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Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

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Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#61

Post by [deleted] »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #46
Zev wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I prefer a platform, where I won't potentially run into an application designed for a device with hardware that I don't have. I would prefer a device that is consistent. It doesn't have to do everything under the the sun. It just has to do what it claims to be able to do, well. By contrast a gigantic portion of applications for the iPad will be designed to be run on a phone... the iPhone Can't really talk…

Without even getting into the multiple generations of iPhones, each with different processors and hardware capabilities, the iPod Touches that don't have cameras or the fact that applications written for the iPhone/iPod Touch will run on the iPad, I'll just point out that the 3G iPad will have GPS and the WiFi iPad won't. So what where you saying about not wanting a platform with applications designed for a device wi…

[deleted]

Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#63

Post by glhaynes »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #49
paul wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easy wins. As much as I love downloading and building everything from source... actually, no, I hate that. Apple built that first easy app install experience, and that's the reason people love it, not because of some ideological preference.

"downloading and building everything from source" ? Look, I'm typing this on a MacBook, but that's the most ridiculously outdated Linux cliché in the book. The App store is just package management, which Linux has had for a while, and which Mac OS X is sadly missing.

"The App store is just package management, which Linux has had for a while, and which Mac OS X is sadly missing."

Ergo the users of Macs would have a better install/uninstall experience if they were running Linux. Ummm, OK.

Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#64

Post by weaksauce »

glymor wrote: post #39
weaksauce wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you to a degree. I would like the Apple Tablet to have those features except I want the Apple tablet to have the same screen that it does now. I know that a good portion of HN readers appreciate the difference between a TN Screen and the IPS screen that Apple is putting in the iPad. The epaper screen in this tablet is just not the way that apple wants to go with a tablet. It's also a direction that I don…

This has a Pixel Qi screen not a e-ink screen. (The OLPC screen has the same technology.) It has the same reaction speed as a LCD. I'm not sure how good the colour mode is (probably TN level). The monochrome mode has 3 times the DPI (because of each RGB sub-pixel). About e-ink readers: it's not the DPI. They generally have 160dpi which is lower than many mobile LCDs. For example the N770 I used to read on had a 225 d…

Thanks for the clarification on the Qi screen. There are a few factors that make ebook screens usable in my opinion. I would say that you need a certain level of dpi to handle small font rendering well. After a certain threshold I don't know if it benefits you as much. The second factor is screen size the n770 had a 4.1" screen which leads to a lot of context switches. The kindle has 167ppi on a 6" screen. The kindle screen allows for much less context switches which are jarring to the mind. (context switch in this example would be turning the page) With the iPad's 10" screen the context switches will be much less even still. (Though the iPad has the least ppi of all the devices I mentioned I think it should be over the minimum threshold for readability)

Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#65

Post by gfodor »

cookiecaper wrote: post #33
Zev wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The touching might make the interface more humane Bingo. This is exactly it. it makes things more humane. Easier. You don't have to worry about where you saved that file to. There's no accidentally deleting a folder that had an important document among a dozens of useless files. You don't need to use a clunky device to click on something. You use your finger and you push the screen. Which a lot of people do anyway, t…

Such an interface is not a major boon, or it would have been implemented many years ago. Touch screens are not a new technology, they've been around for more than twenty years. They may be becoming more popular right now, and Apple may be exploiting that with the iPad/iPhone, but it by no means deserves a comparison with such revolutions as the cell phone or automobile.

Capacitive multitouch is a new technology in consumer electronics.

Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#66

Post by fnid2 »

Lazlo_Nibble wrote: post #40
SwellJoe wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always been amazing to me that Apple has managed to convince a sizable number of otherwise intelligent people that a walled garden, tightly controlled by an overbearing schoolmarm, is preferable to the Internet and a totally free market. The app store is a huge bug, not a feature. It's just plain bad for developers (because Apple owns yours customers and the pipeline to those customers, and can cut you off witho…

What amazes me is the number of otherwise-apparently-intelligent people who appear to honestly believe that Apple users are just vapid trendoids who are fooled by all the pretty colors. Strangely, none of them seem to have figured out how to slap the same pretty colors onto their otherwise-superior products/platforms and carve out a chunk of the vapid trendoid market for themselves. How hard can it be?

