Please iPad, Don't Hurt 'Em

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Devin Coldewey:

It’s not entirely fair, of course, to compare a fragmented and developing ecosystem like Android tablets to the world leader, the iPad.

This kind of stuff drives me nuts. Android gets a free pass for sucking because, well it's hard to compete with the establishment. Like iPhone did? iPhone came out in 2007, it wasn't available globally until 2008 and it was an instant hit and crushed the mighty, market leading Blackberry, and Nokia. Just like the iPod at $399 in 2001 was the defacto mp3 player within 3 years. Not successful, but the standard. No one gets a free pass.

(Via Daring Fireball)

On Phone Choice & Satisfaction

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Matthew Panzarino:

The publication also asked people why they chose the phone that they did, and got some interesting results in return. Windows Phone devices were most often picked for their operating system, demonstrating that the Windows name does have adoption power after all. The iOS customers liked the availability of apps and BlackBerry users were unsurprisingly convinced that email ease and a physical keyboard were integral. Android users were split between screen size, operating system and 4G capability being the deciding factors.

I have thought since I first saw it that Windows Phone looks like a really solid choice. Having spent no time with it I am unable to give a reasonable comparison to my iPhone. I suspect the average consumer doesn't care what phone they have. And once they have one they like it. My first iPhone was like magic in my hands. I'd never seen or used anything like it. I'm sure that if my first experience had been with a WP7 phone I would have felt the same way about it.

What is interesting though, is that the #2 reason people chose iPhone rivals or is greater than every reason people chose Android. The #3 reason people chose iPhone meets or exceeds every reason people chose Blackberry. And the #4 reason people chose iPhone destroys all but the number one reason people chose Windows Phone.

 

iPad As A Distraction

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Ryas Faas, renown Apple-in-business hater:

Those seem like great additions to a doctor’s daily workflows – both in the office and while on rounds at hospitals. Those great healthcare features don’t live in a vacuum, however. They live on mobile devices that also allow their owners to check-in on social networks, send and receive texts and emails, play games, and do all manner of personal tasks. That has some doctors and hospitals concerned that iPad, iPhones, and other mobile devices could actually be putting patients in harm’s way.

Yeah, the iPhone/Blackberry/Windows Phone/Android in their pocket doesn't have any of that stuff. If doctor's are not able to focus on the task at hand, healthcare has bigger problems.

When Is 5 Million Not Really 5 Million?

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Matt Brian:

The Samsung Galaxy Note has many detractors, it’s a 5.3-inch smartphone-cum-tablet that has to be seen (or played with) to be believed.

However, the device has topped 1 million sales within two months from its launch and today, the Korean vendor has announced it has already passed 5 million units sold in five months.

Umm… sorta. Samsung is kind of lying to us again, though. They love to use units shipped as units sold. The sentiment seems to be, "Once our resellers have them we consider them sold". I wonder if your resellers carry the same confidence. Samsung's site, linked to above, actually says (via Google Translate):

The end of October last year released "Galaxy notes" released five months after the global cumulative sales 5,000,000 (supply base) has been exceeded.

So, for sure not end users, just retailers who then try to sell them to end users. Got it.

Battery-Gate

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Ina Fried on iPad Battery-Gate:

So here’s how things work: Apple does, in fact, display the iPad (and iPhone and iPod Touch) as 100 percent charged just before a device reaches a completely charged state. At that point, it will continue charging to 100 percent, then discharge a bit and charge back up to 100 percent, repeating that process until the device is unplugged.

Doing so allows devices to maintain an optimum charge, Apple VP Michael Tchao toldAllThingsD today.

What? Apple knows what they're doing? What? It was totally intentional so that it would provide optimum battery performance? What? Even unplugged at the very lowest 100% setting will give 10 hours of battery life?

Enough of that, but seriously. OMG APPLE R DOOMED!~!~!!!~!@@!!111!~ is getting old.

iPad Mini

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Yesterday John Gruber linked to an article by A.T. Faust which goes through the reasons a 7.85" iPad Mini would make sense. It is a solid and well-reasoned argument. But then Faust drops this:

Folks who want an iPad — and, most importantly, can afford an iPad — will buy one. Selling a less expensive, smaller (but still manageably large) tablet will neither cannibalize iPad sales nor displace the need for the iPod touch, and it opens a big door for anyone who wants the true iPad experience but doesn’t have true iPad money. It’s a win-win scenario.

I disagree. This sounds like compromise to me. Compromise = failure. Steve Jobs said at the launch o the original iPad that unless a product is better for something it has no reason for being. If that reason is solely to be more affordable, then I can't see it happening. Portability, weight, battery life, all of these things may come into play. I'll wait and see what happens, but colour me skeptical.