Dell to launch 7-inch tablet in 'next few weeks' to challenge iPad - Page 3

Originally Posted by digitalclips

I have to think they intend at some point soon for an HP iOS competitor to rise from WebOS and differentiate them and allow them a tighter integration between hardware and software (an idea they may have gleaned from Apple maybe? Android will become too generic and at the same time inconsistent with every manufacturer throwing something out there running it. Anything HP is making now is I assume a stop gap. Not a good selling point if true!

Originally Posted by screamingfist

"a whole slew"
these people just don't get it.

Originally Posted by joindup


Count those fingers 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 plus 5 is 11
Check out UZU

Originally Posted by screamingfist

"a whole slew"
these people just don't get it.

Originally Posted by raymondinperth

IPad supports up to 11 muti-touches, this rubbish dell tablet , NO doubt and NO need to even look at the spec and , No need to even think and ask , cant support more than 3 muti-touches

Originally Posted by Blackintosh

Amazing the tone of this thread. I think you guys are really afraid of some competition.

You are pissing on the thing before it even comes out. Why don't you wait until you've had a chance to play with the thing before you...what's the hip word young people use today...dis it??

Make a 7 inch pad, put a camera on it and Adobe Flash so you can watch videos in the browser and you might have something there. Get developers to write great games for it and kids will love it.

Since Apple likes to release 1st editions of their products with features missing that should be common sense, I think there is a market for copy cat products if they offer features people want. And if they make it cheaper, all the better.

Originally Posted by replicant

Let the clone war begin!

In any case, this is good news as Dell is going to push the price down.
In terms of competition, the Blackberry Playbook poses the biggest challenge in terms of specs and UI IMHO. Also, it looks like the majority of the newcomers are opting for the 7" format which is lighter and requires only one hand. I like it.

I do hope Apple revamps the UI of the iPAD. They were one of the first to implement Cover Flow and now everyone is copying them. So it makes sense to see it on the IPAD. The grid layout is getting old.

Originally Posted by Dave K.

Can you name a couple of apps that support 11 multi-touches... 11 mutli-touches seems like a useless spec to me.

Originally Posted by LewysBlackmore

to do this. They shutdown the Microsoft version of the slate - you don't see anyone else doing that, except by proxy by going with Android instead of waiting on Redmond to get their version available. The Android + ChromOS is a nasty one/two punch to Msoft's efforts in the handheld space. They NEED a serious winner with Win7 mobile to recover share from Android and fend off the tablet threat of ChromeOS. I see ChromeOS as the contender to beat - they built it against the netbook economies, which translates well to the tablet build, with a decent touch interface.

HP can leverage Palm WebOS for its devices, or select from the Android, ChromeOS or Windows bins as needed. Which will fragment their install base among those choices, but still sell devices. I see them trying to emulate Apple with WebOS though. So they may in fact introduce WebOS with the Palm infrastructure in place to have an ecosystem to drive, but still offer the other OSes as also-builds.

Originally Posted by Tardis

It should be made compulsory for anyone writing about the iPad to re-read what they (or their websites) wrote about the earliest iPod. Remember, at that time, there were many music players. Most bloggers then thought the iPod would FAIL big time - over-priced, Mac-only, requires iTunes etc. I don't recall seeing any "mea culpas" or apologies ........
.

Originally Posted by Maestro64

I will tell you why this will fail, and it is not what you think. All these devices use what is known as LPDRR memory, (low power DDR), each ipad ships with 4 dies in the A4 processor. and Iphone ships with 2 and the Itouch ships with 2 too. Apple today is the largest purchaser of LPDDR memory in the market, they also bought up 1/2 of the total supply of these parts for 2011 to supply all their mobile products. This does not leave much for everyone else to us buy and use.

Even is any of these products are slightly successful most likely they will not be able to get supply and therefore they will be shortage and people will walk across the street and buy and Ipad since Apple will have supply.

Originally Posted by paxman

An examples of too many choices/variants: Internal HD's for my iMac (any computer). Hours of freaking research at the end of which a choice is made yet you really don't know what you are getting nor if it will make a blind bit of difference had you made a different choice.

I like the Rolls Royce salesman who when asked how many horsepowers the engine had replied 'Plenty'. A little like Apple's Fast, Faster, Fastest descriptions.

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

I've always wondered... where is that 11th touch supposed to come from?

Originally Posted by Hodar

I don't understand .... Why 7 inches

Originally Posted by paxman

I like the Rolls Royce salesman who when asked how many horsepowers the engine had replied 'Plenty'. A little like Apple's Fast, Faster, Fastest descriptions.

Originally Posted by Dave K.

Not saying the Dell stuff will do well (it will be a flop). But in general, people like choices... Lots of choices...

Originally Posted by Chris_CA

The same place the others come from. Your fingers.
There are 11 different multi touch gestures in iOS 4. It's not that it recognizes 11 different points being touched.

Originally Posted by solipsism

People might move back to a 1 PC home again, but this time with multiple satellite computing devices for general use.

