I’m thinking of getting an iPad 2. I’ve heard all of the gushing about what a wonderful device it is, and I’ve played with it and been impressed. What I’m curious about, from iPad users and those in the know, what are some of it’s cons? I’m mostly curious so that I don’t discover it and regret my purchase. Is the lack of Flash that big of a deal?
I don`t have an iPad, but is this an all-or-nothing decision or are you comparing it to something? The reason I ask is because I have a tablet with Android and I found myself quite annoyed with things not running on Android, whereas after using an iPhone for 3 years it was exceedingly rare that I ever felt something just wouldn’t work.
So if you’re thinking about a competing tablet, realize that while Flash may work on Android there are still deficiencies in it. The only thing I can specifically think of was Netflix, which I believe was actually finally fixed shortly after my trying to use it. But there were a lot of other things that just weren’t supported on Android and I was quite surprised by my overall negative experience.
That’s just my thoughts on it based on using a competing tablet/os. Hopefully someone who actually owns a iPad will offer advice.
I was going to say “no flash” because that is the only con I can readily think of. It’s annoying, but not really a big deal.
The only other con I can think of that people cite is that you can only get apps for it that Apple allows in the app store. This isn’t a problem to me because the App store has everything I’d ever need to use, and at reasonable prices. (iPad apps are sometimes a little more expensive than iPhone apps, if you have one of those.)
If you do regret your purchase, I believe you can return it, though there may be a 10% restocking fee.
Well, it’s an iPad, not a netbook. So transferring files is a bit of a pain. You can’t download stuff and have it waiting on your desktop. But a file system like Dropbox makes it easy to do this stuff, especially if you have a VNC client and access to a traditional desktop/laptop.
The keyboard onscreen is usable but I wager nobody is writing a dissertation on it. It’s fine for e-mails but not anything longer.
There’s no way to connect a presentation clicker, Bluetooth or USB, to it. So if you want to use it for presentations you have to be near enough to touch the screen to move the slides.
I recommend getting the camera connection kit - so you can have a way to connect SD cards and USB stuff. Also, the TV out VGA connector, if you ever want to use it with a projector/monitor.
Yes, I’m comparing it to the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
The biggest complaints I hear are: No USB, No external keyboard hookup, No Flash. It’s also not a good tool for editing large documents. Ipad has Fixed memory and a ‘permanent’ battery.
Usually threads like this dissolve down to: “what do you want to use it for?” What might be a negative to me, might not be a negative to you. Personally, I’d like to be able send video out to my Proxima Projector. That’s a big negative for me. I don’t know of any way to use the iPad to play a DVD, so there’s not much using in outputting to a proxima anyway (unless I rip the movie and sync it some other way).
I missed the edit Window, but after reading Hippy Hollow’s post I see I was mistaken about some of the accessories that are available for the iPad.
Among other things…
Apple Wireless Keyboard
iPad Camera Connection Kit
Apple Digital AV Adapter
Apple VGA Adapter
The native YouTube app seems flawed. And I hate how web links automatically open in the YouTube app. It streams much slower than my wireless mac mini right next to it. It also has a limit on how much it will buffer ahead.
Inconvenient to transfer files to and from. Some programs like dropbox and oplayer help with that.
Due to the limitations of the hardware, most games are rather repetitive.
I’ve got an iPad for work and an Android phone for personal use (as well as a Nook Color, but my wife won’t let me root it :(). My biggest complaint is that the iOS is pretty locked-down from a functionality standpoint. It can do some things really well, but some things, not at all.
Case in point, and something that’s come up for me a lot lately since my son was born: If I want to share a photo from my iPad’s default gallery to one or more services (flikr, Picasa, Facebook, etc.), I am very limited in my options. I can email it, and that’s about it. Or I can download a custom photo management app that may give me some sharing capabilities, but probably not all the sharing options I want in one app.
On Android, you have several sharing options out of the box (including all the ones I mentioned above), and by downloading certain apps, you instantly get more sharing options via the shared app libraries. Same thing for various Notes and video apps. So from my Android phone, I have complete flexibility - if I want to share a picture of my baby boy out to my Picasa web albums, Facebook and flikr, I just do it all right from the Gallery app, with a few swipes on the screen.
Of course, some folks welcome the simplicity that comes with an iPad - there’s something to be said for limiting functionality for the sake of stability, if you aren’t a tinkerer (I am, so I prefer Android).
ETA: I should add that for light browsing, and checking/responding to email (about half of my work), the iPad is quite useful.
Are you planning on using this with a data plan, or getting wi-fi only? That’s another concern - my iPad is horribly slow over a 3G connection.
Also, if you’re looking at wi-fi only, there are some very good 10" Android tablets below the $400 price point now - the Acer Iconia, and the ASUS EEE pad (the one with the nifty keyboard dock).
Well I have the 7 inch Galaxy Tab and as I alluded to I don`t really like it. Maybe the 10 inch galaxy tab with Honeycomb will be better.
I bought the Galaxy Tab to develop on, so somewhat ironically it was just randomly using it that I found myself not liking it. I really wanted to like Android and as a developer I would say that I do, but as a user I wasn’t satisfied.
There IS a bluetooth keyboard that I use on my iPad: The Original. It’s quite nice.
No Flash. No plugins at all, actually. Silverlight or java (but JavaScript works) don’t work either. No native USB port or SD slot, minus the camera thingy.
The iPad 2 has yet to have been jail broken. That is a con, IMHO.
Multitasking is kinda shitty, too. If you’re watching a Netflix video and someone starts messaging you on AIM, MSN or whatever…eugh…I break out the crack berry at that point, but then it seems to defeat the purpose of the IPad…:rolleyes:
I was going to mention that jailbreaking is essential for any iOS product… no jailbreak for the ipad 2 would be a dealbreaker for me. I’m sure it’s coming, though.
iPad2 isn’t jailbroken? A quick Google search shows a dozen groups that claim to be able to do it. I’m not sure though since mine is doing just fine without this “essential” upgrade.
I thought that was odd too, I took a poster’s word for it… but I just jailbroke my iOs 4.3.3 iPad and I am almost certain that the jailbreak worked for all iOS devices, including iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPads 1 & 2.
Did it yesterday using redsn0w… easy. 
I’ve been following it on the twitterverse pretty regularly…unless I’m the stupidest person on teh internetz, I think you can’t (yet) jailbreak an Ipad 2…
It’s not a retina display, so if you have an iPhone 4 you’ll really notice it.
TABBED BROWSING DAMMIT. (reportedly fixed in iOS 5)
Notifications still suck. (reportedly fixed in iOS 5)
Some websites, particularly fashion websites, rely a lot on flash and you’ll get nothing. Rarer than I expected, but still.
Youtube website (“mobile app”) is far and away better than the built in app for viewing video. on the other hand, Youtube hasn’t done an iPad version of the mobile app yet, you still get the iPhone app version. I’m a bit upset about that, as the built in app layout is much more suited to the iPad, but I guess youtube is still working on it.
What’s Iphone about it? It’s a fullsize HD app…:dubious: