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What is a tablet even good for?
- Thread starter MrCheeto
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What was I thinking. Of course you're right. There is no computational overhead involved in running the Aqua GUI. It was also silly of me to attempt to hide the fact that the iPhone GUI is exactly same as the Mac Aqua GUI with no special optimizations were made to account for the iPhone form factor. You're just too smart for me.
Yeah, that toilet seat design was one of Apple's best! It'll never go out of style!
The Apple Seashell.
I agree entirely. I'll admit that I'm a complete tablet nay-sayer and have no interest, or can even fathom why anyone would want one. If you have a PC/Mac (desktop or macbook) and an iphone (or any other PDA phone) this device serves absolutely zero purpose in my mind. Not to be one of those people who just slam a device without giving any reason behind it, here are the reasons I think a tablet is a waste of time :
1.) In a 6-800 price range, this thing WILL be an expensive netbook. Apple is cheap. In this bracket, you will not find expensive components.
2.) To maintain Apples great "user experience," this thing will have to run a modified iPhone OS. Sure, Apple will port over a lot of their iWork & iLife programs over, but what about 3rd party apps? Photoshop? Excel? Forget it.
3.) Sure, it may redesign how people view magazines and newspapers, but you better believe that Apple is also redesigning the advertising aspect of things. There will be annoying ads all over these things.
4.) At 10", you'll still need a bag/case to carry this thing around. It's really no more portable than a 13 MBP/MBA. That.. and your screen will scratch much easier than a normal notebook.
5.) A touch-screen based keyboard can never replace physical keys in my opinion. I realize that Apple wouldn't design the iPad to replace their notebooks, but is everyone really looking for that "extra" device they just never realized they needed?
I don't get it.
My sources say that none of the 25 million people in Scandinavia will buy it, but apparently Poland needs 80m tablets.
With all due respect for Portugal that's just some ******** (unless, you can give us some sources, which shows that iTunes, the App Store and local online stores (with digital content) are non-existent in the country)
well, i can tell you that the iTunes store doesnt even sell Movies and Tv shows. Only music and Apps. And I've never met anyone here who was willing to pay for digital media, because they can get it for free.
I'm not saying this is relevant, in fact i'm saying that Portugal alone is not, but the point its the mentality. I'm not sure Apple can do well by selling a device for 600-700 Euros for listening to music, watching videos, and reading magazines...
Praise the Lord, there is someone else here from my planet. Bro, you would probably enjoy the hell out of a netbook running OS X, perfectly. I LOVE Apple. I just converted three years ago. But what I really hate are all the Apple Koolaid drinkers that think Steve has only made only good decisions lately. As of today I have the choice of a big glossy mess in the form of a 13" MBP or a telephone, and these people think that's a good thing! This "low powered" netbook runs VM fusion, mac-the ripper, and whatever else I want, and is the size of a hard cover book. If more people would have the balls to try it many would be enlightened. I'm sure of it.
But hey, it's the internet, so don't get your panties in a wad gentlemen. In a few days we'll see this gem. I would love if I have to come here and eat a big crow, but I seriously doubt it.
Great with Proloquo2Go as communication aid
I think it be good in the Assistive Technology field. There is an app on iphone called Proloquo 2 go and its text to speech. its a good little program but you need good co-ordination to manage it on the iPhone or iPod Touch.
I have Atatxia which causes difficulty with my fine motor co-ordination so a bigger screen would mean I would be able to use it as an iPod, communication aid and for texting etc. I am looking forwards to its release and hoping its not going to be too expensive.
Does anyone know if it will have a USB port or one of those mini ports like you get on card readers? (little port to USB)
Kati
I think it be good in the Assistive Technology field. There is an app on iphone called Proloquo 2 go and its text to speech. its a good little program but you need good co-ordination to manage it on the iPhone or iPod Touch.
I have Atatxia which causes difficulty with my fine motor co-ordination so a bigger screen would mean I would be able to use it as an iPod, communication aid and for texting etc. I am looking forwards to its release and hoping its not going to be too expensive.
Does anyone know if it will have a USB port or one of those mini ports like you get on card readers? (little port to USB)
Kati
A OSX Netbook would be the ideal form factor for me. As ive said i dont see too much logic in the kind of tablet people seem to want.
And i also think that its possible to inovate with the netbook form factor. Lets wait and see. 2 days to go.
Yeah, people forget how light OS X is, ESPECIALLY compared with Windon't.
Any netbook with OS X installed would rip the same netbook with Windows to shreds and juicify it, pour it into a hypodermic syringe and inject it into a pig's rump then roast that sucker and munch on the remains of both the inadequate netbook and the defiant swine.
Sorry, Babe, feed is for good piggies.
Any netbook with OS X installed would rip the same netbook with Windows to shreds and juicify it, pour it into a hypodermic syringe and inject it into a pig's rump then roast that sucker and munch on the remains of both the inadequate netbook and the defiant swine.
Sorry, Babe, feed is for good piggies.
The thing is... you can pretty much bank on that the upcoming Tablet will *NOT* be running full-on OS X. It'll be something more akin to iPhone OS than OS X.
Count on it.
That being said, I still have yet to understand how this will fit into my lifestyle. All it sounds like is a content delivery system (a la iPod). This is great as a portable device (being a content delivery system), but something as large as a netbook/notebook @ 10 inches... I don't know. There's either something missing that I haven't seen yet w/ this device, or it simply isn't for me.
