Asus Announces iPad Competitor, the "Eee".

[Nickswitz]

Ian and I argued over the iPad. Personally I don't see much point to it. It's like an iPhone/iTouch... but way too big to fit in your pocket. So people aren't going to buy these instead of their phone.

So it's like a laptop... but it can only run one thing at once using iPhone-type apps. So it's like a particularly crappy laptop, then.

When I bought the iPhone I knew exactly what I wanted it for - I wanted to combine my phone and iPod into one so I could walk around listening to music and still hear the phone ring, without having to have two gadgets. The on the go web access, GPS, camera, etc, have all proven to be very useful extras.

With the iPad, if you handed me one for free right now I simply can't imagine what I would do with it. Who exactly will buy this and what exactly will they do with it once the novelty has worn off?

The only reason I can really see any use is as an ereader with some extra crap on it... Besides that it's really not that useful.

People said the same about the iPhone, including Graham.

Touche

And I can see someone who's looking for an ebook reader as finding this useful, it also has more memory in the smallest one than any of the other ebook readers, as well as having a nice UI, being light, and one big thing, it's under a thousand dollars, the most expensive one is... That's a big thing for most people because they always look at Apple as being way too expensive, and yet they are cheaper than someone who entered the field before them, besides the fact that it has ten times as much usefulness as a Kindle.

[Reliant121]

I have several objections, however they are all personal.

1) I dont need an E-Reader. Its partially personal preference, but I far prefer having a good book with me. Or a selection of smaller ones. One of its headline purposes has little variance for me.

2) UI simplicity. Yes, the iPhone UI is darned pretty, easy to use, layed out very well and is very popular. However, If i am going to pay the high prices for these things (not sure of actual prices, I expect them to be over £500), i'd at the very least want them to be able to run two apps at once. My £250 Nokia E71 can do that with ease, yes it's not as big but at least I can have my music player, web browser and a game active all at once.

3) Size. 10' puts it at direct competition to the wonderful market of netbooks. If my price predictions are correct, then it shall be more expensive than well...almost all of them. My mother's £350 netbook CAN multitask, HAS got windows 7 and has the massive market of stuff for the OS.

While the Apps are an impressive number, I really can't see even a 10th of them being helpful for the masses.

I think for the money, I would rather buy an iTouch and a Netbook. And probably a half decent smartphone as well.

[Captain Seafort]

Topic moved to a more suitable forum

[Graham Kennedy]

I prefer reading books on paper, but that said I've never read a book on a proper electronic book thing like the kindle. I can definitely see the advantage of ordering a book online and getting it instantly rather than waiting days or even a couple of weeks for the post. I wonder how heavy something like a kindle is compared to a book.

I do wonder about battery life. I've had train journeys of six hours or so before. Would a kindle survive that? And of course, I can drop a book and not have to worry that it will break.

[Reliant121]

I've found plenty of books in PDF formats, and my Nokia comes with a PDF reader common to most Symbian S60 devices. I find it perfectly adequate for book reading, if not particularly comfortable on the eye.

[Sonic Glitch]

I may actually check out this "Eee" if only to see it. BTW, how is that pronounced? E? E-e-e? High Pitched like "Eek!" (As in "Eek! A mouse?!") or what?

[Mark]

I think it's "Eh" like "E....look at dis ting!"

[Tsukiyumi]

I may actually check out this "Eee" if only to see it. BTW, how is that pronounced? E? E-e-e? High Pitched like "Eek!" (As in "Eek! A mouse?!") or what?

Uzume and I were discussing that. A long drawn out "Eeeeeee...." was our consensus, possibly punctuated with a question mark.

[Tyyr]

Here's the thing, I want to like the iPad. Conceptually I can see a niche for this thing. It's not meant to go head to head with something like a netbook or laptop. Someone a couple days ago posited that it was a media consumption device, not a creation one. Now while abhor that kind of marketing jargon I think he was right.

For instance, in about ten days I'm going on a flight, something like the iPad would be perfect for that. I can take several books without the bulk of physical ones (which can be an issue on a business trip where I can polish off two or even three in a single trip). I can surf the web and post things to places like DITL. I can listen to music and watch video while I wait or while I'm going. I can do all that without the bulk of my laptop. On a side note, did anyone ever think you'd see the day where people would start bitching about the size of their laptops, we've reached a very odd place as a society. Same thing around the house or if I go out. I don't have to haul along my laptop which while it's useful I don't always need the number crunching, game playing, real work doing capability of it. I can just take my iPad and be good to go. Of course that leaves it in the realm for people who either do no real work on a computer and therefore don't need a laptop, or people who've got the cash to spring for both. It's no substitute for a netbook or laptop if you need a real computer.

The thing that keeps me from drooling over it though is that its a fucking Mac. It's broken out of the box. I don't want to have to hand over my balls to Steve Jobs to be allowed to use his toy. I don't wanna be shackled to the app store or iTunes, or iBooks if I want to put something on my own damn computer. I get why its done that way, the iPad will be relatively bullet proof since Apple will control it from the basic hardware up through what you can put on it. It's just not a trade off I'm willing to make.

