PureBasic Forums - English

Check this thing out man! It's the new Apple iPad!

SERIOUSLY! CHECK IT OUT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs

If you allready have a smartphone the iPad is much to expensive for just having the same device just with a bigger screen. That is what the iPad basicly is. It's a iPod Touch with a bigger screen.

I am really, really underwhelmed by the iPad. There's nothing innovative about it. Google Chrome OS was released before that with manufacturers planning hardware for it. I think I'd wait for Asus or someone to release a Tegra based device with Chrome or Ubuntu Netbook Remix or something else. It'd be superior hardware and superior software - especially if going with the Ubuntu or Windows 7 route.

Wow - they already had this prototype in 2007

I have an iPhone 3GS so getting an iPad is pointless. It's way to expensive if you want a decent configuration.

No camera (wtf?), no USB and no third party software. So you are bound to the shitty appstore again.
I really thought it's a normal computer with a multi-touchscreen but it's just a big iPhone

Probably I'll be interested in it, as an ebook reader. I always wanted something portable to read books in any format, but the previous available products sucked in my opinion (even if some had great readability other aspects were obscene). Screen resolution is 1024x768 so should be enough, but I need to see it in action to make my mind. I like the 10 hours use / 1 month standby thing.

The fact it can run the applications I already have on the iPhone is a plus.

I'm used to the initial reactions to Apple products, as Apple it is, I suppose

I'll stick with my Sony PRS-505 for ebooks. It's small, light, lasts a long time and is very easy on the eyes. Oh, and I can connect it to my computer via USB and have it seen as an extra storage device. So I can put whatever I want on it.

The iPad doesn't do enough in any other arena to make it worth-while. I get the idea of what a device like this *could* do if done right but this first generation doesn't seem like it'll be doing it any time soon. Not enough of a computer and I don't like Apple's direction regarding software and it's usage.

However, I'm *not* an Apple fan so my views are kind of tainted.

Hi Xombie

Xombie wrote:I'll stick with my Sony PRS-505 for ebooks.
The iPad doesn't do enough in any other arena to make it worth-while.

Well, if it's this

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-PRS-505-Port ... B000WPXQ2M

the iPad price is not much higher, anyway they are two different products.

One use e-ink, the other use oled technology, so they are very different, what's better depends by the final use and the individual, I suppose.

the ipad has color, and a higher resolution, moreover is iphone compatible and is a "computer" who can run programs, has wi-fi connectivity, opengl-es, 16 GB minimum, you can't really compare them.

The whole body area is usable to view the document, without buttons or anything else.

I like it a lot more as general concept, but I have to see it.

BTW you can transfer any kind of document to ipod/iphone too. And if a format is not supported out of the box, you probably can find a software able to do it.

Xombie wrote: However, I'm *not* an Apple fan so my views are kind of tainted.

I'm not a brainless follower of the Apple's cult, but I like ipod/iphone products, and I have a great respect for Apple as a dynamic, landscape-changer force.

Yes, completely different hardware and goals. I wouldn't have mentioned it except that Apple made a big fuss about it. And, sure, it seems like it'll do a good job of displaying books and it is color. I really like e-ink for it's display. Which is apparently 170 pixels-per-inch on the PRS-505 and 132 ppi on the iPad. I code all day and spend way too much time on the computer. The e-ink really does make a difference for reading at length.

Oh, and the iPad is just LCD, not OLED. LED back light, if I understand correctly.

Prices are inflated on Amazon for the PRS-505 because it's been discontinued. It's a bit of an older model. I think I paid $250 for it when I got it a while back. I absolutely admit that it's a stretch for me to pay that much for something just to read but I'm very fond of it after having used it so much.

Having said all that, the iPad IS a different creature. The book functionality (argh, iBook, really?) is just one part. I can completely understand that it would be an enticing buy when you're a fan of their App store and the apps that are available. And I suppose you can jail break it to get more out of it but that's outside of what is officially and normally offered.

I'm not exactly sure what it is about Apple that bothers me but they really do. I'm certainly not trying to start a fight or a flame here. They just rile me up for some reason. Several other companies had tablet type devices in the works and have displayed them before the iPad was released. It just feels like Apple had a general idea of what they wanted to do but they rushed it and seems lacking in too much.

