Well, my prediction was wrong. After all these years, rumors have become reality: The iPad exists.
So, here are my thoughts about it:
- The name is silly.
- The lack of multitasking (they would have mentioned it if it was allowed) is definitely a problem. I don’t mind this limitation on the iPhone, but I can’t see anybody doing office work without being able to switch to email, browser, calendar, and messaging applications. I’m sure Apple knows that, and has come up with some solution.
- Maybe apps really save their state always, and are starting up so quick that it doesn’t really matter if an app is running or not, the springboard just mimics an Exposé.
- The A4 is running at 1GHz and has a graphics chip built in. I think this is interesting; Apple may become CPU/GPU-independent in the future. A4 in the 4th-gen iPhone?
- Nobody seems to know about the RAM. But I guess it’s not fast enough for tasks like video editing or compiling.
- Somehow, I’d like to code on that thing! TextMate 2 for iPad?
- The user interface seems strange to me…a crossover of the iPhone OS full-screen, one-app-at-a-time interface on a traditional Mac OS X desktop?
- Why in the world did they put in a compass and a microphone?
- The keyboard is “almost to scale” – what’s that supposed to mean? How am I to type on this thing? Do I always need a chair? (They really needed that armchair for the presentation.)
- Price: $499 is cool, but why is it so much more expensive with 3G or more storage? But I guess 64GB would be enough for almost every task, for now.
- GPS seems to be limited to the 3G model.
- No camera…so, I take a camera with me and…how to get the photos on the iPad?
- No ports. No USB, no micro display, no nothing. I want to be able to plug in USB sticks! They didn’t even put in one of those SD card slots that recently popped up in MacBooks and iMacs. The answer to this is Accessories. Some of those cost extra; I don’t know if the SD/USB dongles are included.
- Apparently the 3G model uses Micro SIM. That may be a problem, even if it’s unlocked.
- 10 hours battery are nice, but expected.
All in all, it seems I would still need a laptop to perform day-to-day tasks. In its current form, the iPad is no replacement for a MacBook, not even the Air. It will be compared to the Kindle and other tablets, and the price will surely be a major con.
But as Mel Martin says, I’m sure Apple improves it over the next years.