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> The iPad was a new class of device, sitting between a phone and a laptop. To succeed, it needed not only to be better at some things than either a phone or la

> The iPad was a new class of device, sitting between a phone and a laptop. To succeed, it needed not only to be better at some things than either a phone or laptop, it needed to be much better. It was and is. For me the problem of the iPad is that it's merely inconsistently better at a slew of entertainment/consumption based activities but for everything else it's worse than any decent laptop. As even consumption-based workflows may involve intermediate bursts of typing, and just to extend the iPad's range into more uses I am tempted to have a keyboard -- but then it almost nears the inconvenience of carrying a laptop. IMO to be revolutionary the iPad should convince you not to buy a laptop, or it should be as light as the kindle so that you would consider reading it Star Trek style for 20-30 minutes per day, as even the iPad mini is a bit weighty. Right now with the focus on iPad Pro and Air I think Apple is going toward the former.

crooked-v 7y ago
> IMO to be revolutionary the iPad should convince you not to buy a laptop The key thing sitting in the way of that for me, at least for the most part, is the lack of true background multitasking. I understand the need to avoid the battery problems of the Android ecosystem, but there needs to be some way to take an app and say 'yes, I really want to let this sit active indefinitely until I intentionally quit it'. For a simple example, consider an IRC client: it's useless if it drops the connection every time you turn off the screen or switch to another app for too long.
- cesarb 7y ago
  > For a simple example, consider an IRC client: it's useless if it drops the connection every time you turn off the screen or switch to another app for too long. I believe the "correct" way to do it would be to have a server in the middle, which keeps the connection alive, buffers the necessary data, and sends a notification to the device when appropriate. That is, unlike a desktop or a laptop, a tablet or smartphone is not designed to be a fully independent device.
  - crooked-v 7y ago
    ...and that's the problem. To be less pithy, 'just have a server in the middle' is completely impractical for some things, because that doesn't always exist.

crooked-v 7y ago

> IMO to be revolutionary the iPad should convince you not to buy a laptop The key thing sitting in the way of that for me, at least for the most part, is the lack of true background multitasking. I understand the need to avoid the battery problems of the Android ecosystem, but there needs to be some way to take an app and say 'yes, I really want to let this sit active indefinitely until I intentionally quit it'. For a simple example, consider an IRC client: it's useless if it drops the connection every time you turn off the screen or switch to another app for too long.

cesarb 7y ago
> For a simple example, consider an IRC client: it's useless if it drops the connection every time you turn off the screen or switch to another app for too long. I believe the "correct" way to do it would be to have a server in the middle, which keeps the connection alive, buffers the necessary data, and sends a notification to the device when appropriate. That is, unlike a desktop or a laptop, a tablet or smartphone is not designed to be a fully independent device.
- crooked-v 7y ago
  ...and that's the problem. To be less pithy, 'just have a server in the middle' is completely impractical for some things, because that doesn't always exist.