Originally Posted by anonymouse

Too many choices can often be problematic. However, it is also true that if you ask people if they'd rather have more or less choice, typically, they will respond in favor of more. It's kind of an interesting example of what people say they want not being what actually always works well for them.

Of course, it's not like we really have free will, anyway.

Originally Posted by Robin Huber

Just to f*** with competitors' minds, Apple should sell iPads at cost for a year. What would that be, $47? They have enough cash on hand to subsidize the loss in income. Stock price might take a brief hit, but increased user base when everyone in the world buys an iPad would more than make up for it in the long run.

Spare me any lectures realists. I'm just having some speculative fun.

Originally Posted by anonymouse

Well, according to this article,

http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/29/hp...or-early-2011/

HP have not shutdown the Windows slate, they have no interest in Android, and they will be introducing a webOS tablet in early 2011, after the Windows slate is released.

Originally Posted by LewysBlackmore

Odd that, especially since they don't attribute the Windows assertion to any HP officer or other source. The previous "not using Windows on the Slate" announcement was likewise unatrributed by TechCrunch to "someone informed" at least.

I wonder which is correct?

... Rubinstein confirmed that a tablet using Windows 7, most likely the HP Slate, will appear this year in advance of a webOS tablet slated for early next year. A slate has recently appeared in photos thats believed to be the HP Slate, and likely the tablet that HP will release later this year.

Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton

Actually, studies have shown that "Lots of choices" may cause analysis paralysis in humans. In other words there is a diminishing return beyond a certain number of choices. Google the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely for more details about the study.

Originally Posted by Alfiejr

Almost all the new tablets being announced these days have a 7" screen. IMHO this is not going to be very popular with consumers no matter what OS or features are added, because:

- it's too big for your pocket, so requires a carry bag or case of some kind, just like an iPad. if you want pocket size, you will still need to get a smartphone, or iPod touch.
- but it is a LOT smaller than the iPad screen - and for media, games and most things, size really matters.

regarding the second point, the big failure in all the reporting to date has been ignoring the simple geometry of the total screen areas.

with almost 10" diagonal, the 4:3 aspect iPad offers nearly 48 squre inches of screen area with about 8" x 6" actual dimensions.

a 7" diagonal screen sounds like it is about 2/3 the size of the iPad, but that is really stupid math in fact. since most of these tabs have an approximate 16:9 aspect ratio, like an HDTV, their actual screen dimensions are only about 6" x 3.5", a total of just 21 square inches in area. this is less than even 1/2 the iPad's screen area.

yes, for watching 16:9 video that size reduction is actually less - a 6" wide picture on a 7" tablet vs. an 8" wide picture on the iPad. so three-quareters of the iPad image, maybe not so big a deal. but for web pages and games and everything else, you have far less screen area to work with.

so consumers are being asked to pay 2/3 or 3/4 the price of an iPad for these 7" tablets, but will get less than 1/2 of the iPad's viewable/usable screen area for that price. that is a tough sell.

i have been wondering why, given these real negative marketability issues, we are seeing so many 7" tablets being announced. is it because Android cannot easily be scaled up any further? is it because Apple has corned all the 10" screen supplies? is it to keep the price down? is it to about battery life? or what?

except for diehard Android fans and gadget lovers, i don't know who is going to want such a 7" tablet for any reason. presumably a generation of larger models will be released next year, so they will wait. or buy an iPad.

Originally Posted by knwbuddy

If that were true, I can't imagine a company like Dell putting so much capital into the project. So I guess that your statement is untrue, based on what huge industrial companies generally do.

Do you have better information? I would guess that many will be sold which are neither company policy nor intended as a gift.

Originally Posted by Chris_CA

The same place the others come from. Your fingers.
There are 11 different multi touch gestures in iOS 4. It's not that it recognizes 11 different points being touched.

Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton

... I am however undecided about whether a 7" tablet is too small. It's certainly small enough that typing on a virtual keyboard in landscape mode becomes less than natural. ...

Originally Posted by fuwafuwa

IT IS! iOS 4 can recognize and track 11 simultaneous touches. One developer made the demo to see how many simultaneous touches can be recognized, and the result is 11.

Originally Posted by nealg

The big appeal for this device is that it is not an Apple iPad. Everybody is trying to be first to market with something that is not an iPad to appeal to the anti Apple crowd.

Neal

Originally Posted by nealg

The big appeal for this device is that it is not an Apple iPad. Everybody is trying to be first to market with something that is not an iPad to appeal to the anti Apple crowd.

Neal

Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton

I can't say I grasp the rationale behind an anti Apple stance. Most of the people that I know personally who hate Apple aren't speaking from experience because they've never owned an Apple product

Originally Posted by zindako

Poor guys, Dell and RIM are both going to fail miserably in the tablet market space, and all this will be a good thing, because it will continue to cannibalize microsofts efforts in the mobile sector, as no one will be striving to put Winmo on their devices.