Apple iPad vs Amazon Kindle DX

Like everyone else, I tuned in to see the amazing iPad announcement.  Only problem was that it really wasn’t that amazing to me.  I was really expecting more.  I expected a price range from $800 to $1000, but it came at $500 to $830, which isn’t bad really. But the specs themselves were (are) simply not that impressive.  The knee-jerk reactions have been about iPad being a “Kindle killer”.  But it’s not.  They don’t play in the same space, nor are they in the same price range.  However, the Kindle DX *IS* in the same price range, so this is more of an “Apples-to-Apples” comparison I think.   These are the specs I’ve gathered myself from the respective vendor web sites and from tech-review sites (where information was missing from the vendor site).

Items in green are what I consider to be the “winner” between the two products.  So, you do the comparison math and see which one wins out in the end.

Feature	Apple iPad	Amazon Kindle DX
Price	$499.00	$489.00
Overall Dimensions	9.56 x 7.47 x 0.5 inches	10.4 x 7.2 x 0.38 inches
Weight	1.5 lbs	1.2 lbs
Processor	Apple A4 1GHz	Freescale ARM11, 532 MHz
Wireless (Wi-Fi)	802.11n	N/A
Cell Processor	?	Qualcomm
Cellular 3G, Domestic (US)	Yes	Yes
Cellular 3G, Global	Optional	Yes
Cellular Modes	HSDPA, GSM/EDGE	HSDPA, GSM/EDGE, GPRS
Wireless Service Bundled in Price	No	Yes
Screen Size	9.7 inch diagonal	9.7 inch diagonal
Screen Type	1024 x 768, 720p Color	600 x 800 p, 16-lvl gray
USB 2.0 port	Yes	Yes
Screen Illumination [2]	LED Backlit	Passive
Cover/Case Included	No	No
Auto-Rotation Display	Yes	Yes
Accelerometer	Yes	No
Touch Screen UI	Yes	No
Web Browser	Safari	Proprietary
Storage (built-in)	16 GB	4 GB
Storage Max (internal)	64 GB	4 GB
Applications	App Store (iPhone apps)	Coming Soon
Supports Flash content	No	No
Supports H.264 content	Yes	No
Matte Display for Reading	Yes	Yes
Battery Life (Wi-Fi active) [1]	10 hrs	1 week
Battery Replacement	Sealed, Factory	Sealed, Factory
Book Store	Apple	Amazon
Book Format	ePub	Amazon
PDF Support	Yes	Yes
Magazine Subscriptions	Yes	Yes
Newspaper Subscriptions	Yes	Yes
Podcast Subscriptions	Yes	Yes
Blog Subscriptions	Yes	Yes
Geographic Maps	Yes	No
Calendar	Yes	No
Plays Games	Yes	No
Music Library [3]	iTunes	MP3
Movie Library	iTunes	N/A
Photo Library	iTunes	(monochrome)
Dictionary Search	App Store (iPhone apps)	Built-In
Text-to-Speech ("Read to Me")	No	Yes
Bluetooth 2.1	Yes	No
Requires Computer Synch	Yes	No
GPS Features	Yes	No
Ambient Light Sensor	Yes	No
Audio Formats	MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC	MP3
Keyboard Input	Touch Screen	Mechanical
Navigation Input	Touch Screen	Mechanical
Devloper SDK Available	Yes	Yes

[Notes]

1. Battery life claimed by vendor under slightly different usage.

2. Depends on personal view.  If used in the dark, backlit is better.  If used outdoors, passive is better.

3. Depends on whether you value MP3 library content more than iTunes purchased content.

AppleTV vs An “old” Windows PC

By “old” I mean a Dell GX-260 or GX-280 Optiplex.  These are often discarded by businesses following periodic refresh cycles and can be obtained for very low cost, or in some cases: free.  They typically have a Pentium 4 CPU, 1 GB RAM, and an 80 GB disk drive.  Most also have a CD-RW / DVD-RW drive, USB ports and so on.

	AppleTV “Take 2”	An “Old” Windows PC
Video Capability	H.264	Anything
YouTube	Limited Access	All of it
Storage	Fixed, NO EXPANSION	Expand to your budget
Networking	Internal 802.11n, Ethernet port	USB or PCI wireless (802.11a/b/g/n), Ethernet port
Video Out	Component or HDMI	RGB (pc monitor), or TV-out card (which I don’t have)
Video Formats	H.264, AAC, 320x240 up to 1280 x 720 (24fps)	H.264, AVI (DivX/Xvid), MPG, MOV up to 1280 x 720
Audio Out	HDMI, RCA	Stereo Phono, USB or PCI card
Data Ports	USB 2.0 (useless)	USB 2.0, Serial, Parallel
Photo Cache	Requires Synch First	Pull from Anywhere
Photo Libraries	Flickr	Flickr, Picasa, etc.
Photo Formats	JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG	Almost Anything
Audio Formats	AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF	Almost Anything
Parental Control	Some, Password Based	NTFS, Group Policy, User Account properties, scripts, third-party apps, Vista Parental Control
Remote Control	Single Device, One button	Wireless Mouse & Keyboard
Games	None	Any Windows or Flash-based game
Web Surfing	YouTube, Flickr (sort of)	IE, Firefox, Opera, Chrome
Beyond	Photo Screensaver	Remote Control (RDP) to other computers, FTP, Telnet
Premium Content	iTunes	iTunes, NetFlix, Amazon
Backup Capability	None	Network, USB, Secondary Drive, CD/DVD RW, etc.
Podcasts	iTunes	iTunes, Web
Gadgets	None	Desktop Gadgets (weather, stocks, news, status, etc.)
Power Consumption	48 watts	180 watts
Heat Dissipation	egg-frying or coffee heater	500 btu/hour

A few minutes playing with Google Earth on a big screen is enough to convince anyone there’s really no comparison.  I haven’t had time to analyze relative system uptime.  I do know this:  AppleTV normally runs hot enough to cook eggs on top of.  It also can lock-up at times and require unplugging until it cools off.

