A Story of Two Tablets...

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mistergq

Something was not right with your Ipad. I picked up my Ipad from Best Buy, we went to dinner, and while at dinner, turned on the Ipad, without a computer, and started playing. Had it connected to my Exchange server in seconds, and then started downloading an app. So I am not sure why you had to connect to a computer, but that is not normal.

I'll be first to agree that there is something wrong with it

EDIT: I'm thinking this is quite common, after doing a search, even the apple forums say so. You probably got the unit the guys in the store were playing with... so they activated it for you... I wasn't so lucky

[madpoet]

Yeah, it does have to be activated. Takes, oh, 30 seconds. Much like if you buy a cell phone and the guys in the store have to activate it, only that takes like 30 minutes.

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Hey Brent... It's still killing me... knowing that I gave money to SJ

* The weight of the device
The ipad is freakishly heavy. I can read with it, without resting it on something. The Samsung was heavy and it was a little over half the weight of the ipad.

I went into Best Buy the other day to check out the iPod touch and other similar options for my son and used the iPad display model to research some things. I was shocked by how heavy the thing really is. I can't imagine using it as a book reader my arms would fall off. Since you need at least one hand operate the thing you almost have to put it on you lap or table.

I have an iPhone which is great and the iPad seems to work the same way. I find it pretty easy to navigate but like all things new and unfamiliar I suppose you have to get used to it. My main complaint about the iPhone is the lack of flash support. If you are on the real web and not some iPhone centric app a lot of stuff does not even render.

I saw a 7" Archos tablet at Best by and I thought it was the right size and weight for a tablet. I ended up buying the Archos 70 internet tablet for my son. (He already has an older zune and just wanted it for the games)
http://www.archos.com/products/ta/ar...try=us&lang=en
This thing doesn't have phone access but I don't really want to pay for a plan for it anyway.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by madpoet

Yeah, it does have to be activated. Takes, oh, 30 seconds. Much like if you buy a cell phone and the guys in the store have to activate it, only that takes like 30 minutes.

I can't even download itunes in 30 seconds... let alone install it, create an account, etc. The fact that you need to "activate" a wifi only device is beyond obsurd, and the fact that you have to activate it using another device.... words can't even begin to describe that

I was at best buy the other day, and guy was looking at an ipad for his son (older son), and the sales person made point of asking his sone currently had a computer, which he did not, so she said that he'd need to activate it at himself, or find another way to activate it. He asked for other other options, and she ended up selling him a netbook instead. I was next in line and the first question she asked me was whether or not I had a computer at home. I'm guessing they get a fair number of customers comming back to the store asking how they are supposed to use this thing.

Originally Posted by SWKerr

I saw a 7" Archos tablet at Best by and I thought it was the right size and weight for a tablet. I ended up buying the Archos 70 internet tablet for my son. (He already has an older zune and just wanted it for the games)
http://www.archos.com/products/ta/ar...try=us&lang=en
This thing doesn't have phone access but I don't really want to pay for a plan for it anyway.

I looked at the 7" archos unit as well... I could see that for a pmp.

[panteragstk]

You should just the the $100 version from walgreens http://tatstechtalk.wordpress.com/20...-not-a-galaxy/

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by mistergq

Something was not right with your Ipad. I picked up my Ipad from Best Buy, we went to dinner, and while at dinner, turned on the Ipad, without a computer, and started playing. Had it connected to my Exchange server in seconds, and then started downloading an app. So I am not sure why you had to connect to a computer, but that is not normal.

I set these up brand new weekly for clients at my company and I can say I have not had one that didn't need to be activated on a computer first. Ditto for iPhones.

[flavius]

Originally Posted by stuckless

The other $500 is the e-reader

No, that's for the included netbook.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by flavius

No, that's for the included netbook.

No, netbooks have a LARGE , virtually limitless, collection of apps and features.

[flavius]

Originally Posted by stuckless

The fact that you need to "activate" a wifi only device is beyond obsurd, and the fact that you have to activate it using another device...

Yeah, they should change that. In the Apple store at least, they will activate it for you if you ask.

Originally Posted by stuckless

I looked at the 7" archos unit as well... I could see that for a pmp.

Archos? You are kidding, right?

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by flavius

Archos? You are kidding, right?

Why? They've been producing Android tablets for longer than Apple has been making iPad... So I would expect their latest generation of Android tablets to be competitive, for a fraction of the cost...

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Why? They've been producing Android tablets for longer than Apple has been making iPad... So I would expect their latest generation of Android tablets to be competitive, for a fraction of the cost...

And not to mention, that a core piece of being a pmp (ie personal media player) is the ability to play back lots of different kinds of content. The archos will play avi, h264, and dvds... ie, I don't have to spend hours transcoding stuff just to watch it.

[Fuzzy]

Yeah, once the mobile web browser supports android, the archos line will immediately look quite nice... Also, the Archos 9 (windows) is very attractive looking.. can run placeshifter, and it has a kick-stand... :-)

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Yeah, once the mobile web browser supports android, the archos line will immediately look quite nice...

Well, that goes back to the iOS devices using Apple's HTTP Live Streaming protocol. Since Android does not support it and don't have anything similar (though they did buy some company and should have their own solution eventually), that does complicate the streaming to Android devices... It's possible to wrap up ffmpeg or VLC, but that's not as optimal...

[Fuzzy]

True.. but I have no problem streaming to my droid with Orb... it's just there's no easy way to launch ORB from the web interface.

[jhh]

Originally Posted by stuckless

The ipad is basically a $500 web browser

Hm - I find I use my laptop a lot less now I have the iPad. Both RDPLite and Teamviewer are ok to control my headless server - though the latter requires you to install a piece of software on the server.

The webserver makes it a nice tool to check programming and recordings on SageTV but that fits with the definition of an expensive web browser.

So ridiculous you have to install iTunes to get the thing running

Jan

[stuckless]

Cool promo by motorola for their upcomming tablet

[flavius]

Not completely unfunny.