Apparently I am REQUIRED to weigh in on the latest and greatest piece of hardware that comes from our retail overlords, Apple. So says the almighty Steve Jobs. All praise Steve Jobs!

I have been consciously waffling on posting about the iPad for over a month. For those of you who know me, I am neither a champion of Apple nor Microsoft. I am not really a full on Linux geek, either. I am comfortable on all platforms. I have obtained (not bought, but not stolen) an iPod touch and enjoy using it, for the most part. I say all this to assure you that the following is not fueled by any specific love or hate for the overall Apple products.

I am a computer and technology Geek. I give all platforms equal chance.

This being said, I do not want an iPad.

Wait. What? But you must ant an iPad. You have an iPod and you like gadgets. Get an iPad. You’ll like it!

That’s right. No iPad for me, please. And now I’ll tell you why:

It’s an iPod touch made bigger.

With so much hype surrounding the iPad, one may first think that this must be a wonderful, revolutionary device, but it isn’t. There have been pads before and there will be better pads to come. Some may be coming sooner than you think. Apple themselves have already made one “pad” called the Newton. So what makes the iPad so newsworthy? It accomplishes everything that the iPod touch does in a bigger package!

Huh?

That’s right, it is just a big iPod touch. It does have more screen real-estate and applications can be made that are only available on the iPad, but when it comes down to it, the only thing that would be better in any way on an iPad than an iPod would be watching movies or consuming other visual content. Even this has it’s trade-off, namely having to hold the device at the proper angle to comfortably consume this content. Okay, so people that want to drop $500 (well actually up to $1200) to watch a movie or surf the web on the toilet, reclining on the couch, or reclining in the easy chair would be happy. After all, why watch a movie on a TV when you can enjoy it having to hold a 1.5 pound screen in your lap?

I DO see where the iPad COULD be useful. It is an intuitive device, so someone who is technology inept could work well on it.

[Yes, I am saying that the iPad could be a "Laptop for Dummies" device. If you don't agree, tell me why!]

So far, this is stuff that has been spewed endlessly by others and I’ve just been reiterating already tired material.

Well here is where I go into why I personally am becoming frustrated with where Apple has gone with their technology. I have a number of media items (songs, pictures and movies) housed on my media PC  that just won’t fit on my 16 GB iPod. In fact, unless my iPod (or an iPad) had approximately 300 GB of storage, I wouldn’t be able to hold the media that I would want to be available to a device like the iPad. I happily live with a storage limitation on my iPod due to it’s size and the fact that movies are just not all that great to watch on it. The iPad however, opens up the more comfortable large media consumption that the iPod just couldn’t deliver. And here lies the real problem in the iPad: the only way to get the full capacity of the iPad is to use remote files. This wouldn’t even BE a problem if it weren’t for the fact that the only way to use remote files on the iPad was through streaming services. Why can’t the iPod or iPad sync wirelessly with a FULL library? I have a LOT of media files. It would be very difficult to have to pull up iTunes (or even another media manager), select the file I want moved over, and then hook up the device and sync it. That’s not even considering the fact that it HAS to be in a certain format. If I could remotely browse my library (while I was on the same Wi-Fi network) and pull a desired file on demand, I would want it. I would want an iPad so bad that I would be doing some very degrading things right now to get one. Sure, I want expandability. Sure, I would LIKE a camera. But for what this device is, it lacks a very core functionality that it could easily have that would truely make it the revolutionary device that it is being touted to be.

There are a lot of Android tablets coming out VERY soon and I am pretty sure that networking and file browsing will be a basic function in these devices, allowing for exactly what I’m looking for. Not only will these devices offer more functionality in a basic way, they will be expandable. Will they overtake the iPad, unfortunately they will probably be looked on as too “complex” by the technophobic masses to be as widely accepted as the heavily mass-marketed iPad. Woe is the world.

Someone please make a device that truly embodies portable media consumption. I beg you!

-Mike

I wished upon a star until it landed on runway 9.