iPad.

If you're like me, you've probably read about a hundred articles by now on the newly announced iPad from Apple. Reception has mostly been unenthusiastic, but the charm of the iPhoneish look and large screen still seems to attract some people. In this entry, I will share my thoughts briefly on the iPad and the discussion its technical capabilities have aroused.

The Apple tablet has been speculated and hyped for about a decade, so its plausible to say that whatever Steve would've announced this Tuesday couldn't possibly have met all the expectations that had built up during this time. That said, there's a lot of things with the iPad that to me seem like they weren't really thought out all the way through, or things that I think are just plain out of date. The latter being something you definitely would not expect from Apple. Well, kind of.

Talking 'bout a revolution

Obviously the iPad is a revolutionary device if you ask Apple. But if you ask me, it's got these few things wrong with it:

- No multitasking.
I can't begin to describe how confused I am by this feature missing from the device. It is supposed to be something from between a smart phone and a laptop, so why is it missing a feature a mid-range smart phone can do in this day and age?

- Connectivity.
Well, there isn't much. All you have is a 3.5mm headphone jack, the typical iPod/iPhone and now iPad connector port, that will connect to your USB. You have bluetooth (?) and WiFi, but in addition to that. It's pretty limited. You can get it with a 3G option, thus placing yourself in a contract with AT&T. As far as I know, there's no means, however for printing anything you type on the device. This isn't inherently bad, it might be that you don't need to print anything directly off the device, but if its anything close to a laptop, it should be able to modify text documents, that I can print once I get home. And I'd like this straight out of the box, please! I don't want to invest more in the silly iWork package deal.

Wrap-up

And well, that's all. Those are my main gripes with technical things related to the iPad. I find it idiotic almost, that people complain that it doesn't have a camera and flash. Who on earth would want to photograph with that thing? The other subject of whinery seems to be the inability to place phone calls on it. Would you really want to hold that thing next to your head?

Naturally everyone griping about issues like this have some means of using the device like this that they haven't shared, but I don't expect my SIM-embedded laptop to be able to place calls. In fact, I don't want it to. That's because, well, I don't want to seem like a complete dork.