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The Apple Tablet - Shiny Pointless Things.

toomanyclownstoomanyclowns
edited July 2009 in Technology
As of the recent Telegraph story, the Internet is at Defcon 2. I have to admit, I will probably buy one, never ever use it, and it will sit next to my Eeepc, PSP, PS3, Pico Projector, LBP and Wii Fit Board, in a little cupboard that I'm going to name 'The Pointless Museum'.

I can't be the only one. Anyone else have a similar cupboard of shiny things they thought they needed and gave up on after five minutes?

Comments

  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    I have a box of OLD tech. Motorola Startec, an old car phone, hp jornada 680 palmtop computer, compaq armada pentium laptop...
  • AprecheApreche
    I have a box of OLD tech. Motorola Startec, an old car phone, hp jornada 680 palmtop computer, compaq armada pentium laptop...
    Motorla StarTAC is one of the best phones ever. I wish someone would make a modern phone that was as reliable and such.
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    edited July 2009
    I have a box of OLD tech. Motorola Startec, an old car phone, hp jornada 680 palmtop computer, compaq armada pentium laptop...
    Motorla StarTAC is one of the best phones ever. I wish someone would make a modern phone that was as reliable and such.
    I'm told by my guy at sprint that they can actually still assign the StarTac to the network, although it would be tricky. No texts, no voicemail notifications, no data what so ever. Just minutes.

    It sounds dicey because, according to my understanding, modern cellular networks have no analog signals anymore.
    Post edited by Victor Frost on
  • KilarneyKilarney
    It's coming...

    What do people predict?

    I'm having a really hard time getting my head around the rumored price. When the IPhone does so much, is the tablet worth the extra money when you could buy a laptop for the same price? Is the IPhone good enough for a portable device? Is the tablet too big for a portable device, making it no better to carry around than a laptop?

    So what do people think it will be like?
  • GeoGeo
    edited January 2010
    I am convinced that this tablet device that Apple is making, is a revival of the Apple Newton MessagePad. I know that this Newton revival stuff has been in the Apple rumor community for quite some time, but I have learned something that might possibly change this speculation into an actuality. Last September, Michael Tchao, who was one of the Newton's developers returned to Apple. It may just be a coincidence, but I don't think that's true.
    Post edited by Geo on
  • AprecheApreche
    So what do people think it will be like?
    Obviously all the rumors are just speculation whatever. Go back and look at the iPhone rumors before it came out. The only specific detail they actually got right was that it was a smart phone called the iPhone, and was also an iPod.

    My hope for a tablet, at least personally, is that it will fill this one sort of gap. Right now, there are many occasions in which I lay in bed or on the couch with the iPhone. It doesn't work really well because it is small, and it keeps rotating the screen when I lay on my side. It's uncomfortable to use a laptop in these situations because I have to sit up, or get in an uncomfortable position so that I can type. Laptops are still awesome for doing work when out and about. Smart phones are still awesome for doing things when on the subway or otherwise out and about. A consumer tablet device I think is a good way for people to do certain kinds of computing applications comfortably from the couch or bed.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    I'm with Scott on this. I really just want something to fill that niche where a laptop isn't that convenient. Present examples would be working as a media controller while my HTPC displays media, displaying rulebook PDFs and the like while I'm gaming (for a punk college student, this is important), or displaying recipes while docked in the kitchen. It's the issue of a keyboard and mouse, I think; there are a lot of situations where it would be better to not have them.

