9 ms·
Apple iPad
- jsm386 17y agoMagical? Sure. Revolutionary? It's a giant iPod touch. If this thing does sell, coupling it with 29.95/unlimited 3G on AT&T should do wonders for the network.
- nroach 17y agoiPod Touch DX.
- NathanKP 17y agoYeah, ATT is already overloaded. Offering unlimited access so cheaply will bog it down even more. I hope AT&T will be beefing up their network over the next few months.
- roc 17y ago(relatively) no-one in America is going to choose to spend $130 more up-front just for the pleasure of being ill-served by AT&T's data network. That whole 'service' is a non-option in the US. At least until the iPhone is available elsewhere and AT&T's network load lessens. They've dragged their feet for 3 years to update the network for the wildly successful iPhone. I doubt the iPad will push them any faster.
- NathanKP 17y agoI agree, but it really is unfortunate that AT&T can't get with it, because unlimited wireless access for $30 a month isn't a bad deal at all, unless of course, it is really slow and unreliable.
- joshfinnie 17y agoI am underwhelmed. I think they might have missed the mark on this product or there are a lot of things they didn't discuss in their presentation today! Multi-tasking? Flash?
- dangrossman 17y agoWe saw Flash on one of the web demos. It was Safari's missing plugin icon, so it's safe to assume there's no Flash still.
- mattmaroon 17y agoI found that really odd. As pre-scripted as their demoes are, why would they use a page with that?
- wmf 17y agoAs a sly way of rubbing it in?
- tspiteri 17y agoCan you think of a better way to answer the FAQ "Does it have Flash?"
- jonknee 17y agoSimply not showing an error during the demo... The demo isn't designed to show all that it can't do.
- mattmaroon 17y agoYes: don't until you're asked. iPod demos and tech specs pages on Apple's website don't advertise what formats it doesn't play. An iPhone demo wouldn't show dropped calls, at least not if it were easily preventable.
- tspiteri 17y ago> Yes: don't until you're asked. I think the question was asked by quite a few people. > iPod demos and tech specs pages on Apple's website don't advertise what formats it doesn't play. Usually a format list is complete, if a format is not there, you know it is not supported. But I do not think that it makes sense for the iPad to list all web technologies, as in, it supports html, css, xhtml, txt, javascript, flash, ... . Flash is not just a format. > An iPhone demo wouldn't show dropped calls, at least not if it were easily preventable. Now this is a tough point. Of course they would not show a misfeauture in the demo. Perhaps they were making a point that missing Flash is not a misfeature after all, and that web pages should be written without a Flash dependency. But in the end, I might be completely wrong and it might have been a slip up after all, I wouldn't know.
- edd 17y agoThis is the interesting page from there: http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/ "1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)" Sounds like a nice display.
- rimantas 17y agoAnd it's IPS!
- csmeder 17y agoThe way Wikipedia describes IPS it has a better viewing angle but uses more power. Is this the gist of IPS or is there more?
- rimantas 17y ago+more accurate colors and no color shift with the viewing angle change. Pretty much the best type of LCD. Usually you find IPS in the best monitors, and I am not aware of any notebook with IPS screen.
- bd 17y agoThinkpads used to have IPS displays (FlexView). Lenovo stopped offering them as they could not procure a reliable supply. http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=75 http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=75 They did look considerably better: http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/13263.jpg http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/13263.jpg http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/10884.jpg http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/10884.jpg
- samdk 17y agoThe TN panels they're being compared against there are terrible, though. My Eee (which is otherwise fairly similar: a 10" display at 1024x600) looks fine at those angles. I have seen laptops with displays that are that bad, but it's not the norm, but it doesn't make sense to use them as the basis for IPS-TN comparisons.
- timcederman 17y agoI am surprised that many of the comments so far are the equivalent of "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." I'm excited at the very distinct deviation this is taking from the keyboard/mouse/monitor paradigm in something other than a strictly portable device. I think the OS looks pretty damn good and I can't wait to try using one myself.
- NathanKP 17y agoHow can people be saying that it doesn't have wireless? It clearly has both Wifi, and 3G just like an iPhone.
- timcederman 17y agohttp://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257&tid=107 http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257...
- eli 17y agoTo be fair, the original iPod was pretty lame. It worked fine, but it wasn't especially cheap and it only worked with a relatively late model Mac. And in 2001, this meant something like 95% of computer owners wouldn't be able to put any music on it.
