iPad: That's What I Said

As usual, PT is claiming to be the brave prophet who proclaims the unpopular truth. However, you can find all of his complaints about the iPad elsewhere, minus the snarky bias. He's believes he's entitled to the device he wants when he wants it at the price point he wants. Don't we all. Most of us know that's not how it works.

So nearly the entire internet lauds the iPad with highest praise, and this is the best rebuttal the doubters can muster? "It's kinda awkward." "It's heavier than a far less powerful, mostly unrelated device." "It gets dirty when you use it." "Software that was not designed for the device — in fact, before the device was ever even announced — doesn't work well on it." While I agree about the screen, and possibly about the keyboard, most of these complaints are so misled or marginal that they almost argue in favor of the iPad. People can't find anything truly valid to complain about.

I'm put off by the screen resolution. Apple say: "A beautiful 9.7-inch high-resolution display makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows to podcasts and music videos." But in reality it can't display the most popular online HD format (720p) at native resolution. Any resizing of video tends to have a negative impact on image quality.

"It's too expensive for what you get: 16 GB of storage is not acceptable in a $500 machine." "iPad pricing starts at $499. That's actually quite aggressive for Apple. In fact, that's pretty amazing. So good for them." Which one is it? You seemed to be amazed at the $499 price during the event revealing the ipad. Now its expensive? "It's awkward It's heavy It's slippery " "It needs dual cameras" So despite your complaints that it is awkward to hold, its heavy, and slippery, you claim that it NEEDS dual cameras. If its that horrible to use, why on earth would you want to use it as a camera, holding it out at arms length to take a picture? or try to balance it to use for video conferencing?

"Regarding: MSNBC''s "13 Glaring iPad Shortcomings:" Please take into account what the MS in MSNBC stands for?" What about LiveScience.com, where the article was originally published? Does the "Live" stand for "WindowsLive"?

Regardless of if you think the above items are shortcomings or not, this sentence is spot on - "Given the cost, and a slew of drawbacks, the answer boils down to how much you're willing to pay for a toy." Each person has to decide that for themselves. As I have said, I find it intriguing....but wil not buy a G1 Apple device. As for being locked to AT&T for 3G coverage - here is what a lot of people are doing...and not just with the Palm Pre, either - http://www.precentral.net/verizon-pre-plus-and-ipad-wifi-so-good --tayme

Paul you have bashed Macworld many times for being biased, taking your childish jabs at their writers. This "tier A" review from Macworld covers the same shortcoming that you did and with out snarky comments. http://www.macworld.com/appguide/article.html?article=150330 "That’s the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio found on older TV sets, as opposed to the 16:9 ratio favored by modern HDTVs." "With most movies and TV shows these days shot in 16:9 (and more extreme) aspect ratios, the iPad’s 4:3 screen means most video content will display with large letterbox bars at top and bottom." "At a certain angle I could also see an array of fingerprints—and boy, does this screen collect them" "This is not to say that it’s a suitable equivalent for a hardware keyboard—it’s not" "I don’t think I would ever choose to compose a long e-mail or write a lengthy document using the software keyboard, but it proved good enough for small bouts of typing." "I’ve owned an Amazon Kindle 2 for a little over a year now, and I like it a lot. It’s lightweight and its grayscale e-ink display is quite readable, albeit bland. The iPad is quite a bit heavier than the Kindle (think hardcover versus paperback, though that comparison isn’t quite right), and its backlit LED display couldn’t be more different." "I suspect many people expect the iPad to put the Kindle out to pasture, but I’m not entirely convinced. What the Kindle has going for it is its simplicity as a unitasker. The Kindle does one thing well: allow you to read books. (It also lets you read magazines and newspapers, though it does that a bit less well—but then again, Apple’s iBooks app doesn’t support magazines or newspapers at all.) It’s cheaper than the iPad, and will presumably get cheaper still in the face of such stiff competition. If a friend or relative came to me and said that all they wanted was a book reader, nothing more, I would happily endorse the Kindle." "A year ago, when I bought my Kindle 2, I cancelled my print subscription to the San Francisco Chronicle and replaced it with a Kindle subscription to that newspaper. If I decided to stop using my Kindle tomorrow in favor of the iPad, though, I would actually be taking a major step backward when it comes to reading that particular paper." "And yet I find the iPad’s iPod app a bit disappointing. When you play a track, the interface vanishes and is replaced by the track’s album art, which fills the screen." "So can the iPad truly replace a laptop? It all depends on what you use your laptop for. The iPad isn’t going to replace a MacBook Pro anytime soon." "The iPad has only the one plane, which makes things trickier. In some positions on a couch or in bed, I felt uncomfortable with the iPad, and had to keep shifting until I found ones that worked for me." "Reading with the iPad also seems to me to be more of a two-handed activity. Without a case, the iPad is heavy enough and slippery enough that I found it difficult to hold in one hand." "But right now, I don’t believe the iPad is going to make anyone stop using their main Mac or PC. If you were in the market for an e-book reader or a supplemental laptop, though, I’d give those plans a serious re-think."

