Technology Apple confirms Jan. 27 media event to show off 'latest creation'

[Casey]

The thing is....it's less portable than a smartphone, and less useful than a laptop.

Most people already carry both - will they carry a third? iPhone sells well because you've got people who aren't serious enough about smartphones to use a real one with a proper notification system and multitasking, they aren't serious enough about photography or videography to carry a proper digital camera or camcorder, they aren't serious enough about gaming to carry something like a PSP or DS, and they aren't serious enough about digital media to carry a dedicated PMP, like an Archos device for example.

You aren't going to use the iSlate/iPad/iWhatever to make phone calls, because you can't fit it in your pocket. You can't use it in any other position than sitting down, really.

And you're not really going to use it as input - virtual keyboards are not a good replacement for physical ones unless you aren't writing much. It will be a capacitive screen as masta said, so you'll be inputting information with your fingers, so it'd be useless for anything that requires detail, like image editing, etc.

So what? E-reader? But even for those who want to pay for it - content is significantly cheaper on things like Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook - because these companies are media distributors to begin with.

 

[Rukas]

The thing is....it's less portable than a smartphone, and less useful than a laptop.

I plan to use it at home, like I said, for lots of media and general browsing without having to sit at a keyboard.

Most people already carry both - will they carry a third? iPhone sells well because you've got people who aren't serious enough about smartphones to use a real one with a proper notification system and multitasking, they aren't serious enough about photography or videography to carry a proper digital camera or camcorder, they aren't serious enough about gaming to carry something like a PSP or DS, and they aren't serious enough about digital media to carry a dedicated PMP, like an Archos device for example.

You aren't going to use the iSlate/iPad/iWhatever to make phone calls, because you can't fit it in your pocket. You can't use it in any other position than sitting down, really.

And you're not really going to use it as input - virtual keyboards are not a good replacement for physical ones unless you aren't writing much. It will be a capacitive screen as masta said, so you'll be inputting information with your fingers, so it'd be useless for anything that requires detail, like image editing, etc.

So what? E-reader? But even for those who want to pay for it - content is significantly cheaper on things like Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook - because these companies are media distributors to begin with.

E-Reader's are painful and boring and handle just reading. They seem way too geeky. Apple will make it cool, and cross media, and allow it to do other things, games, play movies, hopefully use it as a universal remote (because I desperately need one).

The pro tools control on iPhone is great, but the screen is too small. iSlate should be perfect for that.

Simple easy browsing of all media, being able to read books and magazines and slide pages, some cool appz and games, (I imagine a cool touch based Chess with the thing lying down like a board), Im all for that, it seems cool as hell to me, and a total different device to my smart phone and laptop. It wont replace either, but it's not meant to, in my opinion.

 

[S O F I]

If Apple does popularize something that people really don't need then my faith in humanity is lost.

There is a lot of things in life we don't need. I don't need more in life than food and water and a place for shelter but yet I have more than that, not because I need it for survival, but because I want it and it makes my life easier. There are uses for tablets. There's room between a smart-phone and a laptop and Apple will fill that void if the product is good.

 

[masta247]

Yeah come to think of it it might not be as useless as I thought yesterday but I can't see any thinking person paying a lot for this device just to read the news or browse the web in a very limited way. If it came in a 200$ price tag then maybe this would be reasonable.
I'm not saying this won't sell though. After all in a similar fashion many people prefer Ipods to technically superior mp3 players that often come in a similar or lower price (and it's not like they are any harder to use so I don't really think that this argument is any valid here). When Ipods first came out after seeing the price tag and first reviews I lold. Then when they became popular I was really shocked. Right now I'm not as skeptical towards new Apple products but I really can't understand people buying some of them. I guess I overestimate people's reasoning capabilities when choosing a product they want. Apple makes them want their products more just because of its superior marketing - it makes people think that they have something cooler.
It's unbelievable how people tend to follow a hype instead of doing a research or whatnot.

Sofi - you're right. What I've meant though is - I doubt that buying this device will be reasonable. We'll see what it will actually do but really I doubt that it'll lure people with anything more than the Apple "coolness" hype and maybe some sort of ease of use (and thus probably very limited functionality).