- philwelch 17y agoTrue, but I can still fit most of my music on a single original iPod, carry it around in my pocket, and use the cool wheely interface to navigate through it, which is loads more convenient than what everyone else did in 2001 (either listen to one CD all day, or carry around a binder filled with CD's on a long road trip, or carry the equivalent of one or two CD's around on a Rio).
- NathanKP 17y agoClearly there is a long history of people complaining without knowing what they are complaining about. As someone else put it the iPad is already so hyped up that no matter what Apple has put into it people will still complain.
- jeremyawon 17y agolack of front facing/any camera mystifies me
- eli 17y agoWell, you'd look ridiculous trying to point the thing at someone to take a picture. And the truth is that hardly anyone really wants videochat.
- lliiffee 17y agoIn my experience, people want videochat to look at their grandchildren.
- roc 17y agoThe question is: are there a lot of them itching to spend several hundred dollars to do that via a wireless picture-frame in their lap? In my experience those people are reasonably well served by sitting down at a PC with a webcam.
- lliiffee 17y agoI agree. I think that the main impact of no-camera-on-iPad might be that fewer people use it as their only computer. (This might be by design.)
- ZeroGravitas 17y agoYou can of course see your grandchildren via the iPad if they've got a laptop or desktop camera, it's the person with the iPad that won't be seen.
- run4yourlives 17y agoWait for ver2
- cglee 17y agoAnd I was thinking of buying this for my mom (who's never used a computer in her life) so we could videochat.
- yan 17y agoI'm going to hold off my criticism until I spend more than 20-30 minutes with it and see how well it fits my ideas of what a device like this should be. Knowing Apple, their product design and eye for aesthetics, I wouldn't jump to conclusions based on specs and photos of it.
- chaosmachine 17y agoThis is going to do to netbooks what the iPod did to CD players.
- waterlesscloud 17y agoNetbooks cost 50-60% less, so they're pretty safe.
- Zarathu 17y agoFind me a CD player that costs $250.
- icefox 17y agohttp://www.benzworld.org/forums/sale-trade-wanted-items/1436753-mercedes-benz-audio-10-dash-cd.html http://www.benzworld.org/forums/sale-trade-wanted-items/1436...
- chaosmachine 17y agoIn 2001, the iPod launched at $399. That's roughly $500 in 2010 dollars.
- NathanKP 17y agoWhat calculation or source did you use to assume such a high inflation rate in just 9 years?
- chaosmachine 17y agohttp://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
- mtomczak 17y agoI use my netbook mostly to write small web server applications in Ruby and Python. This device is not "for" me.
- tsuraan 17y agoI find it really strange that they advertise 720p playback, but they didn't give it a 720p screen. I would expect the device to have a 1280x720 resolution display (like some netbooks) instead of a 1024x768. I'm not sure what their target user is, but I guess one who watches HD video isn't it. Still, it does look interesting.
- simplegeek 17y agoCall me naive but I think my productivity problem can be solved now. I'm thinking to get an iPad just for the email, HN and notes. That is, not check email on my work computer but rather go to iPad whenever feeling the itch to check email/HN and etc. Not sure, but excited to try that idea ;)
- Tichy 17y agoIf that's really your desire, you could have gotten a cheaper netbook a long time ago. On the other hand, if you happened to buy an iPad and wonder what to do with it, then your idea might come in handy.
- simplegeek 17y agoPanache, my friend ;)
- MaysonL 17y agoWith Skype and a Bluetooth headset, this will be cheaper than an iPhone!
- khelloworld 17y agoWell. At least they didn't call this OS version 4.0. Can't wait for WWDC '10 to see a new OS with a better interface (at least for the iPad).
- khelloworld 17y agoAnd, I think they'll add background apps in the new OS. I think the hardware (on the iphone as well) is ready to handle the load.
- gaborcselle 17y agoSome jailbroken firmwares out there already support backgrounding.
- khelloworld 17y agoYeah, but a good number of people don't know how to jailbreak their devices or simply don't want to do it. So, I am talking from their perspective.
- Perceval 17y agoI wonder if the folks at Delicious Library are upset about Apple's new 'iBooks' app, that essentially looks the same as theirs. http://www.delicious-monster.com/images/librarypage/screenshots/Delicious-Library.png http://www.delicious-monster.com/images/librarypage/screensh... http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/136360/thumbs/s-IBOOKS-STORE-large.jpg http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/136360/thumbs/s-IBOOKS-...
