ICan vs. iPad

[Falgrim]

Hey nerds, I wanted to tap your collective knowledge base to see if folks had any experience with the ICan and iPad tablets. I am thinking of buying one or the other of them, but I wanted advice as to the advantages and disadvantages of both. Anyone know of any well thought out reviews I should be reading? Anyone have any raves or rants on either?

Here are the models I am thinking of:
iPad
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPad-MB292L ... 077&sr=8-1

ICan
http://www.amazon.com/ICAN-10-Tablet-PC ... 130&sr=1-1

I intend to use them for:
Reading on the go (books, PDFs, internet news)
Music storage and replay over headphones
Basic word processing that I can transfer to a PC (for example game ideas I have on the train, or assignment stuff)
Checking the nerdboards and my word documents while doing my game.
Possibly for taking notes in class, rather than killing a tree every semester for class.

[boredoom]

I haven't seen the ICan, but I'm very skeptical of the iPad alternatives so far. Android has not been well adapted for the tablet - even Google thinks so - so I think it will take another year or so for the competition to catch up. Remember, it's taken years for phone manufacturers to get close to matching the iPhone, and they're not quite there yet.

Also, the iPad is very competitively priced and a great value - Apple is adding less of a margin than it usually does, at least at $499.

[littleidiot]

Reading on the go (books, PDFs, internet news) - ibooks (free), safari
Music storage and replay over headphones - itunes
Basic word processing that I can transfer to a PC (for example game ideas I have on the train, or assignment stuff) - pages ($9.99)
Checking the nerdboards and my word documents while doing my game. pages / safari
Possibly for taking notes in class, rather than killing a tree every semester for class. pages

Can't say much about the iCan but the iPad will do what you want.

If pages is anything like the Mac equivalent then it's very good value.

[chrisg]

I have found typing more than 2-3 lines on the iPad to be an exercise in frustration, so I would never rely on it for anything more than quick emails and notes.

[dorje]

I have found typing more than 2-3 lines on the iPad to be an exercise in frustration, so I would never rely on it for anything more than quick emails and notes.

Dragon Dictate, which is free, is amazing on this thing. And I used the built in mic, not the mic on the iphone headphones.

That said, I've blogged a few times with it. The autocorrect can be a pain, especially if you are blogging about D&D. So I got my wife a new, wired keyboard for her imac and took the bluetooth keyboard that came with it and will pair them. Both fit nicely in my bag.

iPad is very good at consuming media, and one of the criticisms of it fris that it was meant to get people to consume more, not create. I've used penultimate (moleskine simulator) and omnigraffle to sketch and wireframe web pages, Pages to write a letter to school, blogged with the wordpress app and am just trying out the sketching programs. 8 of my last ten posts on nerdnyc were through safari on iPad.

So it's a matter of app maturity I think, which is what will give iPad an edge. The money is clearly with iPad development and although it's anecdotal, two of the recent investors I've spoken with want to do iPad apps more than websites. So it will only get better.

Now that being said, it is EXCELLENT at what it does best--get you to but apps and content.

I remember when Apple didn't WANT to allow third party apps on the iPhone...

[stormsweeper]

Apple is also an actual real company, unlike whatever fly by night outfit is behind the ican.

[boredoom]

On the hardware side, there are two important features of the IPad's screen that aren't often recognized, and which competitors have a hard time matching. One is in-plane LCD switching, which gives the screen excellent readability from all angles. The Galaxy Tab doesn't have this, and suffers when turned to vertical orientation. The other is optical bonding of the screen layers. The Galaxy Tab has this, but some cheaper alternatives don't. The penalty is a "shimmering" screen that is uncomfortable to read on, and generally unattractive.

[Falgrim]

Thanks nerds. Some very insightful posts. I think I'm definitely being sold on the iPad. Though, I would love to hear about more experiences if people have them. Any must have apps? Any I should not bother with? Anyone doing anything funky and cool on their iPad?

[boredoom]

This guy is ripping up books and feeding them through a high-speed scanner to put them on the iPad!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_ ... _paperless

[Falgrim]

This guy is ripping up books and feeding them through a high-speed scanner to put them on the iPad!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_ ... _paperless

I almost wept when I read how he cut up a nearly 100 year old book. I understand what he is going for, but I'm not so sure he's thinking long term on this one. There has to be a better way of scanning the pages without destroying the book in the process.