Whats up all!

Sigh, oh Nels, I don’t even know where to start with that last post...lol. Here's the thing, your points are all valid and It's quite clear that you spent the day listening to a lot of people talk about how great this thing is. I've heard all sorts of things like "one step closer to Minority Report" or "It's like the Wii of computers" (well you said the last one but you get the point). All that is fine but are you really gonna sit there and tell me that there are no flaws in the implementation of the device?

Kindle killer? I think not. What is the kindle good for, the very reason for its existence? The display. The kindle was made for READING because people did not like staring at a screen for hours on end. Have we forgotten that simply because apple made something with pretty animations when you turn the pages? I will give the iPad one thing in this category, the demo showed a page of the New York Times and there was an image in an article that when touched would play a video right in that view, that was slick but still not enough to make it a Kindle killer. Also interesting that the only thing I found cool about it's e-reader capabilities is the fact that it can embed video, that’s the problem with it as a kindle killer, I think the main market for this thing are younger people that probably won’t be buying it for its e-reader functionality. I don't have an e-reader and if I was gonna buy one I would get a Sony because according to my research it is compatible with more file formats then the rest. You say that people want pretty but I don't think they do, I think people want content, the e-book shopper that’s done his homework and wants an E-BOOK READER should not select an iPad in my opinion.

So, you’re wondering what my idea of a computer is... A computer can be a lot of things, it may or may not even have a screen attached, there may not even me any direct UI as in the case of a car's on board computer and yes, all these things are "computers". Let me try and explain myself here. What I mean when I say that this is not a computer is that it is not what I was excited at the prospect of using as a possible computer replacement. It is based on an OS that was designed for a phone and I too once owned an iPhone and yes, the OS is slick, it works well and it's pretty. Why would I never buy another one, well you see, that’s because there are some major flaws in its design from a software perspective. Don't give me all this crap about the "basic user", the basic user doesn't know what he wants and thats why people like us are here to tell them. We are also the ones that are supposed to call companies like Apple out on the crap when they try to force feed the public! Seriously Nels, how can you forgive them for a second for attempting to fool us with a tablet type PC that can’t multi task? Oh but the "basic user" you’re gonna say, they don't care about that, wrong again, they just don't know that they should care about that and we are supposed to tell them they do! What are you gonna tell your mom when she tries to stream her favourite classical radio station with the neat radio app she got on the app store and read a book at the same time? I can hear the phone call now, "but Nelson, as soon as I press the home button to open the iBook app the music stops, what’s happening" See, you should have told her about multitasking and why it's important. So is this a computer, meh, I guess you can call it that, is it a PC that can replace anything you already have, absolutely not! If an "almost PC" is what you’re looking for then this is the device for you...lol.

Where I will agree with you is when you start talking about easy. Yup, totally 100% agree that this would have been a great device if only a few issues were addressed. Why not have multitasking, I don't want to sound like a broken record about this one but seriously, in 2010? Come on Apple, inexcusable! What they should have done is had a nice easy interface something like the one they have now running on top of OS X. Even let it boot up right into the easy big icons by defaults and make a button to bring you into OS X and some real computing? I understand that may be easier said than done but it's something along the lines of what needs to be done to make me happy

Let me close buy saying that I don't hate this thing even though it sounds like I do. I'm just disappointed that it doesn't deliver anything that would make me say "cool". It's a great iPod type device, it can do all the good things that you described but it's just not a tablet computer is all I'm trying to say. Once its hacked and you can install OS X on it then sign me up (maybe), till then I'll pass.

One more thing, Patrick Norton re-tweeted something that hits the nail on the head and explains why this device falls short. The tweet was "RT @loydcase: iPad: no camera, no USB ports, no SD card slot, no Flash support, no multitasking, big FAIL." And he even forgot to mention in his tweet that the battery is internal. Apple, STOP DOING THAT!!! lol.

Laterz all,
Ed.