Buying an iPad: My Dilemma….!
I’m looking at buying a tablet. It’s important for my work and it will help me be more productive, work more easily when out and about and just be a great thing to play with.
The problem is I have a big problem with Apple, in fact you’d probably be right to call me an Applephobe. Part of this is irrational and sparked by the not a few Apple Fan-boys I know. But some of it is based on real annoyances. I’m not going to go into a rant here about these feelings, but I thought I’d share my dilemma with buying a tablet.
The truth is, although there are some good Android tablets out there, the Apple iPad is by far the most advanced one with the most tablet based apps. In my view it’s going to take Android at least a year to catch up. Apparently Samsung will be launching some very nice Android tablets later this year, but even with these out it’s going to take a while for them to catch up with the iPad. The iPad is so popular that it is in danger of becoming a generic trademark- http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/04/09/ipad-is-in-danger-of-becoming-a-generic-trademark-and-thats-great-for-apple/ – we won’t be calling tablets “tablets”, we’ll be calling tablets “iPads” whether they run iOs, Windows 8 or Android.
I’m a tweaker and like to play around with technology. However the iPad is a controlled environment where tweaking is actively discouraged. A quote from Walter Isaacson’s biography on Steve Jobs quotes- “From the first Mac to the latest iPhone, Jobs’s systems have always been sealed shut to prevent consumers from meddling and modifying them,”
I can understand that this controlled environment works for many people- they don’t care about tweaking and messing around- they just want it to work.
So, here are my major annoyances with the iPad, ones which are real for me, and will be the ones I’ll have to live with if I do in fact decide to buy one…
1) Bad multi-tasking. Yes you can get music to play in the background whilst you play with a game or another app, but most apps just stop when you move to a different app. This has it’s advantages of course, in that music and midi apps work much better than they will ever do on an Android device. That’s because Android has true multi-tasking.
2) Uses micro SIM card. Why? It’s just another example of Apple trying to make things awkward. Most other non-Apple devices use a standard SIM, so the fact that the iPad uses a micro-SIM card means that I can’t easily swap a SIM card betweek multiple devices. Yes I could buy a Micro SIM card converter like the one here- http://www.microsim-shop.com/ or buy a Mi-Fi device, but it’s all more faff for me that Apple could have avoided!
3) Uses propriety connections/chargers. Whilst every other known mobile manufacturer uses the Micro USB connector, Apple use their own propriety device. This means I can’t use any of my own connectors and have to buy stuff from Apple.
4) Can’t upgrade/change the battery. OK, mobile devices don’t last long and I’ll probably want to upgrade in 3 years time, but it’s just the principle of the thing! I want to be able to upgrade the battery or change it.
5) Can’t add memory or memory cards. I’ll have to think carefully before choosing which iPad because once I’ve bought a 16 or 32Gb one, I can’t upgrade it or add a memory card to it.
6) I have to install apps through the Apple App store. I can’t install an app or create an app myself- I have to go through the App store. On my Android phone I was able to install Swype as my keyboard, but I can’t do this for the iPad. This is a major issue for me as I LOVE Swype and don’t know how I could live without it.
7) App creators have to wait until blessings given (or not) by the Apple gods to get it on the App store. All apps have to be given permission from Apple before they can appear in the App store. I can understand to a point the thinking behind this, but as most of us are used to things being freely available on the internet, this is just too controlling and it really bothers me.
8) HDMI- need to buy expensive HDMI converter to plug into TV/monitor. There isn’t a standard HDMI socket on the iPad, so I can’t directly plug it in to a TV without buying a propriety cable.
9) No Flash- I know Flash is slowly dying, but why can’t I just be able to use Flash on my browser? It’s just annoying.
I think however, that I will have to ignore these annoyances, and just get an iPad. I refused to get an iPhone when it came out due to similar issues, the problem was that I was left behind unable to use the first social media apps. It’s why I didn’t really get on with Twitter despite joining in November 2006.
The fact is, the iPad is a beautifully designed piece of kit- it’s the best tablet out there and some of the apps available for it are amazing. I can’t let my Apple prejudices get in the way this time, so perhaps it’s time to go over to the dark side…! 😉
