Why We Didn't Buy an iPad Last Night

My mom and I were hot on the idea of getting an iPad to share on our trip to China. Last night we visited the Apple store in Albany to check out the iPad first hand.

The reasons we didn't buy the iPad last night are listed below in no particular order.

Surfing the web was okay, sometimes sluggish, but ultimately we ended up on websites that use Flash for slideshows, viewing content, etc. And that was a drag. Mac vs PC ads tout Mac's ability to do everything a PC can do only better and to interact well with "others" - things I crow about to my annoyed PC husband. I've come to expect that everything lovely comes with an Apple like a mic and camera, video recording, intuitive CD/DVD burning, etc. Unlike Dell, for instance, who didn't even bother to install sound on hubby's laptop because he didn't think to ask for it! And I always gloated over the fact that a Mac is just soooo much fun and gorgeous to look at but without Flash the fun was often roadblocked and I really felt deprived of content I wanted to view. For the first time it seemed Apple was holding out on me.

Meanwhile my mother (age 76) couldn't understand the meaning of blue cube events.

Photos - The photo adapter for uploading pics from your camera's SD card is not available until maybe the end of the month. I wanted to use it on the China trip but we are leaving next week. I can't believe it is not available with iPad's release after all that advertising. Just plain annoying.

iBooks - a limited selection right now as reported. No results for A Clock Work Orange. Not that I wanted it. Reading on the iPad was okay but really a library book is better on the eyes. And I suspect eInk technology may be easier on the eyes as well.

For my mom, who is disabled by a stroke and has lost use of one hand, holding the iPad and flipping a page is impossible unless the iPad is resting on a table or tray at an angle. A used mystery paperback (her preference) is 25 cents.

Touch Screen is so sensitive - it was okay for me. But my mom had trouble. I think she would eventually get the hang of a lighter touch but her pinky knuckle often touched down and then she was someplace she didn't want to go and didn't understand how she got there. That happened over and over again.

Typing - I was getting used to it. It has auto correct so for email missives it is okay. But for keeping a journal on the trip without a wireless keyboard? Hmmm. I would lose my train of thought having to type like that (though I might get used to it). I also suspect I would have to turn off the auto correct to input any PinYin into my journal entries and that could be trouble for the English parts.

Games - My Daughter liked the games well enough. But she was not impressed completely. She does have a Mac Book, iPod and the iPhone with its camera, GPS and calling ability. In some ways the iPhone and iPod Touch are easier to type on than the iPad.

Some glitchy things like the accessability option could drive older folks completely nuts. Try it and see.
Couldn't get the keyboard to come up sometimes when trying to reply to email on a web browser unless I switched to plain text and then I couldn't scroll up to top of the text.
YouTube and other site videos load upside down often times enough to keep you flipping the thing.
And according to one of the clerks, if you turn the iPad off it forgets where the wifi in your house is and you have to reset.

So I am luggin' my 5 pound Mac Book Pro to China which I fell back in love with after my trip to the Apple store. The thing does heat up to near explosive degrees of Fahrenheit but I can access seemingly everything.

Do I still want an iPad? Oh yeah, but I'll wait for the next generation.

[UPDATE] Day before leaving for China - picked up an iPod Touch because it does just about everything the iPAD would do, was way cheaper and fits in my purse. LOVE STARBUCKS in Xian and Shanghai where I could get free wifi without hassle and real coffee. My Chinese AccelaStudy App was great when I had to ask questions on the street. Just showed the character and played the sound for those trying to communicate with me.