Originally Posted by
antkm1 
last night i had the opportunity to try the new iPad that a friend brought over.
I'd have to say that i am on the fence about this device. there are many great things abotu it and some that just don't make sence.
1. consistancey with app features seems to be a spotty at best. The iBooks app allows you to "flip" pages, however the Contacts and Calander apps look like books but you can't "flip" them the same way. this is nit-picking of course, it would be nice to be consistant with the UI. Don't make it look like a book if you can't flip the pages like a book.
2. safari changes. I know Apple might think that makeing the browser look like full Safari is better but I really liked all the hot buttons at the bottom of the screen. since you hold the iPad towards the bottom of the display, it seems even more obvious to place hot buttons, like the iphone/touch, at the bottom of the screen.
3. keyboard. as much as SJ says the keyboard is confortable to type on, it really isn't. Sitting it on my lap i felt very cramped when typing (no way to rest my wrists on my lap comfortably. it's too heavy to get a comfortable angle while typing and it slides down my lap to my croch constantly. it's not a full size keyboard and not an iphone sized one...so it's difficult to find the sweet spot between one two finger typing and 10 finger typing. Additionally, with the screen realestate that the keyboard takes up, why not just put the number keys on the primary screen with symbols as a shift function. the keyboard takes up about 40% of the screen in landscape mode anyway. i would have sacrificed key size for more keys on the home keyboard layout.
4. info bar. I'm sure this is an app developer thing, but i'd really love to have the home status bar at the top and visible in all apps. if i'm working on a game or in a book reading, or any app in general, i'd love to see my battery display and time show up.
5. aluminum back. I just can't seem to hold this thing in a way that feels comfortable, or doesn't feel nails on a chaulkboard. the aluminum uni-body is cool and sleek, but i'd much rather have the polycarbonate of the iPhone body. it's much more comfortable to hold and has a nice soft feel to it. Additionally, a pound feels a lot heavier than i thought while holding this in one hand. Of course i'm a weakling geek but two hands or resting on the arm of my sofa seem to be the best positions.
6. No calculator? Uhm, why not? and why not update it to have graphing functionality? I'm sure there's a Trig/calc/physics Student out there that would love to be able to have this as a all-in-one device. I guess i'll have to download a non-native buggy app for that.
7. still need a computer. I know SJ wants this to suppliment a computer, but for people like my mom, a child, a grandparent or just someone that only uses internet, email and music/videos/games...this device is REALLY all you need. Why not offer a base station (like the time capsule) that you can connect a network jack from a modem and keep that as the storage device to sync from? Forget the idea of syncing to a computer. This device has enough functionality for the average person to use AS a primary device. I ask WHY NOT?
8. Home/office networking. Why can't they just put "Finder" on as an app? You have sync to a WiFi network anyway, why not allow us to see other devices on the network? I know at work, this is WAY better than emailing myself a file from the iPad and then going to my computer and downloading that attachment and saving it to the local network. Same thing at home. This is just stupid if you ask me. Same thing with Printing. I can print to a wifi printer from my MBP, why not allow the iPad to as well?
7. Drawing. I KNOW THERE ARE TONS OF 3rd PARTY SKETCHING APPS FOR THIS. But, you still can't use a stylus. WHY NOT be able to scribble in the Native Notes app like a real notepad? Of course i'm an architect and i'm precices about my drawing, for good reason, but sketching with my finger is like the difference between drawing with a pencil and a sharpie. you just can't get precice enough without zooming and it's tough to draw precicely when you finger is covering up lines you need to see. But that's just me. For an architect, this would be the perfect device to take on construction administration, the problem is you have to take notes on your drawings. Handwriting recognition would be so much better in that scinario. and a full version of Acrobat on the device.
8. magazines and other periodicals. I REALLY hope magazine publisher don't jsut create "APPS". PLEASE make them available as single issue downloads from the iBookstore or subscription services.
anyway, i'll probably still end up buying one, because the alternatives are very slim and at this point, it's the best we've got, at least for the next 5 or so years. Apple will add new features, but most of what i've described above will probably never happen. And i don't want a laptop to just check email on the couch, and my iPhone is too small to do any real web browing, so it's the best we've got.
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