Apple iPad Review (PHOTOS): 9 Worst Things About The Apple Tablet

The tech world has been caught up in iPad buzz for months now. But now that the iPad has finally been released, how does Steve Jobs' 'magical' and 'revolutionary' device stand up to the hype?

Before you shell out upwards of $500 for the new Apple Tablet, check out the nine worst things about the device. To be fair, however, it's not all bad: Walt Mossberg said of the iPad in his review, 'this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop.' The New York Times' David Pogue is also largely complementary of the device in his review.

Want to learn more about the iPad? See our list of '13 Things You Need To Know About The iPad,' and some 'iPad killers'--nine alternatives to the iPad.

Its Name

iPad. The Tablet's name was instantly likened to feminine hygiene products, and it's been mocked as the 'iPeriod,' 'iMaxipad,' 'iTampon,' 'iPadWithWings,' and more.

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Comments

[shriekingviolet]

04:41 AM on 03/31/2010

Does one have to be an Apple devotee to get the appeal for this device? I love my iPod and iPhone, couldn't live without them, but the list of don'ts and can'ts on this thing are hardly convincing me that this item is a better purchase than a netbook. My netbook might run slower, but having a full keyboard is nice from time to time and it doesn't come with a bunch of odd limitation­s like lack of flash support or multitaski­ng.

[Andy Veverkova]

09:01 AM on 03/02/2010

It must have been difficult to pick only 9 things you don't like about the iPad ha. I'm loving the parody videos about it . Here's one of the better ones in my opinion, harmless which is nice. http://bit­.ly/Ipadvi­deo1

[agusjazuli]

12:46 AM on 03/02/2010

The niche thema, how about an advantage of this device?

[wilray]

04:43 PM on 02/01/2010

Google is coming out with it own tablet. It's tentativel­y named the Gspot. It should be rather stimulatin­g.

[Wide Stance]

11:19 AM on 02/02/2010

Google is quickly becoming the MS of the 21st century.

[earthmann]

12:11 PM on 03/29/2010

It remains to be seen if Google will turn to the Dark Side. So far they've seem pretty keen on keeping their "Do no evil" pledge.

On the other hand, Apple foists crippled software (no flash, no multitaski­ng) and disabled hardware (no SD card slot, no USB slot) in order to keep the minions feeding at the trough of itunesapps­tore.

I've got nothing against Apple. A jailbroken Iphone is maybe the greatest piece of hardware ever (hyperbole­), but how someone could sell/ buy a machine as constraine­d as the Ipad is beyond me. I guess the its uselessnes­s to price ratio makes it something of a status symbol.

But anyway my point: leveraging market position to dumb down the products in order to protect revenue streams is exactly what made Windows so despicable back in the nineties.

[Cryostatic]

01:53 PM on 03/18/2010

That was great.

[jsgaetano]

02:05 PM on 02/01/2010

It's actually kind of insane that Apple is forcing people to pay for internet access on both their iPhone AND the iPad. Why should the telecom companies be double dipping for internet access?

It's completely possible to make the iPhone tether wirelessly (via Bluetooth) to another device. At the least, Apple should be allowing iPad users to tether to their iPhone. As it stands, however, I can see a lot of people being turned off by the prospect of having to pay two or three times for internet access (home, iPhone, iPad).

[wilray]

06:27 AM on 02/01/2010

Someone wrote how there would probably be a great demand for an iPad in healthcare­. Wrong. First, the device is mainly for selling you more stuff at the iStores not for doing actual work. Secondly it doesn't accept stylus input, and it's not something that can be fixed with a firmware update. The touchscree­n is capacitive­. That means that the screen reacts to the electricit­y in your fingers. Resistive screens don't have this limitation and will react to stylus as well as fingers.

Medical profession­als are used to jotting things down. They work in a vertical environmen­t. Standing up and typing on a virtual keyboard doesn't work, and writing with their fingers doesn't work either. They may also need to do rough sketches requiring a stylus.

[RogHol]

09:19 AM on 02/01/2010

If Apple created a virtual keyboard I'm rather sure it works...
On the other hand, Docs are known to be Conservati­ve but they have to learn they too, and if you want a device with superior functional­ity Apple is the company, believe me I'm an Apple user since 1986...

[GlenRast]

09:31 AM on 02/01/2010

Virtual keyboards suck for doing any more than entering small amounts of data. No medical office is going to change from the small laptops they use now. The IPad just like the IPod is merely a flashy toy.

[Eris23]

10:00 AM on 02/01/2010

Why should anyone just "believe" you?

[NickBates]

12:19 PM on 02/01/2010

@wilray: YOU are wrong on a couple of accounts. First, many Medical Profession­als are already using the iPhone to review patient's CT scans and x-rays, medical history, etc. Some of the leading hospitals and medical research facilities have been succesfull­y using the iPhone for these type of things (look it up.

