Apple iPad and related items

[mwgdrwg]

12 seconds? That is an unusual length of time to launch an app.

Anyway, it isn't something that's ever bothered me. I'm playing a game, a notification comes up. Either I think "oh that looks interesting, sod the game I'll go read the email", or I think "oh just another stupid notification, I'll look at it later maybe". I can only ever use one app at a time, I can't play solitaire at the same time as read mail.

This is very much the case on my desktop too. I don't actually need my mail app open all the time, all I want is notification of new mail and the option to switch over if it looks important. I do use multiple apps at once but those tend to be things I couldn't practically do on a mobile device anyway (BBEdit and Pixelmator and Transmit to do code/images/ftp for web design for instance).

For other users multitasking is essential and it is a strange decision to disable them in this way. I don't ever browse/email/im without spotify or last.fm in the background, for example.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Listening to music is the only time I've had that desire actually. You can do it with the standard music player but not with music-generating apps.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Apple iPad is announced

Back on the iPad: if multi-tasking isn't brought in by the time it's released, it's going to be hideous to use.

Here's how it goes on my iPhone: load up Scrabble (12 seconds), and start to play game. Get an email alert. Close Scrabble, go to look at email, reply, close it, click on Scrabble icon and wait another 12 seconds for it to load. Get an SMS. Close, Open, Close, Open etc etc ad infinitum.

It's shit on the iPhone and it's going to be ten times more annoying on the iPad where you might reasonably want to keep web pages/IM/Skype or whatever open.

12 seconds?? I've never known any app to take that long on the 3GS! I'd advise playing other games.

 

[editor]

Listening to music is the only time I've had that desire actually. You can do it with the standard music player but not with music-generating apps.

You can't even play Spotify and do a single other thing on the iPad.

12 seconds?? I've never known any app to take that long on the 3GS! I'd advise playing other games.

The iPhone version is as slick as you might expect but it takes ages to load up and is actually worse than Ye Olde Palm version.

 

[Pie 1]

I don't have Scrabble but:

Guardian app: 10 secs to load & update
Google Maps: 3 secs load & update
Facebook: 6 secs - load & update
PS Mobile: 1.5secs
Gorilla Cam: 2.5 secs
GTA Chinatown: 8 secs
Peggle: 8secs
Sim City: 13 secs
X Plane9 : 8.5 secs

(all times on a 3gs & wifi)

So, the longest load is Sim City which, like Scrabble, is EA isn't it?

 

[Lemon Eddy]

12 seconds?? I've never known any app to take that long on the 3GS! I'd advise playing other games.

Peggle takes even longer.

 

[Pie 1]

Peggle takes even longer.

It really doesn't.

 

[Crispy]

Scrabble is one of the worst iphone apps out there. Massively bloated, terrible interface and somehow manages to drain the battery just sitting there doing nothing. The AI is either stupidly easy or ridiculously difficult. Oh and you get 5 free 'cheats' per game and you can't turn the option off.

But yes, some sort of multi tasking or task switching at the least can't come sooner. I wouldn't mind a 'freeze-state' task switcher combined with an API for basic background processes eg. playing a music stream, if they're not willing to go as far as full MT.

 

[editor]

The thing is, for all its bloat it doesn't even tell you the meaning of the words (unless I'm missing something). I didn't know you can cheat either (how?).

For the record, I counted 12 seconds from hitting the icon to actually playing the game. It's immediate on the Palm.

 

[Crispy]

Those five little hearts are your 'hints' or rather, the best possible scoring moves you can make with your current tiles. There's a button (it might be in the Pause menu) that lets you play your best possible move. Spoils it, cos I'm too weak to avoid the temptation!

Blame EA, who have made a 'video game' version of scrabble, rather than a lightweight word game

 

[Gromit]

Instead of Scrabble I play Words with Friends.

It's like scrabble but bigger board and special tiles are in different places. You have to wait for the other player to take their turn but I like playing a game over the space of days.

 

[editor]

Those five little hearts are your 'hints' or rather, the best possible scoring moves you can make with your current tiles.

