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Apple iPad buyers / Owners thread (1 Viewer)

DaveF

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Catching up on reading and see MacRumors is chock full of iPad double res screens! http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/15/ipad-2-screen-likely-to-have-2048x1536-resolution/ http://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/16/ipad-2-to-sport-a-dual-core-gpu/
 

DaveF

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Ars has a great summary of the current iPhone 5 and iPad 2 rumors.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/01/detailing-the-expected-hardware-changes-for-the-ipad-iphone.ars
I'm all a-twitter about the prospect of a double-resolution iPad 2 screen. Earlier comments from random internet people said it wasn't possible, and believing that I figured Apple wouldn't revise the screen resolution. I just don't think they'd go to non-integer multiple of the current resolution because of the scaling problems.


But if they actually do produce a 9.7" 2048 x 1536 screen and preserve battery life...it's exactly the device I want. I might switch to Kindle books this year with the iPad 2. And it might be the eReader to beat. That quality of text will really give e-ink a run for its money (unless you get headaches from LCDs, and then the iPad's not an option).


I actually don't care about anything else except a Retina Display (and processor to drive it and battery to power it). For my interests, that's enough to get my money. Fingers crossed.
 

ManW_TheUncool

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I wonder how well the overall touch interface would scale to 2x the PPI in res on the ~10" screen though. Is that not also an issue, including in terms of battery usage?


It might not only be about pushing pixels to the screen. It could also be about drawing (touch) input from the screen as well.


_Man_
 

DaveF

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John Gruber throws cold water on the double res rumors: not happening. http://daringfireball.net/2011/01/cold_water_ipad_retina_display
 

DaveF

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Yep. I'm hoping he's wrong this time. And I don't know that his sources are better than Engadget's. But I've dialed my expectations back. Better to expect nothing and get more than the converse. :)
 

Ronald Epstein

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Sam,


I consider myself to be a huge pessimist and

you are absolutely correct that in general I am

rarely let down, and more than usually, pleasantly

surprised.
 

ManW_TheUncool

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But wouldn't a real pessimist just wonder where's the catch and worry about the next thing going wrong before long?


_Man_
 

RAF

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Originally Posted by Sam Posten

Personally I think if you are using a keyboard (or stylus) you have missed the point.

This one at kickstarter sounds interesting tho:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/531383637/adonit-writer-ipad-case-keyboard

[SIZE= 20px][COLOR= #ff0000]Amen Bro'![/COLOR][/SIZE]


Slap a keyboard on an iPad (even the good ones) and you have a laptop PC. Lots of laptop choices out there. Everthing from netbooks to MBAs. Of course they don't run Apps - yet. Nor are most of them touch screens.


The virtual keyboard is good enough on the iPad (once you get use to the feel and the implementation) to address 98% or more of you data entry needs. Give me Flash and I'm off to the races.
 

Steve_Tk

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I thought Apple was going to allow third party apps that run flash for their devices? I'm also waiting on the iPad 2. Everyone I knew that asked me what I wanted for Christmas, my answer to them all was apple gift cards. It's already paid for, just waiting for the newest one!
 

DaveF

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Originally Posted by RAF

Personally I think if you are using a keyboard (or stylus) you have missed the point.

This one at kickstarter sounds interesting tho:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/531383637/adonit-writer-ipad-case-keyboard

[SIZE= 20px][COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]Amen Bro'![/COLOR][/SIZE]


Slap a keyboard on an iPad (even the good ones) and you have a laptop PC. Lots of laptop choices out there. Everthing from netbooks to MBAs. Of course they don't run Apps - yet. Nor are most of them touch screens.


The virtual keyboard is good enough on the iPad (once you get use to the feel and the implementation) to address 98% or more of you data entry needs. Give me Flash and I'm off to the races.

[/QUOTE]


Don't have an iPad yet, so I don't know how well the soft keyboard works for longform text. But as I'm looking at the iPad as replacement for my laptop, I can imagine wanting a physical keyboard for easier typing sometimes (you can't touchtype on a sheet of glass). It's not about making an iPad into a laptop, but having an iPad and at times using a wireless keyboard with it for touchtyping.


