Why I Don't Want an iPad for Christmas
by Brett Arends from WSJ
Everyone wants an iPad this Christmas, right?
Apple's tablet computer is this year's hottest adult toy. Sales are booming. James Cordwell, an analyst at Atlantic Securities, expects the company to sell six million this quarter, half of them here in the U.S. It's driving the company toward what will probably be yet another blowout Christmas period.
Apple is expected to sell millions of its popular iPad tablet computer this holiday season but Brett Arends has several reasons why he's not willing to join the masses and buy one for Christmas.
But you can count me out. I don't want an iPad for Christmas, thanks very much.
Sacrilege!
Why? Here are my reasons.
1. It'll be cheaper next year.
How dumb are people? Apple is coming out with iPad II in 2011. (Mr. Cordwell predicts April.) That means fanatics won't be seen dead with this year's model, and you'll be able to get it much cheaper. Try eBay or buy it "refurbished" direct from Apple. Price deflation in technology is a wonder to behold. Remember the first iPhones? The 8-gigabyte models cost $599. A few months later they cost $399. Now they're paperweights. The average middle-class American earns maybe $16 an hour after taxes. So if you save, say, $150 on a product, that's more than nine hours' extra work. Of course, if you love your job so much you like putting in an extra day for free, go ahead.
2. It's going to be better next year.
The next iPad will have new features—allegedly including video conferencing and maybe a better screen. This year's model will be so over. When Steve Jobs unveiled the second iPhone in 2008 he actually made fun of the slow first model—the same product that he had hailed a year earlier as the eighth wonder of the world. The audience yukked it up. Me? I'm not a fan of buying a product for $500 from a guy who's going to deride it a few months later.
3. Check out those profit margins!
OK, I admit it: I've been wrong about Apple stock lately. After correctly turning bullish at $85 two years ago, I turned cautious waaay too early. My mistake? This isn't a technology company. It's a luxury brand, like Hermès or Tiffany. And it's wooed customers so they'll pay almost anything for its products. Last Christmas, Apple's gross margins were 41%. That's incredible. It's good for Apple, good for stockholders—but not so good for shoppers. Me, I don't want to support someone else's 60% markups with my own dollars. Generally speaking, the smarter move is to invest in the Tiffanys of the world—and shop at the Wal-Marts.
4. Competitors are coming.
Right now the iPad has just one serious rival, the Samsung Galaxy Tab. So no wonder it's doing so well. But all that will change in just a few months. New tablets, many running on the Android platform, are expected to hit the market as soon as March. These will give you a much wider choice of size, style and operating system. And when these companies duke it out for market share, you know you'll be able to get a deal. So why would I buy now?
5. No Flash.
Do you want to watch video clips on the Web? On a boring old laptop or PC, you can do that for free. On the amazing new iPad? Only sometimes. Most Web video runs on Adobe Flash, and the iPad can't—or rather, won't—handle Flash. So there are plenty of video clips you won't be able to watch. And plenty of others you will have to pay to watch, either by renting them from Apple's iTunes, or by paying for a subscription service like Hulu Plus. Mr. Jobs had a very public bust-up with Adobe over Flash this year. I have sympathy for his position, as Flash can be unstable. But it's still the software most Web video clips use, and I want that choice.
6. The cost of the add-ons.
The iPad starts at $499 plus tax. That's nearly twice as much as a netbook. And I know if I get the cheapest iPad I'll regret it. It has only 16 gigabytes' storage. And it can only go online when you are in a WiFi hotspot, like at home or in Starbucks. A lot of the iPad's best features need an Internet connection. So if I want to use them wherever I go, I'll want the model with a 3G data plan that works everywhere. And those start at $629, plus at least $15 a month. Total cost: at least $809, plus tax, in the first year, and $989 over two years. This I don't need.
7. The games.
Yes, they're great. But that's the problem. Computer games are as addictive as cigarettes. And this is a habit everyone is taking up, not quitting. This is why I dumped my iPod Touch. Am I alone? Maybe. But I don't think so. I know lots of people with horror stories about addiction to immersive games. Someone I know—now, as it happens, a British member of parliament—once sat down to play Civilization, a role-playing game, on a PC one Saturday evening and didn't finish until three o'clock ... Thursday morning. (He stopped when he ran out of cigarettes.) And that was on an old PC. Games on the iPad are more intense than ever. A friend recently showed me some of the serious news apps on his iPad. I noticed that to get to them he first had to "wave" us past several screens of games. Is he really using his iPad to read that article about the Indonesian economy, or is he playing Angry Birds? Hmmm. You make the call.
8. The waste.
The scarcest resource in life isn't money, land, fresh water or gold. For singles under 25, the scarcest resource is sex, and for the rest of us it's time. And the biggest waste of time I've ever discovered—after games (see above)—is the Web. Nothing comes close. It's a total black hole. Do I want to carry a device that lets me surf the Web endlessly wherever I am? That's easy. It's amazing how much time I have to read now that I never look at Facebook.
9. It'll get boring.
This year's totem is next year's meh. Economists call this "the hedonic treadmill." Human beings quickly get bored of each new item. We always want the buzz from something newer, better, bigger, faster or fancier. But the treadmill never stops. Think of how amazing the first Palm Pilots seemed back in the 1990s. Look at them now. The iPad may look like the eighth wonder of the world today. Soon it will seem so old.
