Apple’s iPad Tablet Sucks
The big buzz of the day is Apple’s new iPad tablet PC. For $499 you get a 10″ version of the iPod touch, with apps that have been redesigned for the new screen real estate. “With a screen this large, you can just see, more, of the web as you’re surfing.” All the existing iPhone applications are promised to work out of the box. The more expensive versions come with support for 3G (data only) and come unlocked (yay). There’s one new built-in application, called iBook which let you purchase books from the libraries of 5 major american publishers (Penguin, Harper-Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette Book Group), in open ePub format. As the kindle DX sells for $489, if the screen brightness doesn’t hurt too much, it could be a potential competitor. The 10-hour battery life is certainly enough to read a book in.
Now, a list of things I don’t like (here is Gizmodo’s):
- 1024×768 screen doesn’t do 1080p, wide-screen video
- No Camera built-in (no video chat!)
- No multitasking
- No 3G voice service (or even T-Mobile 3G)
- No Mac OS apps (you get the iPhone/iTouch OS)
- Wasted space in the bezel
- No Random House books
- iWorks costs $30
- Twice as expensive as an iTouch
- No chat built-in
- No SD card or USB ports
- No GPS
- No Adobe Flash
When you can go buy a svelte 13″ Macbook Pro for just $1200, or 33% more than the top-of-the line iPad, why would buy an iPad? If you already have an iPhone you won’t buy it, because in terms of strict functionality, the iPhone is a superset. If you have an iTouch you may agonize about getting that extra screen real-estate. A commenter on Slashdot summed it up best:
It’s more than just an iPod touch that won’t fit in your pocket…it’s also an underpowered netbook with no keyboard. It’s the worst of both worlds!
Oh wait, someone on Reddit too:
Just yesterday I was looking at my iPhone thinking “Hmmm, I wish this thing didn’t fit in my pocket and couldn’t make phone calls.” Then I looked over to my netbook and couldn’t help but feel it would benefit from losing the keyboard and being made of 50% glass.
Wait for version two. The price will drop. Then maybe it can be a sort of “upgrade my kindle” purchase.
Update: Check out Charlie Brooker’s iPad therefore iWant?.
Update 2: Just tried the iPad, not impressed. UI is sluggish, wifi at the Apple store cutting in and out, and the display is terrible! For reading, text is just too fuzzy, whereas the kindle is crystal clear. See What the iPad is Missing (No, it’s not a Camera) and Font Rendering: Respecting The Pixel Grid for some thoughts on why reading on the iPad isn’t the experience you hoped it would be.
| This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 12:27 am and is tagged with hachette book group, schuster macmillan, random house books, macbook, gizmodo, american publishers, ipad, simon schuster, iphone, usb ports, reddit, screen brightness, mobile 3g, itouch, t mobile, netbook, 1024x768 screen, voice service, ipod touch, harper collins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
Ha peeps who slag off Apple are usally the 1s who cant afford to buy apple prods as for flash you can get flash aka frash from cydia also theres an app for that skyfire
I could buy a dozen iPads a month, foo. However, I think you should apply a choice from the following punctuation in your future discourse: ,,,,…..;;;;::::!!
The most common apple fanboy retort is that one who makes fun of an apple product can’t afford it. Yeah, what ever…
I have to agree with those that say nay to the iPad. For $500 plus any accessories its a bit pricey for mostly redundent features that my computers do. Yes, its pretty but its not the best web experience if you do not support Flash. Yes, I hate it too sometimes, but its there and so your not getting a full web without it. The iPad is being setup for a typical Apple ploy to get you to buy it without some important features. Then come out with those features in generation 2 of the iPad and that will make buy another. Gee, you would think the early adoptors would get a clue? This happens with most Apple products and its why Apple makes huge profits.
I may be a little behind in the times here but I want to get the iPad as a gift for my sister. I see it costs $100 more for 3G but I honestly do not know what that is and whether or not she needs it. From my research it appears to be some sort of quicker connection to the Internet and is ideal for people who travel alot…is this correct? She doesn’t ever go anywhere so I am not sure I want to pop for the 3G can someone tell me what the hell it is? I have been all over Apple’s website and can’t find an answer or get any feedback?
Agreeeed.
THIS THING IS BALLZ/
Over-sized iPod with an Over-sized price tag.
Apple Fanbois will defend whatever Mr. Jobs creates and make excuses as to why it fails, that is a given. They’ll come up conspiracy theories about PCs/Netbooks and talk about how Adobe sucks.
I especially like the one where an Apple Sheep said Google wants nothing to do with Adobe Flash, yet Google is working with Adobe to create Flash for their devices. Why? Because Flash is major part of the Internet and whatever the future of Flash may be, it will play a major role for a long time.
The fact is, the cost of the iPad and the severe limitations it has, makes it useless. At the end of the day all they did was take an iPod make it bigger, with a bigger price.
So I’ll wait.
