Apple Announcement: iPad, more like iPass, amirite?

[Eel O'Brian]

wait until geohot gets hold of it, you'll be backgrounding in no time

[recursivelyenumerable]

Does it at least support TSRs?

[Eel O'Brian]

i will say that everyone complaining about the weight around the net is a giant limpwristed pussy, though

[Raban]

BUT DOES IT RUN CRYSIS

ONLY THROUGH THE EXCELLENT SERVICE ONLIVE PROVIDES

[EmCeeGrammar]

I don't get it.   Like, what is this practical for?

[Beezy]

No multitasking, no flash? Android phones are getting flash this spring. This thing is a fucking joke.

[Eel O'Brian]

i hold my netbook on the couch just fine and it weighs more

i've held hardcover books that weigh more, and read for hours

to be fair, i paint for a living, so i have pretty strong wrists and arms

but 1.5 pounds isn't really heavy at all

also people could, you know, rest it on their laps if their noodlearms started quivering from that 1.5 lb burden

[Eel O'Brian]

i'd imagine it will be unofficially multitasking shortly after release

It better, there is absolutely no excuse for it to NOT have it. With the iPhone they were using the limitation of the of tech and battery life as excuses, two issues that have been addressed here.

It's the MOST basic feature in any device dammit.

wait until geohot gets hold of it, you'll be backgrounding in no time

Have you seen the multitasking Cydia apps? they're friggin sleek.

i use backgrounder all the time to listen to streaming music while i'm reading

battery drains superfast, though

[Reb]

So, how long until a competitor releases a product that's just as good (if not better, even) for less?

Like with the iPhone?

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Serious questions:

1) Is there a reasonable way to carry this around with you that doesn't involve a case and a bag to carry the case.
2) Can you type on it standing up?

I'm thinking "No" and "No" and both of those are pretty killer oversights to me. I can't see anything I'd use this for besides reading comics in bed, which is pretty awesome but not $500 awesome.

[Eel O'Brian]

i don't really care about the typing, but 1024 x 768 is kinda the dealbreaker for me as a dedicated comic reading device

it'll probably fit in just about any netbook sleeve - honestly, none of these tablets are going to be superportable (except maybe that 5" dell one, but i don't really see the point in that)

the ibook/magazine/newspaper layouts and style do look pretty slick, though - i really like the textured pages

i use backgrounder all the time to listen to streaming music while i'm reading

battery drains superfast, though

Try "proswither" it's basically a sleek UI for backgrounder that can be activated by touch gestures to view all apps running in the background, it's inspired by the Pre iirc and it's free.

But yeah, battery drains pretty fast with all these types of apps.

ok, i'll give it a shot, thanks

[Eel O'Brian]

that photo album looks pretty snazzy

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I've never looked at photos in an album format in my life

[Howard Alan Treesong]

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/frantic_steve_jobs_stays_up

Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet

CUPERTINO, CA—Claiming that he completely forgot about the much-hyped electronic device until the last minute, a frantic Steve Jobs reportedly stayed up all night Tuesday in a desperate effort to design Apple's new tablet computer. "Come on, Steve, just think—think, dammit—you're running out of time," the exhausted CEO said as he glued nine separate iPhones to the back of a plastic cafeteria tray. "Okay, yeah, this will work. This will definitely work. Just need to write 'tablet' on this little strip of masking tape here and I'm golden. Oh, come on, you piece of shit! Just stick already!" Middle-of-the-night sources reported that Jobs then began work on double-spacing his Keynote presentation and increasing the font size to make it appear longer.

[The Fake Shemp]

Wtf this is what we were all excited about

There were better Android/Tegra 2 tablets at CES!

[Eel O'Brian]

I've never looked at photos in an album format in my life

Photo apps in general are my least used used in any device, especially ones that aren't equipped with a camera.

and i have used and enjoyed them

different people, they like different things, who woulda thunk it

[Howard Alan Treesong]

sure, I'm just saying, photos are a non-feature to me on par with the Stocks app

[Kestastrophe]

I heard about this announcement on NPR during my commute home and got excited when they talked about the low price of $500. The interface even looks sluggish and a bit unresponsive in that video. I am disappoint

[Eel O'Brian]

i'm not totally writing it off just yet, but i need a hands-on with the reader and a comic app

not caring for that curved back, it's gonna wobble all over the place when you lay it flat

[GoofyGoober]

I will wait to see what the next 60 days do for developers. The web is pretty flash centric I can't imagine surfing full time on this. I have my touch to tide me over now.