10. The whole Apple cult is starting to creep me out.
OK, I already knew about the fans. Last summer, three-quarters of the people standing in line so they could buy the new iPhone the moment it went on sale already owned an iPhone. But now it's the company, too. Look at how it reacted last spring, when a Silicon Valley blogger scooped an early iPhone 4: Next thing he knew he was being handcuffed on his lawn in front of his wife while police ransacked his house. And think of Steve Jobs, complaining that news coverage of the iPhone 4's troubled aerial had been "blown so out of proportion that it's incredible." Hmmm, out-of-proportion media coverage—you sure you want to go there, Steve? This is the guy marketing a new telephone under the slogan "This changes everything. Again." Maybe this stuff shouldn't matter to me, but I have to confess it's turning me off.
- Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/22/2010
再贴一个WSJ上关于iphone的value chain推算:
- Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/22/2010
草医在另外一条线提及,这里来点个人观感。
最好不要买ipad,切切。
我是ipad 3G的第一批用户,半年多来的使用率每况愈下。除了启动速度奇快,看电子书感觉不错,其他基本没多大优点。最大的缺陷是输入不方便,整个就一玩具。 - posted on 12/22/2010
我是个iphone lover, 觉得chinese input 还是很方便的, 或许老瓦在电脑上用的那个Chinese 软件太好了。 我用的的是google pinyin, 没觉得太多区别。
最近忙得没空, 还没买新的电脑, 很多时候用的是iphone的输入, 回信回帖, 还是很管用的。
老瓦也真是的, 我就想宠一下自个, 借机买个toy 玩玩, 这下可好, 你还来个十大坏处,还切切:) 切! 谁有ipad 的来个十大好处:)
说真的, 我想ipad的读书function 是否比kindle 好?itune 的free books 多不多?
好吧, 不在节日里买了, 明年再说。
- posted on 12/23/2010
草叶 wrote:
说真的, 我想ipad的读书function 是否比kindle 好?itune 的free books 多不多?
Caoye, I think all e-readers on the market except Kindle use e-pub format, which is an open standard. Of course you can also use PDF on both types. Google has a huge selection of e-pub format books, both for free and for sale. There are a lot of other sites offereing e-pub books and some public libraries too. So I would say go with anything but Kindle, but I'm not for ipad either (seriously it's just a toy) :) But one benefit with ipad for books I imagine is that you can also get Chinese books in e-pub format. - posted on 12/23/2010
Have you checked out the new air? IMHO it's way more useful than the iPad. And it's very sleek and stylish (I wish the 11" had a faster bus and both 11" and 13" have the glass top display as the pro - I actually went back to pro because of the latter). iPad is a niche product that doesn't suit me.
I bought an iPad 3G when it first came out and give it to my brother. I use macbook and iPhone. (selfish huh?)
草叶 wrote:
我是个iphone lover, 觉得chinese input 还是很方便的, 或许老瓦在电脑上用的那个Chinese 软件太好了。 我用的的是google pinyin, 没觉得太多区别。
最近忙得没空, 还没买新的电脑, 很多时候用的是iphone的输入, 回信回帖, 还是很管用的。
老瓦也真是的, 我就想宠一下自个, 借机买个toy 玩玩, 这下可好, 你还来个十大坏处,还切切:) 切! 谁有ipad 的来个十大好处:)
说真的, 我想ipad的读书function 是否比kindle 好?itune 的free books 多不多?
好吧, 不在节日里买了, 明年再说。
- Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/23/2010
Mac air don't have Dvd player right? - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/23/2010
老瓦 wrote:
Everyone wants an iPad this Christmas, right?
Not me. 我没有发过text,没有用过blue tooth, 更没有用过什么iPhone, iPad, eReader....手机倒是用了10年了,但只换过一次. 我是属于上个世纪的人. 家里领导和我正相反. 每天都发/收不少text,blue tooth随时不离耳朵. Blackberry和Sony eReader 也是早早就配备上了.
- Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/23/2010
看来我又成功地把这线的主题给扯偏了。
air 光驱要外接。小巧总的cut点什么不是?我觉得以后光驱要淘汰了,读写太慢。我把air换回了pro, 买了个solid state硬盘换上,几乎和air启动一样快。(air 有6mb L2 cache, vs pro's 3mb). 当然,sustained speed 还是pro 快。
草叶 wrote:
Mac air don't have Dvd player right? - posted on 12/30/2010
突然发现错过了这个宣扬、吹嘘iPad的机会。:)
iPad小巧玲珑、漂亮秀气,象个很可爱的女孩,随身带着出游脸上有光。当然你不能指望她做许多事或考虑是否实用之类的问题--这本身就是不切实际的想法。iPad毕竟是只是额外的女友,正事儿得靠家里的PC或Mac这类正室来做。
有人说iPad打字不方便,可谁的漂亮女秘会打字呢?iPad没带相机,你见过名人艳星出门身带相机的么?通过是端着相机的paparazzi们跟在她们后面。
说正经的,如果对iPad不求全,它还是不错的。
* iTune 店里有各类免费或付费的apps、电子书。电子读物有各类中英合集:如中国古典作品的合集、鲁迅全集、萨士比亚甚至毛泽东全集,外带读者、青年文摘等老杂志的合集。喜欢读连环画的有各类小人书(从五十年代至今),当然许多时候你,你身持一本“鸡毛信”或“小兵张嘎”,读得往往不是老连环画,是童年。各类中英文时尚刊物当然有无数,如从Wall Street Journal, Time, 到摄影画报、外滩画报、甚至人民日报。
* 在多媒体方面,除Youtube、传统iPod外还有凤凰移动台等。喜欢玩游戏?
