iPad

[Misfit]

I second that. Moonlight Mahjong is beautifully done with a ridiculous number of board layouts and lovely camera controls.

Sold!

[VNVObit]

Interesting idea for a case

[Snip]

Yes, looks cool. But isn't it then just a netbook? I don't really want my ipad any bigger and for my use case I haven't found myself missing a keyboard yet...

Looks are great but functionality is more important to me and this shoves it in the direction of a netbook which an ipad clearly isn't

if I want a keyboard I have a bluetooth mini one so there's no killer feature for me.

[WiteWulf]

Well hello external HDD!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/06/ipad ... l-hdd-sup/

[Ratsoap]

What's the score with Jailbreaking? Is it like the old Xbox, where once done you are limited to unofficial stuff only, or can you still download apps and all that?

[Misfit]

What's the score with Jailbreaking? Is it like the old Xbox, where once done you are limited to unofficial stuff only, or can you still download apps and all that?

Download a bit of software, push a button, wait 2 minutes.

Job done.

Everything works perfectly as normal, plus you get access to all the jailbreak apps.

[Cloudane]

I can literally think of no reason NOT to jailbreak. It was different with the traditional iPhone ones where you had all the faff of patching and restoring every time (takes up half a day) but with Spirit just being a case of "press a button and wait 2 minutes" it's an infinitely more attractive idea than it was.

And better than waiting for Apple's slow arses to release 4.0 etc.

[Misfit]

I can literally think of no reason NOT to jailbreak. It was different with the traditional iPhone ones where you had all the faff of patching and restoring every time (takes up half a day) but with Spirit just being a case of "press a button and wait 2 minutes" it's an infinitely more attractive idea than it was.

And better than waiting for Apple's slow arses to release 4.0 etc.

Yeah just to have multitasking and quicker access to the brightness control made my whole experience better...

[WiteWulf]

UK pricing announced, allegedly:

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing ... ced-687980

Apple's suggested retail prices are as follows:
£429 (inc. VAT) for 16GB Wi-Fi iPad
£499 (inc. VAT) for 32GB Wi-Fi iPad
£599 (inc. VAT) for 64GB Wi-Fi iPad
£529 (inc. VAT) for 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad
£599 (inc. VAT) for 32GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad
£699 (inc. VAT) for 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad

iPad will be sold through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers. The iBooks app for iPad including Apple's iBookstore will be available as a free download from the App Store on 28 May.
Apple plans to release the iPad in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore in July.

[VNVObit]

I see pcpro have run "rip off britan" on the pricing. Thought the wi-fi ones were reasonable equivalents but the 3g ones on contract seemed over the odds, especially as there's no discount on the hardware (at least not yet)

[Cloudane]

Everyone seems to forget that prices in the US are exclusive of sales tax. By the time you add 17.5% plus a small amount extra for the extra expense of dealing with the UK in general (shipping, legislation, higher operating costs for the stores etc) it's not that unreasonable.

Of course our VAT is ridiculous at 17.5% compared to the 5-10% they add on (separately) in the US but that's hardly anything new and we have to pay for things like an NHS.

The networks are once again also getting the flak for Apple's restrictions. They're insisting that they remain unlocked, so there's no incentive for the networks to subsidise it.

[VNVObit]

Everyone seems to forget that prices in the US are exclusive of sales tax. By the time you add 17.5% plus a small amount extra for the extra expense of dealing with the UK in general (shipping, legislation, higher operating costs for the stores etc) it's not that unreasonable.

Of course our VAT is ridiculous at 17.5% compared to the 5-10% they add on (separately) in the US but that's hardly anything new and we have to pay for things like an NHS.

The networks are once again also getting the flak for Apple's restrictions. They're insisting that they remain unlocked, so there's no incentive for the networks to subsidise it.

There is a reasonable argument for subsidising those with contracts as it costs money for networks to attract new customers
No reason for PAYG though

As for tax comparisons it's really difficult to compare a tax in isolation of the overall tax structure and the associated services (e.g. Ireland has VAT of 21% but no council tax or water rates)
Swings and roundabouts in terms of overall tax take though

[Ollie]

They may be anticipating the rise in VAT that probably won't be long in coming if the Tories get into power.

[Deckard]

Well I was convinced I was getting a 3g 32 gig one but if I'm looking at 15 quid a month 3g bill (orange's tariff For 3 gig a month - hopefully o2 might offer a better deal) then I might just get the 32 gig wifi one and just run with my jb iPhone as a modem

[benedictw]

If there's no subsidy for a 3g ipad then I'll be passing on that. What they could do would be to tie a mifi to a network and sell the wifi one with a subsidy. I expect the other networks to show their hands in the next couple of days.

[PVB]

I expect the other networks to show their hands in the next couple of days.

My guess is they'll all be about the same charges.