The iPad
First of all, I should disclose that I own an iPhone and love it. I use PCs for desktop and laptop use. I admire the Apple hardware, but Windows based machines are just cheaper. Apple does indeed make some great products, and produce some of the the most fundamental benchmarks for industrial engineering. However, I was suprised that the iPad, (don’t get me started on the name) fell short in a couple if critical areas.
First of all, it’s one thing for a phone to be synced with a computer, but if the iPad is to compete with other “netbooks” and the like, this will not do! I have a very big love/hate relationship with iTunes. In addition, I cant wrap my head around the fact that Apple did not only fail to include a USB port, they also failed to include a SD card slot. They do have an adapter for SD cards, but who wants an ugly dongle dangling off of this elegant device?
An HDMI port would have been nice too. Probably not a fair feature to ask for, as I don’t think any Netbook has one. Not that I know of anyway. As for adding a camera, I’m not sure I agree with those who propose this. It not as if you’d have this thing in your pocket, and whip it out for a quick picture. It would however be great to pop the SD card right in after you arrive home from your trip, and view your photos.
The most surprising flaw to me, is that you have to own another computer. It must be synched up with iTunes. At least once that is. I just don’t get this at all, and see no good reason for it. I will wager this will change with a future update, and they just couldn’t make it happen now for some reason. This is one area where Netbooks have it whipped.
In spite of all this, I still want one!
