An entire episode dedicated to the new Apple iPad, announced earlier today. Joining Eric and I for this episode is Patrick Beja, bringing his over-the-pond perspective to things. What are you waiting for? Dig in! (Also, stay till the end for the mega Derp mashup.)
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As I posted on the forums:
No GPS
No Camera
No Multitasking
No OLED Screen
An extremely disappointing 256 MB of RAM!
No Additional Touch Gestures
No Videocalling/conferencing/iChat
No Handwriting recognition
No Wireless Syncing or File Transfers
No File Management
No Ability to run custom Apps not preapproved by Apple and sold via the App Store
A Very Low Resolution Display with 25% fewer PPPs than the iPhone or iPod Touch
No integrated TV antenna or Radio antenna
No Video Out
According to Apple’s page on the product, the maximum resolution it is capable of playing MPEG4s at is 640×480 resolution at 30 fps. Not even HD! It features a 1 Ghz processor that significantly slower than just about every single notebook on the market today.
No OTA Sync With Apple TV or Servers To Stream Video
No Low Reflective Screen Mode for high contrast Ebook Reading that doesn’t hurt your eyes
Only 64 gigs of HDD space
No Gamepad attachment for Gaming With Physical Buttons/Tactile Feedback
No RFID/IR to use it as a remote, or to tag it to yourself
No Replacable/Removable Batteries
No Flash support (no hulu.com)
No ability to connect to an extrernal hdd, or even an SDCard
What’s this for again?
Have to ditto Scott, above. The big drawback for me is the lack of software support on this machine. In essence, it’s a big iPod. I want a MAC notebook/tablet to have programs on it that can support my iPhone, not duplicate it.
The newest kindle the Kindle DK costs $489.00 @ Amazon.com and the Nook will cost $259.
id love it if i could hook this up to my computer and use it as a 2nd monitor. or my video camera so i could view footage in a larger format. a component or computer attachment would be great.
Scott. Some thoughts on what you have in your list of problems:
- No GPS
Yeah, but not really the device you want to use for GPS, is it? GPS capability in notebooks are just as rare. With 3G you can triangulate, and that will probably work for most needs on a device like this.
- No Camera
Bummer, but not a deal breaker. I do think it would have been a huge bonus.
- No Multitasking
Not confirmed, or even talked about in the keynote. If the rumors are true that the phone OS is getting multitasking, mark my words, that will be part of this as well.
- No OLED Screen
How much did you want to pay for this thing? Also, can touch screens use OLED backlighting? No idea.
- An extremely disappointing 256 MB of RAM!
Why is that disappointing? This is not a PC…it’s a capable internet appliance with app functionality. Do consoles disappoint you with their low memory count as compared to out of context PC specs?
- No Additional Touch Gestures
What other gestures were you hoping for?
– No Videocalling/conferencing/iChat
Yeah, that camera thing.
- No Handwriting recognition
Yeah, because people really miss the incredible accuracy of Newtons and Palm Pilots.
- No Wireless Syncing or File Transfers
Agreed. Bummer, this. But this is an age old problem with the iPhone too.
- No File Management
Needed for what exactly?
- No Ability to run custom Apps not preapproved by Apple and sold via the App Store
This surprised you? The strength of the app store is vital to this thing working and selling well.
- A Very Low Resolution Display with 25% fewer PPPs than the iPhone or iPod Touch
“Very low”? What does that mean?
- No integrated TV antenna or Radio antenna
A built in tuner for TV? How many sub-600 dollar PC’s sport that exactly?
- No Video Out
Bummer, but also, why? Did you want HDMI, RCA, and RGB as well? Just VGA? I’d rather have video in to be honest.
- According to Apple?s page on the product, the maximum resolution it is capable of playing MPEG4s at is 640×480 resolution at 30 fps. Not even HD!
Can’t find this on the site. Thought Steve said something about 720p.
- It features a 1 Ghz processor that significantly slower than just about every single notebook on the market today.
Again, a fallacy of comparison…this is not a notebook PC, and does not even pretend to be one. Try getting 10 hours out of a notebook btw. If it’s enough to perform fast and free, who cares what chip is in it?
– No OTA Sync With Apple TV or Servers To Stream Video
This would be nice, and could be added, but can’t see how that is a deal breaker given the market this device is aiming for.
- No Low Reflective Screen Mode for high contrast Ebook Reading that doesn?t hurt your eyes
Arguable as to whether it “hurts your eyes”.
