iPad Why do people hate the iPad so much?

[Aspasia]

Hi guys. I ended up on this forum thinking "i wonder if others hate my ipad as much as i do". It seems you don't. Let me list why I hate it...

1) too many webpages dont work well. Flash or java webpages simply have issues or dont work at all. Same thing happens with many websites meant to play videos. It is just not the same as surfing them on a pc.

2) many games are too simple, i guess due to the interaction issue. Controls are mainly tap or use an on-screen joystick. At least this is true for "traditional" games. It would seem like the only games worth playing are those meant to tilt the ipad.

3) many built in apps are horrible. Like mail app, it shows the last 20 emails instead of accesing your complete mailbox.

4) you cant customize what you do in ipad. I'm used to walking around folders in my pc. I'm used to installing a program from pen drive. These concepts do not exist in ipads.

5) you need itunes to plug it in to a pc or have it join a network. Why???? People like devices which can hook up to pcs through usb, like my android cell phone.

6) apps seem to be built and customized for silly people, i'm a pc user and i miss being a power user.

Maybe i hate my ipad because i feel it doesn't replace a pc. Most of the things i do at home require a pc, so i end up thinking i got a tablet just to read the news sitting on a couch.

Please help me love my ipad or i'll sell it. And i've had it for 4 months, and i think i should have spent bucks upgrading my desktop instead

I agree with glen e: sell it and use the money to upgrade your desktop. I think you'll be happier tethered.

If you have to come to a forum of strangers in search of reasons to like a product you profess to hate, it's unlikely your mind will be changed.

Sometimes products just aren't a good fit, so chalk it up to experience and move on.

BTW, Flash is dead. http://betanews.com/2012/06/29/adobe-flash-is-dead-on-mobile/

 

[Domino8282]

Hi guys. I ended up on this forum thinking "i wonder if others hate my ipad as much as i do". It seems you don't. Let me list why I hate it...

1) too many webpages dont work well. Flash or java webpages simply have issues or dont work at all. Same thing happens with many websites meant to play videos. It is just not the same as surfing them on a pc.

2) many games are too simple, i guess due to the interaction issue. Controls are mainly tap or use an on-screen joystick. At least this is true for "traditional" games. It would seem like the only games worth playing are those meant to tilt the ipad.

3) many built in apps are horrible. Like mail app, it shows the last 20 emails instead of accesing your complete mailbox.

4) you cant customize what you do in ipad. I'm used to walking around folders in my pc. I'm used to installing a program from pen drive. These concepts do not exist in ipads.

5) you need itunes to plug it in to a pc or have it join a network. Why???? People like devices which can hook up to pcs through usb, like my android cell phone.

6) apps seem to be built and customized for silly people, i'm a pc user and i miss being a power user.

Maybe i hate my ipad because i feel it doesn't replace a pc. Most of the things i do at home require a pc, so i end up thinking i got a tablet just to read the news sitting on a couch.

Please help me love my ipad or i'll sell it. And i've had it for 4 months, and i think i should have spent bucks upgrading my desktop instead

Honestly it's just a mindset thing. I used to feel the same way as you, thinking that if I couldn't have control over every little detail of the software/hardware then it was built for "idiots" or was "dumbed down." As long as you have the mindset that it's a handheld PC then you won't enjoy it - get a MS Surface tablet and it'll work the way you're hoping.

However, if you use a Mac for awhile, I'd wager you'd begin to appreciate the "ease of use" thing more, and realize that those things you thought you *had* to be able to do, weren't actually necessary to begin with. Why do you want to walk around the iPad's file system? How will that help you do anything that you can't already do?

Some of the other things you mention just sound like you haven't fully explored how to use it properly. For example, in the mail app you can pull as many messages off the server as you want, or search the server for a particular message. If that doesn't do it for you, Google makes a native Gmail app that a lot of iPad users use (if you happen to use gmail).

