I’ve been playing around with my iPad for three months now, and it has definitely changed many things in the way I approach my job, Twitter, news and the web in general. Is it magical? Yes, it is. Is it magical enough to completely reinvent the way people think of mobile devices? Maybe, but it’s personal.
The iPad is a highly personal device. Even more than the iPhone, which is and always will ultimately be a phone, the iPad has no defined purpose. Sure, Apple says that it’s the best way to read emails, surf the web and watch movies, but it’s up to you to turn the tablet into your machine. A productivity machine, an entertainment one or a gaming device? Your call.
For as much as I enjoy using my iPad, there are some things I’m missing. Features, let’s just say. Whether it’s about hardware adjustments I’d like to see, or software updates coming in the next months, I’ve put together a list of “stuff I want on the iPad”.
Maybe you’ll find something that you want in there, too.
A Retina Display. Well, I’m stating the obvious here: once you try the Retina Display on the iPhone 4, it’s hard to go back. Text looks like printed text, images look like beautiful paintings on a small screen. There’s no real definition for it, you just have to use it for 5 minutes. Then you’ll be blown away. A Retina Display on the iPad could single-handedly change the way people look at the device. Literally. iBooks, Instapaper and Reeder are the “killer apps” people are using to consume content on their iPads: now imagine them redesigned for the Retina Display.
You can’t wait, can you?
iOS 4. And I’m stating the obvious again. Of course I want iOS 4 on my iPad, and you know why? Because I know it won’t be anything like the iPhone version. Sure folders and multitasking will be in there, but don’t hold your breath for a simple porting of iOS 4 for iPhone. The iPad and iPhone are two different devices, and Apple knows that. I’m thinking about a redesigned interface for multitasking, new activation shortcuts for backgrounded applications, more capable folders and maybe something new we haven’t seen yet. I expect a first beta version to drop in August.
Bluetooth File Sharing. Say I have some documents in Numbers, and I’m showing them to my friend at a bar: if no wifi network is available I can’t email them (unless I have an iPad 3G), for this reason it would be great to be able to send docs using Bluetooth. With a dead simple setup and pairing process, I bet that would make a lot of users happier. I’m not saying that there should be a specific app for Bluetooth sharing (like iBluenova in Cydia) but developers could support it in their apps.
A new Notes app. If you write on multiple devices and you want to keep everything in sync, you use Simplenote. Why? Because Apple’s default Notes app just doesn’t get the job done. They’ve introduced MobileMe sync, but it’s unreliable and unsupported across devices. You can’t tag, you can’t organize notes, you can’t even change the font. Notes is ok for casual users, but the pro ones are looking elsewhere. After 3 years, Apple still hasn’t fixed this.
Central Repository. I’ve talked about this before. I want to be able to store all the documents I read and create on the iPad in a single place, for when I want to organize them, share them, delete them. I’m not saying that the iPad needs a file browser: I’m ok with Apple hiding the file system. No one needs system files and folders anymore. The Finder is dead. Apps are the new OS, the OS is a layer behind apps. But behind that, you don’t see anything else. Like I said, I’m ok with that. What I’m picturing is nothing but an evolution of iTunes’ file sharing features: iTunes groups apps that have documents in a single place, and allows you to export those documents from the app database to your desktop computer.
Now think about a better version of this system, running on our iPads, Macs and the cloud. I’m calling it a central repository. No need for cables and iTunes syncing: your documents are always in sync, but more on this later. The main point is, I want to be able to aggregate files on my iPad. Be it an application or an option in Settings app, I know that many users would incredibly appreciate this feature. Apps could communicate with each other through simple APIs to share and import compatible documents located in the repository, and other apps such as Twitter clients or online productivity tools could pick files from the repository and upload them online.
A Library for documents created on the iPad, that’s it.
Print. Simple: I want to print documents from my iPad, because I’m tired of emailing PDFs to myself and fire up the print management app on my Macbook.
Clock, Voice Memos. Pretty self explanatory.
A real MobileMe. The iPad (and the iPhone, too) lacks a full-featured cloud workflow. I’m not talking about mails and calendars: I want to be able to deploy all my work files, apps and contacts to the cloud and forget about that. iWork.com is at an unspecified stage of development. Address Book sync with MobileMe is buggy. Calendars are pretty good, but they rely on a premium system called MobileMe which a) costs a lot money for large teams and b) is always undergoing changes and fixes. Apple still hasn’t got the cloud right, while Google is light years ahead of them.
What am I looking forward then? State-of-the-art data synchronization: contacts, mails, calendars, location, settings, bookmarks, favorites and notes, just as a start. Then I want the possibility to store entire libraries in the cloud: apps, music, video content. Now, Apple could charge a premium for this and I think we’d all pay for it.
Sure this needs time to be developed: we’re hearing the massive NC data center will be fully operative by 2011. Is that the date to look forward to? Would that be the time for a Continuous Client?
And you, what do you want on your iPad?
