iPad Win

[MercuryJones]

If anyone's interested, here's how my long weekend away (with work) was with the iPad:

Typically for this trip I'd bring some books for personal reading, maybe a board game, a magazine or two, and for work purposes my laptop.

On the personal end this was another win: I loaded a book, and a magazine, a bunch of comic books and the Scrabble app. It was definitely an improvement to have all of this on one hand held device with a loooooong battery life. I do recommend the Scrabble app.

For work purposes I loaded several word docs and excel budgets for reference, in Pages and Numbers. These results were a little mor mixed. For the writing portion, the iPad was excellent. I could sit wherever I wanted writing away, because the iPad is so very comfy to hold, and because my unorthodox typing style works well with this device.

What worked less well was my frequent need to flip back and forth between documents, including the spreadsheets with multiple tabs. One app open at a time slowed that down, which I expected. For this sort of project I'd normally have several documents open at one time on my laptop, flipping through as needed, Also, I don't feel very dexterous using the iPad cut and paste function, which would have helped. But I was better at the end of the weekend than I was at the start.

So in summary, for my personal travel use it was stellar. For my work use, it had some highlights but isn't ideal for bigger projects - which is what I have a laptop for.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

Oh... other things I've done with it in the two weeks I've had it..

I was at Starbucks and a rather hot guy got up and asked the Barista what music was playing. he guy didn't know but I called him over and we used the Shazam app to listen to it and then tell us what song it was, giving us links to buy it at iTunes or Amazon.

I have done whole blog posts from it, and even remembered I forgot to change a link in a post earlier that day so while I was driving to work (or well.. no, my husband was driving), I opened it up in the Wordpress app and changed the link in about 5 seconds.

I don't talk about this much but I'm losing my eye sight in one of my eyes and I have an app that's a random eye chart that I can hold arm's length from my face to test my progress with the new therapy I'm on. It randomizes the letters on the chart so I can't memorize them.

I can read it bed without waking up my husband because the Kindle app allows me to change the background to black and letters to white and lower the contrast so I can still read in total darkness but it doesn't emit enough light to wake him up.

At work, we can share notes on shoots with Evernote. Tweet Deck makes it easy for me to manage my own Twitter account and the couple we have for work.

I watched Avatar last week while I was on the treadmill at the gym.



Oh, and I found out that the hot guy that moved across the street is gay, single and likes to suck dick (with grindr.)

I'm sure most of these are silly to you, but it's cool for ME. Sorry if that makes me "douchey."

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

Oh, I also do all my banking on it and manage my stocks.

When I found out that the stock market had dropped big, I logged on, bought a whole bunch of a stock that had dropped and in an hour had doubled my money.

I pay all my bills on it so I can keep a record of everything I've done and how much money I have. Yes... many of these things one can do on their iPhone.. but since I'm having trouble with my eye sight... I need something with a bigger screen so I can see what's on the screen. That might not mean much to you, but it's pretty cool to me.

 

[Purplebic]

Were just arguing in circles here. You're both demonstrating things that you could just as easily do before. The Guardian says it better than i can.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

you're funny...

OK, so we've had you going on about how much you know about technology and how I know some "basic html" (which is odd since I've been programming in PHP for years) but you whine about

-I don't like the inherent elitism of apple enthusiasts.

And then you say things like "Douchness" and "homo" and "retardation" and "Fucktard" and wish Steve Jobs dies (?!)

You call people "douche" and "bitch" and actually thought that telling me I make porn is a good way to score a point with me on a porn site. (so you're not too bright).


Oh and two pages back you said...

I don't give a shit what you think; of me, of technology, whatever. I won't bother answering you or this thread anymore.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

Oh, and you could NOT do many of these things before. I can't just hold a netbook in my hand like I can a magazine or a book. I sure can't read it in bed with the ease I can my iPad. And I don't think netbooks have GPS but to be fair, I can't be arsed to look that up.

 

[MercuryJones]

Were just arguing in circles here. You're both demonstrating things that you could just as easily do before.

Silly monkey, if you could just as easily do it all before, there'd be no market.

There's nothing I've described in my usage that I could just as easily do before.

And of course for most humans that's the point of all advances: to do things more quickly and easily, in ways that are more aligned with human inclination. You continue to confuse your fetish for technical details with utilization. That's not very bright.

 

[MercuryJones]

Oh, and you could NOT do many of these things before. I can't just hold a netbook in my hand like I can a magazine or a book.

Indeed, Jasun. The utility of the form seems lost on some people. (Well, really just one person with a personality disorder.)

I can't sit in meetings with a netbook open between me and others - it's not conducive to getting my work done. I wouldn't like to read a book that way either. I could go on, but as you know, someone who doesn't function like a normal human won't get it.

 

[3nipples]

The eBooks sound cool, but how easy is it to share books? Is it even possible? Most of the books that I buy make the rounds with family and friends.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

The eBooks sound cool, but how easy is it to share books? Is it even possible? Most of the books that I buy make the rounds with family and friends.