As far as feeling like web sites don't load properly - be honest, were you scouring the web trying to find sites that wouldn't work? To be completely honest, I can't remember the last time I was browsing the web and came upon something that had a major issue - people thought Flash was the end-all, be-all of interactive web content and more and more, it's shifting to HTML5.

This right here says it all:

6) apps seem to be built and customized for silly people, i'm a pc user and i miss being a power user.

You see the interface and everything about the iPad being "dumbed down." Until you start to see it as "simplified," or "extraneous and unnecessary BS removed," then you will continue to have a superiority complex, and dislike Apple's products. Please don't take offense to that - I used to be the same way.

Think of it this way, do you use Linux? Why not? It's much more customizable than Windows and anyone who thinks of themselves as a "Power User" and doesn't use Linux must be deluding themselves, right? One major reason you probably use Windows instead of Linux is out of convenience. With some recent exceptions, Linux is a pain in the arse to set up, so you trust Microsoft to do some of the dirty work and make things work properly for you.

Well, Mac is to Windows as Windows is to Linux,... if that analogy makes any sense. It's a trade-off. You're trading off some customizability for ease of use. People complain that Apple fences off its ecosystem and has control over everything, but that's the biggest advantage - someone is screening out the crap and making sure that everything works properly so that you don't have to.

 

[AdonisSMU]

I don't know why and I don't care. The iPad mini fits my needs and that's what counts.

 

[dmelgar]

Youre projecting.

I haven't heard anyone hate the iPad. Most folks I know love the iPad. I've heard fandroids say something else is better, but the iPad is the king of the hill.

The iPad3 is so fast, crystal clear, and portable, that I find myself using it for everything instead of the PC.

 

[Poochi]

One of my friend who HATED Apple for god knows how many years... bought an iPhone 5 and told me it's great and wondered why he didn't join the bandwagon sooner.

lol...

 

[mantan]

This is a common misconception. People dont hate the Apple or the iPad, they hate Apple Users. And to be honest, it's not hard to see why. Apple users are no longer "oppressed" or publicly ridiculed so it doesnt make sense for there to still be Apple martyrs out there.

I think there is a lot of truth to this. Apple used to be the underdog. Their fans were a devoted group who had a strong connection to the brand and could be obnoxious in how they felt Apple was superior to everything else.

But iPhone and iPad turned the table. Suddenly there was an explosion of people who had Apple products.

Yet hardcore Apple fan is just as snarky as ever. They deride every other product as woefully inferior to Apple. They blindly defend anything and everything Apple does with the unconditional love a small child has for their mother to the bitter end....even when it's contradictory.

And they will happily pay Apple over and over again not matter what they do. Like the whole iPad Mini bit. EVERYBODY knows they will come out with a higher resolution iPad in the next 6-12 months. Yet they'll happily pay full boat now and again next summer. If anybody else did it they'd rip them to shreds.

We hear over and over how Retina is an amazing feature that separates Apples from the competition...then they'll turn around and say the Mini not having Retina is 'no big deal...you'll hardly notice.'

It amazes me as well in that Apple has not only risen off the mat...but they've become the 800 lb. gorilla...yet people still support them like they are the little underdog that just does things better.

I don't really get the original post though. I've heard less complaints about the iPad (full size version) than any other device. If anything I've heard that's it' overpriced for what most people use it for (general surfing, simple games, etc).

I've heard a lot more people express a distate for Macbooks (way overpriced) and iPhones than iPads.

 

[rowspaxe]

I don't think many people"hate" the ipad. I personally look askance at posts here touting it as a revolutionary device. Its just a big phone, and as it turns out, thats a pretty useful form factor. In the future--perhaps as early as next january--there will be tablets with pen input,a file system and x86 software. In a couple of years, apple or samsung or someonw, will reconcile that functionality with thin light form factor and the tablet will realize its full potential.

 

[Poochi]

I think there is a lot of truth to this. Apple used to be the underdog. Their fans were a devoted group who had a strong connection to the brand and could be obnoxious in how they felt Apple was superior to everything else.

But iPhone and iPad turned the table. Suddenly there was an explosion of people who had Apple products.

