As you must have observed we can’t just help talking about the iPad. Well, probably this post is the last one for this season. Here, we discuss what we feel lacked in the first Apple iPad that the world saw and what changes we would want to see in the next version.
A Flash-less Browser
While there was no official mention of support for Adobe Flash, we could not help but notice Flash missing from the product demo. While we haven’t heard much about this from Adobe or Apple, we must also admit that we have learnt to do without it partially on our previous iPhone and iPod experiences. A lot of websites have come up with alternative media formats than Flash, so a lot of unseen future remains here and it might just indicate the end of Flash.
A USB Drive
This is one feature we were greatly looking forward to this in the iPad. The least we wanted to do was connect external keyboards and attach our flash drives to it. While we do miss the USB drive, we can make do with the Keyboard Dock and the camera connection kit that Apple has released. So we aren’t exactly missing out on a lot and yet again, we are talking about an iPad not a portable computer. Imagine a Kindle.
No Support for Multitasking
While we could somehow deal with the lack of Multitasking on the iPhone and the iPod Touch, this really is a letdown on the iPad. While Apple says this is a method to save on the battery life and cut down on the usage, as they don’t trust the third-party apps. There is definitely some truth in that. A lot of carelessly made apps have memory leaks and other issues. So right now the best multitask could get on this device would be to run the music player and browse safari or some other app.
We recall how no other app than the Phone, Safari, Mail and the iPod are allowed to run as background processes. However, when we have hardware with CPU twice as capable we do want to expect more. For instance, I would love to run AOL Radio in the background while I’m reading this post.
No Camera
Were we asking for a lot when we said a camera is a must? We are not exactly looking out for something more than a webcam. Most apple products viz. Macbooks, iPhone, iPod Nano have camera built into them. The very presence of a camera on this device would have largely made it a most wanted device. Imagine an added ability of Skype-ing with your friends and family with this device. Sound fun, right.
MicroSim
We don’t have many operators yet which use this format for their SIM cards, so this would mean a large population won’t be able to benefit from the 3G version of the iPad, yet.
While these are the top five features that I want to complain about with the iPad 1.0, other observers might complain of the lack of removable battery. Firstly, we have had the same with the iPhone and current generation Macbooks and trust me it’s good and Apple has a reason for that. We would definitely have wanted HDMI support though it doesn’t hurt a lot without it.
Remember, we should care about the features that we really need and not just want to have everything that’s possible. It’s okay to have a feature or two less but have an interface that makes best use of those given and allow us to effortlessly benefit from them. Apple has done a great job there with the no-nonsense sleek UI on all its devices.
Tell us what you thought was lacking in the iPad and how you would change it before you purchase your very first iPad.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
The new report on Mashable says, iPad may come with camera and as a prove they also post an image. I’m quite sure Apple hide too many features of iPad and we can’t criticize it now till it release on Market.
So true Arafat, we’re already expecting a camera in the final version of ipad that ships from apple. So yes Apple might still have some undisclosed tricks up its sleeve.
I have to add one more thing- It has no user replaceable battery…
@Arafat: Then that would be an amazing strategy of Apple. Or probably, they realized that blogs like this post of Rajat will more likely to be a “heckler” of the features where end-users are still compromised.
comeon, why don’t people quit asking for user replaceable batteries. i promise i’ll do another post soon about them.
i don’t quite understand your statement about end-users compromising. please explain cebu. thanks
What I meant was, blogs help people realize the best product or gadget to choose- simply because blogs give a clearer insights about the product through reviews (though your post is not totally a review), particularly those secrets that the manufacturer tried not to talk about. End-users or prospective markets are given a chance to learn more about the product ’s features, so they would know whether the features will compromise them or not according to their requirements.
Yes I agree it lacks the a camera but it has some empty place left particularly to place the camera. Apple is mum about this though.
I think the 2 most wanted feature is Flash and normal 3G sim enabled. If you compare it with the Kindle, people will probably go for iPad. And don’t forget, this is the 1st gen.
do agree Jacob, a normal sim would be highly sought. kindle still has an advantage over battery life though.
“A lot of websites have come up with alternative media formats than Flash, so a lot of unseen future remains here and it might just indicate the end of Flash.”
It wouldn’t bother me in the least to see Flash replaced by something else as I’ve never cared for it. It has a real bad habit of interfering with stuff.
I removed it from my main computer long ago and barely miss it. For the rare occassion I come across something I want to see that uses Flash I’ll use my second machine.