What Would It Take To Get You Into This 2010 iPad?

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I’ve read the reviews, played with several devices, fought off temptation, and concluded it’s not the right time for me to make an iPad purchase.

My main sticking point is the lack of multitasking, something I hope to see addressed later this year with an iPhone 4.0 OS update. I want to listen to Slacker while surfing the web and perusing email. As a blogger, I want to flip between a Photoshop app and grabbing links from Safari, while composing a story in WordPress. As nice as the IM clients may be, I don’t need a dedicated chat machine. Let this service run in the background. (Without intrusive push notification obscuring my screen.)

I’m also on the lookout for more, and more polished, iPad apps. Pixel doubled iPhone apps work… but mostly render poorly. A number of mainstream Internet sites need to be updated as well. Should their owners decide the iPad is a significant enough platform to fully support. (And I bet most will.) I can live without the vast majority Flash-based sites and widgets. But I need to be able to edit my Google Docs.

Hardware-wise, I don’t have many complaints. The iPad is a minimalistic engineering marvel. (JooJoo, who?) And pricing is pretty tame (for Apple). My only concerns are in regards to weight and positioning. Which the official unattractive, but functional iPad case partially addresses. Although I might prefer Ross Rubin’s clamshell case concept, bundling a Bluetooth keyboard, for transport and usage.

Emphasizing the point that I’m trying to turn what’s currently and primarily a content consumption device into a productivity device. Perhaps Steve Jobs and I are in conflict on the purpose of the iPad. But Gina Trapani pretty much nails the disharmony I’m feeling:

New gadgets create friction in your life. Every new gadget you acquire is another screen to pay attention to, another battery to charge, another device to sync, secure, weigh down your bag, and buy accessories for; it’s another shiny thing to worry about losing, getting stolen, scratched, dropped, and serviced. If the iPad doesn’t fill an obvious need in your work or home life right now, pass.

So it’s not currently time for me to become an iPad owner. However, it’s quite likely I’ll get onboard at some point as the OS and apps mature. Or prior to our next WiF-enabled cross country flight.

14 thoughts on “What Would It Take To Get You Into This 2010 iPad?”

  7. Dave,

    I’m sorry to nit-pick, but you’ve really gotta learn when it’s time to start a new sentence, and when it’s best to use a comma. Your writing over the past few weeks has been littered with sentence fragments. As an example:

    “My only concerns are in regards to weight and positioning. Which the official unattractive, but functional iPad case partially addresses.”

    The latter half of the above is not a complete sentence. It should have been written as such:

    “My only concerns are in regards to weight and positioning, which the official unattractive, but functional, iPad case partially addresses.”

    …Or, to help the flow a little:

    “My only concerns are in regards to weight and positioning, which the official (unattractive, but functional) iPad case partially addresses.”

    Hint: If a sentence you’ve written is actually just the second half of the thought expressed by the previous sentence, then it shouldn’t be its own sentence.

    Rant over; thanks for your blog! I really do enjoy reading it!

  8. Josh, Thanks for the feedback. I do realize that I regularly run sentence fragments. And that sentences shouldn’t start with and. I generally write how I speak and a period represents a a harder pause than a comma for me. But I get what you’re saying and I have been taking more liberties lately. Perhaps I’ll use more commas and semicolons going forward. Although it’s worth mentioning I only got a C in 12th grade English Grammar, solely because my wrestling coach intervened and had it elevated. PS ‘gotta’ isn’t a word. ;)

  9. Dave, as prominent blogger, you should be allowed the same liberties with English language as famous authors who use fragments for dramatic effect :)

    On topic — if iPad had a camera and ability to multitask, I’d probably make it my first Apple product. OS 4.0 may offer improvements, but you can’t add a hardware part.

    Additionally, aren’t all techies familiar with adage of never buying a first-gen Apple product? iPad has been out for all of three days and already we have usability issues (esp. with holding it) and hardware deficiencies with Wi-Fi (poor reception strength).

  11. If my work consisted of surfing the internet, chatting with buddies, and watching movies, then I might be able to justify the ipad as a device for doing work. Otherwise, my $300 netbook is a much better device for getting some work done on the go. I can only think of one thing the ipad is better at than a netbook, and that’s surfing Zatz on the couch.

  12. I think the iPad is a neat little device, but for me? Nah…

    The lack of flash, leading to a broken web experience (mainly what I’d use it for), is a big downer.

    No multitasking, another big downer. If I’m on IM, I want to also read a web page.

    I’ll stick with my laptop. At least now with Windows 7, when I open or shut the lid of the laptop, it instantly comes on or sleeps. That was always sporadic in Vista and XP.

  13. “My main sticking point is the lack of multitasking, something I hope to see addressed later this year with an iPhone 4.0 OS update. I want to listen to Slacker while surfing the web and perusing email. As a blogger, I want to flip between a Photoshop app and grabbing links from Safari, while composing a story in WordPress. As nice as the IM clients may be, I don’t need a dedicated chat machine. Let this service run in the background. (Without intrusive push notification obscuring my screen.)”

    You just described a notebook/laptop. I really don’t understand why people are getting so excited here. Just buy a 12″ (or 9″) lightweight notebook and enjoy.

  14. I still want one, but not buying it yet. I can wait for a bit while all the kinks get worked out.

    I mostly want it to use at home, either in bed for reading (internet or books or magazines or comics), or on the couch in front of the TV (mostly internet). Neither of these is a comfortable use case for a laptop as far as I’m concerned, and the iPad looks like a good fit. Yes I’m a little concerned about the weight (about the same as a 400 page Stephen King Hardcover). The Flash thing is vanishing quickly though with the CBS, ABC, NBC, Netflix, SlingPlayer etc announcements, plus the rumors that Hulu will be coming eventually (if the individual networks do it, I don’t really care if Hulu ever does, plus I don’t want to pay again).

    I’m a little unsure though. Once I have one I’m sure I’ll want to take it on airplanes to watch videos. Ditto in hotel rooms. Scared about how fragile it might be though. I already worry enough about breaking my freaking iPhone and its screen is SO MUCH SMALLER!

    For those who are wondering, the JooJoo at 2.4 lbs is the same weight as an 800 page hardcover like Godel, Escher, Bach. Personally I had trouble holding up my softcover/onion skin thin paper version. I can’t imagine holding something like that up for very long…

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