81–90 of 115 posts
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however, all model are shipped as GSM unlocked so there's nothing stopping anyone from signing up with another GSM provider.
But do we know which 3G bands it supports? i.e. for American users will it work on t-mobile 3G?
1) Support for multi-tasking? This is a must on something like this. Perhaps they want to ensure performance of single applications by restricting multi-tasking?
2) Flash support? When Steve was browsing the flash plugin was missing... another must on a device that is trying to act as an intermediary between laptop and phone, primarily for web usage.
3) All of the focus on the iPad as an e-reader is neglecting the fact that the screen will be difficult to read off of. The screens of Kindles and Sony e-reader products are the major attraction, in my opinion. There's no way I could read for several hours on a backlit screen.
It's a great multimedia device, and has some awesome practical implications. However, I think the things I listed above are big time issues for the intentions of this device.
It seems their main target is the macbook-buying college student. I wish this thing doesn't cost more than 499 ($599 max).
A college student with a MacBook is NOT going to get this. They lug around a computer already, what's the point of lugging an ipad around too?
Yeah - it's a big iPod. yawn As an instant-on, full-page web browser, it's far more useful than a netbook, but it's pretty underwhelming for everything else. With shorter battery life, greater cost, and more eyestrain than the Kindle, I doubt it will have much impact on the e-reader market.
How many do you think are going to look at the Kindle at $250-500 and then the iPad at $500 and choose the single-purpose-does-one-thing-somewhat-better device? If Amazon dropped the price to sub-$100, I think they'd sell them by the boatload, but at current price points... nah.
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you can have root on a netbook...
How many of your average computers users really care about that? If I can access a shell and write some code on this thing, I'm sold. The battery life alone is worth it. Edit: Sadly reading this thread is like reading Slashdot about the announcement of the iPod.
I'm sorry, but this is a terrible argument. None of my users care about having root on our file server either, but if I didn't have it, it wouldn't be useful as anything more than a very expensive paperweight. Most readers probably don't care if the authors have access to a typewriter, but they depend on that to be able to read books.
Similarly, most iPad users won't care about having root on the thing, but they shouldn't. They people that do care about this are the developers, and the work of the developers becomes the tool of the masses. The complaint about this thing not being open is that apple is restricting what sorts of tools can be made. While the end-user might not care about the specific mechanism of restriction, they do feel its effects.
Starts at $499. Suck that, netbooks.
My netbook was $279 with a 6 cell battery and a 160GB harddrive. That's throw away money! But at $499 for 16GB that's not really in the same market.
It seems like it will be excellent for for salesmen or pharmaceutical representatives. Personally, I'm fighting whether I should continue with my Kindle DX purchase, or get this instead.
This device looks interesting, and might open up new use cases, but I'm not interested in going back to a walled garden.