Apple iPad 2 - Big deal or not?

[Shlak]

The price of iPad is good enough

[Ads]

[tzimisce]

I am beginning to wonder how sad it must be when the only thing you can judge a product by is whether or not it has flash. I hated flash before the iPad and now I really despise it and its fanboys.

To be fair, different users have different requirements and expectations. Flash may not be an issue to the vast majority of users, but others who need it (for whatever reason) may find that it's reason for them to go to Android instead.

On the other hand, as you point out, the lack of Flash support is a quite tiresome dead-horse criticism that anti-Apple fanboys love to flog over and over.

[rogatsby]

I am beginning to wonder how sad it must be when the only thing you can judge a product by is whether or not it has flash. I hated flash before the iPad and now I really despise it and its fanboys.

To be fair, different users have different requirements and expectations. Flash may not be an issue to the vast majority of users, but others who need it (for whatever reason) may find that it's reason for them to go to Android instead.

On the other hand, as you point out, the lack of Flash support is a quite tiresome dead-horse criticism that anti-Apple fanboys love to flog over and over.

Agreed. Web browsing is one if my main uses for the iPad, but I don't miss Flash at all. I wonder what sites those people are visiting. I visit a lot of mainstream sites - Ny Times, other major newspapers, most of the well-known tech sites and blogs, etc., and lack of Flash is not an issue for me at all.

I guess it could be an issue depending on what sites you frequent. For me personally, I don't miss it at all.

And although the Android lovers talk about Flash support on their devices ad nauseum, they don't mention the fact that Flash performance on Android phones is just horrible. I have a Samsung Galaxy S running Froyo, and I always disable Flash because it just runs like crap.

[Thphilli]

I am beginning to wonder how sad it must be when the only thing you can judge a product by is whether or not it has flash. I hated flash before the iPad and now I really despise it and its fanboys.

To be fair, different users have different requirements and expectations. Flash may not be an issue to the vast majority of users, but others who need it (for whatever reason) may find that it's reason for them to go to Android instead.

On the other hand, as you point out, the lack of Flash support is a quite tiresome dead-horse criticism that anti-Apple fanboys love to flog over and over.

Agreed. Web browsing is one if my main uses for the iPad, but I don't miss Flash at all. I wonder what sites those people are visiting. I visit a lot of mainstream sites - Ny Times, other major newspapers, most of the well-known tech sites and blogs, etc., and lack of Flash is not an issue for me at all.

I guess it could be an issue depending on what sites you frequent. For me personally, I don't miss it at all.

And although the Android lovers talk about Flash support on their devices ad nauseum, they don't mention the fact that Flash performance on Android phones is just horrible. I have a Samsung Galaxy S running Froyo, and I always disable Flash because it just runs like crap.

I would have agreed with you about flash running like crap, until my Galaxy S phone, the Epic4g, got Froyo. It plays wonderfully and is awesome to have.

I dont think its a fanboy point to make. Its reality. Its an awesome OPTION to have when using an Android device. I wish my iPad was capable of it. I prob would buy an iPad2 if flash was confirmed for it.

And by far its not the only thing to judge a product by. Its just a minor annoyance compared to other things.

[Mtnmedic]

I agree with this. Just look at the video end: Flash is already on the run from Silverlight and HTML5. Adobe is hurting. They are a victim of their own suucess in a way; they simply haven't kept up and before they knew it Netflix dumped Flash for Silverlight (and the quality of the stream improved dramatically) and HTML5 is becoming the standard. There was a day, not all that long ago, that Flash ruled and nothing looked like a threat. Except for those who knew how resource hungry Flash really is. Microsoft stepped in and the ultra-light Silverlight took millions of dollars of enterprise streaming away. Now, with HTML5, why go flash? No corporate web designer in their right mind would develop a new site and use Flash video over HTML5.

Bottom line: Apple has no real reason to add flash as it's dying.

Yep. I agree wholeheartedly. Flash is slowly but surely on its way out. And, quite frankly, I don't miss it at all on the iPad. Primarily because the vast majority of ads thrown in your face on the web are Flash-based. All this time I've had the iPad (since May), I've encountered only a few web pages that wouldn't load because they required Flash. Besides, every portable device that I've had which has run Flash has seen crappy battery life with it enabled. Disabling Flash HAS helped significantly. That's one big reason why Flash isn't in iOS devices. And one of the BIG reasons for the iPad's success is, in fact, it's long battery life (the other being the Apps).

