Both come from the seemingly similar training camp of "a computer for people who don't want a computer." Both come with gesture support, weigh in at a little over a pound, and are backed by one of the largest computer companies on the planet. The question is - which shall you choose? (If you're unsure, check out the videos and pictures after the jump to help ground your decision-making.)
Here's what we know so far...
The iPad:
- Single-touch screen
- Gesture support
- Half an inch thick
- 9.5 x 7.5 inches in size
- Weighs in at 1.5 pounds
- 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS
- HD resolution (720p)
- Apple's entire App store
- Apple eBook store
- On-screen keyboard
- Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
- Starts at $499
Now, Microsoft's turn...
The Courier:
- Dual-screens
- Marketed as digital journal
- Less than an inch think
- A little bit larger than a 5x7 photo when closed
- Weighs a bit over a pound
- Gesture support and Pen support
- eBook store
- NVIDIA Tegra 2 graphics processor (same found on Zune)
- Webcam (Rumored?)
- Pricing not yet announced
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Comments (9)
Seriously? iPad preorders started yesterday and hits stores in a month. We know what it ships with and for how much. The Courier doesn't exist yet and is only in prototype form. Not exactly apples to apples.
A couple corrections -
-The aspect ration on the iPad is not widescreen (it's roughly 4:3, equivalent to the old TV standard).
-The Zune uses the first Tegra processor - I'm not sure of any devices that use Tegra 2 yet.
If the courier delivers on the concepts, I'm sold. It will work perfectly for all the design work I slog through.
It's all about the software for me. Hard to imagine that the courier could ever compete with the apple store.
How is this even a question? If the Courier ever becomes realityl then it wins hands down. It actually DOES stuff (in concept), unlike the ipad which is a glorified large iphone. And this is coming from an Apple fanboy.
Now the second gen ipad may be a different story. smaller bezel, video chat, background apps, multi task, widgets, more of an slimmed down OSX rather than iphone OS... then i'd be sold.
But I mean, c'mon. Look at any of the courier concept videos and tell me that it's not better than the ipad in every way (except having a single large display and an apple logo).
I like the idea of the Courier with the pen. Gimme gimme!
Courier for sure. Hopefully it doesn't disappear as vaporware.
The big difference between the iPad and the Courier is that the iPad is a content consuming device while the Courier is a content creation device.
The Courier looks a little small right now, maybe they will have a few sizes . . . hopefully? Seriously though, the "pocket" is genius.
The bezels on these devices are too big, which is a big drawback of both of them. That said, the big bezel on the rendered Courier makes me think that there is a working prototype somewhere.
Having been burned on OS upgrades in the past, I'll wait and see if Microsoft offers them for the Courier before I even consider one.
Again - the comparison is moot - an actually product (iPad) vs. a concept (Courier). Microsoft has a long history of doing incredible concept products and videos but always seem to either water them down distastefully when the product is actually launched - or it simply never comes out.
Unplggd - I dont mean to be rude here - but honestly, this is a terrible comparison.
The iPad, easily. The Courier's split screen would be absurd for watching videos or viewing the web, and is not ideally formatted even for reading. For content creation, the early word is that the iWork suite for the iPad delivers in a big way. I don't mean to be dismissive of the Courier -- if the shipping product closely resembles the concept, it will be tremendously useful for journaling, and Microsoft seems to be using that concept in a thoughtful, expansive way. But I think the iPad ultimately will be a better choice for most uses.