Well, i feel that its quite pointless… like the manager of flash said, 75 percent of the websites run on flash. Even if youtube is capable of running html5, other video sharing websites maybe not be able to do so… And what about gaming? or facebook videos? Most people spent their time doing this stuff. Getting a ipad just for checking mail and reading newspapers is abit pojntless, isnt it? Anyways, there isn’t even any multitasking, which any basic computer or tablet should at least possess, but ipad is lacking in this functionality too…. What i think would be suitable for ipad is for it to run on mac os x, then it’ll pretty much be prefect. Even if i had to pay like 1000+ for a ipad running on mac os x, i would really mind …
I want one! Once you’ve mastered the touch keyboard and had exposure to a touch screen, plus the difference in weight compared to a conventional laptop, you won’t want to go back to the old technology.
How many people out there have a touch phone and how many, when they move onto a laptop or conventional mobile phone touch the screen without thinking and nothing happens. Its so natural to go in this direction! No moving parts to worry about and the Apple operating system as well! What more could you want?
Don’t forget that if your screen breaks, at least you can use the keys! Oh, wait… No you cant…
I personally prefer physical keys over touching nothing but a piece of glass, that way I can feel what I’m typing on.
If you think that touch screen is not the wave of the future you are nuts. iPad, Apple, Microsoft, ect. You should start learning the touch screen beacuse in 5-7 years that is all that will be around. You need to fix items before they break to be ahead. The same goes for technology. So do wait for the keyboard to be gone as the time you actually are forced on a touch screen.
All Apple stuff sucks….
All apple stuff sucks cos you cant afford loser from a apple fan boy
Let’s be honest, Apple products are only really bought by people with stupid asymmetrical haircuts and mongs that have zero technical knowledge.
The kind of people that buy a new style mini.
There are other devices out there that provide far higher specs for a similar price.
Apple products are a triumph of marketing over functionality and value for money.
I agree compleetly they’re the computer version of Harley Davidson! The power of marketing over dimwitted sheep!
Speaking of sheep… Motlee do you honestly believe that right now, not ten years from now, flash isn’t a major part of the web experience? Or do you just take what Jobs says as gospel & blinly follow the lemming trail?
This ^^
You can barely surf the web if you don’t have flash
I think he’s just another blind sheep, following Steve Jobs and treating Apple.com as the Bible
With the launch of the iPad tablet, Apple has managed to become the ultimate digital go-between company for high quality and high price content in a small yet very affluent segment of the population … NQ Logic encourages you to check out why Apple’s iPad is the final digital puzzle for their ultimate connected consumer strategy at http://www.nqlogic.com
@dan Check your specs before posting.
Apple.com/iPad/specs
@TJ: There is no such thing as a great netbook. Instead of innovating or making their own notebooks better, the PC manufactures decided that in a down economy, the only way they were going to sell their crappy products would be to make them smaller and cheaper.
If you add all of the idiotic items on your list of “has nots” adds up to about a $1200 iPad, which you would then ***** about the price.
Flash is dying and for good reason. Even Google wants nothing to do with it, and I gotta tell ya, if YouTube fully integrates HTML5, all flash has left is porn.
Wasted space on the bezel?? You’re an idiot. Its a touch screen device, if it didnt have a bezel, think of all the incidental input.
iWork costs 9.99 per app. Dont need Pages? dont buy it. Dont need Keynote? dont buy it. Lets see MS fragment Office for 10 bucks.
Twice as expensive as an iPod touch (at least get the name right please) Its not an iPod. Moot point.
I consider iWork a Mac OS X app. Dont you?
Myself and the rest of the work has more cameras than we know what to do with.
No Handwriting recognition, no copy and paste is a deal killer for me. I wont be buying this
I don’t get it! I can buy a great netbook – for example the Toshiba Mini NB305-N410 (PCMag.com’s Editor’s Choice) for $399 (a little more for the 3G version) that will do far more than the iPad. Actually, it will do virtually everything on the list above that sucks about the iPad. As someone said on another blog, the iPad really fits into a space between a smart phone and a netbook, yet there’s no phone. Sorry, Steve. iPass on this Max-i-Pad!
I agree with Dan. The iPad is for a certain person. Apple is not claiming that it can do things it can’t. They have found a niche of people in the market and created a device to satify this niche of people. there are many devices for many different people. If the iPad does not suite you then dont buy it. It sounds like you really want one, if it did what you want? So in some aspect you would buy an apple product if it suited you? Apple is trying to satisfy the largest percentage of people, and according to sales they are doing just that. Most people are not tech nerds like yourself and need the basic functions out of a device. about 75% of americans dont even use the full capabilities of their desktop computers beacuse they do not know how or care to know. For these 75% the iPad works, for the remaining 25% like yourself you just cry and cry, so someday they will make more advanced Apple products for you. Until then stick to your bug filled, crashing windows products that you are googling issues daily to fix.
-B-
Elliot, the thing does have a GPS, but if it wants to replace the computer at least 50% of the time, I need to thing to print. What I mean is, would I be able to send a Pages document to my printer via Bonjour, otherwise, I’m sticking with my laptop for mobility around the house.
It has AGPS only on the 3G models, no true GPS, and no GPS at all on the wifi model.