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Apple's iPad is a technological faux pas

Jordan Tichenor
The Advocate

The sheep are lining up as anticipation builds for Apple’s next big cash cow.
The multi-billion dollar computer company announced the iPad last week, which brought many smirks from Microsoft fans, to whom tablet computers is no new concept. Many of us also realized that the design seemed extremely familiar.

Of course, we did not realize that they had not only taken the iPhone and enlarged it, but for some reason, they had also kept the operating system.

Which is rather disappointing, considering the opportunity that Apple had to launch the iPad with Mac OS X and be a truly powerful computing device. But no, they decided to shoot themselves in the foot and cripple the device from the start.

The other logical fallacies in the design include: no webcam, 64 gigabytes of non-expandable memory, no ability to multitask, no flash, no HDMI out, no built-in USB port, and the name “iPad.”

All joking aside about what has to be the worst name in technology history, the list of features that the supposed computer doesn’t have leaves one to wonder what exactly the thing is supposed to do.

For something that is supposed to be a revolution in personal computers, it seems to leave out almost every feature that even the most low-end computers have no problem implementing.

It’s mind boggling that something as basic as multitasking, which is the ability to have more than one application open at once, has somehow been deemed “unnecessary” for the so called “computer.” If Microsoft did this with one of their computers, they would be ridiculed, and yet when Apple does it, its revolutionary.

And what can one do with 64 gigabytes of space? Yes, I understand that it utilizes a more reliable type of memory storage, which is great. But then why wouldn’t it at least come built in with a USB port so that expandable hard drives could be connected to it?

Perhaps the most glaring error, however, is the noticeable absence of Flash, the element of nearly every modern webpage, and of course the thing that makes all streaming videos work. Not having flash was annoying on the iPhone, but understandable. There’s no excuse on something that is labeled as a “computer.”

Basically, it comes down to this: The iPad is the price of a computer but without the computer functionality. With no true innovations, it seems that the iPad is simply Apple’s attempt to squeeze as much money out of their iPhone design as possible.

The iPad is not revolutionary, special, or even very useful. It is an overpriced, oversized, and overglorified iPhone, which cannot and should not be called innovative, let alone useful.


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