Sunday, April 29, 2012

What I think of the ipad

Until recently I have not used an iPad myself. My wife has just bought one and I am now able to get familiarized with the iPad. I am pleased with the retina display and the fast processor speed. Overall, the iPad is very well built and deserves all the accolades it has been getting.

Much as I admire the iPad, I don't think I'll want to own one. The dislikes outweigh the likes. I dislike the single (Menu) button that Apples tries so hard to maintain. It is too restrictive and counter intuitive. I mean, can one thumb do the job of five fingers? There are times when functionality rules over aesthetics. One button does not make the iPad any simpler to operate than a four-buttoned Android tablet.vIn fact it makes it rather perplexing.

I dislike the fact that I cannot close an app when I am done with it. I have to go to another control panel to close item by item. There are many apps which do not need to be assigned to the background and kept on  a burner. Games, for example.

I dislike not having a convenient way to upload photos to my PC. The iPad has "Photo Stream" that allows me to automatically upload photos to the cloud. However, downloading from iCloud to my computer is another matter. iCloud is not supported on my Windows XP (but supported on Vista and Windows 7). I found a workaround to install iCloud on my XP but Photo Stream (one of the features of iCloud) is still unable to work. I stopped pursuing it and resorted to using Dropbox.

I dislike not being able to send files through Amazon to my iPad Kindle app for free. It can be done, but for a fee per file transfer. On my Kindle e-reader, I can do that easily and at no cost. (I know this has nothing to do with iPad. Just couldn't resist rubbing it in)

And yes, it is irritating not being able to open Flash files.

iPad does not come with something like the OpenOffice, which even my entry-level smartphone has.

The Apple App Store is not as user-friendly as the Android Market. On the Android Market, it is much easier to find the really popular and good apps.

Ah yes, just too many dislikes and still expecting to discover more. I'll settle for an Android tablet anytime.

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