Why Everyone Has High Hopes For Apple Tablet 596
waderoush writes "The deafening roar of anticipation around Apple's expected 'iSlate' announcement on January 27 is strange, to say the least, given the public's utter apathy about tablet computers to date. What's going on? Xconomy's analysis makes three points. 1) Previous tablet makers have shown little imagination around UIs and how a touchscreen changes things. 2) With the iPhone, Apple has shown what's possible in this regard. 3) There's latent demand for a mobile computing device that's smaller and lighter than a laptop but has more screen real estate than a smartphone — something reminiscent of a Star Trek tricorder or PADD. Hence the hopes for the iSlate — which are so high that it may be difficult for even Apple to meet them."
1 word. (Score:4, Interesting)
Photoshop.
Mac is still, and long will be the favorite computer of most graphicians/artists.
Tablet+screen has some serious disadvantages. You draw in one place, image appears elsewhere.
With a good touchscreen capable of providing precision comparable to decent Wacoms, this can become a dream tool for an artist.
I hate fake media hype (Score:5, Interesting)
"the deafening roar of anticipation" I'm in Australia right, a moderately wealthy fairly technologically developed nation. We're no Japan, but we're no Sudan either. No one I talk to gives a crap about this. My friend is doing a graphic arts diploma and he doesnt even know anyone who cares about this. It will come, if it is good some people will like it. Apple is not a religion, they are a technology company. GTFO with your fake hype.
Nothing Latent About It (Score:2, Interesting)
There's latent demand for a mobile computing device that's smaller and lighter than a laptop but has more screen real estate than a smartphone...
Nothing latent about it - this is _EXACTLY_ what I'm interested in seeing. While I would love a high end Mac laptop (among many other tech toys), I really just want an iPhone/iPod Touch on steroids and, from what I'd imagine, the "iTablet" (or whatever it will be called) will almost certainly fit that bill perfectly. The fact that it's from Apple and will surely have some additional surprises along the way is just icing on the cake.
Of course, time will tell if they deliver what I am looking for, but I suspect it'll be another damn cool piece of tech that I try to find a justification to buy.
Even the Competitors Have High Hopes (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't mean to sound like a fanboy but the competitors that have been waiting to market tablet PCs now have the luxury of waiting for Apple to either make a brilliant move or blunder (an expensive wager) and then step in to enjoy the market that Apple works to establish with tablet PCs. The great part is that there are so many consumers that will gladly take a second rate device for cheaper money and in their mind think that they not only got a deal but now are keeping up with Joneses who all have iSlates or iTablets or whatever the devil Apple may hold. I actually think it benefits both Microsoft and Apple for them to release their products in tandem. It adds to the rivalry and people love that. Not to mention, they're certainly going to be compatible with only their respective products so a long time Mac user isn't going to be stolen nor will a longtime Windows user go over to the iSlate.
Re:I hate fake media hype (Score:3, Interesting)
Its a slow news cycle, its an apple announcement. Detroit's autoshow is the only other bright point between now and probably February when the NE thaws out in the USA. I too have doubts about this product. Tablets are a pretty small niche market, and even an iPod touch DX may have trouble gaining traction in this market. The only discussion amongst my friends regarding the apple tablet is "$500, $700, or $800+?" and "my netbook + ipod work pretty well already"
Re:LOL WUT? (Score:3, Interesting)
The iPhone is a nifty idea with the accelerometer and the gps and the multi-touch.
However, it's locked in a phone form factor that is very limiting.
Hype and Results (Score:2, Interesting)
1) A class of product exists in the marketplace, but has only received lukewarm adoption for a variety of reasons.
2) Apple enters the market with their own device, which has a bunch of features that may or may not have been seen in other devices, but on the whole is a very well integrated package. Somehow, they saw a way to make the product work.
3) Consumers see Apple's product, like it, want it, and buy it in large numbers.
4) Profit for Apple.
5) Competitors see Apple's success in that market segment and begin to rush in with their own products. Some are just copycats: adding or removing a feature or two from Apple's benchmark. The smart ones see what made Apple's product a hit, absorb the new technological paradigm, and introduce their own innovative take on it.
