Got my wife an iPad

[YourGrandpa]

It's fun to watch the troll.

[LawL]

Expound.

Obfuscate.

[Eraser]

He suggested the iPad 2 64. I bought the iPad 16, gen 4. He's suggesting I sacrifice the innovations for more storage.

Innovation? What innovation do you exactly get between an iPad 2 and an iPad 4?

[U4EA]

The display I guess is the major one, iPad 3/4 have the high resolution / pixel density "retina" display. Arguably the most important aspect of a tablet is its display.

[Eraser]

Increasing the resolution of a display isn't exactly what I'd call innovation. I guess Apple are to be applauded for having the guts to put such a high resolution display in the device, but it's not innovation IMO.

[MKJ]

resolution != pixeldensity.
what they did is up the res while keeping the screensize the same. a different beast alltogether (and a bitch when it comes to developing for it).

[Eraser]

Yeah whatever. Higher pixel density isn't innovation either. It's an evolutionary step in improving the product.

But before we veer off in that direction, let me state that I do not think the iPad 4 is a bad product or anything. I just hold the opinion that the iPad range of products hasn't seen any real innovation ever since its inception. Then again, who needs to innovate if the majority of the competition is still playing catch-up?

[U4EA]

resolution != pixeldensity.

I didn't say that.

what they did is up the res while keeping the screensize the same. a different beast alltogether (and a bitch when it comes to developing for it).

Increasing the resolution while keeping the screen size the same results in higher pixel density. roflmaths?

I just hold the opinion that the iPad range of products hasn't seen any real innovation ever since its inception.

What kind of innovation are you looking for in a tablet nowadays? What glaring feature holes are there that really bug you about tablets? People go on and on about "innovation" and can't come up with anything in the tablet space that doesn't turn it into an unproductive laptop/netbook.

[MKJ]

i was talking to eraser there, major tom.

[U4EA]

[Eraser]

What kind of innovation are you looking for in a tablet nowadays? What glaring feature holes are there that really bug you about tablets? People go on and on about "innovation" and can't come up with anything in the tablet space that doesn't turn it into an unproductive laptop/netbook.

Actually, I'd like to see more innovation towards productivity. Tablets are de facto consumer devices, while they don't necessarily have to be.

While the reviews haven't been unanimously favorable, I'm extremely happy with my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (the tablet version of the similarly titled phone). It comes with a stylus and various tools that allow the device to be used as an efficient productive tool. There are a number of features that the device offers that I find innovative. They may not be earth shattering revolutionary features, but they're small, smart steps in a direction I'd like more tablets to go to.

Now you may say that a stylus isn't exactly innovative either, they have been around for ages and these days, for some reason, are actually seen as an archaic input method. However, the wacom technology that allows the stylus to be pressure sensitive, combined with the productivity apps you get and the palm-rest-nullify tech make it a joy to draw and write on the device in a way that no other tablet offers.
I personally use the device mostly to carry my sheet music with me whenever I got practice with my band. It allows me to make notes with the stylus directly into the sheet music documents, something I would be doing before on paper. And that quickly turned into one big unorganized mess.

It's something I couldn't do as easily with an iPad even though it has like twice the resolution of my Note.

Also, the Note allows me to run multiple apps on the screen at the same time. It has "floating" apps and a split-screen mode where you can run two apps side-by-side. Now there has been a lot of criticism on the implementation of this feature, and I must admit, it's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction and it is bloody useful for me. Again, it's only a small feature, but it's something that isn't possible on any other tablet device.

So again, the Note 10.1" might not implement each feature as great as it could be, but at least they're trying to do new things with this tablet and go places where no other tablet has gone before. Those kinds of things are worth far more to me than a slightly increased CPU clock speed, a few extra megabytes of RAM and an increase pixel density.

(having said that, the Note has a quad core 1.4GHz CPU and 2GB of RAM, so it's not exactly a slouch either)

[MKJ]

dat Note

[YourGrandpa]

He suggested the iPad 2 64. I bought the iPad 16, gen 4. He's suggesting I sacrifice the innovations for more storage.

Innovation? What innovation do you exactly get between an iPad 2 and an iPad 4?

Twice as fast processor, 2 X better display, better rear facing camera, better bluetooh and faster GPS. You my not consider those "innovations", but by definition of the word they are.

[Big Kahuna Burger]

no stylus though. why buy a tablet without a stylus?

[Eraser]

Innovation? What innovation do you exactly get between an iPad 2 and an iPad 4?

Twice as fast processor, 2 X better display, better rear facing camera, better bluetooh and faster GPS. You my not consider those "innovations", but by definition of the word they are.