Yeah, that's something you can't do, sadly, and I read a lot and love to give my books away.

 

[Corny]

Oh... other things I've done with it in the two weeks I've had it..
[..]
I'm sure most of these are silly to you, but it's cool for ME. Sorry if that makes me "douchey."

And all of those things could have been done with any netbook. Oh and a shazam application I had on my mobile phone 4 years ago ( ! ).
But we already know that you're above all, always right and need to have the last word. We don't even need the multitude of replies with all your (and now even your friends!) achievements, in this thread in this short time to proof that "douchery" Also we know you're a fanboy, so how about some real arguments - even JonesHere could convince me more.

This is a world of difference with iPad offering full books, bookmarkable, easy to navigate around and full of the graphics and even embedded video if the publisher wants. How about hyperlinks to updated content?

you mean like .. pdf? *gasp*

Oh and about my textbooks .. it's so cool that you know what happened at my Uni .. just that you don't. I said "with a few exceptions". Those being either textbooks with some fucked up american copyright on them and not published here, or unimportant books that only needed to be quoted partially. Why should I buy a 2000 pages book if I only need 20? But have fun paying big bucks in iWhateverStore for your books I got them all as part of my education - for free. My database prof even recorded his lectures and uploaded the videos together with his tablet pc notes. You could watch them online or download and they were synced so you got to see and hear what he was doing and got what he was writing next to it. Imagine that .. all without an iPad. I wonder how people LIVED without them before. But I'm really glad you have an app for an eye-test. Not that any device could display that chart, but I get the point. By the way what happens if your iBreathe app fails one day?

I can't sit in meetings with a netbook open between me and others - it's not conducive to getting my work done. I wouldn't like to read a book that way either. I could go on, but as you know, someone who doesn't function like a normal human won't get it.

After I finally got my hands on one - I cannot confirm this. If you lay it flat on a table it strains the neck. I always want to hold it in an angle, so I tried balancing it on the rim of the table. That was okay for viewing .. but sucks for using it .. and probably isn't too good for the case in the long run, either.

 

[andysayshi]

I guess Apple decided multitasking wasn't important because their fanboys don't have the IQ to do two things at once.

Resolved with OS 4.0 in 2 months. In striding to preserve the best user experience possible, Apple have avoided multi-tasking until they found a way to run multiple applications threads without heavily impacting performance.

2 towers, 3 monitors, one laptop and a few extra TB's of storage. If you (can) do the math, it adds up to a few Ipads.

Let's see you read a book on the bus with that!

All of these things you can do with Flash. But wait! Steve Jobs doesn't like Flash.
You know why? Because if the Ipad was flash-enable, developers wouldn't need Apple's approval to put apps out there. It's all about controlling the purse-strings.

Wrong. Your point could be validated if there was a fully-functional full-Flash plugin for ANY smartphone or mobile browser on the market, but there isn't. Flash-lite is shit, Flash 10.1 for Android is vaporware (and the Adobe video demos of it are peppered with the user saying "That'll work better when we optimise it". The jailbreak workarounds also suck.

When Adobe bring a quality Flash plugin to ANY mobile OS that works well and doesn't kill your phone performance or battery, they'll have the high ground. Until then it's all academic.

Apple were royally screwed by Adobe many years ago by supporting Adobe's proprietary PostScript format, while MS moved away from because of Adobe's exorbitant pricing. Adobe's slow development and over-pricing killed Apple's ImageWriter printer market. They've learned to support and develop open standards since then (ironically building a closed mobile OS in the process). But Apple are still one of the biggest intellectual and financial contributors to open technology standards.

The "purse strings" argument is nonsensical. I can be an iPhone developer for $99 a year, much cheaper than buying a copy of Flash. And from that point on Apple will store, distribute, and sell (if I choose) my apps, giving me 70% of whatever price I decide. People don't buy Flash apps, so developers need to own Flash, host sites, market them, and manage on-site advertising to make any money out of it. It's a lot easier to make a few bucks from a shitty iPhone app than it is from a shitty Flash game.

So how about some real arguments - even JonesHere could convince me more.

That's not fair. There are plenty of valid arguments in this thread that separate the iPad from existing devices on the market, including netbooks. Show me another device with rich interactive touch and motion controlled content like the two examples Jasun just posted. You're ignoring user experience, usability, reliability, ease of use, and arguing that "other devices can do that". But it's not a technology debate, it's a human one.

 

[Corny]

^ Jones argues with "I can do this like that" Jasun argues with "I can do that, that and that". But "that that and that" I can do with almost anything else.

