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Apple iPad revealed

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Finally read up on this thing after coming home from work.

All this time, after all the speculation... I was hoping this "apple tablet" would be more tablet PC and less iPod XL, or at least a hybrid of both.

:lol I guess on on the plus side (for Apple) they'll probably more than likely beat the HP slate in sales due to popularity alone, and in a year, heck, announce an iPad 2.0 with a camera and mac os x.

I still want one, but I think I'll hold out for MS Courier or a much slimmer tablet pc, or wait till next years iPad 2.0
 
After seeing what people do to their iPhones and Touches I look forward to seeing people with a huge disgusting silicon cover for their iPad :lol
 
Deku said:
As I noted in the gaming side, it will be interesting to see the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo response to this. As revised iPads will pose even greater threats to their games business.
Click to expand...
I still don't see how people keep bringing up the games aspect, it's too big to be a portable gaming device and unless it really lights up sales you probably won't be getting any (or at least not many) games for it that aren't already on the phone (and/or designed for the phone). It's also costs a helluva lot more than a home console let alone a handheld.
 
I'm also curious if Apple has some Tablet only items planned for OS 4.0, but they weren't quite ready to reveal them yet, so this thing is shipping with an only slightly enhanced version of the current iPhone OS. The rumors of iPhone 4.0 have been starting to hit, and most people expected the iPad to be running that version. The device may well get an upgrade of sorts in a few months time too.
 
iPad: computer for your hands, as opposed to sitting in front of you.

"More intimate than a laptop, more capable than a smartphone" is what they were going for.
 
My prediction is we will not see a tablet that runs fully fledged osx. Apple is very HCI(human computer interaction) conscious and they would need to do a complete overhaul of the OS to make that a good experience for the average user.
 
Tobor said:
It's really not. It wasn't funny when people made the same jokes about the iPhone launch, either.
Click to expand...

wahhh

Sorry, it's funny to me.

Granted, the 'PS3 launch' doesn't have the connotation with me many people (you) are assuming.
 
2hhhue1.jpg


I missed the keynote but that's ridiculous. How on earth can Apple think it will sell at that size? I mean, its nearly twice as big as Steve Jobs for crying out loud.

Seriously, looks very cool for presentations, some nifty game ideas spring to mind for that as well.

I would only use it at home. I wonder... could I surf the web by hooking up to my local wifi if I chose no wireless plan?
 
Watching the keynote now... I dunno, it's pretty much what everyone expected, I think. I can see why some people would find it really useful, but for some reason it doesn't excited me. :/ Maybe because it's just showing me new ways to do things I already do. Like browse the web, listen to music, view photos. I already do all those things... and don't have a big problem with my methods of doing them, either. :/
 
rodvik said:
I missed the keynote but that's ridiculous. How on earth can Apple think it will sell at that size? I mean, its nearly twice as big as Steve Jobs for crying out loud.

Seriously, looks very cool for presentations, some nifty game ideas spring to mind for that as well.

I would only use it at home. I wonder... could I surf the web by hooking up to my local wifi if I chose no wireless plan?
Click to expand...

Of course.
 
MThanded said:
My prediction is we will not see a tablet that runs fully fledged osx. Apple is very HCI(human computer interaction) conscious and they would need to do a complete overhaul of the OS to make that a good experience for the average user.
Click to expand...

Plus, it just doesn't make sense. For this type of device, even putting something like iWork (at least Keynote and Numbers) is pretty frivolous. I could see being able to show Keynote presentations, but I would never in a million years edit up slides or work on a spreadsheet on the iPad.

For the type of work that you need full fledged OSX for, you'll be doing that sitting down. For the kind of on the go, click on and do a few things then turn it off mentality, the iPad and types of apps that will be/are available it's perfect.
 
MThanded said:
My prediction is we will not see a tablet that runs fully fledged osx. Apple is very HCI(human computer interaction) conscious and they would need to do a complete overhaul of the OS to make that a good experience for the average user.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone expects them to put osx on this, but instead they decided to scale up the iPhone OS by just adding slight reorganization of UI, some new apps, and added a lot of pop up menus. Yeah, not exactly groundbreaking work there Apple.


Oh yeah, what the heck is with that keyboard? That's what already existed on tablets but with multi-touch.
 
mrkgoo said:
Of course.
Click to expand...

