Monday, February 20, 2012
Tablets are the latest, hottest tech item for students and many are eagerly awaiting Apple’s iPad 3 announcement in March.
“Tablets provide a different user experience,” said Tim Reeb, a junior from Haysville and technology specialist at the KU Bookstore. “A lot of the user interface is simpler, streamlined and easier to access.”
Reeb owns a Motorola Xoom tablet given to him by the department of electrical engineering, but if he were to purchase a new tablet, he said he would pick the Asus Transformer over the iPad 3. Reeb said that the newest iPad will play catch-up to the Transformer, which has been on the market since last April.
The Transformer Prime, released in Dec. 2011 at $500, uses a quad-core processor, 32 GB of hard drive space and can dock into a keyboard port that has USB inputs. Whether students should rely solely on a tablet or still have a computer depends on each student’s needs. According to Reeb, tablets work well for surfing the internet, playing music and writing documents, but computers are best for editing music and photos.
“Tablets are all about content consumption, whereas computers are all about content creation,” Reeb said. A study conducted by The NDP Group suggests that only 10 percent of tablet users rely on their tablet for all of their computing needs. For students, this could mean that it is more practical to invest in a laptop than a tablet.
However, Corey Beckmann, a junior from Overland Park and an Apple sales associate for iCafe, said the iPad 3 is a significant improvement to the tablet market. While most features on the iPad 3 have yet to be confirmed, Apple announced that it will include a retina display, which provides a higher resolution than Blu-Ray.
“You will notice a difference because the fact that it’s higher quality than a Blu-Ray disc already tells you that it’s going to be amazing,” Beckmann said.
Apple plans to announce more details about the new product on March 7. The iPad 3 will likely be on sale a few weeks later, but until then, any specs about the device are rumors. Beckmann said that some of the rumors he has heard include the iPad 3’s 4G network access, a similar price as the iPad 2 — $499, an 8-megapixel camera and a quad-core processor.
Right now, the iPad is only meant to be an extension of a computer, and Beckmann said if he had to choose, he would buy a MacBook Air instead of an iPad 3.
“Right now, tablets are just too limited,” Beckmann said. “But I’m looking forward to when that changes.”
— Edited by Christine Curtin
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Comments
Tablets are advancing, but still limited
“You will notice a difference because the fact that it’s higher quality than a Blu-Ray disc already tells you that it’s going to be amazing,” Beckmann said.
No, in fact you will not notice a difference because on a 10" screen your eyes cant physically see the difference between 720p and 1080p (Blu-Ray). Not to mention that basically zero media is distributed commercially at resolutions higher than 1080p. It will however cost you money more and run your battery down faster. But hey, its a nice talking point for a sales pitch!
Tablets are advancing, but still limited
^Actually, you will notice a difference. Maybe not from 720p to 1080p, but from the current iPad screen resolution. He's right because the current resolution is 1024x768, and with the supposed next resolution being 2048x1536. That's a noticeable difference. Think iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4. And you're right. Nearly zero media is distributed at resolutions higher than 1080p. However, it has to start somewhere and the reason for the resolution to be as high as it is, it's probably more for apps and web browsing clarity than viewing videos, etc. And because of the pxel density, it will STILL be sharper than it was before. How do you know it will cost more money? Don't you think Apple will compensate for draining battery life by throwing in a better battery? My 2 cents.
Tablets are advancing, but still limited
Actually higher pixel density does not always mean a better picture. Too high a density on a small screen can mean increased noise. Too much sharpness can also decrease the quality of an image. These problems are exacerbated when displaying a non-native resolution as you WILL be doing much of the time on a 2048x1536 screen for the foreseeable future. That being said, I know Apple knows what they are doing and I'm sure the display will look great. My gripe was that the guy I quoted essentially says, "It will be better because its got more pixels", which is just terrible logic. More pixels does not always mean better picture, there is a breaking point at which it will actually become worse.
As for the cost and battery life comment, I meant in comparison to the same tablet at a lower resolution.
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