iDiscuss

[Dukefrukem]

Dumb

Wi-Fi-only devices—and 3G device
multitouch screen measures in at 9.7 inches
weighs 1.5 pounds
powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 chip
16GB to 64GB of flash storage
accelerometer
compass
speaker
mic
30-pin connector
rated at 10 hours of battery life

[D_Davis]

Coffee shops are going to have to make their tables bigger now.

[[ETM]]

You have to buy a USB port and a card reader for something that's supposed to replace netbooks? I'll keep my Acer, thanks.

[Sycophant]

It's like a big fat iPhone or iPod Touch.

[Benny Profane]

Steve Jobs could take a dump in a plastic bag, call it the iShit, and millions of people would not only be crawling over each other to buy it, but his army of Apple whores would be out in full force, defending the "revolutionary invention" and praising its “form factor” on every blog and message board across the web.

That being said, it's probably a huge upgrade over the Kindle, and it wouldn't suprise me if the focus of their marketing initially is geared heavily towards college students for their textbooks.

[D_Davis]

My friend said...

I have often stared at the iPhone and been like, "if only it weren't so CONVENIENTLY SMALL"

[Dead & Messed Up]

I don't get it.

[[ETM]]

Steve Jobs could take a dump in a plastic bag, call it the iShit, and millions of people would not only be crawling over each other to buy it, but his army of Apple whores would be out in full force, defending the "revolutionary invention" and praising its “form factor” on every blog and message board across the web.

Actually, people all over are pretty unanimously calling it the iShit.

[Winston*]

The iBrain

I think you should listen to this.

[Sycophant]

Does this have a screen akin to the iPhone? I was under the impression it did. If so, I think it loses the real appeal faux paper-look e-book readers like the Kindle have for me.

[[ETM]]

Does this have a screen akin to the iPhone?

As in not electronic paper? Yes.

But it's way better than the iPhone's. It's an IPS panel, with accurate color reproduction... if only there was a way to actually benefit from it.

[Fezzik]

As someone who loves his iPhone, let me say this:

The fact that you cannot multitask on this makes the iPad a FAIL in my opinion.

I can accept that on a phone, not on a tablet device. I will not be purchasing one of these.

[bac0n]

As it stands, the iPad does nothing that something else I have does. It might do certain things better, but the shit I have does the same stuff well enough. And "well enough" is good enough for me.

That being said, I will be interested in seeing what sort of apps are made for this. There have been some really exciting things made for the iPhone that I can imagine would be pretty amazing if there were more screen real estate to work with.

Take iTouch DJ, for example, a complete DJ solution with beat-sync, looping, breakpoints, effects, scratching, and a pretty slick, intuitive user interface.

Before stuff like this came along, DJs used to have to carry crates of LPs, two turntables, a mixer, and a rack of outboard effects and gear to their gigs. Now you get the same stuff on a single device that fits in your pocket. I bet the iTouch DJ guys are looking at this and saying, you know, with a bigger screen, we could add two more tracks, a sampler, a visualizer and a bunch of other shit. Hell, we could make an interface that looks like an actual turntable that you could scratch just like you would a normal turntable.

Now THAT would be awesome.

In short, it's not the iPad that has me intrigued, it's what the developers are gonna come up with, now that they have a device with the same touch screen capabilities of an iPhone, but with the screen size of a laptop.

Actually, the more I think about this, the more excited I'm getting.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Yeah, this thing seems like a bad idea all around. I can't imagine paying $500 for something like that. Ever.

[D_Davis]

Does this have a screen akin to the iPhone? I was under the impression it did. If so, I think it loses the real appeal faux paper-look e-book readers like the Kindle have for me.

Good point. The reason the Kindle works so well is that it is very easy on the eyes. Low glare and the digital ink make reading a Kindle very easy on the eyes.

[Spun Lepton]

My iPod Nano is kind of sad compared to the iPod I bought five years ago. It can't hold a charge worth a damn. The dial interface mixed with the motion sensor makes for some irritating problems, like when you're trying to pull up the volume menu, and the sensor isn't picking up that you've turned the iPod right side up, so you have to shake it to get it working again and that puts it into shuffle mode, so now you have to turn down the volume AND navigate back to what you were listening to ... ugh. Can I just have a volume knob on the side of the Nano? PLEASE?

[D_Davis]

I turned off the motion sensor on my newer Nano.

[Spun Lepton]

I turned off the motion sensor on my newer Nano.

I've already turned off the "rotate screen" function.

Volume knob, keep a charge longer than three hours. Those are my two wants in a nutshell. I hate having to look at the iPod when I want to turn the volume up or down.

[bac0n]

I've already turned off the "rotate screen" function.

Volume knob, keep a charge longer than three hours. Those are my two wants in a nutshell. I hate having to look at the iPod when I want to turn the volume up or down.

they should do on the nano what they do on the shuffle - put the volume control on the earbud cord.

[D_Davis]

I hate having to look at the iPod when I want to turn the volume up or down.

I don't understand. I always change the volume on my Nano without looking at it. I always have the Nano in my pocket (yes, that's what I call it), and I just jog the wheel with my thumb (insert masturbation joke here) to change the volume. If a song is playing, the wheel's default operation is to change the volume.

You can turn off the shake-to-shuffle mode as well.

Are the brand-brand new Nanos different?

[D_Davis]

I don't understand something:

MS got drilled for tying their OS in together with the media player and web browser.

Isn't this what Apple is doing now? The iPad is a completely closed computing system, and all of its media capabilities are tied to iTunes, which Apple owns. The apps have to be created using Apple's tools, and then get approved by Apple to be sold on iTunes. This seems far more problematic than what MS got drilled for with the various worldwide anti-trust lawsuits.

What's the difference here?

[number8]

What bac0n said.

Actually, the only thing I'm excited most for the iPad would be to use it as a digital comic book reader. For eBooks, I prefer the iPhone, because I can read novels standing up in a crowded subway without fear of dropping it or have any problems turning the page. But it's not so good when trying to read comics because of the screen size.

An iPad loaded with my comics collection? That would save me an amazing amount of space.

[shaun]

You can get a netbook with more space, memory, and processing power for $250. I'm not really seeing the point here.

The iPhone rules because it fits in your pocket. This doesn't, so it's no different than any small form factor laptop to me.

[[ETM]]

What's the difference here?

Microsoft doesn't provide the hardware. MacOS can only be installed on Macintosh computers, and they get to decide what they bundle with it.

[Ezee E]

I say this is simply a generation or two away from being something that will be special. As of now, meh.