ipad will not be used (at least not by me) until it has a front and rear facing cameras (for voip calls and taking pics, respectively) and an os that doesn't belong in a cell phone.
@EI8HT Well put. The iPad basically just a crippled netbook -- locked-down application store, no ports for peripherals, no camera for video conferencing. Nobody's been able to give me a slightly interesting usage scenario for this thing that isn't already handled better by something else.
Oh, please. Those are the worst reasons not to use the iPad that I've ever heard, with the single exception that it has an Apple logo on it. Cameras on a device like this are entirely useless, front- or rear-facing, and the OS is the reason why the whole thing works. Seriously, what difference does it make that the OS was first used on a cellular telephone? All that means is that it works very well for touch-based interaction and has very little power requirements.
Seriously, how on earth were you planning to take photographs with a tablet device? It's hard enough to take a reasonable picture with a cellular telephone let alone holding something like this like you are Moses. The form factor is all wrong for photography.
Now, that's actually a good argument against the device. I think the rest of the arguments are bunk but that's a good one. It could be that Apple is expecting wireless connections to be used with peripherals (WiFi or Bluetooth) but there aren't enough devices that will support this yet to give it a decent ecosystem. An SD Card slot would certainly be useful.
@EI8HT Notice how the iPhone screen only rotates to three sides but the iPad rotates to all four? So what if someone designed a plug in camera for the dock-connector. Because of iPad screen rotation the device could be turned completely upside down so the camera was at the 'top'. Then if the camera that could swivel so that you could change the angle it was pointing depending on the angle you were holding the iPad? And you could in fact swivel the camera around to be back facing? And then what if you could go and easily upgrade that camera in future without needing to replace the whole iPad? Now that would be a good idea wouldn't it... ? :)
I just don't see a device like this being good for video conferences. Unless you hold it parallel to your face, which will either require a stand or reasonable arm strength, then your audience is going to be looking up your nose or you are going to be hunched over it. Ergonomically it just sounds awful. Perhaps this is something that needs to be tried but I just don't see this as being a good way to do a video conference. A camera built into a dock device for the iPad, on the other hand, could be a decent solution with the exception that it sacrifices portability.
"which will either require a stand or reasonable arm strength" don't they already advertise the stand w/ keyboard they have on it? and skype is about to get massive before this summer. Whats wrong with wanting to put the iPad in a stand and let the voip video begin? and with the screen size I would say 3 people could comfortably video conference with these
"...like you are Moses." ---Classic. I'm pretty much ho-hum on the whole camera thing. While it would be nice, the whole Moses thing helplessly runs through my mind. Haha. Now, throw that stand in there and the whole Skype thing is more than practical for calls and such; and dare I say iChat (hrmmm). Nevertheless, the thing hasn't hit the store. And as with all things, leave the 1st gen stuff to the suckers. I'll wait my turn.
@jmcburna Let me digress from the whole "suckers" thing for a moment. I will say the pro and at-home devs will populate the lot as well which may provide plenty of entertainment.
Hmm, I don't see Skype becoming an more massive than it already is suddenly but that's beside the point. A camera for use when the device is in a stand could indeed be useful, and in that respect the camera could be in the device itself or in the stand. I suppose that in that respect a camera in the top of the device would be better placed than a low-down camera on the stand so I can see the benefit there.
Frankly, my own experiences of video conferences have always been poor, both at home and with "proper" solutions at work so this probably colours my opinion of the subject somewhat.
Yeah..you challenge somebody to find something better than the iPad for your scenario...and then you demand it fits the exact specifications of the iPad...
What you need is a netbook, admit it, you can handle the few extra ounces, it's not that heavy. People are weak.
"I'm a college student looking for a new laptop, but almost all of my media I receive digitally. I'm looking for a laptop, not a netbook, without an optical drive, and budget sensitive. The optical drive will just be a waste of space, when I can have thinner laptop. What's out there?"
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ipad will not be used (at least not by me) until it has a front and rear facing cameras (for voip calls and taking pics, respectively) and an os that doesn't belong in a cell phone.