Rode for the double WIN! Any response Paul? Paul? Paul?

Paul, I think your opinions are almost spot-on... I think everyone of these is a issue that needs to be addressed (and most will be in G2 or by G3), but I do not know what you can do about fingerprints... that is an unfortunate consequence to using your fingers to manipulate any real-world object... probably a few years down the line, we only need to manipulate the visual elements a few inches away from the screen... Also, this is NOT a good e-reader, if you really want to read for hours... a casual comic here and there, a few articles is fine, but not as a dedicated reading device... again, this brings me back to my original point... if I have an iphone, why do I need this (and I do not mean this in a bad way, because I think I would love this device if I can find a use for it and if it wasn't crippled by so many limitations)

Let's also mention some of the issue the iFans fail to mention. First of all, the GB's on the box doesn't equal actual GB's of use. In the example of the popular 16 GB model. After the formatting, you lose 2 GB. So in actuality, you have 14 GB of space. Basic mathematics say that 16 GB does not equal 14 GB. How come Apple couldn't have put an 18 GB SSD so that you actually get 16 GB? Also, the apps do take up a big chunk of SSD real estate, which further justifies my criticism of woefully insufficient storage in the terabyte era. Second, the screen glare is an ABSOLUTELY 110% legitimate complaint about this device. People are going to want to take this outside to read. The problem is the sun in your eyes. Didn't Apple even factor this into their design. That's sad when the AMOLED screen on my Samsung Moment looks much better than the iPad in the same outdoor conditions. Third, this device is still not capable of doing HD. The upcoming Android tablet devices will have 720p HD screen resolution on several models. That's embarrassing for the company that brought iTunes HD movies to come out with a device with zero HD resolution. That's not just bad design, it's also ripping off consumers who paid good money for those films & television content. Yet there were perfectly good screens with anti-glare or AMOLED that could have nipped this criticism in the bud. Fourth, the cameras are also a legit complaint. The company that made built in cameras on everyone of their iMacs, Macbooks, Macbook Pro's, Macbook Air's, & on the iPod Nano fails to deliver a fundamental feature of the Apple universe to the iPad? Yet many of the upcoming tablets & the HTC Evo handset has 2 cameras. With iChat, Skype, Go To Meeting, & other apps that need cameras, why did Apple miss this obvious feature. It just seems like they wanted to save something for the 2nd generation release, to milk more money out of people. Yet the fanboys are agreeing with Steve that it's not necessary. Are they going to be in lockstep when Steve decrees next year or two years from now that cameras are an absolutely essential & revolutionary new feature for the iPad? It just seems like some Apple fans are so blind to the brand that they accept the contradictions with such naiveté. Yet they easily jump on Microsoft, Google, or any other brand with such harsh criticism. So far, almost everyone from friends, family, coworkers, & average people have been very bearish on the iPad with good reason. So the Mac faithful & the critics bought their pads. Big deal. Let's wait till this holiday season or next holiday season when lower costing Android tablets with better hardware flood the market. Already we're seeing Android phones starting to PWN the iPod. I think the iPad is the next victim. The next question for Android after Apple's done? Who's Next?