It's really a matter of the size of the walled garden. You could call the entire earth a walled garden if you want. If the walled garden is big enough, people are okay with it.

For the majority of apple customers, the app store is plenty big enough. Apple customers are like those animals in the safari sized zoos where they can run around and feel free enough to not care so much about the fences keeping them in.

Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#67

Post by z8000 »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #47
z8000 wrote: post #9

The swivel camera is a good idea. It's tough to really love the thing without more information. Oh, I love the comparison in sunlight to a macbook ... whose brightness was clearly turned down quite a bit.

Why do you think the brightness was turned down? Have you ever tried to use a macbook in bright sunlight? It's unreadable. In fact I was surprised by how clear the macbook screen was so I'd guess they had the brightness jacked right up. Cameras don't always accurately reflect what the human eye would see but an LCD backlight simply can't compete with bright sunlight. The Pixel Qi is effectively acting as a mirror for…

I didn't think that the MacBook was actually in direct light. In fact from the angles it actually seemed to be shilouetted. The one time I did try to use a MacBook in direct sunlight, I found that turning the brightness off completely sort of worked ok. But then I just got up and moved somewhere else in the shadows.

Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#68

Post by SwellJoe »

glhaynes wrote: post #63
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"downloading and building everything from source" ? Look, I'm typing this on a MacBook, but that's the most ridiculously outdated Linux cliché in the book. The App store is just package management, which Linux has had for a while, and which Mac OS X is sadly missing.

"The App store is just package management, which Linux has had for a while, and which Mac OS X is sadly missing." Ergo the users of Macs would have a better install/uninstall experience if they were running Linux. Ummm, OK.

Ergo the users of Macs would have a better install/uninstall experience if they were running Linux. Ummm, OK.

I don't understand your sarcastic tone...they would have a better install/uninstall process if they were running Linux. Mac OS X has horrible package management (effectively none), while apt-get and yum are really, really good.

Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#69

Post by SwellJoe »

Lazlo_Nibble wrote: post #40
SwellJoe wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always been amazing to me that Apple has managed to convince a sizable number of otherwise intelligent people that a walled garden, tightly controlled by an overbearing schoolmarm, is preferable to the Internet and a totally free market. The app store is a huge bug, not a feature. It's just plain bad for developers (because Apple owns yours customers and the pipeline to those customers, and can cut you off witho…

What amazes me is the number of otherwise-apparently-intelligent people who appear to honestly believe that Apple users are just vapid trendoids who are fooled by all the pretty colors. Strangely, none of them seem to have figured out how to slap the same pretty colors onto their otherwise-superior products/platforms and carve out a chunk of the vapid trendoid market for themselves. How hard can it be?

Apple users are just vapid trendoids who are fooled by all the pretty colors.

You said it, not me.

I never said anything about the quality of Apple products. I mentioned one very specific, but serious, bug in the Apple iPhone/iPad products. I'm not saying Apple doesn't make beautiful products, or even that their products are poor quality (with a pretty face). I said that the App Market is a bug, not a feature, and that I'm surprised that anyone would consider it a positive market trend. I also implied that I'm disappointed that many people who I otherwise respect, have fallen into the trap of being sharecroppers on Apple's land. I'm disappointed because they're enabling what I consider a power shift in the wrong direction (back towards big corporations, and away from consumers and independent developers).

Your argument is not relevant to my comment, and I don't have any opinion on vapid trendoids and their choice of computer, phone, or tablet. You can argue with someone else about that.

Re: Video: Notion Ink Adam, iPad alternative

#70

Post by paul »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #49
paul wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easy wins. As much as I love downloading and building everything from source... actually, no, I hate that. Apple built that first easy app install experience, and that's the reason people love it, not because of some ideological preference.

"downloading and building everything from source" ? Look, I'm typing this on a MacBook, but that's the most ridiculously outdated Linux cliché in the book. The App store is just package management, which Linux has had for a while, and which Mac OS X is sadly missing.

If the "cliché" is so outdated, why was I building apps from source just earlier this weak? Perhaps I'm just dumb, but I've never found myself doing that on the iPhone...

It's amazing to me that people here would think that Linux has anywhere near the level of simplicity that the iPhone has. I don't even know where to start explaining...

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