Apple is the main thing that is wrong with the iPad.
I’ve owned several iterations of iPods. I hate myself a little bit for it, but I acknowledge that I am part of the problem that has caused the resurgence of Apple. With every Apple product I’ve owned I’ve noticed the same problems. Apple is so good at some things, but misses the mark on some obvious things. The iPad brings this to the forefront more than anything has in the past.
I played with an iPad in Best Buy when it first came out. It is, without a doubt, a cool little piece of technology. It is also, despite the people who say it’s not, a giant iPod Touch. Here is the short version of my review:
That’s not really fair, because it is not a POS, it is just frustratingly limited (on purpose), and could be so much more if it wasn’t for Apple. The worst thing about the device is that it’s tied to iTunes. iTunes is a piece of shit. I don’t care what you say, it is. It’s bloatware, it makes non-mac (so pretty much all) machines run like shit. It’s a resource hog. It’s proprietary, and it is limited.
The fact that the device requires iTunes leads directly to the second problem, it doesn’t mount as a hard-drive for drag and drop of files, etc. There is no excuse for this, other than Apple wanting to maintain control (doesn’t that sound like something Microsoft would do?)
No standard usb connection (either incoming or outgoing). There is a standards committee that Apple is a part of, yet they will not abandon the shitty and over-priced (for cables) iPod connector. If you are at work (no matter where you work) it is likely that you can find a usb to micro usb connection cable. If youdon’t, you can pick one up for a buck or two. The lack of a standard usb port also means that you can’t connect cameras, external hard-drives, etc. to it. But of course you can buy the camera connection kit for an extra lot of sheckles and get some of this functionality.
Why couldn’t they have put an SD slot on it? Because that would once again sacrifice some of their control. Once again an additional purchase makes a crippled version of this functionality possible. Fuck Apple.
Lack of a camera. This is where Apple is openly being dicks to their customers. If you look at any of the disassembly breakdowns of the iPad online you will see that there is actually a notch on the inside where a camera can/will go in the future. This is just Apple purposely excluding something that will be added in V2 of the device. Once again, fuck Apple.
Apple lies (kind of). When discussing the apps that are available for the iPad, they include all iPod/iPhone apps in the count. While true that these apps do work on the iPad, they look awful when doubled to fit half the screen, and just plain look ridiculous when used at their original size. Speaking of iPad apps, it is ridiculous how expensive they are. If I was the sort of person that thought it was okay to do so, I might jailbreak my iPad (but that would be wrong, so I won’t.)
Fingerprints. This thing attracts fingerprints like Paris Hilton attracts VD. That's not really fair. It doesn't attract fingerprints that much, but after using it for a day it looks like someone sneezed on it (I had a much better example, but it was a little too low-brow even for me).
Codecs. Most video files I have will not play natively on it. Sure I can convert them, but why should I have to? It's an Apple product, so it should just work. I can dump files from my Tivo to a PC, convert them, then play them on the iPad, but it shouldn't take five steps. In an ideal world I could hook a flash drive to the usb port and watch at will, but of course that is not possible.
Lastly, Flash. The iPad is touted by Apple as bringing you the entire web. However, how much of the web is dependent on flash? Games, movies, etc. Much of it runs on flash. I know new standards are being pushed, but guess what? They aren’t here yet.
What does it do well?
A lot, actually. Pictures look incredible on it. The built-in mail functionality is good. The multi-touch zooming, etc. works incredibly well for both pictures and the web.
Apps. There are lots of apps that are really good and take advantage of the platform. I don't think you can give Apple credit for that, though. You don't credit Microsoft because Ubisoft made a cool game that runs on Windows, do you?
The web. Safari sucks, and apparently is very insecure on the iPad, but the iPad works very well for passive browsing. Passive browsing being browsing that doesn't require any kind of typing. The on-screen keyboard works much better than I expected it to, but still is a piece of shit, and on some pages Safari don't allow nested scrolling which is necessary to participate in a forum.
What's next?
The onslaught of possible Android based tablets should make the fall and early next year interesting. Apple jumped on the mp3 bandwagon and made it their own. Many people think that Apple is responsible for the mp3 player and its existence. Of course many people are mildly retarded. When the Android slates start appearing the Apple fanboys will gnash their teeth about how they are just copying the ideas of the mighty Apple and their frail demigod Job(s). It actually will be funny to watch, because for once Apple is on the front end of a trend and the devices that come out later will likely address many of the issues I've stated.
Anyone want to buy a slightly used 32GB iPad?
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