Chris, you're wrong or misleading on many of your criticisms of the iPad. First, it's not "a midsize touchscreen", it's a large size multitouch screen, one of the largest to be readily available. You have to have some experience with multitouch devices, particularly Apple's, to really have the basis to appreciate how natural, useful and downright fun they are. To get a very weak idea of what I mean, try using your mouse with the scroll wheel taped over to see how natural its use has become to you and how awkward it is to live without it. Just because it's bigger, more gestures are practical on the the iPad than they were on the touch. If you're enthusiastic about Natal, then the iPad is Natal on glass.
Regarding the lack of HD output, I'd really like it if someone would establish how important it really is for any mobile device. For the Zune HD, what percentage of its owners buy the AV dock and what percentage of them regularly use it? On Amazon, only 15 people have bothered to review the AV dock. Rare teas can get more reviews than that. For another example, I don't think any Android device has any kind of video output, much less HD. Apparently no one saw a need there. Even for regular video, I just don't understand why the Zune, Droid, etc., or iPad etc. should be thought of as a conduit or source for video to be consumed elsewhere instead of being the point of consumption. It seems particularly dubious for the iPad, which occupies the same field of vision as a 22" diagonal laptop at their respective viewing distances. The tech specs page says that the 3G iPad has assisted GPS, and the TomTom kit for the touch should work for the non-3G model, so you DO have GPS on all of the iPads, should you want it. Now, unless you're a hacker you do have to put your own music and video on the iPad using the iTunes application, but you could have gotten it from Amazon or Napster or Walmart (or any other place that provides non-DRMed AAC or MPEG files or actual physical CDs) before you imported it into iTunes, and there are no shortage of music and video streaming apps. As for Apple's <<horrrrible>> app restrictions, I have to say that if they have allowed 140,000+ applications ranging from useless and/or disturbing apps like iFart and Fishbate (you don't really want to know) to things like Google Voice, then those restrictions can't be too severe. Contrary to a lot of noise from people who were never going to buy anything Apple anyway, the app guidelines are actually fairly clear and are primarily designed to ensure application stability and user privacy. The app approval process is much more akin to academic peer review than it is to Chinese censorship. Finally, it is untrue to say that iPhone OS devices don't multitask. To specifically address Reid's gripe earlier in this thread (responding to a similar blanket statement by Mike), you CAN listen to music while you are in any other app that doesn't take over your headphones for its own use. I routinely listen to music while surfing the web, composing a note or reading a book, etc. (btw, the Free Books app for books out of copyright is fantastic). While doing this, Mail and Calendar are working in the background as well. Now, it would be true to say that the Touch, etc. don't have unlimited multitasking. But that isn't the whole story either, because you can functionally have multitasking in many other cases, in the sense that if the app is well-written and you have to switch your attention to a different app, then everything is written to memory so you return to exactly the same state where you left off. This doesn't work for streaming apps like the wxpn app, which is a small annoyance of mine, or for IM apps, which I think irritates Mike, but it seems that this is a make-or-break issue for relatively few people. > From: Chris Dunford <seed...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: You Saw the Demo? Are you impressed? > >> Anyone who is not intrigued by the iPad is just showing a lack of >> imagination. > > OK, why don't you tell us what's so intriguing about a midsize touchscreen > that has no HD, no widescreen, no camera, no USB, no memory card slots, and > no GPS, that can only get music and video from > iTunes, that can only run what the suits at Apple say it can run, and > that--for God's sake, this is 2010--can't multitask. > > And before you start with your "M$ minions" BS again, check back in the > archives and look for where I've EVER said anything negative about Mac, > iPhone, or iPod. You won't find anything because there > isn't anything to find. But this thing appears to be singularly uninspired > and uninspiring. > > Maybe when it's actually delivered we'll see things differently. But for now, > I see nothing that makes my socks roll up and down. > ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
