Apple's iPad

[Wiglaf]

Sprint mobile broadband is $80 a month BECAUSE AMERICA IS BIGGER THAN CANADA AND IT IS HARDER TO COVER IT WITH 3G. IT has nothing to do with politics.

[Asher]

The reason AT&T offers the $30 unlimited iPad plan is they know 99.9% of people will never use more than 500MB of it per month. It's actually a pretty amazingly stupid use case, 3G on the iPad...it's not a very portable device. Every single place I could imagine myself using one has WiFi (airports, hotels, coffee shops, etc).

[Asher]

Sprint mobile broadband is $80 a month BECAUSE AMERICA IS BIGGER THAN CANADA AND IT IS HARDER TO COVER IT WITH 3G. IT has nothing to do with politics.

You don't need mobile broadband.

Get a USB datastick, put your SIM chip in there...uses any regular data plan you want.

Or if you live in a civilized country like Canada, you can tether your 3G device to your laptop without any extra fees. I can tether the iPhone/Nexus One via bluetooth or USB to my laptops, which then use the 3G radio for internet.

If Apple was less dickish, they'd let you use your iPhone to tether to the iPad for the times you need 3G.

AT&T is just raping people for money with iPad 3G plans. Whoever buys them doesn't understand how little they need to use 3G on the iPad.

[Wiglaf]

There's no "plan," it's pay as you go

So I only pay to watch Netflix when the need arises.

Or if you live in a civilized country like Canada, you can tether your 3G device to your laptop without any extra fees. I can tether the iPhone/Nexus One via bluetooth or USB to my laptops, which then use the 3G radio for internet. If Apple was less dickish, they'd let you use your iPhone to tether to the iPad for the times you need 3G.

All this will go away once iPhone is opened up to multiple carriers in the US. Which is also, by the way, when it will regain momentum over Android.

[Hauldren Collider]

Sprint mobile broadband is $80 a month BECAUSE AMERICA IS BIGGER THAN CANADA AND IT IS HARDER TO COVER IT WITH 3G. IT has nothing to do with politics.

Wait, I thought Canada was bigger than America on land area?

Except lots of Canada is entirely uninhabited.

Also, I can tether my cell phone to my laptop and get all the mobile broadband I like. There's this magic thing called bluetooth. I just open Devices and Printers in windows and click a button.

Except I don't actually have a mobile broadband plan. But ahem, details.

[Hauldren Collider]

Anyway, if I meet someone who's constantly furious and also jacking off to porn on an iPad on Metro this summer, I'll know who it is.

[Asher]

Wiggy is seldom serious. Sometimes he lets his love for all things Apple get in the way of making funny posts. It's only when he knows he's wrong does he whip out the funny posts again.

[Hauldren Collider]

I know he's not serious

[Vanguard]

The reason AT&T offers the $30 unlimited iPad plan is they know 99.9% of people will never use more than 500MB of it per month. It's actually a pretty amazingly stupid use case, 3G on the iPad...it's not a very portable device. Every single place I could imagine myself using one has WiFi (airports, hotels, coffee shops, etc).

You imagination is pretty limited. How about..... in a car? At the park? The beach? Anyplace with locked wifi?

The cost of the 3g plan is hardly "rape". People's phones can use wifi too, but they still sell a lot of unlimited data plans at $60 a month. How can half that price be a rip-off, especially on a device that can stream hi-def video?

Requiring C++ use in apps is pure stupidity on Apple's part. I mean, taking on Adobe is one thing. Trying to take on Android and Java is another. Good luck with that fight, Steve. Why the hell would you even want to separate your app ecosystem from the emerging standard? Idiocy.

If I had to defend Apple's position, I would say that, once multitasking arrives, Apple has to be able to know that approved apps don't have hidden malicious behaviors. Inter-app messaging could easily be abused to deliver spam ads, for instance.

So everything that gets approved has to have code easily analyzed by automated methods. Apple can't mandate Java use, so it has to require C++.

Even if that is their true motive, it is a bonehead move.

