Why I'm getting an ipad

[Lamonster]

Last night I was upstairs watching the tube with my iphone in hand checking my emails and websites. Quite often I'll be watching TV with my wife and inlaws and a question comes up and I'll Google it on my iphone. It's become a fun thing to do when we want to know who this actor is or what they played in or if there was a word or term we didn't know the meaning of.

We were watching House the other day and they had a psychopath on the show and we wanted to know what the difference was from a sociopath and a psychopath. I Googled it on my iphone and had the answers in seconds.

I'll do the same thing with youtube videos. Lots of time I'll look up a funny video and share it with friends and family while I'm upstairs and not near a computer.

This is going to be so much better with the ipad and easier to share with the class, for that reason alone I'm going to buy the ipad.

My iphone seems like it got smaller and harder to read last night when I thought about doing all these things on a ipad. No more pinching out so I can click on a link that's close to another link. The ipad will do everything I do now with my iphone other than take pictures and talk on the phone. To be honest using the ipad for a phone or camera would be like holding a Gettoblaster on your shoulders when you could be using a ipod. If I get a call I'll use my iphone and if I want to take a picture I'll use my real camera or my iphone.

I still would have liked to have isight because I do use video conferencing pretty much every day and it would have been great to be able to walk around with the ipad while in a video chat but that's not a deal breaker for me. As soon as I can order a ipad I will, for me it's going to be great and I can't wait.

Oh, and Smack Talk is going to be a hoot on this thing.

 

[Cinemagic]

Why I'm not getting an iPad.

One word - Flash. All the reasons you've mentioned are outstanding reasons for getting an iPad. I personally want one very much, particularly with iWork availability. But if I'm wanting to actually do some web surfing, The lack of Flash support is seriously crippling. I'm much better off with my Macbook Pro.

 

[MacModMachine]

Why I'm not getting an iPad.

One word - Flash. All the reasons you've mentioned are outstanding reasons for getting an iPad. I personally want one very much, particularly with iWork availability. But if I'm wanting to actually do some web surfing, The lack of Flash support is seriously crippling. I'm much better off with my Macbook Pro.

awsome...your not getting one...more for me

flash = trash

 

[Lamonster]

Why I'm not getting an iPad.

One word - Flash. All the reasons you've mentioned are outstanding reasons for getting an iPad. I personally want one very much, particularly with iWork availability. But if I'm wanting to actually do some web surfing, The lack of Flash support is seriously crippling. I'm much better off with my Macbook Pro.

I agree that not letting us surf flash sites is stupid but I'm not doing that now with my iphone.

As small as my MBP is it's still too big to do what I want the ipad for. If I really want to surf flash sites I'll use my imac, mac mini or my macbook pro plugged into my 26" VIZIO.

 

[maflynn]

I'm probably going to get it, just for the reasons lined out by Jobs and crew.

I want a machine that allows me to surf, do some light work and listen to music.

While I will miss flash, I've not really missed that much on the iPhone. I think people are sinking their teeth in the no flash issue and making it a mountain out of a mole hill. That is, will the absence of flash affect a users surfing ability. Yes, but not as much as I think people are making it out to be

Did Apple make a mistake excluding flash, absolutely, is it the end of the world with regard to the internet, no of course not.

 

[Cinemagic]

And I have come to accept the lack of flash on my iPhone (yes, Steve won this one). But that's because the size of the iPhone screen makes serious web surfing impractical. It's good for looking things up in a pinch. But the screen size is a limitation. Coming across the frequent sites incorporating flash on the iPhone are sometimes frustrating. I have gone to a store, taken out my iPhone to do some comparison shopping and found that flash content prevented me from doing so. Thanks Steve. But it's an iPhone. The iPad has a decent screen size and could be a decent web surfing machine - if it weren't crippled like the iPhone. So does a larger screen with crippled web surfing justify $499+? For some people yes. For some people no. But if Apple hadn't crippled Safari on the iPad, they'd easily sell twice the numbers they're going to sell. And that would make the iPad another Apple revolutionary device. Instead, I think it's going to give HP and other Windows based tablets the edge up. And I'm no Windows fan at all.

For the flash = trash people, well, it's apparent that you haven't done any web development on know that flash is used for a lo of things other than video. Flash is not ideal, but it is what makes web pages dazzle. If all flash pages were eliminated today, you'd find the web pretty boring.

 

[Lamonster]

By the way I'll be getting one of these for my mom too. When I was in San Diego last year my PC laptop died and I was happy. I went down to the Apple store and bought a 13" MBP. Brought it home and started playing with it.

My mom has a ipod touch and loves it. Funny thing is she has a GPS too but has never driven a car and pretty much never leaves the house since my dad died. Anyway she liked my macbook so much she had me run out and get her a 17" MBP and swap her pics and videos from her PC laptop to her macbook.

