iPad 2

Perhaps I am missing something about tablets in general, but wouldn't a netbook be about the same size, perhaps a little heavier, and have more firepower then a tablet?

Netbooks are much thicker than tablets, and I honestly like the tablet format for lounging around and reading around the house or on the go. Imagine lying down in bed reading, or being in a cramped space like economy class seats on a plane...yeah, it's easier with a tablet rather than a netbook. Processing power is not different enough to remark upon.

Netbooks are much thicker than tablets, and I honestly like the tablet format for lounging around and reading around the house or on the go. Imagine lying down in bed reading, or being in a cramped space like economy class seats on a plane...yeah, it's easier with a tablet rather than a netbook. Processing power is not different enough to remark upon.

I guess a tablet is a little more portable, although calling a net book thick or heavy is a joke. However I still believe that a net book has far more potential in what you can accomplish with one. I think a net book is not enough power, hell even laptops are pretty unsavory performance wise let alone a lesser tablet. I just don't understand spending such a ridiculous amount of money to have such a lack of...everything.

I may be late to the party, but I have to ask.

ImperialX, do you work in apple's marketing department?

I am getting an ipad soon and i was wondering what you think of the 3g? Like is it worth even considering since its 15 bucks a month for only 2gbs. What size ipad do you have and are you running out of space?

Thanks

I got my first gen and i love it so far. :D

Let me ask you this question, why do you want Windows 7 on a tablet? What advantages does it offer? Absolutely none. It simply feels more awkward than using a mouse or a trackpad for input. Windows applications are written for one cursor to be directed by the mouse/trackpad, and not for your five fully flexible fingers.

A new form factor requires a new OS, and that is precisely iOS and Android 3.0. These OSs are specifically designed for the tablet's bane of existence - to fully support Multi-touch and to run apps designed for Multi-touch. This is the kind of apps I'm talking about. Microsoft just doesn't get it - Windows 7 is a desktop-class OS. It's designed for mice and trackpads, but not for your fingers. They just don't understand the purpose of the tablet.

As for you worrying about the specs...that should be the least of your worries, really. Specs do not decide a how good a kit is, especially in this form factor. Since the HP Slate runs Windows, it should only be fair to compare it to something else that runs a Desktop-Class OS, such as a MacBook Air, which is thinner and far more powerful.

Nononono. If Apple wants to classify their iPad as a tablet, then I'm going to compare it to an actual tablet. As for the Slate running Win7 as it's OS, tablet functionality is available on most versions of Win7, with the only exception being to the stripped down Starter edition. Win7's touch capability is built with Microsoft Surface technologies. This is a gesture and touch-centric UI enhancement that works with most current touch computers, such as the bModo and Samsung Galaxy. Basically, Win7 runs just as effectively on the Slate as it would on a regular desktop. With a mouse, or not.

Now, I'll be honest, a good chunk of that systems stuff is out of my area of knowledge. My only real education spans over PC hardware and networking, so that's where I typically keep my judgements. But what I can say is this, Microsoft has been working with tablets since 2001, long before Apple got into the game. So I think they know full well what they're doing.

I don't think you read my posts, so I'll write up a shorter version here. xD

As said, the iPad is something that needs to be seen, and needs to be touched. You're still not understanding what a TABLET truly is. Both the first Macintosh and the IBM 5150 were computers. It just so happens the Macintosh had something called a "mouse", and used a graphical user interface and the IBM used something called Microsoft DOS. These are two completely different approaches to making the same thing, a COMPUTER. I think it's needless to say which approach was better. Microsoft learnt from Apple, and incorporated their ideas into their own new release called Windows. The lawsuits that followed are the biggest in the 20th century so we don't need to go into that.

Firstly, it does not matter that Windows 7 supports touch. Windows XP did as well. What you have to realize is that the applications written for Windows are operated by the mouse. You interact with the software through a cursor. This classic GUI which Apple invented in 1984 is limited to a primary click and a secondary click, as well as keyboard shortcuts. The applications run in a resizable window with menus and buttons. Now this is all very good, but only for the COMPUTER. A real TABLET is something much, much more.

Microsoft thinks they've been making tablets, but they haven't, even up to today. The HP Slate is not a real TABLET. It's a weak computer running a OS designed for the computer, as well as apps written for the computer. Therefore, the workflow is exactly the same as what you get working on a laptop, the only difference being that you touch the screen to move the cursor and to issue commands to the UI through that.

Windows 7 is just a computer operating system that allows you to touch the screen to click with a cursor. Anything touch-screen that uses Windows 7 is just a touch-screen laptop. In the case of HP Slate, a keyboard-less touch-screen laptop, which is retarded.

iOS and Android 3.0 are different to Windows 7. They are operating systems designed WITHOUT a mouse in mind. They are designed purely for your fingers. That means you can pinch and swipe without limitations, and applications are designed for your finger gestures. Apps for Windows are designed for you to click on them with a cursor. Regardless of what the hardware is, that's the limit.

