[Theydon Bois]

Originally Posted by dejongj

Even now it is a runaway sales success people still talk about the annoyingly limited iPad. Amazing...

/agree

The points matress made mean you should have got a laptop rather than an iPad. I doubt your wife simply bought one for you on the way home from work one day, there must have been some indication that you really wanted an iPad in the first place. Unless you are fortunate enough for money not to matter, a £700 device is not something you buy on a whim.

This leads me (rightly or wrongly) to the point that you obviously misunderstood the point of an iPad in the first place - consuming media in all forms rather than creating it (without the aid of Apps).

[dejongj]

To be honest it is a pretty good creation device as well. Take yesterday, I created three invoices, send two as PDF's and one as Excel as the customers prefer that done with Numbers. Then got a new project summary description send through, reviewed and annotated it on the iPad with iAnnotate then send it back. And on the way home I created a new process flow on the move with Omnigraffle which I then emailed via PDF to another customer and converted back in the office to a MS Visio version such that they could edit it.

Not bad for a lightweight on the move device ;-) Much more than a consumption device in my opinion.

And for social activities, I easily connect my Nikon SLR to the camera connection kit following a wedding in Spain, and was able to let people see the photos on a decent screen immediately. And offload my memory card in the camera. Come back home and Aperture immediately picks up the RAW files from the device without a problem.

I know this is my useage, but the moment the competition can let me do things like that easily and integrated with other devices with such ease then it gets really interesting. Haven't seen anything yet to be honest.

[The_KELRaTH]

David Cameron running the UK at breakfast time:-

[dejongj]

LOL Well it does make sense doesn't it! Currently there is only one device like that for anywhere anytime access to news.

[Tenex]

Originally Posted by dejongj

And then there is this little bit of a problem around resolutions for apps, heck even on android many phones have their own version of an app otherwise it doesn't work. There is no doubt in my mind that the Android models will capture the cheap end of the market,

You might be interested in this article N.B.

The suppliers to the modular market changed over the same period, so to a large extent they are fungible. During 2007, the vast bulk of the brown area above was using Windows Mobile. The vast bulk in 2010 is using Android.
The addressable market for Android is constrained to the modular market. Therefore the growth potential depends on whether that brown area increases dramatically relative to the green.

asymco | What do you have to believe for an Android dominated future?

[Tempest]

Originally Posted by dejongj

Can always buy a Mac Pro ;-)

Indeed.

The problem is, the Mac Pro is Overbuilt.

Not as in the "It's nice to have something made well" type of way, but in the, they could make something with the same spec as this for half the price and it would still look and work fine kind of way.

That's the problem (for me anyway)

I either choose a Laptop with a large screen on a stick (iMac)

Or a WAY overpriced and over constructed Mac Pro.

What I want (and others have also said they want) and Apple won't make is a Mac in a PC type of construction.

[dejongj]

I agree, the mini is under powered for my main machine, I don't want an iMac as I already have a 30" screen. I do want dual screen, and the Mac Pro can be a bit overkill.

A proper quad core, dual screen supporting Mini would do me fine :-)

[dejongj]

Originally Posted by Tenex

You might be interested in this article N.B.

asymco | What do you have to believe for an Android dominated future?

Interesting analysis!

[mattress]

Originally Posted by Theydon Bois

/agree

The points matress made mean you should have got a laptop rather than an iPad. I doubt your wife simply bought one for you on the way home from work one day, there must have been some indication that you really wanted an iPad in the first place. Unless you are fortunate enough for money not to matter, a £700 device is not something you buy on a whim.

This leads me (rightly or wrongly) to the point that you obviously misunderstood the point of an iPad in the first place - consuming media in all forms rather than creating it (without the aid of Apps).

She asked me beforehand if I wanted one and I told her that I really wasn't bothered - I own a notebook, a netbook, an iphone, android phone and Sony e-reader - didn't see the need for Apple's latest effort. Anyway, she bought me one.