Then thats pretty attractive. $500 plus no monthly fee for a nice preso tablet that can surf most websites, play some games , display photos and maybe use for the occasional picture book (already have a kindle and cannot go back to backlit for reading)
 
Totakeke said:
I don't think anyone expects them to put osx on this, but instead they decided to scale up the iPhone OS by just adding slight reorganization of UI, some new apps, and added a lot of pop up menus. Yeah, not exactly groundbreaking work there Apple.


Oh yeah, what the heck is with that keyboard? That's what already existed on tablets but with multi-touch.
Click to expand...

It's responsive and works? (but seriously, I haven't tried it, so I don't know :lol )
 
sky said:
Watching the keynote now... I dunno, it's pretty much what everyone expected, I think. I can see why some people would find it really useful, but for some reason it doesn't excited me. :/ Maybe because it's just showing me new ways to do things I already do. Like browse the web, listen to music, view photos. I already do all those things... and don't have a big problem with my methods of doing them, either. :/
Click to expand...


I think that's going to be great to experience those things in your hands. I'm watching the key note, and it's selling me more. I've always liked handheld games over console games and laptops over desktops because they both add a more intimate personal nature. Now that I think about it, it's probably why I love my iPhone so much.

I think they were trying to translate that feeling to a computer. It's not that there was anything wrong with the way we are doing it now, but to try and shift the entire idea of computing to be even more personal - in your hands and at a touch is what they're emphasizing.

We were wowed at the 1:1 nature of the iPhone experience, and this is what the iPad is. It's not as awe-inspiring, because it's not as novel in presentation. However, I think I will love it as a whole new way of using a computer device for the key things.
 
The more I think about it, the more I like the device. I think it'll go the way of the iPod and not the way of the AppleTV.

Apple is especially good in resisting 'feature creep'. Sure, they could have added the various things people here are clamoring for, touch sens, flash, camera, storage cards, a user-accessible file system... but it wouldn't necessarily make for a better computing experience.

They gave in to feature creep with the keyboard dock, it looks too much like those awful Palm keyboards...

That said, I still think it's not a Kindle killer. They can peacefully co-exist. If anything, it's more appropriate for magazines where you skip back and forth, move from text to pics to video. Not for long text reading sessions.
 
Ok, just watched the NYTimes Demo in the Keynote at 41mins in, now that's neat!

(In general the Keynote selling it me more than before, although I was sold before it's something else seeing some of it in action.)
 
mrkgoo said:
NOTE - see how things like photoshop, parsing code, or even productivity stuff like iWork isn't on that list?
Click to expand...
All "Photoshop" or Brushes or whatever on iPad really needs is a Wacom made pen.
And for eBooks, I'm pumped about that feature, but I doubt that some of my favorite titles will ever come to it.

The problem(s) I have with the iPad is that the Home Screen is too iPhone-y and that the Dock is ugly. Tons of people replace the Leopard dock because they're tired of it.

And if they really wanted to come out swinging they would say "Keynote...Pages....Numbers.....all FREE on iPad" and market it towards Students and Business People.
Point being, for each demographic, there wasn't enough "new" to dissuade the giant iPhone thing or enough proof of concept to sell them on the device.

Like I said previously, this is a perfect intermediary product, just this iteration is more flawed than we got with the iPhone or most Apple products in recent history. Apple will refine and come out on top, but this is why some people were so douchy about it.
 
Does anyone have any info on that Microsoft fold-able tablet announced a while back? I was pretty excited about that when it was first announced and would be interested in a comparison between these two.

The thing that really bothers me about this is no OSX. Will keep an eye on this though.
 
Vennt said:
Ok, just watched the NYTimes Demo in the Keynote at 41mins in, now that's neat!
Click to expand...

Was it the part where it just made a newspaper look like an actual newspaper on the iPad? It looked cool, but seems more novelty than anything.

That's another disappointing thing about the iPad, all they managed to think up is, "Hey, let's make a newspaper look like a newspaper! And a book look like a book!" That just screams a lack of ideas.. how about some Web 2.0 stuffs with it? Even RSS readers are much more advanced than this.

Actually if I were to sum up the whole iPad thing, it's a lack of ideas.
 
