The iPad. The oh-so hyped device, christened with the superior being known to humans as Steve Jobs. With all the Apple zealots flocking to masturbate to the Pad’s glossy greatness, a small majority, including me, came to this conclusion: “Wait… What?” This enchanting device is riddled with small, neat, design features, most in practicality terms, but is it really worth it?
(Editor’s Note: This a Editorial, so the opinion/beliefs expressed below are the authors alone. Feel free to email him or leave comment below.)
First off, let’s start off with the specifics of this device. It starts at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model (64GB / 3G) is $829. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90. It’s half an inch thick, 1.5 pounds in weight, with a 9.7 inch capacitive display.
All of a sudden, that five-hundred dollar price tag doesn’t seem like a ridiculously great deal. The iPad has it’s pros: It’s actually a usable tablet. Looking at it is like eye-sex. It’s decently priced as an e-reading device. But, there’s obviously cons: No camera, only assisted GPS with a 3G model+plan, still has flash restrictions, a new sort of DRM, and it’s bezel is fatter than your mother, there is STILL no multi-tasking and it actually isn’t widescreen as originally thought. Also it doesn’t support T-Mobile’s 3G so you’re still restricted to AT&T. I think what Apple was aiming for was a mash of a netbook, e-reader, and a smartphone that was later blessed by Christ.
They kind of reached a some-what middle ground. It can surf the web, read email like a pro and make portable gaming a lot more deck. But it lacks a camera, meaning no videoconferencing. Netbooks do that. Heck, even some phones can do that. Built in GPS would have also made this tile-of-a-device a must have. Even besides all of that, Apple doesn’t even own iPad.com. Or even iBooks.com, the iPad’s fascinating e-book reader. Even if the interface is a lot cooler than the iPhone’s, and it looks pretty, it’s gonna take a lot more than design for me to buy that Apple device. Here’s a suggestion: Thorough functionality. A novel concept, innit? But, what can I say? For the past 10 years, if it’s the way they wanted it, it’s the way you want it.
P.S: If those “pad” jokes the iPad is receiving are anything, they’re bad karma, Apple.
-Anay