This is my rant, what I posted for some of my friends on facebook which I now bring to you.
Today Apple released its tablet named iPad. This tablet has been the cause of rumor, argument and fantasy lust by apple fanboys for the past 20 years. After reading more than 7+ gadget sites/news organizations this is my personal opinion (coming to you from an apple fanboy who drinks the kool-aid, but doesnt oversaturate himself).
The design
The design seems flawless, and a winner in my perspective. Just like the first iPhone, I feel that Apple cant really improve on the design it has shown us right now. Its a 4x3 screen display, 10x7 pixels. It seems like a winner, and I like it.
I/O
The I/O (input & output) ports get me mad. This is Apple at its best, limiting the ports they give you because they know best for you. Apple is touting this as the replacement of the cheap netbook and something you would use on a daily basis at home. The average cheapest netbook out there, includes more I/O ports than the Unibody MacBook does. This says something! Apple doesnt change their simplistic way of thinking and only includes a headphone jack and dock connector as ports. No USB, no firewire, nada. Instead, they provide you with accessories to purchase (hence giving them more money) to connect an SD card or a USB, or even display it to a monitor. Im sorry, but this is just stupid. You want this (iPad) to replace my netbook, or small laptop... but instead offer me no ports to work with, and want me to purchase adapters to make some current cables (which are universally compatible) work with an iPad.
Storage
When Steve Jobs today announced that the iPad was coming in 3 storage flavors, my blood instantly boiled. Whenever I buy a computer, or a netbook or a laptop it comes with a pre-determined storage space sized. I understand this. What I also understand is that I can pop out the hard drive, or SSD it has inside and pop in my own, not void my warranty and still get more space. The iPad instead comes with pre-determined storage sizes. 16, 32, and 64GB respectively. This is not user upgradable just like the iPhone. Im sorry Apple, but I want to upgrade my storage with an SD card or a hard drive when I wish. This is no an iPod to which I can upgrade every year. I dont wanna have lying around 2 iPads because I outgrew the storage size of my first one, and decided I needed more space so I bought another one. Were in a damn recession and I am not going to be spending money like this.
OS
The Operating System is the same one which runs on my iPhone, which is a good and bad thing. Apple touts it has a blazing fast 1GHz custom chip inside. Good. The problem, I cant do much with it. Apple thinks im smart enough to actually use iWork on the go and make presentations and word documents, browse the incomplete web, but apparently im stupid enough not to know how to run Pandora streaming music in the background and read a book or surf the web. I dont get it. I have a fast processor underneath me, but I cant use it to its potential because Apple thinks Im stupid. Wheres my multi-tasking Apple?
Steve Jobs also mentioned that its the full internet in your hands... not really. The internet has flash. Lots of it. Just go to ANY major website; CNN, ABC, MSNBC, Facebook, etc. THEY ALL HAVE FLASH. I cant have the full internet in my hands if I cant run flash. Some webpages depend solely on it. So... in Apples mentality, if they run flash or have flash, they are not considered part of the internet. Very nice Apple, segregate who you believe is not worth to run your tablet. To add insult to injury, you tout you have a blazing fast processor. So why cant this run flash without a problem? Makes you wonder. I have more grips with the iPhone OS, but hopefully OS 4.0 will change and rectify these grips.
App Store
You tout this as a replacement for a netbook, but yet I cant install my own software. I have to install the software which YOU ALONE allow me too. Yes it comes from developers who made them, but you approved them. And by the way, youre approval system needs to be checked because at times it allows things for which you say I cant have. While on that note, why cant I have things that you say are not suitable for me? If im an adult, purchased this with my own money, I should be allowed to install whatever I want. Even if thats adult content or discretionary material. Its my tablet, my money, let me do as I wish. To add more, you tout it as a replacement for my netbook. My netbook does not have ANY restrictions on what I cant and can install. Hell youre own bloody Mac OS X lets me install anything I want. If this is supposed to bridge the gap from my advanced smartphone to my laptop, then why cant I install my own software that I wish to have. What makes you my moral compass and my parents to tell me what I can and cant do. WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME THIS?
