Apple knocks $100 off refurb WiFi iPads

[Gooberlx2]

preorder started for Notion Ink Tablet -- Resolution is bad, but... but... Pixel Qi!

I'd be waiting for reviews anyway. There's been so much hype and hoopla around that tablet, I'd want to see how well it fulfills its promises, on someone else's dime first.

 

[TheStu]

So basically the ipad behaves more like an iphone than a tablet.
Needing to hook up to a computer to transfer everything.
Its still a great tablet but thats a major flaw to me.
Like I said, its not a deal breaker for me especially if the ipad2 comes with higher resolution.

People are defining tablet as they see fit these days. Pre-iPad it was a slate or convertible laptop. Running some sort of touch-ified (tm) version of a desktop OS (see Windows/Linux), you would almost always use a stylus, and they were almost all crap. The only thing I liked about the HP convertible in the lab at school was that I could turn the screen around to have the screen closer to me for notes (have it sitting next to my macbook, screens facing the same way, keyboards facing two different ways).

Now, they are saying that things like iPads are tablets. All slates, no attached keyboards. Tablets, as they are defined now (apparently) means running a touch based OS that is not a desktop OS, but rather a mobile OS (see Android/iOS/QNX). Apple has invested almost a decade of software development and god knows how many millions of dollars and many hours into iTunes. It is how everything in their ecosystem that isn't a full blown computer connects. iPods, iPhones, iPads, AppleTVs, they all connect through iTunes. Something that has kind of bugged me from the beginning about Android is the lack of Google provided desktop syncing software. I am totally cool with you just being able to punch in your credentials and go as soon as you unbox the phone, I really enjoyed it on my WinMoPho when i got it, but once that initial thing is done... then what? How do I fill the 8-16GB of storage with music/movies/pictures?

So yea, you need to connect the iPad to iTunes to get it to work, however once that is done, you shouldn't need to connect to iTunes ever again except to update or put music/movies/pictures on it.

None of the devices that are currently defined as 'tablets' (save for MAYBE the HP Slate) are primary systems. People often say that they are for consumption only. I strongly disagree with that statement, however I will say that they cannot be, in their current incarnation, the only computer you have.

 

[pm]

So yea, you need to connect the iPad to iTunes to get it to work, however once that is done, you shouldn't need to connect to iTunes ever again except to update or put music/movies/pictures on it.

To be a bit pedantic, you don't even need to do that. You can buy music from iTunes over WiFi/3G, you can rent/buy movies from iTunes, and you can use the iPad Camera Connection kit to import movies and pictures - all without a PC.

Of course the counterarguement to that is "I don't want to buy everything from Apple", and that's fair enough. But once you activate it, you never actually need to hook it up to a computer (except to back it up and update) if you are willing to buy all media purchases directly from Apple.

 

[pm]

I don't care if other USB devices don't work, I'd like to be able to hook a portable harddrive or usb thumb drive without too much hassle.
If Apple can put a USB port on the Macbook Air, they can put one on an Ipad.
With that said, its not a deal breaker for me but I will wait for the Ipad2.

You can hook up a USB hard drive or thumb drive to an iPad - use the Ipad Camera Kit. You need a hack to get the hard drive to work (jailbreak) but a thumb drive works as-is.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A

 

[TheStu]

To be a bit pedantic, you don't even need to do that. You can buy music from iTunes over WiFi/3G, you can rent/buy movies from iTunes, and you can use the iPad Camera Connection kit to import movies and pictures - all without a PC.

Of course the counterarguement to that is "I don't want to buy everything from Apple", and that's fair enough. But once you activate it, you never actually need to hook it up to a computer (except to back it up and update) if you are willing to buy all media purchases directly from Apple.

Yea, I left out that part, my bad.

And on your next post, i didn't realize that a thumbdrive would work. I assume it only works if there are files there for the pictures app to work with. So if there is an mp4 on there you probably couldn't play it.

 

[pm]

Yea, I left out that part, my bad.

And on your next post, i didn't realize that a thumbdrive would work. I assume it only works if there are files there for the pictures app to work with. So if there is an mp4 on there you probably couldn't play it.

Yeah, thumbdrives do work - I've tried. And yes, if there are MP4's on there, they play. When we travel I usually load movies on that way because it's a lot faster to grab them and shove them on a thumbdrive than it is to fire up iTunes.

 

[TheStu]

Yeah, thumbdrives do work - I've tried. And yes, if there are MP4's on there, they play. When we travel I usually load movies on that way because it's a lot faster to grab them and shove them on a thumbdrive than it is to fire up iTunes.

No kidding... it just shows up in the iPod app? Ok, well that is one theory about jumpdrives & iPads shot to hell...

 

[pm]

No kidding... it just shows up in the iPod app? Ok, well that is one theory about jumpdrives & iPads shot to hell...

No, they show up in the photo album app (it's presumably for camcorder videos).

And it's not quite as perfectly awesome as I'm making it sound. Among other things, the controls aren't as good, it doesn't remember where you last left off, and most annoying it doesn't name the movies (so you need to guess, remember the order or load them all and try them).