[Asher]

You imagination is pretty limited. How about..... in a car? At the park? The beach? Anyplace with locked wifi?

Whenever I'm in a car, I'm driving. Many, many people can't use those devices in a car because of motion sickness.

Park and beach -- are you crazy...it's very, very painful to use the iPad in sunlight. If you're outside, WTF are you using a ****ing iPad? Further still, WHY WOULD YOU USE ONE AT THE BEACH? Easiest way to get it destroyed or stolen.

The cost of the 3g plan is hardly "rape". People's phones can use wifi too, but they still sell a lot of unlimited data plans at $60 a month. How can half that price be a rip-off, especially on a device that can stream hi-def video?

1024x768 is not high-def, and 1Mbps streaming is not high-def either. No, 3G does not stream high-def video.

And the reason why phones make more sense is these are genuine PORTABLE devices. People use these devices in every location because they are always with them. Despite what you think, large numbers of people are NOT going to bring the iPad to the park and the beach. They're going to use it around the house at home, they're going to use it at random coffee shops, they may use it at other people's houses...the vast majority of the time they're going to use it in WiFi-enabled hot spots.

If I had to defend Apple's position, I would say that, once multitasking arrives, Apple has to be able to know that approved apps don't have hidden malicious behaviors. Inter-app messaging could easily be abused to deliver spam ads, for instance.

I'm afraid this doesn't make sense at all.

[Hauldren Collider]

If I had to defend Apple's position, I would say that, once multitasking arrives, Apple has to be able to know that approved apps don't have hidden malicious behaviors. Inter-app messaging could easily be abused to deliver spam ads, for instance.

What? This isn't DOS, they don't all write to the same address space. And for the last time, it doesn't ****ing multitask.

[self biased]

[Lord Avalon]

[Vanguard]

1024x768 is not high-def, and 1Mbps streaming is not high-def either. No, 3G does not stream high-def video.

Fair enough. You can't get a watchable stream of hi-def on 3g. So instead let's say "$30 a month for 3g on a device that can download hi-def video is not a rip-off". Happy now?

And the reason why phones make more sense is these are genuine PORTABLE devices. People use these devices in every location because they are always with them. Despite what you think, large numbers of people are NOT going to bring the iPad to the park and the beach.

The iPad is being marketed as an uber-reader. So presumably people will use it wherever they use readers. Which includes the beach and the park. People take towels, books, umbrellas and drinks to the beach now--- all at once. Why wouldn't they also take a highly portable entertainment device?

For cripes sake, learn to only reply with good arguments. Swatting back these easy lobs is more trouble than it is worth.

[Asher]

Fair enough. You can't get a watchable stream of hi-def on 3g. So instead let's say "$30 a month for 3g on a device that can download hi-def video is not a rip-off". Happy now?

No, because now your argument is pretty pointless.

The iPad is being marketed as an uber-reader. So presumably people will use it wherever they use readers. Which includes the beach and the park. People take towels, books, umbrellas and drinks to the beach now--- all at once. Why wouldn't they also take a highly portable entertainment device?

Holy ****. I've no idea. Perhaps the list of reasons includes, and is not limited to:
1) THE VALUE OF THE DEVICE. I do not take expensive items to the beach, only a ****** would.
2) SALT WATER + ELECTRONICS = BAD. I don't care how little water you think it'll get, you're at the ****ing beach.
3) USING THE IPAD IN SUNLIGHT IS EXTREMELY PAINFUL. The glare is extreme, it is not usable in direct sunlight (SUCH AS AT A BEACH).
4) SAND! SAND! SAND! Sand will scratch the **** out of the surface of the device and potentially contaminate the ports of the device.

It's one thing to bring a book and an umbrella to the beach, it's quite another to bring a $700-$800 toy that you can't use in direct sunlight, would get damaged by the water + the sand, is potential target of theft.

For cripes sake, learn to only reply with good arguments. Swatting back these easy lobs is more trouble than it is worth.

You have to be ****ing kidding me.