3G
Here is where one of my biggest complaints comes in. It is unlocked for carrier usage but yet no carrier (at least here in America, and I wanna stick my head and say out in Europe) have micro SIM cards. I never even knew these existed before until Steve Jobs blurted it out of his mouth. Then we have it running on AT&T.... bloody AT&T. The same network which has the iPhone data issues, which majority of every customer complains about, which the CEO of AT&T has admitted isnt up to par with what they expect. REALLY? Do you really just ignore your customers and continue going on with a partner who makes you look bad, and cant even fulfill its obligations. And now youre presenting an internetPad, which basically just consumes data for its job. How am I supposed to be assured I will get signal. How will I be assured that I get adequate speeds? I already have issues with them on my iPhone, constantly calling them because of dropped calls and limited to no data. The only upside to this announcement was that unlimited data will be 29.99 a month, no contract. Great... but majority of the time the internet wont work because of ATT. And dont even think about going to T-Mobile... their 3G internet runs on the 1700 MHz frequency, something which the iPad and iPhone dont cover. So, you may have it unlocked, but youre limited to T-Mobiles Edge internet. Dont bother going to Sprint or Verizon, their networks wont support it either. So in the end, 3G wise, im left between a rock, and a hard place. Great Apple, just great.
Pricing.
Pricing seems good, starting at 499 sans 3G capability (with 16GB storage). It has Wi-Fi on all models which is a plus.
Conclusion
The iPad is the first tablet Apple has come out with in this century. Its basically another iPhone scenario. Remember when the first one came out, lacked a lot of features? A year later, new model came out, more features (the ones that people cried for and wanted to have since the beginning) magically appeared? Yeah, remember that? This is basically history repeating itself. Next year, Apple will double the storage and introduce phenomenal and wonderful features that they believe consumers will want. Well... guess what? THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE FROM THE BEGINNING. Its like giving the iPhone 3G and 3GS MMS, but not giving it to the original one. Next year I can guarantee you it will have a front facing camera for video-chatting, multitasking (if iPhone 4.0) doesnt bring this, it will have ports, things that should be there NOW. Apple just brought out a limited product because it knows the hardcore fanboys and stupid people will buy anything that has an Apple logo in the back and the words Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China. Please, dont be one of them. Wait a year for the next revision. Youll be glad you did. And for the record Jonathan Ive (lead designer at Apple) when something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical, and that is what the iPad is is wrong. It is not magical. A tablet is NOT magical, it is just pieces of electronics put together. THERE IS NO MAGIC IN THE DEVICE, THERE IS NO MAGIC AROUND OR NEAR THE DEVICE, dont tout this as advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device. Revolutionary, possibly, magical, no. Magical is what I expect to hear from a 5 year old, not a company tag for a product.
Today Apple released its tablet named iPad. This tablet has been the cause of rumor, argument and fantasy lust by apple fanboys for the past 20 years. After reading more than 7+ gadget sites/news organizations this is my personal opinion (coming to you from an apple fanboy who drinks the kool-aid, but doesnt oversaturate himself).
The design
The design seems flawless, and a winner in my perspective. Just like the first iPhone, I feel that Apple cant really improve on the design it has shown us right now. Its a 4x3 screen display, 10x7 pixels. It seems like a winner, and I like it.
I/O
The I/O (input & output) ports get me mad. This is Apple at its best, limiting the ports they give you because they know best for you. Apple is touting this as the replacement of the cheap netbook and something you would use on a daily basis at home. The average cheapest netbook out there, includes more I/O ports than the Unibody MacBook does. This says something! Apple doesnt change their simplistic way of thinking and only includes a headphone jack and dock connector as ports. No USB, no firewire, nada. Instead, they provide you with accessories to purchase (hence giving them more money) to connect an SD card or a USB, or even display it to a monitor. Im sorry, but this is just stupid. You want this (iPad) to replace my netbook, or small laptop... but instead offer me no ports to work with, and want me to purchase adapters to make some current cables (which are universally compatible) work with an iPad.
Storage
When Steve Jobs today announced that the iPad was coming in 3 storage flavors, my blood instantly boiled. Whenever I buy a computer, or a netbook or a laptop it comes with a pre-determined storage space sized. I understand this. What I also understand is that I can pop out the hard drive, or SSD it has inside and pop in my own, not void my warranty and still get more space. The iPad instead comes with pre-determined storage sizes. 16, 32, and 64GB respectively. This is not user upgradable just like the iPhone. Im sorry Apple, but I want to upgrade my storage with an SD card or a hard drive when I wish. This is no an iPod to which I can upgrade every year. I dont wanna have lying around 2 iPads because I outgrew the storage size of my first one, and decided I needed more space so I bought another one. Were in a damn recession and I am not going to be spending money like this.
