Google Preparing iPad Rival? 397
dazedNconfuzed noted an update in the ongoing rumor train about the Google iPad Competitor. It would be based on Android (not ChromeOS) and supposedly Eric Schmidt was telling people about it at a party in LA recently. If any Googlers want to leak me s3cr3t information, I promise anonymity, though without an actual product, price or date it's tough to get really excited. But the iPad clearly has significant limitations that someone else can capitalize on.
google ipad (Score:4, Informative)
zenPad (Score:3, Informative)
Could be the Enzo zenPad. Pure vapourware.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/09/ensos-zenpad-is-vaporware-get-refunds-while-they-last/ [engadget.com]
Re:Teh wr0/\/g20Rz (Score:1, Informative)
Google never made Android hardware. Both "Google" phones, the Nexus one and the G1 were designed and manufactured by HTC.
Re:Teh suXX0rs (Score:2, Informative)
The alternative is that they produce the HW themselves, but we saw what happens when they do that (Nexus One).
But Nexus One is manufactured by HTC
Archos 7 inch internet tablet (Score:3, Informative)
Archos has been making an Android based tablet for some time now well before the iPad came out. Of course Microsoft has been trying to sell various tablets for years since Pen Windows plus various WinCE devices, UMPCs, Windows XP tablets etc.. Universal reaction tablets are dumb and waste of money. Steve Job's throws on his magic turtleneck and tells everyone "This is a magical device. I am really proud of the team. I really think your going to love it." And people go stand in line to get a tablet. Umm so can we all just agree there is a certain group of people that will buy whatever Steve tells them they need and hype it for him endlessly? Sorry folks but you who behave this way represent an abnormality and are not really representative you are iPeople.
Re:google ipad (Score:3, Informative)
I've put that on my watch list. I want to see if any of these actually get delivered. In theory it wouldn't be hard to for a Chinese manufacturer to build the hardware and port Android to it. Based on the ebay username (lifengsihai), and the fact that it's shipping out of Hong Kong, this looks like what is happening.
It should be noted that this device ships, supposedly, with Android 1.6. If that's true I wonder if it's possible to upgrade it to 2.1?
I also wonder about it's 3G support. I mean "built-in 3G HDSPA/UMTS/WCDMA modem" seems a touch unrealistic?
It's a neat looking package but I have deep concerns about it. I wouldn't order one without someone else taking the risk first.
Take a peek at what else this seller has on offer: http://shop.ebay.com/lifengsihai/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340 [ebay.com] There is some interesting stuff in there.
Re:Apple, Google, Microsoft... (Score:5, Informative)
you're not looking hard enough. Apple and Google both license ActiveSync from Microsoft. Every iphone, ipod touch and ipad has a fully licensed ActiveSync client that you pay for even if you don't use Exchange email. all the iSecurity features Apple hypes are just ActiveSync features and MS code. iPhone OS 4 is going to support Exchange 2010.
Google licenses it as well, but so far only for Google Docs. if this iGoogle pad will have document transfer then it will be MS code and patents running it. a lot of people do buy Touchdown from the marketplace which is a fully licensed ActiveSync client
Re:Biggest iPad Limitation: No HTML Editing (Score:5, Informative)
Content-editable is the standard that allows rich text HTML editing. You get a textarea with support for WYSIWYG HTML composition. Slashdot doesn't use it, but most blogs do.
Safari has supported it for years, but Mobile Safari doesn't, because it wasn't really needed on the iPhone. The iPad, OTOH, is pitched as a composition device.
The lack of support is frustrating if you use Blogger or WordPress or any decent Content Management Systen.
Re:Archos 7 inch internet tablet (Score:3, Informative)
I have an Archos 5 tablet (which is much smaller than the 7) and I am completely happy with it. Though it is locked down, it wasn't hard to unlock and have access to the whole library of Android apps. It also has GPS, which means I can use it to give directions in my car, track bicycle trips, use while hiking, etc. My only complaint is that the screen is glossy and unreadable outdoors, but an anti-glare protector fixed that. Oh and it had wifi included, connects and charges via USB, and *gasp* has a microSD slot for more memory. Why did I want an iPad again?
Re:Hopefully true - Closed vs. Open platforms (Score:2, Informative)
I think that's a bit over simplified. If that were the case than 90% of people would have Macs and geeks would be the only people with PCs. The real factor is that open platforms are cheaper. That is why the Mac lost the PC in the past. Apple tried to control the hardware and software with huge markeups. The PCs came in with competition and thin margins so they advanced faster and became more efficient lowering costs even more. Monopolies breed inefficincies because there is no reason to improve. Apple has a monopoly of sorts now, but competitors are catching up and AT&T isn't going to subsidize the $800 iPhone once it becomes available on other networks because it will no longer provide them with a competitive advantage. When people have to pay hundreds of dollars more for an iPhone when competing phones offer the same capabilities you'll see a drop in their marketshare. Apple apparently hasn't learned from past mistakes.