Believe it or not, I am waiting for good tablet pcs for quite a while. I have used the traditional tablet pcs for some time, long before anybody ever thought about an iPad. I saw it uses, but also the limitations. And none of them the iPad got rid of. Nice if some people now spend the time to create fancy animated books for it. But that doesn't change the problem with the concept nor does it give me any freedom on my device. The hardware for sure is good and so is the touch control.
And about that multitasking .. that's not really multitasking. Can you run a spreadsheet something, and watch a movie at the same time? Or just have a book and a webbrowser open? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I guess not.

 

[MercuryJones]

I am waiting for good tablet pcs for quite a while. I have used the traditional tablet pcs for some time, long before anybody ever thought about an iPad. I saw it uses, but also the limitations. And none of them the iPad got rid of.

I think our basic difference is that you're asking (explicitly) for an argument, when I'm not interested in arguing.

I am very, very happy with the iPad because it works for me in a way nothing else on the market has, to date. I don't disagree with some points on functionality - it doesn't multi-task, for example. But its utility in my life more than makes up for it, for the tool it is.

We all have different uses for our technology, and of course we thus need different things.

I won't try to argue that a product is better than any other product or one you should use, because the former is boring and the latter is only determined by you. I'm just telling you this product is great for my usage.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

^ Jones argues with "I can do this like that" Jasun argues with "I can do that, that and that". But "that that and that" I can do with almost anything else.

well except you can't.

Not the things I need it to do. And not the way that it works for me.

But why let that get in the way of a string of name-calling and homophobic rants?

Just like when the iPhone came out, there's a lineup of people saying "I can do that with my...." when no... they really can't.

 

[MercuryJones]

Just like when the iPhone came out, there's a lineup of people saying "I can do that with my...." when no... they really can't.

And just like the iPhone, it will continue to improve and competitors will develop similar products. And that's because of utility, one of the things purplebic doesn't understand, any more than a goldfish understands the concept of comfortable shoes.

And that's the thing about technology in our culture. What keeps driving it is consumer desire for improved utility so that the tech can be subsumed into the way we want to live, rather than the way an engineer thinks we could live if we would just conform to his design.

One of the things that made Gates and Jobs successful was their understanding not only of the technological possibility, but the utility for people's real lives.

Face it, there's little you can do with a computer that couldn't also be done before the computer - just in a much more cumbersome way. Similarly, there's little you can do with an iPad that couldn't be done with a laptop or netbook - just in a much more cumbersome way.

puplebic is just being a dinosaur who doesn't understand the possibilities or point of technology. He reminds me of Andy Rooney.

 

[Corny]

well except you can't.

Not the things I need it to do. And not the way that it works for me.

you are making up after having the product for them. but that is kinda the apple way. yeah.

But why let that get in the way of a string of name-calling and homophobic rants?

hu what? I kinda went along with your confrontational, personal kind of argumentation (me, me and my friends) and your attitude displayed every here. come on you like it, or you wouldn't exercise and cherish it everywhere when possible. but i don't get why this is homophobic?

Just like when the iPhone came out, there's a lineup of people saying "I can do that with my...." when no... they really can't.

it's still ugly and 90% of the apps are unnecessary but it was a bit more groundbreaking than the iPad.

 

[JasunStrikesBack]

you are making up after having the product for them. but that is kinda the apple way. yeah.

I can't figure out what you mean by this.

hu what? I kinda went along with your confrontational, personal kind of argumentation (me, me and my friends) and your attitude displayed every here. come on you like it, or you wouldn't exercise and cherish it everywhere when possible. but i don't get why this is homophobic?

what would you call this...

-A lot of homos who don;t know dick about technology, think Apple is the greatest. (because it's shiny, because it's overpriced, because you're considered artsy if you own one, because of the rainbow apple logo...who knows).

I haven't seen a netbook that can double as a piano keyboard (that would have been invaluable to me back in college when I sat on the bus trying to read music or write charts). I haven't seen a netbook that you can read like a book, turning the screen sideways and having it turn the image on the screen. I haven't seen a netbook with a touch-screen at all, although I haven't really looked for one. they might exist.

I also like how I can buy an album or a video off iTunes on my iPad, iPhone, Apple TV or laptop and when I get home, those files are automatically synced throughout my home library so they're on my husband's phone or laptop without him having to do anything at all. I like how my notes and emails all sync (I'm sure netbooks can do this too) and I like how I can easily and comfortably hold it in one hand and read from it like a book. Maybe you can do this with a netbook but I find it easier to do with my iPad and it works in harmony with all my other stuff. Works for me.

Fanboy? Hell yes I am.

 

[Corny]

ah well .. if you are talking about someone else, don't quote me and argue that it's homophobic ..

forgot a word in that other part:


you are making up needs after having the product for them. but that is kinda the apple way. yeah.

apple is good in creating demand. it's like bottled water .. almost everywhere tap water is fine or even better, but people are made to believe that they do need bottled water.

 

[MercuryJones]

it's still ugly and 90% of the apps are unnecessary but it was a bit more groundbreaking than the iPad.

Interesting comment.

Are you saying that tech apps should only be those deemed necessary? Is there room for fun?