Writing

I really love the treasure trove of mobile devices that my group at work has access to.  This time I was able to snag an iPad for a test run.

I am already not happy with the iPad experience.

First of all, you can’t just turn it on and get started.  No.  First you have to synch it up with your iTunes.  This is mandatory.  No getting around it. Argh!  And if you don’t have iTunes (which I do) or if you don’t have the latest version of iTunes (which I don’t, because of my 3 year old iPod which chokes and dies and refuses to synch on modern versions of iTunes) then you have to either install or upgrade.  Double argh!

I only hope that I can roll back my iTunes version with a minimum of fuss when this is all over.

Once that is over, then you have to manually enable the 3G.  And then the Wi-fi.

I thought that Apple was supposed to be all about out-of-the-box functionality?  Apple does have very nice hardware design, no getting around that, but the software… eh, it has been a while since I was impressed by their software.

The iPad, for all its small size, was heavier then I expected.

I was annoyed to see just how many of the websites that I visit on a regular basis use flash, which iPad won’t support.

Bottom line, it is a big iPhone (or Nexus One, or whatever flavor of app enabled smartphone that you have) that can’t make phone calls.  Web browsing is about the only thing that I found that the iPad can do better then a more conventional smartphone.