Apple's iPad Mistakes

If Apple really wants to make the iPad a world-changing device, it should have these features.

The iPad has a lot going for it, but is also a big disappointment in many ways. Almost no product could have lived up to the insane hype leading up to Steve Jobs's announcement today, but the iPad certainly could have had more groundbreaking features. If Apple really wants to change the world with the iPad and popularize a whole new computing category, they may need to do better. If the iPad had the following features, it would have blown us away.

Multitasking

There's no multitasking in the OS at all, and not even multiple active web pages in Safari. You can't listen to Pandora while you surf the Web, or switch back and forth between Facebook at Twitter, or write a document in Pages while talking on a VOIP call.

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The iPad has a lot going for it, but is also a big disappointment in many ways. Almost no product could have lived up to the insane hype leading up to Steve Jobs's announcement today, but the iPad certainly could have had more groundbreaking features. If Apple really wants to change the world with the iPad and popularize a whole new computing category, they may need to do better. If the iPad had the following features, it would have blown us away.

Multitasking

There's no multitasking in the OS at all, and not even multiple active web pages in Safari. You can't listen to Pandora while you surf the Web, or switch back and forth between Facebook at Twitter, or write a document in Pages while talking on a VOIP call.

Adobe Flash

For better or worse, it's just not the real Web without support for Adobe Flash. We want to watch Hulu on the iPad. It's sort-of okay on a small phone-sized device, but it's not okay on a 9.7 inch screen.

Camera / iChat

We don't expect people to hold up a big slate to take pictures with a back-facing camera, though some augmented reality apps might be neat on the larger screen. What the iPad is really lacking is a front-facing camera and video chat. A device like this would be perfect for such an application. With a front-facing camera, the iPad could be the perfect device for filming and editing personal YouTube videos (you could even see yourself in-frame as you record).

Better Video and HDMI

Video support is very similar to what you find on the iPhone and iPod Touch - limited to 720p H.264 Main Profile. There should be support for Advanced Profile video, and while we're at it, a mini HDMI port to push video to our HDTVs.

16:9 Aspect Ratio

The 4:3 aspect ratio is convenient for using iPhone apps in full screen mode, but it's less desirable for media. From YouTube videos to TV shows to movies, the world is rapidly shifting exclusively to widescreen formats, and those black bars are getting real old, real fast.

Wireless Sync

If your computer with my iTunes account associated with it is on my local network, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to sync your iPad over Wi-Fi. With the 802.11n networking, it would even be pretty fast. If Microsoft can do it with the Zune, why can't Apple?

Handwriting Recognition

A soft keyboard is one thing, but it's still not good enough to touch-type on. On a tablet sized device, people sometimes just want to jot down a note or two. Sometimes, writing by hand is simply more convenient.

A New Interface

The interface is basically a slightly modified, scaled-up version of the iPhone interface. That's nice and familiar, but it doesn't make the best use of the bigger screen. We wanted something more, perhaps with pertinent info from Twitter, Facebook, Feeds, Weather, Email, and more pushed to the home screen.

File Access

Clearly, Apple expects us to not just consume on the iPad, but create. iWork has been ported to the platform, and the art application Brushes was prominently featured in Jobs's presentation. There should be a folder where I can access my documents and images, drag them to and from my desktop, and save documents from the Web (or services like Dropbox).