* 游戏就更多了。除iPhone经典游戏(如Angry Bird),PC经典游戏 (Solitaire, Beach Head)外,还有中文经典游戏如围棋、象期、五子棋、飞行棋、斗兽棋等。
* 喜网聊人可以下载有QQ、MSN等iPad界面。
* 喜欢收藏、分享照片的人有福了,因为iPad提供了最方便的方式--Flickr, Smugmug等都有iPad版。
* 网上购物如果是你减轻压力的方式,iPad也提供了许多方便的界面,如Amazon.com及Amazon Windowshop。
* 收发EMAIL当然就不用了,iPad可以让所有不同邮箱的邮件进入同一电子邮箱。
是的,iPad不是backlit, 看久了眼睛会累,可这同盯着PC望没什么大不同。这是审美疲劳,无法避免的。
iPad最大的好处是速度,它就收音机、电视一样,一按就开,再按就关。用户无需忍受PC似乎是无休无止的启动时间。能迅速燃烧释放激情,是现代生活节奏的必须。
- Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/30/2010
律师,你有没有搞错?你的是tpad吧?;)
其实是各有各的用处。据说ipad的第二代不久会出土。我希望能在上面看到世界各地的网络电视。 - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/30/2010
风子吹嘘ipad的不遗余力和我吹嘘iphone&macbook有一拼。
从网上找来的测试,boot up time:
ipad: 23 seconds
iphone 4: 35 seconds (verified by me)
my macbook: clocked it at 19.5.
Fengzi wrote:
突然发现错过了这个宣扬、吹嘘iPad的机会。:)
iPad最大的好处是速度,它就收音机、电视一样,一按就开,再按就关。用户无需忍受PC似乎是无休无止的启动时间。能迅速燃烧释放激情,是现代生活节奏的必须。
- Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/30/2010
要是有网络电视的client会对很多人是个重要卖点。
touche wrote:
其实是各有各的用处。据说ipad的第二代不久会出土。我希望能在上面看到世界各地的网络电视。 - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/30/2010
支持远非完美但有潜力的产品是让其早日到达完美的有效方式。许多人(包括我)在90年代初开始用Macintosh时,它在个人电脑市场上的占有率很低。没有大家的支持与信心,不会有今天的苹果产品。当然现在的担心之一是如何防止苹果产品一统江湖,所以在电脑的选用上我用都的非苹果产品(如ThinkPad的Tablet及SONY的All-in-one PC),不过这些表面不同产品的共性都是屏幕是可触摸或可写的。:) - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/31/2010
- posted on 12/31/2010
原来一直不喜欢苹果,虽然我是第一代苹果用户,后来很喜欢NeXT,但是之后就离开了苹果世界(自认为写过compiler进入程序员行列之后)。
最近给自己和女儿换了iPhone,女儿换了iBookpro,但还是不喜欢iPad,iPad就是一个玩具,有些太大了些,又不能打电话。最近去滑了十天雪,渐渐喜欢上iPhone。里面的游戏,和程序,让我可以在高山之巅保持跟世界联系,怀里揣个iPad高山滑雪对我不如背个D300,每天精疲力竭之后玩玩iPhone里的游戏是最好的休息。遗憾的是没有在iApp里找到可以丈量我每天滑了多少英里雪的程序。
我一直在用kindle,Amazon一直是不错的书店,又有大批的免费经典,唯一不足是没中文书。iPhone暂时补救了我读电子中文书的空白。 - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/31/2010
作为视觉玩具,我觉得需要 iphone, ipod 和 ipad 之间的中间尺寸。真正的衣袋尺寸。这样既不太大太重,也不太小太费眼。斯蒂夫·焦伯斯应该考虑朕的意见。这些都是niche products。名字都有了,就叫iped。(机会不多了,只剩下ipid,和 ipud 了)
我最展望的技术是可塑性产品:硬件和软件的鸿沟消失。像个面团。摊摊平可看大视屏,捏捏拢可以放裤袋。;) - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/31/2010
iPewd
touche wrote:
作为视觉玩具,我觉得需要 iphone, ipod 和 ipad 之间的中间尺寸。真正的衣袋尺寸。这样既不太大太重,也不太小太费眼。斯蒂夫·焦伯斯应该考虑朕的意见。这些都是niche products。名字都有了,就叫iped。(机会不多了,只剩下ipid,和 ipud 了) - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/31/2010
follow the imagination,iPind 怎么样, 体积小的像pin, 点击后,展现出全透视的,立体屏幕,游动的。好玩!