So, bye-bye, Flash. I'll be kind enough to show up for your funeral when the day comes.

Michael "Spam, spam, bacon, eggs and spam. Hold the bacon and eggs." Sent from my iPad using iPF

[Mtnmedic]

You know this reminds me of years ago when MP3 players first came out and the battle between Zune and Apple was fierce. Apple won that one hands down, in fact we don't even call the market "MP3 players" anymore just "iPods". I have a hunch in a couple of years we won't be calling this market "tablets" and we sure as heck wont be saying "Xooms". Funny how Zune and Xoom sound alike

Actually, I have the Zune HD 64GB (as well as the original 120GB) and I love it. I'm an audiophile and I firmly believe the Zune HD is superior (I used to have iPods) in terms of audio quality and the interface is pretty darn nice, using a gorgeous OLED screen. The Zune Pass and Marketplace can't be beat. My mother, sister and I each have Zunes on the same account so all the devices are loaded up with whatever we want, whenever we want and I get to keep 10 tracks for my very own, DRM-free, every month. All at $14.99 a month. Not bad at all. None of us have any need for apps on a serious, dedicated music playing device, since we're doing something else while listening to music or podcasts, like exercising, relaxing, walking, traveling or doing stuff around the house, not playing games and such. If I want to mess with apps and games, do photos, etc., I'll use my iPad.

But we could go around and around until the cows come home about this subject. The point I'm getting at is...if you haven't seen it, go to YouTube and search for the "Zune Man" sketch from Robot Chicken. Funny stuff.

Steve Jobs: "Don't make me kill you."

CD: "You already have!"

BLAM!

Michael "Spam, spam, bacon, eggs and spam. Hold the bacon and eggs." Sent from my iPad using iPF

[graywolf]

Actually, I have the Zune HD 64GB (as well as the original 120GB) and I love it. I'm an audiophile and I firmly believe the Zune HD is superior (I used to have iPods) in terms of audio quality and the interface is pretty darn nice, using a gorgeous OLED screen. The Zune Pass and Marketplace can't be beat. My mother, sister and I each have Zunes on the same account so all the devices are loaded up with whatever we want, whenever we want and I get to keep 10 tracks for my very own, DRM-free, every month. All at $14.99 a month. Not bad at all. None of us have any need for apps on a serious, dedicated music playing device, since we're doing something else while listening to music or podcasts, like exercising, relaxing, walking, traveling or doing stuff around the house, not playing games and such. If I want to mess with apps and games, do photos, etc., I'll use my iPad.

But we could go around and around until the cows come home about this subject. The point I'm getting at is...if you haven't seen it, go to YouTube and search for the "Zune Man" sketch from Robot Chicken. Funny stuff.

Steve Jobs: "Don't make me kill you."

CD: "You already have!"

BLAM!

Michael "Spam, spam, bacon, eggs and spam. Hold the bacon and eggs." Sent from my iPad using iPF

From a hardware perspective, iPods, and even the iPad's audio hardware, are way more advanced than microsoft's silly iPod wanna-be zune. I'm sure 99% of the world agrees with that.

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

From a hardware perspective, iPods, and even the iPad's audio hardware, are way more advanced than microsoft's silly iPod wanna-be zune. I'm sure 99% of the world agrees with that.

Do you have more information, as to why the iPod would produce better sound? Because from most of the forums I came across, the Zune was found to produce a higher audio quality.

Now, I am sure 99%, or at least a large amount of people would agree that the iPod is the best mp3 player, but that has more to do with MS only selling the Zune in the US.

[graywolf]

Do you have more information, as to why the iPod would produce better sound? Because from most of the forums I came across, the Zune was found to produce a higher audio quality.

Now, I am sure 99%, or at least a large amount of people would agree that the iPod is the best mp3 player, but that has more to do with MS only selling the Zune in the US.

128 bit aac audio is pretty awesome. And an oled display on the zune? iPod nano 6g beats that.

[DaveSt]

Do you have more information, as to why the iPod would produce better sound? Because from most of the forums I came across, the Zune was found to produce a higher audio quality.

Now, I am sure 99%, or at least a large amount of people would agree that the iPod is the best mp3 player, but that has more to do with MS only selling the Zune in the US.

128 bit aac audio is pretty awesome. And an oled display on the zune? iPod nano 6g beats that.

The Zune supports AAC as well, up to 320 kbps.