Doom9
28th January 2010, 13:00
A spammer already started a thread but the premise of a discussion seems interesting, and pertinent.
For my two extended absences now I've been using an Acer Aspire 3810ZT as portable media player. I've used a jailbroken and carrier unlocked iPhone 3G as modem to have a full blown media player and Internet device. The device retails a bit above an iPad, but it's smaller brother, the 11.6" 1810TZ (both have 4GB RAM, a 64bit Win7, 320GB HD, an Intel GMA4500 GFX chip (full DXVA support in major apps, including MPC HC) is in a smiliar price range than the iPad - so I take it as comparison point.
Let's talk media playback first:
Being iPhone OS based means you're limited to what apple wants you to play. According to the specs (http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/) that's main level AVC 3.1 with up to 160kbit/s 48KHz LC-AAC audio, and MPEG-4 Simple Profile content up to 2.5mbit/s and 640x480 pixels, also with the same audio. Container wise, it's MP4 all the way.
In other words, forget your trusted old DivX/XviD movie backups and forget your shiny new x264 Blu-ray movie backups, too.
And since it's based on the iPhone OS, thanks to apple's policy of not allowing apps that duplicate native apps, forget about an alternative player that does more.
Using the Timeline, you get unlimited movie playback (in my limited testing, all 1080p content was played back fine, although scaled down to the display's resolution of 1366x768) and you can chose your own playback device. And while we're talking resolutions.. pretty much any box nowadays is some form of widescreen (PCs are now migrating from 16:10 to 16:9).. yet the iPad sports a traditional 4:3 resolution of 1024x768.. which is definitely less than ideal for video playback nowadays.
Then let's talk loading content: Details aren't out yet, but my guess is that it'll be iTunes, just like for the iPhone/iPod. Maybe you like iTunes.. personally I've hated it since my first iPod. I've managed my music collection using folders, as it represents the way I listen to music. When I load my iPhone, I drag and drop folders from my nas into a playlist and synch. So, a full blown computer (could even be a mac.. I actually have a 2009 mini, but I prefer to run it on Windows 7 than Snow Leopard), you drag and drop content you want, and you can do it over the wired 1Gbit connection (I still run a 802.11g network because Tomato doesn't support n routers (I know about the special build for the asus router;) )).
I guess while iTunes is a matter of taste, flexibility wise, the iPad is limited. And I suspect, the flash will be as dog slow as on its smaller brothers, whereas regular marchines are just limited by network speed.
Now let's talk Internet:
Mobile Safari is great, no doubt about it (though the c't review of the Nexus One said Mobile Chrome won't show me the square blox when you scroll fast... a major annoyance on the iPhone for me) - but if you scale up to a 9.3" display, you have to compare it to Netbooks and ULV notebooks. So, the lack of Flash support definitely bites here. Love it or hate it, Flash is here to stay (and with Flash 10.1 you even get hardware acceleration on the Aspire).
And I suspect even though the on-screen keyboard is now definitely large enough for you not to hit the wrong key by mistake, not having any tactile feedback and not having notches that let you move your fingers to the proper typing position without looking at the keyboard means those with a proper keyboard will still type faster (and you'll be swearing almost as much as you do with the iPhone if you're riding a train or car (as a passenger of course) and things get a bit bumpy.. (just as a note.. the iPhone's automatic correction doesn't work for me at all - the staggering amount of miscorrections had me turn it off on day two - and if you search the Internet, you'll find that there are entire countries that basically turn that feature off.. it only works well for certain languages (tip to apple: do a Nokia and save words the user has corrected.. so in the future you can suggest those words first))
Then email: The app looks fine, and integrated Exchange is helpful, but unless they made some major changes, Exchange support is still only halfway done. There are sites that can better explain this (and have long list of missing features) but here are the ones that bug me: No way to respond to an invitation other than with accept, maybe or reject (especially in the latter two, being able to write why it's a maybe or reject is almost a must), not being able to see other people's calendars before sending an invitation, and then there's the issue with the device initially misreporting it's encryption capabilities (in OS 3.0 the iPhone claimed it did encryption.. so when 3.1 came out and corrected that, Exchange support would fail for all organizations that require on device encryption).
Exchange support will cost you an Outlook license though, whereas Exchange support is integrated on the iPad.
Finally... where the iPhone OS really bites is the lack of multitasking. Even on the iPhone, running an IM or VoIP app in the background shouldn't kill your battery since those apps mostly sleep, but on a 9.7" display, being limited to one app at a time is way too limiting. After all, I seem to recall a time when apple was making fun on Microsoft because Windows couldn't do proper multitasking. Now we're in the 21st century, and whose mobile OS doesn't do multitasking now.
I could probably imagine a tablet as a portable media player along with the necessary Internet connectivity to take on non business trips, but as things are now, a traditional device fits my requirements much better.
P.S. I almost forgot.. the Timeline has an 8h battery life, then iPad 10h.. so it wins there. Then again, the Timeline has a dual core chip running at 1.3GHz (single core version is also available and of course cheaper), and almost an inch more of screen real-estate (and a swappable battery.. ).
P.S. 2: almost forget that too.. instead of buying an adapter, slots for major camera cards are built-in, and you don't need a docking station to have USB connectivity. Would an USB mini/micro slot really have hurt that much? To me, the whole dock thingie is reminicent of how Microsoft is locked into providing backward compatibility in their operating systems - apple basically has to use the same connector because of the eco-system they've built around it and it would piss off partners if they changed anything.. so we end up having ugly hack solutions like the upcoming mini USB to dock adapter for the iPhone and now the iPad dock.