touche wrote:
作为视觉玩具,我觉得需要 iphone, ipod 和 ipad 之间的中间尺寸。真正的衣袋尺寸。这样既不太大太重,也不太小太费眼。斯蒂夫·焦伯斯应该考虑朕的意见。这些都是niche products。名字都有了,就叫iped。(机会不多了,只剩下ipid,和 ipud 了)
我最展望的技术是可塑性产品:硬件和软件的鸿沟消失。像个面团。摊摊平可看大视屏,捏捏拢可以放裤袋。;) - posted on 12/31/2010
同意。从阅读舒适度而言,11寸的屏幕比较拉近letter size的纸张大小,读起来比较习惯。但iPad的缺点是太厚,如果再轻薄、柔软些,甚至可折叠就更好了。这样的产品可以叫 iPal。:)
touche wrote:
作为视觉玩具,我觉得需要 iphone, ipod 和 ipad 之间的中间尺寸。真正的衣袋尺寸。这样既不太大太重,也不太小太费眼。斯蒂夫·焦伯斯应该考虑朕的意见。这些都是niche products。名字都有了,就叫iped。(机会不多了,只剩下ipid,和 ipud 了)
我最展望的技术是可塑性产品:硬件和软件的鸿沟消失。像个面团。摊摊平可看大视屏,捏捏拢可以放裤袋。;) - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 12/31/2010
可以折叠,叫iFan,还说不准真有可能呢。估计2021一定会有吧。 - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/02/2011
汇报一下, 我今天还是买了个Macbook Pro。 儿子坚决反对我买Ipad, 听大伙的, 也听儿子的:) - RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/02/2011
我是第一批买iphone的,也是第一批买google phone 的,但就是提不起精神买ipad。:)
顺便说,iphone漂亮,但没有 google phone 实用。
草叶 wrote:
汇报一下, 我今天还是买了个Macbook Pro。 儿子坚决反对我买Ipad, 听大伙的, 也听儿子的:) - Re: RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/02/2011
是吗?没用过google phone愿闻其详。
八十一子 wrote:
我是第一批买iphone的,也是第一批买google phone 的,但就是提不起精神买ipad。:)
顺便说,iphone漂亮,但没有 google phone 实用。 - posted on 01/03/2011
举几个例。
iphone 4 vs Nexus One
系统速度,一样快
常用应用软件两边都有,android 的有趣的似乎更多,例如 flash,免费下线导航地图等。还有 gps tracking 自己的行踪(滑雪、跑步、自行车),像那谁谁想要的。还有最能哄女孩子的夜空星象图。
Android 的 Browser 更方便,浏览时字体放大或缩小后都会自动调整页面宽度,自动换行,无须横向移动页面。
Nexus One 的sd card可随意更换,并且无须任何软件便可通过usb跟电脑相连,交换文件。
Nexus one 可自由使用任何电话公司的sim card,无须jailbreak或unlock(boy how I hate to try to avoid system update on a unlocked iphone every time when itune tells me there is a system update)。
但是iPhone4外观的确漂亮,忍不住还是买了一个,还在等 Dev Team的黑客们想出办法jailbreak iOS4.2.1. :-)
iphone的照相机要高级一些,主要优点是会自动调整视野里不同区域的曝光量。
moab wrote:
是吗?没用过google phone愿闻其详。
八十一子 wrote:
我是第一批买iphone的,也是第一批买google phone 的,但就是提不起精神买ipad。:)
顺便说,iphone漂亮,但没有 google phone 实用。 - posted on 01/03/2011
原来就是nexus one, 怪不得耳熟。
常用应用软件两边都有,android 的有趣的似乎更多,例如 flash,免费下线导航地图等。还有 gps tracking 自己的行踪(滑雪、跑步、自行车),像那谁谁想要的。还有最能哄女孩子的夜空星象图。
这些iphone上也有,且有破解的免费版。As a matter of fact, I got the impression iphone has more apps.
Android 的 Browser 更方便,浏览时字体放大或缩小后都会自动调整页面宽度,自动换行,无须横向移动页面。
这个是个优点。
Nexus One 的sd card可随意更换,并且无须任何软件便可通过usb跟电脑相连,交换文件。
苹果压根不希望有人越狱,更甭提unlock了。micro sim card is another example.
Nexus one 可自由使用任何电话公司的sim card,无须jailbreak或unlock(boy how I hate to try to avoid system update on a unlocked iphone every time when itune tells me there is a system update)。
yeah I hear you. I've been there.
但是iPhone4外观的确漂亮,忍不住还是买了一个,还在等 Dev Team的黑客们想出办法jailbreak iOS4.2.1. :-)
Tethered jailbreak is available. They dropped the ball on meeting the promised release date for untethered jailbreak though. May take some more time for them to come out with one.
iphone的照相机要高级一些,主要优点是会自动调整视野里不同区域的曝光量。
- Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/03/2011
草叶 wrote:
汇报一下, 我今天还是买了个Macbook Pro。 儿子坚决反对我买Ipad, 听大伙的, 也听儿子的:)
恭喜草医的英明决定(节约出来的ipad预算,给大家发压岁钱:))
- posted on 01/03/2011
Fengzi wrote:
突然发现错过了这个宣扬、吹嘘iPad的机会。:)
iPad小巧玲珑、漂亮秀气,象个很可爱的女孩,随身带着出游脸上有光。当然你不能指望她做许多事或考虑是否实用之类的问题--这本身就是不切实际的想法。iPad毕竟是只是额外的女友,正事儿得靠家里的PC或Mac这类正室来做。
有人说iPad打字不方便,可谁的漂亮女秘会打字呢?iPad没带相机,你见过名人艳星出门身带相机的么?通过是端着相机的paparazzi们跟在她们后面。
就是小蜜,风子这是点到apple的死穴了:) 出门背了laptop还不算,再带一个ipad小蜜。 - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/03/2011
老瓦 wrote:
草叶 wrote:恭喜草医的英明决定(节约出来的ipad预算,给大家发压岁钱:))
汇报一下, 我今天还是买了个Macbook Pro。 儿子坚决反对我买Ipad, 听大伙的, 也听儿子的:)
老瓦是不是该给草叶发补贴?Macbook Pro可比iPad贵,至少一个月前店里看到的是这样(俺给女儿也买了一个book pro,希望不是被苹果店斩了)。 - posted on 01/03/2011
用pro 写的, 很好用!