Now here's the funny part and why I'll be getting her a ipad. She call me in because she can't get a link to work that she was clicking on. She was so use to surfing on her touch that she was using her finger on the macbook to try and navigate the site. She is 74 and I'm proud of her doing as much as she does even though it can be frustrating for me at times. Anyway the ipad is going to be perfect for her seeing she likes her touch better than her macbook now.

 

[dfweyer]

I really find flash annoying, but there are some good uses for it. Mainly I only miss having the "plugins" when I'm looking at stock data charts or other analytics.

 

[maflynn]

I really find flash annoying, but there are some good uses for it. Mainly I only miss having the "plugins" when I'm looking at stock data charts or other analytics.

Definitely. There are some good uses of flash. I think the majority of sites with flash have over done it. Just go to vajacases.com, their entire site is flash based. It makes it difficult and slow to navigate the site.

My point is that like a firestorm, people have fed off of each other's whining to the point that they lost track of the reality that its not that bad.

 

[surferfromuk]

For those who really must surf the Porn (the only TRUE reason ANYONE needs Flash embedded streaming) there will be plenty of MP4/MV4/H.264/HTML5 alternative sites popping up between now and release time, because that little sofa surf during the Keynote, with the 'blue lego' flash placeholder (pre-bookmarked sites - rehearsed/planned) was Steve's way of telling the tech world that Apple is officially knifing it into oblivion.

Until then just RDP to your mac or PC from your pad, ok?

 

[thatguysmells]

Why I'm not getting an iPad.

One word - Flash. All the reasons you've mentioned are outstanding reasons for getting an iPad. I personally want one very much, particularly with iWork availability. But if I'm wanting to actually do some web surfing, The lack of Flash support is seriously crippling. I'm much better off with my Macbook Pro.

Why does flash always come back to adobe? Why can't apple make their own flash player?

@Surferfromuk,

Porn sites are the only reason for flash? I seriously hope your kidding because that is one of the years dumbest comments.

 

[Cinemagic]

Why does flash always come back to adobe? Why can't apple make their own flash player?

@Surferfromuk,

Porn sites are the only reason for flash? I seriously hope your kidding because that is one of the years dumbest comments.

Probably due to copyright and licensing. According to AppleInsider and MacRumors reports from several moths ago, Adobe had developed a Flash version for mobile devices. Every mobile device has it except Apple. This is Apple's decision and not Adobe's. I wish I knew the true story of why Apple is not allowing Flash on their mobile devices. All I've heard is rumor and speculation.

 

[thatguysmells]

Probably due to copyright and licensing. According to AppleInsider and MacRumors reports from several moths ago, Adobe had developed a Flash version for mobile devices. Every mobile device has it except Apple. This is Apple's decision and not Adobe's. I wish I knew the true story of why Apple is not allowing Flash on their mobile devices. All I've heard is rumor and speculation.

Ya but that's like saying any manufacturer other than Honda could not make cars because of copyright and licensing. A flash player could be made by anyone which is why I don't get why Apple just doesn't make their own, why do they need Adobe? If adobe has some kind of monopoly on flash technology well that might be another thing. But that would mean that Apple hasn't found another way to make flash content work using their own technology which i highly doubt.

 

[skubish]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Flash is owned by Adobe. Apple could make a knockoff but then sites would have to support it.

No flash makes it trash.

 

[Cinemagic]

If you read AppleInsider frequently, you'll see articles every day about one company suing another over copyright and patent infringements. Apple pays out millions a year to settle law suits for patent infringements. Apple sues companies for not paying them on patents. Adobe has the patent on Flash technology. Apple could develop their own Flash player or use Adobe's. Either way, Adobe is going to get some dollars. Most end users don't have to pay. The Flash plug-in is free. The people who buy the Flash encoders and software to put flash on their websites pay for this technology. I don't pretend to know the financial details of Adobe's business or Apple's. But there's sure something that preventing Flash on the mobile devices.

 

[rgbyhkr]

I too will be getting an iPad. That being said, the absence of flash on a larger device does bother me. Not enough to prevent me from getting one, but it is irritating. Conceptually, while Apple is keeping the device within the iPhone/iPod Touch locked down ecosystem, the fact that it is physically bigger makes me think about how it's more like a laptop. In that way, you kind of expect it to support the standards that a formal computer does.

Here's what seems like a compromise to me - allow for flash to run at least on the iPad (and potentially later on the iPhone, especially these new chips make their way into those handhelds) but build in their own version of click to flash that is enabled by default. That retains speed and stability while offering users the option to see flash when or only if they want to. It certainly wouldn't look any worse than the lego block. Of course, this undercuts Apple's overt play to force people to move towards HTML5 which is probably the biggest reason why they wouldn't offer such a compromise.

