11 - The not-so-good stuff

Now I'm back in the UK, and the iPad is no longer in my possession. I had it for about 3 weeks total. Of course, I still have access to it, but I really meant it when I said it was for my mum.

I've also made a point of saying that I'm not an Apple Fanboy, yet so far I've had very little negative to say about the iPad. That's mostly because the experience has been overwhelmingly good. But the entire point of this blog has been to look at the both the positive and the negative sides of the device, so I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the things that aren't perfect, clunky, or in some cases, pretty lame.

So where to start? Well first I think I should mention that many of the gripes I have are really to do with specific applications, so it seems a bit daft to write about those. I want to focus on the iPad and its basic functionality. However, there is one thing about the apps in general that I'm really not happy about, but I'll save that rant for the end.

Charging. The iPad won't charge from just any USB port. Not even any powered USB port. It seems to be really selective about which ones it will work with. Most of the USB ports that can charge my phone or iPod touch won't do diddlysquat to the iPad. In fact, at the moment, the only way I can charge it is by using the power adaptor that came with it. Apple says it will charge from a 'high-powered' USB port, but I've yet to find one. I have plenty of high power devices that will take a charge off a regular powered USB port, so that's pretty lame in my opinion. I suspect that were I to plug it into a Mac, I'd find that it charges just fine. Of course, I don't have a Mac, so I have no way of knowing. Can anyone shed any light on this? Additionally, when you do charge it off the mains, it takes ages. Great that its got a 10 hour battery life, but if you use it all up and then it takes 4-5 hours to get it back to 100%, that's not particularly brilliant.

Bluetooth. I mentioned early on that I couldn't connect anything to Bluetooth on the iPad. I still can't. It's clearly just there for things like keyboards and headsets (although I haven't tried those). Why can't I use it to transfer data? Moving pictures across devices like phones, with Bluetooth is really, really basic. It's been technologically possible for years. It's mobile 101! Seeing as there is an extreme lack of ports on the iPad, is that too much to ask?

Let's take a break for a moment to try this little scenario:

You've been on the road and your iPad is down to about 10% battery. You get home, you want to get the pictures you've taken on your camera/phone onto the pad, So... you connect your camera to your desktop, transfer the images, sync your iPad... hold on a minute.. you can't sync your iPad because it's charging off the mains! So you have to wait. For quite some time!

But what about WiFi, I hear you ask? Well, what about it? After all, there is no file manager on the iPlatform devices, so moving things onto it is a bit of a chore, even with apps to help you do it. All I want to do is easily get pictures into the photo album so my mum can look at them.

Hold on... what about the external keyboard with a - wait for it - plug for your camera? Yeah, that costs more money and I don't want to spend any more money. I already spent well over $770 for the pad and the case.

Glossy Screen. The screen looks absolutely great, but only when it's not being hit by direct sunlight (or any bright light source). Outdoors on a sunny day the iPad is practically unusable. And then there is the fingerprint issue, which to be fair, is quite unavoidable, but I do seem to be spending a lot of time cleaning the screen. Perhaps I should see a doctor about oily skin?

Safari. It's a great browser, but unfortunately its tagged as a different version on the iPad than on the iPhone or iPod touch. This means that many sites which have content that will work on the iPhone do not recognise the iPad as a compatible browser. Instead you get sent to the main site and if it's flash based, then you're out of luck. This is exactly what happens when you try to use the BBC iPlayer. Which brings me to my next gripe...

Flash. Or, should I say, no-Flash. Now it doesn't really bother me that the iPad doesn't support Flash. I don't give a hoot about it in technological terms. But it does bother me that I (or rather my mum) can't watch a lot of video that's on the web. I suspect that this will change over time - I honestly believe that Flash has been on its way out of the market for a while - but right now, it still dominates and I don't see that changing in the next few months. Yes, Steve, we know you hate flash and have clearly stated why. But what's the work around?

File browser. There is no file browser for any of the iPlatform devices (jail-breaking notwithstanding). Now, on the iPhone & iPod, this is less of an issue, because generally the devices are small in terms of memory space and the kind of files you have on there don't really need to be browsed. But the iPad is bigger and badder in all respects and has been touted as a replacement for laptops and heralded as the future of computing. So why can't I easily see what data is on there? Why can't I plug it into a desktop and read it like a USB stick? If I create a document on there, be it notes, a drawing, an audio recording or whatever, I have to email it somewhere to make use of it. Which is ridiculous. I just want to manage a few files. Perhaps move some music around. Get stuff off it onto other devices. You know, the kind of things people do with computers. Ah, if only there was Bluetooth... oh hold on, I already talked about that.

I already mentioned that I have many other gripes with particular applications, but I'm not sure that's a fair thing to talk about in this piece. For instance I could go on for ages about Google Docs being utterly useless on the iPad. For one thing, it detects Safari as a mobile browser (but the iPlayer doesn't, grrrr) and you can't edit anything! Why, Google, why? No, don't get me started on specific apps.  There is however one general thing that I want to grumble about with regards to the currently available batch of apps...

Cost: OK, so it's no surprise that developers are trying to get as much as they can out of the early adopters. And to be fair, those developers that have developed an iPad version of their apps should be reimbursed their costs. Yet, I can't help feeling that those of us who have already paid for iPhone versions of a particular app should at least get some kind of discount on an iPad version. A dollar off maybe? Just to show a bit of goodwill? I already paid $4.99 and now the developer wants $7.99 for an iPad version of the same app!

Look, I know there's this idea that the early adopters are fools and have lots of money to chuck around, but: a) that's not true, and b) we are your ambassadors! Don't milk us for every penny we have! If you already have an iPhone version of your app, then converting it to the iPad isn't that big a deal. And it was the iPhone & iPod users that helped pay for you to do it, so why are you charging us even more to use it? You know who we are. I'm sure you have a list of who's already paid into your development coffers. Come on now, give us a squeeze!

OK, so that's it... for now. If anybody out there has anything they'd like to add, please feel free to leave a comment.

Next: Being Pad-less