6) Consumers see the competitor products, like (some of) them, want(some of) them, and buy (some of) them in large numbers.
7) Profit for competitors, maybe.
8) Profit (continuing) for Apple, maybe.
9) Consumers have many choices or amazing gee whiz products that are vastly superior to what existed before Apple's entry into the marketplace. Win.
It certainly doesn't always happen this way. But it has happened often enough.
Re:1 word. (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember when I studied graphic design at college... the main point the tutor made was "never do anything in front of the client, this devalues your work".
Basically if you could do something that "would do" for the client in front of them, then they wouldn't see the value in paying you 10x the amount to do the same thing but in "higher quality."
I never went into the industry but I still understand what he meant, but I guess it could be used for mock ups, and for quick changes (as you said); just not done in front of paying clients :)
Of course my tutor could of been talking crap, he seemed to do that alot as well (And hated me for understanding computers better than him, as he had a mac loving complex.)
Re:1 word. (Score:5, Interesting)
2 words: handwriting recognition (Score:5, Interesting)
The reason I want a tablet computer is that that I can write on it with a stylus like a pencil, and take notes, including sketches and mathematical and engineering symbols, on what is essentially a limitless notebook, and on top of this I can annotate my notes with audio, video, and hyperlinks.
And on top of this I would like to store my textbooks in it.
I could go to school with one single item.
Re:FIRST!!!! well almost (Score:4, Interesting)
Yep. I've been hoping it will be affordable, say $300...$500 or so. I've also been hoping it'll be a wifi/bluethooth machine, not a cellphone machine, as cell companies are notorious for overcharging for bandwidth (and generally lousy at providing it.) I don't think it can balance long battery life with the desired form factor and power requirements if it's a full bore OS X machine, so I anticipate an iPod-like design, that is, one app at a time, not much CPU power, CPU and GPU mostly asleep, or you get battery life measured in very few hours. I don't really mind that idea though... I've got an iPod touch and I am most impressed with what it can do under those same constraints.
Still, the price and communications issues loom large in my mind, and I'm feeling more than a little cynical. I'm sure, knowing Apple, that the thing will be beautiful and desirable, but Apple's been known to make fairly large mis-steps before in other areas (camera in the nano, not the Touch; Apple TV; Newton; one-button mouse; etc) and this may simply be another.
We'll know soon enough.
Re:Nothing Latent About It (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure: a netbook you can comfortably use while laying on the couch.
Really. The clamshell design of a laptop or netbook, fine for a desk, makes it difficult to use when laying on a couch, and nearly impossible in bed. Or maybe I'm just getting so old, that my body can't contort to the require viewing and keyboard angle necessary to use the damn thing. I'd almost rather use my phone, despite the tiny keyboard and difficult multitasking.
Re:Lenovo Thinkpad X41/X60/X61 Tablet (Score:5, Interesting)
For this new tablet to succeed, it will need to be lighter, yet allow people to install third party applications.
This could hang it, I think.
If I'm right, and the buzz sort of supports this, then it will be a larger iPod. That means your only hope of getting new software on the thing will be the Apple store. And while there are a lot of apps out there, those certainly do not encompass the entirety of what I'd want ever want to do with a computer. Which is okay now, because an iPod is clearly not a computer. But if this new device blurs the line too far away from 'throwaway gadget' to 'computer' Apple may run into trouble.
Movies, external 3G, and public hotspots (Score:3, Interesting)
What would you use it for?
Movies, as you mentioned. Or games.
A web browser that has no keyboard
There exist web browsing use cases that need no keyboard, but you don't see these if your web use clusters around posting on forums and editing wikis.
and likely is only useable in your house where you (presumably) have a desktop/laptop.
Unless the device has either a SIM or CSIM slot or a USB port for an external 3G radio. Or unless someone else in the house is using the desktop/laptop. Or unless you're at a public hotspot.
Re:1 word. Niche application (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, everything I do for my job - software engineering for the Solaris platform - is done on my Mac laptop. The only exception is Outlook, for which I switch the KVM over to the company supplied PC.