    It would be nice for any tablet to be able to receive info from beacons upon walking into a room or sitting down somewhere. Like, during breakfast hours, sitting down at the kitchen table pulls up a news widget, or when you enter your living room a media controller widget opens up. Seamless integration with the rest of our tech is what tablet makers need to aim for, as well as making sure that there are new and easier ways to get things done.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited January 2010
    I've always liked the idea of a chumby. Hopefully the tablet will have some similar features. The problem with the chumby is that it's just too darned small and limited. Not being portable is a huge problem.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • ChurbaChurba
    is a revival of the Apple Newton MessagePad
    Why anyone would want to revive that pile of utter shit is beyond me. I mean, christ, the Tungsten TX makes me want to stab myself through the eye with the stylus half the time, and it's ten times the device the newton ever was.
    It may just be a coincidence, but I don't think that's true.
    It most likely is, at this stage of the development, if things are conforming to rumor, which are that the product will be announced and show at a conference very close to CES. A hell of a lot of people worked on the newton project - two of them founded the company that made the OS for the iPod, for example.
  • GeoGeo
    edited January 2010
    is a revival of the Apple Newton MessagePad
    Why anyone would want to revive that pile of utter shit is beyond me. I mean, christ, the Tungsten TX makes me want to stab myself through the eye with the stylus half the time, and it's ten times the device the newton ever was.
    It may just be a coincidence, but I don't think that's true.
    It most likely is, at this stage of the development, if things are conforming to rumor, which are that the product will be announced and show at a conference very close to CES. A hell of a lot of people worked on the newton project - two of them founded the company that made the OS for the iPod, for example.
    @1st comment: While it is true that the Newton was for the most part, utter trash, you can't deny that it did do some very groundbreaking things in the era it was released in. Like I've said on the Geekchat, I felt that the the technology just wasn't there yet, it was too young.

    @2nd Comment: I dunno, I still have my suspicions...but to each his own.
    Post edited by Geo on
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    I've always liked the idea of achumby.Hopefully the tablet will have some similar features. The problem with the chumby is that it's just too darned small and limited. Not being portable is a huge problem.
    The Chumby One is useful for people who live in small spaces and value a totality of their information being with them wherever they are. I might invest in a Chumby One or some Guts when I get an apartment next year.
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited January 2010
    @1st comment: While it is true that the Newton was for the most part, utter trash, you can't deny that it did do some very groundbreaking things in the era it was released in. Like I've said on the Geekchat, I felt that the the technology just wasn't there yet, it was too young.
    So was bombing Hiroshima, But I don't see anyone clamoring for a repeat. And it wasn't too young. It was just garbage. If you want to put what you're saying another way, They're only just able to do competently after over decade of practice, what they already tried to do more than a decade ago. Nobody says that the Yugo was "Too young", because they don't like it. Nobody says that the Pinto was "too young", though at least the newton didn't turn your into a crispy critter.
    The only reason it was "Too young" is because people refuse to do anything but adore and fucking worship anything apple does.
    @2nd Comment: I dunno, I still have my suspicions...but to each his own.
    Matty, the event is supposed to be being held around the 20th of January, this year. If the thing is still in development so bad they needed to hire a specialist, then it's not coming out till december this year, at best, and if it's in that sort of development trouble, they wouldn't be announcing it in january. If it's coming out, or even being announced when it's rumored to be, it's either very, very late development, or complete and being manufactured for release. Apple, for all their faults, wouldn't be announcing or demoing a product these days without it being at least 90% ready to ship. They wouldn't risk - with the perfectionist that jobs is - that the product isn't everything they want it to be after they announce it/

    Not that it matters - Jobs could just crap on an a4 page, and people would go fucking mental for it, and it would be the Best crap ever. People would be raving on about how their particularly large emissions were the "Paper-shit killer". But Apple as a company is smart enough to know that jobs can't be at the head forever, and thus, they've prepared well. They do everything in secret, say nothing about rumors, knowing that they will be fermented into whatever brand of crazy brew the people fancy to hear, and then, when something comes out, it's treated like a revolution, the greatest thing you've ever seen since the last thing they released and till the next thing they deign to release to us teeming masses. At a ludicrous price point, of course.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    But it works.
  • ChurbaChurba
    But it works.
    Never said it didn't, did I?
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    Ah, but Luke never said you said it didn't.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    If the Apple tablet runs on the IPhone OS Kernel (as is widely rumored), is there any way that the tablet could be worth more than $500? I can't imagine spending upwards of $1,000 on such a device.

    Of course the OS and price are all rumors at this point.
  • GeoGeo
    I'm getting this feeling that the iTablet or whatever, might be a different animal from all of the other tablets on the market. The reason why I believe this is because I noticed that the iPod and the iPhone were completely different animals from what was on their respective markets.
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited January 2010
    Of course the OS and price are all rumors at this point.
    As is the platform itself.
    I'm getting this feeling that the iTablet or whatever, might be a different animal from all of the other tablets on the market. The reason why I believe this is because I noticed that the iPod and the iPhone were completely different animals from what was on their respective markets.
    That's what they'll say. After all, most people crowing already about what a victory in revolutionary computing that the "iTablet" will be have spent the last few months forgetting we've had tablet PCs for the better part of the last decade. And on top of that, I doubt apple would go for such a niche - After all, Have you ever used a tablet computer? Have you ever known anyone who has a tablet computer? That's because they're annoying and impractical to use for all but a few purposes.

