Now that Apple’s iPad tablet has been revealed to the public and initial industry buzz has subsided, should consumers start planning for Apple’s latest toy? The general public still has to wait two months for the opportunity to buy Apple’s tablet and the big question is will the iPad become another iPod or iPhone and change the technological game or disappear into oblivion like the Apple Pippin? The professional reviews are ready and what they discovered with their initial impressions might surprise you.
The good
Familiarity is the key selling point for the Apple tablet. The iPad runs a modified version of the current operating system used in the iPhone and iPod Touch. The tablet will sync all your iTunes files, charge and connect using the firmly established 30-pin white connection cable, it will allow you to buy apps from the pre-existing app store you are used to, and the iPad will even transfer the songs, videos, games and useful apps that you have already legally purchased (avoiding a “double dip” of a dual purchase for the same content).
The screen resolution is beautiful. Every review of Apple’s tablet gushes over the high-resolution 1024 x 768 display of the iPad’s 9.7-inch touchscreen. Most other tech specs are designed to impress. The CPU is clocked at 1 GHz and provides a lot of ultra-fast power for a handheld device. The tablet’s built-in wireless devices, WiFi and Bluetooth, will connect and work just as smoothly as current-generation iPhones and iPods.
The bad
Prepare for the bad, because there is a lot to complain about with the new iPad. Storage comes in three delicate sizes, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. Regardless of how Apple tries to spin the size of the internal hard drives, these are small for a product destined to compete in the netbook market. USB drives come in comparable sizes for a fraction of the cost (another problem with the iPad, but this is true of most Apple products). Do you enjoy watching TV shows and movies on the go? With minimal hard drive space, Apple’s tablet can barely hold a dozen movies and a single season of the average TV show. This won’t really be a problem though, as the battery life is expected to last less than 10 hours with heavy use. Basically it won’t last a full day with constant use on a full charge.
The ugly one
Try the breakout time, and there are many. No built-in USB ports, no web page flash support, no webcam, no SMS text messages, no video conferencing or Skype calls, and monthly fees to access AT & T’s exclusive 3G network are just a few. But nothing pales in comparison to the lack of multitasking. Simply put, the miniature Apple touchscreen tablet with the power of a netbook, the same size as a netbook, costs twice as much as the average netbook, designed to bridge the gap between cell phones (iPhones) and laptops. (Macbooks). YOU CANNOT EXECUTE MORE THAN ONE APPLICATION AT A TIME! For a product designed as a mobile device, the inability to run multiple applications at the same time is undoubtedly its biggest flaw.
Wasted potential versus crushing reality
Every Apple tablet review speaks to the potential of the iPad. It has the potential to be Apple’s next big game changer, but its apparent shortcomings and its suspiciously absent regulatory applications and hardware specs also leave the door open for a major failure. The best analogy I have come across compares the Apple iPad to a concept car. Similar to a pre-production prototype car, Apple’s iPad tablet features a host of new technologies, great ideas, a sleek and modern design, but its implementation aims for lofty goals regardless of the current market and reality. It lacks basic functionality and there are simply too many flaws in the initial version of the iPad. Essentially, wait until multitasking is fixed and for Apple iPad tablet version 2.