- runevault 17y agohttp://twitter.com/wilshipley/status/8289792566 http://twitter.com/wilshipley/status/8289792566 http://twitter.com/wilshipley/status/8290423381 http://twitter.com/wilshipley/status/8290423381
- cmelbye 17y agoUgh. Very lame on his part. His company doesn't magically hold exclusive rights to a bookshelf with books on it. Thankfully he realized that iBooks and Delicious Library are completely different products.
- tvon 17y agoWell, I think there is doing something, and then doing something very well. Delicious Library did the bookshelf thing very well, and the iBooks thing seems to do it very well in a similar way. I'm not saying he has a legal bone to pick or anything, just that he is allowed a tweet or two to hrmph about it.
- cmelbye 17y agoDelicious Library is for cataloging your media and books. iBooks is iTunes but for purchasing books. Pretty different purposes.
- runevault 17y agoI don't see how it's lame? He's stating they did take a pretty healthy chunk of his UI design, but then points out that is not all DL is...
- Tichy 17y agoMy feeling is that it is fairly non-essential. But the same holds for the iPod, and they sold loads of them. So it seems possible they might find buyers for the iPad, too. The price is OK. I guess the real need it is filling will be "I really want to buy something right now, but I already own everything I need".
- tewks 17y agoThis is going to change the whole computer market forever. Why would anyone (edit: a user who buys a below $1k machine) be inclined to purchase a netbook or even a 13" PC instead of this?
- runevault 17y agobecause we want an OS with extra functionality like background apps/etc? Especially the netbooks w/3g capability you can get subsidized. Does this add options to the market? Yes. Is it a game changer? Not even close.
- tewks 17y agoThey are going to sell a lot of these. Game changer.
- runevault 17y agoMaybe I'm crazy but gamechanger requires more than sales. The iPhone was a game changer because it redifined the market and got more people interested in smartphones, changing the entire cell phone industry.
- tewks 17y agoTotally right. Sales aren't the only factor. It can matter for developers targeting users, though again not the only factor. In particular, as a developer, I'm excited about the opportunity to have solid multitouch on a bigger screen. The first example that comes to mind is the fact that numerous games and other apps aren't possible on the iPhone/touch because the screen isn't big enough, such as two-player games on the same screen.
- _pi 17y agoBecause some of us, actually want a computer with more power than the iPad, or because the App store is a bad idea for end users and developers, or because some of us use netbooks and smaller laptops as our mobile coding machines when this thing doesn't even have a keyboard.
- kylec 17y agoThe iPad will support the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, as well as VGA output from the dock connector. This could be interesting.
- icey 17y agoI saw that it has bluetooth, but I haven't seen anything about it supporting the Bluetooth keyboard... source? (Or does the bluetooth keyboard work with the iphone now?)
- jsm386 17y agoPure speculation, but I wonder if they got that $29.99 unlimited plan out of AT&T with no contract in exchange for keeping the iPhone exclusive...
- netcan 17y agoMaybe, but not necessarily. Each new type of communication device threatens old revenue streams of Telcos. Broadband/skype threatens long distance, 3g threatens voice minute/SMS, but... Overall, I think the total amount we spend on communication is going up like mad. 10 years ago a sophisticated 5 person household had a landline phone, a mobile phone and a dial up account or maybe a DSL. Today they have the phone, 5 mobiles(some of them expensive ones including lots of 3g acess), a home broadband connection (network) and now they're looking at adding some other device/plan package (Tablet, netbook, etc.). As a rule, they don't really care that much about providing cheap additional services. They care about cannibalising other stuff. This isn't likely to replace anything. Apple is a good partner for avoiding skype-over-3G, tethering or some other antisocial behaviour.
- philwelch 17y agoIf this thing can store and play arbitrary video files (to the limit of Quicktime's capabilities) and gets an app for Netflix streaming, I actually think it'll be extremely useful for me in that I can finally separate my entertainment machine from my work machine. It looks like it's only MPEG-4/H.264 friendly, but that may be enough if that becomes the standard. (Letting it somehow play DVD's--even with just a "DVD dock"--would be helpful as well, but I have a laptop fully capable of converting DVD's into H.264 anyhow.) My suspicion is that next year's iPad will be the one to push the concept over the top for me. Though it's already compelling as an ebook reader and part time laptop replacement, one more iteration will seal the deal.