There are trade-offs of course.  The Apple TV has better support for HDMI output built-in.  The menu interface is more purpose-driven by design as well.  But the PC approach provides far greater flexibility in terms of capability to do more than just be a media viewing device.  The Apple TV is much more compact than a typical PC as well.  That makes it easier to "fit" into a living room environment.  However, I placed my PC behind the TV, which is on a stand, rather than wall-mounted, so the PC is hidden from view entirely.

I’ve been asked if Windows Media Center is a better logical alternative, but I find that having the PC-like capabilities with a wireless mouse and keyboard to be more “open” and I can instantly switch from watching or listening to something - to “doing” something.  After reading some Twitter comments about the forthcoming WMC in Windows 7, I may change my mind, who knows.

I'm not saying this is the ideal solution for everyone, but it works for me and my family loves it.  I would rather have seen Apple crank out a device that combined Apple TV, Mac Mini, and Time Capsule into a single box, but that doesn't appear to be anything more than rumor.  The HP Media Smart home server is really cool, as is the Via home server product line, but I think those are aimed at a different role.

What's Wrong with AppleTV?

I bought my AppleTV a little over a year ago.  Using my tax refund leftovers, I picked up a Vizio 42-inch TV on that same fateful trip to Sam's Club.  It was pretty cool at the time.  I remember thinking how nice it was to explore things on the big screen, even music and pictures, all fed over the wireless from my home server.

But over time, and even following the Take 2 update, I began to lose my interest in it.  So did the kids.  There are a lot of cool features in AppleTV, but Apple really could have made it much better with a little work.  Very little.

I'll enumerate the pitfalls:

1. You can't play anything over the network.  It has to be synchronized first.  Movies are God-awful slow to synchronize.
2. You can only rent and play movies online from iTunes.  Not a surprise.  But this is a limitation.
3. You can only play ONE video format (H.264) and only if it is encoded for the 720p format it requires.  No AVI, WMV, XVid, DivX, MOV, or Flash content either.
4. You can't surf the web on it.
5. You can't expand the storage on it.  EVER.  You have to buy a new model.
6. The external USB port is useless.  Unless you hack the firmware.
7. It overheats and locks up.  Yep.  It's pretty common to have to unplug it to cool off and then start it back up.
8. No games
9. No customization
10. YouTube services are filtered.  You do not get the full, unrestricted capabilities you get from going to the web site in a browser.
11. Only FlickR can be linked for extended photo libraries.  Forget PhotoBucket and Picasa.
12. The search heuristics are flaky as hell.  As you drill down, character-by-character, the dynamic results will surprise you at how unrelated they can be.  Google blows them away in this area.
13. I'm too tired to keep on bitchnig

The solution I've chosen was to hook a dusty old Dell desktop up via the VGA connector, running XP SP2 and a Wireless-N adapter.  Oh my God what a difference.  I'm fully aware of Media Center, but I'm not feeling the urge to go there yet.  This setup is working extremely well.  My kids absolutely love it.  When I asked about going back to AppleTV, they all yelled "No!".  I agree.  They should know.  They spent hours and hours with the AppleTV.  Learning it's every nuance and hidden features.

My current rig addresses all of the above limitations, and provides MUCH more.  I have Office applications, network management tools, games, and tons more.  I can sit on the couch and do everything with the wireless mouse and keyboard.  And, wow, Google Earth on a large screen is pretty fun.  So is Quake III.  Someday I'll get an XBox 360 to hook up like everyone else has and that'll be where I retire.

I wonder why Apple hasn't just released a combined Mac Mini + AppleTV + Time Capsule device to address this.  Apple usually thinks farther ahead on such things.  I would think most people would pay $500-$800 for something like that.  A true "media center in-a-box" solution.  And if the USB or Firewire connection would allow you to attach more storage it would be the perfect solution.  Alas, it doesnt' exist.  

I'm not looking to bash Apple here.  After all, nobody else has stepped up to the plate on this either.  You don't see anything from HP, Dell or even Microsoft.  All I've seen are promises and prototypes on Engadget and Boy Genius Report.  So I have to give Apple credit for trying.  But I really wish they would have followed up on AppleTV the way they've followed up on other products.  It had so much potential.  Now it's a bookend on my shelf.

F**k iTunes!!!

If you are a parent and you've given your kid (in my case, one or more of my kids - note the plural) a shiney new iPod, guess what?

It's Christmas Day. Do you know what that means boys and girls? It's national "iTunes Store is Down" day! Oh goody! Yes, forget trying to register your new iPod, because it just keeps spitting back "iTunes store is unavailable, please try again later"

And even more exciting is how you can't copy anything to your new iPod until you've registered it, which requires (guess what?): A credit card!

That makes perfect sense doesn't it? You give an iPod to an 8 year old (if you think that's too young for a PMP like an iPod, you're way out of touch with reality), and they can't use it until someone enters a credit card. That's assinine! I have a complete library of MY OWN content which cannot be used until I enter a credit card number. Why even include a feature for ripping your CD collections into iTunes if you can't do anything with them (on your iPod) until you hand your credit card number over to Apple?