After all Apple loves blue oceans or should I say - making people think that a product is the one and only even if there are superior ones in the very same market. So Ipod becomes an Ipod, not a mp3 player. A Mac computer is not a PC etc. etc.
But yeah, people fall for it. Same with edge "LED" Tvs lately. Even though they are just expensive, slim lcds that suck; people buy unbelievable amounts of them while decent tvs that are cheaper don't sell. And people call them "LED Tvs" lololol.. yeah.
I could say "great. More for me, idiots" but things like this really somehow annoy me and make me think that people are stupid. They make the electronics market go in a wrong direction. That's why we have developers fooling people. Fake parameters like "Dynamic contrast ratios" going in millions making people buy an inferior device for the same price. But there goes wishing that people had more technical skills and spent just a tiny bit of time analyzing something before buying. These days only people who are really interested in electronics or those who like to buy best things for the money they have will choose a superior device. Others will pick what they are told to pick.
Right now there's more fooling people into buying something than convincing them with reasonable arguments - they don't seem to work.
And it's not just about Apple which in fact has some good products that can appeal to some people who really need them apart from the marketing hype. And it's not "just" marketing since they work, they do their job and don't entirely suck and whatnot. It's just that the rest is marketing. There are usually superior things in a lower price.

And marketing for most companies suck but that's another story.

 

[Casey]

at the end of the day.....the following are basically guarantees:

1) the product will be aesthetically pleasing and in line with other apple products like the ipod touch.

2) apple and their fanboy army will claim that this is the most revolutionary new device of all time. steve jobs speech will focus on how 'awesome' it is, and buzz words such as 'great', 'awesome', 'amazing' will be repeated 11 million times until those words are hammered into their sheeps heads so hard that they will regurgitate them to everyone they meet ad infinitum.

3) the device will be crippled, lacking in features and usability yet will cost 2-3x more than competing products which are better.

4) at some point, someone will come along and make an advertising campaign based around #3 and do very well. See Verizon's 'There's a MAP for that' and 'iDont.....Droid does' campaigns. btw, word has it that VZW took out a massive Droid does campaign for the Superbowl, of which the prices are so high this year that even Pepsi didnt take out an advert for the first time in 20 years.

5) People will probably buy the tablet even if they dont have any use for it.





Sent from my T-Mobile G1 using Tapatalk

 

[Illuminattile]

 

[masta247]

are there any more pics and specs? I can't find this on youtube. Too many fake vids.

 

[Casey]

General internet consensus:

1. This thing is an epic fail
2. iPad sounds like a tampon
3. It really is just an giant iPhone - still no multitask, still no Flash, etc
4. This thing is an epic fail

 

[Casey]

Some choice quotes from people on my Twitter feed:

The iPad: Because Apple thought the Internet needed more jokes about menstruation.

So Apple changed one letter and made it bigger? Wonder what they can do about my dock...

the ipad just looks like a big ipod touch and has no camera and no flash so you're not getting full internet experience! #fail

yes apple, the world wants a giant virtual keyboard. are you kidding me?

EWWWWWWWWWWW GIANT IPHONE FTL

My dislike of Apple completely aside (and let's remember - I've stated on many occasions that I DO like OSX).....they've completely dropped the ball with this one.

 

[Casey]

OMG LOL LOL LOL LOL how could Apple not have been aware of this MADTV sketch from 2 years ago?

[youtube]lsjU0K8QPhs[/youtube]

This truly is a FAIL of Epic proportions

 

[S. Fourteen]

the iPad name is already working, it seems like.

0.5" thin, 1.5 pounds
9.7" IPS display
1 GHz "Apple A4 chip"
802.11n, Bluetooth, accelerometer, compass, speaker, mic. 10 hours battery life. One month of standby battery

16GB - $500
32GB - $600
64GB - $700

Add $130 more for 3G

AT&T option for Americans

250MB limit - $15/month
Unlimited - $30/month

Runs apps from App Store
Available in 60 days (90 days for 3g version)

