The Blog

  • May 11, 2011
  • I want an iPad (almost)

    I am an Apple enthusiast but once in a while I need to hit them about the head and shoulders with an old tire tool.  You know?

    I was in the Apple Store last weekend paying the Apple tax, buying my wife an iPhone.  It was time.  The phone she was using had a battery that wouldn’t hold a charge.  Still it was an effort to get her into the store.  But once there…What to do?  Buy a battery or upgrade?

    Think, think, think pooh bear.

    We bought an iPhone.  While she was spending the better part of a half hour picking out a case I messed with the iPads.

    Now the iPad is a nice, nice, nice piece of gear and everyone can and ought to covet one.  But in a practical mood you have to look at the thing and ask why.

    It doesn’t have a gosh darn USB port.  Not one!

    It also lacks a true keyboard, which I reluctantly understand, more or less.

    But it’s also a 3G device, which simply doesn’t cut it these days.

    Does it even have a microphone?  I dunno.

    The 3G bit is probably the most severe limitation in my humble….I can live with some of the other constraints, I think in my most charitable moments, but then the analyst in me gets busy.

    Look, iPad is a content consumption device and that might be fine for most of the people on the planet who can plunk down the hundreds of bucks it takes to bring one home.  I can’t.  I am a content creator and I like that about me and I need a device that ***understands*** that.  You know?

    iPad strikes me as the next form factor, and maybe the right form factor, in personal digital assistants but for it to work in my life I need output AND input.  Steve are you listening?

    Meanwhile the MacBook Air series is here and that’s more my speed, I guess.  Still there is the appeal of the form factor.

    Published: 13 years ago


    Discussion

    • May 12th, 2011 at 10:59 am    

      How to get around the iPad limitations (my take):

      1. You are totally correct; its a content CONSUMPTION tool. If expectations stay there; you are good.

      2. Don’t buy the service plan !! Buy the model that connects via wi-fi. On a campus, at your place of business; almost everywhere you go … there will be a connection available.

      3. Keep your content in the cloud. Save what you really need.

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