[pilonv1]

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/frantic_steve_jobs_stays_up

Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet

CUPERTINO, CA—Claiming that he completely forgot about the much-hyped electronic device until the last minute, a frantic Steve Jobs reportedly stayed up all night Tuesday in a desperate effort to design Apple's new tablet computer. "Come on, Steve, just think—think, dammit—you're running out of time," the exhausted CEO said as he glued nine separate iPhones to the back of a plastic cafeteria tray. "Okay, yeah, this will work. This will definitely work. Just need to write 'tablet' on this little strip of masking tape here and I'm golden. Oh, come on, you piece of shit! Just stick already!" Middle-of-the-night sources reported that Jobs then began work on double-spacing his Keynote presentation and increasing the font size to make it appear longer.

It's amusing when the onion has real stories every now and then. 1024x768?

[GoofyGoober]

i'm not totally writing it off just yet, but i need a hands-on with the reader and a comic app

not caring for that curved back, it's gonna wobble all over the place when you lay it flat

Hopefully 3rd parties come up with a skin or silicon protector like the touch that makes the back flat.

Kosma, it's a big iPod Touch that has 3G capabilities. It won't do phone calls just data.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

So is this just a big Iphone?

Of course not.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's just a big iPod Touch.

[close]

[Eel O'Brian]

It goes without saying that will only play the same media formats that the iPhone/touch plays, right?

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

[Rman]

i'm not totally writing it off just yet, but i need a hands-on with the reader and a comic app

not caring for that curved back, it's gonna wobble all over the place when you lay it flat

Jobs get obsessed with things.  His current ones are no buttons and curves.

[ManaByte]

No multitasking. FAIL

It's even running iPhone OS 3.2

[ManaByte]

Ok the book turning stuff is pretty cool.

The $499 may be worth it as an eBook reader.

[GoofyGoober]

As an ebook reader it would be nice as it also has netbook like features. But as typical apple your locked into the built in storage. If you want to play around. The Sony is $200 cheaper, takes SD Cards, but has fewer features.

[ManaByte]

Sony one is in black & white with no backlight.

[Eel O'Brian]

there's an sd card reader adapter (wtf) coming out for the ipad

[elektrikluv]

Ok the book turning stuff is pretty cool.

The $499 may be worth it as an eBook reader.

Yeah especially considering the 9.7 inch Kindle is $489 :/ The iPad seems like a good investment when you look at it that way.

[border]

I surprised to see so many people whining about the resolution.  What resolution should it have been?  Most netbooks aren't that much better.

That said, it's hard not to be disappointed by this thing.  I wasn't hoping for a revolution, but "Here is a much bigger iPod touch" is pathetic.  Still no multitasking, still no Flash support, still no tabbed browsing, still no video-out.  It looks like this thing underwent some heavy compromises just so they could swing the $500 pricetag.

The promotional video is embarassing - it's almost hilarious to see employees swoon over things that the iPhone has done for 3 years.  OMG THE SCREEN RE-ORIENTS ITSELF IF YOU TURN IT!

[Eel O'Brian]

as far as resolution, i'm just considering how a full comic page looks on a 1024 x600 netbook screen turned sideways

[GoofyGoober]

Sony one is in black & white with no backlight.

Excellent point, and as elektrikluv pointed out, almost the same price as the 9.7" Kindle.

I guess the wish list of supporting better and more video formats is all I could see wanting.

How bad would it look? So far the e-comics, only access I've had is on the touch and the PSP and it was a frame at a time.

[Cormacaroni]

I can see why it's disappointing to many after all the (non-Apple generated) hype but it looks pretty awesome to me. I will be nabbing a 64GB non-3G version most likely. If i never use it for anything other than comics, books and internet (better support this NBA league pass streaming format tho! But there is an iphone version in the US so should be ok), that's fine by me. That constitutes about 90% of my entertainment these days. Doubt I'll use it much for tv/video but who knows, depends how easy it is. I tend to want to use my iphone storage for music etc instead of video but with 64GB it becomes more appealing.

[Eel O'Brian]

the screen itself is going to be approximately 8" x 5" with a .75" border from my measurements

i just printed some comic pages at various pixel densities, all of them looked okay at the 8x5 size (yeah, yeah, print vs screen blah-blah-blah), maybe the 1024x768 won't be so bad

EDIT:  it's actually 7.75" x 5.82"

[M3wThr33]

I can buy two netbooks for this price.

[GoofyGoober]

I had forgotten all about the kindle app I download on my touch until I saw the comparison that Jin posted (thanks BTW).