Re:1 word. (Score:3, Interesting)
One Word. Cintiq from Wacom. I used the 21" one for over a year.
Too expensive for my tastes (the pricing for the Cintiq seems to be at least partially "we're the only ones with something like this on the market so we can charge whatever we want").
Got tired of my hand covering up the damn screen. I'll stick to a Wacom tablet and a screen.
I tried a Cintiq a few years back and immediately wished I could replace my regular Wacom tablet with it for two reasons:
I doubt anyone will get much precision using a finger. A Wacom is at least 2400 point per inch. A tablet using a finger cannot have that precision.
I'm still hoping that the Apple tablet will have some sort of stylus capability, in fact, I've wondered for quite some time why those doing multitouch surface research with large multi-user tables and the like don't implement something similar to a switch between "pen mode" and "hand mode" (like a virtual button which is the only part that is always activated by fingers touching it and which can be used to toggle non-stylus interaction).
/Mikael
No Need for Competitors to Have High Hopes (Score:5, Interesting)
Edit a complex video? what huge advantage does portability and low power consumption bring to video editing?
What we need is something with a decent interface, USB ports, and tons of free software. The USB ports must be there so you can hook up a keyboard. TFA is wrong: virtual keyboards still suck, and will suck. Handwriting recognition cannot be fast and accurate without retraining the writer. Voice recognition is cute, but for most people cannot be the basis for a sustained interface: unless you have a compelling need to use your voice, it's usually slower than typing, far less accurate, unwieldy to edit, cognitively consuming (as you must concentrate on the screen transcribing your spoken words), and socially awkward (until, at least, the computer talks back).
So if the task requires extensive texual input, it's going to require a real keyboard. What are the odds that Apple's 1G tablet will have a USB port that works in host mode, or a non-proprietary accessories connector?
As a tablet user for two and a half years, I have an idea what they're useful for: a helluva lot. Every task where a computer can help, but isn't the focus of the activity works better with a tablet. Every task where a computer is too heavy, or has too awkward power requirements works better with a tablet.
Every task that works better with some other portable gadget is not for a tablet. You want a phone -- get a phone. You want a camera -- get a camera (now, a decent webcam that works with * and Skype is a different story). Windows 7 ain't gonna fly here: a tablet needs to be instant-on, and low, low power (think ARM). So, maybe the iSlate will take off; hopefully someone else will succeed in selling something better. But the market will soon explode with every variant.
Re:1 word. (Score:5, Interesting)
This sorta applies to IT work, as well. After configuring and installing a server, the boss said something along the lines of "I watched you staring at a screen doing nothing half of the time. Why should I pay you for 6 hours?" (Because, apparently, waiting for software going through a lengthy install on a piece of shit cheap "server" is "free time".)
Re:1 word. Niche application (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe turtleneck universe, but when I was working in printing (which is really part of the design world) we had Macs (G4's and the like - really ancient stuff), the vast vast vast majority of all the machines used in production were Windows machines. Reason? Cost - pure and simple.
The sad reality is that all these once niche apps run on Windows and Mac these days and they generally run faster on Windows - not because Macs are slow, but Apple generally have a lot longer hardware upgrade window for some reason.
Case in point: the fastest Mac's money can buy are Core 2 based 3 GHz machines where you can already get i7's and AMD systems on the PC side that are faster and more efficient at the same clock speeds for less money than Apple is selling their stuff - and i7's have been out since last year.
Re:More like a tricorder? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:iPhone causing low hopes (Score:2, Interesting)
Is there a point you wanted to make without a strawman? I didn't say that all phones had stupid restrictions. I would, however, go so far as to say that devices without stupid restrictions were not available by the carriers in my region at the time, and so you're free to rail against me for living in the "right place" back then...if you really must.
My point was to counter the notion that the industry was not already "turned back" before Apple entered the market. The grandparent is propagating a fiction that the industry was somehow open until the iPhone singlehandedly closed it.
