So, umm, yea.  Apple has came out with a new tablet that was supposed to ‘change’ the industry.  I’ve looked, I’ve researched, and thought about how I could use this device in my day to day activities.  And to tell you the truth, I’m deeply disappointed.  As a matter of fact I’ve been disappointed in Apple for quite some time now.   They are speaking of this thing like it’s going to change the world, when in fact, it’s VASTLY underwhelming.  This has been a habit of Apple for quite some time.  Their marketing gets people whipped into a frenzy, their designers come up with something that "looks" nice, and all of a sudden, people start to forget what this device SHOULD be doing.

Now granted, the Iphone changed things, and I have one as well, but when it came out, it came out with a lot of things lacking.  Things that ’simpler’ users would not really care about, but for those of us who know our gadgets in and out and use them to their full potential, there were things that were lacking.  And well, once my 2 year contract is finally up, I’m jumping ship.  I’ve been eyeballing the development on Microsoft’s latest mobile phone platform.  And even though the last one wasn’t ‘pretty’, it did everything I needed it to do. 

But back to the subject on this Ipad. First and foremost, I think it sucks.  There wasn’t enough to separate it from my existing Iphone to justify having a bigger screen. Especially since it runs on the same operating system.  But here are the things that I do not like about the Ipad

• No HDMI ports – Sorry, but I want a device that I can hook up to my TV without having to buy some expensive proprietary cables to do so.  And don’t give us ‘technical reasons’ for not doing so Apple.  You just enjoy making the extra money off of that crap which is ridiculously priced for what it does.
• No expandable space – Secure digital, compact flash, so I can easily transfer my movies, pictures, etc… without having to go through Itunes or just keep documents on my device.  Nope, Apple doesn’t think you need to do so. I have this same gripe in the phone area as well.
• No multitasking – Are you freaking kidding me????? You mean I can’t listen to Pandora while I surf the web, or dart back and forth between face book
• No Bluetooth tethering to your phone – Oh, but if you want to access the internet while out and about, you can pay for an additional 3g service from AT&T.   Wow! Haven’t the consumers been milked enough?
• No flash – "Oh! But it’s too processor intensive!!!" says Apple.  No, the truth is that it will allow people to circumvent the Apple store for some of the cool games out there. Greed and arrogance is at the root of this one people.  Yet this thing can power through HD movies.  Enough with the BS Apple
• Weak operating system – The Iphone operating system is decent for a phone and for the touch, but this is a TABLET PC.  It would have been really wise to include a customized version of Mac OS on the device. 
• No Camera – Oh, this thing would have been SWEET for video calls and chat and many other things with the right software.  But nope!
• No removable battery – Running out of juice? Sorry, you can’t just put in another battery.  You gotta recharge.
• No usb 2.0 ports – SERIOUSLY APPLE!! HATE you guys for not including this stuff standard by now. Oh! Yea! That’s right, you want to use your own expensive overpriced cables and adapters so you can juice the consumer for more money.
• GPS – From the Apple hardware specs page, it looks as if only the WiFi 3g model has it.   Which will cost you around 130 bucks extra over the standard model.
• The back is not flat – Kinda negates the effectiveness of some of the accelerometer featured apps.
• Still have to go through ITunes for your software – Unless I want to jailbreak my phone, I don’t have the option of using some of the really sweet and effective software out there.

I’ll just stop here for the moment on my ranting about what I don’t like about this device.  Apple brought this thing to market too fast in a weak attempt to get the jump on competing products from Microsoft and other tablet manufacturers.  And for those that don’t know, yea, Windows 7 was designed with tablets in mind.  So once the hardware starts appearing, we’re good on the operating system. Not to mention that Microsoft has an "interesting" idea on how they think a tablet pc will be used.  Here are some videos.

But anyway, here’s what I would like to see in a Tablet PC and it’s operating system.

• HDMI out for presentations onto projectors, TV’s, etc…
• USB 2.0 – This could be used for charging, or just connecting to your pc in general
• Wifi
• Bluetooth – and support for a Bluetooth keyboard.
• Dual Screen – Which is what I love most about Microsoft’s courier.  The OS seems a bit off for what I would need it for though.
• Ability to Tether via Bluetooth
• Expansion slots – Compact flash or secure digital for transferring and carrying extra data
• Windows 7 or Mac OS operating system.  Even Ubuntu would be a consideration – This would resolve a LOT of the operating system related issues that I have with the Iphone, Touch, and the Ipad.
• Camera
• Accelerometer – Yea Apple, we can thank you for making this popular
• Microphone
• Speaker
• Headphone Jack
• Removable Battery
• GPS – This would be interesting on a tablet device.  I think it could come in handy
• Touch screen
• Ability to install apps without going through a store – This would be resolved by the operating system suggestion though.
• Enterprise level exchange support
• Peer to peer networking capability with other tablets of the same type – Would be sweet in a presentation to push something from your screen to someone else’s or send a message to another person in a meeting without disrupting the flow of the meeting.  Or just sharing files and ideas in general.  

Aight, enough of my rant.  I got things to do.