4 million units by years end? No problem at all. Get ready masta

[edit] hands-on by Engadget

- It's not light. It feels pretty weighty in your hand.
-The screen is stunning, and it's 1024 x 768.
-Feels just like a huge iPhone in your hands.
-The speed of the CPU is something to be marveled at.
-It is blazingly fast from what we can tell.
-Webpages loaded up super fast, and scrolling was without a hiccup.
-Moving into and out of apps was a breeze. Everything flew.
-There's no multitasking at all. It's a real disappointment. All this power and very little you can do with it at once. No multitasking means no streaming Pandora when you're working in Pages... you can figure it out. It's a real setback for this device.
-The ebook implementation is about as close as you can get to reading without a stack of bound paper in your hand. The visual stuff really helps flesh out the experience. It may be just for show, but it counts here.
-No camera. None, nada. Zip. No video conferencing here folks. Hell, it doesn't have an SMS app!
-It's running iPhone OS 3.2.
-The keyboard is good, not great. Not quite as responsive as it looked in the demos.

 

[Illuminattile]

* The tablet is 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.5 pounds.
* It has a 9.7-inch display with 1024 x 768-pixel resolution. It also has capacitive multitouch that’s similar to the iPhone.
* The device runs Apple’s own processor, a 1-GHz Apple A4 chip — possibly the fruits of of Apple’s $278 million acquisition of PA semiconductor in 2008.
* The iPad will have 16-GB to 64-GB flash storage.
* It includes speaker, microphone and accelerometer so you can use the device in both landscape and portrait mode. There’s also a compass.
* It has up to 10 hours of battery life and one month of standby time.
* It offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
* It will include optional 3G access from AT&T. For $30 a month, users can get unlimited data. For iPhone users already crying out in pain about their bondage to the AT&T network, here’s something to sweeten the deal: No contracts are required for the data plan. iPad users can cancel their data connectivity at any time.
* Unlimited data will cost $30 or users can pay $15 for up to 250 MB of data.
* The iPad will cost $500 for 16 GB, $600 for 32 GB and $700 for a 64-GB model. But if you want 3G connectivity, add another $130 to the price tag.

It’s worth noting that these specs are nothing like what entrepreneur Jason Calacanis claimed when he tweeted Tuesday night that he had been testing a tablet.

The iPad will start shipping in two months. The 3G models will be available in 90 days.

Despite its gorgeous hardware, the iPad is missing some key features.

* There’s no camera on the iPad.
* Though Apple is yet to confirm it, on-stage demos of the device during the launch indicate it might not support Flash. That could mean broken pages and some websites that might be off-limits.
* No multi-tasking. Apple hasn’t commented on this but it looks like the iPad work like the iPhone when it comes to apps. It can run just one app at a time and there’s no background processing.
* There’s more to the iPad than just this. It will run apps designed for the iPhone, new custom apps and double as an e-book reader.
* And no GPS. Though the iPad has Google Maps, the lack of GPS means you can’t use it for turn-by-turn navigation or in areas where’s there’s no AT&T connectivity.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/a-closer-look-at-apples-new-tablet-the-ipad/

 

[masta247]

I said that it might sell relatively well as sales don't really go along with quality in case of Apple products.

IPS screen means rather good quality but capacitive? It won't work for graphics and any kind of writing as it will only recognize your fingers. Epic fail then.

Also I expected it to be more overpriced. 500$ is not that bad. I think that's due to their research proving that 80% of people wouldn't pay more than that for an Apple tablet.
However the price tag is not bad since that's less than most semi-pro tablets (but they are capable of much more to be fair).

It looks ugly though. I expected this device to be smaller and that the screen would cover about 99% of its front panel.

I won't be buying this for sure but I can see Apple fans rushing to buy this.

 

[Illuminattile]

Some choice quotes from people on my Twitter feed:

EWWWWWWWWWWW GIANT IPHONE FTL

I don't know who that is, but why are you following such a massive nerd?

 

[Casey]

It's not looking good folks.

Here's what the team from TechCrunch (one of THE most respected tech blogs) have to say:

Devin: It’s a big iPod. That much is clear — it’s not really a tablet computer. Of course, the benefits of a giant iPod are manifest: you can check email easily, movies and shows will look nice (though not full HD), and the e-books looked great. But the fact is you’re limited by Apple in every way they can limit you. It’s got all the same fetters as an iPhone and has no expandable storage or USB port. Until you hack it to run Chrome OS, you’re going to be using this thing exactly the way Apple tells you to. It’ll be nice if that’s what you want, but it’s not the universal tablet I was hoping for. Nevertheless, I see every secretary and PA carrying one of these in a month.
Matt: Sorry, Apple. I was going to buy it until I found that the iPad doesn’t have an SD card slot. You’ve failed me again.

