The Apple iPad has burst through the cloud of rumour and speculation. A crepusclar ray in the shape of a giant iPhone with a 9.7″ IPS screen, custom 1GHz Apple A4 processor, 16-64GB of memory, 3G and WiFi, and 10 hours of battery life.
Apple iPad in New Zealand
(36 posts) (4 voices)-
Posted 1 month ago #
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Ben Lilley
InactivePosted by unregistered user: Ben LilleyThat’s a great summary Ben, impressive considering the keynote wasn’t even finished when you posted this!
Overall I feel underwhelmed about the iPad (stupid name), but I also think it has potential. Much like the iPhone I think its strength will come from the Apps that Developers produce, and unfortunately that means we don’t get to see the full potential at launch. Hopefully in the long run though it matures into an excellent device, just as the iPhone did.
Posted 1 month ago # -
James Robertson
InactivePosted by unregistered user: James RobertsonAlthoguh not revolutionary, its a serious upgrade to the market between phone and notebook! I have an ipod touch, but want something better for out and about to read on etc…
A great summary, covers most things i want to know, only bit it doesn’t is availability dates and costs (which no one knows). Thanks for the info.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Mr K
InactivePosted by unregistered user: Mr KYeah it’s an interesting device, one I could see fitting in our house. We have 1 iMac at home, that’s it. It’s also our TV, so is frequently in use by someone watching something or recording something. OR someone is emailing meaning no TV
So the iPad could sit nicely in the family. Use it for casual email, reading books, surfing web – while imac is in use. find a recipe & take it to the kitchen, grab a book and curl up in bed … show photos of the 2 year old quickly and easily with friends/family without firing up the big computer
Yeah I could see this working .. for $700(ish) down here. I mean we were considering Nook .. this is that and more
Sure there is no camera (but I have a Sony point & shoot & iPhone for those things), there is all and more that we need .. so yeah, there is a market. I don’t need expandible memory – it’s on wifi so I can I get what I need from the network when I need it. It’s too big to lug around to cafe’s – that’s why I use my iPhone … I can save media to my computer, sync photos etc … there really is no need for external storage etc
I don’t need the 3G model, so .. yeah I think at around $700 .. it could be worth it (maybe – I’m waiting to see and touch one)
Posted 1 month ago # -
If you scroll to the bottom of the technical page there is a “camera connection kit”, in the form of a USB connector and SD card reader. It talks only of “importing photos”, which is a bit sad. I’d hope you could use it as external storage.
Also of note: Bluetooth 2.1 with support for external keyboards, so you could get a cheap BT keyboard if the dock is too expensive.
Posted 1 month ago # -
onefabknitter
InactivePosted by unregistered user: onefabknitteri’ll be buying one! I am seriously impressed with the price, when you compare it to the iphone.It is faster, and the battery life of 10 hours is very inviting (even while watching films Steve said!)…thats 1 month on standby,unreal , makes it far more attractive for the airport stopovers.I never watch a film on my iphone 3gs as the battery would be gone before i reached the destination! I will also not be bothering with 3g, i have an airport express I can plug in for the wireless, plus it has bluetooth, so can connect with the laptop or the imac! I love the idea of watching films and playing games on this baby! I like the size, as it can slip into my laptop bag no problem! My only regret…it is not a pen device, which I had crossed fingers fore…but that is not all in vain, have you guys seen the actual apple slate? go to axitron.com and look at the modbook! UNBELIEVABLY …GOTTA HAVE IT MATERIAL!
Posted 1 month ago # -
Dylan Reeve
InactivePosted by unregistered user: Dylan ReeveThinking of what I do with my various devices (phone, laptop, desktop pc, TV) I can’t really see where this fits in to my life. Maybe as a tricked out ebook reader, but I don’t think it’s flexible enough to do all that much.
Plus the stuff I’m reading still suggests no multitasking, no Flash player. No inbuilt expandible storage.
Personally, I’d rather have a Windows, Linux or even OS X based tablet of a similar size, with touch screen but also some form of physical keyboard – I don’t love ‘typing’ on screen.
Posted 1 month ago # -
rob-nz
MemberI have to agree re the comment about lack of a precision interface like a Wacom stylus.
On a screen this big I would want Wacom-quality accuracy for minute adjustment of objects, photo retouching , technical sketching etc.
Capactive screen finger prodding alone just doesn't have the precision. Good enough for a phone sized object, but not really for a MID.
I borrowed an old HP Tc400 tablet for a while, and while it was a biggish clunky box, I loved scibbling and annotating with the stylus in tablet mode. (Guess it harks back to my Palm Pilot days).
I have seen discussion somewhere on the possibilty of combining both capacitive and resistive technologies in the same screen, resistive wacom style under the lcd and capacitive interface on top.
Also echo the criticism re lack of expandability and disappointed that it is single-tasking iPhone OS rather than an embedded OSX.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Also: it looks like the 3G model and iBookstore are not going to be available in New Zealand at launch time.
Remind anyone of the Kindle?
Posted 1 month ago # -
parsley
MemberThe really revolutionary thing about the iPad is something nobody’s noticed – cheap multitouch on a 10″ device. Up until now the idea of a Pro-Cap touchscreen (the system that iPhone uses) that big for a reasonable price was impossible. Apple have either done some serious production improvements to minimise the noise problems and get the price down for Pro-Cap, or come up with a new solution (see patent below). In the long term that may have a much bigger impact than the iPad itself.
iPhone touchscreen explained:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/iphone1.htmNew Apple touchscreeen patent:
http://venturebeat.com/2010/01/07/apple-touchscreen-patent/Posted 1 month ago # -
Max
InactivePosted by unregistered user: MaxApple got it wrong here.
This isn’t what I expected from them at all. It looks like an over grown iPod Touch! and the screen isn’t full width??! there’s so much wasted screen area around the edges on this thing!
* NO MULTI-TASKING
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* Why do we need a silly keyboard dock?
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* No camera
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* Doesnt run Adobe flash
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* A pitiful 1Ghz CPU
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* Aspect ration no good for wide-screen movies
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* No USB
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* No phone feature (would’ve been great for conference calls)
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* No radio feature
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* Interface is just the iPhone OS
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* No Firewire
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* Doesn’t convert news content into e-paper display format
————————————–There are some good points however like being able to run the same apps from iTunes Store. It is much faster than the iphone but the 1Ghz CPU is just so they can say it lasts for 10 hours. I really expected much more from Apple and they are leaders in this field so its a huge disappointment to see such a bad device.
Posted 1 month ago # -
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