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13 Glaring iPad Shortcomings
LiveScience.com via yahoo ^ | Mon Apr 5, 1:10 am ET | Ker Than and Robert Roy Britt

Posted on 04/05/2010 1:11:49 PM PDT by Touch Not the Cat

It's Awkward You can't carry it on your hip like a phone, so it presents the same portability issues as any laptop - you'll need a case of some sort to protect it and carry the power cable.

It's heavy To be sure, at 1.5 pounds and with all this functionality, the iPad is an impressive feat of engineering. But it's simply not light enough

It's slippery We might ignore the awkward size and weight, but the iPad is also slippery, and its aluminum back is ever-so-slightly slightly concave.

The screen has too much glare The iPad has the same glossy screen as Apple's Macbook Pro laptops and iMac desktops. Unless you're reading in a very dim room, the glare will be noticeable and can be distracting.

Forget reading in the sun If you thought to take your iPad along for an outing in Central Park or at the beach, forget about it.

Fingerprints are annoying

It does not multitask The iPad runs the same operating system as the iPhone, and as a result has all of the iPhone's limitations.

The browser is limited The iPad also uses the same limited Safari browser that's found on the iPhone

The virtual keyboard stinks

There's no USB port

iPhone-only apps look horrible Apple boasts that many of the 150,000 apps already available on the iPhone will also work on the iPad

The price is just too high

$499 is just the beginning, a low-memory model that will fill up too quickly for anyone with a big music library and/or an appetite for video.

It doesn't replace anything

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: ilovebillgates; ipad; itard; iwanthim; iwanthimbad; microsoftfanboys; shortcomings; w843rdgener8tion
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To: Star Traveler

‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be using your motto... :-)”

using, heck you’re living it


81 posted on 04/05/2010 6:37:14 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: SmokingJoe

Rove is very talented. He’s fairly conservative compared to people like mccain and romney.


82 posted on 04/05/2010 6:38:25 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: driftdiver
You were saying to another FReeper ...

using, heck you’re living it

When you get out of "Alice in Wonderland" ... give us a call ... :-)

83 posted on 04/05/2010 6:46:23 PM PDT by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: Star Traveler

I have pretty much quit responding to the flamers on the Apple threads and just move past them. I went to the Apple products cause I was sick of Windows and find the Apple products to be superior.

It seems weird to me though, that so many people can’t get through their heads the fact that the reason a lot of us went to Apple was because we DID HAVE experience with Microsoft Windows, not because we were ignorant of it.

I remember what shoved me over the edge. It was Windows ME. I’m surprised the anti-virus programs would let you install it.


84 posted on 04/05/2010 6:49:12 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
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To: Canedawg; RightOnTheLeftCoast
You were saying ...

You need a bigger microwave oven to store it in.

Ummmm..., well, I've got one criticism of Apple here... I don't think they've given adequate warning about keeping the iPad off the dashboard of a car in 110-degree weather with all the windows rolled up in the car.

I mean ... "what the heck!" -- if we can't trust Apple to do this!

85 posted on 04/05/2010 6:49:28 PM PDT by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: Richard Kimball
You were saying to another FReeper ...

I remember what shoved me over the edge. It was Windows ME. I’m surprised the anti-virus programs would let you install it.

LOL ... true, very true ...

86 posted on 04/05/2010 6:50:39 PM PDT by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: Star Traveler

LoL

These people just want to complain and whine about Apple products. Nothing else to do I guess!


87 posted on 04/05/2010 6:54:56 PM PDT by GulfWar1Vet
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To: Swordmaker
presents the same portability issues as any laptop - you'll need a case of some sort to protect it and carry the power cable
As with a laptop or netbook, the "case" can consist of a kevlar bag. The power cable will be necessary after 10 or 11 hours use, iow, B.S.
It's heavy... at 1.5 pounds... it's simply not light enough
Maybe Apple can buy weight credits from people with brains small enough to write articles like this -- Al Gore can set this up.
We might ignore the awkward size and weight, but the iPad is also slippery
File that one under, "selling points that will push the price of Apple stock close to $400 and prove popular with the millions of 2010 buyers of the product."
The screen has too much glare... Forget reading in the sun If you thought to take your iPad along for an outing in Central Park or at the beach, forget about it.
Also forget about walking through Central Park carrying anything that looks the least bit valuable.
Fingerprints are annoying
Especially to safecrackers and other criminals.
It does not multitask... same operating system as the iPhone... all of the iPhone's limitations.
Ah! That explains the slow sales of the iPhone.
The browser is limited The iPad also uses the same limited Safari browser that's found on the iPhone
Ah! We finally get down to it -- the writer could just have written "I hate all Apple products" thirteen times.
The virtual keyboard stinks
Eight...
There's no USB port
It's a mobile wireless product, and has a port for a dock, for those who just have to transfer the photos they can't take with it because it doesn't have a camera. ;') Three choices -- 16, 32, 64 gb primary storage, dock that isn't a USB port, oh no, if one doesn't care to use wireless options -- and you'll be at home, so carrying some small extra item won't be necessary.
many of the 150,000 apps already available on the iPhone will also work on the iPad
but they look horrible, so does yo mama.
The price is just too high
So was whatever the editor paid for this screed.
$499 is just the beginning, a low-memory model that will fill up too quickly for anyone with a big music library and/or an appetite for video.
That's one of those straw man things -- there's no impediment to interfacing and archiving stuff from the iPad, the 16 gb model isn't the only model, and anyone with a big music library probably doesn't need mobile computing because they never leave the house anymore.
It doesn't replace anything
Sure it does -- it replaces Flash.