OS
The Operating System is the same one which runs on my iPhone, which is a good and bad thing. Apple touts it has a blazing fast 1GHz custom chip inside. Good. The problem, I cant do much with it. Apple thinks im smart enough to actually use iWork on the go and make presentations and word documents, browse the incomplete web, but apparently im stupid enough not to know how to run Pandora streaming music in the background and read a book or surf the web. I dont get it. I have a fast processor underneath me, but I cant use it to its potential because Apple thinks Im stupid. Wheres my multi-tasking Apple?
Steve Jobs also mentioned that its the full internet in your hands... not really. The internet has flash. Lots of it. Just go to ANY major website; CNN, ABC, MSNBC, Facebook, etc. THEY ALL HAVE FLASH. I cant have the full internet in my hands if I cant run flash. Some webpages depend solely on it. So... in Apples mentality, if they run flash or have flash, they are not considered part of the internet. Very nice Apple, segregate who you believe is not worth to run your tablet. To add insult to injury, you tout you have a blazing fast processor. So why cant this run flash without a problem? Makes you wonder. I have more grips with the iPhone OS, but hopefully OS 4.0 will change and rectify these grips.
App Store
You tout this as a replacement for a netbook, but yet I cant install my own software. I have to install the software which YOU ALONE allow me too. Yes it comes from developers who made them, but you approved them. And by the way, youre approval system needs to be checked because at times it allows things for which you say I cant have. While on that note, why cant I have things that you say are not suitable for me? If im an adult, purchased this with my own money, I should be allowed to install whatever I want. Even if thats adult content or discretionary material. Its my tablet, my money, let me do as I wish. To add more, you tout it as a replacement for my netbook. My netbook does not have ANY restrictions on what I cant and can install. Hell youre own bloody Mac OS X lets me install anything I want. If this is supposed to bridge the gap from my advanced smartphone to my laptop, then why cant I install my own software that I wish to have. What makes you my moral compass and my parents to tell me what I can and cant do. WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME THIS?
3G
Here is where one of my biggest complaints comes in. It is unlocked for carrier usage but yet no carrier (at least here in America, and I wanna stick my head and say out in Europe) have micro SIM cards. I never even knew these existed before until Steve Jobs blurted it out of his mouth. Then we have it running on AT&T.... bloody AT&T. The same network which has the iPhone data issues, which majority of every customer complains about, which the CEO of AT&T has admitted isnt up to par with what they expect. REALLY? Do you really just ignore your customers and continue going on with a partner who makes you look bad, and cant even fulfill its obligations. And now youre presenting an internetPad, which basically just consumes data for its job. How am I supposed to be assured I will get signal. How will I be assured that I get adequate speeds? I already have issues with them on my iPhone, constantly calling them because of dropped calls and limited to no data. The only upside to this announcement was that unlimited data will be 29.99 a month, no contract. Great... but majority of the time the internet wont work because of ATT. And dont even think about going to T-Mobile... their 3G internet runs on the 1700 MHz frequency, something which the iPad and iPhone dont cover. So, you may have it unlocked, but youre limited to T-Mobiles Edge internet. Dont bother going to Sprint or Verizon, their networks wont support it either. So in the end, 3G wise, im left between a rock, and a hard place. Great Apple, just great.
Pricing.
Pricing seems good, starting at 499 sans 3G capability (with 16GB storage). It has Wi-Fi on all models which is a plus.
Conclusion
The iPad is the first tablet Apple has come out with in this century. Its basically another iPhone scenario. Remember when the first one came out, lacked a lot of features? A year later, new model came out, more features (the ones that people cried for and wanted to have since the beginning) magically appeared? Yeah, remember that? This is basically history repeating itself. Next year, Apple will double the storage and introduce phenomenal and wonderful features that they believe consumers will want. Well... guess what? THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE FROM THE BEGINNING. Its like giving the iPhone 3G and 3GS MMS, but not giving it to the original one. Next year I can guarantee you it will have a front facing camera for video-chatting, multitasking (if iPhone 4.0) doesnt bring this, it will have ports, things that should be there NOW. Apple just brought out a limited product because it knows the hardcore fanboys and stupid people will buy anything that has an Apple logo in the back and the words Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China. Please, dont be one of them. Wait a year for the next revision. Youll be glad you did. And for the record Jonathan Ive (lead designer at Apple) when something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical, and that is what the iPad is is wrong. It is not magical. A tablet is NOT magical, it is just pieces of electronics put together. THERE IS NO MAGIC IN THE DEVICE, THERE IS NO MAGIC AROUND OR NEAR THE DEVICE, dont tout this as advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device. Revolutionary, possibly, magical, no. Magical is what I expect to hear from a 5 year old, not a company tag for a product.
