My take on iPAD by Apple and lack of multitasking

[MorituriMax]

Listened to the podcast where Leo and Ryan were discussing his dissenting view of the iPAD.

Leo sounded like he really didn't consider Multitasking very important. I do, since I own an iPhone and would really really like to be able to multitask so I could run apps like Skype in the background. When you leave Skype to do something else, you no longer are able to get calls.

If I could multitask, then I could use Skype all the time instead of the iPhone's built-in phone.

Little things like that are why it is very important and its lack in the SuperTouch, er, I mean iPAD is extremely disappointing.

Thanks Apple, for once again telling everyone what they need in a computer, and what they really don't want to do, in Steve Jobs opinion.

[PerfectShot]

I've worked on Apple servers. Amazing.
I hate iTunes yet I own an iPod Touch, that is pretty much identical to the iPhone.

Apart from the lower price (60%?), camera, micophone and some cellular technology inbuilt? Not to mention the $70 price tag per month for wireless and "phone" service? Why do you need phone service if you've got "broad"band?

I've got this love / hate relationship with Apple. I dislike their OS because it seems to similar but yet so different. Their hardware rocks but I don't like their controlled approach and catering to dummies.

I wish I had a Zune as I love M$ PC's version. Yet I own the Touch as I have a very good collection of usefull app for $.99 each, or mostly FREE.

I've set the iPod touch to check all my email accounts. Not only does it sync with my work's email, but the calendar as well! It's amazing - I have my life on this thing. An Apple product being to interface to a Microsoft technology? MS EXCHANGE on my iPod.

(Not even my PC can connect to the email....)

Too kepp it short, I've never heard of SuperTouch but I'm looking forward to the iPad. $15 a month for some connectivity? $30 for unlimited? It's like a supercharge iPod Touch (aka iPhone) but for a lot less.

I own a prepaid cell phone that burns about $100 a year. iPad? I'm the first in line to get the 64GB 3G model!

And yes, I don't own a laptop either. The iPad would replace my notepad.

Bring it on!

[mpulliam]

[Brandito]

i love that steve jobs said apple would not make a netbook because they're crap, yet they come out with something that's supposed to compete with netbooks and is less useful in near every way.

i really don't see people traveling with this thing. it's too big to be taken along easily, and not near as useful as a note/netbook. if you're going to carry an extra bag why not put a device that can do everything in it instead of a giant ipod touch?

apple worked backwards on this one. they usually miniaturize products, not make them bigger!

it's not as portable as a smartphone, and not as uefull as similarly size netbook. so why does it exist? i'll tell you why, to sell to all the people who are willing to buy anything steve jobs shovels out to them. the guy is a megalomaniac!

oh not to mention they not only chose a terrible name for the product, but stole the name from fujitsu who has owned it for around a decade.

[unclewoja]

Still no expandable storage.

16gb SD cards are going for around the $30 mark. Steve wants to charge you $100 for the extra 16gb.

I got a laptop last year. In almost every respect with hardware, it was identical to the Macbook Pro aside from a backlit keyboard, a few thousand pixels and nVidia graphics.

Taking the OS cost out of the equation (this is in Australian Dollars) my laptop cost $1400. The Macbook Pro at that time, less OS cost was going for $4300. Same processor, same RAM, more HDD space for $2,900 less.

Mac OSX I've heard is far superior to Windows. I've never used it so I don't know. However, while Microsoft gets a bad rap for selling an over priced OS, Steve is selling morons a $40 OS for almost $3,000.

The iPad continues this fine tradition.

[PerfectShot]

i love that steve jobs said apple would not make a netbook because they're crap, yet they come out with something that's supposed to compete with netbooks and is less useful in near every way.

How is a iPad less useful that a netbook? I've helped people find their right netbook but never really had a need to get one myself... How much would cellular internet cost on a netbook? $15 / $30 per month seems really low.

During meetings I can't just pull out a laptop and look down on a screen. I need to use a notepad so people can see that I'm not browsing the net. An iPad could serve as a notepad and would be visible to everyone.

Steve said a lot of things. He said he'd NEVER put a FM receiver into an iPod. Two years later he comes out with the most advanced FM receiver I've heard of - it buffers live radio for 15 minutes!

Steve said that eBooks aren't the future. Amazon was making a killing with their Kindles. Now their future seems to be in question. Finally some competition in the eBook market!

I carry an iPod Touch in my pocket. As said, it connects to my work's Exchange email, syncs with my calendar, browses and is a great way to make quick notes. The only downside is the screen - I wouldn't be surfing PCPER on that. The ads would be too small!

