Did iPad live up to the hype? Steve Jobs debuts Mac iPad tablet with iPhone OS

January 27, 2010 by vongsundara · 1 Comment 

SAN FRANCISCO - JANUARY 27: Event guests play with the new Apple iPad during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts January 27, 2010 in San Francisco, California. CEO Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. introduced its latest creation, the iPad, a mobile tablet browsing device that is a cross between the iPhone and a MacBook laptop. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

SAN FRANCISCO - JANUARY 27: Event guests play with the new Apple iPad during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts January 27, 2010 in San Francisco, California. CEO Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. introduced its latest creation, the iPad, a mobile tablet browsing device that is a cross between the iPhone and a MacBook laptop. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

Apple has a habit of crashing the internet. At 1:00 p.m. today, January 27, many servers were overloaded and crashed from the volume of traffic looking for news on Apple’s big tablet unveiling. Apple’s product announcements have become big-time events. Their last major announcement, the iPhone, basically blew away the entire world with concepts that nobody could have even dreamed about, so the hype surrounding their tablet announcement had reached fever pitch. Ultimately, the unveiling was good but didn’t blow anyone away outside of its ridiculously low price. I suppose it was too much to ask to live up to the hype, though the iPhone did just that and then some.

Prior to the announcement, most people had predicted that the iPad would be like a bigger iPhone. I was hopeful that Apple would be able to dream up something better than a bigger iPhone. Unfortunately, I was kind of wrong. Now, I’m not giving Apple enough credit, because there is much more to the iPad, but the perception and word on the street will be that it’s just a bigger iPhone, and Apple will have no one to blame but itself. They even included the exact same home button.

Enough of that though; let’s move on to the positives. The biggest feature to jump out at me is the price point: $499 US dollars. This is the SAME PRICE as the top model of the iPhone. That is absolutely ridiculously low and places the iPad into impulse-purchase territory. Let me repeat that again: the iPad is the same price as an iPhone. Keeping that in mind, the other faults seem to almost disappear.

Instead of comparing the iPad to laptops, this pricepoint lets us compare the iPad to digital photo frames and the Kindle. The cost of the 10-inch LED premium Sony S-Frame is also $499, and that’s just for a digital photo frame. The iPad is also backlit by LED, which makes it at the very east a good digital photo frame. The Kindle has the same dimensions roughly, and the iPad makes the Kindle basically obsolete as a book reader.

SAN FRANCISCO - JANUARY 27: Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs demonstrates the new iPad as he speaks during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts January 27, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Apple introduced its latest creation, the iPad, a mobile tablet browsing device that is a cross between the iPhone and a MacBook laptop. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

SAN FRANCISCO - JANUARY 27: Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs demonstrates the new iPad as he speaks during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts January 27, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Apple introduced its latest creation, the iPad, a mobile tablet browsing device that is a cross between the iPhone and a MacBook laptop. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

Now down to the bad points. Instead of using a modified Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the iPad instead runs on iPhone OS. I can see why Apple went this route, as this allows easy incorporation of iTunes and the App Store and 100 per cent compatibility with all 140,000 iPhone apps. I still disagree with this decision, however. The iPhone OS was not meant for such a large screen, and Apple should have taken some time to develop a hybrid Mac OS X and iPhone OS, which shouldn’t have been too out of the question as iPhone OS is already a modified Mac OS X. The Mac OS X dock would have made much more sense on a 10-inch screen than the spread out App icons of the iPhone OS.

Also, while it is indeed nice to have the ability to run 140,000 apps off the bat (with the option to zoom in 2X full-screen, blurry but still workable), Apple should have modified Mac OS X and added an App store. Heck, I’m surprised Apple hasn’t added an App store to Mac OS X already (they must be saving this for version 10.6).

Will I buy an iPad? The question isn’t if but when. I’ll probably wait until Apple updates the iPad to at least second generation. I would have bought first generation had the iPad been closer to what I wanted, but the price is just too undeniable.

