iPad
Well they finally unveiled it. My initial thoughts are rather underwhelmed. It's got barely better resolution than my current phone (800x480 vs 1024x768) so I don't know carrying around that huge screen gives me that much more advantage in screen real estate compared to something I can put in my pocket. What's more, it seems it *still* doesn't have *multitasking*. For god's sakes, my Amiga 500 back in 1987 could multitask, have a music player and a chat program and a text editor open at the same time, and Apple still can't make that work 23 years later? (OMG, has it really been 23 years??)
Another of my chief concerns is durability. That's a pretty big plate of glass (or whatever it's made of) to be carrying around constantly, it better be pretty friggin' durable and rugged. Now, the same accusation can be levelled against laptops too of course, but laptops at least have the advantage of having a closable lid which protects the screen so that it's not on the outer damage-prone surface of the device. Phones are small enough that they can be put out of harm's way, and laptops have a protective lid. I imagine we'll probably see some nice carry bags for the iPad with a hard shell and padding inside, which would negate a lot of the concern. Such a carry bag would IMO be practically a must for the device. I really worry about that screen, it scares me to think of hundreds of those in subway traffic et al.
And for me personally of course, as a writer, the lack of a keyboard is pretty much a deal breaker.
All in all, I don't really think I, at least, have enough need for a device between the phone and the laptop. It's true that I could use a better portable device for web browsing and other activities than my phone, but at the end of the day, the very minor jump in resolution and screen real estate really isn't worth losing multitasking and a keyboard. So I think I'll just stick with my phone for small web browsing and pull out my laptop when I need to do the big browsing.
Another of my chief concerns is durability. That's a pretty big plate of glass (or whatever it's made of) to be carrying around constantly, it better be pretty friggin' durable and rugged. Now, the same accusation can be levelled against laptops too of course, but laptops at least have the advantage of having a closable lid which protects the screen so that it's not on the outer damage-prone surface of the device. Phones are small enough that they can be put out of harm's way, and laptops have a protective lid. I imagine we'll probably see some nice carry bags for the iPad with a hard shell and padding inside, which would negate a lot of the concern. Such a carry bag would IMO be practically a must for the device. I really worry about that screen, it scares me to think of hundreds of those in subway traffic et al.
And for me personally of course, as a writer, the lack of a keyboard is pretty much a deal breaker.
All in all, I don't really think I, at least, have enough need for a device between the phone and the laptop. It's true that I could use a better portable device for web browsing and other activities than my phone, but at the end of the day, the very minor jump in resolution and screen real estate really isn't worth losing multitasking and a keyboard. So I think I'll just stick with my phone for small web browsing and pull out my laptop when I need to do the big browsing.