What device out there is the iPad Killer? I heard HP Slate and/or Notion Ink Adam is.

The iPad is the iPad killer !

It’s not the device, it’s the App Store that is the thing to beat…not gonna happen any time soon btw.

@sndfreQ I don’t know. The open source community manages to do pretty well, and as soon as they get a platform that actually allows them to do their thing without some Cupertino Clergy blessing, I think it’s going to change.
Of course, the consumer market prefers what is shiny and cool over what actually works, so it’ll be a little bit of an uphill battle. However, with Firefox and Ubuntu finally getting noticed, I have some faith.

What I’m waiting for is for someone to port Linux to the iPad so that the thing will be able to multi-task. I admit that I respect the hardware, but like all Apple stuff, the software is just eye candy that looks pretty but is effectively useless.

The iPad killer isn’t out there yet because people still don’t quite get what it is that people can/should do on a tablet computer. All these devices try to be too much like a laptop or too much like a phone without the right balance, the reason being that for the most part there isn’t any need for a new device in the middle at all. If people need portability and personal organising, they should get a smartphone. If they need to type documents or prepare presentations and travel or work in many places, they should get a laptop.

If anything, the iPad/tablet PC killer shouldn’t be a single device… (but we do need one that emulates everything we like about paper – the look, the feel, the experience of reading content that isn’t changing every five seconds.) The ultimate iPad killer ought to be a mobile device with the size and function of a smartphone that, when used with a desktop computer, accesses an individual’s personal computer profile from the cloud and allows them to have their data anywhere there is a computer (and also have their data accessible anywhere with their phone). Both these ought to have an ecosystem of applications (which shouldn’t be forced through a single channel like the App Store) which can operate interchangeably on both the phones and the desktop computers.

What we do need is a device that finally nails e-reading, because consuming media is the only thing the iPad needs to do properly and for the most part it fails because you can’t properly consume long-format media on an LCD screen with an eye-burning backlight.

@bluemukaki You mean like Pranav Mistry’s Sixth Sense ?

@jerv That’s not what I was thinking of, but that thing is seriously cool!

Heres the pros and cons for the contenders. If my discipline holds out then I’d be getting a Notion Ink. That “e-ink” display thing and Android are a huge selling point for me. But then again I gave in and bought a 3gs iTouch. But I did jailbreak it after coming to my senses.

The Asus Eee. It is a proper computer with a keyboard, and none of that touch screen crap, it is about $150 cheaper, and it has a Windows OS so it is more compatible and functional.

@FireMadeFlesh Or the Acer Aspire One; same price, and a better computer. I always found the Eee underwhelming.

The way I see it, tablet PCs (with full-blown Windows!) have been out for years. It’s just that this is the first time that they’ve actually started to become popular. Look at it this way; how many people owned a home computer in 1977, or even 1987?

Well, my money’s being put aside for an ADAM. It has what I want: a long battery life, the nifty screen that lets you use it in direct sunlight, Flash and USB support, and a camera. I even like the touchpad thing on the back.

That said, I don’t have a smartphone of any kind, and my laptop bit the dust over two years ago. I don’t need the thing for work or school… I just want something to do while I’m out and about, or sitting on my couch watching a B horror flick and want to IMDB something without getting off the couch, or looking up a recipe without having to abandon what’s on the stove.

@jerv I have the first Eee 1000H, and its been great apart from a drop in battery life. I’m a bit of a brand snob when it comes to computers – even though my desktop is an Acer that has been faultless hardware-wise for over four years now, I will only trust Asus and Toshiba for laptops, although if I could get a VAIO for a good price then maybe I’d go for that too.

I think the iPad is just another example of people following the Apple craze without doing any market research. Every Apple product has a superior non-Apple counterpart for a lower price, but without the marketing hype and populist designs. I prefer to stick with a proper computer that is just a little smaller for portability.

@FireMadeFlesh As am I, which is why I go for Acer and Toshiba. Maybe it’s the 700— and 900-series Eee that ruined Asus for me, or maybe it’s just that Acer puts out a damned fine computer for less, which is great for those that don’t want to pony up for a Toshiba.

IMO, the last great thing that Apple did was pretty much stolen from Xerox. They are not the only ones that have made strides in the ease of use area; anybody who wants any sort of market share pretty much has to since most people don’t want to learn anything about computers, they just want to use them.

Apple fanatics claim “It just works, right out of the box!”, but I’ve had decent luck with Windows “plug and play” and the newer versions of Ubuntu are even easier than that. They claim immunity from malware and that they don’t need the security programs that Windows does, but neither does Linux, and I’ve been on an infected Mac before.

Much like Fox News, the truth means nothing if some lunatic shouts falsehoods loud enough.

My 5 quid hammer.

Why is it so important for there to be an iPad “killer”? Apple has, once again, done something the right way before the pc world has.

@GracieT I would disagree. They may have done so in a more commercially successful manner, but saying that they did it right is merely opinion. Given how limited the iPad is in many ways, I would say that they did not do it right. They got some of the details right (Apple is generally decent with hardware, so long as expandability and repairablility are not required) but the software is a bit screwy and causes more problems that it solves.

For instance, try printing from your iPad and you will quickly see what I mean. True, there is a new feature out that allows a very limited number of HP printers (11 to be exact) to work with the iPad, and it’s unlikely that anybody out there will make a decent third-party driver for iOS4 since Apple doesn’t make it easy for programmers to do that sort of thing. The “walled garden” approach that many laud Apple for works against them in that respect.

So you can have your Apple with it’s gimped leg and dain bramage. I will wait for a decent tablet with better specs, more features, and a future; likely one running Android.

@jery, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

@GracieT It’s probably better for everybody if we do.
I just want to mention that I am not alone in thinking that Apple is going down , and the fact that iPhone lost huge chunks of market share when Android phones came out indicates that the iPad may well suffer the same fate when the Adam and other Android tablets come out in the near future.

I have to state here that one in my course has a mac.
And he installed windows on it.
Absolutely awesome.