Well, after months of rumor and speculation, it finally got announced last night… Apple’s iPad.
But right from the get-go, sadly, I’ve found the whole thing totally underwhelming. I was expecting this thing to be totally awesome and to totally blow my world apart like the iPhone did… but sadly not so much.
Firstly is the name. I was really disappointed that they called it iPad. It is just too close to iPod. Period.With so many people out there, all with different and unique accents, I can so see myself having to clarify iPod and iPad at least once. 
In addition, as per the Twitter feed, I’ve noticed a lot of people think it sounds very much like a tampon name as well, which definitely isn’t helping (Possibly the Wii all over again 
)
I’m not sure what the branding marketing strategy was behind that, but it failed. Epically. The rumored name that was floating around ‘iSlate’ sounded so much cooler, and definitely did not suffer any of the above problems.
Secondly is the hardware. Even if the iPad is just a glorified giant iPhone, it’s missing half the hardware features and functionalities of the iPhone. Things we take for granted like a camera, as well as things that make sense like USB ports are just missing. Overall, the hardware is just lacking.
And lastly…. I have no idea what I would do with one. I already have an iPhone, and a laptop… so all of my basic functionality is covered. The only potential application I can see for it is reading e-books on a larger screen (Which is impossible on iPhones and clunky on PCs). But if I really wanted an e-book reader, chances are I’d be better off with an Amazon Kindle.
So my overall impression at the moment is a resounding ‘meh’. It definitely looks pretty, and I hear it handles a lot snappier, but at the moment, there’s not much compelling stuff to want to buy one.
I’ll keep an open mind out though. It’s possible that once iPad specific software starts to come out, this might change everyone’s mind. I for one would probably instantly go out and buy one if they make an app that replicates the Star Trek PADDs perfectly.
In any case, what do you think of the iPad? Are you going to get one?
Check it's tech page at Apple's website, there is GPS on the 3G model. Besides the camera, what hardware is it missing that the iPhone has? Since it's running iPhone apps, I think that's a better comparison.
What do you want a USB port for, besides to have it? There is a dock-connector accessory that provides a USB port for uploading pics from your camera, as well as one that reads a SD card. Check Apple's web pages on the iPad.
And, uhm, what do the Star Trek pads actually do? Can anybody actually understand what's being presented? Looks more like what you want your boss to see when checking up on you. :-) I'm sure you could easily make an app that presents that interface style, but what data you would be showing is beyond my imagination. :-/
It can't multitask or run flash.
The Star Trek Padds were essentially data terminals, usually read-only with some options for analysis. I think the one in the screenshot is showing a layout of DS9.
Now LCARS is where the shit is at, multi-touch do-anything ship-wide OS. Need to steer the ship, there's an app for that. Hail enemy vessel? There's an app for that. Reverse the tachyon pulse to close the space-time disturbance, there's an app for that too.
Ahh, whoops. I see that now. Yeah the 3G model has a GPS unit. Okay
I'll update that.
I did a bit more thinking about this today, as well as asked a few
people what they thought personally on it.
In regards to the camera, sure taking pictures with it would be kind
of weird, but considering it's equipped with the digital compass and
GPS, it would be an excellent chance to innovate the video overlay
(ie, looking through the iPad and seeing areas of interest in your
surroundings highlighted) tech that's evolving on the 3GS now.
I'm surprised why you would even ask about USB ports. I would expect
peripheral functionality on a device like this to be standard. Sure
it's weird on an iPhone, but not for this.
LOL. Okay, you're definitely not a Star Trek fan if you need to ask that.
I'm mainly just making light on the fact this is one of the first
devices that is making that piece of Star Trek tech a reality.
And DW is right. Lack of multi-tasking is huge too.
I guess it's boiling down to this. Apple is trying to force the iPhone
mobile device OS paradigm on a device that could easily be many times
more functional and _useful_ if it just ran OSX.
Apple had so much potential for innovation here, and all we got was a
glorified oversized iPod Touch.
[...] little while ago, I wrote a rather scathing (also slightly incorrect) article on the iPad just after it had been announced. A few months later (and still no sign of it coming to Australia [...]