iPad... the Novelty Giant sized iPhone

So is anyone going to be the first in line to grab this new gadget. ; While it would be nice as a time-filler at work during those slow times, it might be just a bit expensive. ; Although it could double as a digital picture frame ; ;D

 

I'm not touching one with a ten foot pole. ; It'll suffer from the same fundamental problem that the Iphone does. ; Namely that Apple gets to say which programs can be run on it. ; So in other words.. they want you to think that the Ipad will revolutionize the world, but you can only use it in the way that they want it to be used. ; That doesn't make for a huge difference for most users, but it's in glaring contradiction to their carefully cultivated friendly image and I want nothing to do with it.

No thank you, if I ever go that route I'm getting a tablet running either something like the Android smartphone OS or a stock MS OS. ; Something like.. zeees:

http://www.archos.com/products/nb/archo ... us&lang=en

But that's still not ideal. ; I do think that a custom designed tablet OS, or a modification of a smartphone OS, would make more sense than running a more or less stock version of a desktop OS on it. ; These things should be made on the "instant on" paradigm. ; The touch screen may not be ideal either.

There's plenty more of this sort of thing on the way. ; In another half a year or so Intel will have their next generation of atom CPUs out that will provide more power for devices of this scale. ; Right now there's nothing on the market that entirely pleases me. ; I may well end up getting a device that uses Windows 7, simply because I can get access to the widest array of programs that I already use now. ; But I'm at least waiting until more powerful CPUs are out.

 

Steve Jobs said he got a really good deal from AT&T. ; In other words, that's the pricing Apple wanted. ; If the iPad is a hit, you'll see prices going down really, really fast on the other carriers. ; Now, with it being unlocked, can any service be used? ; Don't know a lot about the meaning of it being unlocked it AT&T is still the data provider.

 

interesting to even hear at&t mentioned with the word deal in the same sentence, case in point, my fire department , actually the district, owns the cell/radio tower behind the station, the commissioners rent tower space out and income goes towards operations budgets. all carriers are offered the same price, the only carrier not on that tower is at&t, they countered with an offer half of the others and said if we wanted the original price, then it had to be an exclusive, needless to say, they are not on the tower, and at&t coverage is almost nonexistent in this area of the township, to where my work phone, does not have coverage at my work site, 1000 feet away from the firehouse, and this dollar dance occurs every 2 years, with always the same result

 

I'm rather surprised to hear that the Ipad will be unlocked. ; Call me a bit skeptical about that claim too, but...

If it's true, it means that yes, you should be able to use it on any GSM carrier. ; But whether you get 3g speed I don't know. ; I'm not too up to speed on the multitude of radio data standards out there. ; GSM itself is an international standard, a GSM phone will give you voice and perhaps lower speed data all over, with many carriers. ; But different carriers in different countries use different bands for their high speed data, and I don't know if the other US carriers that use GSM use the same thing AT&T does.

Crudely put, I think that if you can use a jailbroken 3G Iphone on a certain carrier and get proper 3g speeds then the same should be true of the Ipad.

 

I don't think that the iPad will be unlocked (latest rumor I heard). ; I think that it is Apple's way of keeping with AT&T to some extent. ; With the iPhone opening up sometime this spring (June?) they can keep some type of exclusivity.

 

The iPad will be unlocked. It was specifically mention in the keynote about it. The issue will be finding micro sims from other carriers.

 

Yeah, I read about this micro sim business.. why fit a larger device with a smaller sim card?
A did a little search on the format and the first reference I found was an angry Australian blog post basically saying that this was an intentional tactic to keep the Ipad locked to a few providers and then only to specific, potentially higher priced plans. ; At the moment it's looking cheap in the US but he's expecting more expensive plans down under.

That's an interesting twist. ; Normally with a SIM card you can transfer your plan from device to device. ; If you have, say, a jailbroken Iphone and a more conventional cell phone you could swap the two. ; But if the Ipad uses a nonstandard card type then providers have the opportunity to treat the Ipad differently than other smartphones.

Again, I'd suggest you not count on that 30 dollar a month unlimited plan existing for very long. ; AT&T's network is already overloaded due in part to their much more expensive Iphone plans. ; It strains credulity to believe that they'd offer a significantly cheaper plan for a device with the potential to put an even harder drain on their network. ; They're up to something.

 

I could see this helpful for photographers presenting images to clients.