    And, if it does come out, as the first in a line of platforms for apple, unless it comes with free blowjobs for the life of the device, it's no where near being worth what the device will most likely cost.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • GeoGeo
    Of course the OS and price are all rumors at this point.
    As is the platform itself.
    I'm getting this feeling that the iTablet or whatever, might be a different animal from all of the other tablets on the market. The reason why I believe this is because I noticed that the iPod and the iPhone were completely different animals from what was on their respective markets.
    That's what they'll say. After all, most people crowing already about what a victory in revolutionary computing that the "iTablet" will be have spent the last few months forgetting we've had tablet PCs for the better part of the last decade. And on top of that, I doubt apple would go for such a niche - After all, Have you ever used a tablet computer? Have you ever known anyone who has a tablet computer? That's because they're annoying and impractical to use for all but a few purposes.
    Emily has a tablet and I've seen her use it at Connecticon.
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited January 2010
    Emily has a tablet and I've seen her use it at Connecticon.
    Really? I was under the impression she had a Tablet Device, but not a Tablet computer - There is a difference. Even the Best Cintiq, while it's big, powerful, and has a VERY nice screen, is still an accessory, not a computer. Hell, I'm considering getting a Tablet device.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • GeoGeo
    Emily has a tablet and I've seen her use it at Connecticon.
    Really? I was under the impression she had a Tablet Device, but not a Tablet computer - There is a difference. Hell, I'm considering getting a Tablet device. But not a tablet computer.
    Hell I don't know the difference, since I'm unfamiliar. Hey Emily, could you clarify this confusion please?
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited January 2010
    Hell I don't know the difference, since I'm unfamiliar. Hey Emily, could you clarify this confusion please?
    The difference is simple - one is an input device(and sometimes also a display) like a Cintiq, for example. The other is an entire computer that uses a Touch screen for it's display, and either is a flat piece with no keyboard, or, it's like a laptop, but the screen can flip around and clip back to the main PC, allowing you to use it like a tablet.

    Edit - I'm pretty sure that Emily has mentioned her tablet and computer as separate objects that she connects to one another, and I have a vague recollection of something being said about her using it with her laptop still in her bag, or something like that - but it's vauge enough that I'm propably wrong.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • FunfetusFunfetus
    edited January 2010
    Edit - I'm pretty sure that Emily has mentioned her tablet and computer as separate objects that she connects to one another, and I have a vague recollection of something being said about her using it with her laptop still in her bag, or something like that - but it's vauge enough that I'm propably wrong.
    The only graphics tablet that is also a computer is something like the Modbook, which is an aftermarket modification of a Macbook. If someone says "tablet PC" or whatever, they're almost certainly not talking about something you'd want to draw on.

    As far as I know, Cintiqs are the only graphics tablets that are also a monitor -- they actually have two cables coming out of them, a USB cable and a DVI cable, and the system sees them as two separate devices -- a monitor, and a plain old Wacom tablet. So it does have to be plugged into a computer, but there's no reason you couldn't use it with a laptop in a bag. However, a Cintiq itself is hardly portable, so I don't know why you'd want to.
    Post edited by Funfetus on
  • ChurbaChurba
    Edit - I'm pretty sure that Emily has mentioned her tablet and computer as separate objects that she connects to one another, and I have a vague recollection of something being said about her using it with her laptop still in her bag, or something like that - but it's vauge enough that I'm propably wrong.
    The onlygraphicstablet that is also a computer is something like theModbook, which is an aftermarket modification of a Macbook. If someone says "tablet PC" or whatever, they're almost certainly not talking about something you'd want to draw on.
    I know, that's what I thought it was really wierd, because you'd think that Gomi Picking up a modbook would be something that she'd mention on the forums. If I'd have just bought a violently expensive mac-hack, I'd be bragging.
  • Li_AkahiLi_Akahi
    I really just want this to be a Mac tablet laptop. I don't need a giant iPod Touch.
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