Widescreen... The iPad plays widescreen movies fine...Except for FLASH, the iPad has capability for all these things and the watermelon/rock has none of them.Multitasking... The iPad, like the iPhone, multitasks native Apps fine, currently multitask some third party apps such as Yahoo Messenger's notification and MDN notification just fine, and with the release of iPhone OS4 this fall, will multitask many other third party apps just fine.
Flash Support... It will not support Flash, and probably never will, because Flash is a 32 bit application and iPad and iPhone are 64 bit Operating Systems... and Flash is a resource hog that eats CPU cycles.
Camera/Webcam... With a 99¢ app, available now, the iPad will allow an iPhone 3Gs camera to be controlled and shoot pictures for the iPad and display them on the iPad... in real time. Other apps are on the way that will do the same thing with ANY bluetooth capable camera.
phone/video call... The WIFI capable iPads work just fine with the iPhone version of SKYPE... and will make phone calls to any phone in the world using the built in microphone and speakers.... or to a Bluetooth headset.
Removable battery... First of all, the battery in the iPad is dangerous to handle, secondly, the addition of a battery access port would add weight and complexity and cost to the iPad, and thirdly who needs a replacement battery when the iPad has a measured 11.8 hour life between charges, and a 30 day standby time?
Memory Card Slot... The iPad was designed to be a Cloud based computing device with storage on the cloud. Which memory card of the 14 current standards would Apple have decided to include? Someone would have been excluded no matter which Apple chose. Most people have no need for one, why make them pay the cost for something they will have no need for?
USB Port... The iPad has a USB port as part of the charging access port on the unit... and a accessory USB port is available for purchase for those who feel compelled to have one. However, the purpose of a USB card is rapidly being replaced by Bluetooth enabled devices. For example, Bluetooth printers are becoming standard.
HDMI or VGA... Again, for the vast majority of iPad users, this is totally unnecessary, so why force users to pay for something they would never use. An accessory port with a video out port is available for those small percentage of users who feel the need for a small price.
TV or FM Receiver... Apps are available for both of these to receive streaming music and TV feeds over the internet. Why have heavy hardware add ons to do something that can be done in software?
CD/DVD or Bluray... These are now antique standards... If you want a movie ... download it from the cloud or from your computer. If you have it already on a DVD, use one of the available utilities to rip it to a file and import it to your iPad.
OS X... iPhoneOS is a subset of OSX. However, apps are available that allow an iPad user to access both an OS X Mac or a Windows computer over the internet and fully use either of those computers.
Text Editor... Pages is a full fledged word processor app, with the full ability to create content in either Rich Text Format, text ASCII, or in Microsoft Word format.
So, so much for the smarmy iPad to Watermelon/rock comparisons... they are so much ignorance about the actual capabilities of the iPad... written by people who have not bothered to do even a smidgen of research.
There’s PLENTY of research by knowledgeable people who consider the ipad very short of functionality.
2. That isn't multitasking, it's apptasking, and it blows.
3. Riiiiiiight, unlike "super efficient" Quicktime. LOL
4. So I need 99 cent app.... plus a $300+ iPhone and monthly contract with AT&T to do what a basic laptop can do. FAIL
5. No video means no video. WiFi? Add another $130 to the already outrageous price.
6. It's called a battery-swap, and people who do more than listen to MP3s don't do "charge time."
7. Adapters for USB? Sold seperately! $$$$$
8. Exactly. As for the vast majority of computer users, we use video ports regularly.
9. "a resource hog that eats CPU cycles" suddenly becomes a feature when hardware is shamefully lacking.
10. Blue-Ray is antiquated. Now I've read everything.
11. NOT OSX is NOT OSX
12. On sale now!!! $$$$$$
Thanks for the iPad capability lists.
I have my iPad and I love it.
Thank you for saving me the time of writing that.