I'll know better in a few months :)


And a stylus is more comfortable when it's too cold to take my gloves off.
 

Sam Posten

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Steve you can run flash video in the Skyfire browser through a neat trick, it re-encodes it server side and ships it over to you.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/11/skyfire-ios-app/


Also: Amazing story, iPad fan #1 of the day:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70I0E520110120
 

DaveF

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I don't understand your dogmatic view of the iPad.


I'm interested in this experiment: Instead of upgrading a $2500 laptop every six years, can I upgrade to a $600 tablet, upgrade more frequently but also more cheaply and have an overall better experience? (knowing that heavy lifting will be moved to my wife's iMac) Most of my computer use is email and web, with some lightweight spreadsheet and document creation for finances and Toastmasters club business. It seems I could do all that on an iPad. And sometimes when the soft keyboard is cumbersome, Apple's own Bluetooth keyboard, which they made the iPad compatible with -- so it's not *too* wrong -- could be used for long-form typing.


You seem to say that if I need to press one key on a keyboard, I should abandon the whole thing and keep buying $2500 laptops. I'm not sure I agree. I'll find out through the course of this year.
 

Nelson Au

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Dave,


I think you can do all those things you mentioned above. I have not gotten the Suite of apps that Apple makes for doing word processing and spreadsheets. But I think they are fine apps and I plan to get them too.


What I love is doing web browsing while lying in bed and tapping out a few posts on the HTF with it or composing an email! Or checking messages while eating breakfast in the kitchen. I've mostly used the soft keyboard and have the BT Apple keyboard set-up too. So I've done that as well. I still use my Macbook Pro and desktop for work. But the iPad is idea for light usage like what I mentioned above. What amazed me is I was able to open a Word Document that was in an email from a client! And then watch a movie on it too!


Oh yeah, I draw on it too with a drawing app, though not too much. And I created PDF docs of my work that import into iBooks and I can show my portfolio that way. One way anyway. I want to try Apple's version of Powerpoint to do that too.
 

Sam Posten

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Understand that I use BOTH. And an iPhone. I think trying to make a first generation product do everything that a laptop, which have had 20 years of maturity, do is crazy.

iPad's are FANTASTIC for content consumption and better than expected for content creation. But trying to make them be all and do all right out of the gate ignores it's whole reason for being. Not to mention ignores how Apple works: They build products that do their intended functions better than anyone imagined, but those products are flawed when compared to what others on the market have created because they have to live within the limitations of trying to be all for everyone!!!! The beauty is in the simplicity, the simplicity is only achievable by getting rid of the non core functions!


Also, they are doomed, haven't you read?

http://aaplinvestors.net/stats/ipad/ipaddeathwatch/
 

DaveF

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The iMac will get he heavy lifting: iMovie editing, eBay auction creation, photo management, and such. But the iPad really looks like a suitable replacement for three quarters of my home computer use. That's what apple recognized: 20 years of computer development have given us machines grossly over powered over designed for simple home use. My pro use requires a full computer. But home use looks well suited for ipadification. :)
 

Sam Posten

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Fraser comes at this from the education angle but I think he and I are generally saying the same thing:

http://speirs.org/blog/2011/1/21/how-the-ipad-wants-to-be-used.html



It may seem odd, offensive even, to veterans of the PC age to be told what your computing platform "wants". Isn't the computer's job to do what I want? Perhaps, and there's no doubt that the desktop operating systems are much easier to bend to your will. However, it has really always been thus. Does every Windows user want to run anti-virus? No, but almost all do because that's what Windows "wants" or, rather, "needs in order to not choke on its own vomit".

WORD
 

DaveF

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That's interesting, because in talking with some friends, it's a communal device shared (and fought over) by the whole family. It's intensely personal, perhaps, while using it. Perhaps iPads "want" to be monogamous, but families don't "want" to spend $2500 to buy everybody their own, and the iPad is unhappily communal.


As for me: given that the iPad has a full "office" suite, supports keyboards, and has much of iLife's capability, it looks like a fair replacement over the normal computer. In fact, given the iPad's usability, it looks like an improvement over the normal household computer for much of what regular people do. And I'm pretty boringly normal for home computer use, so I look forward to spending my $500 and trying it out this year. :)
 

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