iPad love/hate thread

[Ianki]

Overlapping features of things you have already spent good money on as well as features that are more restricted in the availability sense as well as usage.  You're not behaving as a rational economic agent.

[CaffeinePowered]

I was going to post that picture, but yes, what Ianki said

[rumsfald]

Overlapping features of things you have already spent good money on as well as features that are more restricted in the availability sense as well as usage.  You're not behaving as a rational economic agent.

I don't have any device that provides (from my original post).
- unrestricted mobile web surfing
- calendar contact via exchange OTA
- mobile IRC

I guess I also don't have a device that does mobile movies, but I don't much have a need for that.

[HeK]

I kinda breezed though most of this thread, but you must itemize what you plan to do with your device.
Data entry, applications, and OS are the biggest limits on the iPad. No keyboard, limited to apps on the store and you are stuck with the factory OS.

For flawless exchange connections, you will pretty much need to go with a platform that supports MS Office.

If you want a keyboard and touchpad (or the easy option to plug in a USB version of each) you may wish to look in other directions from a tablet-style device.
If size and battery life is a concern, I know there are options of the EEE-PC that extend their life past the 12-hour mark. There are also 3G options for both, either as a generic mini-PCIE card or USB.

Asus now has a 'tablet' version of their EEE PC called EeeTop.
Dell will be bringing out a 3G version of their Mini shortly.


or hell, just buy one of these: http://www.gd-itronix.com/upload/specifi...GD8000.pdf

[Ianki]

[quote author=Ianki link=topic=4471.msg146154#msg146154 date=1270921785]
Overlapping features of things you have already spent good money on as well as features that are more restricted in the availability sense as well as usage.  You're not behaving as a rational economic agent.

I don't have any device that provides (from my original post).
- unrestricted mobile web surfing
- calendar contact via exchange OTA
- mobile IRC

I guess I also don't have a device that does mobile movies, but I don't much have a need for that.
[/quote]

Don't want a blackberry, android phone, or iphone?  2 to three times cheaper with the same data plans

[copulatingduck]

uhhhh, irc and websurfing don't seem like they would be all that fun on a blackberry (I hated both on my old smartphone, i think it was an HTC?). or are you referring to tethering?

[Surf314]

I kinda breezed though most of this thread, but you must itemize what you plan to do with your device.
Data entry, applications, and OS are the biggest limits on the iPad. No keyboard, limited to apps on the store and you are stuck with the factory OS.

For flawless exchange connections, you will pretty much need to go with a platform that supports MS Office.

If you want a keyboard and touchpad (or the easy option to plug in a USB version of each) you may wish to look in other directions from a tablet-style device.
If size and battery life is a concern, I know there are options of the EEE-PC that extend their life past the 12-hour mark. There are also 3G options for both, either as a generic mini-PCIE card or USB.

Asus now has a 'tablet' version of their EEE PC called EeeTop.
Dell will be bringing out a 3G version of their Mini shortly.


or hell, just buy one of these: http://www.gd-itronix.com/upload/specifi...GD8000.pdf

The eee top I looked up seemed like more of an iMac replacement - kinda unwieldly to use on your lap from the pics. For me one of the biggest appeals is the OS and how the hardware is geared towards being ultra portable yet still powerful for what you would use it for. That's why to me the Courier and the iPad seem like the best choices. Courier runs on a beefed up W7 mobile platform from what I understand. Everything else I've seen has a full OS, usually windows, or the manufacturers own OS which looks pretty suspect.

[rumsfald]

Don't want a blackberry, android phone, or iphone?  2 to three times cheaper with the same data plans

I'm on my 3rd consecutive blackberry in the last 6-7 years, curve 8900 on tmo.

uhhhh, irc and websurfing don't seem like they would be all that fun on a blackberry

^This. Light web, IM, SMS, and e-mail are fine enough on bberry for my hour-long train ride, but not for sitting at my desk all day. Also, for example, these SMF pages come up on mobile version without pics/avatars (thus losing most of the context and readability).  I actually tried the android G1 twice, six months apart. Both times the battery didn't last more than 2 hours (opposed to 2 days on blackberry). Needless to say I returned the G1 twice.

re:tethering, that was my first thought, to tether my 8900 to an existing laptop. Trouble is, my PPC ibook has the MacOS version before tiger, (tiger is the first version that supports blackberry tethering, and the last version that supports the PPC). So, I'm not sure I want to drop $ on Tiger, an obsolete Mac OS, to run on an old and slow ass laptop. My other, free-er choice is the old fujitsu lifebook with a crusoe 800 processor (linus 4evr) I have laying around running XP, that will tether to the blackberry, but, um, that's an old and slow ass laptop with a complete vertical line of pixels stuck blue.

