You wanted it, craved it, dreamt about it, and after the years of rumors, the unabashed hype, the gasping for bated breath, last week Steve Jobs finally unveiled his latest piece of techno idolatry in San Francisco – the unfortunately titled iPad. Along with the rest of the universe, travelers and travel bloggers have been waiting for the newest piece of Jobsian hardware to make their lives on the road a little easier. While the iPad is definitely one sexy piece of hardware, travelers have reason to be disappointed for what it does for their lifestyle in particular.
If this was something you’ve been hankering for, you’ve probably at least read a few articles last week to find out what the thing delivers (here’s a great catch-all article) so I won’t go into the specs here. But I’ll say right away the sad and revealing truth: the iPad is NOT the thing you’ve been waiting for. At least not yet. Sorry folks.
Travelers typically have several reasons to take a piece of electronic equipment like this with them on the road and at first glance the size and portability of the iPad will makes even the most non-savvy individual lick their chops. It looks tasty.
But look closer, here are the reasons why this isn’t the electronic panacea you’ve been waiting for:
Storage: The iPad is admittedly a great media center. But why they didn’t put enough hard drive space to handle everything you have is inconceivable. The most expensive version for example has 64gb of storage space. Personally, I have that much music alone. Any typical netbook computer has up to three times that much storage. If you wanted to make the Pad your blanket gadget on the road you’re in for problems. Additionally, there’s no USB, no SD card slot, no VGA and no HDMI. Without pulling my punches, the iPad is what the iPad is, and nothing more.
Battery life: This may be the Pad’s key redeeming factor. And in comparison to other gadgets, 10 hours sounds impressive, but to put in perspective for the long distance traveler: 10 hours (which of course is tech-speak for “10 hours” or, under the best possible conditions) is still 4 hours shorter than the flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Plus you’ll have to have it plugged and charging every night (with a separate accessory). Still, this has the average netbook beat, lasting between 6 or 8 hours.
Internet: The iPad comes with wi-fi and Bluetooth capability each at graduated at price levels. But this doesn’t mean much if you can’t get online. You’ll have to wait till June to get the 3G service available from international providers with their GSM SIM. And you’ll need to pay for a service plan that who knows how widespread it’ll be. If it ends up being a perfect world you’re able to access and download those extra books, emails and English newspapers you’re dying for, then you’re doing fine. We’ll have to wait and see on this one.
Camera: Without a camera any augmented reality app is useless (stick to the map and compass) and video chatting is impossible, which I must admit would’ve been super-cool on such a portable screen.
It’s delicate: If you’ve ever taken the bus between Bangkok and Siam Reap you can relate to the rough and tumble world of long distance traveling. The iPad has not yet been proven to withstand the jolts of the average day in Morocco, Patagonia, the Australian outback. Of course, many travelers will be delighted with something thinner than 5 nickels and lighter than a loaf of bread (okay, rye bread) but traveling may require something a little more substantial.
Lack of physical keyboard: Three words: carpal tunnel syndrome. If you’re going to be sending emails, updating your blog or live journaling, a virtual keyboard is not going to be ideal. Simply stated the iPad is meant to receive and display text, not create it. To its credit, there’s a physical keyboard accessory you can buy for $69 which technically solves the typing conundrum, but do you really want to lug that thing around?
Syncing: Without a port, there’s no way to connect your camera directly to the device. This means you have to upload your camera’s photos to a laptop then back to the iPad. Call me crazy, but this just seems silly.
Price: Reviewers seem to think the price tags starting at $500 (plus tax) were palatable, but anyone saving up for a big trip will likely be hesitant to drop this kind of extra money for the starter version (the 3G-enabled version is over $700) when a comparable non-Apple device is less than half that. And with the almost-required peripherals, it won’t take long to have a serious hole in your pocket.
Okay, I must admit it’s hard to list all these cons without throwing in the pros for a little fairness and balance. Here we have the upsides to the iPad:
The Google Maps application will be fantastic to locate anything anywhere, and from first appearances looks FAST.
Access to a quadrillion apps is a near necessity for travelers. A lot has been said about the usefulness of Apple’s app store to people traveling abroad.
The slick navigation just makes your life seem better.
The battery life is a boon. There’s a lot of flights in the world under 10 hours.
In the end, if you were waiting for something to be of service to the average round the world traveler, it’s probably better that you either wait for the 3rd generation iPad, which should avail itself to the things lacking in the first two versions, or else live in the moment and look to the vast selection of netbooks currently out there on the market.
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