" In 10 years of reviewing tech products for The New York
Times, I've never seen a product as polarising as Apple's iPad, which arrives
in US stores on Saturday. ", thus goes the saying of David Pogue, the
product reviewer for The New York Times News service.
As I have already mentioned in my previous
post about the hype
that the iPad has created, it is now evident from the above mentioned quote
that the iPad has attracted comments from all kinds of people, some 'for' it and some 'against' it.
So here I am going to divide the pros and cons of the Apple iPad
as per user reviews from various sources. Let’s have a look at the cons first :
i) The
Apple iPad is basically a gigantic iPod Touch.
ii) There’s
an e-book reader app, but with 60,000 titles for now, there’s not much to
select from.
iii) Reading
in direct sunlight is poor, and at around 1.5 pounds, the iPad gets heavy in
the hand after a while.
iv) When
the iPad is upright, typing on the on-screen keyboard is a horrible experience,
and when its turned 90 degrees the keyboard is just about usable. A keyboard
dock will be available later, but then the user needs to carry two pieces.
v) The
iPad cannot play flash videos. Even though Apple has already provided a list of
“iPad-ready” sites like the CNN and some other, but still flash is the web’s
most popular video format.
vi) No
USB ports, no camera. That means no more Skype video chat.
That’s
enough for the negative points. Now let’s look at the pros :
i) The bigger size
of the multi-touch screen changes the whole experience. Maps become real, paper
like maps.
ii) The e-book reader
is filled with endearing grace notes. On turning a page, the animated page edge
follows the finger position and curls, just like a real page. Tapping a word
gives its dictionary definition or the
option to look it up on Google or Wiki.
iii) Apple products
are all about apps. The 150000 existing iPhone apps will run on the iPad,
either in actual size or doubled to fill the screen. But the real fun will be
with the apps made specially for the iPad.
iv) The battery life
is excellent. According to Apple, the iPad can play video continuously for 10
hours, but reviews have confirmed that its more than 10 hours...thats almost 4
times of a portable DVD player.
v) Finally, the best
thing about the iPad is that, it will give a whole new experience to the users.
The iPad will be available in the stores from 3 April, Saturday.
