Chile Forum

The one thing I like about the iPad is that reading USAToday on it would be a much better experience than on the Kindle. Could read them on a notebook too, but from what I've read the iPad is a much better experience. Magazines will be better on it too, a more multimedia experience than print. I planned to buy a large screen Mac when I moved overseas, plus a Kindle for books. Will wait and see if the iPad will be a better fit. Another innovation is a new netbook from a company called Lenovo. It uses the 3G network to connect to the internet, with wi-fi backup. Has a 10 hr battery life, 10 inch HD screen. I'm fine with my basic netbook now, but when I retire want something with enough firepower to easily handle movies, games, etc. And hopefully technology will expand overseas by then so that everything you want to do like watch tv, etc will work well on a computer, no need for satellite dishes, etc.

$178 for a Sony Reader, $298 for an HP Netbook. It's less than the cost of the new Ipad, but combined, they are so much more.

the ipad is not going to be either

a) a netbook killer nor
b) an ebook killer

if i want a ebook (eg. kindle, sony readyer, nook) I will want it because of e-ink a non reflective display which does not tire my eyes
if i want a netbook I will want it because it is a small but weak computer

the ipad will sell and will sell well. but for USD 600 (in any realistic spec) i would want to buy a device that can display the REAL internet

couch surfing can be fun... but for me the n900 (a mobile internet tablet / phone) is sufficient & yes it has flash & a keyboard

btw. falabella has started selling the kindle but as you probably guessed far to expensive

Intersting footnote on the ipad website...

iBooks is available only in the U.S.

:/

We have a couple of iPads in the office here. It's very cute but it's a freakin' bathroom reader, that's all it is. Bring it to the can instead of a magazine. It's very shiny, I prefer the matte screen, this is too reflective for me.

I am a devoted Mac user (and btw, I don't think their prices are that different these days, at least not in the US) but this thing is simply a luxury item. It will not replace your iPhone or Kindle, not even a netbook, and don't even think about comparing it to a laptop. If you like going down to Starbucks and browsing the internet, maybe checking your email, then it's perfect. It can work as a good presentation tool, like a portfolio viewer, slide shows etc. New Netflix movies stream beautifully to it. Proper YouTube encodes look great, too. But it's not a killer of anything. I just hope not of Apple. I'm a little worried because way too many people asked me if they can get it instead of a laptop. Is the advertising so off or are people just hearing what they want to hear?

Me, I'm waiting for the new MacBook Pros to come out this month with the new Core i7 chips and longer battery life. Now that's worth paying for!

P.S. I will never buy a Windows machine again. It's just insulting! I will only run Windows on my Mac because I have to check my websites with Internet Explorer. But that's it. If Apple went out of business, I would cry for a month, consider not using a computer and then probably go with Linux.

20 anti-'expensive paperweight' iPad reasons:

1. You can’t type on a flat surface.
2. It breaks really easily.
3. Universities are not full prepared yet.
4. Content over 3G is disappointingly poor quality.
5. The glossy screen is awful to look at.
6. Reading e-books is tiring on the eyes.
7. Flash will never be supported.
8. Apple royally screws over developers.
9. Digital rights restrictions stifles innovation and application freedom.
10. Share and print? Probably not going to happen.
11. It was released with a serious networking fault.
12. Multitasking is necessary for university work.
13. The name. It was like when the Wii first came out.
14. There’s no stylus.
15. It isn’t really designed to actually do ‘work’ on.
16. It’s ‘cheap’ but the data costs won’t be.
17. E-books won’t replace paper textbooks (it’s a price thing).
18. There’s no high-definition output.
19. Battery life doesn’t even come close to the average netbook.
20. No choice of mobile network (unless you jailbreak it).

All the lurid details here...
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/20-anti-expensive-paperweight-ipad-reasons-part-1/4899?tag=nl.e550
AND here...
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/20-anti-expensive-paperweight-ipad-reasons-part-2/4976
PLUS... a bit of Pommie humor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHGwI0v87Ec&feature=player_embedded

Yeah, it's a total, two-million-units-sold-in-just-45-days failure.

iPad is a new way of doing things. Some people grasp that immediately and will run with it, while others look at it and complain that it isn't this or that. Do any of you remember what the the "knowledgeable" people said about using a mouse pointer in 1985? Or how they howled when Steve Jobs axed the floppy drive and serial ports in 1997?

Ripsigg is in my boat. "Dedicated use" computers. Don't connect the recording studio computer to the internet! For reading I like books which are cheaper, tolerate dropping and losing them. And for the tourist thing, a real camera sure beats a telephone! One computer doing everything, doesn't do anything well.

