iPad. Past the hype and cynicism.

It's now a week since the iPad was announced and anyone interested is now aware of its shortcomings. Here's my take on the downsides.

• Not 16:9: To get widescreen you have to make it wider or thinner. Thinner just seems silly because you are giving up screen space just to get an aspect ratio. Wider and it starts to get unweildy I would guess, and people are already complaining that it is too big. Pretend it is widescreen with some bonus screen top and bottom.
• Video output not HD: Who is going to connect it to a video source as the monitor? That's crazy. It does 720p in local video so who cares?
• No GPS: OK, this would be nice if I was going to use the 3G data on the move. I'm going to be using this mostly at my home on wifi, or friends' homes on wifi, so *shrug*.
• No USB ports. USB would be useful for a bunch of stuff. Not a huge deal though.
• No in-facing camera. This would be good for video VOIP. But I'm just not that into video VOIP, and it's available on my desktop.
• Bezel too big: Don't know. Have to see how it feels using it. You need some bezel to hold it without affecting the input. I'm guessing it's probably ok.
• No multitasking. This sucks. I'm hoping an OS upgrade will improve this in the future.
• Touch keyboard sucks: Again, have to see how it feels. Doesn't look too bad. Can be improved later because it is software.
• No HDMI out: For what? Plugging into a telly to watch video? That's what my media player is for. Duh.
• The name iPad: Agreed. Prefer iSlate. I'll call it "my slate".
• Closed App Ecosystem: Tradeoff between platform security and openess. I'm probably not as bothered as I should be. Apple not approving apps they just don't like, or competes with them really does suck.
• No In-browser Flash: Big debate. Apple say it's because it's buggy and drains the power. There's a large element of truth to that. I don't want my iPad crashing because of some banner ad. But then, the kids won't be able to play those flash games without it. Oh, wait. That's also good. I don't visit sites that use Flash for navigation. They suck anyway. There is an app for YouTube, so video is no problem.
• No iBooks in Australia: Sounds like this is "well on the way". It's just licencing.

Oooh! News on an iPad Nano. Heh.
Someone else thinks iPad will crush the expensive eReaders.