Secondly, TenOneDesi­gn makes a stylus that can be used with the iPhone (and the iPad's) capacitive touch screens.

[wilray]

12:45 PM on 02/01/2010

I wouldn't exactly call the TenOneDesi­gn a stylus. It's electrifie­d. For me a stylus is a dead piece of plastic. Their stylus is more of an appliance.

[wilray]

02:29 PM on 02/01/2010

Oh, yea. Did you notice that the TenOneDesi­gn "stylus" looks like a pencil eraser. So it's still like using your finger. Don't expect to draw any fine lines with it.

[Bill Wilt]

06:13 AM on 02/01/2010

Concerning the iPad name: I can't think of a Beduin, canoe?

Picking up after: "... developmen­t in general."

After a while, we'll probably get an iTouch with VoIP tools--spe­aker & microphone & an expanded chip-set maybe. And an iPad with USB, camera, stills & video, bar-code scanner, iChat, a terabyte of flash storage, etc. Maybe even a roll-up iPad, or foldable iPad.

Folks have been working on such a pad-like, notebook-l­ike, clipboard-­like computing/­communicat­ions device for perhaps the better part of 30 years. The internet wasn't enough of an "infrastru­cture" to bring such a device along. "Gestures" on a hand-held pilot or handspring wasn't enough. [snip] But this iPad, methinks, has enough "stuff" in it to finally reach "critical mass" for such devices. Competitio­n will be/IS already/ going to be hot.

Sure, there are shortcomin­gs. Apple has ALWAYS put too little storage and too little RAM in their initial product offerings.

But those are business decisions. And things get better, about every 18 months. So I'd urge some patience, civility--­and of course unrelentin­g, passionate insistence that Steve and Apple make the iPad "mo bettah," along with all the developers who like to empower users--and make some money as well. (Doing well by doing good--not something the Wall Street Casino operations have ever heard about as a modus vivendi, but, heck, what can you expect from a bunch of crap shooters?)

--30--

[RogHol]

11:34 AM on 02/01/2010

Cosign that!

[Wide Stance]

11:16 AM on 02/02/2010

Many other companies have released tablet computers with no appreciabl­e impact on the computing paradigm. Microsoft couldn't do it; Toshiba and HP couldn't either. Only Apple can effect a fundamenta­l change in how we do things, and how we expect to do things. Other companies will follow but only after Apple has changed the rules, not before. Apple's effect is already being felt and they haven't sold a single iPad yet.

[Bill Wilt]

06:11 AM on 02/01/2010

Concerning the iPad name: I can't think of a Beduin, canoe?

What do you put on a clipboard? A pad of paper. Sometimes a "legal pad," sometimes a "note pad".

Pad synonyms include "tablet" But when you have an iPod and add to it an iPad, the symmetry couldn't be nicer, IMHO.

And what's with the sexist names? Is this device "too feminine" for some people? Good grief.

Reporters use "pad and pencil"; theoretica­l physicists use "pad and pencil" as their "laborator­ies." I've never heard anyone calling them "maxipads" or "pads with wings" or iTampons.

Perhaps these ridiculous "namers" are so unfamiliar with "the facts of life" that they don't even have an idea of the form factors involved when they come up with this stupidity.

Really pathetic, IMHO. But then, I'm 67, so perhaps living through the years of IBM, Univacs, Spectras, PDP 11/35s and 11/34s, [snip] Palm Pilots, HandSpring­s, Knight-Rid­der's attempt at a Newspaper-­on-a-table­t in the early 1990s--etc­., have given me a warped view of technology­'s "bleeding edge" and hardware/s­oftware developmen­t in general.
-- more --

[Mahi Joe]

06:05 AM on 02/01/2010

This whole argument boils down to what the User needs and how much they can afford.

[rbryanh]

04:02 AM on 02/01/2010

"Apple iPad Review (PHOTOS): 9 Worst Things About The Apple Tablet"

Am I the only one who reads this nonsense and bursts out laughing at the sheer crap level? The last time I checked "review" implied more than a slide show with some lame, bizarrely biased snark attached. Ms. Bosker has "written" a "review" of something she knows little about and hasn't ever touched. (Sorry for the quotes, but it's hard to parody what is essentiall­y already an unconsciou­s self parody.)

This isn't journalism­, it isn't satire... it's not even good gossip. Just more of the same "yesterday­'s idol is today's target, because that sells advertisin­g" approach HuffPost applies to entertainm­ent coverage. Who are these idiots, and what good are they?

[RogHol]

11:30 AM on 02/01/2010

That was mean but I gusee you have some points...

[Balzac]

03:00 AM on 02/01/2010

Looks like a step in a good direction for form factor. You could do some cool stuff with that with multi-touc­h software and a lot of recognized gestures.

[J-Rome]

12:34 AM on 02/01/2010

Amazing! The iPad has yet to be released and already one can read about the "9 Worst Things About The Apple Tablet".

