Saturday, April 3, 2010

Holy shit...



7 comments:

Tulkinghorn said...

Two words:

No flash

David Chute said...

I know. And that makes it totally uncool and no fun at all. Shame about that.

Christian Lindke said...

Actually, No Flash makes is almost non-functional as a useful internet browsing device.

Additionally, the small hard drive size combined with the massive price tag for a 3G version and lack of a camera make it less appealing than other tablet PCs that are currently available. The only advantage the iPad has over my iPhone is the screen size -- which would be a noteworthy advantage IF I could watch Homestar Runner on the device.

The one saving grace I have seen is that my apps for my iPhone won't have to be repurchased it I decide to buy a 2nd or 3rd generation iPad -- which will be better and cost less.

David Chute said...

Isn't Flash kind of crappy and on the way out? That's supposedly what Apple is betting on. To be replaced by HTML.5? Something like that.

My intention is definatly to wait a good while -- basically until I can buy this instead when it comes time to replace my current MacBook. IT will have to have usb ports and be able to run Word. I like the compact size that's nevertheless just about big enough for video.

Tulkinghorn said...

Actually, for streaming video and music, Flash is far, far better than the Apple-sourced alternatives... The absence of Flash has been called the shark-jump of Apple -- the most visible symbol of Apple's putting corporate ends above the functionality of its machines.

What you've described is... a laptop with a touch screen, not the sexy cool iPad, which basically doesn't do anything really worth doing except send a lame form of email.

And besides, the fake page turning thing -- reading an ebook by means of the picture of a book with simulated page turning -- is really creepy. Like having the keyboard be a picture of an Underwood.

Yuck.

Christian Lindke said...

Let me demonstrate the irony of lacking Flash in the following way. Steve Jobs is one of the major shareholders of Disney, he's also the face of Apple. Disney is releasing a 3-D film this Christmas called TRON: LEGACY. As a part of promoting the new film, Disney has created no fewer than 5 interactive Flash based games that allow players to unlock real world goodies. TRON has Flash based components to its Alternate Reality Game, ARG, if you want it phrased another way.

iPad users would not be able to fully participate in an ARG run by a company which has Apple's face as a major shareholder.

That is absurd, and it is yet another example of Apple stressing proprietary products over functionality.

I love my iPhone, but I would like it more if I could access another 50% of the internet.

David Chute said...

Couldn't prove any of these things by me, but I will just note that some expert commentators disagree.

If I could get a key pad option on a touch screen that had round Underwood-looking keys and made manuel typewriter noises, I'd select the hell out of that option.