My friends dad got his family an iPad and now he's rubbing it in my face. But I honestly don't give a stuff. The iPad is an overgrown iPod Touch.
iPod, iPad and The Black Hole
So, it’s finally out. After months of unnecessary (but brilliantly done publicity) anticipation and flood of rumours, Apple has recently released its queen product – a tablet we “lovingly” call iPad. Jokes about the tablet’s hygiene issues have already flooded the web, and although fans have air-conditioned themselves to iWant the iPad, the so-called “next generation technology” is far from being awesome.
Let’s face it. Apple is a cut-throat, money sucking corporation. It’s not meant for people who use computers, but for those who swim on money. Carrying a pretty looking white trash worth two machines with better functionality is probably a fascinating financial style statement to many. Sure, the $500 base price is much lower than what many tech journalists predicted, but ultimately it’s not a replacement for netbooks (what Steve Jobs called “not being better at anything”) but rather, just an iPod Touch with a bigger screen and a few small bonuses.
Firstly, it runs on iPhoneOS 3.2, and if we know anything about the iPhoneOS, is that it does not support true multitasking. We all do it – even while browsing most of us have a little music running in the background. Apple apologists might claim that the tablet is for browsing only, thanks to it having WiFi and 3G, but here’s the kicker, it does not have Flash. An internet device that does not have Flash. Wow, genius!
Four iPods stuck together is still better than the iPad. At least it can multi-task!
Oh, you want to chat? How, exactly? We can’t imagine typing would be very easy on the screen anymore than typing on your trusty cell phone would be. You want to Skype? Nope, doesn’t come with a camera up front either. You can get a keyboard, of course, but it’s not like you get one in the box. iPad doesn’t support USB either. Get ready to buy another overpriced Apple accessory for that.
The iPad comes with a new Apple software, iBooks, for all your reading needs. But as anyone who reads for a prolonged period of time on the LCD screen will tell you, your eyes get really tired really fast. Granted, the pictures of an open book in the iPad display will look really cool! But that’s only in Apple-controlled indoor conditions. Think about how it may look in direct sunlight! Alternatives such as Amazon’s Kindle (which uses eInk Display) are still better at reading books. Plus, weeks of reading time and free 3G internet on Kindle beats iPads 10 hours and AT&T price plan any day.
The video capabilities aren’t so hot, either. It can run Youtube vids, sure (through HTML5 technology as opposed to Flash), but 10″ isn’t very great for watching anything more than maybe half an hour. And really, unless you are propping it up against something, you need to hold the 10″ device in your hand… while watching a video! It doesn’t have HDMI either, and the aspect ratio is a boring 4:3. You’re better off with a local eSys LCD screen!
If Steve Jobs is asking for us to replace our trusty $300 laptops with iPads, we have to call shenanigans on that. It doesn’t have the specs (1GHz processor, 16GB non-expandable SD) to appeal to power users. It’s too expensive to act as a secondary device. Hell, it’s not even better than any existing device. We might have said something different if the rumours were true and it bought a new push in the content marketplace. Instead, we just got a cool toy. A cool toy we have to prop against our knees while lying in the couch or cling between our thighs. Err, awkward?
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