the ipad
The iPad? I'm underwhelmed, By Jason Jordan, Tech Blogger
I'm disappointed. For months, the rumour mill has been going crazy over the release of Apple's new iPad. And unfortunate name choice aside, it fails to impress in a number of areas.
For a "magical" and "revolutionary" device (as described by Apple's Main Man Steve Jobs), it's pretty ordinary.
No front or rear camera, no GPS, no memory card slot, a single speaker, no Adobe Flash support, No HDMI/DVI or DisplayPort output, no USB port and most annoyingly, while it does take a SIM Card for 3G connection to the internet, it's a new MicroSIM that's different to the one in your mobile phone. So you'll need a new SIM - and with that a new mobile broadband plan.
It can't multitask. The user interface doesn't work with the concept of "windows", meaning you can only use one application at a time.
It's simply not as amazing as we'd all been hoping for.
But it is pretty. It's solid. It continues Apple's legendarily simple design theme.
Yet at the end of the day, it's essentially a comically large-screen iPod Touch. It's about 1.3cm thick, 25cm long and 19cm wide. It weighs around 700 grams. And that's not going to fit in your pocket.
Having seen the coverage from the launch last night, there's no denying it's fast, it's a great e-reader and it has some impressive video playback capabilities. It can also run existing iPhone applications - and it makes them fill the 9.7" screen by using "pixel doubling" which means the developers of all those thousands of apps on the iTunes store doesn't need to do a thing to have their hard work "scale" on this new device. They're all terrific things. But I'm really not sure it's enough.
I can't even begin to tell you how much the ludicrously thick bezel and square screen ratio annoy me. The screen doesn't go to the edge of the device. The bezel makes the iPad look a bit like a cheap-ass digital photo frame. In 2010, Apple have released a device that isn't "wide-screen". I'm taking that as a hint they see this as more of an eReader than a video viewer.
So what is this device actually for? As a geek, surely it should appeal to me?
My iPhone can run iPhone apps. And make phone calls. And play my music back when I'm exercising. My laptop can show me things that need a bigger screen and it has a webcam so I can use Skype. The iPad can't replace either of them. In fact, according to early reports, it can't even play back non-Apple video formats. How's that for locking you into the Apple iTunes magic roundabout?
I really wanted this thing to be the JesusSlate. I wanted to replace my iPhone and Laptop with one new form factor. So I'm more than a little disappointed... but I'm betting Apple is doing this deliberately. Within 12 months, we'll see all the missing bits get introduced with new iPad models. Maybe it'll even get wings. That'd be fitting considering the awful, awful name choice.
It's planned obsolescence. Keep an eye on Apple's share price! They're masters of technology AND marketing.
And while I know this, and I understand the commercial practicalities... I can't help but feel totally underwhelmed.
BUY A IPHONE OR IPOD LOADS BETTER
The Ipad ?
Linear Mode
