Fanboi's lament - falling out of love with the iPad
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From: Jeff Liebermann on 30 May 2010 12:34 On Sun, 30 May 2010 16:15:22 +0100, "Advanced Kitty" <nokia.account(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: >The iPad is a niche product and after the novelty has worn off, will remain >just that. I also had my doubts about the iPad and its usefulness. Then a friend bought one and I was assigned to set it up and make it play. During the experience, I learned a few things about it. There are three areas where conventional laptops and PDA's serve badly and where the iPad is a substantial improvement: - Eyesight problems and older users: The average teenager has no problems running a web browser on a cell phone or iPod Touch. The avereage 50+ year old can't see as well and has problem. Tiny keyboards and small target areas add to the problem. The iPad screen is large enough for even the most eyesight challenged user to operate and with an on screen keyboard (with practice) seems quite usable. - Computing in bed: While not exactly a mainstream application, it really is awkward and clumsy trying to operate a laptop or netbook in bed. Cell phones and PDA's are possible, but the small screen and keyboard areas make it difficult. With the iPad, she just throws it onto the bed, and pokes at the screen when it says email has arrived. While a conventional keyboard is best when sitting at a desk, the on screen keyboad dramatically reduces the clutter and clumsiness when computing in bed. She does have the Bluetooth keyboard, but finds that it's usually not necessary. In my never humble opinion, the best thing about the iPad is the absolutely gorgeous 1024x768 LCD display. I did a side by side comparison with my assortment of PDA's, netbooks, laptops, and DVD players. The iPad display looks the best playing a movie in bed. - Use in a vehicle: When one of my neighbors first saw the full size advertisement for the iPad, he cut it out, pasted it to a piece of cardboard, and experimented with where it would fit in his car. I got the clue immediately. It's not the best car computer, but it's good enough for many things (navigation, web surfing, watching videos, music, email, etc). However, unlike the typical iPod player, where it sits on the seat or hump and uses the car radio for control and display, the iPad will end up doing everything and the radio simply provide the audio amplification. Various entrepreneurs are already providing vehicle mounts for the iPad. These areas will probably never be directly addressed by Apple marketing and advertising. Showing a TV commercial of a geriatric iPad user, wearing coke bottle thick glasses, and computing in bed, is just not going to fly. Showing the iPad on the dashboard is violating the vehicle code in most states. Yes, these are niche markets, but they're potentially big ones that are badly served by other devices and computahs. As always, it's impossible to make everyone happy, including me. There were plenty of things I don't like about the iPad that I wish Apple had done differently. The most common complaints are the lack of a camera, lack of Flash, lack of built in SD card slot, and lack of multitasking. The last will be addressed by OS 4.0, but the others are an irritation. There are a few additional complaints and comments that I would like to add to the list. - Lack of font smoothing when zoomed 2x when displaying an iPod Touch application. - The charging is just plain weird. Sometimes it charges from the computer, sometimes not. Sometimes it charges, but says its not charging. It also charges very very slowly. - Methinks the 4:3 screen aspect ratio is the correct aspect ratio for computing. 16x9 sucks for everything except movies. - It took me an hour to decode why I was getting duplicated email messages. The default setup is to both download email from the server and sync it with the desktop via USB. If you pickup email while the USB cable is plugged into he computah, that's what will happen. I had to disable syncing email on the iTunes Apps page to fix this. - iPad email has no provision for immediately removing mail from the server after downloading. As I recall, the minimum choice is 1 week. - With POP3 iPad email will download every folder on the (Yahoo) server, including the accumulated filtered junk mail. In order to prevent this, and to add the ability to manage folders, I had to switch to an IMAP4 (Gmail) account. However, with Gmail, Google Sync is now only pushing about 80% of the accumulated email, only some calendars, and has yet to get the contacts/addressbook to sync. Oddly, I have almost the exact same Gmail configuration on my iPod Touch, which works just fine. Therefore, my guess is that iPad Mail is the culprit. - The iPad is fragile. I've seen YouTube videos showing the fatal effects of a 3ft drop. Additional protection is going to be required. It's also not water resistant. - Limited GPS. The GPS is Assisted GPS. I haven't played with it much but it works really nicely when connected to the AT&T network and kinda marginal when not connected. Beyond that, I don't know yet how it works as a navigation and mapping device. This is as far as we've gotten with the iPad. I'm sure there will be plenty more things to complain about as we blunder onward. However, one thing is clear. To her, it's a keeper. It does 90% of what she wants and in a way that she wants to use it. If there are some oddities, bugs, and irritations, she says she can live with them. -- Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
