On Apr 15, 2011, at 5:45 PM, Michael_google gmail_Gersten wrote:
> I'm trying to understand the difference between the iPod touch and the
> iPad 2, and what they can and cannot do.
>
> Please tell me where any of this is in error:
>
> First, what I understand: The iPod touch is basically a pocket-sized
> device (for a good sized pocket), the iPad 2 is basically a tablet.
> The iPod has a 326 DPI screen, so it is "printer" resolution -- what
> you see will be (outside of gamut considerations) what will print. It
> has a wide/tall display, so it can mimic a full sheet of paper, and
> then zoom in, or watch a wide TV show/Movie. However, the screen is
> 640 in the small direction, so the "normal" 4:3 resolution is about
> 213*(4:3) or about 852 by 640 -- an odd size that might confuse some
> web sites. Sites that talk "pixels" in CSS are "re-interpreted" by
> Safari to be something reasonable.
>
> The iPad 2 has a 1024x768 resolution ("normal" size), but a DPI of
> about 150 -- higher than normal, but only about 1/4th the resolution
> of a printer. "Inches" won't match.
>
> Both have multi-touch screens. iPad 2's has some "fingerprint
> resistance", as well as a smart cover to protect it. Both have front
> and back cameras. Both can zoom/magnify. Both have up/down, tilt, and
> acceleration sensors. Neither does GPS by itself (only in the
> "telephone" versions, and then only if you're paying for a data plan).
> Both have a "Where am I/Recover my lost device" internet-based
> location system. While the iPod touch's screen may be small, it's
> actually a decent size for my "reading chunk" -- a text document (as
> opposed to a PDF of a printed page) is perfectly fine on it, as would
> be a web page with no CSS'd forced margins or browser chrome.
>
> The iPod touch has a single core A4 processor; the iPad 2 has a dual
> core A5. Or, iPod is a little weaker than a G4, while the iPad is a
> little better than a dual G4. (NB: This is probably my biggest mistake
> -- I still have not seen an good comparison of the A4/A5 to any other
> chip).
>
> Both run Safari. Neither runs Firefox. Other browsers unknown. Neither
> runs Flash. I don't know if either runs Java. Since neither runs
> Flash, neither will support Netflix online nor Hulu -- so while they
> should be good portable TV's/Movie players, they are only really good
> for streaming shows that Apple sells through the iTunes store. (Yes,
> some free stuff is there, but not much :-). NB: This is probably the
> biggest reason I can think of for going for a Droid-based tablet, but
> I can't find a droid-based non-phone tablet :-). There is YouTube
> support.
>
> Both are "locked" by Apple. I can get a developer key so that I can
> run my own stuff on it, and in particular I can write a "terminal"
> program (or get one off the web) so I can use it as a small but
> reasonable portable computer. The OS (as of version 4) does permit
> multitasking graphic apps, but only those written for multitasking
> (not the older ones).
>
> Despite the "obvious" match of form and function, neither comes with
> any sort of drawing stylus nor any "sketch" or drawing software.
> Neither is really designed to save or even edit user documents --
> bookmarks are fine, and "read it later" is great for reading stuff,
> but generally no actual user documents exist on either machine. There
> is nothing to save with "Time Machine". iTunes knows how to get user
> settings, preferences, bookmarks, etc, off, and anything you've
> downloaded to one can be moved to another, but that's the entirety of
> "backup" with these machines. "Photos" and "Movies" taken from the
> camera is all the "user documents" these machines understand (and
> iTunes is the only official support for copying those).
>
> Both are intended as reader/viewer devices (books/movies/web), and
> game playing devices. Not as actual "do something" devices.
>
> As the one big exception, Apple sells (granted, $5 is nominal) a video
> editing program, so you can edit the movies you take into a new movie.
>
> Now, how accurate is this? Are these actually usable as functional
> editing devices? Does the iPad have something like TextEdit? (iPod
> touch would be too small, even if it did). Is there anything like a
> graphics editor / sketch program available (3rd party)? Can they be
> "mounted" like a hard drive if plugged into the USB port of a normal
> macintosh? How easy is it to move files back and forth? Is "iTunes"
> the only thing that can talk to them? Someone mentioned that there was
> a "voice to text" app from Dragon for these, based on sending your
> voice recording to an internet server, and getting text back -- how
> compatible is it with other apps? Does Google Docs work on either? (I
> think so -- I thought it was "pure javascript" -- but I want to make
> sure.). Does it work with that voice to text?
>
> I know that the iPad 2 has an "On-screen keyboard", and it matches the
> layout of normal keyboards -- in particular, the left hand keys slant
> the wrong way (V, F, and R are struck by the same finger, but the
> slant goes up and to the left while the finger wants to go up and to
> the right). Is there a 3rd party keyboard that lets the slant go in
> the proper direction? (My left wrist really hates typing). (Yes, I
> know that the iPod Touch has a keyboard for entering stuff into
> Safari. It's too small for serious text entry, but is OK for website
> addresses or short form comment entries.)
>
> Other than pictures and movies, and downloaded apps, what can I store
> in the 8/32 GB? What do I want the extra 24 GB for?
Ok simple breakdown:
iPad 2 hardware is much faster/better
better and bigger display
Neither is a computer, if you try and make it like a computer you will fail.
Both are about the apps. iPad has many apps for editing, drawing, composing,
programming, even ssh clients. You can do a lot of things on it. Omnigraffle
is on there for example.
There are hulu and netflix apps on the ipad and iphone and ipod touch. As for
files you can transfer files via itunes or through some apps. There is dropbox
and idisk and other cloud service support via apps.
Respectfully it sounds like you have no idea about the capabilities of the ipad
2 or the ipod touch. I suggest you do some research.
--Larry_______________________________________________
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