I would say I’m a pretty big fan of Apple products. But, if it holds up in person, I would, at least in theory, much rather have this USD $599 ExoPC than an iPad. I mean, it has:
- Windows 7, which I’ve been pretty impressed with on a recent netbook purchase. So I like the operating system.
- A beautiful touch interface that you can use on top of Windows 7, with apps that are probably very simple to make (since it’s just regular Windows)
- It’s snappy
- HDMI out means that I can take my own 1080p HD content to friends houses and play stuff on their TVs, without having to buy a Blu Ray burner
- USB ports plus Windows means it’ll work with keyboards, printers, microphones, iPods, etc.
- An SD card slot so I can quickly import my photos and videos easily, and on set/photo shoots
- Independence from syncing with a desktop since it IS Windows
- Front-facing camera means I can still use Skype video, which I do nearly every day.
- Runs Flash! And it does it pretty smoothly— as much as I don’t love Flash, a lot of sites that I enjoy rely heavily on it. And WIndows 7 means that the latest version of Chrome will always be available with the best version of HTML5, so it’s short-term future-proof at the very least.
Please, please let these be available in Canada!
UPDATE: David Laplante on Twitter tells me that the ExoPC is deveoped in Quebec— so high hopes for a Canadian release!
I just saw this in the update notes for the iPod/iPhone’s premier (and honestly best) e-reader, Stanza.
I know that the closed nature of Apple is nothing new, but (and especially, since Stanza is owned by Amazon, the biggest iBookstore competitor) this seems crazily anti-competitive on Apple’s part.
What happens when the small devs who make their living off of iPhone suddenly have no livelyhood just because Apple decided to ban them and release a competitor?
NOT cool, Apple. Not cool.
