22 Comments

  2. No proper OS. This is probably most disappointing. Now they have a device that mixes the innovative interface of the iPhone with the hardware capabilities of a small laptop –and decide to lock in software to the iPhone model. The goddamn appstore is the single most restrictive form of software DRM I have ever come across. It’s awful. And it has Apple censorship in front of even the most basic functionalities.!
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    Still no flash, which makes the claim of an “ultimate browsing experience” sound a little ironic.
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    eBooks sound nice, but why in the world would I pay almost the same price for 250kb of text I pay for a full paperback edition? Why not finally go “flatrate” anyway? I recently read that the music biz stopped declining last year mostly due to lucrative flatrate deals with mobile phone packages.
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    Overall a shiny, expensive toy for rich people and Apple fanboys. All the design lessons seem to be a bloated version of the old iPhone principle. Nothing new. More like a glorified step backward: IN HIGH-DEFINITION! Disappointing.

  3. “it’s so fast!”

    Because it’s running one glorified iphone app at a time. How about some multitasking support for a change? Or flash? Or USB? Or allowing me to pick which apps I like? Or even a freaking camera built in? Oh sure, I’ll just pop a flash drive in to the side to check out all those great pictures I…oh, wait, I have to go back to a real computer and then transfer them over wireless first.

    Those things are fine for a phone. But without them, it’s not even close to a whole netbook. But it sure is pretty.

    1. The lack of multi-tasking is a killer for just about everyone I know. Even my tech-stunted parents are typically multi-tasking when they use their laptops.

  4. I’ve yet to hear anyone say anything especially positive about the iPad. Everyone I talked to today seemed to think the iSlate was a much cooler name. Still, it’s an Apple product, it’s shiny and pretty. It’ll sell well enough to justify it’s existence.

  5. Soo, it’s the “Avatar” of tablets? High on pretty, low on substance, and we’ve seen it before? Oh wait, things actually plug in to each other in “Avatar.”

  6. Its not about USB, flash, or multitasking, you could give me a device with all those things but it will flop because you don’t have the software, design, and user interface to back it up. Whats good about it doesn’t show up on a tech spec sheet. You can not argue technicals if you can’t even begin to deliver an experience worth having.

    Also, can someone name me ONE flash website they visit every day? I have none.

      2. You have read too much without bothering to actually check it out. Vimeo and youtube are compatible with iPhone and iPad.

        No idea about the others. Maybe you could check it out first?

        For me, the point still stands. There is no website i visit regularly that i cannot view on iPad.

      3. Sorry, spamming. Adult Swim video works aswell. You can get most of the games as standalone iPhone apps, but seriously i don’t think they are worth it.

  7. I was coming in here to ask if I could use this to blog while traveling. I’ve never had a laptop or an iPhone, so I can’t really tell if this is a phone or a computer.

    But after reading these comments, I’ll probably just borrow a laptop for long trips.

  9. Meh, the mindless inner mass consumer in me still wants it despite all of the supposed flaws. I hate itunes, I hate macs, I hate whole hipster mentality buying something, over-price I might add, that looks cool. It is completely superfluous: I have a laptop to watch movies, books to read, an ipod to listen to music, and everything else to fill that part of me that need to constantly entertained and distracted. However, I’m a 26 year old male that still wants toys, that I’ll probably won’t use much whence I get them, just like that teenage mutant ninja turtle dolls I just had to have when I was 9. It this part of me that apple has by the balls.

    1. Yes, but you’ll still need all that stuff if you want to, I dunno, read a book /and/ listen to some music. Or browse a web page while chatting with someone.

      Or, what I’m doing now: typing to a blog while listening to some music with a chat program open, while it downloads something for me to watch later. All from a fancy pansty $200 netbook.

      And yes, I would pay that kind of price for a toy that looked that cool and still did all the stuff a regular plain-jane cheap-assed netbook could do. Otherwise it’s a big iphone that doesn’t fit in my pocket and can’t make phone calls.

      1. Man, you *can* play music whilst on the internet, checking email or browsing the app store or downloading a podcast. Most apps will also let you play music while you are using them.

        On a device like this – which lives outside of work – lack of true multitasking does not impact your life in any major way and is made up for in so many other ways that a netbook or PC or macbook will never be able to accomplish.

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