- vitobcn 17y agoAfter seeing the iPad, I wonder if the JooJoo (CrunchPad) will even make it to the market.
- jacquesm 17y agoWhat made you think it ever would ? It's DOA as far as I'm concerned. The companies that were supposed to launch it are stuck in infighting mode and meanwhile the iPad is here and defines the market. They could have had a good run of it if they managed to steal apples' thunder by launching 6 months early. Have apple make the hype and run off with the customers, that would have been a classic coup. As it is they might as well pull the plug.
- levesque 17y agoReading this now makes me think this might be a set up by apple.... yeaaah, maybe they just incited those guys over at Fusion Garage to screw the project.
- senko 17y agoIf they can price it right (and don't lock it down), I think it'd be interesting as a low-priced/more-open alternative to iPad. In effect, JooJoo could run the iPad success in sense it doesn't have to explain what it does - "it's like iPad, just <whatever>". If iPad gets traction, I'm sure it'll provide an incentive for other companies to follow. JooJoo is perfectly positioned there because they (supposedly?) already have a working device.
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- anigbrowl 17y agoI like it...but it's a USB client rather than a host. That's a hard pill for me to swallow. I suspect I'll be getting a competitor's model with somewhat inferior aesthetics and for maybe $100 less. I admire the product (and especially their pricing, which was a surprise) but it doesn't arouse real gear envy for me. TBH I was hoping for haptic feedback and a webcam, or host connections that would allow it to work as a generic console for other devices - which would have driven the entry price to $800 or more, but felt really revolutionary. Apple will do well out of this, but the competition is coming up a lot closer than with the iPhone, where it was unarguably the best of its kind for a long time.
- ptomato 17y agoHas at least some USB host capabilities, as you can plug a camera into it.
- kprobst 17y agoI can't help but wonder if this thing is related to Amazon's wild success with the Kindle. Jobs never saw a consumer market he didn't like. Certainly if I was given the option to go with the Kindle or an iPad, my choice would be clear - I want the device with more functionality. The Kindle DX is the same price as the iPad, with a slightly smaller screen. Kindle killer? Time will tell. Edit: At the Kindle DX price point the iPad does not provide 3G access though. And that's one of the biggest selling points for Amazon's device.
- blehn 17y agoThere are a few major differences, though. The Kindle battery lasts for something like a week of use with the wireless connection ON (Apple claims 10 hrs for iPad). The other big difference is e-ink; the display works well in bright sunlight, and is easier on the eyes than a backlit LCD at night. The Kindle has proven to be far superior to smartphones and laptops for reading large amounts of text. The iPad will be more versatile, but i'm not sure that's as important, since laptops and iPhones are already pretty versatile.
- noodle 17y agoi kind of think this summarizes my feelings about the ipad: http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/frantic_steve_jobs_stays_up http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/frantic_steve_jo...
- Pahalial 17y agoI'm surprised at the lackluster 3G options. If I can't tether my iphone to this - and the existence of a 3g model, combined with notable omission of any talk of tethering certainly points to a resounding no - why would I have an iphone rather than a rooted nexus one or Pre, which I could tether via wifi? If I were Google/Palm, I'd work hard to get official, viable 3G->WiFi AP tethering working by the time the iPad ships. Then advertise it far and wide. I understand Apple/AT&T want the revenue from an additional data subscription, but the option of saving $130 up front + $30/mo. is a pretty strong case against going all Apple, at least for me.
- jpcx01 17y agoWas disappointed by lack of multitasking. Already ditched my iPhone for Android, and the difference is huge. Is this going to be another thing with Apple like the single mouse button? Seems like they are really trying to stick to their guns. I mean, why would anyone want to use more than one app at a time right?
- sdurkin 17y agoSwing and a miss.
- Anon84 17y agoI'm surprised there's no way to write on it, like an oversized Newton! EDIT: Also, are there any new on support for arbitrary pdfs under iBooks? I have a gazillion articles for which the iPad would be perfect.
- wmf 17y agohttp://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php No handwriting recognition though.
- bdmac97 17y agoNo GPS???
- necubi 17y agoAccording to the specs page (http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/) there is A-GPS, but only on the 3G model.
