iPad 3: Product not as good or Jobs factor

[amirm]

The new iPad is the first to not get unified praise. How much of that is people wanting to say Jobs' touch is gone or the product itself not advancing enough in the right ways?

I must say, doing in house chip development is highly risky. Third-party companies providing CPUs have incredible scale and depth of design expertise. History says it is a failing strategy.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57407427-64/third-gen-ipad-raises-a-few-red-flags/?tag=cnetRiver

Third-gen iPad raises a few red flags

The latest iPad is a good effort by any standard, but it begins to stray from the Jobsian design philosophy.

by Brooke Crothers March 31, 2012 3:18 PM PDT

There are a few troubling technical aspects of the new iPad that give me pause about the post-Jobs Apple.

I'll skip the obligatory praise of the new iPad's Retina display. And for those readers who want to call me a whiner, idiot, or Apple hater, go ahead, take your best shot.
On launch day, while I was pleased to find that the new iPad was only slightly thicker than the iPad 2, this raised the first red flag for me.

Dilution of Jobs Doctrine? The design decisions that led to a chunkier iPad are a little worrisome and break -- in my opinion -- one of Steve Jobs' cardinal rules: devices should get thinner and lighter, not bigger and heavier, as another review pointed out. Stay on this current trajectory and iPads become merely a better doorstop.

Chip slip As brilliant as Apple is, it's not primarily a chip company. That means it can make mistakes with silicon design. Neither Texas Instruments nor Intel is above reproach (and they've made their share of mistakes), why not Apple? Case in point, the A5X. Respected chip review site Anandtech found the chip lacking on some key performance metrics. And there are plenty of other examples of reviews that found that the new iPad isn't faster than the iPad 2 in many applications. Another red flag, in my opinion.

Battery Big battery. Too big? When the battery grows almost twofold but doesn't offer better battery life, something is amiss. OK, so it's necessary to drive the sophisticated display apparatus but, again, another red flag.

I'll offer the disclaimer that the display could turn out to be so dazzling -- as more applications tap in to all of those pixels -- that the above bullet points are rendered immaterial. And, of course, the A5X chip may become more of a factor in those cases, too.

I'll check back in a month or two.

 

[ack]

Amir, I have to say you are a bit harsh sometimes on Apple... last year you even complained about the name of the browser, Safari - well, the internet is an adventure, hence the name. I hope we will agree that the iPad 3 must have been in the planning for at least 2-3 years, so in-house chip manufacturing probably wasn't happenstance, in a post-Jobs era.

 

[JonFo]

typical speeds and feeds geek reaction, the true nature of good design is to focus on the issues important to actual end-users, such as 'how long will the battery last', not 'is it a millimeter thicker'

 

[Steve Williams]

The new iPad is the first to not get unified praise. How much of that is people wanting to say Jobs' touch is gone or the product itself not advancing enough in the right ways?

I must say, doing in house chip development is highly risky. Third-party companies providing CPUs have incredible scale and depth of design expertise. History says it is a failing strategy.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57407427-64/third-gen-ipad-raises-a-few-red-flags/?tag=cnetRiver

Third-gen iPad raises a few red flags

The latest iPad is a good effort by any standard, but it begins to stray from the Jobsian design philosophy.

by Brooke Crothers March 31, 2012 3:18 PM PDT

There are a few troubling technical aspects of the new iPad that give me pause about the post-Jobs Apple.

I'll skip the obligatory praise of the new iPad's Retina display. And for those readers who want to call me a whiner, idiot, or Apple hater, go ahead, take your best shot.
On launch day, while I was pleased to find that the new iPad was only slightly thicker than the iPad 2, this raised the first red flag for me.

Dilution of Jobs Doctrine? The design decisions that led to a chunkier iPad are a little worrisome and break -- in my opinion -- one of Steve Jobs' cardinal rules: devices should get thinner and lighter, not bigger and heavier, as another review pointed out. Stay on this current trajectory and iPads become merely a better doorstop.

Chip slip As brilliant as Apple is, it's not primarily a chip company. That means it can make mistakes with silicon design. Neither Texas Instruments nor Intel is above reproach (and they've made their share of mistakes), why not Apple? Case in point, the A5X. Respected chip review site Anandtech found the chip lacking on some key performance metrics. And there are plenty of other examples of reviews that found that the new iPad isn't faster than the iPad 2 in many applications. Another red flag, in my opinion.

Battery Big battery. Too big? When the battery grows almost twofold but doesn't offer better battery life, something is amiss. OK, so it's necessary to drive the sophisticated display apparatus but, again, another red flag.

I'll offer the disclaimer that the display could turn out to be so dazzling -- as more applications tap in to all of those pixels -- that the above bullet points are rendered immaterial. And, of course, the A5X chip may become more of a factor in those cases, too.

I'll check back in a month or two.

What Amir harsh on Apple, naahhh

Where in Shakespeare was it said "methinks you doth complain too much"

First off if you think that Steve Jobs had nothing to do with the production of this new ipad I say think again. In fact I would go so far as saying that Steve has laid a blue print for many years to come.

 

[rblnr]

I'll offer the disclaimer that the display could turn out to be so dazzling -- as more applications tap in to all of those pixels -- that the above bullet points are rendered immaterial. And, of course, the A5X chip may become more of a factor in those cases, too.

So in the last major paragraph she reveals she's never actually used one. Kind of undermines anything she has to say.

 

[amirm]

Guys, I didn't write the darn article. Complain to the author, not me . The Jobs angle was also mentioned in the article.

What I am doing is observing that the typical 100% positive reaction is not happening this time. It might be because people like to think it is not as good due to Jobs leaving (i.e. reverse logic) or the reality of it. That is what I asked.