谢谢Rita 明察, Macbook pro 买得我肉痛, 但又没办法, 老瓦硬要把我往老大妈级别上凑, 发压岁钱也得等到兔年:)还有一个月哈。
大家都谈谈有啥iphone APP 好用, 虽然没时间玩, 但也要与时俱进!
谈到这, 新年里第一次看到lady gaga 的MTV, Lyric 把我吓一跳, 难道孩子们整天听的都是这? 还好我儿子说他不喜欢最mainstream 的POP music。 我看他买的T shirt 是他喜欢的music bands的logo 。 我觉得自己太落舞了,Rita, 还有谁谁知道各类的Teen favorite bands, 我要学习一下。
- posted on 01/04/2011
Actually iPhone does not have Flash. As the result it cannot play video clips in the same web page like your average computer would. Instead it opens up a YouTube-like window. Nexus one has Flash player.
iPhone does not have a decent off line navigator. The maps app works only when you phone is connected to your data server, and this can get forbiddingly expensive when you are roaming. Nexus one has a hacked maps app that works nicely off line (no voice in foreign countries, however).
moab wrote:
原来就是nexus one, 怪不得耳熟。
常用应用软件两边都有,android 的有趣的似乎更多,例如 flash,免费下线导航地图等。还有 gps tracking 自己的行踪(滑雪、跑步、自行车),像那谁谁想要的。还有最能哄女孩子的夜空星象图。这些iphone上也有,且有破解的免费版。As... - posted on 01/04/2011
草叶 wrote:我开始玩iPhone App,几天下来下载的已经多过LG三年来的Apps数目了,不过跟我的其他朋友比起来,我连幼稚园水准都够不上。
用pro 写的, 很好用!
谢谢Rita 明察, Macbook pro 买得我肉痛, 但又没办法, 老瓦硬要把我往老大妈级别上凑, 发压岁钱也得等到兔年:)还有一个月哈。
大家都谈谈有啥iphone APP 好用, 虽然没时间玩, 但也要与时俱进!
谈到这, 新年里第一次看到lady gaga 的MTV, Lyric 把我吓一跳, 难道孩子们整天听的都是这? 还好我儿子说他不喜欢最mainstream 的POP music。 我看他买的T shirt 是他喜欢的music bands的logo 。 我觉得自己太落舞了,Rita, 还有谁谁知道各类的Teen favorite bands, 我要学习一下。
关于Teen Favorite,我也在努力接受女儿再教育,前不久给她买了Swift的歌碟Fearless。看了你的问题,去问她,这是她给的单子她认为她学校孩子们的favorites:
pop stars:
Lady Gaga
Taylor Swift
Justin Bieber
Katy Perry
Beyonce
The Jonas Brothers
Taio Cruz
Kesha
TV series:
Office
Pretty Little Liars
Glee
- posted on 01/04/2011
Yeah Steve made the decision that adobe flash is not stable enough to be trusted. - I thought you were talkibg about flashlight apps.
Speaking of offline nacigation, tomtom have a huge selection that can be had for free. These includes Euope, Canada, Mexico, etc.
八十一子 wrote:
Actually iPhone does not have Flash. As the result it cannot play video clips in the same web page like your average computer would. Instead it opens up a YouTube-like window. Nexus one has Flash player.
iPhone does not have a decent off line navigator... - RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/04/2011
Excellent choice. Swap out the stock hard drive and replace it with a SSD- it's heaven, almost.
rzp wrote:
老瓦 wrote:老瓦是不是该给草叶发补贴?Macbook Pro可比iPad贵,至少一个月�...
草叶 wrote:恭喜草医的英明决定(节约出来的ipad预算,给大家发压岁钱:))
汇报一下, 我今天还是买了个Macbook Pro。 儿子坚决反对我买Ipad, 听大伙的, 也听儿子的:) - RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/04/2011
How about listing some of te apps for comparision: woman vs man :)
rzp wrote:
草叶 wrote:
用pro 写的, 很好用!
谢谢Rita 明察, Macbook pro 买得我肉痛, 但又没办法, 老瓦硬要把我往老大妈级别上凑, 发压岁钱也得等到兔年:)还有一个月哈。
大家都谈谈有啥iphone APP 好用, 虽然没时间玩, 但也要与时俱进!
谈到这, 新年... - RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/04/2011
Sounds good. I bought tom-tom USA and Autonavi 高德导航 (for China).
moab wrote:
Yeah Steve made the decision that adobe flash is not stable enough to be trusted. - I thought you were talkibg about flashlight apps.