 

My boss got one so we can share the images of the buildings we have designed with our clients. ; Now he's thinking about getting them for the entire staff because there are some sketching and note taking apps that look like they can make us more efficient. ; For example, right now when I go to a construction site, I take handwritten notes and then go back to the office and type them up to make a field report. ; With this I can type it up on the site and email it before I leave. ; Also, with a stylus, and a sketch program, I can modify a detail on the site and email it to the contractor before I leave.

I think for most people the iPad is just another electronic toy, but for certain professions like photographers, graphic artists, architects, interior designers, etc. this could be a tool that can improve their business

 

The medical profession is getting into the iPad. ; Imagine having an iPad linked to patient's electronic medical history (including medical imaging) and update it as they make their rounds. ; My doctor lugs in her laptop for my physical now. ; An iPad would be much easier to carry around.

Oh, the iPad is going to find many uses in many professions. ;

I am even thinking about getting one for my elderly parents (psst, don't tell them I called them that!). ; It's the first device I would feel safe giving them so they can access the electronic universe easily.

 

My cardiologist has a tablet PC they use in the office. ; Your entire medical record can be accessed including EKG's and they can even see a video of your heart cath. ;

 

Well I'm feeling a bit smug. ; When we were first discussing the Ipad I went on and on about how I didn't believe that AT&T was going to offer a $30 per month unlimited data plan for long. ; I was sure that they were up to something, it felt like an obvious move to gather attention that they'd drop as soon as they started getting customers signing up.

Well here we go. ; They actually pulled this sooner than I expected, I figured they'd play along with the $30 story for a while longer.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-gadgeteer/at-ts-new-plans-iphone-tethering-but-no-more-unlimited-ipad-3g-data/3322?tag=mantle_skin;content

I'm a little unclear on what happens to current Ipad 3g customers. ; That article says they can still have the unlimited plan, but the article that this article references suggests otherwise. ; It mentions current unlimited Ipad "contract" holders can stay with that plan, but one of the big deals about the Ipad was that it didn't require a contract. ; Which I had always figured was so that they could change their terms like this and their customers wouldn't have a contract to stay with.

I don't buy their marketing message either. ; That so many smartphone users would be under the 200MB level. ; Take me.. roughly halfway through my monthly usage cycle I'm at 66 megabytes. ; Yeah, that puts me on target to be under the cap. ; I also do VERY LITTLE on my phone, I mostly read news in text form from RSS feeds and mobile websites that are very graphics light. ; I can imagine my usage multiplying several times if I had as large a device as an Ipad, able to partake of so much video and graphics and such. ; I'd expect I could easily blow past 66 megabytes in a single evening. ; Again, I mostly do text right now and halfway through the month I'm more than a quarter of the way into that "most smartphone users" limit. ; Am I to understand that most smartphone users just read simple news feeds and get data light RSS feeds? ; Is this what I'm supposed to believe the Ipad is for?

Their terms stink. ; 200 megabytes (I'm unclear on the specifics, some articles say 200, some say 250) is a tiny usage cap. ; At that rate $15 for 200 megabytes ends up being seven and a half cents a megabyte. ; The "datapro" plan (beware when businesses start slapping the term "pro" onto things) of $25 for 2 gigabytes of data works out to a little more than a penny a megabyte. ; So if you're a light data user you're being ripped off even as they try to say that they're really saving you money.


The overage prices are interesting too. ; For the $15 plan the overages run an additional $15 for another block of 200. ; So if you use 201 megabytes it's gunna cost you another $15 for that one megabyte. ; For the "datapro" plan the overages costs are $10 for another gigabyte, cheaper per megabyte than the plan itself and also in half the size so if you don't use the whole thing you're losing less money than if you were using the $15 plan.

AT&T is trying to defend themselves with their numbers that claim that 98% of all smartphone users will use less than 2 gigabytes so they really save money with the unlimited plan. ; Somehow I don't believe it. ; They're not interested in saving money, they're interested in making money. ; They've been raking in the dough hand over foot from the Iphone and their network has remained anemic and unable to cope with the demand. ; Now that they figure they've saturated the smartphone market and that they have their existing customers hooked they're going to tighten their terms up rather than invest in expanding their capacity. ; Make the customers adapt to their needs rather than the other way around.

 

Did anyone also see that AT&T is waffling on the $30 unlimited Data Usage deal. ; They will no longer sign up new users with an unlimited plan. ; Sure, the rates will be cheaper, but no more watching streaming movies on the iPad without using WiFi. ; There goes part of my "pluses" for getting the iPad.

**Did not read Page 1 for the post on the Data Plan**

But it still inhibits my current "Must Have" status for purchasing an iPad. ; I think now it has fallen to "Wait til Version 2.0" status...