Apple's iPad: are you getting one?
By Paul Miller 
posted April 1st 2010 4:34PM
posted April 1st 2010 4:34PM
| For sure, day one! | |
|---|---|
| Hopefully soon, but not on launch day. | |
| I'm still on the fence. | |
| No plans. | |
| Hell no. |
posted April 1st 2010 4:34PM
| For sure, day one! | |
|---|---|
| Hopefully soon, but not on launch day. | |
| I'm still on the fence. | |
| No plans. | |
| Hell no. |
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engadget troll.
I'm waiting for the iPad HD. LoL What a Joke.
@Dick Lynch Flamewar off the port bow.
@warningabc I think Engadget want us to fight each other.....Troll
Damn! The amount of anti Apple negativity is kind of overwhelming. Nonetheless I WILL be getting an iPad as soon as I can get my grubby mitts on one.
Where's the option: Yes, to sell on eBay!
At first I was like "Hell no", and then I was like well "No plans", but even after seeing all the apps and hype "I'm still on the fence". :)
@who said what If you feel that way, that they're hypocrites, maybe you shouldn't be here anymore.
@warningabc
Yep. Major trollage.
Honestly, though, the comments in previous iPad sections have shown a huge positive rating towards the iPad. Everyone complementing it has gotten High Ranked or above. The poll here tells a different story, however. Keep in mind that more people just read the stories and don't look at the comments.
Gotta say, Apple's made the best of their situation, though. Enforcing an open standard (while still shutting another one out) has worked well for them. It's still questionable whether the claimed performance increases with HTML5 exist, though. I don't plan on getting one because I prefer not to be limited by what Apple wishes me to install on a device that is going to be used as my primary internet access port. Also, I think the idea of a tablet with no physical keyboard is absurd. The way you have to type with these things is crazy (EVERY slate device, not just the iPad).
We've really seen a lot of fanboyism in the comments section, though. There have been many instances of "background processing for 3rd party apps will happen" with no proof whatsoever. When proof finally does come, they act as if they knew all along. This worries me. I like the expose backgrounding, but the people who have predicted this are not insightful, they're simply fanboys. The fact that they got lucky on one detail is hardly proof that Apple is always good. Remember they told us all that backgrounding would suck up battery life. What about now? Have they found a new super-efficient chip? Unlikely. Have they discovered a super battery the likes the world has never seen? Nope. But something has changed.
The fact that people were able to take this before now is idiotic. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard "Apple can always add that." I realize the iPhone is a blank slate for Apple to fill with software goodness, but seriously?? You spent good money on a phone that doesn't currently meet all of your needs, but may in the future? That's not a phone you've purchased, that's stock in the company: proof that you trust Apple implicitly to come out with features that you want. That's the reverse of supply and demand. Supply should create its own demand. Say's law. Apple supplies something that satisfies demands not before satisfied, and people buy it. Rarely do people buy a product because they trust a company to do what's right.
The only time a person should ever buy a product that has potential is if they plan on making the product more than it is THEMSELVES. Like skinning an OS in order to make it look the way you want, or creating a custom ROM on a cell phone that has all the features you want. DIY stuff.
Sorry for the wall of text.
TL;DR: Apple makes cool stuff, not always in the first iteration, and fanboys should learn to defend the product for what it is rather than what it could be.
@Mike10010100 A million times over I agree. If I was being critical (or maybe offensive to the Apple fanboys) about the iPad, they should I wasn't doin' it to get laughs, I was just making an assessment. Further down the road I'm beginning to like this thing.
So yeah, +1
@warningabc: LOL!... damn... fished in...
Seriously though. Not interested. My smartphone basically does all that, in a portable form factor. When I need more, I have a thin n light lappy.
On the software side, tThe iPad doesn't bring any new functionality, just new ways to buy digital stuff, and I already do enough of that on my phone.
On the hardware side, it's only useful place is for couch surfing, but I'm more than happy with my phone's experience - imdb shortcut should be built into the next Harmony remote though ;)
On that note: nobody told me that Swype came pre-installed on the T-Mo HD2... when I clicked on the keyboard to change it today, I was surprised... it really rocks.
@N900
You must belong to the apple fanboy clan... they had those type of arguments...
