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iPad Air

arstechnica.com

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Re: iPad Air

#111

Post by DanHulton »

nawitus wrote: post #85
devindotcom wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My, how entitled we are! Your priorities may differ from the tens of millions who have bought these, the most popular tablets in the world. Apple is making safe, welcome changes to their products, which is something you can do in times of plenty. Personally, I will be happy to have an iPad that lasts longer, doesn't take ages to turn a page in a high-rez PDF, and is half a pound lighter. What happened to doing someth…

Making small, iterative upgrades to a product is fine, but then you shouldn't post it on Hacker News like it's something important.

a) Apple didn't post this, an interested user did. b) It's interesting to hackers and has plenty of upvotes. c) To a lot of people using this site, it is something important.

Re: iPad Air

#112

Post by biot »

enraged_camel wrote: post #90
phaus wrote: post #23

So their new commercial for the iPad focuses on the fact that so many people use it for productivity, so why can't Apple create a decent, first-party pressure sensitive stylus, so we don't have to deal with expensive, clunky, third-party solutions.

Steve Jobs said it best: "if you see a stylus, they blew it."

Steve Jobs also said you'd have to sharpen your fingers to use a tablet smaller than the full-sized iPad. :)

Re: iPad Air

#113

Post by jfb »

AJ007 wrote: post #77
alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #11

Why does Apple depart from the series numbers with the iPad? New iPad, now iPad Air... seems silly?

If you look at the back of the iPhones, the iPhone 3GS was the last one to name itself. Recently an Apple store employee wasn't to happy that I kept saying iPad 4. I suppose in a world where change is frequent and incremental rather than dramatic and rare removing the version number is appropriate to minimize consumer confusion. What strikes me more about this iPad Air is the price points. $499 16GB wifi only is a ve…

The Retina Mini is $399. So, yeah, it's more than the N7, but it's not twice as much.

Re: iPad Air

#114

Post by venomsnake »

yeukhon wrote: post #9

> Apple says is 8 times faster and has 72 times better graphics performance than the old processor. I am always amused by this.

No it is compared to iPad one. Which makes it ridiculous. They are just keeping up with Moore's law (or are slightly ahead of the curve). And I suppose the GPU is mostly increased die area - will wait for the teardown.

I think that apple is having a case of "taking ourselves too seriously" lately and have believed all the praise parts of the pundits are pouring on them so they cannot see how absurd that sounds.

Re: iPad Air

#115

Post by tnorthcutt »

sliverstorm wrote: post #95
devindotcom wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My, how entitled we are! Your priorities may differ from the tens of millions who have bought these, the most popular tablets in the world. Apple is making safe, welcome changes to their products, which is something you can do in times of plenty. Personally, I will be happy to have an iPad that lasts longer, doesn't take ages to turn a page in a high-rez PDF, and is half a pound lighter. What happened to doing someth…

Apple is making safe, welcome changes to their products, which is something you can do in times of plenty. Apple is also the company that made risky, aggressive bets cannibalizing their own products during times of plenty and was highly praised for doing so. (I speak of the iPod) I'm not surprised when people wish to see that kind of movement again.

What product(s) did they cannibalize with the iPod?

Re: iPad Air

#116

Post by freehunter »

enneff wrote: post #105
freehunter wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the argument I make when people say my Lumia 920 is too thick and too heavy compared to their iPhone or Galaxy, then proceed to take the case off their phone to show me the difference. The real difference is, my Lumia has been naked since day 1, and dropped many times over. It's a Nokia. Yeah, it's thick and heavy compared to an iPhone, but it also doesn't need a case. An iPhone with a normal case is thicker a…

Nice anecdotal strawman, so here's my contrary experience: I have owned iphones and android devices and never encased them nor broken them.

Anecdotal strawman? It's hardly anecdotal to say that the Lumia, being made of solid polycarbonate plastic, can withstand impacts more than an iPhone made of glass and rigid metal. There are multiple YouTube tests that show how much force a Lumia 920 can withstand without breaking. Your example is an anecdote, since there are many forms of proof that the iPhone is quite fragile as well as, for example, the Nexus 4. (anecdote: I shattered my Nexus 4 dropping it from a window sill onto carpet)

Likewise, how is it a strawman? The original comment was that the person doesn't care about thinner because it becomes thicker when you put a case on it. A phone that doesn't need a case need only be thinner than a comparable phone with a case on it to be thinner in practice. That's a direct response to the original comment, providing a case where the comment is true.

So you don't have a case and you protect your phone quite well. That is a pure anecdote. Just because you want it to be an anecdotal strawman doesn't mean it is one.

Re: iPad Air

#117

Post by enraged_camel »

Kylekramer wrote: post #93
enraged_camel wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and my Hyundai Santa Fe is 20% larger than a Honda Civic, which clearly makes it better.

And if anyone had said the Kindle was better, this snark would be relevant. But this is clearly a discussion of tablets' weight and whether the iPad Air's weight is a significant advance.

The weight does not exist in a vacuum. It has to be evaluated in light of not just the other specs, but also the user experience.

Think about this: if the Honda Civic was upgraded to be able to do everything my SUV can, including towing, off-roading, cargo capacity, and overall comfort, but its size AND price stayed the same, would that not be considered revolutionary?

Re: iPad Air

#118

Post by pohl »

javindo wrote: post #50

With all due respect, I really hope HN doesn't end up turning into an Apple fanatic site as was the case on certain tech blogs a few years ago. Also 2mm thinner warrants the "Air" title? I seriously think Apple are parodying themselves sometimes... Disclaimer: I am not any sort of "fanboy", I own an iPad and an android phone because they seem to be most suitable for me in those areas, I just feel as though HN is gett…

Also 2mm thinner warrants the "Air" title? I seriously think Apple are parodying themselves...

Have you considered that the term "Air" may be a name change that sets up space in the product line-up for a future higher-tier tablet – just like they have done in laptop line – rather than being mere braggadocio?

Re: iPad Air

#119

Post by MAGZine »

enneff wrote: post #105
freehunter wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the argument I make when people say my Lumia 920 is too thick and too heavy compared to their iPhone or Galaxy, then proceed to take the case off their phone to show me the difference. The real difference is, my Lumia has been naked since day 1, and dropped many times over. It's a Nokia. Yeah, it's thick and heavy compared to an iPhone, but it also doesn't need a case. An iPhone with a normal case is thicker a…

Nice anecdotal strawman, so here's my contrary experience: I have owned iphones and android devices and never encased them nor broken them.

I think you just strawmanned his argument...

Re: iPad Air

#120

Post by rayiner »

Osiris wrote: post #24

Can someone explain to me the obsession with "thinner"? This model is 2mm thinner and it's touted as taking "years of work". Lighter, I understand. Thin is a good goal, but 2mm is pretty pointless when you're just going to put a 5-10mm thick cover/case on it anyway.

I don't case my Mini, and the thin-ness versus a regular iPad is a huge difference when using it as a tablet.
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