What'll be interesting here is what changes, if anything, in regards to app store approvals/policies. The iPad is a carrier independent device since you can buy it entirely without 3G. Of course, the device is smart enough to recognize operation over WIFI vs 3G in a model that has it, so we'll see if AT&T retains iPad app influence (maybe this will finally go away once the iPhone exclusivity ends). On a separate note, the iPad is not a true mobile device like your iPhone or as critical a device to keep stable. We rely so heavily on our phones that the ability for them to run all day long is important - but we don't hold our laptops to the same standard. So, in my mind, if something like flash impacts battery life and/or performance on the iPad, so be it. In the same way, I'm not as concerned about multitasking or even individual apps locking up my iPad vs my iPhone. The latter I need to be working for communication (network issues aside) while the former I give way more leniency. Here's hoping that Apple opts for more flexible usage on the larger device and eventually the handhelds as well.

Jeff

 

[yodaxl7]

Why I'm not getting an iPad.

One word - Flash. All the reasons you've mentioned are outstanding reasons for getting an iPad. I personally want one very much, particularly with iWork availability. But if I'm wanting to actually do some web surfing, The lack of Flash support is seriously crippling. I'm much better off with my Macbook Pro.

Flash will be gone! it causes thing to crash! some website conform to change to play what's available by apple

 

[Lamonster]

Looks like my thread was hijacked by Flash Oh well, I'm still buying a ipad

 

[BreezyXC60]

In two or three weeks of my web browsing on my phone, a couple hours a day only once or twice do I come across a site that requires flash.

So flash not a big deal to me, I also think website who use flash need to realize many people are on smart phones and perhaps remove all that "flash" from their sites. Also it slows down on slower or older computers. Whenever a see a site full of flash, I go somewhere else to view content or buy products. As for Hulu, we can't watch it up here in Canada.

 

[theone09]

i can use photoshop to make my iphone bigger. then i get one ipad for free

 

[JoshJosh117]

.

 

[alent1234]

If you read AppleInsider frequently, you'll see articles every day about one company suing another over copyright and patent infringements. Apple pays out millions a year to settle law suits for patent infringements. Apple sues companies for not paying them on patents. Adobe has the patent on Flash technology. Apple could develop their own Flash player or use Adobe's. Either way, Adobe is going to get some dollars. Most end users don't have to pay. The Flash plug-in is free. The people who buy the Flash encoders and software to put flash on their websites pay for this technology. I don't pretend to know the financial details of Adobe's business or Apple's. But there's sure something that preventing Flash on the mobile devices.

not true at all

Dell or HP don't pay adobe for Flash. Neither does Microsoft. YOu just download the plugin and it works. there is even a plugin on OS X. With iPhone OS Apple has to approve everything and they won't approve flash because it will allow people to play games that aren't in the app store.

good thing there are a lot of other tablets coming out this year at the same price points, ports to plug in other devices and running real OS's so you can do whatever you want on them

no reason to buy from iTunes when you can just watch TV on Hulu or from one of the network websites. same with netflix. on the HP Slate you just install Silverlight or flash and stream from Amazon or Netflix or any other online store.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I'm getting it because I often find the iPhone screen size a bit small. I don't exactly have the biggest/fattest hands since I'm a skinny teenager. I can't imagine typing quickly for older/larger people than me. I think the 9.7" size is just right for tablet computers. It's not small enough to squint at, but not large enough to be make it hard to transport. Even though you can't carry it in your pocket like an iPhone, it's about the size of a book. All the books I carry, notebooks (paper kind), binders are bigger than the iPad.

The iPad is not the secondary computer like the MBA is for some people, it's a compliment to your computer. It's hard reading eBooks and other long/many-paged documents on your computer. Just wirelessly transfer them to the iPad (via apps like Air Sharing). Amazon actually charges you to email/transfer PDFs to the Kindle. If I were a big PDF reader, I would eventually rack up charges that equate to the first tier iPad model. It's not practical for long term use. I can do word processing (like essays) on the iPad as well as spreadsheets and create + give presentations using the power of Numbers and Keynote. I think the future of computing is a desktop/laptop (limited portability) for at home and something like the iPad in terms of size, etc. for on the go. It doesn't have to be the iPad, it could be the Dell 5" tablet or HP's slate. It completely changes the mobile computing industry.

Again, anything the iPhone can do, the iPad does better. I think the Droid claimed that before (or something similar to that effect). Move over Droid, the iPad is here and it's here to stay and dominate.

 

[Jaro65]

Who knows, apple might add flash with iPhone OS 4.0? Maybe?

Or maybe not? They could have added it to 2.0 or 3.0...and they didn't....

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Or maybe not? They could have added it to 2.0 or 3.0...and they didn't....

Flash will die. Web developers hate it and many video sharing sites that used to use Flash has already transitioned to HTML5. YouTube and Vimeo. Better quality, faster streaming, lighter processor load. Who wants Flash again?