iPad -> Alternatives?

[utopiomania]

But, people use their phones for that??

You can show a ppt on the big-screen during lunch-time using an ordinary phone through bluetooth.

Or print it or whatever you like.. pads are useless.

[Rook Zimbabwe]

I keep getting asked by clients about PAD ABILITY for my restaurant POS. I now have it included thanks to PureFORM! (and a heady bit of work on my part too!) so now the restaurant can be paperless... though not 1 client has adopted it I can show BOTH versions on my X41t...

SWEEETTTT!!!! Take thaat Aloha / Texas POS!!!

[utopiomania]

What exactly do you mean by 'PAD ABILITY' Rook?

[blueznl]

But, people use their phones for that??
You can show a ppt on the big-screen during lunch-time using an ordinary phone through bluetooth.
Or print it or whatever you like.. pads are useless.

No you can't. You're in a cafe, and there's bloody soccer on the big screen... I doubt I'd be able to convince all other attendants to stop watching whilst I present confidential new designs on the large screen instead of the next penalty.

Phone screens are simply too small.

Pads are not useless, it all depends on the user and usage. It's the same story with netbooks. People often claim they are underpowered and thus useless, on the other hand a modern Atom has speeds similar to an old P3, and is fast enough to do a little internet, write a Word document, do a bit of excelling on the road, handle your email, play a movie, and last for 8 to 10 hours.

It all depends on user and usage, saying they are useless might be a bit over the top...

[utopiomania]

You might be right, I don't know.

i* fans will buy one, I will not, I don't need one, and interest in this product is lame today.

No you can't. You're in a cafe, and there's bloody soccer on the big screen...

You can at work.

If your'e in a cafe you can watch your phone instead, I don't want't to bring a thing sized like an
iPad to a cafe?

Where would I keep it? I can put my phone in a pocket, but the ipad is too big to carry around.

[the.weavster]

“netbooks aren’t good at anything.”
“They’re slow, have clunky displays, and run clunky old PC software,”
“They’re just cheap laptops.”

You know what, he's right.

I read Apple's new netbook has started to erode the sales of their iPad, I understand it can even do Flash (although you have to install it yourself).

[blueznl]

I've decided: that new Dell is going to be mine.

[blueznl]

... or perhaps not. I just noticed the battery time... My old Asus 1005HA does a better job. Hey, Asus, take the old 1005HA and put a Dell Inspiron Duo flip screen on it and you have at least me as a paying customer!

[utopiomania]

I am waiting for the postman to drop This into my mailbox.

It's not exactly an iPad replacement, but is a perfect compliment to a laptop and a phone.

It has a proper paper-like display that the iPad can not match, and the battery lasts for 7000 page turns = weeks of use, not hours.

I download lots of books from Google books, and convert everything else I need to pdfs to get rid of the bulk and to be able to access it more easily, so this is perfect for me.

The only fancy thing it can do besides beeing an electronic pocket sized library is to play mp3's

[Baldrick]

I haven't really read this thread right through, but thought I may as well throw my 2cents worth in.
I recently bought my 1st little smartphone, not because I wanted the 'geekness' of saying I have 1, but because I have been using VoIp telephony at my home for quite a while now & see this little phone as a way to save quite a bit of cash when it comes to making telephone calls.
I got a little huawei u8150 smartphone which cost me around $200.00Au (unlocked). I already have a Wireless Broadand modem & so just plonked my existing sim into this phone. I installed a really nice little VoIp client app called CSipSimple & there you have it.
My VoIp service I have directly through my ISP in which they include a DID ( Direct In Dial) number as part of my service at no extra cost. all I pay is for the call charges as expected.
I am now able to call any fixed landline here aus for a flat $0.10 untimed & Au mobile for $0.15 / minute. People can now call me through my fancy new mobile & they get to pay fixed line rates also.
The only other charge is data usage when I am on the mobile data network, which in my case works out to around $1.10 per hour talk time for the data stream.
A really good part of this little phone is that I can tether to my laptop using either USB directly or if I wish I can use it as a WiFi hotspot to my laptop, so I still have full HSPA modem ability & a speedtest I did gave me 5.4Mbs using Wifi tethering.
I went to Melbourne for a while just after I bought this phone & found my old NavMan GPS maps were way too out of date, but this little phone also has a full GPS with google maps installed & gives full turn by turn instructions which really saved me down there....

On the downside, using it for VoIp telephony with direct in dialing, it is very hard on the battery & only gives me about 6 hours before I need to recharge when away from my car or any power source. (When using it on WiFi through my home network battery life is fine.) I am now in process of porting my old mobile number to my WBB sim, so I can choose to make my VoIp client an outgoing service only. This will fix the battery useage issue, but people calling in will be paying mobile call rates. ( really not my problem as I see it..)
A little video of this cheapie phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Npp6jM9 ... re=related

[utopiomania]

Warning! I just received the Chinese e-ink ebook reader I linked to in my post above,
and it turned out to be so bad it was almost worth every penny. Almost.

Just check out my #2 question on sellers page about the product beeing bug-free and stable.

It actually freezes EVERY time you open a file, pdf, ebup or whatever. You can reset it with
a bit of luck, just to see it freeze up again next time..

It can play mp3's too, only there's a steady glitch every two seconds. Its a defective product
in every respect, and the seller knew that, see the post below.

This is the last time ever I buy a Chinese product from a Chinese seller off Ebay.

Dear X,

Hi,Good days! I am Ellen,have you got your ebook reader?
when you receive it, please kindly read user manual first, it help you know its feature better, misuse it often make it freeze, because it react by a chemistry, so it has a little slow response when you the first time use it, e ink do no harm eyes, it is advantage, you should buy a SD card,and down load Ebooks, music, photo to your SD card, and read it on this ebook reader, photo's size should be big as my photo, see attachment files,big photo maybe out of memory,

if you have any other question,just feel free to ask me, i will try my best to help you! Thank you

God bless you and your family forever!

Merry Christmas!

best regards!

Ellen

[Blood]

There is no alternative to the iPad, there really isn't. Nothing else comes close to the ease of use and software available.
Try one and you'll see.

I still stand by this. Everything else is inferior, as you have found out!

[sphinx]

There is no alternative to the iPad, there really isn't. Nothing else comes close to the ease of use and software available.
Try one and you'll see.

I still stand by this. Everything else is inferior, as you have found out!

Well, I bought Samsung Galaxy Tab a few days ago and I can say it is iPad killer.
- The screen is unbelievable (AMOLED technology, same quality in dark and sunlight, very very low battery consumption)
- The size (7") and weight is just right.
- Android 2.2 'Froyo' is excellent.
- Performance is more than great.
- It is a 3 in 1 device (Tablet PC, Phone and a great Camera 'Photo/Video')
- and many more

I recommend it to anyone want to buy iPad like device.

[blueznl]

I still don't get it. For a device with less capacity than a regular netbook I have to pay *more* ?

Where are the first netbook based and netbook priced tablets? What's taking them? Sigh...

[codewalker]

I still don't get it. For a device with less capacity than a regular netbook I have to pay *more* ?

The masses don´t buy stuff like that based on logic and reason. They buy based on
emotion - look and feel - hype and fashion. Steve Jobs knows that like no other
and that´s why Apple makes a lot of money.
cw