Also, the proponents of the Tablet, you guys seem to missing a key thing. The ergonomics. The advantage of a laptop is that when the device is on the lap, the screen is on an angle to the keyboard. This makes both data entry and watching/reading very easy. On a tablet? It would have to lie flat on your lap. With this, the ergonomics dramatically change: you are now looking down on the device as well as typing as you look down. I can't imagine this being too comfortable for too long.
w00master
For me it will be #3, inclusive of e-books. Additionally, I'd expect it to have the capability of housing and transferring pdf, ppt and word docs (for starters) adding some functional advantage to that tiny net book screen when you are one who has to review and edit many such documents.
I don't know....an approximate 11x9 inch form factor, that is 0.25 inch thick, weighing about a pound seems pretty intriguing to me; much more so than the current net book line up that is available today.
Current competition:
http://www.skiff.com/skiff-reader.html
http://www.plasticlogic.com/ereader/index.php
Well, for starters, I think people will be using the tablet much more as a reading/viewing device as opposed to a data entry device. You would hold it the same way you would hold any other book, periodical or document you were reading. On a bus or train with tight quarters, I'd say it would be just as easy/comfortable as a netbook, if not more, as you can bring the tablet much closer to your desired eye level when reading.
macmermaid said:
Just so you know, my experience with the cable of which you speak was less than favorable. It works wonderfully for playing last week's Car Talk (which you missed because you slept late on Saturday) over the stereo, but the video is really not up to snuff. Perhaps it is a matter of my rips, but even the highest quality file I have (it is an 8Mb Touch, so I am a little limited on how big I can go) falls down in the worst way. That rip has almost no image compression artifacting, but its motion response is really not good. Simple arm motion like reaching from the table to the cabinet above at normal speed is choppy, and the worst part is, the software tries to fix it and makes it worse. I tried to watch that movie on a 32" Sony CRT (squeezed) and started to get a headache. Dialog scenes work fine, but when things start moving, duck.
YMMV
I believe that for the putative tablet to be usable, its overall performance must significantly exceed the iPod Touch. Safari is ok, but definitely doggy and a bit of a pain (its deficiencies are addressed through all the apps that replace website bookmarks). Video performance needs to reach viewable-at-size quality. And, of course, if I want to watch web-based video, my connection usually requires me to buffer at least 30 seconds, often more - I sure would like to, oh, I don't know, maybe check the weather, look at the news, continue reading that post that had the link to the video, while it loads.
So, until performance is acceptable to the average person (who does not like to screw around with settings and such) and the OS offers much better flexibility, expect a product like this to founder.
I understand that, but again for me this isn't very useful. Basically what you're describing is a document reader/delivery device. For me, all I'm thinking is:
"That's it?"
Again, I just don't see how this is "transformative," "groundbreaking," "the most important thing that Apple has ever done." How does a document reader/delivery device get those kind of claims?
Before the iPhone was released, I could wrap my head around why an Apple Phone would be awesome. I *still* have yet to see/hear anything that I would define as "killer" with this Tablet.
I do concede that this device may just not be for me, but even other Apple devices, there was something that I could say: "Yeah... I understand the coolness of that or how that is groundbreaking/etc." With this? Besides it just being a iPod Touch/iPhone with a larger screen, what is so "transformative" about said device?
I still don't see it.
Right now (for me at least), the Apple Tablet seems more of a "Apple TV" than an "iPhone" to me.
w00master
Yup, we sure do. My MacBook Pro and my iMac handles documents perfectly.
That's my point.
Ok, I know that's not what you mean, but again I ask... how is this "the most important thing that Apple's ever done?"
w00master
Because everything thus far is a speculation. No one knows what the hell this thing will be capable of, so who are you to say that it isn't the most important thing to them? Even if it isn't true in terms of sales, it's obviously #1 on their priority list.
Apple has always gone into their greatest successes knowing that their innovation will be epic and industry-changing. (See PC, mouse, iPod, iPhone).
I guess that is my point. Usually I'm able to get into the hypemachine b/c to some degree I understood the impact and change. However, this go around? I don't see it. That's what I'm really trying to say.
w00master
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. The sad fact is that it's out there now and no amount of PR will change that fact.
However, based on today's financial call? I'd say that he really did say that.
w00master
Based on today's call I say he didn't really say it. Otherwise he would have been much more effusive in today's call. He was pretty hype-y, but not "this thing cures cancer" hype-y.
Goes to show, interpretations can go either way (especially in this case). LOL
Ultimately, I don't mean to be a pooh-pooher. Part of me is still excited - because it's a new Apple device - but the other is for selfish reasons (see above). I wanna buy it, but as of yet I can't find a reason why.
All in all, we'll all know on Wed.
w00master
As it is for me, I highly recommend it
Apple could have built a small computer to trump all others, but they never will and I don't care anymore.Attachments
Um-m-m-m no, it does not. My MacBook Pro is an absolutely fabulous computer. It works best on a table or a desk. It even works well while resting on my lap in a pinch. However, it is too darned big, heavy, and cumbersome to be at its best if I want to read something or watch a video while I am resting on a couch or while lying in bed. And of course, compared to what I believe the tablet will be, my MacBook Pro is at a significant disadvantage in the man's reading room.