Vennt said:
Ok, just watched the NYTimes Demo in the Keynote at 41mins in, now that's neat!

(In general the Keynote selling it me more than before, although I was sold before it's something else seeing some of it in action.)
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm on the Keynote demo right now, it's the most impressive part. Making presentation slides now seems totally natural for a touch-screen device and preferable to doing it on a computer. It actually makes me reconsider some of the Keynote-type apps on the iPhone that I thought wouldn't be any good.
 
Just watched the keynote, I might be more interested in it. Dunno if I could afford it.

Steve needs to stop dressing like a hobo.
 
themustardman said:
Does anyone have any info on that Microsoft fold-able tablet announced a while back? I was pretty excited about that when it was first announced and would be interested in a comparison between these two.

The thing that really bothers me about this is no OSX. Will keep an eye on this though.
Click to expand...

Was the courier ever actually announced as more than a concept device?
 
What strikes me the most about this, is that it probably couldn't be lazier designed if they tried. Nothing interesting about the OS (and really, that on-screen keyboard?), nothing interesting about hardware features (not even a video conferencing camera?), and don't let me even start with physical design. That huge bezel looks like an insult for a $500+ device made in 2010. Digital picture frame is not something this needed to look like.

Still, after a revision or two this could become a very interesting device.

Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
Flash is a plugin. Stop talking about it like it's a part of the web.

My favorite part of iPhone OS discussion is seeing the same people who trash Apple for using proprietary formats demand that Apple start supporting Flash on their devices.
Click to expand...
Quicktime is a plugin, and they support that, no? Support for Flash would be at least as useful (in reality, a lot more so actually, just for the amount of video sites, and online games sites it would open up)
 
rodvik said:
already have a kindle and cannot go back to backlit for reading
Click to expand...
That's up to you but it's seriously fine if you've ever read a book through Classics app you know how it is. Also the iBook app's visuals seem softer than that.

mrkgoo said:
Was the courier ever actually announced as more than a concept device?
Click to expand...
No and it was interesting but amazingly flawed from a "real, tangible product" perspective.
 
Lord Error said:
What strikes me the most about this, is that it probably couldn't be lazier designed if they tried. Nothing interesting about the OS (and really, that on-screen keyboard?), nothing interesting about hardware features (not even a video conferencing camera??), and don't let me even start with physical design. That huge bezel looks like an insult for a $500+ device made in 2010. Digital picture frame is not something this needed to look like.

Still, after a revision or two this could become a very interesting device.
Click to expand...

What were you expecting from it design wise? I mean really. And the bezel's that big to give you a place to hold it.

As for the OS, it's a delivery platform for apps. That's where you'll be 99% of the time, and that's what matters.
 
Outside of iWork and iBook not all that much end user effort went into this. Its a giant touchscreen device running a slightly modified iPhone OS. I think at minimum people were expecting a haptic feedback on screen keyboard with something of a more daring design.
 
Took them long enough, but cool:

Gruber said:
When you connect iPad to your Mac or PC, you get a file system mount point with "shared documents", for interchange with iPad apps.
Click to expand...

Hopefully that means no more stupid wifi syncing for app readers and the like. Hope we see this for the iPhone soon.

And... Is Apple Evil?

Aaron Swartz said:
Today’s iPad introduction has to be about the most depressing Apple product launch I’ve ever watched. As has been noted, Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field only works when he believes in what he’s selling and he didn’t seem to really believe in this. The audience must have further added to the disappointment, expecting a revolutionary product and only getting an oversized iPhone (iPod touch, actually).

That’s not to say the iPad won’t sell, or that I don’t want one. The scariest thing is that I think it probably will. It’s clear that Apple plans for the iPhone OS to be the future of its product line. And that’s scary because the iPhone OS is designed for Apple’s total control.

A lot of people have argued that requiring Apple to approve every application for the iPhone OS is some kind of “mistake”, something they’ll remedy as soon as they realize how bad things have gotten. But recent events — Phil Schiller’s personal interventions, comments on their call to analysts, etc. — have made it clear it’s not a mistake at all. It’s their plan.

