snoodthebubble

Verizon, I put it to you that this is not a Jetpack.

This, is a jetpack:

Could it be that this is the removal of the physical “Home” button? That would keep the physical dimensions of the current device but provide more screen real estate.

They would, obviously, have to come up with an elegant alternative to the physical button as well.

This is your hand?

You, sir, are unique.

This.

Brilliant response and exactly why I asked the questions at the end.

I’ve never used the Transformer but I must say that the Transformer is what I’d love to see the netbook philosophy translate into.

I just don’t think that I can expect the average user to use Android as a daily driver for anything but their phone. My opinion, and it may be flawed, but at least with an iPad, I wouldn’t have to follow up with masses of calibration advice and help when they adjust settings/download dodgy software.

If they were technical enough to know what ICS was and which apps were best for productivity then I wouldn’t hesitate. However, if they were that knowledgeable, I’d expect them to have already made up there minds as to which system to purchase.

Thank you for your post Hardcoreplur.

To tackle your concerns in order:

1.) phone OS
I don’t think this really matters to the masses. It works and is extremely simple to navigate which is my main concern when recommending a budget laptop to someone that isn’t a power user.

2.) Main Machine
I agree that an iPad shouldn’t be used as a main machine (it is far too limited). However, as stated, this is for a student who wants a budget machine. Their priorities are creating documents, listening to music, looking a pictures and surfing the net.

3.) Life Cycle
This was a major consideration and something that really got me thinking about the iPad as an alternative. Having seen a number of laptops that relations and friends had bought (on an impulse and without my recommendation!) fizzle out after about a year and a half, I’ve started to question the life of laptops at the bottom of the market.

4.) Backing up
I would agree with you on this and would recommend that any documents they create are stored on Dropbox (or iCloud where feasible).

I propose Spotify/iTunes Match for music and presume they would not store all of their photos locally.

Fair point on the cheap laptop, there’s just something that niggles at the back of my mind about whether it will last the duration and how the battery life and quite bulky dimensions make them more desktop replacements than true portable computing equivalents.

Saying that, my wife is using an Acer Aspire 4810T that I passed down to her and it’s lasted for ages (it was £550 when I bought it, though!).

Completely agree with your Pages issues. I don’t use it so am fairly naive as to how it operates with .doc files.

The iPad can create and edit Word documents, though, through onCloud (which I use) even though it’s not a very polished solution. Synchronising with Dropbox also means quite good collaboration on these documents.

You are correct. It really is the season for bezels.

Not a big fan myself but they do give a space to hold a device (fingers wrapped around). However, I would say that the sheer amount of bezel (on the shortest edges) appears “unusual”.

The bezel has it’s own bezel. It’s bezels all the way down…

I did not know that.

Consider it now condoned. Anything that helps to spread the original novel is a good thing.

Aw shucks, thank you.

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying (in far too many words!). They appear to have shifted focus from a mass of options and functionality (technical prowess) to a simpler interaction model for the masses.

As long as they maintain the ability to access the advanced features that’s all well and good and I certainly hope they do.

I honestly wouldn’t mind except for the (in my opinion) SEO inspired “based on the novel by Mary Shelley”.

It’s cynical on my part but it appears that this has been included merely to fool customers within the App store that this is the original novel, not a spin off choose your own adventure piece.

I’m sure it’s great and all but appears as far removed from the literary classic as Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (joke to emphasise my point – I like Scooby-Doo :) )