I've had a Touch for more than a year now, I love it. However, I don't do any serious work on it. It's exactly like the iPhone, except no cellphone circuit. What do I need another phone for? I have a Motorola and a Sony-Ericsson for telephony. I jailbroke it, and it's useful when you ssh (secure shell) into it. File transfers are a pain.

I imagine the iPad, being an oversized version of an iPhone, is about as useful. No Flash is a pain. Want to see a video on Vimeo? Fuggedaboudit. You have to use Youtube.

What do I use my Touch for? Well, Stanza is a big plus. I've been able to transfer literally hundreds of my books into the Touch. The Safari browser is all right. It was a great tool before I got myself settled again, where I could connect in certain locations through WiFi. With the iPhone headphones (the one with the microphone) plugged in, I can use it with Fring -- a SIP/Skype/IM app that turns my Touch into a WiFi phone. One thing I wish it had was an FM radio receiver built in.

This device, with its unweildly form factor is a toy for people who have more money than brains.

rust wrote:I've had a Touch for more than a year now, I love it. However, I don't do any serious work on it. It's exactly like the iPhone, except no cellphone circuit. What do I need another phone for? I have a Motorola and a Sony-Ericsson for telephony. I jailbroke it, and it's useful when you ssh (secure shell) into it. File transfers are a pain.

I imagine the iPad, being an oversized version of an iPhone, is about as useful. No Flash is a pain. Want to see a video on Vimeo? Fuggedaboudit. You have to use Youtube.

What do I use my Touch for? Well, Stanza is a big plus. I've been able to transfer literally hundreds of my books into the Touch. The Safari browser is all right. It was a great tool before I got myself settled again, where I could connect in certain locations through WiFi. With the iPhone headphones (the one with the microphone) plugged in, I can use it with Fring -- a SIP/Skype/IM app that turns my Touch into a WiFi phone. One thing I wish it had was an FM radio receiver built in.

This device, with its unweildly form factor is a toy for people who have more money than brains.

Sorry you don't see the utility in these devices. My business has CNC machines and we put an IP camera on each one so they can be monitored (even robots screw up now and then ) remotely. The iPod Touch can display the video stream from the cameras and I can walk around the office and shop or outside the building and keep tabs on things. At home I have an observatory where the computer that controls the telescope sits in a separate room. Using MochaVNC on the Touch, I can be at the telescope and still access the main computer.

I'm getting an iPad because the display on the Touch is just too small for my old eyes, and it will run the same applications available for the Touch and iPhone. If you've ever had to deal with the nonsense that goes with getting and maintaining a credit card merchant account, check out this new app (for Apple and Android):

http://www.squareup.com

This is the kind of stuff that "old school" PDAs could do, but the WinCE user interface was crap, and you needed an IT department to make it all work. I welcome these new devices, and BTW I have a brain and money.

If anyone had actually seen the original announcment you would know that the iPad was never ment to be a stand alone. It has its uses and it's draw backs.

The traditional computer isn't going anywhere for a long time but even most laptops are a pain to carry around with you. It is designed to fill the gap between the iPhone and MacBook.

I will be waiting for the second generation with the camara so my wife can video skype her family in Chile.

The thing is, and I believe even old Steve J. said so, the iPad is for consuming not producing. And while they will do their best to create apps to help you be productive with it, in the end, for people who actually want something that encompasses portability with productivity, being dependent on the cloud or apps is not a solution.

Personally, I don't find it all that portable at 10". And much as I adore OSX, for portability's sake, I'm willing to subject myself to XP or Win7 on a UMPC with decent specs. I'm holding out for the next generation Viliv X70. Those Koreans are doing exciting things with tablets. The fact is, Windows platforms just don't do tablets justice as an operating system, even 7 with it's tablet enable features. And since Apple hasn't come through with it's own solution, you have to look at all the other factors offered in the package: size, OS, expandability, peripherals, bonuses like GPS enabled, etc. A 7" screen on a UMPC with wifi or 3G is ideal for the person looking for a portable yet productive alternative.

That being said, most low end users who want to surf and read online... well an iPad w/wifi should be enough. It's not something I would cart around. I'd feel like a target. Did anyone hear about the man that had a finger or two severed while being robbed of his iPad? Yeah. I'll settle for a UMPC by a lesser known company. At the end of the day, even if there is a problem with it, once you're running windows, you have to be willing to go in and tinker with it yourself.

Either way, I'd much rather have a full mac system, be it desktop or macbook, for use at home and a smaller, portable option for productivity outside the home to compliment my home system.