- Dauntless 17y agoThey are probably holding back features for next generations of iPad... launched in a year or so after the first one (it could have a camera also)
- poub 17y agoI call it le iMerde. The main point for me is how Apple did come up with a such low resolution (1024x768@132ppi) for a screen that you hold so close to your eyes? The technology is there for much higher density screens. I was expecting Apple to lead the way. There is nothing that machine do better than any laptop out there (notebook, laptops, etc.) And it’s the keypoint of the Steve keynote. It’s a luxury machine designed to spend (and possibly waste) time and money by being entertained and by buying more, more and more instant gratification items without having a direct control of your expenses. Kudos to Apple to be the best player in this category but it’s not a tool for people creating stuff.
- jcl 17y agoI have to wonder if it is perhaps due to the resolution of the iPhone. As I understand it, most iPhone apps are hardcoded to the iPhone screen size, so if Apple wanted to reuse iPhone apps on the iPad, it would either need to use an itty-bitty screen or resize the display. 1024x768 is the smallest standard 4:3 resolution to fit a doubled iPhone screen, which is 320x480, doubled to 640x960. Hardware support for pixel doubling could be faster and use less power than scaling a textured 3D quad. But regardless of how the scaling is performed, an integer multiple will probably look better than scaling to an arbitrary size. One undesirable artifact of doubling the iPhone screen on a 1024x768 screen is that it would have borders all around the edges. And this is precisely what we see on their demo page. http://www.apple.com/ipad/app-store/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/app-store/
- frankus 17y agoThe border does leave space for "out-of-band" touch areas, like the one to toggle scaling.
- covercash 17y agoI'd really like to see limited floating licenses for all the apps I bought on my iPhone, similar to the way DRM from the iTunes store works. You can authorize 1 iPhone and 1 iPad per purchased application. Maybe use Mobile Me to sync settings.
- scorpion032 17y agoIts basically like a laptop, except that apple controls _everything_ that gets into it.
- roc 17y agoNo integrated notes/sketches/diagrams? An odd oversight for a form-factor so perfectly suited to it. No mention of free-form annotation of documents/images? Another weird omission for a device seemingly built to free people from the limitations of traditional mobile interaction. An iWork suite and kickstand/keyboard peripheral? That's positively Microsft-ian. A tri-fold leather folio kickstand? Alright, now we've steered directly into Sharper Image territory. Seriously, what in the world just happened?
- cookiecaper 17y agoLast time I looked at an iPod touch, I said, "What is this? A computer for ants?!?! It has to be at least ... three times that size."
- gcheong 17y agoI can see why the makers of the Modbook weren't exactly shaking in their boots, totally different target market for this thing.
- teilo 17y agoWhen will the LCARS interface be out for it?
- olliesaunders 17y agoOn Apple and Flash: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1075440 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1075440
- hallmark 17y agoiPad + Bespin. Is anyone else interested in this potentially tasty combo-meal? The App Store may not allow language interpreters, but as long as Bespin plays well with Safari and JavaScript, Bespin is just another valid webapp. And with a $30 unlimited 3G plan, I can code wherever I want (ok, wherever AT&T lets me). And to be very generous, the lack of multitasking would reduce coding distractions. I'm extremely looking forward to trying this out!
- ampdat 17y agoCount me in. I can't understand everyone complaining about the lack of open programming/standards/access on the iPad. It appears to be the ultimate html5 client. Adding a Bespin editor would make it a one click cloud coding dream (well, with an external keyboard so we can have a control key...)
- prawn 17y agoAm I the only one who was expecting a killer feature that they don't seem to have? The calendar looks like it'd work well, and iBook would be decent at the right price, but much of the rest is basically "like a big iPhone." I was expecting them to dominate the textbook market with live-updates to etextbooks at an affordable price, annotations, social annotations, digital bookmarks, etc. If tertiary students are having to spring $100ish/book and buying x books/year, then blowing $500 on something to cart around campus might be an easier decision. No real play at sketching or note taking either? Might not be as easy as it should be (always gave up on handwriting recognition with an old Dell handheld) but they could've included it I'm sure. And after seeing a proof of concept of a multimedia version of Sports Illustrated, I was positive that Apple would take a crack at magazines and newspapers with an app-type store that handled subscriptions, editions, upgrades, premium/sealed sections, easy sales and links direct from magazines, etc. The price is good and I actually could make use of this (replacing my iPhone for basically browsing the net at home on the couch or in bed, playing Freecell, etc) but I am very surprised that there's not more to it.