I am not saying that it's a load of old tosh but it really isn't much more than a large iPod touch. Ok, it has more memory, 3G, gps, larger screen and faster processor but it has a much, much bigger price tag too.

Listen. It's a really nice and functional device. 80% of my home web browsing and emailing is done on it. I download The Times daily, which is very nice. I watch the occasional film or read a colourful, downloaded magazine on it while in the bath.

Yes, it serves it's purpose but my point is that it could serve many, many more purposes. Like I said, it's not far enough removed from the humble ipod touch for me. Good device which should/could have been great.

Don't worry, it's constructive criticism. Anway, why do Apple diehards dislike anyone saying anything negative regarding their machines? Very touchy indeed.
There are at least ten Apple devices in my house, all well used. Surely this qualifies me to make subjective comments on them?

The statement 'consuming media in all forms rather than creating it' is rather precious.....did you steal that from Jobs' iPad launch diatribe?? I think the inability to send a document, email or picture to a printer without the need for an application is rather pathetic. In fact I cannot do it even with the aid of an app!

As you said, I 'obviously misunderstood the point of an iPad in the first place'.

[dejongj]

Mattress bud, you definitely qualified your points. My initial reaction was just against the usual retoric by calling it limited. I just find those kind of comments funny when you sell millions and millions of something. That's all that is being reacted against.

Personally I don't agree with it just being a large iPod Touch, can't see myself doing my invoices, making flow charts etc on my iPhone. Nor watching a movie on a long plane journey. Screen is way to small. As you say, you do 80% of your home surfing on it ;-)

So what more would you like to see on it, functionality not spec wise as you mention usb ports. What do you need them for? I can hook my nikon slr to it

[mattress]

Originally Posted by dejongj

Mattress bud, you definitely qualified your points. My initial reaction was just against the usual retoric by calling it limited. I just find those kind of comments funny when you sell millions and millions of something. That's all that is being reacted against.

Personally I don't agree with it just being a large iPod Touch, can't see myself doing my invoices, making flow charts etc on my iPhone. Nor watching a movie on a long plane journey. Screen is way to small. As you say, you do 80% of your home surfing on it ;-)

So what more would you like to see on it, functionality not spec wise as you mention usb ports. What do you need them for? I can hook my nikon slr to it

Ok, no offence taken. Like I said, I am a big fan of Apple products and always have been. As I added above, it's just that a lot of 'Apple diehard' are not welcoming any criticism whatsoever, which is just silly and creates animosity toward Apple and their excellent products. The iPad is a great device which just could have been a bit better. I understand that things such as cameras will be fitted as part of Mk2.

The printing issue is a big problem for me. Probably the biggest. I really cannot understand what the hell their point was to disable the ability to perform this simple task.

Primarily I love it's portability. It's almost a pain that I have to get my notebook out to download a file or document that I require when the Apple would/could do the task easily.

Maybe I just need a Windows tablet PC??

[mattress]

Originally Posted by dejongj

As you say, you do 80% of your home surfing on it ;-)

It's a fantastic device for tasks like browsing and emailing. It's a fantastic device period. No wonder it sells in great numbers. Also, the competition is pretty damn poor (still is against the iPhone IMO).

Do you agree that it could have easily been a whole lot more?

[dejongj]

I don't think it could have been that much more to be honest. Camera for Skype/Facetime would be great. Printing is coming in 4.2 which I knew when it was released. The challenge with printing was ofcourse to do with both the security model and not including a printer driver for every device. That is why it will still be a bit limited or you need a helper PC.

As you say I use mine for lots and lots of documents and never ever take my macbook pro out and about anymore. There just isn't a need for it anymore.

