First Impressions of the iPad

My first impression of the new iPad is that its basically a larger version of the iPod touch, one of  which I proudly own. I really think Apple messed up with the iPad, partly because they forgot a lot of key features that consumers want. One of the most important features that apple left out was a camera, with new applications like Ustream and Qik allowing iPhone users to stream live video from their device, why wouldn’t apple include  a camera? Now most of the time Apple excludes such large updates purely for marketing purposes but in the case of the iPad I think they went a little too far. Even being so bold to exclude flash diminishes Job’s comments about how it’s the perfect web browsing experience. I wonder how perfect it can be if there is a box with a question mark in it at just about every webpage?

As a lot of other bloggers around the tech scene have remarked, this device is targeted towards non techies, I agree with them, because I personally couldn’t do any more with the iPad then what I do with my iPod touch besides enjoy the bigger screen. What I found really comical about the device is that the unlock button is the exact same size as the iPhone or iPod touch! Didn’t they think of proportion when designing this thing? Another rumor flowing around is that the iPad is a kindle killer, though the new book interface for the iPad is pretty cool, I would say that in terms of price you get more bang for your buck with Apple (Sorry Amazon), ever since the kindle was released its always been heavily over priced, I would rather carry around 5 books then pay $300 for a device that only simulates paper.

Overall I think that Apple really messed up this time, they released a product that is a larger version the iPod touch and continued to excluded key features (camera, built in SD card port, microphone,FLASH!!! etc…) that were key to its success. Don’t get me wrong, the iPad is really awesome, but I expected so much more from Apple, I think many of us did. And once again they didn’t deliver. Students, I would not recommend buying the iPad unless your fine without the missing hardware features listed above, or you just want something cool to read your textbooks on.