With the unceremonious failure of HP’s TouchPad nearly complete, the conventional wisdom continues to be that the iPad is a superior tablet without any real challengers on the horizon. While that may be true, the iPad has several areas for improvement that consumers will demand as they start the en masse transition from a world of PCs to tablets.
Flash – Ah yes, the old Flash complaint. I know, I know, Flash sucks, yadda, yadda, yadda. But as a tool designed specifically for content consumption, Apple needs to create a better workaround for viewing Flash besides the third-party iSwifter browser. I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to view a video on Huffington Post or The Comedy Channel only to get the dreaded “Requires Flash” error message. Yes, HuffPo and the Comedy Channel could convert their videos to a different codec, but still, this is legit gripe that is annoying.
Content Creation – The iPad is intended mostly for content consumption, but the demographic that buys the iPad is by all accounts inclined to be content creators. The success of the Apple-created GarageBand app attests to the self-indulgent tendencies of iPadsters. That being said, the blogging tools for the iPad are egregiously bad. The WordPress app is terrible. It doesn’t seem to update and the rich text tool is not available. Just bad.
File Storage – It would be great to let me store some files on the iPad without some hackneyed 3rd party app. I bought the 64 GB model, now let me store some Word docs on this bad boy in a folder. You could use GoodReader, I suppose, as a solution for this complaint, but it bugs me that Android OS allows for a folder structure. I know this isn’t a computer, but still…
Tied to iTunes – Besides every movie being grossly overpriced on iTunes, it sure would be great if I didn’t have to go to the iTunes on my laptop to sync up my apps or get system updates there. It’s just weird that a tablet designed to usher in the post-PC era is so hopelessly tied to a PC, from having to set up the iPad with a PC to having to use it transfer files onto it. Odd. You’d think they could push updates directly through the Internet to the iPad just as Android does for its OS updates.
Outside Display – I know this is where the Amazon Kindle steps up to differentiate itself from tablets, but it would be a nice touch if a future version of the iPad had some sort of capacity for outdoor reading. I don’t want to buy a Kindle for outdoor reading, but I’m leaving the option open as long as the outdoor reading experience with the iPad is so shitty.
The Cameras – Wow. Just dreadful.