Internet at work is highly restricted - I could now connect to Facebook during the day as if I was picking a book. If possible, I'll get rid of my $3 notepad that I carry with a heavy laptop bag. Once in a while I'm on the field and need a laptop for presentations or vendor demos. With an iPad I wouldn't need anything else.

Mutli-tasking? That's my gripe with Skype. I won't be able to receive calls as they come in, but if someone leaves a message, I can listen to it instantly (I receive an email notification) and then switch the iPad into phone mode.

It's not going to compete with a HD desktop screen but will keep me connected when I'm not chained to my desk at work or in my studio at home.

[MorituriMax]

Well, I'd like to get one, if for no other reason than that it will make a kick-ass e-book reader, newspaper reader, etc..

What I don't think is very helpful to it is that you pay for the data downloads in a plan you pay to AT&T (or did I hear that wrong?). I have a Verizon MiFi card which I love (and I got it because AT&T service on my iphone is so terrible. Edge is slower than dirt and I have yet to SEE a 3G connection since I have had it.) so the wifi is taken care of.

The multitasking is still a disappointment because I sorely want to be able to run Skype in background to receive calls while I am reading ebooks or newspapers or magazines at the same time. On my iPhone I can run skype to get calls but when I run a different app, boom, I only get push notifications and can't take a call that comes in when I receive it.

I wonder whether there will be a way to jailbreak the ipad and run skype all the time? Has anyone done anything like this on the iphone? I have never jailbroken anything so don't know if this is something that might work on the iphone/ipad.

On second thought, would skype even work on the ipad? I heard conflicting statements about whether there is a mic built-in to the ipad.

@Perfectshot, hmmm 30$ unlimited data, wonder if the ipad would work as a wifi spot? My verizon card is $65 bucks a month for 5gig, which has been plenty for what I do when I am away from my regular cable. If I could do wifi hotspot on a ipad I might be able to drop the mifi card. Hmmm, things to ponder and wonder about.

[Brandito]

looks like a terrible ebook reader. glossy screen = only good for indoor use.

also amazons stock closed up the day the ipad was released. so that tells you what investors think of the ipad as far as an ebook reader is concerned.

4:3 screen in an HD age? i mean seriously, what are they thinking over there?

nothing apple does is advanced. they haven't had an original idea in ages, if ever. they take something that already exists, make it pretty, mark up the price 200% so it sounds more luxurious and you have an iProduct.

apple is good at aesthetics, not so much with innovation or functionality.

[jsc1973]

A "tablet PC" that runs a stripped-down OS and can't even multitask. Apple's turned back the clock 13 years, and the only difference is that they've added color and replaced the dial-up Internet with wireless. Remember the Newton MessagePad 2100, introduced in 1997?



Of course, there are always enough lemmings out there to buy whatever Steve Jobs throws out there. He's given us Dalmatian-colored computers, computers running jazzed up versions of NeXTSTEP, managed to convince everyone Apple invented the portable MP3 player, and now he's giving us warmed-over ideas from 1997 in a shinier package.

It was a great product in 1997, but Apple couldn't sell water to people in the Sahara back then. Today, I'm sure Jobs will sell 20 million of them just because it's an Apple product.

[mpulliam]

[CMB]

[unclewoja]

Well, I'd like to get one, if for no other reason than that it will make a kick-ass e-book reader, newspaper reader,

There is a glut of new e-book readers entering the market now and all of them eat the iPad for breakfast if you look at the e-book functions.

Other e-book readers offer thing like significantly longer battery life, e-ink screens, wireless charging, USB ports, expandable storage, Windows 7 the list goes on

When it comes to an e-book, the iPad is a sledgehammer and when it comes to a netbook, it's a tack hammer.

I want an e-book reader to be impersonal. I want to be able to buy one good one and have everyone on the family use it. Just like a good book. You don't have to buy each family member a different copy... especially if each initial copy costs $600.

Apple fanbois will of course disagree, but the Apple fanbois would buy a Betamax player if it had an Apple logo on it.

[Mjölnir]

[3dfxrain]

lul later revision of ipad can has multitasking

[MorituriMax]

my 3 requirements:
1. multitasking (if for absolutely no other reason than able to run ONE app all the time in background, (skype, vonage, google voice, etc) an app that lets me make calls over wifi

(doesn't apple already HAVE limited multitasking, since the phone always comes up no matter what I am doing on my iphone when it gets a call)

2. verizon
3. decent way to download content like the kindle, always on, i'll accept slightly higher prices if they cover the cost of downloading what I buy.