What's Wrong with the iPad

What’s Wrong with the iPad

With permission, I am publishing here an extremely in-depth and relevant review of the iPad by someone at our company.

The owner of the iPad was absolutely thrilled to buy one, after playing with the company model a bit.

She is now selling her iPad.

I asked her why. What did she find frustrating?

Pretty much everything…I basically justified keeping it in the 14-day

return period just for the e-reader functionality and the ability to
watch TV/movies.

Well the e-reader is only SEMI-useful. The iBooks app (which I was super
excited about because of the ability to “turn a page” which
psychologically did it for me) is terrible basically because it has no
book selection. Fortunately, you can download the Kindle app and the B&N
nook app. The Kindle is the best one because of the huge selection.
However, the first time I went to go really sit down and read a book was
last weekend at the beach which is impossible to do since the iPad’s
shiny screen is completely intolerant to even the slightest hint of
light let alone full-blown summer sunlight…and the risk associated
with exposing the $500 chunk of metal to the sandy wetness was not one I
was willing to take.

Conclusion: iPad is a great e-reader if you like reading in dark rooms.
I’d still say the Kindle is the better option.

As for watching TV/movies…sure it’s great in terms of quality, but you
have to pay $2.99 an episode. I mean, that’s nothing new for me…but
that was always a last resort if I couldn’t get a show on Hulu or
whatever. Now I kind of find myself just gritting my teeth and making
purchases here and there only to end up with a ridiculous iTunes bill at
the end of the week and that makes me feel stupid. More and more TV
stations are making their own TV viewing apps (ABC and I think NBC have
one)…but really there shouldn’t have to be that hurdle to begin with;
the iPad should support Flash. You shouldn’t have to pay for online TV
these days, period.

Conclusion: iPad can give you a great TV/movie-viewing display if you’re
willing to pay for it, but this stands in huge opposition to the
ever-growing trend of being able to watch all your favorite shows
online, legally, and for free.

I always said that the iPad would be perfect for college students. I
wished it came out a little earlier since it seems like the most
convenient note-taker. Well, I was wrong. I went to the CALICO
conference several weeks ago and was super psyched to finally take
advantage of this functionality. In the end, I found myself frantically
trying to type out the title of the session as the speaker was already
moving on to her second major topic area. Now, I recognize there’s got
to be a learning curve in being able to use the large touch-screen to
type out notes and such, but it just seemed like none of the help was
there. The biggest thing (and this is more a flaw with the MAC OS in
general) is accuracy of word prediction. A touch-screen device NEEDS to
have this and it NEEDS to be good. Android shines in this regard. I’m so
used to typing complete jibberish on my Android phone and being
confident (about 90%) that my phone knows what I mean to say. I have 50%
confidence when using my iPad. It has to do with Android’s expansive
(and automatically personalized dictionary that includes proper names
stored on your phone, etc.) and just the algorithms they use to predict
the words. Example: I can type “Wgst is your fabork xolod?” and Android
knows I mean “What is your favorite color?”…Apple thinks I mean “What
is your fabork soloed?” Showing full sentence examples doesn’t even do
this justice. You really notice this convenience (with the Android
system) and inconvenience (with MAC) as you are typing in real time.
Also, formatting on the device is harder, and options are limited.

Conclusion: An iPad user should see using the device as more of a
receptive experience, and input should be minimal (basically limited to
input needed to navigate the device)…using the device for any type of
real production is anti-productive.

Not being able to multi-task is just flat-out unacceptable, and is what
single-handedly does not make it even compare to a netbook or any other
computer for that matter. No more needs to be said here.

Kind of silly, but not really…the device is just hard to hold. The
design is sleek and pretty but not very practical when you actually go
to use it. Rest it on any type of uneven service and it will slide
off…hold it up and you’ll get a cramp in your hand after 10 minutes.

Pros: It’s pretty, and great for useless games. I’m pretty sick at Babo
Crash now.

Those are my thoughts on the iPad…Haha…sorry about the long essay,
but I had a lot to say! Hopefully this is useful information at least :)