Apple iPad gripes
June 24th, 2011, 1:53am by KelvinI thought it would be beneficial to compile a list of major and minor gripes that we all have with the iPad. This will serve as a useful resource for anyone shopping for a tablet, because I truly believe that unless something on this list is an absolute deal breaker, the best tablet for any buyer is whichever iPad fits their budget. I’m also hoping that we might be able to find solutions to each others’ complaints.
I’ll start some annoyances off the top of my head.
1) Tapping the location field in the calendar app doesn’t seem to open the location in Maps (instead it allows you to edit the text)
2) Can’t attach items from the mail app, which sucks when replying to someone with an attachment or when you want to send more than one photo at a time.
3) Can’t swipe to switch days in calendar.
4) Making a new calendar entry is harder than it should be (should be able to tap the open space to prepopulate a calendar entry with that time and date.
I’ll add to this list over time. You are all welcome to do so as well.
June 24th, 2011 at 2:09 am
I’m pretty much committed to buying the tablet with the best Flickr experience, since that’s where I spend 80% of my time online. 🙂
June 24th, 2011 at 2:16 am
Flickr serves up a very nice version of their website to the iPad (basically makes the lightbox photo viewer swipable and the videos h.264). I tested the website with a Honeycomb tablet and it gets the iPad version as well. Pretty much works just like the normal pc website, except you can’t upload from the browser. So let me make that gripe #5.
5) Can’t upload files from the browser.
I’m sure the Touochpad will support the same version of the Flickr website, as long as HP remembers to alert Flickr.
June 24th, 2011 at 9:19 am
6) it’s a lot harder to copy a web page’s URL than it should be. Tapping the address bar puts you in “insert” mode. Then you have to drag the little tabs around manually to highlight the whole address before you can copy to clipboard. Makes tweeting a link out of Safari a real pain. Is there a better way? Again, solved by the twitter integration in iOS5, at least for Twitter.
June 24th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
I’ve got a solution to your URL copying gripe. Tap the URL field to enter edit mode and then tap-and-hold on the URL field until a context menu appears. One of the choices is “Select All.” Choose that, followed by a “Copy” and you’re all set!
June 24th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Thanks Lance, that’s a bit easier (I hate dragging the tabs). Still, in webOS, like in any Windows browser (and in Chrome on OS X), once you tap the address bar, the address is highlighted, so you can start typing to replace it, or you can copy it. What else are you ever going to do with a URL? Are you really ever going to edit characters? Why does iOS force me to tap the X to delete all before I can type a new web address?
June 24th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Actually, you can start typing right away without selecting and it will delete the current URL.
June 24th, 2011 at 11:58 pm
Wow, thanks Lance. Awesome feature.
July 25th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Here’s my latest gripe: As of today, the Kindle iPad app no longer allows book buying. Score another point for the Touchpad (6 out of 7 of my iPad gripes are addressed by HP). Still love the thing (and I don’t read books anyway).
July 25th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Same for Nook. Of course, all it did was remove the button that launched the web browser anyway, so I don’t see it as that big a deal — just make a bookmark in Safari and you’ll have equal functionality.
I don’t see this as a real gripe about using the iPad, more a gripe about the walled garden.
By the way, finally saw a Touchpad today at Staples. I played with it for about 15 seconds — seemed fine, but I had the same reaction as when I went to the Apple Store today and saw Lion — “Um, OK, guess it exists, and seems to work.” I opened a web browser, then flicked it off the screen. Worked as advertised.
July 25th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Yes, that gripe is more Apple in general than the iPad, but as an act of civil disobedience, I plan on never updating the Kindle or Nook Apps. That will show them :). Certainly, I’m not any more likely to buy from iBooks.
Yeah, Touchpad is pretty much “WebOS on a tablet.” No more, no less. They’ve introduced some panel navigation interface that’s reminiscient of the Bing and Twitter iPad apps, but I guess that’s not a selling point for you.
July 25th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Liking the TP more as time goes on, the release of some good RSS feed readers is a huge difference maker– a tablet is probably the most obvious format for perusing a stream of unrelated stories.
As for buying books on the Touchpad… not just yet. Hopefully the Amazon store will be along shortly. Still hoping they release an Amazon movie store, too, as that would almost make it worthwhile to buy movies since I could watch at home or on the go.
But I’m off topic. My biggest iPad gripe is that it’s sucking up most of the tablet developers.