It’s Called iPad
I don’t think I need to elaborate any further. I’m also wondering why Apple is not concerned with the fact that it almost sounds like “iPod”.
Bright & Glossy
If you’ve had the chance to look at an e-ink display, such as the one found on the Kindle, it is obvious that it’s much easier on the eyes. There’s no glare or backlight eyestrain so reading for hours is as effortless as reading paper.
4:3 Aspect Ratio
Apple claims its tablet is great for watching movies, and I agree, except it’s not so great for widescreen content. Bummer.
10 Hour Battery
As great as that may sound, according to Apple, the iPhone 3GS can already manage 9 hours on Wifi, 10 hours video playback, and 30 hours of audio playback. This is besides the fact that 10 hours isn’t even close to what typical e-readers go for; weeks.
Largest MP3 Player
The idea of carrying around a tablet to run iTunes and listen to music is absurd. Isn’t that what a pocket iPod/iPhone is for?
No Text-to-Speech
Apple made no mention of this on their press event, but we know that the iPhone does this already, so why the lack of?
Lacking Languages
Oddly enough, the tablet doesn’t come with the language support that of the iPhone OS despite being entirely based off of it. What happened to Arabic and the others?
Missing Apps
Calculator? Weather? Voice Memos? Stocks? Clock? I guess they decided to skip those.
Large Shiny Toy
There are so many games and “fun apps” being developed for the tablet to take advantage of its graphics capabilities that one would think it’s one of the most unproductive devices Apple has created. Don’t kid yourself, a Playstation 3 costs less and plays high-def Blu-ray titles.
Virtual Shopping Mall
Come to think of it, the whole purpose of the device is bring you a collection of stores: a music store, a video store, an app store, a game store, and now an e-book store so you can buy more stuff that you probably didn’t need to begin with, then get locked further into the Apple virtual ecosystem.
Expensive Photo Frame
Unless you buy the USB or SD card reader accessory for the tablet, you’ll have to hook up your digital camera onto a computer first. After the tablet is synced, ‘sharing your photos with friends and family’ means you could either hand them the tablet or email (five or so at a time) smaller compressed versions to them –something you could’ve done better whilst sitting at your computer to begin with, doh!
Slow Multi-Touch Uni-Tasker
I’m not talking about the A4 chip that Apple designed; it’s about overall usability. When hitting the Home button, many applications reset themselves making it very frustrating to switch back and forth between them without interruption. For example, you can’t write an email while waiting for a large high-def YouTube video to complete downloading; you’ll just have to wait it out.
Pointless Bluetooth
Having the latest Bluetooth technology built right into the tablet means you can use your existing wireless keyboard to.. oh wait no, you have to buy another keyboard dock accessory for that. How about Bluetooth syncing? No. Bluetooth file exchange? Nope. Umm… Bluetooth headset? Maybe. How about silly multiplayer games? Sure!
iWork Sold Separately
If you choose to buy them, Keynote, Numbers and Pages are great for editing files on the tablet –but not for composing! Imagine preparing a presentation and you had to add a chart into one of the slides, where do you get the chart data from? Are you willing to go through the tedious task of switching to Mail or Safari to read/copy/paste/check your reference data, quotes, sources, etc..? Even if you manage to get by without, you’ll need to buy another accessory to project your work on a screen. If you’re carrying all these little accessories and docks, you might as well be carrying a laptop. Can it print documents or is there another app for that?
A Bigger iPod Touch
In essence, there’s almost nothing the tablet can do that the iPod Touch or iPhone can’t; the tablet just does it with more pixels and smoother animation. Functionality-wise, the software has the same capabilities for music, photos, videos, maps, notes, calendar, contacts, mail, and so on.
