Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Chair

daringfireball.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 186 posts

Re: The Chair

#61

Post by bonch »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #12

>There’s a palpable sense among everyone from Apple I spoke to yesterday that this is the biggest and most important thing in the history of the industry. Seriously? Bigger and more important than the invention of the Internet and WWW? Well, I just wish the Post-PC devices wouldn't come with a 30% (or 43%) surcharge for all subscription content.

"Seriously? Bigger and more important than the invention of the Internet and WWW?"

Well, Possibly. I think he's referring to tablet computing in general. It represents the fruition of progress toward a true household computing appliance, the kind of handheld "electronic book" that used to exist only in science fiction. Someday, the paradigm of the desktop PC and its required upkeep and complicated interfaces may be considered the short-term condition of a young industry.

Re: The Chair

#62

Post by muhfuhkuh »

jrockway wrote: post #39
rbarooah wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 some…

"Guess what, you can do that with a 386 laptop from 1995"

Then why do I want to do that on a 2011 Android clone tablet that costs more than the baseline Apple one (as of 3/2/11 more than $100 more)?

"Apple's success comes from convincing people, through marketing, that they want to do that on an iPad and not on something else."

They convince people that the things that they normally did on their desktop or notebook propped on their lap, they can now do on the couch curled up leaning against the arm of their favorite chair, perhaps with the TV on, as they pinch and zoom and tap and slide freely around a large, bright touchscreen instead of a tiny glidepad.

Re: The Chair

#63

Post by erikpukinskis »

akashs wrote: post #15

It's a bit unfortunate that most of the post is a bunch of gushing about how Apple is so amazing. Unfortunate because there's a very insightful point in that second to last paragraph. The chair is definitely part of Apple's genius when it comes to the iPad. It shows us that this isn't a laptop or a PC and the iPad doesn't fall into the paradigms we're used to. It's something new, meant for you to use when you're rela…

But the Xoom is definitely a great step, especially with the higher-res, less awkward screen for watching video (the aspect ratio is an annoyance on the iPad).

This reminds me of my friends who've dated someone for many years, and then once they got the nerve to leave them, they end up marrying the next person they date, within 12 months.

When you spend time with something, you get really familiar with its weaknesses. Then something walks along that doesn't have any of those weaknesses, and because you are so obsessed with those specific traits, you perceive this new thing as perfect.

Of course nothing is perfect, and once the glow wears off, you see everything the old one was amazing at, and the new one sucks at.

Widescreen is good for watching movies. But you do a lot on a tablet that's not watching movies.

Re: The Chair

#64

Post by dannyr »

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,…

Ah, I still remember when the 1st Android phone came out (G1). A lot of people were dismissing it because the IPhone had a 2-year head start. Interface was ugly, phone is thick like a brick, only on 1 carrier, the smallest of the Big 4 at that.

Well, how did that turn out? Android is selling more than the IPhone.

A proper tablet OS didn't arrive until last month and people are already saying it's almost too late for Android to catch up with the IPad.

Alright, people will say that it's not the same. But I believe the barriers to entry to the table market is lower than that of phones since manufacturers do not really need carrier approval. Once Google refines the Android tablet OS, I can't wait to see what manufacturers can come up with.

Re: The Chair

#65

Post by aashpak1 »

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.

> So lack of apps is not really a burning problem.

The converse of above statement is a richer ecosystem is not really an advantage or incentive for developers!

Re: The Chair

#66

Post by kleptco »

iPad's post-pc experience: holding your computer get's old fast, touch is frustratingly imprecise, copy/paste and the web suck. SJ talks about how it's not a computer and then points out how great it is for creating content and for business. He is P.T. Barnum and the suckers are lapping it up.

Re: The Chair

#67

Post by rbarooah »

orangecat wrote: post #54
rbarooah wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right - I said in my original comment that the situation would change over the year, but for now an average user would be silly to buy a Xoom and only have blown up phone apps and hope that stuff they like gets developed in future, when they can buy an iPad 2 and have great dedicated apps today .

for now an average user would be silly to buy a Xoom and only have blown up phone apps "Blown up phone apps" are much better on Android than the pixel doubling that the iPad does for iPhone apps. Android apps aren't hardcoded for a specific resolution, so most of them work well on tablets even without being specifically designed to.

But that's irrelevant because people aren't using pixel doubled apps on the iPad. They are using specially designed apps.

Are you seriously claiming that apps developed for android phones are as good as the dedicated iPad apps?

Re: The Chair

#68

Post by lloeki »

orangecat wrote: post #5
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,…

You can't even buy any of them, except for Samsung's Galaxy Tab. The Xoom is available now.

In the US. The Galaxy Tab took like 6 months to appear in France.

Re: The Chair

#69

Post by dannyr »

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.

Replace "Xoom" with "G1"/"Android" and "IPad"/"IPad 2" with "IPhone". Pretty much exactly what people said more than 2 years ago.

Re: The Chair

#70

Post by lloeki »

dannyr wrote: post #64
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,…

Ah, I still remember when the 1st Android phone came out (G1). A lot of people were dismissing it because the IPhone had a 2-year head start. Interface was ugly, phone is thick like a brick, only on 1 carrier, the smallest of the Big 4 at that. Well, how did that turn out? Android is selling more than the IPhone. A proper tablet OS didn't arrive until last month and people are already saying it's almost too late for…

Not selling more in Europe where Apple dominates. The only Android device cracking around here is the Galaxy Spica, not quite the same league as the iPhone.
Post reply on HN