- Only 64 gigs of HDD space
Correction. 64GB of SOLID STATE space, and plenty, again, for the targeted use cases. (Not a PC)
- No Gamepad attachment for Gaming With Physical Buttons/Tactile Feedback
And if they did, app devs would have to rework apps to use such things. If they are not already on the iPhone, they won’t be here. Same apps, same games, same mechanics.
- No RFID/IR to use it as a remote, or to tag it to yourself
I still don’t trust anything about the supposed security of RFID, and neither should you.
- No Replacable/Removable Batteries
A bummer, but something apple does across the portable board, including notebooks. Not a surprise. But yeah, a bummer.
- No Flash support (no hulu.com)
As best we can tell. Still hopeful that this can change, but apple has been slow on this one to be sure.
- No ability to connect to an extrernal hdd, or even an SDCard.
This would be nice, but again, you are trying to use this like a PC. That said, I think SD card would have been a no brainer. They seem to not like that standard much, as it never shows up in any Apple stuff. Go figure.
- What?s this for again?
For me to buy, use, and enjoy.
I think apple missed a trick. I get the whole e-reader thing but the device is just too big. A half-sized version would have cleaned up the e-reader market. Where would you use this? Around the house, maybe but you have a TV and home PC – out and about? It’s not really portable and in your handluggage on planes mmmm. I like the idea though. Oh and no i-books outside of the States is poor too. Will be interesting to see how Apple get around the publishing restrictions that limit the books European customers can buy from places like e-reader now.
I think this mashable article sums up the IPad problems well. Basically, it’s not a replacement for anything – IPhone, netbook, or laptop. How many people are going to pay $500-$800 dollars and add another data plan in order to carry around a second or third digital device?
http://mashable.com/2010/01/27/apple-ipad-downsides/
This feels like Google Wave all over again. Hype hype hype! And then trying to figure out how its functional and productive enough to be used by the masses regularly.
http://mashable.com/2010/01/27/apple-ipad-downsides/
The “Direct MP3 Download” is episode 31 not 32.
I don’t think this device is for anyone likely to be reading this blog, listening to Appslappy or who alreayd has an Iphone/iTouch or uses a laptop a lot already.
Sure, it all shiny and everything, but I already: Read eBooks, look at movies, read mail, send mail, twitter, schedule, tasklist and play games on my iPod, which is a damn sight more portable and the battery lasts long enough for the commute and probably a lot more, it lives on the charger the rest of the time.
No, this is for people who want Email, Web and maybe some games, but don’t want or need a computer. Someone like my Mum, probably. I wonder how many iWorkPad sets they’ll sell. I can’t imagine actually working for a long time on a big spreadsheet or report on the iPad.
For one thing, you hold it to read, but you have to put it down to type.
Ol’ Steve was right, though, it fills a niche – those people who would by a netbook should get this, probably.
Would you buy a netbook? I wouldn’t. It probably won’t kill the Air, either, which I think I heard someone say.
What I’m waiting for is the refresh on the iPhone/iPod. That’s much more interesting to me.
To be honest, it doesn’t do as much as my old Nokia N810 which I replaced with the iPod Touch.
Scott:
You make some good points in your rebuttal to my list, my point in in putting it together was that Apple really needed to incorporate at least some of these to make it something truly “magical and revolutionary” (to quote the Apple ad I got in my email this morning). Steve Jobs said in his intro this was “better than a notebook, better than a netbook”…so he’s the one grouping it in with computers. I simply don’t see the innovation that Jobs’ claims.
And I wanted to. I really wanted to have that “must get now” feeling, despite my not being a fan or user of Apple products (aside from my touch). I wanted to be able to use this to edit the books my company is putting out, or do some layout work, but without any kind of a file system, it falls short for me. I don’t like the deal they made with 5 of the major NY publishers that will increase the price on ebooks, either. You’d think as a publisher, I’d be happy, but I’m not. People just won’t pay almost the same price for an ebook as they would a physical one.
Sure 4.0 may incorporate multitasking, but right now it doesn’t, and that’s what I’m going by.
About the only reason I would get one would be to replace my Touch, and even then I’d wait until the next generation iPad comes out to see what they add.
I agree with you on many of these issues…I hope they get added. But I am reminded of iPhone 1.0. No apps, no cut and paste, no true GPS, no video, etc etc.
I just think this is how it goes with them. Release a solid product, and then iterate on it for years to come.