The iPad is their attempt to extend this total control to what’s traditionally been thought of as the computer space. This is just the first step, but it’s not hard to imagine Apple doing their best to phase out the Macintosh in the next decade, just as they phased out OS 9. In their ideal world, all computing will be done on the iPhone OS.

And the iPhone OS will only run software that they specifically approve. No Flash or other alternate runtimes, no one-off apps or open source customizations. Just total control by Apple. It’s a frightening future.

I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s hard to see how it makes them more money. (Curating all those apps must be expensive, not to mention the lost sales from the unapproved ones.) I can only presume it’s a result of Jobs’ megalomaniacal need for control — not only does the hardware have to be flawless, the software must be too. And the only way to ensure that is to have Apple approve every inch of it.

I love Apple products. I’m a huge Apple fan. I’d buy an iPad right now if I could. But, for the first time, I’ve got a real sinking feeling in my stomach.
Click to expand...

:( I have the exact same fears. To be fair, the other devices I'm evalutating the iPad against for my purchase, ebook readers like the Nook and Kindle, are just as locked down. But Apple considers netbooks their competitors and I can't support this direction they've chosen to take their level of control.
 
Apple: "Consumers need something easy to use while taking a dump."


Sometimes I want to lounge on the couch or in bed and look at porn read the daily news, GAF, Browse music while drinking my coffee. The iPhone is just too small for a more complete "lazy sunday" browsing experience. Also, I was holding off on buying a Kindle until the iPad was revealed. I really want E-ink but I can't say I've ever read a complete book on an LCD screen so I'm not sure I can judge the difference in terms of comfort.
 
Buckethead said:
All "Photoshop" or Brushes or whatever on iPad really needs is a Wacom made pen.
And for eBooks, I'm pumped about that feature, but I doubt that some of my favorite titles will ever come to it.

The problem(s) I have with the iPad is that the Home Screen is too iPhone-y and that the Dock is ugly. Tons of people replace the Leopard dock because they're tired of it.

And if they really wanted to come out swinging they would say "Keynote...Pages....Numbers.....all FREE on iPad" and market it towards Students and Business People.
Point being, for each demographic, there wasn't enough "new" to dissuade the giant iPhone thing or enough proof of concept to sell them on the device.

Like I said previously, this is a perfect intermediary product, just this iteration is more flawed than we got with the iPhone or most Apple products in recent history. Apple will refine and come out on top, but this is why some people were so douchy about it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, providing those apps as free would've gone a long way.

The more I think about, the more this is a GREAT multimedia, computing 'toy'/tool. It ink everyone (myself included) was expecting a proper computer, but I think this is so cool.

There are definitely lazy aspects to some of the design. Like you said, I could probably do without the home screen layout - maybe slightly larger icons. But stuff like the way google maps curls up to revela some buttons that look straight out of the iPhone (even the menu is kind of weirdly cramped over to the side). I think there needs to be slightly more diversion of the main OS from the iPhone. REgardless, I think this will be such a fun device to play with.
 
Charred Greyface said:
Took them long enough, but cool:



And... Is Apple Evil?



:( I have the exact same fears. To be fair, the other devices I'm evalutating the iPad against for my purchase, ebook readers like the Nook and Kindle, are just as locked down. But Apple considers netbooks their competitors and I can't support this direction they've chosen to take their level of control.
Click to expand...

That's wildly silly. Macs aren't going anywhere, it's just a fact that the concessions of a "locked down" OS is fine for many people. Having a concise set of abilities and doing them well, along with a centralized place to get new software, is a blessing for many, many people.

If it's not for you, fine, but it's neither evil, nor is it some damnation of OS X.
 
So here's the micro-SIM thing explained.

Engadget said:
While the news of Apple's iPad having 3G wasn't exactly a surprise, the move to a new format for the SIM certainly was. The SIM -- that tiny card that holds your contact info and account information that you find in your GSM handset -- is a 15 x 25mm plastic card whereas the new Micro SIM (also known as a 3FF SIM) is a diminutive 12 x 15mm, about 52% smaller. Needless to say, it's not physically compatible with your current phone. This card was developed by the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) to offer things like more storage space on-chip for provider applications, increased control and security functions -- over what, we don't know -- and the new smaller form factor allows it to fit in tiny devices. Frankly, we wouldn't call the iPad "tiny" and we have absolutely no clue what justification Apple had to switch to it other than a desire to be different -- this is the company that pioneered Mini DisplayPort, after all -- but the long and the short of it is that you're going to have a hard time finding a carrier offering Micro SIMs in the short term since the GSMA doesn't appear to be actively spearheading a mass conversion in the short term. In fact, from AT&T's perspective, this is better than a software lock in some ways -- you're not going to be able to download a hack that gets you on another network, so you're totally at the mercy of your carrier at choice for providing a compatible card. Intentionally evil? Perhaps not -- all standards have to start somewhere -- but it's an awful pain in the ass.
Click to expand...

