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New Apple iPad – some quick thoughts

As usual great keynote preso from steve jobs. I have to say i have mixed feelings about this new device from apple. I still can’t decide my overall opinion, but here  are few thoughts

  • Pricing seems decent, starting at $499 for wifi and $629 for wifi+3g models. This is definitely nice, not having to shell out another 1000$ as reported.
  • No camera! Lot of rumors about front facing vs back facing camera, possible login with face recognition etc. Sadly, there is no cam!
  • Nice dock with keyboard and charger! Looks beautiful, and much better than the soft keyboard. I wonder if has a soft keyboard as well.
  • Price is competitive to netbooks.
  • Looks like a big ipod Touch! If I buy an app on iphone/ipod, can i have it on the ipad too? or do i have to buy it again?
  • Even just being a color kindle is not bad.  Kindle has an iphone app and all iphone apps are supposed to be 100% compatible with iPad, so why buy a kindle? Can we order kindle books without a kindle?
  • I already have a kindle, but i wouldn’t buy a kindle anymore over an ipad, if i were looking at a ebook reader.
  • Borders seems to be the biggest loser here.
  • If I were in the market for a netbook, iPad would be near the top of the list as well.
  • Battery life seems to be a potential issue.

Overall, neat device, but nothing revolutionary. The key thing is that apple got their foot in two segments that are growing very fast – netbooks, ebooks. Let’s hope the next revisions of these devices are even that much better

Google Phone

Finally, the google phone – Nexus One – is available for purchase. I had a look at the phone few weeks earlier at a friend’s house and was quite impressed. As mentioned in all the reviews, great form factor, amazing voice recognition, beautiful screen! A full set of  nexus one demo videos available on techcrunch/youtube.

Everything seemed impressive and i was ready to pullout my credit card to order this phone at a hefty price tag of $530 but i noticed this fine print. It says,

The currently available Nexus One device is unlocked and will recognize SIM cards from any mobile service provider using the GSM standard, but is incompatible with the frequency band used by the AT&T and Rogers networks for 3G data (see below). Additionally, the Nexus One is incompatible with CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint.

What? Vat Vat? Come Again?

It will work with AT&T but no data — not useful

It wont work with Verizon, till they come out with a CDMA phone which then won’t work with any GSM network.

It wont work with Sprint, till they come out with a CDMA phone which then won’t work with any GSM network.

So that leaves it working with T-Mobile. So there is no point in buying this phone without T-Mobile service in USA.

So much for unlocked and open!