Just looking for something for the wife. Her mother has a Sony reader. I thought it was pretty awesome compared to my Dad's kindle.

[cool breeze]

The attract video makes it look pretty cool...if it's on mute.  The guy who walks you through it is like a real life apple fan, as in, tweaked out of his mind and spitting hyperbole.  I want nothing to do with that.

But yeah, the thing itself looks alright, just not for the price.  Not that the price is that bad.  It's a completely indulgent product without many practical applications, at least for me.

[Cormacaroni]

I can buy two netbooks for this price.

you are awesome at math

[Cormacaroni]

thank Christ it's compatible with Kindle. Although the prospect of a price war on books between amazon/apple/google was appealing, it's also nice to know that we can use stuff we buy on Amazon. I still think even $10 for a new book is bullshit, given the almost nil cost to the publisher of the digital format. Bandwidth isn't even an issue, like with mp3.

[Cormacaroni]

the screen itself is going to be approximately 8" x 5" with a .75" border from my measurements

i just printed some comic pages at various pixel densities, all of them looked okay at the 8x5 size (yeah, yeah, print vs screen blah-blah-blah), maybe the 1024x768 won't be so bad

EDIT:  it's actually 7.75" x 5.82"

I regularly read comics on the iPhone, a 19'' PC monitor and a 46'' TV...they pretty much look great at any size, IMO. You either get more size or more sharpness. So long as the text is readable, you're golden. And pinch zoom and comic reader mobi take care of that.

[Eel O'Brian]

yeah, comics look fine on my touch/tv/pc, but i'd rather view the full page in one shot on a handheld, especially when it comes to will eisner-style layouts where the panel flow is important

[AdmiralViscen]

Reading through the thread now...

You guys suck in the rumour dept.

The Apple tablet will:

- work with 99.9% of current AppStore apps, no recoding necessary, just download or transfer from your iPhone and IT JUST WORKS in 10" fullscreen glory. <--- this is the killer bulletpoint that annihilates every other tablet out there
- act as an iPhone, that means you would be able to call/ text from it just like from iPhone using the same SIM card. No need to carry an iPhone and your Apple Tablet at the same time.
- have some kind of camera on the frontside, facing the owner for videoconferences etc.

HP Slate annihilated...

lol owned

what a piece of shit.

[Rman]

Well the first point is accurate.  Devs just need to update their apps for iPad compatibility.

[bork]

Was this posted?  Some of the stuff the guy has issues with are stupid, but no flash?  No multitasking?  Restricted to the app store? Adaptors needed for everything, even USB?  No HDMI out?  Not even widescreen?  1024x768?  LOL.  It's iPhone XL.  

http://i.gizmodo.com/5458382/8-things-that-suck-about-the-ipad

(Image removed from quote.)
A lot of people are psyched about the iPad. Not me! My god, am I underwhelmed by it. It has some absolutely backbreaking failures that will make buying one the last thing I would want to do.

Big, Ugly Bezel
Have you seen the bezel on this thing?! It's huge! I know you don't want to accidentally input a command when your thumb is holding it, but come on.

No Multitasking
This is a backbreaker. If this is supposed to be a replacement for netbooks, how can it possibly not have multitasking? Are you saying I can't listen to Pandora while writing a document? I can't have my Twitter app open at the same time as my browser? I can't have AIM open at the same time as my email? Are you kidding me? This alone guarantees that I will not buy this product.

No Cameras
No front facing camera is one thing. But no back facing camera either? Why the hell not? I can't imagine what the downside was for including at least one camera. Could this thing not handle video iChat?

Touch Keyboard
So much for Apple revolutionizing tablet inputs; this is the same big, ugly touchscreen keyboard we've seen on other tablets, and unless you're lying on the couch with your knees propping it up, it'll be awkward to use.

No HDMI Out
Want to watch those nice HD videos you downloaded from iTunes on your TV? Too damned bad! If you were truly loyal, you'd just buy an AppleTV already.

The Name iPad
Get ready for Maxi pad jokes, and lots of 'em!

No Flash
No Flash is annoying but not a dealbreaker on the iPhone and iPod Touch. On something that's supposed to be closer to a netbook or laptop? It will leave huge, gaping holes in websites. I hope you don't care about streaming video! God knows not many casual internet users do. Oh wait, nevermind, they all do.

Adapters, Adapters, Adapters
So much for those smooth lines. If you want to plug anything into this, such as a digital camera, you need all sorts of ugly adapters. You need an adapter for USB for god's sake.