If you don't like apple... don't buy one!
I know what my options are... you don't need to tell me!
If everything was that way... you will be made to leave the country if you criticized the government...
you will be banned from watching movies from a director whom you rated bad once...
you won't be allowed to enter a restaurant if you ever observed that the steak was rare when you wanted it well done
And so on... if you are wise and an educated geek, (which i seriously doubt), you'd get the point...
Another lame hypocrite! No substance, just rhetoric!
@warningabc
Engadget you have already asked this question before once. So you are merely reposting!!!! Seriously, get a clue.
@who said what or maybe you were reading too much in to something so simple..
@krishansy
I may think of iPad G2 G3, but not G1. I think Jobs didn't release OSX on this because OSX doesn't have many apps while iPhone has. Jobs will slowly carry these apps to OSX one day. Otherwise they are never gonna win against Windows. However, I keep my eyes wide open while buying Jobs' "It just works" devices. The cache is, restrictions will be imposed upon you - something that I hate.
@Mike10010100
Nice comment. This is exactly what I, and my friends have all said, summed up in about 5 paragraphs. I completely agree, especially with the idea of the iPhone never realizing its true potential.
@Mike10010100:
Thank you for putting the TL;DR
@warningabc
Stupidest. Promo pic. Evar.
Seriously, who would watch a movie in their own home (notice the popcorn) on their iPad instead of their TV?
@engadget
So, Mr. Topolsky is saying that hes got his hands full to a device he has only heard about, and is automatically dismissing the JooJoo Tablet, -assuming- the iPad is already the better item.
This reassures the idea that Mr. Topolsky thinks the readers are fools (going back to the "exclude/ipad" arcticle). But I, and many others, are no fools. No fools.
@Mike10010100 Greatly summed up! Exactly how I feel about all this tablet business... People will soon realize that sure tablets are good for some things, but you do need a keyboard or a better input method than the ones available right now.
The iPad will be bought by a lot of Apple supporters just because it's Apple and it's new and Stevie says it's cool. There will be better tablets out there that will be good competition for this product.
However I don't see much success for the tablet industry in the long run as it brings nothing useful to the table.
The tablet+netbook combo concept that Dell came out with could see a bright future imho, because is bring the best of both worlds...
@Esteban Jobs
maybe they sold their tv to pay for the basic ipad? :P
@warningabc
Well, lets see:
Expensive tablet, No USB ports, No full OS, Expensive Apps, Closed Ecosystem, Closed Battery, No camera????? = NO THANKS
Apple always do the same, like someone said wait for the iPad HD (6th generation) to be useful, until then, I will be getting some HP, ASUS or Google tablet, with better specs.
The lesson I have learned: Dont buy pretty gadgets with LOW SPECS.
@warningabc
That's interesting...the "hell no" tally appears to have actually shrunk since first reading this post. Are there some concerns about Apple paying up if a less than favorable tally is posted?
@N900
That's a standard response of a troll/fanboy in their defense.
@Esteban Jobs You're here aren't you? See that big ass Best Buy Ad over there ---->
Yeah, these boys know what they are doing. Feeding their families is what they're doing.
@warningabc FCUK NO.
@warningabc I WANT TO SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE RETURN THE IPAD.. I WANT TO SEE PURE RAW NUMBERS. I WANT TO SEE HOW MANY IDIOTS CALL APPLE AND SAY I CANT VIEW SOME INTERNET PAGES.
@warningabc
my goodness, how did a simple poll turned out to be a flame war.
Unless there are certain number of people doesn't like they see in this poll.. 30% is too low and 30% too high.
To me, 30% is a hella good number after the media was pushing it so much. Media and Publisher love it because they can get people to pretend iPad as newspaper, magazine. Bring their job back.
@Beatnik How did you learn that?
The lesson I learned is "buy quality products instead of products with high specs". Generally speaking, not talking about the iPad.
But about the iPad... I love it and I want one. But I have a Macbook and an iPhone, the iPad is far from necessary. But it's great for reading, making presentations/notes, and watching movies while traveling.
And the iPad will be a big hit. Apple is great at creating a hype, which the iPad already is. Moreover, the App Store just works perfectly, grows every day, and Apple has made a fair amount of deals with different companies.
