Apple Tablet

[jvlgato]

Can't wait to see how much replacement batteries will cost when they die in a year.

Plus I wonder how easy it will be to set up service and backup and restore personal settings? What has been the experience for iTouch and iPhone users? Can you get the replacement in before you have to send in the old one? If not, no iPad for a week or more every time your battery dies.

[n_maher]

Plus I wonder how easy it will be to set up service and backup and restore personal settings? What has been the experience for iTouch and iPhone users? Can you get the replacement in before you have to send in the old one? If not, no iPad for a week or more every time your battery dies.

I would think that any Apple store would be able to replace the battery for you. Not that doing so doesn't come without some sort of time penalty to visit the store but you don't have to send it out for repair. I'd also like to think the battery will last a lot longer than a year.

[morphsci]

OK. After really looking at the specs and the reasons for the "limitations" and engineering decisions there really is some serious pixie dust in this thing. Some of which will obviously not be available until they announce iphone/itouch/ipad OS 4.0. This is what I need my netbook to be. I'm glad that it is a big Touch. The immediate startup is huge if you are going to use it as an off-and-on companion device on a day-to-day basis. I would be using my netbook more often if I didn't have to constantly wait for it to boot up (Sorry but "sleep" mode too often becomes dead-to the-world mode to be useful). Definitely going to get a 3G model, either 32 or 64gb and the VNC app. This will be the most useful computing device for me in a while especially when MS gets around to developing MS office ipad edition

[thrice]

Can't wait to see how much replacement batteries will cost when they die in a year.

I wouldn't be surprised to see free battery replacements with the Applecare warranty. Probably standard warranty covers it for a year.

Plus I wonder how easy it will be to set up service and backup and restore personal settings? What has been the experience for iTouch and iPhone users? Can you get the replacement in before you have to send in the old one? If not, no iPad for a week or more every time your battery dies.

The iPhone and iPod Touch backup automatically to your computer when they sync with iTunes. I'd bet this does the same thing. The effect of this is that you can backup the device and if it's lost, stolen or damaged, you just sync a new device and restore from the latest backup. It works fairly well. When we sold out iPod Touches and got iPhones this summer, I was able to backup both our iPod Touches and then "restore" those apps/settings..etc. to the new iPhones.

I think it will depend on where you are and how much repair is needed. Certainly the Genius Bar at an Apple store can probably handle some repairs on site. The last time I went to a Genius Bar (few months ago), they seem to be working on a quick 15 minute appointment model where the employee assesses the situation and then either solves the issue or checks the item in for repair. Of course, they don't keep that 15 minute slot all the time... some issues take longer, but that seems to be the current working model for Genius Bar appointments.

If the device needs to be replaced outright, then you probably get that on site and then go home and restore from the backup onto the new device.

[Salt Peanuts]

Have they talked about whether or not you can transfer/sync the apps on your iPhone/Touch with iPad? It would be annoying to need to buy apps you've already purchased again just so you can use it on iPad.

[n_maher]

Here's a little graphic that I cooked up to help understand how much letter boxing you're going to get watching 16:9 HDTV content (blue), or 1.85:1 (red) and 2.35:1 (yellow) movies. At 16:9 it's not bad, but I think movies are going to make you think you're wasting a lot of screen.

[Hopstretch]

Have they talked about whether or not you can transfer/sync the apps on your iPhone/Touch with iPad? It would be annoying to need to buy apps you've already purchased again just so you can use it on iPad.

Any apps you have will automatically sync over. You don't pay twice.

[mypasswordis]

The immediate startup is huge if you are going to use it as an off-and-on companion device on a day-to-day basis. I would be using my netbook more often if I didn't have to constantly wait for it to boot up (Sorry but "sleep" mode too often becomes dead-to the-world mode to be useful).

Not sure what you mean by this. I always use standby or hibernate and it works fine for me. I actually shut down or restart maybe once a week.

[thrice]

Have they talked about whether or not you can transfer/sync the apps on your iPhone/Touch with iPad? It would be annoying to need to buy apps you've already purchased again just so you can use it on iPad.

They mentioned that nearly all of the current iPhone/iPod Touch apps will run on the iPad right now, as is. I can't imagine that you will have to repurchase an current app to get that particular app to run on the iPad.

Of course developers can go either way. Either update an existing app to work on all devices or introduce a new iPad capable version of their app. I imagine we will see both and people will be upset either way.

[Hopstretch]

They mentioned that nearly all of the current iPhone/iPod Touch apps will run on the iPad right now, as is. I can't imagine that you will have to repurchase an current app to get that particular app to run on the iPad.

Of course developers can go either way. Either update an existing app to work on all devices or introduce a new iPad capable version of their app. I imagine we will see both and people will be upset either way.

It won't bug me to pay for added functionality in an iPad app if it really takes advantage of the extra capacities of the device. But Apple's been clear that they're not going to let people charge for straight "ports".

[morphsci]

Not sure what you mean by this. I always use standby or hibernate and it works fine for me. I actually shut down or restart maybe once a week.

Every so often when I use standby (about 1:20) my netbook will not come out of standby and requires a hard boot. I have never had a windows based machine that did not have that problem. My touch has always been there when I want it. I do not use a MacBook so that may be part of my problem.

[The Monkey]

I'm warming to this device slightly. Part of that reaction has to do with the fact that I am a firm believer in Apple's marketing genius. More than any company I can think of, Apple knows what the consumer wants before the consumer does. Most companies are reactive; relying on slicing and dicing market research in an effort to gauge what people bought yesterday so that they can develop that same product today.