Re:Android tablets have been here for a while (Score:4, Informative)
How is that any easier of an answer than slapping iPhone OS on a tablet?
Re:google ipad (Score:3, Informative)
Surely you mean the WePad [neofonie.de]
So we took a seriously stylish, state-of-the art media tablet and put a whole lot of fun in it. With the WePad, you can browse the Internet, watch YouTube, check your e-mail, chat with friends on Facebook, and much, much more. You can even get some work done, if you absolutely must. Most importantly, we created an open system, so that everyone can participate.
We built a platform based on two established, well-known technologies, Android and Linux, meaning that software developers can dream up apps for anything you may want to do with your WePad (and even some things you might never have dreamed possible yourself). It's quick and simple - and needless to say, any app that already exists for Android also runs on the WePad. Right out of the box.
ok, you can only pre-order it, but surely those crazy Germans aren't touting vapourwar (apparently the grad unveiling is at a show in May, cost 449.
Re:Teh suXX0rs (Score:3, Informative)
Uh, wrong. The Russian Empire was - compared to the rest of Europe - a backwards agrarian state with a huge percentage of illiterates, almost no industrial base (nearly all machines had to be imported from Britain and Germany), crazy cultists who've cutted off their own dicks and an absolute monarchy comparable to the French monarchy just before the revolution.
Also wrong. The pact was only because both Germany and the Soviet Union were isolated by the rest of the world.
Poland likes itself in the victim role, but the truth is that Poland itself has invaded the USSR in the 1919, occupying western Ukraine, a huge part of Belarus and a good half of Lithuania. The division of Poland between Nazi Germany and the USSR was pretty much the revenge.
The rest of your argumentation is even more laughable (OMG the evil communist AK47!!!1111one one one eleven)
Re:Teh suXX0rs (Score:4, Informative)
What an interesting mismatch of fact, propaganda, and ignorance.
Where to start?
* Pre soviet Russia, was very backwards. Look at their performance in WW I where they showed up with ancient weaponry.
* It was a super power, no other way to describe a country that controlled half of the world, put the first man & satellite in space and was capable of destroying the world umpteen times over.
* Yes, it was a super power *AFTER* WW I, not before or during.
* And finally, being a super power doesn't mean you are a nice guy. If that's a requirement to super power, then yes it was not a super power.
I neither endorse nor condone any violent actions the Soviet Union performed during its history, but your account was just too messed up to leave un commented upon.
Re:Teh suXX0rs (Score:5, Informative)
It has not. Simply by the fact that the USSR was able to sustain the population after the second world war. FYI the soviet losses in the WW2 were about 20 millions. The total population of the whole USSR was about 100 millions in 1920ies. If there really were tens of millions butchered then by 1945 the USSR would have a population of 50 millions or less. Frankly, it was not the case.
And yes, russian empire was as backwards as it gets.
The Russian populace at 1920 was around 137,727,000 , so you can quit lying.
On 26 January 1934 Joseph Stalin reported to the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party as one of the main achievements "Growth of population from 160.5 millions in the end of 1930 to the 168 millions in the end of 1933". On 1 December 1935 Joseph Stalin made a speech, on the Meeting of Kolkhozniks with the Soviet and Party leaders:
“ Everybody says that the material situation of workers has dramatically improved, that life has become better and more fun. It is of course true. But this has led the population to breed much faster than in the old days. The birth rate is higher, the death rate is lower and the pure population growth is far stronger. It is of course good and we welcome it. [Jolly murmurs in the auditorium.] Now every year we have a population growth of three million souls. It means that every year we grow as much as the whole of Finland. [Everybody laughs.] ”
Combining his reports, one could have expected to have a population of about 180 million in 1937.
Official statistics based on the registered birth and death rates implied that the 1937 census should show a population of 170-172 million. On 21 September 1935 Sovnarkom adopted a decision On the organization of registration of natural population changes most probably authored by Stalin
Stalin's population growth, meant that he enforced a change in the agrarian system - one that was implemented by force and was focused on the Kulaks and 'mechanised farming'
According to data from Soviet archives, which were published in 1990, 1,803,392 people were sent to labour colonies and camps in 1930 and 1931. Books say that 1,317,022 reached the destination. The remaining 486,370 may have died or escaped.