As to what I think, I was surprised that the game was very different in this round. The Android guys were always about speeds and feeds and folks would write articles talking about how Apple is about the experience and who cares what the hardware is. Yet this announcement was all hardware focused. Resolution this. Quad core GPU that -- precisely what people used to make fun of Android platform with. I think I post about this last year.

While I firmly believe this was a blessed project by Jobs, I think the positioning of the product and announcement is obviously devoid of him. It is classic marketing of computing hardware. This is new for Apple I think.

As for me personally, yes, my iPad 2 has not gotten use for months. I asked my wife if she wanted that or the Kindle Fire. She took Kindle Fire since she liked the smaller size and wanted to read her books in color vs her normal Kindle that is not. I do realize I am the exception given the millions of people who do buy and use them.

BTW, I have monitored the same sentiments on other forums. It seems a bit of the benefit of the doubt has eroded.

BTW2, I am not saying any of this because Android tablets have achieved any kind of success. Other than Kindle Fire, I think the rest are complete disasters as far as consumer acceptance. If you want a large tablet, I see little reason to not buy an iPad when the competing platforms are the same price. Amazon is on the right track shooting for much lower price points.

 

[amirm]

I told you the honeymoon is over .

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_...pad-and-buying-a-kindle-fire/?tag=epicStories

"Why I'm returning my new iPad and buying a Kindle Fire
Now that I've lived with both, I can safely say that I prefer a smaller, more affordable tablet.

I paid $600 for the 32GB Wi-Fi model, and although I like it well enough, I don't think it's worth the money.
Before the Apple faithful take my head off, allow me to explain -- and to note that I'm keeping my original iPad. Also, I have such mad love for my iPhone 4S, I want to cook it breakfast every morning. You get my meaning; this isn't just wayward iPad-bashing.

When Apple announced the new tablet, I was underwhelmed but intrigued. I'd skipped the iPad 2, so I figured I "owed" myself this upgrade. Plus, it would be a business expense; I do write for a blog called iPad Atlas, after all.
Mostly, though, I got caught up in the hype. After reading gushing praise for the new iPad's Retina Display and blazing processor, I had to see what the fuss was about.
The fuss, it turns out, was more overblown than a Kardashian wedding. The screen? Yep, it's nice. Does it make my eyes leap from my skull and dance a marimba cha-cha? No. Neither does it cure cancer or introduce me to supermodels, despite what some drooling bloggers intimated.


The new iPad is admirably peppy, though I never found my original iPad to be slow. My kids enjoy messing with the built-in cameras, but that's a luxury I certainly don't need. Using an iPad to snap photos or video is like driving a monster truck to the grocery store: uncomfortable and impractical (to say nothing of showy). The only thing that I'll actually miss is big-screen FaceTime -- but for those moments I can always Skype on my laptop.

The 4G LTE? Again, nice, but I have no need for it. And that leaves...what? The new iPad is a little slimmer, a little faster, and little easier on the eyes than the original. Not enough, Apple. I want my $600 back.

The Kindle Fire is far from perfect, but it satisfies most of my tablet needs -- for a fraction of the cost of an iPad.


As fate would have it, a Kindle Fire arrived shortly after the new iPad. (It's a loaner, due back to Amazon in about a week.) As you're no doubt aware, it's a hair less expensive: $199.

Yes, it has a smaller screen, less storage, no cameras, no 3G/4G, no Bluetooth, and so on. But you know what? I love the little guy, because it better suits my needs.

For one thing, it's way more comfortable for reading. I consume a lot of e-books, but I find the iPad too big and cumbersome -- especially for reading in bed. The Fire is small enough and light enough that I can lie on my side and grip it one-handed. (Shut up.)

I also like magazines, most notably Entertainment Weekly, Time, and Wired. The app versions of all three work nicely on the iPad, but I like the Kindle Fire (Android) versions even better. Maybe it's because I was expecting a shrunken, ill-fitting stab at accommodating the smaller screen, but the formatting is just beautiful. Reading these mags on the Fire is a pleasure.

Music, movies, TV shows, games, apps -- the Kindle Fire excels at all this stuff, just like the iPad. I'm streaming "This Is Spinal Tap" (courtesy of Amazon Prime, an uneven but compelling service) as I type this, and it looks exquisite. Granted, the paltry 8GB of storage limits how much media I can take with me, but I'm mostly an around-the-house user anyway. (That's why I get by just fine with Wi-Fi.)
I also like the Kindle's modern, media-centric, dare-I-say-sexy interface, which actually makes Apple's UI seem rather dated.

So here's the upshot: for one-third of what I paid for the new iPad, I can accomplish 95 percent of what I want to do with a tablet, and with a smaller design I find more appealing. Different strokes for different folks, of course, but for me this is a no brainer: I'm returning the new iPad and jumping into the Fire.

Your thoughts?

-----------------

Don't all commit suicide at once.

 

[JackD201]

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_...pad-and-buying-a-kindle-fire/?tag=epicstories



for one thing, it's way more comfortable for reading. I consume a lot of e-books, but i find the ipad too big and cumbersome -- especially for reading in bed. The fire is small enough and light enough that i can lie on my side and grip it one-handed. (shut up.)

classic!!!!! Rofl!!!!!

 

[carolkoh]

Took me a second. But then, I'm a woman.

I have the iPad2 and honestly, I'd tell friends to get the cheaper iPad2 rather than the iPad3. Until they improve the processor and the battery, I think the iPad2 is the better bargain for $100 less. I voiced my thoughts on a different thread - I think Steve started that one.