I will direct your attention here. Watch these videos, and take note of how applications respond to the finger. Maybe then you'll understand what is a tablet, and what isn't.

How can Microsoft have not have been making tablets when THEY were the ones that first presented the concept? Also, you've seemed to have forgotten that tablets were first made with the use of a stylus in mind for the purpose of writing. Here's the definition of a tablet, "A wireless personal computer in the form of a notebook and that allows a user to hand-write notes with a stylus or digital pen on a touch screen". To add to that, "A tablet PC that includes a keyboard is a convertible or hybrid; one with only a monitor and pen is called a slate". Yes, a slate. Makes you wonder where HP got the name, doesn't it? So, through every sense of the word, the Slate IS a tablet PC. If anything, the iPad just barely manages to squeeze into the category of a tablet due to it's size and to the fact that there's an app on the thing that allows the user to write with his/her fingers.

Edit: actual definitions taken from dictionary.com.

It might frustrate the competition to hear this, but it needs to be said: the iPad 2 isn't just the best tablet on the market, it feels like the only tablet on the market.

I've already explained it as best as I possibly can in my above post, and your reply indicts I still haven't gotten the facts across. All I can say at this point is, you need an HP Slate and an iPad in front of you. Use both of them and tell me if they're the same type of device of not. Then you will understand just what the Tablet Revolution is.

To conclude, I'll leave you with Engadget's review of the iPad.

Facts? Your posts have been nothing but unapprised claims that the iPad is the only "real" tablet on the market just because some guy who writes for a tech blog also thinks so. And this is hardly a revolution. It's just a progress of technology that has made tablets a more viable form of computer platforms now that appropriate parts have been developed that expands upon the functionality of the current generation of tablets. The sudden rise of the iPad has just encouraged other computer developers to realize just how far current technology has come and have followed Apple's attempt at selling something that's been largely ignored for all these years.

As something of a sidenote, I found this article to quite informative.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/17919/how_steve_jobs_bent_the_truth_at_the_ipad_2_announcement

Btw, I'm still trying to figure out how Apple can think it's okay to not have Flash on any of their products.

Unfortunately, you're the one who's not reading my posts. I see no reason to repeat myself, so I'll leave you to reread if you're interested. The fact remains that iOS3.2+ and Android 3.0 are the only real tablet OSs in existence at this time of posting.

The iPad is a real tablet. The Motorla Xoom is a real tablet. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is a real tablet. The HP Slate is not. You can stay in denial if you want. Microsoft's doing it. It's just that eventually the truth will hit you and Microsoft. It won't affect you, but it will hurt Microsoft. BIG. It's just history repeating itself. How late was Windows Phone 7 to the competition?

As for Flash, that was addressed quite a long time ago and has no relations to this thread.

Anyway, just what exactly is your definition of a tablet? I ask this because what you're saying doesn't match up with the ACTUAL definition of a tablet, nor the primary purpose of one, for that matter. I hope you realize that a tablet PC is just that. A PC! Tablets are just shrunken down versions of a typical computer made for portability, like laptops, but with the specialized purpose of writing via touchscreen and stylus. Despite what you think, it doesn't matter what OS a tablet is using. It can run Windows, Linux, or whathaveyou, just as long as it has wireless connection, handwriting recognition, and can be used as something of an electronic replacement for a notebook.

Granted, Apple has practically made tablets more accessible to students and a multitude professionals. I'm fully willing to admit that, and even applaud Apple for such a thing. Before, tablets were almost exclusively used by people working in the fields of medicine, industry, and government. But what you have to understand is that they didn't invent tablets just by making their iphones larger. They just created a gadget that happens to fit the classification of a pre-existing product.

I defined what real tablets are in my a link I threw up some time ago, but I'll say it again. A real tablet is a multi-touch screen computer that is running an operating system designed specifically for multi-touch as the input device. That's all there is to it. What's so hard to understand?

What you are saying is that the HP Slate and the Motorla Xoom are the same type of devices. That is completely wrong. The HP Slate is running the same applications you're using right now on your PC. These applications are designed for your mouse. Everything is exactly the same as your PC. The only difference is that the HP Slate doesn't have a mouse or a trackpad, but you use the touch screen to navigate an invisible cursor.

In contrary, the Motorola Xoom is running applications designed specifically for Android 3.0, which doesn't even support the mouse. In exchange, it supports a multitude of multi-touch gestures that become the user input method. The applications, therefore, are specifically designed for multi-touch. The applications Windows uses are NOT. Just because you can touch the buttons doesn't mean the developers intended for you to use a touch screen.



It's like saying that Nokia (before they switched to Windows Phone 7) makes smartphones. Many misinformed people called the N series smartphones back in the days. Now if you look back, are they smartphones? Absolutely not. They're just dumbphones with slightly more functions. Now everyone knows that smartphones must be running C-based operating systems. You and Microsoft are making the same mistake now. Tablets must be running a touch-based operating system, or they're just laptops without keyboards.

Hopefully that clears things up, and man, this thread has seriously derailed from the iPad. xD