In the region of 24 million people, civilian and military were lost in WW2, but you can add in plenty there was killed by their own side, in the red human sausage machine.
Afterwards, millions were enslaved, and sent or killed by the regime, and stalin's words ever echo in the imphamy of history;
"One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic".
The butchering of people by the 10's of millions might be an expression too far, but millions fits, and thats before any expression about the misery caused to the rest of the populations involved in soviet misery
Re:Quite the opposite (Score:3, Informative)
Re:wrong spin (Score:5, Informative)
"Magical and revolutionary" I guess doesn't score high on your bullshitometer. Isn't it funny how people develop blinders for brand loyalty?
http://www.apple.com/ipad/ [apple.com]
iPad
A magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.
Starting at $499
Re:Teh suXX0rs (Score:3, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#USSR [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_pogroms [wikipedia.org]
Great Linux tablets are coming (Score:3, Informative)
I don't care whether Google prepares an iPad rival. A whole bunch of new Linux tablets are coming, likewise a whole bunch of "smartbooks" (netbook computers with non-x86 processors).
I'm really excited about the nVidia Tegra 2 chip [anandtech.com]. Typical power dissipation of about 500 milliWatts, 8 cores: ARM7 "housekeeping" core, dual 1GHz ARM9 processing cores, audio core, graphics accelerator core, video encode core, video decode core, and "image processing" core (which will support a high-resolution camera). nVidia showed off prototype smartbooks with a Tegra 2 playing HD video, and claimed that the chip was dissipating 150 milliWatts; elsewhere I have seen 500 milliWatts as the typical number.
I'm also excited about the Pixel Qi [pixelqi.com] screen. That's the same display technology from the OLPC. A nice-looking display that dissipates 2 Watts when the backlight is on, and about 0.2 Watts with the backlight disabled. If you want to sit outside in the bright sun, you turn the backlight off and you get a nice, readable, sharp display that's very suitable for ebooks and web surfing, but you could watch movies that way too if you wanted.
A typical Atom system dissipates 15 to 20 Watts [wikipedia.org] while operating. That's why netbooks need cooling fans. A Tegra 2/Pixel Qi system ought to have tremendous battery life, especially with the backlight off, and won't need a cooling fan. Win/win.
So, what I want is a tablet and a smartbook with a Tegra 2 and a Pixel Qi screen. I want Linux, but that's no problem, because Windows doesn't even run on a Tegra 2, and I don't think anybody is going to ship a Windows CE tablet. And I insist on a device with USB ports: I want to be able to plug in a keyboard, a mouse, a memory card reader, or USB storage devices.
I imagine that Acer and Asus will both ship products I will want. But the actual announced product I know about is the Notion Ink Adam [engadget.com] tablet: Tegra 2 chip, Pixel Qi screen, capacitive multitouch touchscreen, Android OS. It also has an intriguing feature: a trackpad on the back of the device, which allows you to use Flash applications that were designed for use with a mouse (you use a finger on the back to drag the cursor around, and tap on the front with your other hand to click the mouse). It also has a camera that can be flipped around to point at you, away from you, or in between. It was originally announced for June, but recent news casts doubt [engadget.com] on that.
By the way, one reason why tablets are the hot new form factor: people who see something that looks like a notebook computer expect it to run Windows, but people who see a tablet device have no expectations. So, there will probably be more tablets than smartbooks.
steveha
Re:Quite the opposite (Score:3, Informative)
tinker [reference.com] [ting-ker]
1. a mender of pots, kettles, pans, etc., usually an itinerant.
2. an unskillful or clumsy worker; bungler.
3. a person skilled in various minor kinds of mechanical work; jack-of-all-trades.
4. an act or instance of tinkering: Let me have a tinker at that motor.
5. Scot., Irish English.
a. a gypsy.
b. any itinerant worker.
c. a wanderer.
d. a beggar.
6. chub mackerel.
–verb (used without object)
7. to busy oneself with a thing without useful results: Stop tinkering with that clock and take it to the repair shop.
8. to work unskillfully or clumsily at anything.
9. to do the work of a tinker.
–verb (used with object)
10. to mend as a tinker.
11. to repair in an unskillful, clumsy, or makeshift way.
Put it this way...
Inigo Montoya [imdb.com]: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Unless anyone but Apple is an unskilled gypsy, that is.
Re:Biggest iPad Limitation: No HTML Editing (Score:3, Informative)
Yes [wordpress.org] and yes. [blogger.com] WP also has a version for the iPad and it looks great.