Re:Hype and Results (Score:2, Interesting)
Most of those things are before Jobs came back as CEO. In fact, unless "Macintosh TV" is code for "Apple TV," the only thing Jobs did anything with is the mouse. I'm not going to defend Apple's mice, but they are perfect for what Apple likes to do: shoehorn the user into doing something the way Apple wants, not the way the user is accustomed to.
If we look at recent history (post-Jobs) there are plenty of market-changing technologies.
1. iMac (if nothing else, very successful in educational institutions)
2. iPod (Apple didn't invent the concept, but "iPod" is a more widely used phrase than "MP3 Player")
3. Mac Mini (sort of the same idea as the Cube, but priced for the low-end and a lot smaller)
4. iTunes Store (the first thing to prove to music labels that the internet wasn't just for pirating music)
5. iPhone (it may not have been the greatest at launch, but all of the smartphones currently on the market are trying to copy its features, like the App Store and iPod-like functionality)
Say what you will about the Apple TV and the Macbook Air, but it's not like they were catastrophic failures. They're still profitable.
Re:Leaks build expectations and... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:1 word. (Score:5, Interesting)
"A problem that utterly destroyed the work of amateurs like DaVinci, Michaelangelo, and Raphael, right?"
Apples/oranges. You're not just drawing, you're using visual feedback to edit the image. So there are indicators etc for showing you how big the brush is. On top of that, the accuracy of what you're drawing on the tablet is far lower than applying pencil to paper. You can draw very neat lines easily on paper but you could try drawing the same thing on the tablet and find it is a lot more wobbly. You end up forced to use other methods that often end up just being quicker to do with a mouse. It's a lot harder to draw with a tablet than it is with a pencil. On many occasions, it's faster to do the drawing on paper and scan it in. When the tablet is seperate from the display, at least, you can see exactly where the pixel will land and adjust accordingly.
I had the same problem he did, and it was just as unexpected.
Well, yes, it can, and more -- by zooming in. And also by utilizing technologies such as bezier and spline curves. Methinks thou protests a bit too much.
It depends on what you're after. I mean, you could type LOGO commands into a computer and make great works of art. It's just a matter of how much time you want to put into it. Able to do it != practical. And he's got a point. Sure, it might be fun for doodling, but it'll likely have a distinctive sloppiness that will follow anybody who doesn't take the extra care to clean up after.
Also, even if you are stuck with the type of drawing you describe, it doesn't mean that others will be.
Welp, you're right, there's a million art-styles. Conceded. But, you do have two people now who have painted with screen devices telling you it's not all sunshine and roses.
Re:Mathematicians and Engineers, for starters. (Score:4, Interesting)
One thing that really annoyed me in school was professors who would actually yell at students who took notes, because they felt that all the information they needed was in the powerpoint slides they made available, and they should just focus on what the prof was saying. This completely ignores the fact that note taking is not just for writing down information to be read later, it helps you memorize that information as you are doing it. Passively hearing a lecture will let me absorb say 30% of the lecture after a few days. The interactive process of taking notes makes me think about what is being said more intently, and increases not only my retention but understanding.
At the time, I thought I was just stuck in old fashioned habits. But I now realize that the lack of note taking was a big reason why I struggled in some of my CS courses. I would really like to go back and beat some of those professors with a clue stick.
Re:1 word. (Score:5, Interesting)
A problem that utterly destroyed the work of amateurs like DaVinci, Michaelangelo, and Raphael, right?
DaVinci and the others were not using computers, and didn't have the option of working without covering their art. Furthermore, being unable to see 1/20 of a large canvas or 1/1000 of a wall is a lot less relatively annoying than covering 1/4 of your display area with your hands.
A Wacom is at least 2400 point per inch. A tablet using a finger cannot have that precision.
Well, yes, it can, and more -- by zooming in. And also by utilizing technologies such as bezier and spline curves. Methinks thou protests a bit too much. Also, even if you are stuck with the type of drawing you describe, it doesn't mean that others will be.
What? This comment implies that you have detailed knowledge of what they GP was doing, and what he didn't do, which seems extremely unlikely.
