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The Chair

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Re: The Chair

#31

Post by rbarooah »

edderly wrote: post #28
rbarooah wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What UI? The UI of the 65,000 full screen iPad specific apps, or the UI of the 16 Android Tablet apps? Have you actually tried a Xoom?

Yes, I've tried a Xoom today, I also have bought an iPad a while back. Have you tried a Xoom yourself? I don't really see the relevance of the number of applications to the the UI experience.

I have tried one myself otherwise I wouldn't have asked.

The relevance is that the apps are what provide the UI.

For the iPad there are 65,000 of them customized to utilize the full screen. For the Xoom, there are 16 customized for the full screen, and the rest are literally just blown up phone apps, many of which don't even rescale properly.

Re: The Chair

#32

Post by edderly »

Johngibb wrote: post #26
edderly wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange really because I've found the iPad to be a dull clone of an iPhone where the Xoom seems to have a UI which exploits the size of the screen.

Honestly, I had a similar first impression. But as I used it more, and saw iPad-specific apps begin to appear, it really is it's own device. If anything, the iPhone is a smaller, less functional clone of the iPad.

I can grok that, though for me I found myself going back to my MacBook Pro because the iPad needs propping up and is too slow (browsing). Ignoring slowness, admittedly a problem for any tablet in my opinion.

Re: The Chair

#33

Post by tesseract »

dr_ wrote: post #3
tumult wrote: post #2

The tech press needs to play up the competition to the iPad as much as possible, because drama drives clicks. But the reality is that Apple's iPad is so far ahead of everything else that it's almost out of sight. Have you used one of the 'iPad killers'? That is not competition. It's a joke. You can't even buy any of them, except for Samsung's Galaxy Tab. [And the Motorola Xoom, but only at retail Best Buy in America,…

Well the Xoom has now been released as well, so in theory it's competition as well. But you are right, in reality there is no competition. There are a lot of people out there who think competition is on specs alone - #slots, ports, ram, memory, etc. Because that's how it was in the PC era. They are wrong.

That shouldn't be so surprising. 'Sell the benefits, not the features' has always been a sales mantra. The PC market has always been kind of a weird exception to this, and I think that's in part because of the way the PC market grew out of the enthusiast/hobbyist microcomputer scene of the 70s and early 80s. Enthusiasts like to see impressive technical specifications and a long feature checklist - that's true with phones, cars, computers, cameras, espresso machines, and lots of other things that certain people are enthusiastic about - but in general that is not the way consumers view products.

Re: The Chair

#34

Post by blinkingled »

rbarooah wrote: post #29
blinkingled wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xoom can be bought online at Verizon or Moto websites. That nitpick aside it isn't anywhere near as bad as you are making it out to be. I am typing this post on one. The browser is far better. The OS is far more usable than the iPad, the higher screen resolution is great - I can RDP into my work PC and use it all day. The hardware is top notch, and battery life is plenty. I haven't connected it to a PC yet - have my…

Yes but for most non geeks, the Xoom doesn't do much beyond the built in apps, whereas the iPad has 65,000 apps they can use today. That might be different in a year's time but the average user would be crazy to choose a Xoom over an iPad 2 now for that reason alone.

Umm no - most existing Android apps work and look good on the Xoom. Better than the iPhone apps looked on the iPad. I gave it to my wife who has an iPod touch and she has yet to complain about lack of apps - I found most of what is needed for her. So lack of apps is not really a burning problem.

Re: The Chair

#35

Post by brisance »

One thing that drives me crazy is how each competitor focuses on one or two things, usually hardware specs, and use those things to extol its superiority over Apple's offerings. That's like a car maker homing in on horsepower or number of cup-holders to sell a car.

If I were to run a tech company competing in this space, I would do the following:

1) Get rid of the nonsensical names. There's a good reason why car makers give their flagship cars a specific name and stick with it through the years e.g. Toyota Camry, Honda Accord. I don't know why these highly-paid marketers insist on giving their products a new name every quarter.

2) Show how sensible and easy it is to migrate away from a desktop-bound, expensive, heavy and loud computer. Show the customers how losing one's device doesn't mean the end of the world (cloud-backed storage etc), and how easy it is to migrate to a new device should the need ever arise.