For my two extended absences now I've been using an Acer Aspire 3810ZT as portable media player. I've used a jailbroken and carrier unlocked iPhone 3G as modem to have a full blown media player and Internet device. The device retails a bit above an iPad, but it's smaller brother, the 11.6" 1810TZ (both have 4GB RAM, a 64bit Win7, 320GB HD, an Intel GMA4500 GFX chip (full DXVA support in major apps, including MPC HC) is in a smiliar price range than the iPad - so I take it as comparison point.
Let's talk media playback first:
Being iPhone OS based means you're limited to what apple wants you to play. According to the specs (http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/) that's main level AVC 3.1 with up to 160kbit/s 48KHz LC-AAC audio, and MPEG-4 Simple Profile content up to 2.5mbit/s and 640x480 pixels, also with the same audio. Container wise, it's MP4 all the way.
In other words, forget your trusted old DivX/XviD movie backups and forget your shiny new x264 Blu-ray movie backups, too.
And since it's based on the iPhone OS, thanks to apple's policy of not allowing apps that duplicate native apps, forget about an alternative player that does more.
Using the Timeline, you get unlimited movie playback (in my limited testing, all 1080p content was played back fine, although scaled down to the display's resolution of 1366x768) and you can chose your own playback device. And while we're talking resolutions.. pretty much any box nowadays is some form of widescreen (PCs are now migrating from 16:10 to 16:9).. yet the iPad sports a traditional 4:3 resolution of 1024x768.. which is definitely less than ideal for video playback nowadays.
Then let's talk loading content: Details aren't out yet, but my guess is that it'll be iTunes, just like for the iPhone/iPod. Maybe you like iTunes.. personally I've hated it since my first iPod. I've managed my music collection using folders, as it represents the way I listen to music. When I load my iPhone, I drag and drop folders from my nas into a playlist and synch. So, a full blown computer (could even be a mac.. I actually have a 2009 mini, but I prefer to run it on Windows 7 than Snow Leopard), you drag and drop content you want, and you can do it over the wired 1Gbit connection (I still run a 802.11g network because Tomato doesn't support n routers (I know about the special build for the asus router;) )).
I guess while iTunes is a matter of taste, flexibility wise, the iPad is limited. And I suspect, the flash will be as dog slow as on its smaller brothers, whereas regular marchines are just limited by network speed.
Now let's talk Internet:
Mobile Safari is great, no doubt about it (though the c't review of the Nexus One said Mobile Chrome won't show me the square blox when you scroll fast... a major annoyance on the iPhone for me) - but if you scale up to a 9.3" display, you have to compare it to Netbooks and ULV notebooks. So, the lack of Flash support definitely bites here. Love it or hate it, Flash is here to stay (and with Flash 10.1 you even get hardware acceleration on the Aspire).
And I suspect even though the on-screen keyboard is now definitely large enough for you not to hit the wrong key by mistake, not having any tactile feedback and not having notches that let you move your fingers to the proper typing position without looking at the keyboard means those with a proper keyboard will still type faster (and you'll be swearing almost as much as you do with the iPhone if you're riding a train or car (as a passenger of course) and things get a bit bumpy.. (just as a note.. the iPhone's automatic correction doesn't work for me at all - the staggering amount of miscorrections had me turn it off on day two - and if you search the Internet, you'll find that there are entire countries that basically turn that feature off.. it only works well for certain languages (tip to apple: do a Nokia and save words the user has corrected.. so in the future you can suggest those words first))
Then email: The app looks fine, and integrated Exchange is helpful, but unless they made some major changes, Exchange support is still only halfway done. There are sites that can better explain this (and have long list of missing features) but here are the ones that bug me: No way to respond to an invitation other than with accept, maybe or reject (especially in the latter two, being able to write why it's a maybe or reject is almost a must), not being able to see other people's calendars before sending an invitation, and then there's the issue with the device initially misreporting it's encryption capabilities (in OS 3.0 the iPhone claimed it did encryption.. so when 3.1 came out and corrected that, Exchange support would fail for all organizations that require on device encryption).
Exchange support will cost you an Outlook license though, whereas Exchange support is integrated on the iPad.
Finally... where the iPhone OS really bites is the lack of multitasking. Even on the iPhone, running an IM or VoIP app in the background shouldn't kill your battery since those apps mostly sleep, but on a 9.7" display, being limited to one app at a time is way too limiting. After all, I seem to recall a time when apple was making fun on Microsoft because Windows couldn't do proper multitasking. Now we're in the 21st century, and whose mobile OS doesn't do multitasking now.
I could probably imagine a tablet as a portable media player along with the necessary Internet connectivity to take on non business trips, but as things are now, a traditional device fits my requirements much better.
P.S. I almost forgot.. the Timeline has an 8h battery life, then iPad 10h.. so it wins there. Then again, the Timeline has a dual core chip running at 1.3GHz (single core version is also available and of course cheaper), and almost an inch more of screen real-estate (and a swappable battery.. ).
P.S. 2: almost forget that too.. instead of buying an adapter, slots for major camera cards are built-in, and you don't need a docking station to have USB connectivity. Would an USB mini/micro slot really have hurt that much? To me, the whole dock thingie is reminicent of how Microsoft is locked into providing backward compatibility in their operating systems - apple basically has to use the same connector because of the eco-system they've built around it and it would piss off partners if they changed anything.. so we end up having ugly hack solutions like the upcoming mini USB to dock adapter for the iPhone and now the iPad dock.