iPass on the iPad

Ok, so yesterday at the Apple keynote event, Steve Jobs finally unveiled the long awaited Apple version of the modern Tablet PC – The iPad. Consisting of a high-res, 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS display that is boasted to be both crisp and vivid, the iPad weighs in at a mere 1 and a half pounds. The specs seem to be a pretty convincing sell to anybody who can’t resist a brand new Apple gadget at such a low price.

HOWEVER, and I do mean this with the utmost caution, who wants an iPhone on steroids that does only HALF of what the iPhone is capable of? Let me start with the features it lacks that are the most important (to me).

• No USB. While it does have an OPTIONAL “Camera Connectivity Kit” for reading memory cards and SIM cards, it is not USB device compatible. What that means for iPod users is that you will need to wirelessly stream your iTunes library from a main computer.
• Lack of an Removable Battery. We’ve seen this before with the newer MacBook’s and even more recently with the iPhone’s. Why not make our lives easier, Apple? If the battery decides to stop holding a charge; the life went from 10-hours to 2-hours, 10-minutes after opening the browser; Constantly having to send it in for repairs means less productivity on my end – even if it is only for a few days/weeks. Not good. In fact, I’m writing this very post from my ’07 Aluminum MacBook Pro with only the charger. The battery blew up after the warranty expired and I haven’t got around to fixing it. It’s been that way for a few months and it’s not hurting me in any way.
• Still no Flash… While no smartphone works with flash -YET – BlackBerry recently said they were developing a product that will allow flash capabilities.
• No Camera. Everything has a camera nowadays. Hell, even the iPod Nano recently got a a makeover to include a video cam. Why not the iPad?

I’m about as much of an Apple Fanboy as you can have, so in no way consider this hating. I just think I might find it hard to integrate the iPad into daily life. And despite it lacking quite a few key features that all Apple products come with out of the box, I’m going to wait until it’s released before I weigh-in 100% so I can see and maybe even play with one of these in person. Until then, thanks but iPass on the iPad!