of device. Also, by all accounts, it does exactly what an OS for a device like this should do; IT JUST WORKS.

While the tech geek in me goes “OOOH! SHINY!â€

_________________
Carpe aleae

TO me, this is almost a portable telly, as there are more and more types of content been delivered to the TV (Youtube, iPlayer, pictures, media players etc.) this is the kind of thing you could use in the kitchen/bedroom/wherever.

I think I'll wait till v2 which I would hope have a built in camera and a card reader (though the second is a bit of an ask...) but there again, if one landed in my lap I wouldn't complain!

_________________
I'm going to start a new company. It's going to be called 'Easy McApple.' The revenue stream will be based on betting who will sue me first...

it looks so shiny! if i had a use for it, i´d sure want it, but actually i´m not a very digital type (still not on facebook, tony, but the other invitations i´m getting due to yours are starting to freak me out a bit - what do they know about me??? is my real name floating out there?)

_________________
"The human gene pool needs more lifeguards!
Either that or stronger chlorination...." (Pitbull)

It's a bit too flat for my liking.

_________________
Her mouth opened, her eyes patients, the variety of age and constitution as a pullets egg, with some gobbits of fat, and the heavy sand.

(... don't piss us off)

It would make a good placemat.

Are they dishwasher-proof?

_________________
The drug purportedly affected an area of the brain called "Shatner's Bassoon"

I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii297/h2g230/

So's the Earth, mate :)

_________________
D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------

Stephen Fry's take on the iPad...

http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/01/28/ipad-about/

Saw a pic of him at the event yesterday. He was standing around chatting with Apple's chief designer Johnathan Ives.

Dom Joly's take on the iPad...

Guess it's funny to people who have the misconception that it is a big iPhone.
(It isn't actually a phone, you know, the 3G service is data only)

_________________
D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------

And to people who remember the ... oh, what was that show called? I think it was on channel 4, it aired over the fall 2000/spring 2001 season. They did a repeating thing where they'd play the Nokia-tune, then this guy would pick up this absolutely HUGE phone, and shout "HELLO! YEAH, I'M AT THE <insert place here>!"

_________________
Carpe aleae

Trigger Happy TV

_________________
I'm going to start a new company. It's going to be called 'Easy McApple.' The revenue stream will be based on betting who will sue me first...

That's the one! For those of you who haven't seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TSprF1Zpjw

_________________
Carpe aleae

Charlie's review

_________________
The drug purportedly affected an area of the brain called "Shatner's Bassoon"

I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii297/h2g230/

Charlie as sharp as ever.
A lot of the "reviews*" I have read seem to focus on the hullabaloo and hype running up to the launch or on the " Appleness" rather than the product itself. The other frequent comment is the "answer to a question nobody asked".
The fact is Apple have looked at a device in-between a Smartphone and a Laptop many times and always decided there wasn't a market for it up until the iPhone/iPod touch took off and people started saying "Hey, its great to have Web and Email and videos on this but it would be nicer if it was a bit bigger?"
The other thing that changed is the influx of netbooks. The stores are full of the damn things and they are universally crap - slow, tiny screens, tiny awkward keyboards and flimsy, built down-to-a-price construction.
So Apple have launched the iPad into this market. As ever, it is a premium product at a premium price.
They have made a huge success in premium priced Mp3 players, smartphones and laptops so , if there is a market for the netbook sort of device, I'm sure they will do very well.
Is there a market?
I thought this line in Charlie's review sums it up pretty well:
"it looks ideal for idly browsing the web while watching telly. And I suspect that's what it'll largely be used for. Millions of people watch TV while checking their emails: it's a perfect match for them."
That is exactly what my wife uses her clunky Windows laptop for and I suspect there are a hell of a lot of people like her. She reads and composes E-Mail, browses the web, plays a few card and board games, catches up on something on TV she missed using iPlayer, looks at the pictures she or I took. Increasing she posts inane updates to her Facebook page.
All of those activities could be comfortably done on the iPad by the look of it. If this is what you want, why spend twice as much on a Macbook?
She says she would never use a computer to read a book and I must admit, this part of the iPad's repertoire is the bit I am least convinced about. Then again I have looked at various e-book readers and would never use one of those but plenty of people do.

The line Tony quotes again alludes to it being a big iPhone but it isn't. It's not a phone for a start but it is much more a smaller Macbook with no keyboard.
The fact that it uses what appears to be the iPhone OS is more for a common look and feel than actual code but also to keep the OS footprint small.
Wiseguy made a comment that I also read in another review in that the software is locked down by Apple and they should offer an open source OS like Android.
What a load of bollocks! You don't expect to go and buy a Ford car but say you want somebody else's engine in it. You don't go into Marks and Spencer and buy a suit but say you want them to supply a shirt from John Lewis.
Apple are in the business of supplying a complete consumer product and service. Why would they want to lose money and reliability by installing an OS that is completely incompatible with anything else they make and Google only put in the PD because they knew they'd never be able to sell it?
That is what a lot of people on the "geek" websites don't seem to have got their heads around - computers, smartphones, netbooks, whatever are now consumer items which people expect to work just the same as their TV, dishwasher, car or toilet. They are no longer a hobbyist or specialist item

* I put the * in there because most of the "reviews" I have read are by people who haven't seen the thing in the flesh and some don't appear to have even watched the presentation or read the tech spec.

By the way, no, I don't work for Apple but I did apply for a job with them before Christmas!
I didn't get it.
May be they don't want grumpy old gits but it may be the fact that there were 2000 applications for 60 jobs

_________________
D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------