Also, I’d turn your attention to this quote, made in 2001 at the launch of the first iPod.
“No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.” – Rob Malda, founder of technology website Slashdot.
It’s the Nintendo philosophy. DS, DS lite, DSi and the upcoming DSXL or whatever it’s being called. The problem is, we’re not talking about a $180 portable game system, but a $500 plus iTouch on steroids.
I was really hoping it would have handwriting recognition-but I guess I’ll wait and see how Microsoft’s Courier stacks up.
Am I the only one who suspects that Patrick and Obsidian are the same person?
I think the critics are missing the point. I don’t see the iPad as a big iPhone, a netbook, kindle killer or early learning laptop it is a completely different animal. The confusion is that it looks like an oversized iPhone.
The iPad is the ultimate household gadget. Picture this the sleek, sexy frame of the iPad stands (on the integral dock) on a sideboard, it is charging whilst also playing a slideshow of pictures – a family holiday, a new birth etc… An expensive digital photo frame but with a kick. On the school run I pick it up and the kids watch ‘UP’ on the 9″ screen, when I need directions I quickly access maps and print wirelessly over my Wifi network to the printer. I can kill 30minutes playing a game when there’s nothing on the TV or even surf the web.
In the morning I can access the newspaper with video content, read a book or listen to the radio.
At parties the iPad is the DJ, perhaps with full screen visualiser, or I can set the mood and stream content to my Hifi. The iPad is predominantly for the home, yes it is portable, but with a 10hr (suspect) battery life its not for a long walk, holiday or business use. Who’d need to anyway – I have a laptop for the daily grind and a iPhone for communications, a quick game, contacts, calendar etc…
The iPad is the new hub of the house. Everyone can quickly scan the calendar, the web, the TV listings.
Oh and you can draw on it too.
Give the iPad a break! It doesn’t need to be a phone… It doesn’t need a camera! (look at the size of it, would you take a picture on that?) It is what it is… pure genius, and in a couple of years we will all be wondering how we lived without one.
Lazlo comes pretty close to my assessment of what the iPad will be. Once you get your head around the idea of a home information device.
The first thing that popped in my head was that the iPad would be the ultimate home board game system. Chess, checkers, backgammon, etc… Those things are doable on the iPhone/iPod, but you really have to pass the phone back-and-forth…
On the iPad, it’s big enough to sit between two people to play.
It could be so much more, though… think of all the little solid-state gadgets that people buy to do *one* thing… weather station… electronic photo frame… portable DVD player… eBook reader…
I could also see Apple getting into the eTextbook market with this…
Quote: “I just think this is how it goes with them. Release a solid product, and then iterate on it for years to come”
This is my main beef with apple. They are like a leach, but instead of sucking blood they suck money out of you. You don’t think they could add all those extras on the iPad if they wanted to? Pa-lease, you know they COULD. They choose not to so they can sell iPad 2.0, 3.0 and so on.
Just like with the iPhone. There is soooo much you can do on a jailbroke phone that you cant on a non-jailbroke one. The phone CAN do all these great things but apple chooses not to give you the ability to do these things out of the box. You have to JB it and “void the warranty” to get the full potential out of the product. And the next iPhone will have some of these functions but you have to buy the newest phone to get it. I understand they’re in the business of making money, but in my opinion (and that’s all this is, is my opinion) apple takes it too far. How about coming up with new stuff to add to your great product, rather than just unlocking features that should have been there (and are, if unlocked) in the first place!
Hi Scott,
On the show you mentioned you don’t like drawing with your finger on your iPhone, I’m the same.
But with a stylus I think you may change your mind.
You can pick up a awesome stylus to use with all the drawing app eg: Brushes or Sketchbook mobile apps called a Pogo Sketch from One Ten Design thats works great with any iPod Touch or iPhone. The website site says they are 98% sure it’ll work on iPad.
Work checking out.
http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php
Finger’s crossed.
Re: AT&T & Unlocked. The 3G tech in the device is the technology of AT&T in the US, and all of Europe. The “unlocked sim” is of use in Europe.
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Your’re missing the point : “it?s not a replacement for anything”
It’s new, something starting the new era of how people will grab the computer.
The iPad is only the first model and others will follow the path of “Make It Simple”, no strange alert window, no virus thing, no pain connecting thing with wires, no 1.3 hdmi compatibility, no all the stuff the people don’t want to know because it’s boring and too geeky
MAKE IT SIMPLE : that’s the ipad MO.