@subzero - I agree with your entire post except for this part, "First of all, the GB's on the box doesn't equal actual GB's of use. In the example of the popular 16 GB model. After the formatting, you lose 2 GB. So in actuality, you have 14 GB of space. Basic mathematics say that 16 GB does not equal 14 GB. How come Apple couldn't have put an 18 GB SSD so that you actually get 16 GB?" That is true in every device that includes storage of any type, isn't it? Do the 500GB SATA drives that you may purchase format at less thatn 500GB? Does your laptop that is advertised as having 350GB hard drive, have 350GB after formatting? No...this is a non-issue as well as a petty argument. --tayme

"You release the blog where you trash the new iPad. On Windows Weekly you tell Leo that yes you bought a iPad for watching movies." I see the problem. You're supposed to either READ the blog OR LISTEN to the podcast. Not both. Temporal disruptions occur otherwise.

"Camera are a "nice to have" feature, but really are not as important as you make them out to be. Most people don't use the built in cameras on their computers and those are mounted and do not move. " Cameras aren't as important until and unless Apple actually adds them to the iPad, in which case, they become a "must have" feature.

"Not both. Temporal disruptions occur otherwise." That's why Paul Thurrot is Mr. Selective Argument. This is a guy who pays $500 dollars for a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone (it's in his podcasts), a thing so ancient they were dug up by dinosaurs, yet trashes the iPad for being too expensive. Right now, Paul is using his iPad to watch a rendered mockup called Courier on Youtube, is counting down the days when he will receive his Windows Mobile 7 Phone (it's over 40 months after iPhone OS 1.0, so it's verifiably more than three years overdue), and is subscribing to a summer course 'Selective Arguments 2.0: A rhetoric perspective'.

"This is a guy who pays $500 dollars for a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone (it's in his podcasts), a thing so ancient they were dug up by dinosaurs, yet trashes the iPad for being too expensive." @Ocean, LogJamming, chuck, and other selective readers. Paul might have paid $600+ for a Windows 6.5 phone, but he didn't recommend it to anyone in his blog or his talk show. Show me one article where he says WM6.5 phones are cheap or where he recommends them. There's no question of selective argument here. Between Ocean's linkjacking and logjamming's constant babbling, this comment section is becoming more and more unreadable.

Tayme are you reffering to after you format the HDD or just installed an OS As 300 GB is 300 GB if you use the system HDD manufacterers use But it will be less if you use the system that every software company uses But it should have been 16 GB out of the gate for the iPad, once you get that small in space you really need to try and be true about it's size

@redunion your argument is total BS. Using your argument every hard drive sold is a scam then. Here read this http://compreviews.about.com/od/storage/a/ActualHDSizes.htm tell people you learned something today. Pass it on to Subzero when you done.

@redunion - You are wrong here. It's merely a case of 2 different methods of stating the size of a hard drive. The manufacturer uses a method of measuring the physical attributes (base 10) the OS uses the binary prefix (base 2). 1000 ≠1024. --tayme

Wow...rr0de74 and I agreed! I work in storage, so I know how HDDs work. I'd better go buy a lottery ticket! --tayme

@Logjamming - If iPhone OS is a derivitive of OS X, it depends on if that subsystem of the OS was included in the current or future version of iPhone OS. --tayme

"That is what this is all about. He will complain about an Apple product for something, then give Microsoft a free pass on the same thing. " Which is his job...he gets paid to do so. Paid by Penton Media Group. One has to wonder what is the driving factor for all of the brand loyalists that come here and do the same thing on a daily basis for the company that they prefer? --tayme

"Its his job to be that one sided?" Obviously it is...He is still writing for Penton, right. Get over it. His job is to create what traffic he can on Penton's sites. He does that with these posts...look at which posts get the most traffic. I'd say that he is doing his job brilliantly! --tayme

"Obviously it is...He is still writing for Penton, right. Get over it. His job is to create what traffic he can on Penton's sites. He does that with these posts...look at which posts get the most traffic. I'd say that he is doing his job brilliantly!" I must say, you hit the nail on the head! :)

"The sad part is Paul has some good points, but they get lost in his constant belittling of Apple and their products. Every chance he gets he will throw in a some foolish comment." This the crux of Paul and this site. I use both Apple products and Window products, both at work and at home. Paul used to be a great source of Windows/Microsoft knowledge, I have had a subscription to Windows NT magazine for a long time now. These days there are so many good sources of Windows/Microsoft knowledge available on the net that if you dont like Paul's special sauce, then you can easily find something else.

"What is MS going to announce it then for WP7? iPhone already has it." Ooh, confused it with the other feature that the iPhone lacked and which won't be mentioned until April 8th. Good job, my friend. My bad.