The Obligatory iPad Post

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably heard that Apple announced the iPad yesterday. As a huge Apple fanboy enthusiast, I feel I must share my thoughts on the device that many will be drooling over for quite some time.

The iPad looks like an amazing device. Anyone that’s saying “what do I need this for if I have an iPhone or iPod Touch” either hasn’t really read up on what the iPad can do or isn’t in the target demographic to begin with. It’s going to revolutionize the publishing industry in ways that the Kindle has only just scratched the surface on and it’s going to bring the concept of minimalist computing (i.e. “netbooks”) to the mainstream.

There’s also a lot that it can’t do, which is why I plan on waiting a while before iPadding!

What It Can Do
The iPad is going to be an amazing device for watching video on. I’ve watched many movies and video podcasts on my iPhone and never had any complaints, but after watching video on the iPad I have a feeling it will make the thought of going back to the smaller screen hard to swallow.

Reading books & magazines is going to be absolutely amazing. If you haven’t seen the Sports Illustrated demo for tablet computers, this is the potential that the iPad holds:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1]

Surfing the web and running apps will also be a wonderful experience. Even with the limited demo that Steve Jobs gave during his keynote it’s clear that the browsing experience on the iPad puts the iPhone and iPod Touch to shame. This isn’t a knock on those devices, it’s just the simple fact that the iPad gives developers much more room to work with in creating apps without the tiny screen size limitations.

Aside from the above mentioned features, the iPad can do almost everything the iPhone can do. Almost.

What It Can’t Do
The biggest disappointment I have with the iPad is its lack of a camera. A device like this could be so wonderful for video conferencing that it really blows my mind that this wasn’t included. I understand that Apple is trying to keep the price as low as possible, but let’s be real here. The iPod Nano has a camera that records pretty good video and they kept the price the same as the previous model that did not have one. A camera of that quality would’ve been completely sufficient for simple iChat video conferencing.

Another thing I find strange is the placement of the pin connector. Putting it on the bottom really makes it look awkward when plugged into the keyboard dock. This is something that can most likely be remedied by a third-party accessory, but it just seems odd to me that Apple didn’t do this to begin with.

Imagine the possibilities if you could plug this into the keyboard dock sideways and use a bluetooth mouse. You’d basically have an iMac with a docking station.

Well, not quite.

Aside from the camera, my biggest complaint with the iPad is that it’s not really a true laptop replacement. Because its operating system is a modified version of the iPhone OS, it doesn’t give the user a true Mac OS X experience. The only apps that can be legitimately loaded are those available in the App Store.

With all the hype surrounding the launch of the iPad, there were many expectations out there. I think the iPad lives up to many of them, and I absolutely believe there is going to be a large market for this device. If I am Amazon, I’m very scared right now. The Kindle, which was called by some the “iPod of eReaders,” now looks extremely outdated. Sure, Kindle loyalists will tell you that “digital ink” is much better than looking at a screen, but you can’t get your email or surf Facebook on the Kindle. Yet.

So yes, I do want an iPad, but I am not going to shell out $500+ on one anytime in the near future, given that the next model will most likely be released in a year and feature a camera and much more than 16GB of storage in the base model. That being said, I certainly won’t turn away anyone that wants to gift me on.

I’ll be saving my money for the next generation iPhone which should be announced in a few months.