Ooooohhhh apple...

Guess it didn't make any spark of discussion yesterday, but apple released their ipad mini (ipod touch x 2) a new ipad 4 that is a mild to little improvement of the last one plus an apple mini-USB connector (Lightning port) as well as a new imac AIO, which wouldn't be worthwhile or from apple if it weren't preposterously thin. Don't get me wrong, it's cool to have a thin device, but after a while, it's superfluous, ESPECIALLY for a desktop.

The ipad mini is about 350 dollars for a 16 gig base model, which is well more than the competition in that arena. And, it is 170 dollars less than a Surface RT, I'd go with the Surface RT.

The ipad 4 just goes to show why I will NEVER buy apple, RIDICULOUS product obsolesce! The ipad 2 with retina display came out about six months ago, it is now outdated. Mostly over a new connector that is really an apple exclusive version of the universal standard of the microUSB port. It isn't faster, it isn't better, and just goes to show that their old 30 pin connector was a bad move to begin with.

The new imac, good grief. It seems than an apple post steve jobs thinks that innovation is making existing products thinner than before. I don't see any practical benefit in buying an AIO PC just because it's thin. It's on a desk for crying out loud, I don't care if it's thin or not. I care about specs and capabilities, compare a Windows 8 powered touch AIO PC with a 23 inch screen to apple's 21.5 inch imac, the Windows powered one wins over every time, as it usually has. And we're talking about a 10 point multitouch screen compared to non-touch screen and is STILL less than.

What I fear a bit is that people will buy into this just because it's apple. Honestly, at this point, apple could have a press conference that has a lot of hype around it and release nothing. Just nothing. And people will be tripping all over themselves at how to get nothing from apple. Or better yet, they could announce a box of shite from apple, and people will be paying hand over fist, for a box of excrement, from apple. FACEPALM.



And this is how I feel about the iphone 5 versus the Nokia Lumia 920. The 920 is a larger phone (mostly because of the OIS PureView camera) but it has more depth, detail, and it's a well built attractive device. The iphone 5 is just the iphone 4 stretched out (on tall heels?) and thin and light. It's a trendy, superficial device for the trendy, and superficial.

That, is how the cookie crumbles.

The annoyance with the new iMac is that the RAM is not upgradable. That's a major no-no in my book. The new hard drive tech seems to be promising, though.

Coke Robot said:

a new ipad 4

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It is not an iPad 4. It's still the new iPad with some slightly improved specs. It's similar to how the Playstation releases a slim version of the PS3..., but it's still a PS3.

Coke Robot said:

The ipad mini is about 350 dollars for a 16 gig base model, which is well more than the competition in that arena. And, it is 170 dollars less than a Surface RT, I'd go with the Surface RT.

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It's actually $329. Of course it costs more than the competition, it's an Apple product...nobody would have expected less. But with that extra cost does come great support, and if you have an Apple store nearby, it's easy to get it fixed, replaced, etc all same day.

No doubt you would go with an RT tablet. Others would rather have the status symbol which is the iPad. Others may already have significant investments in the Apple store which they would like to use on their new device without having to buy new apps from the MS store. Finally, some may want a smaller screen and easier portability of the iPad mini, versus the surface RT.

Coke Robot said:

The ipad 4 just goes to show why I will NEVER buy apple, RIDICULOUS product obsolesce! The ipad 2 with retina display came out about six months ago, it is now outdated.

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Technology always improves. Just because a device isn't the latest model, doesn't render it obsolete. My wife had an iPhone 3GS until just a few weeks ago and it worked just fine, still made phone calls, still ran apps, and still worked. It did everything it always could and updates and support was still ongoing for the device.

Coke Robot said:

It seems than an apple post steve jobs thinks that innovation is making existing products thinner than before.

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It's because lots of people go for this. A friend of mine was harrassing me over the purchase of my Samsung Galaxy S3 over his iPhone5. He maintains that my Samsung GS3 is much heavier and harder to carry around than his iPhone 5. It is heavier, by 0.7 ounces, and it's bigger (about 10% physically, and 25% Bigger screen). I said if he couldn't fit my phone in his pocket than his jeans were too tight.

Coke Robot said:

What I fear a bit is that people will buy into this just because it's apple.

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Of course they will. Marketing says Apple is awesome, people believe it. People intrinsically believe that Apples are immune to all viruses and malware. People believe that they never crash. People believe they never break.

Now to be fair, if they have a product under warranty and an Apple store, it's awesome to get the product fixed. Now, my more practical Asus Transformer tablet is having an issue and I have to send it to Texas, at my expense, wait a week or two for the device to come back to get my screen fixed. An Apple iPad user with a similar product would walk out of the store on the same day with a new device. Obviously you pay for that level of support, but you get that level of support.

Product marketing has a huge impact on success and failure. In the audio world, look at brands like Bose and Monster. They sell at high price, are in high demand (albeit by people who don't really know much), and are more of a status symbol than they are a high fidelity great sounding product. And look at people's mentality "well, I just bought a $1,500 TV, why not spend the $80 on the HDMI cable to ensure I get the best picture?")

The latest ipad six months ago was basically the ipad two with a retina display, but the thing is, apple has a solid yearly release cycle. This is unusual for them. This ipad seems slightly warranted as to put the connector standard across their iDevices, but still, weak. I don't get the ipad mini, it's just what? Steve jobs would had NEVER allowed that to happen. A seven inch screen at 330 dollars? It's just, to me not worth it. 10 inches at 500 dollars and more storage, more cost effective. I read a bit ago about some consumer reaction to it, and one was saying that he would like it as it wouldn't look like you're taking a picture with a telly. My question is, WHY are you using it to take a picture? Isn't there a smartphone, or better yet a camera available?

See, it's silly that people say that. I find it absurd, is a GSIII will weighing you down so much and pulling your pants off? It's a tad negligible. I take bigger screen, a screen that can be used with gloves, and something that feels solid. I would imagine as the iphone is so light, you might be more prone to dropping it. That might be just me. Also, today I tested the camera of it with a display model at best buy, there is something seriously physically wrong with it. My friend has a 4s, and I was taking a picture of the ceiling lights with the two, the purple haze issue is VERY exaggerated. I know that cameras do that, I've taken a few pictures with my Lumia 900 that had a slight purple haze when the sunlight is hitting the lens in such away, but NOT even close to the iphone 5. apple says it's normal, I know that but that isn't supposed to do that.

I don't disagree that if you buy their apple care service, it's fantastic. But that to me seems like the only benefit with apple, it's too steep a price to non-verbally say to the world, "I'm so trendy that I pay and do whatever to be like EVERYONE else."