Mobile phones & tablets thread

[Andrewmcm]

I had a go of an iPad in Zurich and I have to say it was impressive. Very smooth and good at viewing web pages. But then still very impractical. I could see it being used as a video device for e.g. Youtube, which it can't do. Or iPlayer which it can't do.

There is BBC iPlayer iPad-optimised site - I watched some of the Turkish GP race on the iplayer when I had a fiddle with an iPad in an Apple Store. Impressive it was too.

And there is a dedicated youtube app, as with the iPhone.

[Jag_Warrior]

But those are really cool. You should repost them for all our newer patrons.

Thanks. That's a good idea. Once I get the diecast room finished, I'll get a digital camera, take some shots and post them here. When I built this house I decided not to clutter every room with them, like I did at my other house. At a certain point, visitors begin to wonder about you - plus, they're not toys and that made most of my other house very "kid unfriendly". So they'll have their own room by the end of summer, I hope. I have several hundred now, but most should fit on the shelving system I'm trying to come up with.

Ya know, I've been here for 10 years now and I don't know if we have a photo album as part of the forum where we can place photos.

When I get the pictures, I'm going to email them to Daniel and he'll post them here from that iPad that I know he's anxious to get.

[Mark]

There is BBC iPlayer iPad-optimised site - I watched some of the Turkish GP race on the iplayer when I had a fiddle with an iPad in an Apple Store. Impressive it was too.

And there is a dedicated youtube app, as with the iPhone.

To clarify, it can't download iPlayer content and save it for later playback. Something which Nokia smartphones have been able to do for some years now.

[Andrewmcm]

Ah yes, I didn't take that from the initial posting.

I must say I'm glad I haven't bought an iPad yet. The iPhone 4 seems a much better purchase, and the features that it now incorporates points to what will be on future versions of the iPad.

[Daniel]

That's what annoys me about Apple. They could easily integrate these features now. But they won't, they'll do it in 9 months and make out that it's groundbreaking.

[Andrewmcm]

I'm sure there are some development cycle limitations on these things - not to mention technological restraints (particularly battery life for mobile devices)

They do make a nice earner out of staggered implementation of features though, as they've been clever enough to make their products sufficiently desirable for people to want new versions immediately.

[Daniel]

Meh, there was no reason the original iPhone couldn't have had 3g.

Basically they just make their products missing some key features that can easily be added later on to sucker people into buying another one again. I'm coming up to renew my contract and need to find something to replace my e71 with and nothing is omfgwtfbbq better. Nokia made a good phone which is fully featured.

[airshifter]

I think you nailed it with the underlined portion. I'd say if most of us (Americans and others living in developed nations) look around our homes, we'll see that the majority of what we have is based on "want", "have to have it now!" and making ourselves more comfortable... not necessarily things we actually need. I'm not criticizing anyone, as I'm really bad about that myself. For what I've spent on diecast models over the years alone, I could have bought a new (real) car.

The iPad is no different. Many (most?) of the people buying them, as well as smartphones and other gizmos and gadgets, get them for the fun factor, not so much out of true need. But as more dedicated apps are written for the iPad (I believe there are already five or ten thousand), I'm sure there will be more people and companies finding actual business uses for them. I'm a (happy as hell) Apple shareholder. And while I have no plans to buy an iPad or iPhone for myself, I'm quite pleased that it's come out of the gate as a winner.

And this touches on the real heart of the matter. In 2010 people can do whatever they want with their money (or credit). And many if not most of those people really don't much care what anyone else has to say about it.

In the end, half the haters are upset that they can't prove their device of choice (or game console, or car, etc) isn't better than what the next consumer wants. Because better is defined by each consumer, and they buy what they want, regardless of what technogeeky.com reported on it. So roll on haters, because really you have no say in what I do with my money.

And so far, in a couple months time, a could million people have decided to spend their money on an iPad.

[Mark]

I do like the iPhone and I intend on getting one. But there's one thing that did annoy me watching snippets of the keynote on the iPhone launch.

With the video calling. Which is iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 and WiFi only (i.e. crap) and they were like OMFG it's like star trek, it's amazing, have you ever seen anything like this before?! Erm, yes, on the vast majority of phones for years and years now.

[Daniel]

Exactly. The iPhone seems like a bunch of teenagers having a **** for the first time. Wooooooo this is great yay woooo etc etc when everyone else has been doing it for years