Speaking of offline nacigation, tomtom have a huge selection that can be had for free. These includes Euope, Canada, Me... - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/04/2011
老瓦 wrote:
就是小蜜,风子这是点到apple的死穴了:) 出门背了laptop还不算,再带一个ipad小蜜。
怪不得有妻妾成群的需求,众欲难调,one size just can't fit all。 ;) - Re: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/04/2011
touche wrote:
老瓦 wrote:怪不得有妻妾成群的需求,众欲难调,one size just can't fit all。 ;)
就是小蜜,风子这是点到apple的死穴了:) 出门背了laptop还不算,再带一个ipad小蜜。
说实在的,最初去店里捧起ipad时,也觉得过于庞大。我理想中的尺寸,应该是iphone屏幕的两倍,但ipad居然有六倍还不止。
据说今后的更新换代,可能推出小屏幕的tab, 那就正合吾意了(其实又是中了jobs的奸计) - posted on 01/04/2011
Moab, What is SSD? they will charge me $150 to take out the hard drive, My battery is quiet new in my dead Macbook pro, So, Any recycling place?
Thanks in advance! It is waste to see my favorite computer gone:-( without using some of organ transplants.
I will list some of Apps for medical use for parents especially new parents.
Ipad is 小蜜for men, 闺蜜for woman, no wander, most of women I talked to about Ipad experience still keep their ipad:-) friendship and sisterhood is forever, and you know rest of story.:)
-------------------
Regarding Listening experience, I love the SHAZAM and pandora.
I try i tune radio stations, there are so many of them, anybody has recommendation? compared to Pandora?
Also What is the deal about this Ping? - posted on 01/04/2011
Solid state drive. It will bring significant boost in performance.
What happened to your old MBP (mac book pro)? You can take out the hard drive yourself, and make it an external drive. If your mbp is beyond repair, you can sell it to places for parts.
草叶 wrote:...
Moab, What is SSD? they will charge me $150 to take out the hard drive, My battery is quiet new in my dead Macbook pro, So, Any recycling place?
Thanks in advance! It is waste to see my favorite computer gone:-( without using some of organ transplants.
- Re: RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/05/2011
有个app叫“5-0 radio”,可以用来pick up police radio, 监听美国警察、消防、急救等人员的对话,如果你知道你当时所在的县名。开车无聊时可以用。:-) - posted on 01/05/2011
Direct Over-The-Air TV Coming to iPad and iPhone
By Darrell Etherington
January 05, 2011: 10:30 AM ET
(gigaom.com) -- You can now get video on your iPhone (AAPL) or iPad from any number of sources, but grabbing over-the-air local TV directly, which is still the best (legal) way to get TV for free at home in the living room hasn’t been a possibility. That’s going to change, thanks to iOS-compatible mobile digital television (DTV) receivers.
The Tivizen, by Korean manufacturer Valups and introduced at CES, is one such device. It plugs into the iDevice’s 30-pin connector, and requires no cellular or data connection to work, so it’s even fully compatible with the iPod touch. All that’s required is an app, downloadable via the official App Store. The Tivizen grabs any available local DTV broadcasts and outputs them in a format your device can recognize and play back. Valups launched a previous iteration of the Tivizen last year, but it was a separate device that had to re-transmit the DTV signals it received to other devices via Wi-Fi.
Content selection will be limited, but not so limited as you might imagine. Checking the mobile DTV station guide from the Open Mobile Video Coaltion (OMVC), it looks like major network affiliates for most large urban areas in the U.S. will be covered. That’s thanks in part by a big push this year by OMVC to make more local mobile broadcasts more available.
When it launches in June of this year, the Tivizen will cost approximately $99, and the app required to use it will be free. When I returned from living in Japan three years ago, that would’ve seemed like a good deal to me, since cellular over-the-air TV was fairly common there and we had little to compare with it, I think the Tivizen and its ilk might fall into the “too little, too late” category. The device has its own battery, which is only good for a maximum of 2.5 hours usage. And with Neftlix(NFLX), Hulu Plus and streaming video apps from the networks themselves, how much demand is there really for local DTV?
+++
Amazon prepares to launch Android Appstore
By Stacy Cowley, tech editorJanuary 5, 2011: 1:25 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Watch your backs, Apple and Google: Amazon is getting into the app store game.
The online marketplace went live late Tuesday with the Amazon Appstore Developer Portal, a self-service tool inviting mobile developers to submit apps for the store's upcoming launch. On the site page, Amazon said the store will open for business later this year; a company representative said it has no target date ready to announce yet.
4Email Print CommentAmazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) is setting its sights on the Android app market -- a savvy first step. In contrast to Apple's tightly controlled and highly curated iPhone app store, Google's Android Market is a wide-open Wild West, which allows creators to publish their apps without any vetting.
Amazon will have an approval process for the apps it lists in its store. It plans to charge developers a $99 annual participation fee, which it will waive for the first year. It will also take a 30% cut of the sales price on each app, in line with the fees Apple and Google charge. Like those markets, Amazon will also feature free apps that users can download without charge.
Amazon said it will use its formidable marketing muscle to push apps out to its millions of e-commerce customers.