John: It will be definitely be something I’m getting but I’m worried that it will be just “one more thing” to carry around. That I definitely DON’T need.

Doug: It looks really cool, aesthetically, but the battery life and screen can’t replace my Kindle, the lack of USB ports and expandable storage can’t replace my netbook, and I already have an iPhone 3GS. So it’d basically be $500+ for a bigger screen, a slightly faster CPU, and an external keyboard that I’d never carry around with me. I might buy one in a year or two once they’ve gone through a couple revisions.

Dave: I see the iPad as a great little device. Not as a music player, but as a portable movie player and web browser. I also use my iPod Touch to tether my DLSR when I’m taking pictures – the iPad would be ideal for this use.

Greg: I refused to let myself get hyped up about the slate, simply because we’ve seen time and time again that the rumor mill sets expectations impossibly high. Even with my expectations set rather low, however, I walked away disappointed.

I’m guessing some of the other guys will tear into Apple for not including an SD slot, so I’ll leave that topic alone; the absence of a camera, however, I can’t avoid touching on. Now, I don’t care about the camera for taking pictures, as there isn’t a single situation I can think of where I won’t have my dedicated camera or iPhone but I WILL have this big ol’ 10″ beast. The sole reason I’m disappointed: it means no augmented reality. The iPhone has proven that AR is a concept worth playing with, but it falls a bit short on that device due to screen size. The iPad could have ushered in a whole new type of gameplay, but not without a camera.

As a developer, I’m excited about it. As a consumer, not so much.

Nicholas: I mean, I already did a whole spiel on CNN (what?!) why the iPad is sorta “meh” in my eyes, but to recap: I simply don’t get it. It’s not an iPhone replacement because it’s not a phone (duh); it’s not an iPod touch replacement because it’s not portable; and I already have enough “real” computers that I don’t need a tablet. I understand I’m not Mr. Average Consumer, but the iPad seems to fill a void that I simply don’t need filled. Maybe as an e-reader, but that entirely depends upon the book selection, which isn’t clear right now. For now, though: meh.

And 50% of the voters of Mashable.com's poll have zero interest in the iPad.

 

[Casey]

I don't know who that is, but why are you following such a massive nerd?

She's super hot.

How do Apple expect anyone to take this thing seriously, with no camera, no multitasking, no notifications, no GPS, and that garbage ass VK?

Also - nobody in their right mind is gonna pay data rates on top of already paying them for a smartphone, and ESPECIALLY not with AT&T. Shit, from what I hear AT&T's crappy ass network is one of the biggest things people complain about with the iPhone.

 

[S O F I]

^lol.

Yeah, it's not a tablet.

Bes comment on gizmodo:

"When can we jailbreak it and install Android?"

 

[Illuminattile]

She's super hot.

That's OK then.

No multitasking is the biggest mistake. What's the point in having a computer if you can only do one thing at a time?

Not that I was going to buy one anyway. I'm just hoping this might convince Sony or Amazon or whoever to drop the price on their e-readers.

 

[S. Fourteen]

Here's what the team from TechCrunch (one of THE most respected tech blogs) have to say:

Are you sure they weren't reviewing the JooJoo?

 

[Casey]

That's OK then.

No multitasking is the biggest mistake. What's the point in having a computer if you can only do one thing at a time?

Not that I was going to buy one anyway. I'm just hoping this might convince Sony or Amazon or whoever to drop the price on their e-readers.

There's some delicious Android based E-readers coming out.

Check this shit, 10.1" screen with HDMI, GPS, Wifi, Camera...

Anyhoo. Gizmodo (usually noted for their pro-Apple bias) is weighing in on the iPad.

My god, am I underwhelmed by the iPad. This is as inessential a product as I've ever seen, but beyond that, it has some absolutely backbreaking failures that will make me judge anyone who buys one.

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/HD Video 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.