As said, all I am missing is a camera for video conferencing. But I'm happy to have one for a year and then hand it down :-)

[achoudry]

Originally Posted by dejongj

And for social activities, I easily connect my Nikon SLR to the camera connection kit following a wedding in Spain, and was able to let people see the photos on a decent screen immediately. And offload my memory card in the camera. Come back home and Aperture immediately picks up the RAW files from the device without a problem.

slightly off topic but how well does the camera connection kit work? does it import both raw and jpeg if you are shooting with both?

on import, are you importing the full resolution photo or an ipad optimised version of the photo?

finally, when importing in to aperture, do you connect the ipad to your laptop or are you able to transfer over wifi (wishful thinking i know)?

[Theydon Bois]

Slightly different post, and contains constructive criticism, rather than the 'it's missing xyz' previously.

As for diehard Apple fan, no. Just a mod, making sure people can rationally explain their thoughts.

[mattress]

Originally Posted by Theydon Bois

Slightly different post, and contains constructive criticism, rather than the 'it's missing xyz' previously.

As for diehard Apple fan, no. Just a mod, making sure people can rationally explain their thoughts.

[Prasius]

I think the printing criticism is a fair one, especially when apple themselves produce productivity apps for something that they then neglected to allow native printing from - the silliness of that amuses me actually. I think iOS4.2 is what the iPad should have shipped with from the start.

I get a little frustrated at the demands for USB ports, 1080p video output, and the like - mainly because i'm not sure I'd want to use a portable touch screen device with an external hard drive hanging off one side and a 42" plasma off the other...... You know, I really don't think that's the point of ANY tablet device, iOS, windows, andriod or whatever else... Maybe people do think they should be able to buy one computer-like device which will fulfill their every requirement; I think that is massively unrealistic.

[mattress]

Originally Posted by Prasius

I think the printing criticism is a fair one, especially when apple themselves produce productivity apps for something that they then neglected to allow native printing from - the silliness of that amuses me actually. I think iOS4.2 is what the iPad should have shipped with from the start.

Will direct printing become available with the new OS?

[Prasius]

Originally Posted by mattress

Will direct printing become available with the new OS?

Err.. Kind of.. Depending on your printer.. And how it's set up...

So I will admit still not ideal.....

[the porter]

after a few teathing problems the hp eprint i bought last week now works flawlessly direct from ipad to printer without going through the macpro

[Prasius]

Originally Posted by the porter

after a few teathing problems the hp eprint i bought last week now works flawlessly direct from ipad to printer without going through the macpro

I think not wanting to buy a new printer is pretty reasonable though - there is no good reason why it shouldn't work with any network connected printer.

[Theydon Bois]

True, and with the facility now there, I would imagine an app or OS update should take care of it.

[Sonic67]

Originally Posted by Prasius

I get a little frustrated at the demands for USB ports, 1080p video output, and the like - mainly because i'm not sure I'd want to use a portable touch screen device with an external hard drive hanging off one side and a 42" plasma off the other...... You know, I really don't think that's the point of ANY tablet device, iOS, windows, andriod or whatever else... Maybe people do think they should be able to buy one computer-like device which will fulfill their every requirement; I think that is massively unrealistic.

I’d like at least a single USB for a list of reasons. Most kit charges by USB. At the moment, mine and Mrs Sonics mobile phone does, her e-reader does, my PSP does, my HD camcorder does. While in America I took my laptop that worked on their voltage and electrical frequency and then charged everything else off the laptop via USB. Otherwise I would have had to worry about taking various chargers or transformers. In that case I certainly would have wanted to take one device. In my case it was a laptop though it could have been Mrs Sonics netbook.

Also a USB means rapid connection of devices. Take a photo with a camera, plug camera into computer, transfer pictures, remove camera, show people results of pictures taken on nice screen. Want to add music, plug in hard drive, copy across, and remove hard drive. (No iTunes either hurray!) USB also means a connection for a camera lens in the same way a camera can connect to the top of a PSP.

Cost for adding a USB socket, peanuts, usefulness, unlimited.

It also means that if you didn’t want to pay for a 64GB iPad you could have bought a 16GB and saved yourself some money by adding capacity via USB though an SD Card slot would have been neater.

