Should I get an Ipad?

Used my sisters Ipad for a day and its a nice bit of kit the only thing for me is the screen resolution isn't high enough, things look pretty poor on it until you blow them up bigger.
 
satchef1 said:
Two points here, the first being that just because Flash is available it doesn't mean anyone has to install it, thus it existing for the iPad isn't really a bad thing. Secondly, you can set Flash to only enable Flash elements on demand. That means every Flash element on the page is disabled until you tap it (to instruct Flash to render that object). No annoying adverts, you only get the video/game/whatever that you wanted.

It should also be noted that if HTML5 does replace Flash it'll mean HTML5 ads replace Flash ads. I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Lower resources? Maybe. However it won't be so easy to turn them off. You can choose not to install Flash. You can choose to toggle Flash. The only weapon against HTML5 is going to be 3rd-party browser plug-ins, and they ain't gonna happen on iOS without a Jailbreak.

I'd be interested to see someone replicate this test;

http://vimeo.com/10553088

It's from a while back and it was done by an Adobe employee so it's maybe not 100% legit but it'd be cool if some people packing Froyo (or iPads running Frash) could test it out.
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Once browsers get hardware acceleration (IE9, Firefox soon and the others will follow shortly after I'm sure) the FPS will be better than Flash I'm sure.

On your point about Flash not being installed on all devices. Apple wouldn't want to do that because then its not a reliable technology you can support or target for your web app or website. And your second point about clicking Flash elements to activate them, that goes against everything Apple has done with the iPhone, trying to make it simple as possible to use. They don't want the average user confused, wondering why there's boxes named 'Flash' they need to click to activate or that the reason they have to do that is because of battery life, that just looks bad on Apple. KISS.
 
joey1211 said:
A voice of reason...
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indeed.

satchef1 said:
I'd be interested to see someone replicate this test;
http://vimeo.com/10553088
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No probs, don't know what it proves though :)

Android 2.2 (Desire)

html = 5fps
Canvas = 12fps
SVG = (no plugin)
Flash = 26fps


Concorde Rules said:
I've had an iPhone for 2.5 years now and not once have I gone 'FFS Apple, give me flash'.
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That was my view until the 2.2 update, as satchef1 said there's just no real reason why Apple couldn't make it an option...
________
Honda s90
 
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Lets just put all this into perspective.

We are on the forth generation iPhone now. The original iPhone was released on June 29 2007. We have had 3yrs now of the iDevice and its matured further introducing the iPad this year.

Thats just over 3yrs.

Apple, Mozilla, and Opera have all been working on HTML5 since 2006, even earlier.

In those 3 years since the first iPhone, how many sites have changed from Flash to HTML5?

I agree it is the future but presently, Flash rules and dominates internet content. Yes it is old technology but that is irrelevant until all major sites adopt HTML5.

I am not an Apple hater but I would prefer it if they let me, the consumer, choose whether I want it or not.

There is nothing wrong with Flash! It still is the standard.
The only real reason Mr Job's will not allow Flash on his iDevice's is not because its "evil", but rather his iDevice's are under equipped to cope with it. They shoddy excuse that it drains the battery was lame. You don't need to do much for the battery on iDevice's to drain to be honest.

But look on the bright side, By the time sites like the BBC and YouTube replace Flash with HTML5, I'll probably be using the iPad 6 :)
 
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Plenty of major sites have switched to HTML5 and if HTML5 wasn't taking over, content shouldn't be locked inside Flash files for accessibility reasons and to make the content easy to index and search. Sure offer Flash, but make sure the content is accessible to people who choose not to use it or can't use it for any reason.

As said in the thread already, if you really want Flash you can always jailbreak it.
 
mr.sly said:
Plenty of major sites have switched to HTML5 and if HTML5 wasn't taking over, content shouldn't be locked inside Flash files for accessibility reasons and to make the content easy to index and search. Sure offer Flash, but make sure the content is accessible to people who choose not to use it or can't use it for any reason.

As said in the thread already, if you really want Flash you can always jailbreak it.
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Which major sites have gone from Flash to HTML5?

This isn't about me j/b my iPad to get Flash working. This is about flash not being on iDevice's.