From: Kimmy Boyer on 30 May 2010 13:39 On Sun, 30 May 2010 09:34:45 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote: > In my never humble opinion, the best thing about the iPad is the > absolutely gorgeous 1024x768 LCD display. I did a side by side > comparison with my assortment of PDA's, netbooks, laptops, and DVD > players. The iPad display looks the best playing a movie in bed. iPorn! -- If you really must fellate me, Though the thought appalls; Remember work the shaft And cup the balls. http://tr.im/1f71
From: John Navas on 30 May 2010 13:45 On Sun, 30 May 2010 09:34:45 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl(a)cruzio.com> wrote in <r31506lmnq2612395icvpgimaajk7hr5ko(a)4ax.com>: >On Sun, 30 May 2010 16:15:22 +0100, "Advanced Kitty" ><nokia.account(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: > >>The iPad is a niche product and after the novelty has worn off, will remain >>just that. > >I also had my doubts about the iPad and its usefulness. Then a friend >bought one and I was assigned to set it up and make it play. During >the experience, I learned a few things about it. There are three >areas where conventional laptops and PDA's serve badly and where the >iPad is a substantial improvement: > >- Eyesight problems and older users: The average teenager has no >problems running a web browser on a cell phone or iPod Touch. The >avereage 50+ year old can't see as well and has problem. Tiny >keyboards and small target areas add to the problem. The iPad screen >is large enough for even the most eyesight challenged user to operate >and with an on screen keyboard (with practice) seems quite usable. 1. The excellent 10" LED-backed screen on the Acer Aspire One I'm using to type this is clear and sharp (ClearType enabled and properly configured). 2. I personally need a decent keyboard for email, documents, presentations, annotations, etc. The iPad "keyboard" just doesn't cut it. >- Computing in bed: While not exactly a mainstream application, it >really is awkward and clumsy trying to operate a laptop or netbook in >bed. Cell phones and PDA's are possible, but the small screen and >keyboard areas make it difficult. With the iPad, she just throws it >onto the bed, and pokes at the screen when it says email has arrived. >While a conventional keyboard is best when sitting at a desk, the on >screen keyboad dramatically reduces the clutter and clumsiness when >computing in bed. She does have the Bluetooth keyboard, but finds >that it's usually not necessary. 3. I find a netbook (like this Acer Aspire One) works great in bed (and other odd places), probably because I don't like lying on my tummy, preferring to sit up with a machine on my lap, typing on a real keyboard. >In my never humble opinion, the best thing about the iPad is the >absolutely gorgeous 1024x768 LCD display. I did a side by side >comparison with my assortment of PDA's, netbooks, laptops, and DVD >players. The iPad display looks the best playing a movie in bed. 4. I took this Acer Aspire One across the street to the Apple store, put it side by side with an iPad, and the screen compares pretty well, especially given the huge price difference. 5. I much prefer Windows, because Windows runs the software I need, including Flash, multitasking, etc. >- Use in a vehicle: When one of my neighbors first saw the full size >advertisement for the iPad, he cut it out, pasted it to a piece of >cardboard, and experimented with where it would fit in his car. I got >the clue immediately. It's not the best car computer, but it's good >enough for many things (navigation, web surfing, watching videos, >music, email, etc). However, unlike the typical iPod player, where it >sits on the seat or hump and uses the car radio for control and >display, the iPad will end up doing everything and the radio simply >provide the audio amplification. Various entrepreneurs are already >providing vehicle mounts for the iPad. 6. I typically use my Android mobile in the car, with the audio plugged into the car stereo aux input, playing Internet Radio or Pandora, with Google Maps running at the same time giving me audio turn by turn directions while automatically pausing other audio. When a call comes in, I can take it by Bluetooth, or by speakerphone, with audio likewise automatically paused while the caller comes through the car stereo. And it works on the T-Mobile 3G network. Works a treat. iPad would