No it's not, that's just the natural progression of technology. For all the faster CPU's and GPS sensors, the iPad 4 doesn't really allow you to do things that you can't do with an iPad 2.

[GONNAFISTYA]

lol gramps thinks the word "refinement" means "innovation".

That's what 20 plus years of bullshit marketing from Microsoft gives us.

[GONNAFISTYA]

lol "faster GPS"

[obsidian]

Blah blah blah....


There is a difference between innovation and hardware specifications. Too many people seemingly confuse the two. When people compare tablets, they talk about minute hardware specs as if they are some kind of innovation. Who cares who has the 2% faster processor or the 1MP better camera? All the innovation in hardware has long since passed and all tablet manufacturers are doing is refining them. The real innovation in the tablet market started with what Apple did on the software and that's where all the other tablet manufacturers are still playing catch-up despite sometimes having better hardware and sometimes certain features of software. Fact is, all the best hardware in the world won't amount to much if the software is shit.

All the hardware developments in the tablet market relied on time. Previous tablets were bulky, heavy and slow, all the traditional problems that could be solved by Moore's Law. It was just a matter of time until we had capable low power processors, lithium polymer batteries and ultra-thin displays. All the major players, Apple, Microsoft, etc. dabbled and failed at the tablet market in the past, simply because the hardware hadn't progressed far enough to make tablets viable. When Apple released the first iPad, there was nothing unique about the hardware that another manufacturer couldn't have built as well, it was all just the right time when components could have been stuck together in a small enough package. Innovative? No, any major manufacturer could have done the same (and indeed they did), but they were all too jaded from their previous failures to really care to try.

What Apple did different was innovate on the software side of things and toss away all the parts of the UI that tablets in the past sucked at. Tablets in the past relied on styluses, bulky buttons plastered over the edges, were unresponsive, and were modeled off of a desktop OS. It didn't work, the tablet became vapourware and people scoffed every time a company said they wanted to create a tablet. Instead, Apple built a usable and function UI based on a responsive multitouch interface on a dedicated mobile device OS, it even works for those who are cursed with sausage fingers. I expect the code behind interpreting and predicting touch inputs to be incredibly sophisticated. I'm not altogether sure how it determines the difference between a tap and the slightest swipe, but it does it well.

This was the paradigm change that kickstarted the modern tablet market. Everything else has become refinement. I think other tablet manufacturers are quickly catching up to Apple with their many hardware refinements, Google writes decent software even if often doing a poor job at creating intuitive interfaces. Despite all the competition, Apple is somehow still pretty far ahead. So what's the difference between iPadn and iPadn+1 or Samsung Galaxy Note Micro XL Plus? Not much, the ship of innovation has sailed and you're just looking at bumps in specs.

I haven't tried the Microsoft Surface yet. I don't like Windows 8 on a computer with a keyboard and mouse, it doesn't make a good desktop OS. But maybe it will work well on a tablet.

[YourGrandpa]

lol "faster GPS"

That's what Apple says, 3G vs 4G. Not like I give a shit.

[xer0s]

You care, or you wouldn't have made this thread...

[EtUL]

Increasing the resolution of a display isn't exactly what I'd call innovation. I guess Apple are to be applauded for having the guts to put such a high resolution display in the device, but it's not innovation IMO.

It is innovation when all other manufacturers are putting out shit displays.

[GONNAFISTYA]

lol "faster GPS"

That's what Apple says, 3G vs 4G. Not like I give a shit.

You're finding reasons to justify your purchase, nothing more.

I'm currently building a driving simulator for my extra room (ready this weekend!!). I bought an EAH6950 to run my three 24" monitors using Eyefinity. You know what the marketing material says about the product?

Based on ASUS DirectCU architecture, which uses copper heat pipes in direct contact with the GPU to speed up heat dissipation for over 20% cooler performance, DirectCU II takes cooling further with twin 100mm fans for 600% airflow.

Super Alloy Power technology uses special alloy formula in critical power delivery components for a 15% performance boost, 35°C cooler operation and 2.5 times longer lifespan.

SWEET!!!! 20% cooler performance? 600% airflow? 15% performance boost? 35°C cooler operation? 2.5 times longer lifespan?
Wow...how can I possibly read that as hyperbolic marketing when it reads like my spam inbox?

[YourGrandpa]

You care, or you wouldn't have made this thread...

I don't care that the ipad 4th Gen has a better GPS... Do you ever get embarrassed at the fact people are always explaining things to you? BTW, you seem desperate for my attention as of late. Do you have any other brilliant observations or questions you'd like to share before I continue ignoring you.

[plained]

ok i hadnt realized cost was an issue

[GONNAFISTYA]

No gramps, xer0s does NOT have any brilliant observations or questions he'd like to share.