"The sheer number of apps available today makes it hard for customers to find high-quality, relevant products -- and developers similarly struggle to get their apps noticed," the company said in its pitch to developers. "The convenience of using an existing Amazon.com account will make it simple and easy for customers to purchase your apps -- both online and on their mobile devices."
Amazon said it will reject apps that contain pornography or other offensive content, and it plans to publish "maturity" ratings for those it sells.
Initially, the market will only sell Android applications, but Amazon is leaving the door open for expansion.
"I can't speculate, but it wouldn't surprise me," Amazon spokeswoman Sally Fouts said, when asked whether the store will expand to other app ecosystems.
Right now, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) has by far the most active app ecosystem, with more than 300,000 iPhone apps available. Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) has 200,000 applications stocked up in its Android Market, while rival platforms BlackBerry, Palm webOS and Windows Phone 7 trail far behind.
- posted on 01/09/2011
Crap. Apple's products seem to have this magic draw on you. You hold it for more than 3 minutes and you are sold. This is what happened to me with iPad. I thought I'd never want it. Now I do. And mind you it's not I haven't seen or played with it before.
Long story short, I picked up one today with the intention to set it up and pass it on. But now I will be keeping it I guess. I know the new version would be out soon with increased resolution along with all other bells and whistles. But I can live with what it has to offer now. Yeah it doesn't have the retinal display and the fonts appear kind of fuzzy. Still, it's good enough for e-book reading and game stuff. What's also appealing is to use it as a digital photo album, albeit an expensive one.
Now I need to ask myself: what are the reasons for me not to keep the iPad?
Update: sleep on it does help. Now it's out of the door. I don't really NEED a 9.7" digital photo frame. And all other functions are pretty much covered by the iphone/macbook. Besides that I need to get iPad adapted versions of the games and apps which is fine but only IOS 4.2.1 does not have untethered jailbreak yet.
Maybe I will revisit it when the next generation comes out, allegedly in February.
- posted on 01/10/2011
Welcome to the club (although apparently you got yourself a day pass on a trial membership program and made a decision not to own the first generation of a product that will soon be known as the "classic 2010 model", similar to Ford's T-model).
Here're a few reasons why you should not keep an iPad:
1. Your wife doesn't want you to have one--the most persuasive reason of all.
2. You don't have a computer and have a make a painful choice between a computer and an iPad.
3. You have the vision of a teenager such that the screen size between an iPad and an iPhone makes no difference to you.
4. Apple is your avowed enemy that you don't want to do business with.
5. You're a perfectionist and write your specifications.
6. You think it's morally wrong to have something you don't really need when that amount of money could feed a hungry village for a year in Tanzania.
moab wrote:
Now I need to ask myself: what are the reasons for me not to keep the iPad?
- Re: RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/10/2011
Same old objections: too big too heavy too bright to read.
Good question, who needs a photo frame like an ipad?
I'm looking forward to a 7" do-them-all. - posted on 01/10/2011
Yeah I still have some Verbatim 5.25" diskette to satisfy retro desire. :) i don't call it model T though.
No my one day free trail pass is solely sponsored by myself. It's called buy a toy and sell a toy. Looking forward to iPad 2 with untethered jailbreak.
Fengzi wrote:
Welcome to the club (although apparently you got yourself a day pass on a trial membership program and made a decision not to own the first generation of a product that will soon be known as the "classic 2010 model", similar to Ford's T-model).
Here're ... - Re: RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/10/2011
In addition to games and calendar, I've moved more and more functions to iphone now. However, I don't see a need for ipad for at least one obvious reason -- ipad does not fit into all my purses/handbags, not to mention to carry it while I am not carrying a purse/handbag, e.g. when I do my walking or running......
When I forwarded email in Chinese,the encoding got mixed up in the previous emails. Not sure if ipad has the same problem or not. - Re: RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/11/2011
Your objections are overruled by millions of iPaders, counsel. :)
What about Samsung's 7" Galaxy Tab?
touche wrote:
Same old objections: too big too heavy too bright to read.
Good question, who needs a photo frame like an ipad?
I'm looking forward to a 7" do-them-all. - Re: RE: 有关iphone 和ipadposted on 01/11/2011
At the risk of being perceived as biased and pro-iPad, I have not yet encountered the problem you described. :)
rzp wrote:
When I forwarded email in Chinese,the encoding got mixed up in the previous emails. Not sure if ipad has the same problem or not. - posted on 01/24/2011
More cries for 7" tablet!
I still think Apple will suffer from 10" iPad decision. Steve is sick! ;)
+++
For tablets, does size matter?
By Galen M. Gruman
Created 2011-01-21 03:00AM
Are 10 inches better than 7? Or are they just too much to handle? Conversely, are 7 inches too few to do the job well? The debate rages on as the world prepares for an onslaught of Android tablets [1] and the RIM PlayBook tablet [2] this spring, a year after the iPad [3] shipped and created a whole new category of computing. The PlayBook and nearly all the announced Android tablets have 7-inch screens, whereas the iPad has a 10-inch screen.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has decried the 7-inch size [4] as too small, and his product instincts are unrivaled. So why the rush to 7-inch screens by everyone else seeking to capture some of the iPad magic? The question came up this week when I met with several executives from Research in Motion, who showed me a prototype of the forthcoming 7-inch PlayBook. I asked why RIM chose the 7-inch form factor, and the execs asked me what I preferred as I use both a (10-inch) iPad and a (7-inch) Samsung Galaxy Tab [5].