3) Start a retail channel where my products can be experienced at the customer's own pace. Best Buy and all those stores are not the same thing because they are electronics retailers primarily interested in moving product and I cannot count on them to build a lasting relationship with my customer.

Re: The Chair

#36

Post by rbarooah »

blinkingled wrote: post #34
rbarooah wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but for most non geeks, the Xoom doesn't do much beyond the built in apps, whereas the iPad has 65,000 apps they can use today. That might be different in a year's time but the average user would be crazy to choose a Xoom over an iPad 2 now for that reason alone.

Umm no - most existing Android apps work and look good on the Xoom. Better than the iPhone apps looked on the iPad. I gave it to my wife who has an iPod touch and she has yet to complain about lack of apps - I found most of what is needed for her. So lack of apps is not really a burning problem.

You're seriously trying to claim that blown up android phone apps, many of which don't even rescale properly, are competition to the dedicated iPad designs?

Have you looked at iPad apps lately? Even if you don't include iMove and GarageBand that were just announced, how about OmniGraffle, Sketchbook, Inkpad, the Korg Apps, Reeder, Osmos, iWork, etc.

Re: The Chair

#37

Post by Johngibb »

edderly wrote: post #32
Johngibb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I had a similar first impression. But as I used it more, and saw iPad-specific apps begin to appear, it really is it's own device. If anything, the iPhone is a smaller, less functional clone of the iPad.

I can grok that, though for me I found myself going back to my MacBook Pro because the iPad needs propping up and is too slow (browsing). Ignoring slowness, admittedly a problem for any tablet in my opinion.

Kind of funny that iPad 2 directly addresses both of your complaints: performance, and the new case which seems to make a pretty good stand.

Re: The Chair

#38

Post by marze »

High definition movie editing, on a phone (iMovie on iOS)? It is amazing to see how far things have come in since 2007. In 2007, if you said you were going to download an app to edit a high definition movie on your smartphone you'd be institutionalized.

When the iPad was announced last year, it appeared to be a somewhat risky move on Apple's part, lest it cannibalize Mac sales. Now, just a year later, Apple could take the Mac and shoot it and survive. This has to make the PC maker's blood run cold; Apple is selling a device with 95% of the usefulness of a Windows PC but only 5% of the hassle (to the casual computer user), and they've got nothing to lose if they cannibalize all of their laptop sales.

The breathtaking aspect of this is how just a year ago the Microsoft monopoly still looked unassailable, but now, to some, the iPad's position seems nearly unassailable and on track to capture a huge portion of the casual computer users of the world.

Re: The Chair

#39

Post by jrockway »

rbarooah wrote: post #36
blinkingled wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Umm no - most existing Android apps work and look good on the Xoom. Better than the iPhone apps looked on the iPad. I gave it to my wife who has an iPod touch and she has yet to complain about lack of apps - I found most of what is needed for her. So lack of apps is not really a burning problem.

You're seriously trying to claim that blown up android phone apps, many of which don't even rescale properly, are competition to the dedicated iPad designs? Have you looked at iPad apps lately? Even if you don't include iMove and GarageBand that were just announced, how about OmniGraffle, Sketchbook, Inkpad, the Korg Apps, Reeder, Osmos, iWork, etc.

A more interesting benchmark would be "time spent in each app". Sure, there are eight trillion apps for the iPad. But I bet most people spend 95% of their time in the browser (or an ebook reader), and the other 5% of their time in the email app.

Guess what, you can do that with a 386 laptop from 1995. Apple's success comes from convincing people, through marketing, that they want to do that on an iPad and not on something else.

Re: The Chair

#40

Post by blinkingled »

rbarooah wrote: post #36
blinkingled wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Umm no - most existing Android apps work and look good on the Xoom. Better than the iPhone apps looked on the iPad. I gave it to my wife who has an iPod touch and she has yet to complain about lack of apps - I found most of what is needed for her. So lack of apps is not really a burning problem.

You're seriously trying to claim that blown up android phone apps, many of which don't even rescale properly, are competition to the dedicated iPad designs? Have you looked at iPad apps lately? Even if you don't include iMove and GarageBand that were just announced, how about OmniGraffle, Sketchbook, Inkpad, the Korg Apps, Reeder, Osmos, iWork, etc.

Where did I claim that? The existing apps do work so there is no lack of apps to start with and Honeycomb has been out for only few weeks - it won't be long before more tablet optimized apps appear.
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