I feel like if they'd given their self 6 to 12 more months of development time they could've really wowed people. I didn't even have any expectation of what it would be like and I was still confused by some of their choices.

I'm surprised about being able to put whatever you want on it. It was my understanding that Apple locked down their iPhone OS fairly tightly with iTunes. Can you drop whatever document and install whatever app you want on it without jail-breaking it? I've messed with the iPhone and it's interface but haven't needed to delve that much into it.

Xombie wrote: Oh, and the iPad is just LCD, not OLED. LED back light, if I understand correctly.

On the Apple site they say led, you are right, around the web I read many times oled, probably they were wrong. Thanks.

Just found this: http://www.mwd.com/2010/01/apple-ipad-s ... s-ips-lcd/

I know e-ink is VERY good for reading, and that's the reason why I'm saying I need to see it to make my mind. I hope I will like it because I like the extra-ebook functionalities I would have. Anyway I don't like the other ebook readers, so if this is not the one I'll have to continue to wait for something better.

Xombie wrote: Can you drop whatever document and install whatever app you want on it without jail-breaking it?

Nope, only any document/file but only appstore apps. Actually I didn't feel the need for jailbreak it (the iphone/ipod I mean). I found all I need directly in the app store, for now. BTW the appstore is extremely full of crap, but there are very great apps too. They very great ones compensate for the flood of crap you must navigate into. Fortunately another side effect of being an apple product it's the online coverage is enormous and you can find many sites filtering the best apps for you.


Bye !

Xombie wrote:I'm not exactly sure what it is about Apple that bothers me but they really do. I'm certainly not trying to start a fight or a flame here. They just rile me up for some reason.

It's all the hullabaloo about very mediocre devices that always amazes me, Fluid Byte is right this thing is just a big iPhone and like the iPhone it can't multi-task, there's no memory slot, no Flash etc... yet all the press are already getting numb nuts over it. I just don't get it.

And you know the figures they are quoting for battery life is BS.

luis wrote: BTW you can transfer any kind of document to ipod/iphone too. And if a format is not supported out of the box, you probably can find a software able to do it.

Are you serious?
You can't just transfer any kind of document. To get anything other on the iPhone than the supported iTunes formats you _must_ use apps from the store. You can't just access the iPhone with USB as a mass storage. You have to use the app you want to display your documents to transfer them. Per USB or WLAN (FTP). And the best part, you can't store them in a shared folder, no every app has it's private folder and can't access the folder of other apps.

The only way to manage documents in a realy good way on the iPhone is to Jailbreak it. Seriously this is one of the big minuses of the iPhone. It's one of the most restrictive devices out there.

I will not comment about the devices being mediocre or not, there is nothing wrong in a mediocre device anyway if it does what you need in a way you like. ipod touch and iphone does that for me.

Anyway, when I bought the iPhone for example, was not about buying the iPhone, was about buying the ability to run the software available on the app store, what was available then and what will be undoubtedly available in the future. Nothing can compare to that.

The iPhone was a very nice phone in bundle with it.

It's the same reason why I started using Windows and not OS2, or Linux, or OSX or any other OS.
I wanted to have access to all the software available on that platform, I choose the software, and the OS was a consequence of that.

Thorium wrote: Are you serious?

Sure.
To me transfer for example a PDF, or a DOC, or anything else through wi-fi to the storage area of another app able to read PDF, DOC or anything else means to be able to transfer any kind of document.
The receiving app must know how to deal with that kind of document.
This is what I wrote above. It's fine with me.
Anyway there are many apps to transfer any kind of files, to simply store them like you would do on a ftp server. This way, if you want, you can use the iphone for storage.

Thorium wrote: You can't just access the iPhone with USB as a mass storage.

I never said it was possible. Unless you jailbreak it. Obviously an iPhone natively jailbroken would have been better.

Personally, I like what it does as it is. Not everyone need the same things.

luis wrote: Personally, I like what it does as it is. Not everyone need the same things.

Right.
I also like the iPhone. But it has some negative points to it. I bought it for just one reason: to browse the web anywhere. And that works very good. I hoped that i could use it as a PDA but that just don't work out. First you have to deal with the fact you can't share documents between apps. Second you can't use a stylus which makes text editing nearly impossible. Even if the touch keyboard works surprisingly well.

So i use it for browsing websites, playing games. You can read docs with it, but forget about editing work.