Apple would rather not sell you universal connections as then they won’t pay for their official stuff. Witness the whole iPhone USB connection debacle.

[dejongj]

Originally Posted by achoudry

slightly off topic but how well does the camera connection kit work? does it import both raw and jpeg if you are shooting with both?

on import, are you importing the full resolution photo or an ipad optimised version of the photo?

finally, when importing in to aperture, do you connect the ipad to your laptop or are you able to transfer over wifi (wishful thinking i know)?

I had to check for you as I only ever shoot in RAW. So I did a quick little test. Take the same photo in NEF, JPG, NEF+JPG. You import full resolution to the iPad, and it just shows up like any flash card in Aperture. The iPad by the way has no problems show NEF (RAW from Nikon) in its full glory Love to see Android do that...

Anyway, first image you can see that on the import screen it shows 4 images. But in Aperture you can set who you want as master, RAW or JPG or have them as separate images as well. I choose RAW as master.

The second image show it imports it as only 3 images of which the last one has the little icon on it that it is a RAW master with also an JPG. And you can still switch between them as Masters or split.

Hope this helps.

[dejongj]

Originally Posted by Sonic67

I’d like at least a single USB for a list of reasons. Most kit charges by USB. At the moment, mine and Mrs Sonics mobile phone does, her e-reader does, my PSP does, my HD camcorder does. While in America I took my laptop that worked on their voltage and electrical frequency and then charged everything else off the laptop via USB. Otherwise I would have had to worry about taking various chargers or transformers. In that case I certainly would have wanted to take one device. In my case it was a laptop though it could have been Mrs Sonics netbook.

Also a USB means rapid connection of devices. Take a photo with a camera, plug camera into computer, transfer pictures, remove camera, show people results of pictures taken on nice screen. Want to add music, plug in hard drive, copy across, and remove hard drive. (No iTunes either hurray!) USB also means a connection for a camera lens in the same way a camera can connect to the top of a PSP.

Cost for adding a USB socket, peanuts, usefulness, unlimited.

It also means that if you didn’t want to pay for a 64GB iPad you could have bought a 16GB and saved yourself some money by adding capacity via USB though an SD Card slot would have been neater.

Apple would rather not sell you universal connections as then they won’t pay for their official stuff. Witness the whole iPhone USB connection debacle.

Charging: Well you'd have the iPad USB charger anyway to charge the ipad, just plug in the other USB devices. I do that all the time. Only need to bring one charger.

Photos: The camera connection kit does exactly that. I plug my Nikon dSLR in via USB to the iPad. Which is exactly what I did to answer Achoudry's question.

Personally I really do not like the idea of hanging off drives and the likes to provide additional storage. May as well just get a laptop with a proper large hard drive if that is really required.

Loading your own music without iTunes is just never ever going to happen on an Apple device. It is an excellent core to everything. I think I have close to 6TB now in my iTunes and it handles it instantly and very fast across iSCSI volumes.

[dejongj]

Today I had a play with 2 new Android tablets;

Samsung Galaxy Tab
I must admit that I actually really like this device. It was responsive'ish, the screen is gorgeous and dealt well with the tl-tube lighting. A movie trailer I watch looked great. And some of the widgets is definitely something that the iPad needs.

The keyboard was very good, thought the spacebar was tiny, but actually it was easy to type even in portrait mode. Much better than their phone.

What I didn't like was;
* There was lag. Just like with the Samsung Galaxy S phone I had for 7 days, this device, although better, still has a little bit of lag. Especially noticeable when scrolling pages. It's good but not great.
* Whilst the size of the screen would be great for just yourself, it is very very small. Watching a movie just about works, although I don't think I could put it on the table in an airplane like I do with the iPad and watch it on there. For my eyes I'd have to hold it and bring it nearer.
* Reading documents is not good. A page of A4 is just way to small. Even holding it close you wouldn't be able to read it properly, so it is down to zooming constantly.

