Apple iPad reaction and comment. A little bit ‘meh’, no?

We’ve already declared ourselves a little disappointed by Apple’s self declared “revolutionary” iPad tablet, and reactions have been mixed everywhere else too.

On the whole, reviewers seem to have warmed to the tablet a lot more than most ‘ordinary’ people who have generally greeted the announcement with a shrug and the questions, “what’s the point of it?” and, “why do I need it?”

We’re not sure if we can answer those questions, either, but read on for some more reaction and comment about Apple’s new tablet computer…

Naturally, celebrity Apple fanboy extraordinaire Stephen Fry worked himself into a predictably tedious lather of undying love for the iPad, saying he wanted to ‘fondle and lick’ the device, but other sources were far more critical (and some may say unbiased, seeing as Fry was an invited guest of Apple’s at the launch).

Mashable offered up a detailed analysis of why the iPad disappoints, citing  the lack of Flash support, its underwhelming abilities as an eReader and, perhaps more importantly, the fact that Apple will be retaining full control over what you can put on the device:

It’s an Unprecedented Win for Closed Computing

Many of the software restrictions that drive people mad when they’re using the iPhone are going to be just as frustrating on the iPad. All the device’s content — apps, songs, TV shows, movies, books, you name it — can only be processed through Apple’s iTunes Store.

You won’t be able to drag and drop or share files with other computers like you can with your laptop on your home network. You won’t be able to download a program or music file from the web and play it on the spot. You won’t be able to use any application that doesn’t meet Apple’s strict approval guidelines. It’s closed computing at its most extreme.

Unfortunately we’ve come to expect that from our smartphones. For a larger device that’s supposed to replace your netbook as a complete portable computing solution, though, this is almost unprecedented — at least from a device that’s likely to have a great deal of influence on the market and on the design of future devices. That’s bad news no matter how you spin it.

Lifehacker shared the same concerns, with its editor posting up an impassioned argument against Apples control-freak approach:

The iPad, much like the iPhone, is completely locked down. The user has no control over what she installs on the hardware short of accepting exactly what Apple has approved for it. From past experience, we know what happens when a completely legitimate application—from a huge company that’s actually partnered with Apple—doesn’t gel with Apple’s business plan. They reject it, and you can’t use it. And what recourse does the power user have?

Jailbreaking! And certainly the iPad will see plenty of hacking, but only because Apple requires you to hack the device if you actually want control over it yourself. Apple’s gotten into the habit of acting like you’re renting hardware. They’ve become the all-powerful, over-restrictive, ambivalent IT person in the sky, restricting what users can and can’t install on their hardware.

Gizmodo also weighed in with their list of  ‘8 Things That Suck About the iPad‘ which ended up running into ten things, including the ‘big, ugly bezel,’ the “same big, ugly touchscreen keyboard we’ve seen on other tablets,” lack of HDMI Out and the need for adapters for USB or transferring images from a digital camera.

Their main complaint though was about the lack of multi-tasking – something we wholeheartedly agree with. Having to constantly open and close every single app on a machine this size is insane:

No Multitasking
This is a backbreaker. If this is supposed to be a replacement for netbooks, how can it possibly not have multitasking? Are you saying I can’t listen to Pandora while writing a document? I can’t have my Twitter app open at the same time as my browser? I can’t have AIM open at the same time as my email? Are you kidding me? This alone guarantees that I will not buy this product.

Even Engadget – a site not exactly renown for feeling anything but love for Apple’s products –  weighed in with a very mixed editorial offering a wide range of opinions, many of them straying into the ‘meh’ territory, while the Guardian site compiled a large list of unimpressed reviews under the heading, Apple iPad: bashed by bloggers around the web.

We’ll finish off with a post from ‘Structural’ that appeared on an iPad thread on our sister site, urban75 as it sums up many of our feelings:

I think when Apple say it’s their most revolutionary product yet, they mean, this is our most proprietary product yet. We make all the money. Now they own the chips, they have complete control.