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/apple-ipads-micro-sim-explained/

So much for being sold unlocked. Unlocked my ass. ;/
 
Charred Greyface said:
Took them long enough, but cool:



Hopefully that means no more stupid wifi syncing for app readers and the like. Hope we see this for the iPhone soon.

And... Is Apple Evil?



:( I have the exact same fears. To be fair, the other devices I'm evalutating the iPad against for my purchase, ebook readers like the Nook and Kindle, are just as locked down. But Apple considers netbooks their competitors and I can't support this direction they've chosen to take their level of control.
Click to expand...

If that really is the future of Apple, Jobs needs to go away. That would eventually destroy the company.

mac isn't going anywhere
 
God damnit I cannot stream the keynote from Apple's website with their shitty ass quicktime. I'm on a macbook and using safari and all of my software is updated lol.
 
Buckethead said:
All "Photoshop" or Brushes or whatever on iPad really needs is a Wacom made pen.
Click to expand...

Yeah, all it needs is a Wacom made pen...

...oh yeah and it also needs a Wacom made screen, so that ain't happening.
 
Hari Seldon said:
God damnit I cannot stream the keynote from Apple's website with their shitty ass quicktime. I'm on a macbook and using safari and all of my software is updated lol.
Click to expand...

You're doing it wrong, then.
 
Although I'm not an iPhone/iTouch owner (though I plan on getting an iPhone when I can afford it), I still spent a fair bit of time pondering just what the bigger screen can do that the screen on an iPhone cannot. But I have to admit, after seeing the One Piece image on the first page, this thing would be a really sweet way of reading manga and comics. I imagine that the iPhone screen is too small, and you can only really see a single panel at a time.

Still though, I don't think that's enough of a reason to get one. The iPad strikes me as the kind of thing that only people with a very large disposable income can really justify buying.
 
The New York Times demo was pretty neat actually, I'm super disappointed there's no word on Magazines though.
 
I have to give Schiller credit for his demo of iWork. Hate his fat ass, but that was well done and thorough for the most part.
 
So any word on how powerful the Apple A4 SOC chip is? How fast is the cpu and how good is the builton GPU? I am assuming the GPU is some PowerVR derivative.

How fast do you guys think the A4 is versus the Qualcomm Snapdragon? As fast? Slower? Faster?

All I have been able to find about the chip's power so far is this tidbit:
Richard Doherty, director of technology consulting firm Envisioneering Group, in an interview last week said this about the Apple chip technology versus competing silicon from companies like Qualcomm, Freescale, and others that license the basic design from United Kingdom-based ARM: "There's nothing that I can see from ARM licensees or Intel that could challenge the power-per-watt, the power-per-buck, the power-per-cubic-millimeter of size. Apple is going to have quite a performance, battery efficiency, and cost advantage over the competition."
Click to expand...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10442684-64.html

I hope the SOC is powerful enough to run games that look at least as good as PSP games. I would hope this tablet is a more powerful gaming rig than the 5 year old PSP.
 
So when will we get a larger laptop/tablet combo? I'd jump at the opportunity to get on that, I just don't think I can lose the work aspect of my laptop.. but I really do like the browsing/media capabilities of the iPad.
 
SnakeXs said:
What were you expecting from it design wise? I mean really.
Click to expand...
Ideally, something that doesn't look like a more primitive version of an enlarged Ipod Touch, and has some kind of innovative feature, like multitouch was when Ipod was announced. More realistically, at least a front facing webcam, the lack of which is really puzzling and disappointing for a device like this. We got a media device that doesn't even let me do a voice or text chat over IM while browsing the web - that alone is just mind boggling as a web usage scenario of today.
 
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