iPad First Impressions: Point Counterpoint

The purpose of the majority of new devices is to replace or revolutionize a pre-existing object. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly the iPad is replacing.

Let's look at some of the highlights Apple gives and compare them to what's already out there.

LED Backlit Display: Currently on all Apple Products, including the iPod Touch and iPhone. The iPod sports a 9.7", larger than the iPod Touch and iPhone, smaller than any Apple computer. Nothing new.

Multitouch: Currently on the Macbook Pro track pad, Macbook Air track pad, Apple Magic Mouse, iPod Touch, and iPhone. Also nothing new.

A thin and light computer: Macbook Air, iPod Touch, iPhone. Nothing new.

10 hours of battery life: An improvement! One hour more than the average Apple Product.

Wireless: Available on all Apple computers, the iPod Touch, and the iPhone.

3G Network: Available on the iPhone.

Apps: Available on the iPhone and iPod Touch


Those are all the major design highlights given on Apple's site for the iPad. Notice something very important: the only thing the iPad has that no other Apple product has is a better battery.

Right now the iPad seems to occupy a technology space somewhere between a laptop and an iPhone. That's nice and all, but it's like having an 18" long ruler. It can measure as well as a 12" ruler with some additional inches, but it's a pain to carry and it'll never be able to effectively measure as much as a tape measure can.

Another major problem (granted, this exists on all Apple hand-helds at the moment) is the lack of Flash Player thanks to Apple's fight with Adobe. Apple likes to tote the iPad's video playing capabilities on that wonderful LED Backlit Display. Great, so you've got YouTube and any movies you might have hacked for iTunes or downloaded. What about the millions of non-YouTube videos like Hulu? That's another topic entirely, but you get my drift.

Bottom line: overpriced, oversized iPhone that can't make calls and would rather be a laptop but it can't because it can only run one app at a time.