Ah, gotcha. I've not noticed that before.

It's truly rubbish that it doesn't tell you what the words mean - so when you're getting annihilated by it in expert mode, you never get to learn what its killer XYRYERIABZT move means.

 

[Sunray]

Lack of multi-tasking on a iPhone is daft but generally tolerable until you want to use spotify and then it becomes weird.

Lack of multi-tasking on the iPad is quite the most ridiculous thing ever, its adding a flaw unnecessarily and its got too many obvious flaws that everyone can pretty much agree are flaws and nobody even owns one yet. Its in the Apple TV bracket as far as I can see, nice but no thanks.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I don't have Scrabble but:

Guardian app: 10 secs to load & update
Google Maps: 3 secs load & update
Facebook: 6 secs - load & update
PS Mobile: 1.5secs
Gorilla Cam: 2.5 secs
GTA Chinatown: 8 secs
Peggle: 8secs
Sim City: 13 secs
X Plane9 : 8.5 secs

(all times on a 3gs & wifi)

So, the longest load is Sim City which, like Scrabble, is EA isn't it?

Where are these numbers from? The guardian opens and loads faster than 10 seconds for me, Facebook is barely 2 seconds and Peggle isn't that close to 8 seconds before it's ready...

 

[editor]

The Guardian app loads pretty quick, but can then take a fair while to update.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Lack of multi-tasking on the iPad is quite the most ridiculous thing ever, its adding a flaw unnecessarily

The flaw is there so that Apple get lots of money when all the idiot fanbois buy it for a second time when they release V2.0

 

[skyscraper101]

US Apple store is 'busy updating' (13:00pm GMT) so no orders are happening at the moment.

Rumour has it that the iPad will begin pre-orders today.

 

[editor]

US Apple store is 'busy updating' (13:00pm GMT) so no orders are happening at the moment.

Rumour has it that the iPad will begin pre-orders today.

It's just another of Apple's hype-boosting tactics to get fanboy bloggers squeaking with iExpectation - and, right on cue, loads of sites covered the "OMG! The store is down!!!!" 'story'.

The date was already set for today for iPad pre-orders.

The UK store is back online without any noticeable changes, certainly no Apple UK iPad pricing. The US store has been updated with pre-ordering ability for the iPad. Apple is only shipping to US locations from the US store.

http://www.macworld.co.uk/business/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=3215041

 

[Crispy]

teeny-weeny little feature update - the Mute switch is now a Lock Screen Orientation switch

 

[skyscraper101]

I quite like the case

 

[Crispy]

Yeah it's a clever design

 

[teuchter]

teeny-weeny little feature update - the Mute switch is now a Lock Screen Orientation switch

That's it. I'm getting one now.

 

[Crispy]

That's it. I'm getting one now.

I knew you'd crack

My need for lounge sofa internet/lightweight computing is about to become very real, with my desktop computer being banished to the spare room. My tweaky-tweaky geek side says get a Dell Mini 10v and put Snow Leopard on it, my gadget-lust and KISS side says get an ipad. My sensible voice says hold your horses

 

[teuchter]

You could get a glass of whisky, a cat, and a pipe instead.

 

[Crispy]

That can be arranged

 

[editor]

teeny-weeny little feature update - the Mute switch is now a Lock Screen Orientation switch

Alluring though that feature is, I'm still finding the Courier a far more appealing prospect.

 

[Kanda]

Long term, whisky, cat and pipe would cost more than an iPad.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Apple iPad is announced

It's sold 51,000 units in two hours apparently...

 

[Pie 1]

Where are these numbers from?

My head.
After nearly 20 years as a photographer, my counted seconds are more acurate than a fucking swiss watch

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I'm not sure whether to get the 3G model or not, given that I have a 3G modem which I use for proper computers anyway, and could just get one of those little wifi router things for it for about the same price as the difference between models, with no extra data charges paid by me. On the other hand it's less convenient, and just a PAYG data plan would cost basically bobbins anyway.

#firstworldproblems