[Ianki]

[quote author=Ianki link=topic=4471.msg146206#msg146206 date=1270940440]
Don't want a blackberry, android phone, or iphone?  2 to three times cheaper with the same data plans

I'm on my 3rd consecutive blackberry in the last 6-7 years, curve 8900 on tmo.

uhhhh, irc and websurfing don't seem like they would be all that fun on a blackberry

^This. Light web, IM, SMS, and e-mail are fine enough on bberry for my hour-long train ride, but not for sitting at my desk all day. Also, for example, these SMF pages come up on mobile version without pics/avatars (thus losing most of the context and readability).  I actually tried the android G1 twice, six months apart. Both times the battery didn't last more than 2 hours (opposed to 2 days on blackberry). Needless to say I returned the G1 twice.

re:tethering, that was my first thought, to tether my 8900 to an existing laptop. Trouble is, my PPC ibook has the MacOS version before tiger, (tiger is the first version that supports blackberry tethering, and the last version that supports the PPC). So, I'm not sure I want to drop $ on Tiger, an obsolete Mac OS, to run on an old and slow ass laptop. My other, free-er choice is the old fujitsu lifebook with a crusoe 800 processor (linus 4evr) I have laying around running XP, that will tether to the blackberry, but, um, that's an old and slow ass laptop with a complete vertical line of pixels stuck blue.
[/quote]

As long as you are already paying good money for the data plan for your blackberry, might as well just get a cheap netbook to tether it to instead of picking up an ipad and throwing down for an additional dataplan through at&t.

[copulatingduck]

ya but an ipad will net you so much more poon at the coffee shops looking like a boss instead of some nerd cruising the web via his tethered blackberry. people might talk a lot of shit on the internet about ipads, but if i ever saw someone with one i wouldnt be able to help going up to them and chatting them up while i checked it out


edit: terrible, terrible grammar

[Ianki]

ya but an ipad will net you so much more poon at the coffee shops looking like a boss instead of some nerd cruising the web on via his tethered blackberry. people might talk talk a lot of shit on the internet about ipads, but if i ever saw someone with one i wouldnt be able to help going up to them and chatting them up while i checked it out

well, i wouldn't get poon either way, so why not be practical about it.

[rumsfald]

To summarize so far:

cons: poor multitasking, walled garden, smudge-prone, redundant data plan fees, moronic headphone jack, glorified ipod touch....

pros: people like duck will hit on me.


FWIW Ianki, my bb is EDGE not 3g, so I don't see the data plans as all that redundant.

[Surf314]

Here is my analysis so far if it helps:

Pros - Mobile OS, if it works like an iPhone no boot its mostly on standby, long battery life, lots of support from popular websites (pandora app, keepass app, digg app, reddit app, npr app, newegg app, etc.), convenience (I count not having a keyboard unless you want one as a pro), does mobile computing right for 90% of the population (basically a giant phone that doesn't make calls)

Cons - closed, basically a money making platform (they want you to buy shit and make it hard to do stuff not from iTunes), its hella expensive, ATT data plan only, no stylus, you will probably need lots of accessories (keyboard, wall charger, etc.)

As someone that has been looking into this because I want one for law school (I got a large laptop for work but quickly found out how annoying it is to unpack, boot up, plug in all the shit and find a wall jack because I only get 3 hours battery life). So what I want is something that has a long battery life, doesn't need to boot, has a lightweight OS specifically made for mobile computing, and is basically a slate (I just like that form factor, seems best for mobile computing). From what I would want it for the 2 best choices seem to be iPad or the MS Courier which is still an unknown quantity. The HP Slate comes close but it has half the battery life of the iPad and the Dell one looks decent but it seems kinda small where your phone would almost work better. I'd love to see a google offering built around cloud computing but who knows if one of those will materialize.

Of course all this will probably be useless for me because I think they require a full laptop in class but as someone that uses his iPhone constantly and wishes it sometimes had a much bigger screen the tablet idea seems like it is around to stay and will probably replace netbooks based on not having to boot, portability and long battery life.

[Surf314]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/n...-imminent/

I think the best answer is to wait a few months until all the cards are on the table and any price competition has started.

[Duck, Duck, Goose]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/n...-imminent/

I think the best answer is to wait a few months until all the cards are on the table and any price competition has started.

This.

I want one.

[copulatingduck]

may not convince rummy but I bet Luin would love this:

iggy investigates an ipad

[Luinbariel]

OMG YES
HeK let's buy an iPad stat!

[Tricks]

may not convince rummy but I bet Luin would love this:

iggy investigates an ipad

wow.

I want an iPad now.

And a cat?

[CaffeinePowered]

Most expensive cat toy ever

[HeK]

Just wait until that cat scratches the shit out of that screen.