Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

But that's from years of crafting a name brand and coherent marketing that they can do such a thing. Nokia has started and stopped, restarted so many times, folks don't know which Nokia they're going to get - Nokia from 1998, 2004, 2008 or the one that seems lost as hell in 2010.

Whereas Apple... it's always the same, overpriced, overhyped product that they've used minor words "It just works", "Magical", "Easy to use" and have backed it up with using words that people gobble up year after year.

It's sheer marketing genius going from the dark days of Gil Amelio's tenure as Apple's CEO to now - so that's... 16+ years I'm talking about and they've crafted themselves into that company that you know... and probably loathe, hate, despise, love, worship, or whatever; you cannot deny that you've witnessed well-crafted marketing through and through.

Nokia needs to do that too. Now.

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

If he had a 3G version and an extra battery he could have used the s5 as a cell phone!

I think the iphone 4 with the UMID M1 will fulfill all my computing needs.

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

I've seen the Viliv S5 - but something about it just doesn't jive with me.

Dell Streak at 5" hits above my N810, and about where I want it.

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

First, I call BS on the 10 hour estimate of the iPad. None of the reviewers have come close to getting that, and the only one claiming it is Apple.

Also consider that the competitors also both allow full flash and give you root equivalent without jailbreak. (Sound familiar?) They also both offer bluetooth for network, file transfer, audio, and more. Both also run significantly faster than the iPad (at/over 1Ghz), and have more memory.

If you lock them down, underclock them, and play the other tricks the iPad has played, you can probably eek the same use time out of them, I'm sure. Plus both weigh in at weights near or under the iPad. Less use time, more functionality, lighter pad... it's a priorities thing.

The real point here though is that there are (and have been) other tablet devices with the same or better technologies. The only reason the iPad has done so well is the iMentality of people buying the latest iGadget because it shiny and is marketed well. Jobs could have introduced the iToilet, with a "new quite flush techonolgy" and a "special soft seat option" and people would be clamoring to get it. It's not the hardware or the software that's special. It's the hype, the marketing, and (until recently) the customer care.

If you find anything new about the iPad, it's because you simply didn't look at the (admittedly tiny) tablet market before now. There are plenty of fish in that ocean, you just didn't realize it until Jaws started gobbling people up wholesale and it hit the news. :p

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

I totally agree, on all points. The hype is to the point that Jobs could sell anything, even a total flop, to millions before that reputation dies down. I think in the end that's what's happened with the iPad (and to a lesser degree the iPhone 4). Once people start seeing real feedback and realize that not every iGadget is made of gold, that will slowly change. The same hardware/software, sold under a different name/brand, would not do as well, even with it's compatibility and functionality equivalent to its matching iDevice.

We saw the same thing with lots of brands in the past. IBM being a key example from the early PC days... Mention IBM to anyone in their 30s or 40s and it's an instant recognition. Talk to a teen about it and they'll ask what city that rap group is from so they can look it up on YouTube. Same with Xerox, same with Kodak, and saddly, same with Nokia.

Anyway.. this has drifted off topic I think. :) Though it's been fun!

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

Ok, it would be great to hear about some of these fantastic devices from last year that entered the mass market, I must have missed them or forgot them. Care to refresh our memory?

Lets keep it simple for you:

* Needs to last a day (any OS) at that screen size, ideally always connected use for comparison
* Thin and light
* Fanless or Solid state

Something tells me he won't be coming back

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

care to back this up?
I got 9+ hours when I had the wifi ipad; and the 3G version runtime is about an hour less, as claimed.

I'm seeing A LOT of ipad fans and it's their first apple 'computer'. their previous apple branded products were ipods. marketing/hype can jumpstart something but to sustain items you need more than just hype.

I've been looking for a good slate since panasonic cf01 and a few fujitsu stylistics; then tablet pcs and a few umpc. those were all just keyboard-less (and underpowered) laptops.

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

You forget the other thign Apple does VERY well, that sells and maintains its brand loyalty which Nokia also needs to do now too: customer service.

Say all the crap that we will about their products and their OS and everything, they take care of their customers. Despite everything else, the fact that you can walk into their stores in most major cities, even if yo u bought their product online, and get help, talk face to face with a technical rep (OK, genius.. sure sure) and even get repairs and parts on a whim, is what truly sells their devices (in addition to the style and marketing).

I think a lot of us here are overlooking these points. All the technical achievement in the world is worthless if a customer ends up hating the product or the brand because the manufacturer is hostile or negligent, the way Nokia has been.

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

Froyo is on the cusp of being unofficially released for the Archos 5, an alpha is out for testing.

Re: Why I bought an iPad
 

I got an iPad too. It was with a small amount of sadness, that I recently noticed my N900 battery life had improved immensely. This is because I've started using the iPad for MANY of the things that I previously used the N900 for.

In my opinion, the iPad easily defeats the N900 in the following areas: Any kind of reading and gaming. It's not much, when you express it that way, but it's 90% of what I used to do with my N900. Reading books, reading magazines, reading web pages, rss -feeds, comics, mail. The iPad is just perfect for that.

On the other hand, anything that requires text input is heaps easier on the N900 (at least for me). Writing mail, chatting, unix sysadmin stuff. Even though the keyboard on the iPad screen is huge, a physical keyboard beats it every time.

It's not so much about what the N900 CAN do, but what you ACTUALLY do with it. I used to browse the web a lot on the N900 and now, I would be stupid to do it, since I have the iPad with a much better screen, much better zooming, much better loading speeds. Trying to read comics or magazines on the N900 is... well, impossible for me. The content would just be way too small.

On the other hand, I will still be using my N900 for writing (longer) emails, chatting, multitasking, camera, portable music player with bluetooth speakers, any mobile internet ...

I'd be lying though, if I said I hadn't thought about getting the iPhone4. The software is just so much more polished. I don't care about the apps - they are like extras in a movie to me - not really that relevant, but the thing that irritates me most about the N900 is the unpolishedness of the basic apps: mail, browser, media player, maps, calendar. Absolutely love the task switcher with the cards, though. I don't think that will ever be beaten. I wish there was a worthy contender to the iPhone4 with a qwerty-slider.