I've had the iPad 2 for several weeks: What it needs...

[Jules]

My tea leaves obviously.

Seriously though, it's unfortunate I have to spell everything out. Apple's motivation isn't just to make insanely great products. It's also to make insanely great gobs of cash. Thus, product launches and feature sets are to a large extent dictated by the dollar, not just by their engineering capabilities. If you think otherwise, I don't know what to say.

LoL, funny stuff.

 

[QueBert]

Was around a friend today who was carrying on about "F' Apple" and went on the tyrant about how they just slightly upgrade a product and release it as something new. He said this when he saw my iPod Touch. About 10 minutes after we stopped this discussion, he phone rings. He pulled out a Motorola Droid 2. All I could do was laugh at how he could get so mad at Apple for what he claims they do, but he owns a Droid 2, really?

 

[dlock13]

Was around a friend today who was carrying on about "F' Apple" and went on the tyrant about how they just slightly upgrade a product and release it as something new. He said this when he saw my iPod Touch. About 10 minutes after we stopped this discussion, he phone rings. He pulled out a Motorola Droid 2. All I could do was laugh at how he could get so mad at Apple for what he claims they do, but he owns a Droid 2, really?

Well, to be honest, there's really no argument when it comes to that aspect anymore. Companies can't really develop the next new amazing thing when their competition is releasing a slightly upgraded phone with maybe one good feature for about the same price as the previous. They're making money while you're wasting it creating this huge thing.

Sadly, I would much rather them take their time and make something that's worthwhile instead of.... let's say the Droid X2. It has a better display and Tegra 2, but that's it. That's absolutely nothing special in my opinion. It needs to have something game changing, but that's nearly impossible these days, and I feel like companies wait to see what Apple does so they can follow the leader and then release something with exactly similar features.

 

[Aikouka]

The only complaint I can see people make in regard to their updates is iPhone to iPhone 3G. If I remember correctly, the 3G was literally the iPhone with a 3G modem. The 3GS, 4 and upcoming 5 (or 4S) will all have hardware changes that are significant enough to warrant a new revision. If the iPad 2 is any indicator, A4 to A5 is a huge leap!

Maybe now the newer iPhone will finally be "faster" than the iPhone 3GS in benchmarks. (Yes, I know why the iPhone 4 tends to fall behind it)

 

[dlock13]

The only complaint I can see people make in regard to their updates is iPhone to iPhone 3G. If I remember correctly, the 3G was literally the iPhone with a 3G modem. The 3GS, 4 and upcoming 5 (or 4S) will all have hardware changes that are significant enough to warrant a new revision. If the iPad 2 is any indicator, A4 to A5 is a huge leap!

Maybe now the newer iPhone will finally be "faster" than the iPhone 3GS in benchmarks. (Yes, I know why the iPhone 4 tends to fall behind it)

I completely agree with that. The one thing that upsets me is that companies release phones ASAP. They get a new CPU so they say... let's get this out so we can try and make some money! Oh no, the iPhone 5 is coming out so let's make another phone and release that ASAP, too!

With Apple, I think they understood from the iPhone to 3G leap that they need more than just a new radio. Even if the iPhone 5 has slightly better cameras, LTE, and the same A5 as the iPad 2, then it will be a worthy upgrade IMO because their ecosystem and attention to detail are what makes their products awesome. Think about it, they released FaceTime with it functioning perfectly and capable on EVERY iPhone 4, iPod Touch and iPad 2. Google releases video chat, and it's capable for... about 5 of their phones which isn't a majority in the least and doesn't work as smooth as Apple's integration. Blah. I'm done with this. I just want the new iPhone to come out so I can purchase it and get rid of this Fascinate once and for all.

 

[alent1234]

I completely agree with that. The one thing that upsets me is that companies release phones ASAP. They get a new CPU so they say... let's get this out so we can try and make some money! Oh no, the iPhone 5 is coming out so let's make another phone and release that ASAP, too!

With Apple, I think they understood from the iPhone to 3G leap that they need more than just a new radio. Even if the iPhone 5 has slightly better cameras, LTE, and the same A5 as the iPad 2, then it will be a worthy upgrade IMO because their ecosystem and attention to detail are what makes their products awesome. Think about it, they released FaceTime with it functioning perfectly and capable on EVERY iPhone 4, iPod Touch and iPad 2. Google releases video chat, and it's capable for... about 5 of their phones which isn't a majority in the least and doesn't work as smooth as Apple's integration. Blah. I'm done with this. I just want the new iPhone to come out so I can purchase it and get rid of this Fascinate once and for all.

and the fact that the companies that supply these parts are on a yearly upgrade cycle has nothing to do with it?

apple like HTC and Motorola is a systems integrator. they have a bunch of test devices and get a bill of materials for each one and talk to their foxconn engineers about the ease of building each device. and they have to talk to manufacturing partners about their ability to supply tens of millions of parts on a timely schedule at specific prices.

in the end they build a configuration that will give them the most profit while running the latest gen iOS software that the OS X/iOS guys make work with all the parts. not like you can just solder a few chips together, it all has to work.

this is why dell can't compete in this decade. they are used to just slapping a few parts together and selling a system. with phones and tablets you have to do some engineering