Did you really call a guy who's name is N900 an Apple fanboy?
Logic > you
When it comes with a capacitive stylus and a way for me to write notes on it then id consider it.. until then .. thats a big ole nope
@who said what
The poll was "Are you planning to buy one?" How is answering honestly being an "android fanboy"? I'm not buying an iPad, should I lie on the poll and say that I am just so you're happy?
@warningabc
I hope the iPad is a huge success, just to spite all the anti-apple people.
i don't care for apple or own any of their products, i just hate all the trolls.
@Esteban Jobs Well, what if you only have one TV?..and someone else is using it?
People don't buy products that don't meet their needs. If what's missing is a key feature for them, they buy something else, if it's something that would be nice at some point then they will buy the product. To suggest people spend money on products that are missing core functionality just because they are a fan of the company is just rediculous. I have multi-tasking on my iPhone and I can safely say the only time I use it is with my gps app, it just isn't an issue.
What's the difference between "no plans" and "hell no"? Just dividing up the "no" results? Let me sum up the poll so far in proper terms:
Yes: 29.6%
No: 54.2%
Undecided: 16.2%
@krishansy "I think Jobs didn't release OSX on this because OSX doesn't have many apps while iPhone has."
Your comment is amazing. OSX doesn't have many apps?
@Beatnik Thank heavens im not the only humans that think alike
well, I wanted to get one the first day, but will have to wait because I want GPS and the only way for GPS is 3G Will have to be patient, not my best quality. I will have to cover eyes and ears Saturday morning!!
@One Love
OMG, DITTO!
@Mike10010100
"What about now? Have they found a new super-efficient chip?"
yep. Apple A4 rated at 10 hours battery life for the iPad and delivers upto 12 hours in real world usage much to the delight of the initial reviewers who got theirs yesterday. The A4 is coming to the iPhone supposedly, and with this kind of performance on the iPad, enabling bg processing should be a cinch on iPhone. Battery is not the only concern for bg processing, there's also the problem of security although there is not much data showing bg processes being the sole reason for smartphone security issues. Thus it's a safe bet that multi-tasking should hit the iPhone come June. Whether it's as elegantly executed as on WebOS remains to be seen. Right now, 'expose' style' icons doesn't sound very useful.
(I'd also recommend this article on Ars Technica from 2005 which has notes on the architecture and details of the then-revolutionary SoC from P.A.Semi called PWRficient(forefather of the new Apple A4) » http://bit.ly/9sVFsb The article's a great read for another reason too - the number of things the author got right in just this single para - ' In fact, we're in the opening moments of a full-blown PowerPC Renaissance. Who knows how long the PPC revival will last, but Apple would've been hard pressed to pick a worse time to jump ship for performance or performance/watt reasons. But they didn't jump ship for performance or performance/watt reasons. They jumped ship because they no longer care about making leading-edge computer hardware. They also don't care about PC market share, or any of that other G3-era Mac Faithful malarkey. From now on, merely "good enough" is good enough for the Mac line, and the real innovation will come in the form of post-PC gadgets and entertainment-oriented, techno-cool doohickeys.' In short, just from press release for PWRficient from P.A.Semi, he had foreseen Apple's switch in strategy from being primarily just a PC maker to a mobile device powerhouse 2 years before the iPhone launch in 2007. Very cool stuff.)
" I can't tell you the number of times I've heard 'Apple can always add that.'
And that's true... You spent good money on a phone that doesn't currently meet all of your needs, but may in the future? "
features and ease-of-use go hand in hand. Apple -can- always add anything they want, as you have noted. They have as many resources as anyone else in the industry to get that done, if not more. But ease-of-use(uiux)-feature set trade-off is a balancing act. Multitasking is possible but Apple then has to give the phone more juice, so will have to go with the -user removable battery- design. Is multitasking worth the user the hassle of having to change batteries and worth Apple to deal with giving support for battery cover issues? Apple decided not to go with -user-removable batteries- and I prefer that to multitasking. One less item for me to remember to carry around. And the phone feels more solid this way.