Others may have different uses and it might just work. However at the price of £499 as it was in the shop, I think anyone is daft not to go for the iPad instead.

Toshiba
I couldn't remember the model number but it was running Android. Nice size screen, but that is about the only good thing to say.

My god what a pile of rubbish. It is severely slow. The touch screen is not really responsive. The UI, well I think it is best described as just an I there is not thought for the U in it at all.

Sure it is cheap, but it is a total waste of money in my opinion.

Piccies below as proof ;-)

[Tempest]

Thanks for the personal reviews. Always love to hear real write ups from real people

I think a lot of people are waiting for the Dixons/Currys Tablet now coming in about 2 weeks time.

Esp as it's got the Ram for Froyo and they are opening their own app store.

Superb price, almost too good to be true at the moment, be great to see what it's really like.

[achoudry]

Originally Posted by dejongj

I had to check for you as I only ever shoot in RAW. So I did a quick little test. Take the same photo in NEF, JPG, NEF+JPG. You import full resolution to the iPad, and it just shows up like any flash card in Aperture. The iPad by the way has no problems show NEF (RAW from Nikon) in its full glory Love to see Android do that...

Anyway, first image you can see that on the import screen it shows 4 images. But in Aperture you can set who you want as master, RAW or JPG or have them as separate images as well. I choose RAW as master.

The second image show it imports it as only 3 images of which the last one has the little icon on it that it is a RAW master with also an JPG. And you can still switch between them as Masters or split.

Hope this helps.

thanks for that. i think i may get the camera connection kit in that case. i normally shoot in raw + jpg and use raw as master in apetture.

by the way, when you import your photos on to the ipad, does it wipe the memory card as an option? furthermore, where do the photos go? i'm assuming they can be seen in the photos app but can you specify a new folder to which they should be imported? also, are you then able to edit the photos that have been imported using the camera connection kit unlike the photos you have sync'd via itunes which can only be removed by syncing again?

[dejongj]

Originally Posted by Tempest

Thanks for the personal reviews. Always love to hear real write ups from real people

I think a lot of people are waiting for the Dixons/Currys Tablet now coming in about 2 weeks time.

Esp as it's got the Ram for Froyo and they are opening their own app store.

Superb price, almost too good to be true at the moment, be great to see what it's really like.

They did have the space for those Advent tablets right next to the Toshiba and Samsung. So it should be immenent. Nicely displayed behind 2 iMacs and 3 Macbooks and besides 5 iPad. Quite a good display there now.

It will all be down to how they've implemented it and what they've done to the version. I really don't get it how Samsung can constantly introduce lag whilst HTC makes stuff more feature rich and smooth.

Originally Posted by achoudry

thanks for that. i think i may get the camera connection kit in that case. i normally shoot in raw + jpg and use raw as master in apetture.

by the way, when you import your photos on to the ipad, does it wipe the memory card as an option? furthermore, where do the photos go? i'm assuming they can be seen in the photos app but can you specify a new folder to which they should be imported? also, are you then able to edit the photos that have been imported using the camera connection kit unlike the photos you have sync'd via itunes which can only be removed by syncing again?

Yes you can wipe the memory card indeed.
Don't know where in the file system but you can view them in the photo app.
In the Photo's app they show up in Events by date. In a smart folder for All Imported. And another smart folder for last import.
I'm not certain I understand your last question. Upon import in Aperture only those photos that were imported using the camera connection kit show up. Not those that were already synced. It is clever enough to distinguish.

[foucault]

Having had a play with both the Samsung galaxy tab and the Toshiba Folio I have to agree with dejongj. While the Samsung is nice, the screen is too small and as it is pretty much the same price as the iPad, I can't see too many people buying it. Then again it's much better than the Toshiba which had a really awful screen - fuzzy and with poor viewing angle.

I have found an interesting video of the Advent Vega tablet YouTube - Advent Vega tablet.