Update: Why stop at 8? Here are more things we are discovering that suck about the iPad.

It's Not Widescreen
Widescreen movies look lousy on this thing thanks to its 4:3 screen, according to Blam, who checked out some of Star Trek on one. It's like owning a 4:3 TV all over again!

Doesn't Support T-Mobile 3G
Sure, it's "unlocked." But it won't work on T-Mobile, and it uses microSIMs that literally no one else uses.

A Closed App Ecosystem
The iPad only runs apps from the App Store. The same App Store that is notorious for banning apps for no real reason, such as Google Voice. Sure, netbooks might not have touchscreens, but you can install whatever software you'd like on them. Want to run a different browser on your iPad? Too bad!

I certainly wouldn't buy the first version of this thing.  The next revision is sure to address some of these issues and have a camera.  Just watch.

[tiesto]

Glad to see I'm not the only one just shrugging and not seeing what the big deal is. More overpriced, over-stylized junk from Apple.

[AdmiralViscen]

Well the first point is accurate.  Devs just need to update their apps for iPad compatibility.

Yea, i was laughing at the rest. I don't know why anyone would be amped for 320x480 apps on a 10 inch screen with no multitasking.

[The Fake Shemp]

Apple's stuff is usually overpriced, but the company always seems to debut a few neat features that separates its products from the competition (and justifies the price point differential in the eyes of some). I don't know how you could categorize the iPad announcement as anything but a failure, because this announcement comes on the heels of the tablet explosion at CES just a few weeks ago. And the stuff we saw there was not only sleeker and more powerful - but will likely be cheaper as well.

Apple has a head start because the iPad is already into production, but I can't see this as anything but a novelty gift for Apple enthusiasts when far superior tablets (open source, no less!) are on the horizon. I think Apple had the means and the capability to debut something that could replace the PC and laptop, but that award will go to somebody else (HP? Acer?).

Yeah, it's decent compared to the Kindle, but everyone has to realize that there are a dozen e-Readers hitting the market this year that plan to undercut that price.

[archie4208]

I hope the iPad forces Amazon to become more competitive with their Kindle pricing. 

[brawndolicious]

What does TVC think of this?  I think he was a big apple whore.

[The Fake Shemp]

I hope the iPad forces Amazon to become more competitive with their Kindle pricing. 

That was going to happen regardless of the iPad. The Nook, once it finds its footing, will challenge the Kindle. Not to mention the slew of e-ink readers that were at CES (I guess the company that provides e-ink technology is expanding) this year. Amazon's days are numbered at that price point.

[Rman]

I hope the iPad forces Amazon to become more competitive with their Kindle pricing. 

They just 3 price drops in one year.

[Eel O'Brian]

i just figure i already spent $300 on an ipod touch  - whereas this has around 3x the screen size, has a much faster processor, and will provide a much better reading experience for $200 more

i'll probably end up selling my ipod touch and some other bullshit so i can feel guilt-free about getting it

[Eel O'Brian]

also, while i was a bit disappointed there was no camera introduced in the touch, i couldn't give a shit about a camera on a tablet (although i realize it is important to some)

[Howard Alan Treesong]

i just figure i already spent $300 on an ipod touch  - whereas this has around 3x the screen size, has a much faster processor, and will provide a much better reading experience for $200 more

i'll probably end up selling my ipod touch and some other bullshit so i can feel guilt-free about getting it

not to be difficult, but could you really use the iPad as an iPod replacement? it plays MP3s, but it's not exactly portable.

[The Fake Shemp]

I just don't understand why you don't keep your Touch - which is far more portable - and grab one of the many Android/Tegra 2 tablets that will hit the market this year. Not to mention the Windows 7 tablets that are about to melt faces.

... because, really, while having a large iPod Touch might be nice in some situations, do you honestly plan on making it your primary MP3 player?

[AdmiralViscen]

Android is more capable than iPhone OS and even it isn't enough for a netbook. Win7 tablet for the win.

[brob]

I'm a bit surprised at the amount of people who are ready to jump on some day one kinda business. How long did it take for Apple to make the first gen iphone useless? Isn't that some rule in the apple fanboy rulebook; never buy testbed bullshit first iterations ?

[Cormacaroni]

No doubt it will improve over time. no doubt there will be a million similar devices. I'm just glad the ball is finally rolling on this shit though.

No multitasking is blatantly a ploy to keep battery life up and crashes down. I'd rather live dangerously myself but I can see why they went that way.