Same with the stylus. Apple singlehandedly changed the landscape of smartphones with that move. Stylus is a useful feature if you need to draw/hand-write notes on your iPhone and need the precision. But its one more thing to 'remember to carry around' and one more thing to 'take proper care of'. I had a Windows Mobile 5 powered i-mate that used a stylus and I must say, the utility of a stylus is not worth the hassle of owning one.
This is why 'Apple can always add that.' translates to 'Lack of a feature is a ~design decision~ and not an inherent flaw of the software and/or hardware and thus should not be used as the sole measuring stick when evaluating the rest of the software and/or hardware in question.'
'Apple can always add that.' means 'I encourage you to keep an open mind.'
'Apple can always add that.' means 'I got the product knowing very well what it can/cannot do. What it cannot do is not a deal breaker for me and since I understand the uiux-featureset tradeoff involved I don't expect the general public to find the lack of the feature a deal breaker either. If they do, Apple can always add that.'
@warningabc
I pre-ordered mine. Got a problem with that? Too bad.
Now downrank me into oblivion you stupid fanboys and trolls!
@vjk2005
All of this is true...if this was trying to fill a niche that desperately needed to be filled. I don't see the need for a slate that is neither a netbook nor a convertable tablet. I have my iPod Touch for my quick browsing and video (that fits in my pocket) and my netbook for my long browsing, note taking, email, etc.
Having something like this limited to only what Apple can put on it is like releasing a MacBook Pro with a gimped OSX. I want openness. I want to be able to skin this thing to kingdom come if I want.
12 hours of battery life without multitasking. Cool. That's around what the iPod Touch will do. The excuse in the past has been "it'll eat battery life." Is the A4 really that much different? Isn't it just a slightly modified Cortex A9? (That's what I've heard, I don't pretend to be an expert on mobile chipsets).
But that's just an example. Apple told us that we didn't need multitasking. Most people don't know the difference if you make the app load times short enough. Then they switch stories and add multitasking. If they were planning it the entire time, why not just tell us that? "We're working on it." is much better than "We think you won't need it until we give it to you."
User experience? Really? That's fine that they like to do quality assurance and make sure that their product is easy to use, but it only took me and my friends about 10 minutes to sit down and come up with a way to do multitasking commands on an iPhone that are in line with the other types of commands usually implemented on and iPhone.
Not to mention the developer system is a beast of its own. You have to pay 100 dollars to register with Apple, have to have a mac in order to program for it, and then have to jump through the hoops of Apple's submission process. For Android, it's just make the program, register (for free), upload, and that's it. Done.
And for people who are arguing over which is better, Flash or HTML5: It doesn't matter who wins, or if there is a winner at all. Cuz guess what? Real computers do both.
@vjk2005
"Multitasking is possible but Apple then has to give the phone more juice"
That's funny, my N900 handles multitasking perfectly on practically the same hardware as the iPhone - a 600MHz ARM chip, and from comparisons I made with a relative who has a 3GS, my battery life isn't worse than his.
Apple's claims regarding multitasking seem completely irrational to me. Their OS is fully tailored to their hardware, they couldn't be at a better position to implement it. There are also ways to do it without confusing the users and without making them forget open apps and drain battery life. Again I refer you to the N900 - in Maemo 5, every trip to the app launcher takes you through the task manager, which shows open apps in live windows and allows you to easily close them with a click on an X button. I'm sure Apple have the innovative manpower to figure out something similarly simple.
@engadget
I think it's perfect for 'while sat on the toilet' use, however i might just pass and read a book instead, it could be cheaper and save the planet to boot.
@Mike10010100 Yes, but I guess they can't help it. As for the yes or no question about buying the iPad, Me? I won't, not for this 1st gen model.
Opinions*: http://bit.ly/ipad-going-real-opinions
Right now, my eyes are more interested on the courier tablet. But that's just me.
@badjokes, im not anti apple or a troll. but i feel i speak for some when i criticize apples decision to leave out key features. namely: camera, flash and multitasking. not to mention apple thinks they can make their own price point on ebooks and they think the entire industry will follow. i think the book market is a much different demographic than the music market. i consider my gripes constructive criticism.
@Esteban Jobs
But that 4:3 display is SO suited to watching movies!
@Esteban Jobs
Handy on long road trips/holidays in isolated areas aka camping
@vjk2005
And here we have the text-book definition of an apologist. Pathetic.