so what do you guys think? I thought there would already be a thread full of noise on this..

The noise is on Twitter.
Also in the 'What did you learn today?' thread.


What do I think?

It's lame. There's nothing to it. Nothing new. Nothing cool.
I would not use it for anything : I already have laptops, PCs and an iPod Touch...
It's cheaper than I feared, but I still don't need it.

Of course, in 3 months, every coffee ship will be filled with hipsters using it.
I foresee a future filled with wrist-cramps and dirty screens.

Once they remove the huge frame around the screen, add a 3D webcam and let people make their own software for it, then I'll be tempted.

Here we go :
8 things that suck about the iPad

quote:

Originally posted by ArkanGL:

It's lame. There's nothing to it. Nothing new. Nothing cool.

Nothing, that is, except the self-adjusting, on-demand, full-screen portrait mode of an iPhone, on a screen big enough to use to show somebody vertically-composed pictures for the purposes of art.



I've got almost no use for all the other things it does, other than the Internet. But they've just sold one.

the question is does this device put the warmth back in reading a book on a screen?

That'd be a silly thing to do with a $500 situationally-aware picture frame.

Pfft. You hippie freaks would try to squeeze compost from a rock, if you thought no one was looking.

I mean the paper book is the ultimate interface. works in the bathtub, but can you buy the latest WG on iBooks with an acoustic hardback?

Pretty underwhelmed after all the hype. I don't have an iPod or iPhone though so I'd be tempted to buy one if I decided I needed some kind of iProduct. Maybe....

I want to see the first guy on a treadmill with one of the things strapped to his arm.

quote:

Originally posted by Mean Old Man:

quote:

Originally posted by ArkanGL:

It's lame. There's nothing to it. Nothing new. Nothing cool.

Nothing, that is, except the self-adjusting, on-demand, full-screen portrait mode of an iPhone, on a screen big enough to use to show somebody vertically-composed pictures for the purposes of art.



I've got almost no use for all the other things it does, other than the Internet. But they've just sold one.

You won't be able to plug your camera into it, though. Or any full-size USB device either.

quote:

vertically-composed pictures for the purposes of art.

You are too much the artiste, Herr Olmann.

I wonder if you can't just get a digital frame to do the same thing, in a larger size, for cheaper.

So no usb, no camera.

I gather no phone, and no keyboard of course.

Got to ask what it DOES do.

As mentioned on Twitter, I think if it had a webcam and iPhone OS ran Flash it would be interesting. As it is, it seems like it could just end up being another Cube.

(BTW, it does have file storage accessible via the butt plug on the desktop if I understand correctly. So that's a step up from an iPhone. But definitely correct you can't jack any form of USB or card storage into it.)

And yeah, the name isn't helping it at all. My favorite is the first comment from that blog I retweeted via Dave Winer.

"It was either that or the tamPod!"

quote:

Originally posted by editengine:
So no usb, no camera.

I gather no phone, and no keyboard of course.

Got to ask what it DOES do.

Stevie got a cheap deal on 4:3 LCDs? Had all those spare iPhone parts?

quote:

BTW, it does have file storage accessible via the butt plug on the desktop if I understand correctly.

Is that the iPad-specific peripheral, or does it use the the standard-issue iButtPlug all hardcore Apple have and use?

quote:

And yeah, the name isn't helping it at all. My favorite is the first comment from that blog I retweeted via Dave Winer.

"It was either that or the tamPod!"

I does sound as if it is something that Ipod users would need once a month....

I mean it looks cool, but does anybody here have a real, practical use for it? Or even a cool use, other than a digital photo frame?

quote:

Originally posted by editengine:

...but does anybody here have a real, practical use for it? Or even a cool use, other than a digital photo frame?

Yeah, but even more a fringe use than my photo portfolio application: It'd be an ideal bare-bones Internet & e-mail device for the intercity bus.

Trailways, sometime in the last six months, put really good WiFi in their buses. Used it on the iPhone on the way down to New York, in December. iPhone's way too small to type reliably with on a bouncing vehicle, though. This looks like it'd be perfect; big enough to type on, see, and hang on to; small and snag-free enough to go in and out of the packsack quickly and repeatedly.

It's actually big enough, screen-wise, that I'd consider playing a game on it during the bus ride.

Is this a good replacement then for people, like me, who need basic go anywhere net access? Simple to transport without a laptop bag, big screen but able to pull up either a t9 or qwerty keyboard for typing? I liked my old asus eee for example but the screen size was so minimal that it precluded any use in a vehicle. Is it solid state? I can't view the video here at work.

quote:

Originally posted by greendreams:
the question is does this device put the warmth back in reading a book on a screen?

The problem for a lot of people (including me) with reading books on screen is that their eyes start hurting.

eBook readers work because their passive screen read just like, well 'paper'.
Also as the devices only need power when you flip pages it's battery last for days rather than hours. And that are real world days and not apple standard days of battery life.

As an eBook reader this device is useless. Makes me wonder for what it is not useless.

At Mom, you can get a decent sized, position aware, wireless picture frame - with USB and card slots, for less than half that money.

As someone who already owns: an iPhone, a netbook (Hackintoshed), a 'full-sized' lappy, and several desktops, I can't figure-out where the iPad 'fits in'.

Is its functionality between my iPhone and netbook, or my netbook and my lappy? Do I really need another device?

quote:

Originally posted by Newro:

you can get a decent sized, position aware, wireless picture frame - with USB and card slots, for less than half that money.

And all I'd have is a picture frame. This thing, though, I can read restaurant reviews on the bus with!

Multifunctionality is a factor with me, too, but not at all for ArkanGL's reasons. I wouldn't want to use something that large as a camera or telephone, for example.