Furthermore, a skilled artist won't have to rely on the same crutches as someone extremely unskilled. For example, I would use a LOT of zoom and computational curve tools, because I'm too uncoordinated to draw nice, clean lines without that kind of help. Sure, I can draw a pretty good picture using all the technical cheats, but it would take me a month to make something that a skilled artist could create in an hour. You can bet DaVinci and the rest didn't use "zoom" and "bezier and spline curves" to paint a portrait.
I feel I should add some trollish comment here, but I'm not going to. But I surely thought about it.
Re:FIRST!!!! well almost (Score:4, Interesting)
Sure maybe it's not that hard to use a second hand and it's not THAT big of a deal but why stick with it at all? What's the benefit of using two hands for an operation that only takes one on a proper mouse?
Why stop there, why not have 5 button mice as standard? It's because the concept of right and left click, and the subtle distinctions in use and result between them, make for a confusing user interface, which Apple chose to eschew in favour of something simpler. As it happens, recent mice from Apple allow for right clicking (if you must), along with scrolling gestures, zoom gestures etc, etc.
The only reason people on Windows get so hung up on having to use the control key is that Windows apps have ended up putting just about everything in a contextual menu, so it's necessary (or at least easier than the alternatives) to right click about a hundred times a day, and many people I know get by almost entirely choosing stuff from the menu that pops up when you right click. Having two buttons and using them in this way is one manner of doing things, and it may be the way you're used to, but that doesn't make it the best.
Many of the things that we take for granted in computer interfaces are in fact cruft from previous software or are simply there because 'that's the way we've always done it'. Things like two button mice, double click versus single click, right click to get a menu, command shortcuts, folders versus files, etc etc are all concepts which confuse the hell out of beginner computer users, and frankly most of them are concepts which just aren't required. I've seen many people furiously double clicking everything, even links on the web, because the distinctions between double clicking and single clicking really aren't that obvious or well thought out - often they're simply arbitrary.
It's interesting that in their latest OS - Mobile OS X (which I suspect Jobs sees as completely replacing Mac OS at some point), Apple have thrown out almost all the stuff we take for granted and started anew. I'd say iPhone OS is therefore a lot easier to use, as it doesn't rely on double clicks, right clicks, etc. The only thing they've really fucked up is the copy/paste behaviour, which was a difficult problem, but is not intuitive enough if you ask me. Mobile OS X doesn't have windows, menus, desktops, folders, contextual menus, window widgets, documents folders, etc. etc. Some things have been lost in that transition, but remarkably little - it's still pretty full featured from a user's point of view.
This is what makes their forthcoming tablet so interesting; how will they take Mobile OS X on a step, and scale it up to a size approaching that of small laptops? It's also what makes the HP slate announced by Ballmer so stultifying; we've seen that sort of bodged attempt to port a desktop OS to a new form factor before, and it didn't work in 2001 when Gates tried it first.
As to right clicking on a mouse, I can't say I miss it on my iPhone, and I wouldn't miss it on a desktop OS, so long as a more intuitive way of interacting with the machine replaced it - it's a stupid idea that belongs in the past. I'd like to see more ideas dropped and refined on desktop OSs, and this sort of attitude of 'we must have everything as it was before' is exactly what keeps us with the uninteresting and unproductive interfaces we've seen dominate the desktop for the past 20 years. If people had that attitude back when the mouse was introduced, perhaps we'd all still be chording 5 key combos instead of clicking on icons.
Re:I hate fake media hype (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:1 word. (Score:3, Interesting)
Too expensive for my tastes (the pricing for the Cintiq seems to be at least partially "we're the only ones with something like this on the market so we can charge whatever we want").
Well, it looks like it is possible to build DIY Cintig from a LCD panel a normal Wacom panel (with a bit of skill :).
:D
There is an example buildlog:
http://www.bongofish.co.uk/wacom/wacom_pt19.html [bongofish.co.uk]
An there is a forum of the DIY Cintiq community:
http://forum.bongofish.co.uk/index.php [bongofish.co.uk]
So I am now hunting for 15" LCDs with external power supply and old 12"x12" Wacom tablets
Re:FIRST!!!! well almost (Score:2, Interesting)