Well, that rules out a large number of less technical people (let's call them "normal") who might love one of these to go with their camera. Just pop the SD card in, show the pictures to your friends and maybe email it or put it on Facebook.


Not so. He specifically said "You can activate it right here", or words to that effect.

I agree with you though, we'll have a lot better idea when people have actually used it!

I thought he was talking about the SIM when he said that.

Odds on the 2.0 model doing just that?
Apple don't need the world and it's mate to buy one right this minute. They need the early adopters to pick them up, enjoy them, tell the rest of us how great they are, and then for the penny to drop when the next gens roll around that 'Ah, they did have a point.' Or not, depending on your scepticism.


Of course, other wireless notebooks are available for less.

There is a lot of talk on the web about the low price of the iPad. Some seem to think the base model is a loss leader. It will be interesting to see if 10" capacitive touch screen devices do come out at a lower price point.

Apple do have a couple of aces in their hand of course.

1) They have their own chip so no Intel tax
2) they have their own OS so no Windows tax

This does bode well for Linux I guess.

Wow, what a big iPhone. You could do a pretty good Dom Joly 'HELLO!!! I'M ON THE PHONE!!!' with one of those

It feels/seems like a toy to me, rather than a seious tool. ipodtouch for grownups perhaph.

If you just want to hear music it's not portable enough, OK if you have a briefcase or use at home. One for those with money to spare.

Not saying I might not get one a bit later though. Rather have a proper PC with a touch screen that I could put linux on with some nice tools to play with out in the wild.

I'm much more interested in the Tegra 2 based versions of this kind of device when they come out. They will likely have Firefox, running on a Linux OS, and will be able to output video at 1080p HD, for very little power.

They will be able to multi task and will have touch screens, but no keyboard. They will likely all come with different options for integrated memory size, H/SDD space, possibly be upgradable (memory and/or H/SDD), will almost certainly have USB and SD card readers built in. They will support lots of formats and will play flash on web pages without killing the battery.

Sounds like they will just be a little less stylish than the iPads but have all the functionality and features that the iPad should have been released with.

I keep hearing about missing features on the iPad, but it strikes me Apple already covers those bases with the MacBook laptop range.

iPad isn't a laptop PC. It's a different animal completely as far as I can tell.

Oh, and so you have the buy another Apple product to get the one you just bought to do that job to do it instead? You're better off getting a device that does what you want properly in the first place.

Okay, so you can go to websites. But only websites that don't use flash; so no Youtube or BBC news online etc.

You can add media, but what files etc. does it support? How do you get the files on there, other than by sharing a folder and downloading them over the network? Oh, yes, you're pushed to buy into the S. Jobs rip off store for music, video and something additional to get media plug in abilities!

For me that's a web tablet, one that can do a few things like play video, surf the net, for when I'm at the gym or on the sofa with the missus; whilst she watches Stargate

Not to mention, oh I like that app. that does something that AT&T or Apple doesn't like and it gets pulled for 'duplicating existing functionality.' It's like I said the other day to a guy I work with when I sent him this link. "Apple are c*cks"

Well done. Both of the sites you quote as examples have HTML5/H264 based setups that the iPad will be able to use quite adequately. They demonstrated Youtube in HD on the iPad during the presentation, which apparently you haven't even watched.


Same as the iPhone. You know, an existing device that a few people are familiar with. And which there are numerous applications that help you prepare/convert video to view on.


Aside from over a network or a cable, how exactly do you get media onto any device? Telepathy?


There's absolutely no requirement to go to the appstore to get media onto an iPhone, and there will be no requirement to do so on an iPad. Tell me, do you know anything about this that isn't wrong?


For me, you're a fool who knows precious little about the subject you're pontificating about.


Takes one to know one.

Jon

And both are large companies that have made that move and it's just fortunate for Apple that the work has gone into the Safari foundations that they can take advantage of that. I believe that CNN is a major site that won't work. The last time I visited Youtube it was probably not using HTML5. I use their site so little, as I have no interest in dancing budgies or rips of top gear.

Also, having gone to the youtube site, it seems that you can't get everything on the iPhone, and so the iPad. Also, you mention the HD files, but not the standard definition files that seem to show up in my browser as flash objects. Are you telling me that the only way to get the video feeds on Youtube on the iPad is through the mobile browser view of the site?



I'm pretty sure that the vast number of iPhone users out there don't bother with, or even know about, freely available media converters.



Actually, if you read what I was saying about the Tegra based tablets, you'll already have the answer to that. It's called a usb port, or a card reader. Both notably lacking from the iPad when you unpack it from its box. But such a little thing is a triviality I assume?



Of course there is no requirement, but, if you don't get a USB port or card reader the most obvious place to start is on the internet. Maybe it'll be via the app. store and the spotify app. or maybe some other source. You seem to think that everyone that you think that will buy one of these devices will actually know anything about Macs, or even PCs, and will know how to get media onto the device.



Fair enough, maybe you'll change your mind in time



Now now, go calm down and go to your happy place with all your nice, shiny, Apple logo embossed toys.

It's looking incredibly unlikely at this point.

Jon

No. The specs say the iPad will also be supported from Windows XP and up. I only mentioned the MacBooks because they're made by Apple, the same company that makes iPads. Of course, there are other PC companies out there who make machines that will be quite compatible.

I have no idea why you seem to be so negative. This is a thread about a new gadget from a shiny gadget maker. If you don't like it, don't buy one, and don't start all the same "there's a better one over there and it's cheaper" stuff, because we've had that since 2001 when Apple started selling iPods.

I'm rising to the bait. I'm going to shut up now, with my finger over the Lock button...

By the sound of it, the ipad syncs with your PC or mac the same way as every ipod, ipod touch or iphone. The usual way to get content on it is to plug it in to any PC that isn't linux based and let it do its thing and given the number of ipods sold, I can't see this being a big problem. I'd like to have seen an SD card slot, but that's only really useful while I have a SD card slot in my camera - the camera I want uses compact flash and that just wouldn't fit would it!

I'm not going to pretend that the ipad is anything other than a really big ipod touch with excellent battery life, but that extra screen real-estate may be useful, especially for photo's. If you do a lot of presentations, it may be invaluable there too.