henke on 24/2/2011 at 15:53
Quote Posted by henke
I do not have an iPad nor do I ever intend to get one
Haha oh how 6 months can change your perspective. I'm actually fairly determined to get some kind of tablet next summer. But I'm not sure whether it'll be an iPad, iPad2, Galaxy Tab, or some other kind yet. I guess the main thing keeping me from settling on an iPad is the lack of Flash. It just seems like a lot of online functionality would be missing without it(youtube and all). What do you people who already have iPad's say? Do you miss Flash at all?
addink on 24/2/2011 at 17:29
The iOS webbrowser recognizes embedded youtube objects and converts them into a link that'll play the video in a separate youtube app. But Apple's refusal to support Flash on iDevices is indeed rather annoying ...and petty.
The official reasons, 'performance issues' and 'stability issues' (true or not), can both be dealt within the iOS itself (defining a ceiling on CPU use and sandboxing the plugin). Apple conveniently chooses not to seek a solution.. this, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that supporting Flash could seriously hurt sales in the appstore. They are a decent company that only serves their customers' best interest, of course.
Regardless of the lack of Flash within the browser I'm still very happy with my iPhone, and have been thinking about an iPad; Within a week or so there should be yet another Apple event *cough*infomercial*cough* regarding the 'revolution' that will be the iPad2. I'll wait and see what they've got up their sleeve.
gunsmoke on 24/2/2011 at 19:19
The radio interview I heard today said not to expect them to reinvent the wheel, but just minor refinements/additions. It was with PCmag.com (PC Magazine's editor-in-chief).
I, myself, am going to get one of those $49 At&t iPhones that they are fire sale-ing since the Verizon phone shipped last month. I could REALLY use that sucker for work. My netbook is nice, but I am mostly using it for email and minor web browsing (our company's web site for planograms) and something I could slip into my shirt pocket would be much more favorable when I am in retail store. I hate having to keep one eye on my netbook when doing a reset. I travel a lot, and may visit 6 stores a day to check on my employees. The less I have to lug around, the better.
Renzatic on 24/2/2011 at 19:29
Yeah. Everything I've seen points towards it being a little thinner, a little lighter, a set of better speakers, and maybe dual core processor/ram bump. Pretty much what you'd expect from a hardware update.
Right now, I'd say the Motorola Xoom is the most interesting tablet coming out in the near future. It has the best hardware of the bunch, and still manages to sport 8-9 hours of battery life. And as an added bonus, the very Chrome like browser on the thing actually honest to god supports Flash (or will in a couple of weeks). If it weren't for the $800 price tag, it'd be the one I'd recommend getting above all else.
Yakoob on 24/2/2011 at 19:43
Addink - see my main reason for not getting an iPad is that its an apple product. I'm not a rabid windows or linux fanboy, but I despise Apple and their practices (as reflected by their refusal for flash support and generally keeping thier users as far away from controlling their devices as possible).
Other reasons include the fact that it's way overpriced compared to its realistic cost and doesn't really bring anything new to the table (for me). If I wanted a portable gamging device, iPad is too big and bulky, and my DS has plenty of games to keep me busy (not that I use it much). If I wanted a mini-laptop, well... I already have a laptop (that has a keyboard) so no need for that.
That being said, I do acknowledge that the iPad is nice for casual web browsing in the living room and the big touch-screen is an excellent choice for some types of games. If I had one for free I'd probably use it
henke on 25/2/2011 at 12:21
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Other reasons include the fact that it's way overpriced compared to its realistic cost
Odd to hear you say that. I read (
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/02/ipad-price/) this Wired article which paints a picture of the iPad as being the most price-worthy tablet right now.
gunsmoke on 25/2/2011 at 12:39
The iPad is not over-priced. It is cheap, and for Apple that is surprising. It cost roughly the same as a cheap laptop.
I used my neighbor's iPad for a week when he went on a fishing trip. One thing I really liked was laying back on the couch and surfing the web. Much more comfortable than using a net/notebook in the same position. Also, he has AppleTV, and can beam (I believe through Wi_Fi, but maybe it is Bluetooth) video from his iPad to his 48" HDTV. We watched a movie that way in HD and it was great. He said the newer iPhones can do the same thing.
Yakoob on 25/2/2011 at 20:30
Ah, I stand corrected then. Thanks for clearing that up!
However, as far as I know, most of other apple products (particularly their laptops) are in fact overpriced. They are good laptops, no doubt about it, but they're not that good. Even a few of my friends who are mac fans admit to that.
lost_soul on 25/2/2011 at 22:29
I myself have been wondering how well a device with only a touch screen works for FPS games. I just want a handheld version of DooM that doesn't suck and can play PWADs. A friend gave me one of the Nokia 770s, but (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b3gD2LYo_8) gaming isn't so comfortable on it.
Perhaps the situation is different with an Ipad, because it is bigger and you can use your fingers to control the game, rather than a pointing stick. The only problem that I see is; when you hold these devices, your eight fingers are usually on the back. Your thumbs are on the front and you have less ability to hit lots of buttons quickly. I would like to try DooM on an Ipad device for an hour or so to see how it would work.
Renzatic on 25/2/2011 at 22:56
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Even a few of my friends who are mac fans admit to that.
I'm surprised they didn't look at you with their dead eyed glazed over stare, and say "it just works".
Actually, the 13 inch Macbook line aren't too terribly overpriced in comparison to their PC counterparts. Specially this recent rev of Macbook Pros. Anemic graphics card aside(256MB? Really?), they're sporting some fairly decent hardware. For $1200, they're just about competitive with the other top tier luxury laptops.
It's when you get into the 15-17 inch that things start getting ridiculous. I'm interested in the two 15 inch Pro models, and it seems my only choice is to have a shitty graphics card and a great processor for expensive, or a slightly better processor and a fairly decent graphics card for ridiculously overpriced. I mean comeon. A Radeon HD 6750M with a gig of video ram doesn't cost $300 more than a 6490M with 256 megs.
And to make things even more ridiculous, I saw this when I went to customize my new Mac...
Inline Image:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3018396/wut.jpg$250 for 100Mhz? COMEON! It's not even a bump up to a newer generation processor. They're both Sandy Bridge i7s.
I'll admit that Macs are great computers that'll give you less hassle and more battery power overall in comparison to an equivalent Windows laptop. But Apple bends you over and fucks you lubeless on the price. No doubt about it.
