The consensus across the internet is that the iPad is a massive disappointment. Why do YOU personally feel this way. Pick your reasons from below or pick a new reason and post it here... No iSight Camera (5 MP with LED Flash) No Videocalling/Conferencing/iChat (It would have been awesome to be able to keep in touch with family through video calling (even if enabled over wifi only) when away for college or serving overseas) No GPS (it has the limited cell tower based GPS found on the iPhone 2G, not the true GPS that can offer up turn by turn navigation found on the 3GS) No Multitasking No Wireless Syncing or File Transfers No File Management or Freedom to download files (even documents) from online, you can't even delete something off the iPad or move some videos over to an SD Card, USB Stick or an External HDD to make room for an App/iTunes Movie Rental An extremely disappointing 256 MB of RAM No Additional Touch Gestures (Here's the kinds of gestures we were hoping for... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFnavI57gyQ) No Java or Flash support (no hulu.com) Only 16-64 gbs of HDD space when most tablets offer 250 gbs minimum No USB (3.0) Port (you can't hook it up to a printer to print off an iWorks project, you cant connect a USB key that has some documents stored etc) No ability to connect to an external hdd, or even to directly pop in an SDCard to expand storage The enormous bezel is a massive eyesore. I thought Apple was all about design, so how they could make such a large and ugly bezel for a premier device escapes me No Handwriting Recognition or Support for a Stylus. A huge selling point of any Tablet is to be able to take notes in classes and such. No Ability to run custom Apps not preapproved by Apple (Google Voice, uTorrent etc) No Ability to download files from online No OLED Screen (forgivable) but the screen is not 16:9 or even the 1.5:1 aspect ratio of the iPhone, 4:3 is such a huge step backwards A Very Low Resolution Display with 25% fewer PPPs than the iPhone or iPod Touch, the display should have a higher resolution No integrated TV Antenna or Radio Antenna (They even developed a HD DTV Tuner for use in cellphones to allow users to pick up OTA HDTV signals on the go! Just imagine being able to watch tv thanks to off the air hdtv signals, wherever you are. Why they didn't include this technology in this device I won't even understand. They could've even included a record video function on the tablet to give it PVR functionality) No TV/Video Out According to Apple's page on the product, the maximum resolution it is capable of playing MPEG4s at is 640x480 resolution at 30 fps (note I'm talking about MPEG4 Video here, the most popular format for Apple devices) It features a 1 Ghz processor that significantly slower than just about every single notebook on the market today (as demonstrated by this processor's inability to render MPEG4 at any resolution higher than 640x480) No OTA Sync With Apple TV or Servers To Stream Video No Low Reflective Screen Mode for high contrast Ebook Reading that doesn't hurt your eyes No Gamepad attachment for Gaming With Physical Buttons/Tactile Feedback No ability to connect to a bluetooth mouse/keyboard No RFID/IR to use it as a remote, or to tag it to yourself No Replacable/Removable Batteries In essense, it has all the restrictions/limitations/limited storage capacity/inability to transfer documents and files or expand storage as the iPhone with none of the portability, and a great deal less funtionality than even the iPhone (it can't take video, it can't take pictures, it can't make phone calls, it doesn't have GPS). It has the size/inconvenience of a laptop but without any of the functionality or freedom. Both the iPod and the iPhone were actual significant leaps forward when they came out. This thing however is like taking 3 steps back. Post in this thread if you agree. There is so much this can't do that even the iPhone that's a fifth it's size can do, and there is nothing it can do that the iPhone can't. Apple started the presentation by saying that for a Tablet to succeed, it has to some things better than both the iPhone 3GS and a Macbook Pro do. Then they went on to unveil a product that utterly fails this test. I guess we're not the only ones disappointed with it. Apple's stock price has been dropping like a rock ever since the press conference ended. On the pro side, atleast we know Hitler won't be getting one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4
OK, it's been two days enough with the iPad bashing. Sometimes Apple takes an approach to something that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Take their first answer to the emerging netbook market, releasing the macbook air and calling it an "ultraportable" based on the laughable idea that thinness somehow makes it more portable. Look at the iPod shuffle without any controls on it, they chose to make a product harder to use just to make it a wee bit smaller. While I have no interest in the iPad I'm fairly certain a product will emerge in this maketspace sometime next year that will really make sense. It's ether going to be an e-reader with a color screen, great online content and cheap price or a full fledged laptop replacement tablet running a UI that hasn't been seen yet and costs under $1000.
I would have bought this in a second if it functioned like a Wacom pad. There would've been a huge market for artists if you could draw with a good and precise stylus on the screen. Alas, I doubt it'll ever run any serious image editing program, much less anything by Adobe. As it is this just seems like a toy... I have no interest myself, I can see how they may do well with it in the educational market though.
I was originally on the fence about the iPad, but now, after seeing this thread, I think I'm going go to buy one just to piss off the bashers.
I'm not a fortune teller nor a mod, but I'm sensing that this thread will be closed in the near future. We don't need another one of these. Enough already!