Yet hardcore Apple fan is just as snarky as ever. They deride every other product as woefully inferior to Apple. They blindly defend anything and everything Apple does with the unconditional love a small child has for their mother to the bitter end....even when it's contradictory.

We hear over and over how Retina is an amazing feature that separates Apples from the competition...then they'll turn around and say the Mini not having Retina is 'no big deal...you'll hardly notice.'

It amazes me as well in that Apple has not only risen off the mat...but they've become the 800 lb. gorilla...yet people still support them like they are the little underdog that just does things better.

I don't really get the original post though. I've heard less complaints about the iPad (full size version) than any other device. If anything I've heard that's it' overpriced for what most people use it for (general surfing, simple games, etc).

I've heard a lot more people express a distate for Macbooks (way overpriced) and iPhones than iPads.

Apple price isn't a concern for me

why? I used to pay as much for a sheeiiity PC (and PC Laptop) that gave me so much grief... eg. driver issues, overheating, good "value" on but low screen contrast and low build quality (ASUS), cheap laptop keyboard deformed after less than a year of use due to heat (dell), harddrive burning out (WD/Seagate), windows BSOD, tinkering all the time which I don't have the time for anymore.

In the 80s... PCs were super expensive and they didn't even have a hard drive..
In the 90s... for example, a 40MB/4MB RAM PC cost like $3k+
Late 90s/early 2000, average PC, not top of the line, come to about $2k
then prices started to fall.. but the design and quality didn't change much until after late 2000s when Apple started to become popular.

Right now, if you adjust for inflation, even the top of the line Macbook Pro or iMac are still cheaper than the average price I paid for PCs. Nominal price is roughly about the same.

Remember Startac/ Nokia/Ericsson/RAZR/KRZR days? I am paying exactly the same (nominal price) now for an iPhone as I paid for Nokia phones and RAZR/KRZR back in the days. Adjust for inflation, iPhone turns out to be cheaper.

 

[tillsbury]

It wasn't until I played with one in the store that a realized what a game-changing device it was. I remember calling my wife from the store and trying to explain to her why we needed one.

Lol, I didn't bother with that, waited until I got home and just showed her instead...

 

[mantan]

Apple price isn't a concern for me

why? I used to pay as much for a sheeiiity PC (and PC Laptop) that gave me so much grief... eg. driver issues, overheating, good "value" on but low screen contrast and low build quality (ASUS), cheap laptop keyboard deformed after less than a year of use due to heat (dell), harddrive burning out (WD/Seagate), windows BSOD, tinkering all the time which I don't have the time for anymore.

In the 80s... PCs were super expensive and they didn't even have a hard drive..
In the 90s... for example, a 40MB/4MB RAM PC cost like $3k+
Late 90s/early 2000, average PC, not top of the line, come to about $2k
then prices started to fall.. but the design and quality didn't change much until after late 2000s when Apple started to become popular.

Right now, if you adjust for inflation, even the top of the line Macbook Pro or iMac are still cheaper than the average price I paid for PCs. Nominal price is roughly about the same.

Remember Startac/ Nokia/Ericsson/RAZR/KRZR days? I am paying exactly the same (nominal price) now for an iPhone as I paid for Nokia phones and RAZR/KRZR back in the days. Adjust for inflation, iPhone turns out to be cheaper.

Pricing is a whole separate topic. Back in the days you were talking about, a Mac was bit more expensive. These days it's a LOT more expensive. But in some ways you get what you pay for.

Ironically I'm going through that dilemma today. My wife has a 3 year old Dell laptop. Several of the keys stick and it's having a hard time keeping a wifi connection. She loves her iPhone and iPad....but I'm going to have to think long and hard at paying twice as much for an Apple laptop.

The RAZR comparison is a touch off. The iPhone is heavily subsidized, which makes it's true $699 cost a lot easier for consumers to stomach. While a lot of iPhone users like the product, I wonder if that love would be stymied a bit if they were paying the true 'Apple Tax' for that product.