SAN FRANCISCO - JANUARY 27: An event guest plays with the new Apple iPad during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts January 27, 2010 in San Francisco, California. CEO Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. introduced its latest creation, the iPad, a mobile tablet browsing device that is a cross between the iPhone and a MacBook laptop. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

SAN FRANCISCO - JANUARY 27: An event guest plays with the new Apple iPad during an Apple Special Event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts January 27, 2010 in San Francisco, California. CEO Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. introduced its latest creation, the iPad, a mobile tablet browsing device that is a cross between the iPhone and a MacBook laptop. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the second BIG feature that Apple announced: 10 hours of battery life. That’s amazing for a 10-inch screen device (1024×768 resolution) and blows away the battery life of any laptop I’ve heard of.

Filed under: Commenting, Playing
Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Watching Sasha Cohen at the United States Nationals 2010 (Spokane, Washington, US)

January 23, 2010 by vongsundara · 2 Comments 

SPOKANE, WA - JANUARY 21: Sasha Cohen waves to the crowd after the ladies short program at the US Figure Skating Championships at Spokane Arena on January 21, 2010 in Spokane, Washington. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

SPOKANE, WA - JANUARY 21: Sasha Cohen waves to the crowd after the ladies short program at the US Figure Skating Championships at Spokane Arena on January 21, 2010 in Spokane, Washington. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

I love love love Sasha Cohen. As I write this, I am watching the United States Nationals 2010 taking place in Spokane. Sasha has finished her warm-up and will be up with the next flight of skaters. I haven’t actually watched the U.S. Nationals since Sasha retired four years back, so it’s really great to have her back.

Being a Sasha Cohen fan hasn’t always been easy. Sasha has a history of faltering during her long program at major competitions. The unfortunate part is that most spectators have said that she runs through her programs flawlessly during practice and just can’t execute during competition. This is just too bad because otherwise Sasha may have gone down in history as the best figure skater ever.

Sasha’s artistry and non-jumping elements are, to me, the best from any skater ever. I enjoy watching Sasha’s exhibitions more than her actual programs because she can focus on the non-jumping elements. Her spirals are unmatched in the history of figure skating, and her musical interpretation is fabulous. Her spins have fabulous positioning and gorgeous silhouettes.

SPOKANE, WA - JANUARY 23: Sasha Cohen finishes her routine in the free skate during the US Figure Skating Championships at Spokane Arena on January 23, 2010 in Spokane, Washington. Flatt won ladies championship. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

SPOKANE, WA - JANUARY 23: Sasha Cohen finishes her routine in the free skate during the US Figure Skating Championships at Spokane Arena on January 23, 2010 in Spokane, Washington. Flatt won ladies championship. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) Content © 2010 Getty Images All rights reserved.

Oh . . . here she comes . . . the commercial break is over and they’re showing Sasha on the ice. I am literally holding my breath. Please, please, please keep it together girl.

Opening combination was shaky. I hope they don’t downgrade her to a flutz. Her second combination was also two-footed. But well, as long as she doesn’t fall. A third two-footed landing. Okay, a gorgeous salchow. Damn, I love her spirals. Her first spin, somewhat safe choice.

Down to the second half. Come on girl. Damn, a two-footed triple flip that ended in a fall. Okay, she did a nice clean double-axel. A semi-clean triple loop. Now comes the footwork sequence. Very, very nice. She finishes with her signature spin.

It definitely wasn’t a perfect performance, but considering it’s her first competition back, she did very well. No matter what happens, it is definitely nice to have her back.

Her final score was 174.28 for the competition and is now out of the running for the Olympics. It’s too bad because it would have been nice to have her in Vancouver 2010.

Okay, I’ve had a few minutes to reflect on this now. I have to admit that I am a little bit disappointed, but I am happy that Sasha Cohen decided to make the attempt. Sasha’s story at U.S. Nationals has kept me glued to the television that hasn’t happened in a while.

You’ll always be one of my heroes.

Filed under: Watching
Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,