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Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

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111–120 of 132 posts

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#111
I give it the ultimate libertarian venture: Good luck with your startup, dawg.

The biggest obstacle to tablet computing doesn't seem to be the price, it's convincing the market that your product us worthwhile. Tablet PCs have existed for years now with a variety of price points. The price is not the main selling point.

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#112
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App Store with 200k titles is a plus? Are you serious? How will your dad be able to find anything useful there?

You're right, the App store is a real problem. Because of the low signal-to-noise ratio, discoverability is less than optimal, even using search. The only way I find out about good apps right now is through word-of-mouth and through reviews on trusted sites. Apple needs to fix this.

I bet a lot of other companies wish they had this problem.

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#113
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the fuck? You're reading this on a screen right now. You and everyone else reading this thread likely read text from LCD screens for at least half of your waking hours! What about a tablet formfactor suddenly makes backlit LCD screens completely unbearable?

What about a tablet formfactor suddenly makes backlit LCD screens completely unbearable? we're talking iPad here. I haven't used one in direct sunlight, only in a bar one evening, but I do have an iPod touch and new Macbook Pro with glass (or mirror) display. Few downsides to Steve's obsession with glass: - as I said, no matter how bright is backlight glass becomes mirror in sunlight (M̦̆̆BP is mirror even in low lig…

The iPad (and iPhone 4) use a new type of screen with IPS technology. [1] I find it to be much nicer on the eyes than a regular display. It also works really well in direct sunlight, as long as you don't reflect the sun directly into your eyes. Sort of like reading a glossy magazine outdoors.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#In-plane_switching_.28I...

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#114

This is not a competitor. It's a hacker hobbyist machine, which is something the iPad is not, by both design and price point.

The ad in this weekend's Bed Bath and Beyond flyer for the Novel didn't call it a hacker machine. I should call and complain.

Actually, although I don't think it's a real competitor, the Bed, Bath & Beyond ad had it listed for $169 with a $20 mail in rebate. Use one of the many 20% off any single item coupons that they mail you, and you can buy this for $135.20, plus the mail in rebate you end up with it for only around $115.20.

When the price is under $100, which should be soon, it might be a fun little hacker toy to put in interesting places, like glued to the front of the fridge, in the back of the headrest in your car, etc.

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#116
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a competitor even if it addresses a subset of the iPad functionality. This one has e-book reading, something many people buy the iPad for. Different people weight different features differently (sory - had to do it) and this thingie may end up with a better value than an iPad for a lot of people. Me included, BTW. I could buy one of these and a Nook for less than what an iPad costs. For me, it's a winner. It's a…

Do you really think people buy the iPad for reading ebooks? I find it to be not significantly better than reading on a monitor. The iPad is great for some things for sure (Plants vs Zombies being first and foremost in my experience) but I think if I wanted to read books I'd get a Kindle or some eink device.

I'm more of an audiobook person myself but I have read 2 books on the iPad with good results. The only drawback is the temptation to hit the home button and do something else which isn't a real problem on current e-ink devices since they don't really do anything else. Which is also the same reason I wouldn't buy one. I don't read enough text to justify a standalone device.

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#117
However one very useful thing this tablet can do that the iPad cannot is serve as a notebook (because it has a resistive and not a capacitive screen). I'm a student and I would love to have a cheap portable device for taking electronic notes in class; this tablet looks excellent for that.

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#118
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a competitor even if it addresses a subset of the iPad functionality. This one has e-book reading, something many people buy the iPad for. Different people weight different features differently (sory - had to do it) and this thingie may end up with a better value than an iPad for a lot of people. Me included, BTW. I could buy one of these and a Nook for less than what an iPad costs. For me, it's a winner. It's a…

Do you really think people buy the iPad for reading ebooks? I find it to be not significantly better than reading on a monitor. The iPad is great for some things for sure (Plants vs Zombies being first and foremost in my experience) but I think if I wanted to read books I'd get a Kindle or some eink device.

Bring a monitor to bed with you, or on a bus, or on a plane, and then we'll talk.

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ad in this weekend's Bed Bath and Beyond flyer for the Novel didn't call it a hacker machine. I should call and complain.

Actually, although I don't think it's a real competitor, the Bed, Bath & Beyond ad had it listed for $169 with a $20 mail in rebate. Use one of the many 20% off any single item coupons that they mail you, and you can buy this for $135.20, plus the mail in rebate you end up with it for only around $115.20. When the price is under $100, which should be soon, it might be a fun little hacker toy to put in interesting pla…

Pandigital stuff also tends to end up at Kohl's, which always has double or triple discounts in play at certain times, especially if you have their charge card.

Re: Out Of Nowhere, The iPad Has A Real Competitor

#120
Come on, this is from a manufacturer of digital photo frames. It's target market has some overlap with that of the iPad, so it's definitely a competitor, but the headline makes it sounds like it's gonna be a major alternative.

Having said that, this looks like a pretty cool device. I've been thinking about rooting my nook, but this would be an even better target. If it's fast enough for PDF display, it would a nice reference tool, and in my opinion the only way to get a decent book reader is for some third party to make one. I haven't seen a single one that has a decent text layout algorithm.

The "problem" with the iPad is that at this size and resolution, the web pages themselves look pretty astonishing, so there's less need to get a reformatted version as an app. And the iPhone 4 and its technological advances almost make me want to wait for a 2G device. So a gadget like this would be the perfect stop-gap solution for me. No iPad killer, but an iPad postponer…

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