So that being said I'll wait to see what the PC side brings out and if any of those might make it onto my want list.

I may actually check out this "Eee" if only to see it. BTW, how is that pronounced? E? E-e-e? High Pitched like "Eek!" (As in "Eek! A mouse?!") or what?

Uzume and I were discussing that. A long drawn out "Eeeeeee...." was our consensus, possibly punctuated with a question mark.

Sounds about right.

[Reliant121]

While it isn't as intuitive, you can still read books on a netbook. Download PDF books and read them in Adobe.

[IanKennedy]

I have several objections, however they are all personal.

1) I dont need an E-Reader. Its partially personal preference, but I far prefer having a good book with me. Or a selection of smaller ones. One of its headline purposes has little variance for me.

2) UI simplicity. Yes, the iPhone UI is darned pretty, easy to use, layed out very well and is very popular. However, If i am going to pay the high prices for these things (not sure of actual prices, I expect them to be over £500), i'd at the very least want them to be able to run two apps at once. My £250 Nokia E71 can do that with ease, yes it's not as big but at least I can have my music player, web browser and a game active all at once.

You can certainly have your music playing and run another app at the same time. I do this all the time on the iPhone. I've not sure how you can drive the web browser and play a game at the same time. It doesn't seem practical. I can understand a wish to have Skype connected while doing something else, that makes more sense. As for price it's currently priced at $500 for a minimum machine. UK pricing is not announced yet. If you can believe exchange rate conversion that should put it at £320, I doubt it will be that low though.

3) Size. 10' puts it at direct competition to the wonderful market of netbooks. If my price predictions are correct, then it shall be more expensive than well...almost all of them. My mother's £350 netbook CAN multitask, HAS got windows 7 and has the massive market of stuff for the OS.

If the exchange rate conversion holds true then it's £320. Having Windows 7 is not a good thing, certainly not for me. I'm still curious on the multitasking front, what's the point it every app starts up exactly where it left off when you switched? Sure some of them do not do that but they're just badly written. With this larger screen then it makes more sense but not with the iPhone. The only exception is things like Skype were you want to continue to talk to someone while doing other things. With the phone and the iPod on the iPhone you can do just that. The iPod mutes when you answer a call and then resumes when you hang up. While music or the phone call is active you can quit the app and do anything else. You can then click a banner and return to the phone app or double click the home button to control the iPod playback (without leaving the active app).

While the Apps are an impressive number, I really can't see even a 10th of them being helpful for the masses.

I think for the money, I would rather buy an iTouch and a Netbook. And probably a half decent smartphone as well.

But that leaves you carrying three devices, which is just crazy. I can agree with you that the iPhone is not half decent, to me it's 100% decent. I've never met anyone who has one that would want to be without it. I've met plenty of people who don't have one, and have never tried one, who don't like them.

[Tyyr]

Not everyone is willing to make the trade offs inherent with combined devices. Some people will still demand the computing horsepower of a full fledged computer and take a netbook. Some people don't want to have one device with one battery and one storage device to hold everything. My MP3 player is tiny compared to an iPhone and when it's battery dies my cellphone still works. For some people there are trade offs they don't want to make.

[IanKennedy]

I prefer reading books on paper, but that said I've never read a book on a proper electronic book thing like the kindle. I can definitely see the advantage of ordering a book online and getting it instantly rather than waiting days or even a couple of weeks for the post. I wonder how heavy something like a kindle is compared to a book.

I do wonder about battery life. I've had train journeys of six hours or so before. Would a kindle survive that? And of course, I can drop a book and not have to worry that it will break.

The iPad has a 10 hour battery life, and that's if you are using WiFi and browsing the web. If you are just reading a book I would think it would last longer (as you could turn off the wifi). What's a weight of a book? The iPad is 1.5lb (680g). The similarly sized Kindle is 18.9ounces about 1.2lb (536g) but only black and white. I would imagine that you would get a truck load of books in 16GB (the minimum iPad size).

[Reliant121]

I've met 7 people who have had iPhones and then wanted without them. 2 of them being my parents.

I guess my quibble is that it seems I have to pay through the nose to play with Apple toys, which are all locked down in such a way that "Apple way or no other way". Yes they have an SDK, but they are still controlling your ability to control your device. This is the primary reason for me liking Android.

And I have read several sights that give a general idea that UK prices compared to US prices are the price directly converted + 17.5% and then + 7% because british markets appear more expensive. Which I think pegs it at around £500. This is way above most of your powerful netbooks, and even more than my pretty powerful full size laptop.

It boils down to personal preference. I find that Apple products are good for MP3 players, and creative stuff on Macs. Otherwise, I don't find Apple products all that special. But it depends on what I use it for, most of which I do not need an Apple product.

[IanKennedy]

Not everyone is willing to make the trade offs inherent with combined devices. Some people will still demand the computing horsepower of a full fledged computer and take a netbook. Some people don't want to have one device with one battery and one storage device to hold everything. My MP3 player is tiny compared to an iPhone and when it's battery dies my cellphone still works. For some people there are trade offs they don't want to make.

Which is all fine. I'm just saying that opposition to the iPhone is usually from poeple who haven't even tried it. That to me just seems dumb.