Getting irritated at the number of FReepers he11-bent on flinging their favorite insults with no consideration of accuracy.
add VGA:
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/09/real-life-ipad-presenting-with-an-ipad-keynote-and-vga-connec/
Add OSX:
iPhone uses a subset of OSX.
Of course, Windows Mobile and Android will multitask ALL your apps fine. No need to get Microsoft or Google to 'sign off' on your use of multitasking, or use only their special tools (see the new dev license debacle from Apple; slashdot is all up in arms about it).
Flash Support... It will not support Flash, and probably never will, because Flash is a 32 bit application and iPad and iPhone are 64 bit Operating Systems... and Flash is a resource hog that eats CPU cycles.
REALLY? The ARM inside the iPhone and iPad are 32 bit devices; in fact, the iPhone OS currently (and I presume 4.0) is 32 bit only.
Additionally, there are 64-bit-compatible versions of Flash; it runs on the 64 bit versions of Windows and Linux.
Camera/Webcam... With a 99¢ app, available now, the iPad will allow an iPhone 3Gs camera to be controlled and shoot pictures for the iPad and display them on the iPad... in real time. Other apps are on the way that will do the same thing with ANY bluetooth capable camera.
So I can juggle my iPhone while trying to balance and look at my iPad? I guess since there's no camera on the iPad you have to do something... I mean, it's not like other tablets or netbooks have cameras; oops, I guess they do!
phone/video call... The WIFI capable iPads work just fine with the iPhone version of SKYPE... and will make phone calls to any phone in the world using the built in microphone and speakers.... or to a Bluetooth headset.
About time they caught up with Windows Mobile which has run Skype for years... And what about other VOIP tools? Google Voice? The dozens of SIP-compliant tools?
Removable battery... First of all, the battery in the iPad is dangerous to handle, secondly, the addition of a battery access port would add weight and complexity and cost to the iPad, and thirdly who needs a replacement battery when the iPad has a measured 11.8 hour life between charges, and a 30 day standby time?
Yes, those dangerous LiPo batteries that are found in hundreds of cell phones and remote controlled toys, with those untold millions of people maimed or killed. Uh, maybe not... Plenty safe, actually. At least as safe as LiIon batteries which every laptop out there uses - and lets the user change.
Memory Card Slot... The iPad was designed to be a Cloud based computing device with storage on the cloud. Which memory card of the 14 current standards would Apple have decided to include?
Yes, so difficult! I mean, the SDMicro is so huge that you can't use it, and those 8-card-readers that HP, Dell, Toshiba, and about every other laptop maker builds in are just too limiting because they only support the top 8 cards, and thus only about 95% of the market. Better to ignore it all and lock out 100%, rather than just 5%...
And that cloud, better hope it's running and well connected! Of course, we've seen just how reliable that is with AT&T and other networks. And travel, well, get ready for heavy-duty roaming fees overseas - nothing like paying $3.00 per MB to download your e-mail and pictures!
Need I go on? From simply out-and-out technical errors (54 bit OS - sure!) to excuses (too dangerous to handle a battery that millions handle every day without a second thought), this reads like a total Apple apologetic...
I’m going to take you on a few points.
Flash - that is just a sour grapes argument. We don’t have flash so we must not need it. If Lord Job had wanted us to have Flash he would have provided it to us! ;-)
Removable battery - You are making excuses with no really solid engineering backing. If it had to be removable, then other parameters of the design would have changed to accommodate that requirement - likely coming in at near or at the same actual cost. (I’m an engineer...it could have been done.)
The watermelon tastes better too!
I'd have to disagree with you here. MicroSD slots don't take up crap for space and the damn things are upbiquitous. I'd want the ability to swap out data like books, music, or whatever just by inserting a card. Given that 8GB sd cards are now pretty reasonably priced, this would be great feature.
My ownly real problem with MicroSD is that you can't label the things. My favorite form factor for memory cards is still the compactflash, because they are fast, dense, and you can actually write on the stupid things. :-)