@EI8HT Well put. The iPad basically just a crippled netbook -- locked-down application store, no ports for peripherals, no camera for video conferencing. Nobody's been able to give me a slightly interesting usage scenario for this thing that isn't already handled better by something else.
@EI8HT
Oh, please. Those are the worst reasons not to use the iPad that I've ever heard, with the single exception that it has an Apple logo on it. Cameras on a device like this are entirely useless, front- or rear-facing, and the OS is the reason why the whole thing works. Seriously, what difference does it make that the OS was first used on a cellular telephone? All that means is that it works very well for touch-based interaction and has very little power requirements.
Seriously, how on earth were you planning to take photographs with a tablet device? It's hard enough to take a reasonable picture with a cellular telephone let alone holding something like this like you are Moses. The form factor is all wrong for photography.
I agree a rear facing camera wouldn't make much sense on a device this size. A front facing one would be nice though, for VOIP video calls.
@Raptor007
"no ports for peripherals"
Now, that's actually a good argument against the device. I think the rest of the arguments are bunk but that's a good one. It could be that Apple is expecting wireless connections to be used with peripherals (WiFi or Bluetooth) but there aren't enough devices that will support this yet to give it a decent ecosystem. An SD Card slot would certainly be useful.
@EI8HT Notice how the iPhone screen only rotates to three sides but the iPad rotates to all four? So what if someone designed a plug in camera for the dock-connector. Because of iPad screen rotation the device could be turned completely upside down so the camera was at the 'top'. Then if the camera that could swivel so that you could change the angle it was pointing depending on the angle you were holding the iPad? And you could in fact swivel the camera around to be back facing? And then what if you could go and easily upgrade that camera in future without needing to replace the whole iPad? Now that would be a good idea wouldn't it... ? :)
@DJ
I just don't see a device like this being good for video conferences. Unless you hold it parallel to your face, which will either require a stand or reasonable arm strength, then your audience is going to be looking up your nose or you are going to be hunched over it. Ergonomically it just sounds awful. Perhaps this is something that needs to be tried but I just don't see this as being a good way to do a video conference. A camera built into a dock device for the iPad, on the other hand, could be a decent solution with the exception that it sacrifices portability.
@Kelmon
"which will either require a stand or reasonable arm strength" don't they already advertise the stand w/ keyboard they have on it? and skype is about to get massive before this summer. Whats wrong with wanting to put the iPad in a stand and let the voip video begin? and with the screen size I would say 3 people could comfortably video conference with these
@Kelmon
"...like you are Moses." ---Classic. I'm pretty much ho-hum on the whole camera thing. While it would be nice, the whole Moses thing helplessly runs through my mind. Haha. Now, throw that stand in there and the whole Skype thing is more than practical for calls and such; and dare I say iChat (hrmmm). Nevertheless, the thing hasn't hit the store. And as with all things, leave the 1st gen stuff to the suckers. I'll wait my turn.
@jmcburna
Let me digress from the whole "suckers" thing for a moment. I will say the pro and at-home devs will populate the lot as well which may provide plenty of entertainment.
@schultz
Hmm, I don't see Skype becoming an more massive than it already is suddenly but that's beside the point. A camera for use when the device is in a stand could indeed be useful, and in that respect the camera could be in the device itself or in the stand. I suppose that in that respect a camera in the top of the device would be better placed than a low-down camera on the stand so I can see the benefit there.
Frankly, my own experiences of video conferences have always been poor, both at home and with "proper" solutions at work so this probably colours my opinion of the subject somewhat.
@EI8HT
Do you currently use your webcam on your computer for Skype?
If not, you're even less likely gonna be doing video conferencing on a mobile device that you have to hold up in your hands.
@Atkins:
Yeah..you challenge somebody to find something better than the iPad for your scenario...and then you demand it fits the exact specifications of the iPad...
What you need is a netbook, admit it, you can handle the few extra ounces, it's not that heavy. People are weak.