EDIT: Flash cant be dead if Google and Adobe are partnering and the rumours suggest it will be part of the so called Google OS.
 
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photoshop said:
Which major sites have gone from Flash to HTML5?

This isn't about me j/b my iPad to get Flash working. This is about flash not being on iDevice's.

EDIT: Flash cant be dead if Google and Adobe are partnering and the rumours suggest it will be part of the so called Google OS.
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Youtube, Vimeo, CNN, Reuters, New York Times, Flickr, TED... the list goes on and more and more will make the move. Even if they carry on using Flash they're stupid if they don't offer an alternative.
 
photoshop said:
The only real reason Mr Job's will not allow Flash on his iDevice's is not because its "evil", but rather his iDevice's are under equipped to cope with it. They shoddy excuse that it drains the battery was lame. You don't need to do much for the battery on iDevice's to drain to be honest.
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Under-equipped? The iP4 is as powerful hardware-wise as just about any Android phone, and outlasts just about all of them in battery life tests.

If you'd said that Steve doesn't want Flash because it limits his ability to sell apps, I'd have agreed. That's the first reason - the second is that Apple is obsessive about making the user experience on iDevices simple and consistent. Flash isn't designed for touchscreen hardware, which prevents Steve from being able to do that.

Which of the two reasons you think is more important largely comes down to your view of Apple. But one thing which is certainly not a factor is the hardware.

photoshop said:
Majority of YouTube is Flash
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iDevices can play YouTube videos without using Flash.
 
The whole reason Apple has not allowed Flash is because it's their top trump.

At the moment Apple are selling iPads and iPhones at such a rate that it's creating pressure on sites that are flash-only to offer an "Apple-friendly" version, or risk missing out on the extra web traffic.

If they allowed iPhones and iPads to run Flash with an update that pressure is gone and the sites won't bother with the effort of changing. Personally, I couldn't care about Flash.
 
So, in a nutshell, what is the argument for HTML5? Because all I see is a platform that is trying to be Flash, but right now isn't succeeding. It's got few advantages; it's supported in iOS, doesn't require a plug-in and it's Open Source. However, the arguments against are numerous: it's an immature platform that is years away from completion and years behind Flash, it's widely unsupported, there's no standard video codec and it performs worse (on Windows, Android and Maemo). Even after all that, the biggest obstacle for HTML5 is good development tools (or the lack thereof).

Right now I really can't understand why people are waving the HTML5 flag? I'll happily applaud it if/when it eventually catches up with Flash, but until then I'd rather just stick with the format that works. Jumping ship to an unfinished and (currently) inferior platform seems stupid. Flash is moving forward quickly, compare the current build of 10.1 to Flash a year ago and it's now far more stable and working on far less powerful hardware. By the time HTML5 matures who knows how things will stand? We might find it's not needed and that it's completely failed to deliver on it's promises.

And please, no silly advert arguments. HTML5 ads will be just as annoying (and potentially as resource-hungry) as Flash ads.
 
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So my little thread still lives in a html 5 vs flash capacity :)

I thought I would drop in and give a little update now I have had the device a few days.

Out of the box it wouldn't sync with Itunes, possibly because of the Mrs Iphone but anyway after messing about for a while and after a few restores (4) I got it working. Now all the apps we have bought for the iphone pretty much don't work too well on the Ipad so we have purchased a few classics including:

Sketchbook pro
Quick office hd
tetris
scrabble
pvz (again)
worms hd
fieldrunners
Civ rev HD
boggle
master of alchamy

So far so good, the battery life is incredible all things considered, in fact it puts my palm pre to shame. I decided that I would like more fine control over some of the settings so I have also used a jailbreak and am using:

SBSettings and the 5 icon doc.

As for the flash argument... as of yet I haven't run into any issues. I have been browsing the web on it without trouble for a good few days and so far so good. I have however run into some issues which appear to be related to the jailbreak and bluetooth functionality but it's not a show stopper by any means. So... am I happy with the purchase?

Well as others have said, as a consumption device for kicking back on the sofa, playing the occasional game, browsing the web etc. The ipad deliveres and people love it! At the moment it lives on the coffee table and everybody that has visited since the purchase has been hooked by it, including myself!

In a nutshell the people have spoken and they give ipad a thumbs up!
 
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