Simply put, I know Apple is smarter than I am. I can see, with the right content, that this device--and particularly its later iterations--could become something that is attached to its users at the hip. Also, it's a testament to how revolutionary the iPhone was that the iPad seems slightly ho-hum to me. The lack of camera, aspect ratio, etc. are annoying. In some ways, it makes me wonder if the Steve was faced with a decision: Do I get this thing done now, less than perfectly and let it develop; or do I wait until it can be exactly what I want and try to not die in the interim?

My conspiracy theory is that Jobs's (justifiable) sense of mortality might have thrust this thing into the spotlight just slightly before its time. Regardless, I will reserve judgment until I get one.

Did any of you get past the third sentence?

[The Monkey]

Also, what do folks think this will do to sales of the Touch?

[grawk]

I think the aspect ratio was a compromise to allow easy pixel doubling for ipod apps. I don't think it was the wrong call. The lack of multitasking I think is the big drawback, but I'm confident they'll fix that. I'd like to see java enabled, so that I can use my timesheet website for work, but I'm guessing either that will get corrected, or apple will convince everyone to switch to HTML5 for most situations.

It does have me wanting to learn to program for it. I have a few ideas I'd love to implement.

[The Monkey]

It does have me wanting to learn to program for it. I have a few ideas I'd love to implement.

Agree. That's a skill I'd love to have, but I might be too old a dog to learn such tricks.

[n_maher]

Also, what do folks think this will do to sales of the Touch?

I don't think it'll have a huge impact. The Pad is not truly portable, pocketsized and is about double the cost of the equivalent Touch. While similar, they are quite different in use.

[blessingx]

As others have said, 16:9 is nice. 9:16 not so much.

Anyone figure out if the headphone jack is an optical dual or not?

Edited January 28, 2010 by blessingx

[morphsci]

As others have said, 16:9 is nice. 9:16 not so much.

Anyone figure out if the headphone jack is an optical dual or not?

It is not listed as such under specifications but is listed like that on other units such as the Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, etc. So I doubt it is a dual headphone/optical out.

[Hopstretch]

I'm warming to this device slightly. Part of that reaction has to do with the fact that I am a firm believer in Apple's marketing genius. More than any company I can think of, Apple knows what the consumer wants before the consumer does. Most companies are reactive; relying on slicing and dicing market research in an effort to gauge what people bought yesterday so that they can develop that same product today.

Simply put, I know Apple is smarter than I am. I can see, with the right content, that this device--and particularly its later iterations--could become something that is attached to its users at the hip. Also, it's a testament to how revolutionary the iPhone was that the iPad seems slightly ho-hum to me. The lack of camera, aspect ratio, etc. are annoying. In some ways, it makes me wonder if the Steve was faced with a decision: Do I get this thing done now, less than perfectly and let it develop; or do I wait until it can be exactly what I want and try to not die in the interim?

My conspiracy theory is that Jobs's (justifiable) sense of mortality might have thrust this thing into the spotlight just slightly before its time. Regardless, I will reserve judgment until I get one.

Did any of you get past the third sentence?

No, Dinny. Oh, wait...

It's really instructive to see how opinion splits on this thing between the tech pros, who generally don't like it, and the finance pros, who are already counting all the extra money they think Apple is going to make. I guess this is because the former are focusing pretty much solely on the use case -- where Apple has clearly not, as they had hoped, delivered the innovations required to establish tablet devices as fully-fledged, general-purpose computers. The money men, though, are looking at the business case -- and they see an extremely aggressive attempt to create a whole new category of mass-market consumer data device. Instead of taking the usual approach to the technology adoption lifecycle, Apple is trying to "cross the chasm" (between tech-savvy early adopters and the majority of consumers) straight out of the gate, betting that the iPad's price point is more important than its feature list and that the existing installed base of iPhone/Touch OS users (plus the intuitive simplicity of that operating system) will let them bypass the usability issues that are generally the major drag on the diffusion of innovation.

So, while the iPad isn't the Jesus tablet the geeks were dreaming of, it's huge for Apple nevertheless. It's their entry in the sub-$500 sort-of-computer race that they'd previously ceded to the netbooks. It's their shot (and a pretty good one) at being the single biggest player in the diffuse media market of the future. It's their testbed for innovations in mobile technology that can be pushed down to the smartphone lineup (the processors) and up to the laptops (gesture UI etc.). It's another potential profit channel for indy developers, allowing them to extend their already huge lead in mobile software. I don't think it was all hype when Jobs said the iPad could be the most significant product he has been involved with at the company.

Eh, what do I know? I'll buy one straight away because it suits me. Your mileage will vary.

[Dash]

Anyone figure out if the headphone jack is an optical dual or not?

This would be dead sexy.

[Knuckledragger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4

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[GPH]

Nice, Godwin's Law in effect.

The more I look at the iPad, the more I find it sexy, but I have a hard time figuring why I'd need one.

[Salt Peanuts]

Nice, Godwin's Law in effect.

The more I look at the iPad, the more I find it sexy, but I have a hard time figuring why I'd need one.

Because it's sexy?

[n_maher]

Random thought - on the 3G model w/ either data plan I wonder if they (AT&T) will restrict the file size you can download like they do on the iPhone? It'd be pretty weak if you couldn't download a podcast on the fly with this thing.

[tkam]

Random thought - on the 3G model w/ either data plan I wonder if they (AT&T) will restrict the file size you can download like they do on the iPhone? It'd be pretty weak if you couldn't download a podcast on the fly with this thing.

They restrict the file size? Is this something you've seen downloading something via safari or from an App? If it's from an App this is very likely limited by the developer because Apple rejects apps for using too much bandwidth. So the way around that is to limit download file size on 3G and keep it unlimited on wifi.