[9]Where bigger is better
The 10-inch size has several advantages, and I have no doubt why Apple insists on that size for its iPad: The large expanse makes for a true desktop when watching videos. Given Apple's iTunes play, which includes video sales and rentals, a home-entertainment-style screen makes sense.
The 10-inch size also makes Web surfing feel normal, similar to the desktop experience. Many websites are complex, and you really benefit from a large screen to be able to read their screens and navigate their content. Ditto for productivity-oriented applications, such as presentation software, spreadsheet editors, and email clients. And for typing-oriented applications, the iPad's on-screen keyboard is full-size when in landscape mode, so you can touch-type as if you were using a PC or laptop. For people who view the tablet as a lightweight laptop replacement, the 10-inch screen also makes sense (it's the same as a typical netbook).
Where smaller is better
The 7-inch size has several advantages as well. It's easy to hold a 7-inch tablet in one hand and do stuff with your other hand. By contrast, to use an iPad for more than a few minutes, you really need to be stationary, preferably with the Pad resting on a surface. Otherwise, it's awkward to hold with one hand while tapping with the other.
The smaller 7-inch form factor makes a lot of sense for activities done while you're in motion. Touring an art gallery, entering tolerance values on a factory floor, inspecting construction work at a job site, recording drug dispension at the patient bedside, and completing surveys in a waiting room are all examples of where the smaller size makes sense. Notice that most of those are "field force" uses, so RIM's decision to make its PlayBook a 7-inch device makes sense given its historic corporate market. For consumer users -- the target of the Android device makers -- the 7-inch size makes sense for game-playing, casual email, and casual personal video-playing (such as YouTube snippets).
Where size doesn't matter (much)
There are many activities for which either a 10- or 7-inch tablet are quite suitable. Playing Angry Birds [10] and most games is equally pleasant on the two form factors. If you have a single email box and don't use folders extensively to manage those emails, both sizes are perfectly acceptable. Calendar apps, e-book readers, and playback apps (such as to watch a presentation or training video) also work well in both sizes.
It's true that the larger screen size often feels richer in such cases, but that's the same dynamic as when you watch a movie on someone's 46-inch TV and come home to your 42-inch. You marvel at your friend's 46-inch screen while watching it, but are perfectly happy back at home with your 42-inch model. We may prefer bigger, but other practical factors -- cost, bulkiness, and so on -- usually outweigh that preference.
Some people claim the iPad is too big to easily carry. That's nonsense. It weighs 1.5 pounds and is easily held in one hand, folded against the arm as you walk. It's the same size as a typical notepad and about the same weight as those leather-bound portfolios and calendars that many people carry. It slips easily into a backback or case -- or airline seatback compartment. (I often panic because -- since it's so much lighter than my laptop -- I think I left it behind, when in fact it's securely hiding in my backpack.) Because the 7-inch tablets don't fit in most pockets, I've found that I end up carrying them the same way as I do the iPad, so for carrying-around purposes, they're equivalent.
If you plan to use a tablet as a lightweight laptop, you really will want a (10-inch) iPad or one of the few 10-inch Android tablets announced so far, such as the Motorola Xoom [11]. If your intended use is in a job where you work primarily on your feet, can't count on having a place to rest the tablet for data entry, and move around a lot (field force work), a 7-inch tablet makes more sense. For home entertainment, my guess is you'll end up with both sizes.
Apple can probably get away with having just a 10-inch model, given its "big media" and "new PC" aims. Plus, it has the 3.5-inch iPod Touch to fill the portable niche, and that device makes for a great portable game-player, e-book reader, and basic email and calendar device. However, it might be surprised by how popular a 7-inch model could be in several market segments.
RIM, Hewlett-Packard (which is making noises about "radically different" WebOS tablets [12]), and the Android device makers should offer both sizes -- especially RIM and HP. Why? Because these companies are trying to play to the broad business and consumer markets, both of which have segments that each of the two sizes better serves. There's no reason their customers should compromise when the device makers could accommodate both sizes through separate models.
The real trick to that strategy, of course, is not in the hardware. The underlying OSes and the applications that run on it need to autoadjust based on the size. Apple has shown how that should work in its iOS, where apps can be designed for both iPhones and iPads, adjusting their display and even functionality to the specific device. RIM has shown some understanding of that strategy in its PlayBook, in how the RIM messaging and calendar apps appear in a richer view on the PlayBook than on a BlackBerry smartphone, but it's unclear if RIM has extended that autoadaption capabillity to its third-party software developers. As for Google, even less is really known about its tablet-oriented Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS [13], so customers and developers alike will have to wait and see.
In the meantime, we can stop playing screen-size envy games and instead look for the size that fits our needs best.
- posted on 01/31/2011
hmm, now i've changed my mind....perhaps a bit too early to pronounce the defeat yet!!
just bought a super coooooooooool app on ipad, namely "star walk", a night vision that gets you in contact with god:))
highly recommend to fengzi, and warning to everyone else: it won't do the same trick on iphone, or 7" tab, at least not in such a spectacular manner.
touche wrote:
More cries for 7" tablet!
I still think Apple will suffer from 10" iPad decision. Steve is sick! ;)
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