be a huge step backwards for me. 7. If I should want more computing in my car, a netbook would sit nicely on the seat next to me with no bracket needed. >Yes, these are niche markets, but they're potentially big ones that >are badly served by other devices and computahs. I think it's actually almost entirely a matter of cachet, like buying pricey bottled water (more on that below). >As always, it's impossible to make everyone happy, including me. There >were plenty of things I don't like about the iPad that I wish Apple >had done differently. The most common complaints are the lack of a >camera, lack of Flash, lack of built in SD card slot, and lack of >multitasking. The last will be addressed by OS 4.0, but the others >are an irritation. There are a few additional complaints and comments >that I would like to add to the list. 8. This Acer Aspire One has a built-in multi-format card reader. 9. This Acer Aspire One has wired Fast Ethernet. 10. This Acer Aspire One has 160 GB hard drive. 11. This Acer Aspire One has a faster processor. 12. This Acer Aspire One has 3 USB ports. 13. This Acer Aspire One has printing capability. 14. This Acer Aspire One has a webcam. 15. This Acer Aspire One has video output. >- It took me an hour to decode why I was getting duplicated email >messages. The default setup is to both download email from the server >and sync it with the desktop via USB. If you pickup email while the >USB cable is plugged into he computah, that's what will happen. I had >to disable syncing email on the iTunes Apps page to fix this. >- iPad email has no provision for immediately removing mail from the >server after downloading. As I recall, the minimum choice is 1 week. >- With POP3 iPad email will download every folder on the (Yahoo) >server, including the accumulated filtered junk mail. In order to >prevent this, and to add the ability to manage folders, I had to >switch to an IMAP4 (Gmail) account. However, with Gmail, Google >Sync is now only pushing about 80% of the accumulated email, only some >calendars, and has yet to get the contacts/addressbook to sync. Oddly, >I have almost the exact same Gmail configuration on my iPod Touch, >which works just fine. Therefore, my guess is that iPad Mail is the >culprit. 16. Gmail on my Android mobile is tightly integrated with everything else, better than any other device or email service I know of (including Blackberry). iPad (and iPhone) doesn't come close. As I wrote earlier, why would anyone rationally buy an iPad when (say) the Acer Aspire One can be had for only $200 (Newegg Memorial Day sale)? Or bottled water in San Francisco, when we arguably have the finest municipal water in the world? Probably for much the same reason. ;) -- Best regards, John "There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves." -Will Rogers
From: Kimmy Boyer on 30 May 2010 14:00 On Sun, 30 May 2010 10:45:39 -0700, John Navas wrote: > 3. I find a netbook (like this Acer Aspire One) works great in bed (and > other odd places), probably because I don't like lying on my tummy, > preferring to sit up with a machine on my lap, typing on a real > keyboard... ....while whacking that tiny wittle pee-pee off of yours. -- The USA PATRIOT Act is as despotic as anything Hitler came up with �X even using much of the same language. how their rights were going to be suspended only for a brief time �X was precisely the language used by Hitler after the Reichstagg fire. ~ Gore Vidal
From: Your Name on 30 May 2010 17:02
"Advanced Kitty" <nokia.account(a)ntlworld.com> wrote in message news:86fdoaFeoqU1(a)mid.individual.net... > John Navas wrote: > > On Sun, 30 May 2010 16:00:17 +0100, "Advanced Kitty" > > <nokia.account(a)ntlworld.com> wrote in > > <86fcs1F9g7U1(a)mid.individual.net>: > > > >> A rather sweeping assertion given the total lack of stastical data, > >> wouldn't you say ? > > > > Par for the course on Usenet. ;) > > Well, you said it. > > When I first heard that Jobs was planning a tablet, I kind of stopped to > draw breath again. > > I could only think that his brush with mortality had turned him from savvy > innovator into a self-indulgent ball-dropper. > Kinda "Well, it's my baby - I can do what I like with it". > > The world had thus far said "We don't like large tablets" - but Apple thus > far, hadn't knocked one out. That's more because pretty much all the other tablets have been clunky, slow devices running a desktop OS and desktop software - that simply doesn't work, whether using your fingers or a stylus. > The iPad is a niche product and after the novelty has worn off, will remain > just that. > > Nice try all the same though, Steve. The iPad is and always has really been a video iPod. It is not and never was a replacement for a laptop computer, but far too many people are stupidly thinking it is Apple rarely gets it completely wrong, and when they (supposedly) do it's really a matter of mis-timing, e.g. the Newton was cancelled just as everybody else started jumping on the PDA bandwagon. |