I just tried to watch the keynote, but the deathly silence after the iPad was shown and demoed was too unnerving especially as it’s all the same shit we saw on the iPhone two years. Oh a maps app, a email app, wow you can point and click with your fingers! Did you just pinch to zoom? Show me that shit again Steve!

My first take on it now, is that it’s a bit dull. A giant iPod touch. I still think it looks a bit crap with that massive bezel, they could have slimmed that down a bit, my thumbs ain’t that big, it looks remarkably similar to the Que Touchbook but without e-ink.

Glossy screens are shit, the end.

The Home screen looked bloody awful with 8 tiny icons and 4 on the dock. That it runs iPhone 3.2 is disappointing, (I want a desktop, with real files) if they don’t support multi-tasking with the next OS, then I can’t recommend this product to any grandmas (this must be their target market with this, people without ipod/iphones who are thinking of buying a netbook).

That presentation was the most corporate and microsoft like I’ve seen apple do – fucking pie-charts? what is this 1988? Do work in my iBed or when doing an iPoo? forgetaboutit, we’re not all crazy workaholics, Jobbie.

Painting with my fingers, that’s the best graphics app you’ve got to show off?
Hardly any inputs or outputs, oh fuck off Apple, we’ve had enough of this, from removing Firewire from Macbooks to forcing proprietary cables on iPhone users who want to output to a tv, this control freakery and greed is tiresome.

Where’s my HDMI outputs, my USB inputs, my card reader? How about a firewire connection to I can upload films quickly rather than at USB 2.0 speed. Again locked to iTunes on ONE computer no doubt. I can’t even plug my iphone into my ipad so that I can share photo or video? What if I don’t want a laptop or a desktop? How am I gonna sync?

Lack of any new gestures, or anything new at all that uses this lovely big touchscreen. What was the point of buying FingerWorks – so no-one else can make a good touch interface no doubt. Lame. You can’t even two-finger rotate the maps in the maps app.

That keyboard looks childlike – why not just make it fullsize, the thing looks big enough. I’m sick of pressing a button to get numbers up, but I understand it on a tiny iPhone.

No iSight, so I can’t sit in bed and skype my family like I do with my missus’s laptop?
Locked in – probably worse than the iPhone as that new chip will probably contain some hard-coded security shit making jailbreaking even harder.

No flash, so how is this the best browser experience then Jobs? You might not like Adobe – but those ‘liberal creative artistic’ types you banged on about at the end (wank!), like snazzy graphics and have been using adobe software way before Apple pulled their finger out and started making decent apps. Just shit, 30% of the sites I have to use, are flash.

I sometimes think Jobs and Ives have lost the plot, too rich, they just make things they’d like to have on their laps while they travel around first class. And Ives barely concealed ‘we call this magical because the plebs won’t understand how it works’ was wankier than ‘our funnest ipod yet’ campaign. Okay mate.

I personally have no time for all this kindle e-ink, media crap, nothing beats a real book and a lamp. If I have a computer in front of me I don’t use it to read a book, I make stuff and surf the web generally (and work occasionally).

Did I mention lack of multi-tasking, that is so fail.

What do I like about it? The fact that it is multi-touch – I use a wacom on my desktop and I often wish I could use my fingers instead for some things. Browsing is definitely improved by with smooth scrolling and pinch zooming etc…

If money were no object I’d buy one for browsing in bed like I do with my iPhone. I doubt I’d use the book reader – especially as the pricing is analogous to a real hardback/paperback. I’ll have the real thing thanks. I watch almost all my films and tv on the plasma in the living room through a media box that picks up my downloads from the internet so it’s not going to replace that and anyway it’s a bit low-res for widescreen films given that they went with a low dot pitch on the screen.

Anyway like most things Apple, you need to wait for around the 3rd iteration for the problems to be sorted out. The shat all over, badly treated (but occasionally rich) developers will save it though.

I’m sure it’ll sell like hotcakes, but not to me. Not this year anyway.

Let’s hear it from you

You’ve heard some of the opinions out there about the iPad. Do you agree? Disagree?

We’d love to hear your opinion, so please drop us a line!