21–29 of 29 posts
The price of the unit is irrelevant. If it has a 3G modem you will need to sing up for $100/month data plan for 3years (much more outside the USA) So you are really buying a $3600 3year old computer
Say what? I pay AU$10/100MB (about US$9) for prepaid (no contract) mobile data
I don't understand how a camera above the screen on this thing is even usable. Are you supposed to grab the tablet by its sides and aim it at you photo target? The tablet seems large enough to make such an operation unwieldy. Not to mention the need to somehow press a button to actually snap the shot in addition to using both hands to hold the thing....
People have been calling for a front-facing camera on the iPhone, and one was rumored (among other things) to be on the iPad, but I really don't see the point. The only real use seems to be video chat, but who want's to hold the damn thing steady for video chat?
(The main method I could see for this is making the viewable area of video smaller than the sensor; an accelerometer or clever image analysis could determine if the picture is shaking, and autocorrect it)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, Steve Jobs is a genius -- he says it's $1,000 and then you're not shocked that the minimum configuration costs nearly twice as much as a netbook.
I don't think you can easily compare a $250 netbook to the iPad. Lower quality screen, heavier, thicker, significantly less battery life, no multi-touch, lower build quality, and of course weaker software. They may serve some of the same purposes but I don't think they're directly comparable.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to get the large screen and a 3G card together. Or the higher powered CPU and an OTA tv tuner. In fact, it's pretty impossible to build a decent dell mini-10 system, so forget I even mentioned it. Or don't, and remember not to spend ten minutes futzing with their customization workflow...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Say what? I pay AU$10/100MB (about US$9) for prepaid (no contract) mobile data
In the US it is MUCH more expensive my friend.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
People have been calling for a front-facing camera on the iPhone, and one was rumored (among other things) to be on the iPad, but I really don't see the point. The only real use seems to be video chat, but who want's to hold the damn thing steady for video chat?
If it has decent auto-correction software, small bumps shouldn't futz with the picture. Much. (The main method I could see for this is making the viewable area of video smaller than the sensor; an accelerometer or clever image analysis could determine if the picture is shaking, and autocorrect it)
I could be wrong of course, maybe people would get the hang of it quickly, but it seems like one of those potential features that people look at with their rose colored glasses (like full OSX on a tablet, imo), without really thinking about what it would be like in practice.
An interesting up-and-coming alternative to a recently hyped, closed-platform tablet.
Don't get me wrong, I hope it does, and I hope it's cheap, but for now it's vapor.
This isn't a real product; it's a reference design. What's unclear is whether 199 is what it will cost manufacturers to make or the price it will be on the street.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you can easily compare a $250 netbook to the iPad. Lower quality screen, heavier, thicker, significantly less battery life, no multi-touch, lower build quality, and of course weaker software. They may serve some of the same purposes but I don't think they're directly comparable.
Weaker software, lower build quality? Have you even used the ipad? Its a beefed up ipod touch, not a scaled down laptop. The netbook wins from many perspectives. The multi-touch is sexy, i'll admit. but form is not greater than function. Imagine chatting, posting on HN, or uploading photos to Flickr. These 3 easy actions are not easily handled on the ipad. I have never used it and cannot comment on the build quality…