Apple’s iPad: First Thoughts

Written by Michael Swengel on January 30, 2010

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Traditionally, Apple’s products have been innovative and interesting – appealing to a large portion of the tech community.

The Apple II kicked off the age of personal computing. The iPod changed the way people listen to music and audio content. The iPhone has revolutionized the smartphone and mobile computing industries.

Can Apple’s newest creation, the iPad, compete with the successes of its past?

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THE GOOD:

Screen:

The iPad’s 9.7″ all-glass screen is a vast improvement over the iPhone’s 3.5″ screen. It provides a much greater work area than that of it’s cousin.

Processor:

The iPad sports a custom Apple A4 processor with a clock speed of 1GHz. In a mobile device, that’s impressive. The iPhone 3G[s] processor clocks in at 600MHz. The iPhone 3G has a 412MHz CPU.

Wireless tech:

I was pleased to hear that the iPad will be sold in two editions. For users that only need WiFi connectivity, there is a version of the iPad sans 3G technology. For those who want to be connected on the go, Apple will offer a version with both WiFi and 3G. This helps to hold down the price for those who only need WiFi.

Mobile office:

Apple is offering a version of its own office suite, iWork, for the iPad. Apple’s mobile iWork apps (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) will be available for a mere $9.99 each. The mobile edition of iWork is claimed to have most of the capabilities of its Mac counterpart – including support for Microsoft Office formats. A mobile office suite makes the device a true mobile computer.

iPhone app support:

Because the iPad runs a version of the iPhone OS, it can already run most of the 140,000+ apps available in the App Store. Apple’s latest beta SDK includes support for native iPad applications, but while you wait for large-screen versions of your favorite apps, this is a good substitute.

Built-in microphone and speaker:

The iPad features a built-in microphone and speaker which opens the door to VOIP applications like Vonage and Skype.

Storage capacity:

With 16, 32, or 64GB of flash storage, the iPad offers plenty of room for your music, videos, and apps.

Price:

Many of us expected the iPad to sell for no less than $1,000 USD – base model. I was pleasantly surprised to learn the base price is a mere $499. (16GB, Wi-Fi only model)

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THE BAD:

No camera:

Apple’s most glaring omission is that of a camera. I understand that the iPad is designed to be a portable computing tool – not necessarily a media device. However, a camera is something that should not be left out. The iPhone has a camera. The Mac laptops have cameras. Why not the iPad?

No expandable storage:

Really, how difficult would it have been for Apple to include an SDHC (or similar standard) card slot in this device? A card slot would make the storage capacity of the iPad virtually limitless. (Of course, that may be the reason Apple didn’t include a card slot.)

No multitasking:

As of version 3.2, the iPhone OS still does not support multitasking (without jailbreaking, of course). The iPad clearly has the power required for multitasking. This is simply something Apple has not enabled for its mobile devices. I’m hopeful that iPhone OS 4.0 will enable this functionality.

No Adobe Flash™ support:

Adobe Flash™ is a rich internet application (RIA) framework that allows content publishers to deliver interactive, engaging media to users across platforms. To date, no version of Apple’s iPhone OS has supported Flash. This means any site that uses the Flash framework will have no choice but to display the infamous blue lego where Flash content should be.

Flash has become an integral part of the Web 2.0 experience. Therefore, no mobile internet device is complete without support for Flash. Android and WebOS both support Flash. Isn’t about time for your mobile OS to support it as well, Apple?

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THE VERDICT:

As with any new device, the iPad isn’t perfect. It’s a new product that has not yet been tested by the masses. In the next six to eight months, I expect we will learn what shortcomings the iPad has – and will see them fixed (to some degree) in the iPad’s second generation.

Take the iPod Touch line for example. The first generation iPod Touch, compared to the more recent models, was ugly, expensive, and had few features. It had no built-in speaker, no microphone support and no hardware volume control.

iPod Touch second generation brought with it a more polished look, more speed, a built-in speaker, and more.

I suspect this is what we will see with the iPad. The iPad, as it is today, is a great start. The second edition will be better with more features and fixed bugs. And who knows, perhaps iPhone OS 4.0 will allow Flash. (Yes I know it’s not likely.)

My recommendation: Watch the iPad closely over the next 6-12 months. I am confident the next generation will blow the current revision out of the water.

P.S. Apple… about the name… “iPad”?? Really!?