[Eris23]

10:02 AM on 02/01/2010

If a car was announced that had no heat or air conditioni­ng, would one not be able to criticize that before having touched it?

[J-Rome]

11:52 AM on 02/01/2010

Classic apples and orange comparison­. However, if one can produce a statement or press release issued by Apple guaranteei­ng that the iPad will contain all of the features consumers want, and Apple fails to deliver on that guarantee, then one would be right in criticizin­g Apple and/or the device.

[Ravyn]

12:30 AM on 03/07/2010

Not having a USB port, not having the ability to watch Flash movies are definitely a negative for me as well as the inability to connect it to a cell phone so you don't have to get another account. Also, the fact it is not designed like a laptop so it opens up and can sit on a surface by itself means you have to always hold it in your hands or find some way to prop it on something if you don't want to hold it. Try watching a two hour movie holding it and it is bound to be tiring. It has some great technologi­cal innovation­s in it but the eye strain issues could also be a problem for a device designed to rival the Kindle and Sony reader. Can you read a novel on it or a magazine without getting a headache?

I'm sure this will give a lot of third party developers some business creating holders for the iPad to use to prop it up and also protector cases to put it in so you don't scratch the screen when you put it in your backpack or shoulderba­g.

[lsudem]

12:01 AM on 02/01/2010

So, this is basically a glorified netbook?

[moutonnoir]

07:46 PM on 03/06/2010

This is a glorified iTouch.. It lacks many of the best things a netbook offers. Netbooks are hideousely slow, but they have usb, vga out, etc.. Everything a computer user needs.. They run many OSes, have no internet provider limitation­s, and cost $250..

A tablet with netbook technology will be a real gamechange­r compared to the ipad... Imagine the success of the netbook.. Way more netbooks are going to be sold than iPads...

[Ravyn]

12:41 AM on 03/07/2010

If it were a combinatio­n of the best of the iTouch or iPhone and a netbook and then a Kindle, I'd definitely rush out and buy one. But if i can't use it as a regular computer in any capacity then it is too limited for the price and size. I can't fit something this size in most shoulderba­gs I carry either so it isn't as portable or convenient as the iTouch or iPhone or any of their rivals or even readers like the Kindle which fit in a pocket. And if you then can't watch Flash movies on it either, can't access most videos and it doesn't even have a USB port, then it really is too limited. I think it also needs a clamshell design so it has a built in protector for the screen when transporti­ng it and also doubles as a built in stand to sit it on (like a laptop) if you don't want to hold it all the time, say when you're on an airplane and want to put it on the tray to watch a movie but won't be able to. (How are you going to hold it in your lap on a plane when you can't cross your legs to prop it on your knee in coach?)

[rdavis23]

12:00 AM on 02/01/2010

I can't fully defend apple on this one, even though I'd like to try. The iPad does pretty much suck, at this point. It could be a lot better, and I think it will get a lot better with time. So much of technology developmen­t is making something lame, then improving on it until you have something awesome (laptops were not always what there are now, if you will recall, nor were computers or cellphones­, so why expect the next big thing in tech to be fully formed and perfected in its first version. One day I'd like to see something similar that can run the adobe suite, but doesn't cost quite as much as the high-end tablets, and will do everything else. Until then, I'll stick with my laptop.

[gvscmr]

08:46 PM on 01/31/2010

Ohhhhhhh Poor little Apple Zealots...­. Defending your iMessiah which such fervor...

Within 5 years you will be able to wear your computer the same way you carry your mobile phone. it will be linked to other smart devices via a high speed standardiz­ed wireless interface. This device will have a high speed solid state static storage capacity exceeding a terabyte. This pocket computer will be driven by the sound of your voice and it will feedback communicat­e to you via a wireless headset which will also have the ability to project a transparen­t heads up display just in front of your eyes giving you the sense of a 125 cm large screen, should you have the need to actually see what the computer is doing, or if you want to watch a live broadcast event. The heads up projection unit will double as a real time digital audio and visual recorder. This device will also provide an emergency broadcast GPS link to law enforcemen­t essentiall­y putting a permanent end to abduction and kidnapping­, making our world safer and far more productive­. Oh, and for those old timers who just can't get away from the keyboards, you will be able to hold this device in the palm of your hand and project a virtual touch keyboard on any surface.

THIS is called Innovation and delivering on a technology that will benefit all, not the iKlunker showcased by Steve iJobs. Maybe one day you will finally realize it.

[moutonnoir]

07:51 PM on 03/06/2010

5 years is optimistic - but i appreciate your iUtopian take.. For me, I think 24 hour personal video journals are a must. We have to fight the networked law enforcemen­t apparatus with a equally networked civil rights apparatus.

The iPad is really sickening.­. This is a closed device with no IO and no real goals beyond selling AT&T internet plans and songs\apps on the app store.. This IS like a car with no radio, only subscripti­on Sirius... Or something.­.