Netbooks didn't replace anything either -- except for replacing small margins for computer makers with even smaller margins for computer makers.

This product will be a winner (assuming the Chinese OEMs don't screw the pooch as they did with the early runs of 27" iMacs); the biggest winner will be those who want to include SSD units in low-end netbooks and laptops running non-Apple OSes, because production has been rising since the supposed shortage supposedly caused by Apple last year.
88 posted on 04/05/2010 7:38:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: Richard Kimball

Particularly that third category. :’)


89 posted on 04/05/2010 7:39:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: hocndoc

In the world of USB stuff, a gizmo is either a master (host) or slave (device). Hosts are in control of the relationship, acting as the brains of the operation. Devices are subordinates which can come or go, performing the will of the master. A computer per se is a host. A printer, storage unit, camera, music player, etc. is a device. Macs are hosts; iP**s are devices. You plug an iPod, iPhone, iPad, into the computer for service.

In this case, the iPad is pretty smart on its own, but still just behaves as a USB storage “device”. ...and this is part of the problem with so much criticism of the iPad: people expect it to act as a computer aka host (”where’s the USB port? why can’t I plug my printer/storage/Ethernet/camera/whatever into it?”) when really it is just another “device”; if you want to do computer-type stuff with it (print, access removable media, add a camera, etc.), use a computer.


90 posted on 04/05/2010 8:21:02 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (+)
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To: driftdiver

It’s not supposed to be a computer. You want USB support and real horsepower, get a computer. As per my previous post, it’s a USB _device_, not a _host_ and should not be expected to act like one.


91 posted on 04/05/2010 8:24:29 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (+)
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To: appeal2

How much do books cost for the ipad? I end up with a lot of books laying around the house after I finish them.


92 posted on 04/05/2010 8:32:18 PM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: Mr. Blonde

Thursday.


93 posted on 04/05/2010 8:36:12 PM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Heh. Akin to my list earlier.

Elaborating...

Most people carry SOMETHING big enough to spare space for an 8x10x.5” device. Insofar as it’s big enough to actually use, it’s hardly there. The “power cable” is a mere skinny USB-to-iPod cable requiring little more room.

The lack of a physical keyboard is another great step in Apple’s record of removing stuff users really don’t need. Yeah they’ll whine ... and then buy it and love it without what’s missing.

No USB port? for what purpose? Only real need is the postage-stamp-sized adapter for cameras ... oh wait, that’s available and it’s the size of a postage stamp.

Not enough storage? it’s made for what data you’re actually using, not archival purposes. My whole music collection is 48GB, and 90% of that I’m not going to listen to anyway. Now with iTunes 9.1, I’ll re-rip my whole collection to lossless, and auto-compress what I need when I want to fit - hardly taking up much space at all where I’m actually going to listen to what I’m actually going to listen to. Likewise for video: recompressed, what you’re actually going to watch won’t take up that much space if you’re not goofy enough to want to dump ALL your videos on there. And both music & video are moot points with the growing dominance of Pandora and Netflix et al streaming.

And it’s not supposed to _replace_ anything. It’s something new, so please people stop complaining that it isn’t what, well, it isn’t.


94 posted on 04/05/2010 8:37:34 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (+)
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To: GulfWar1Vet

Is it simply the UI that is attractive, or what?


95 posted on 04/05/2010 8:40:20 PM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: SkyDancer

LOL. Love that picture. :)


96 posted on 04/05/2010 8:46:49 PM PDT by Crolis ("Nemo me impune lacessit!" - "No one provokes me with impunity!")
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To: gitmo

Haven’t bought any yet but I believe they go for 9.95 and 12.95.


97 posted on 04/05/2010 9:01:49 PM PDT by appeal2 (Don't steal, the government hates competition.)
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To: gitmo

As with everything, it pays to shop around for the best price on a book that you want. I download either from Kindle, eReader, Stanza, or Fictionwise, mostly.

I haven’t downloaded any from iBook yet. Have several I am reading first that I downloaded before getting the iPad, and that I have synced over to it.

Stanza has tons of books that are free, particularly if you love the classics.


98 posted on 04/05/2010 10:05:57 PM PDT by jacquej
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To: ctdonath2

So I’m gonna pay $500 - $800 for something without horsepower or ability to really do anything except look like a big iPhone??? All at the price of a low end laptop or mid-range desktop?

Other manufacturers are coming out with similar products that actually have the potential to replace the need for a laptop.


99 posted on 04/06/2010 3:12:57 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: driftdiver

Yes.
Because it’s not a desktop.
Because it’s not a notebook.
Because it IS a “big iPhone”.
Which is what some people want.


100 posted on 04/06/2010 4:04:13 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (+)
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