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The fabled dream of the tech savvy community. For years the internet has buzzed with random myths and rumors surrounding a device that would rock the electronic world. I mean, Apple has released some pretty amazing things over the years, so why wouldn’t they be the ones to make the perfect tablet computer. So after years of everyone diligently waiting (myself definitely included), this morning we were presented with our long awaited product.

After many recent reports, this is basically what everyone expected the product to look like. It’s basically an oversized iPod but gorgeous nonetheless. It has a brilliant 9.7” inch screen, a custom made processor to carry the use of the app store over, 3G built in, e-reader app, and not to mention a very, very attractive price point. This thing should be smokin’ hot but with all the polished edges, Apple has slightly missed the mark.

From a product acceptance standpoint, we can view it as needing small but necessary additions. Some that have been mentioned are multi-tasking, a finger to paper note-taking app, and the addition of some input ports. All of which is sound advice but I believe that apple, as well as many others companies, are missing the point.

For some reason the market has been flooded with the belief that their needs to be a crucial “in-between” device. We have our smartphones and we have our laptops, but there’s still something missing and the logical conclusion most make is the need for that before mentioned “in-between” device. This has been presented in several different fashions throughout the years ranging from ultra-mobiles to the present netbook market and only recently has this idea taken mainstream acceptance but do we really need an addition to this incredibly thin in-between region.

Apple had a great opportunity here, to break that mold and venture the market towards the right direction but instead followed the trend. I would completely fault Apple on this one but being a FanBoy I accept that they had their reasons for choosing this path of design. Times are tough, our economies in shambles and apple chose the route that promised the greatest sales, completely understandable.

What they should have done is taken this revision as a beta and expand on its concept. The initial ideas are there: thin, lightweight, attractive, pretty impressive battery life, wide array of connectivity, and touch screen display supporting multi-touch. Now they just need to take the better bulk of everything else and either scrap it or tweak it.

Screen Size

Starting with the size, 9.7 inches is keeping it in the toy territory instead of the productive and useful category. A sizeable screen of 13-15 inches would make a world of difference for this product. Basically they should remove the macbook pro’s screen and slap the tablet’s internals straight to the back. I mean really, how much harder would it have been for a consumer to carry a macbook sized screen that weighs less than a macbook air and it would add so much to the usability of the product.

The Choice of Operating System

Then comes the choice of an Operating System. They once again had the opportunity to jump the gap from toy to useful product but decided to keep it a novelty with its iPhone OS. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone OS is nothing short of fantastic but it was designed small, compact and versatile for the realms of a phone based environment. That being said, choosing the iPhone OS wasn’t necessarily a bad idea but it definitely needed to be redesigned to fit the newer product base. Adding such things as non-app based installations, expandable drive support, and for god sakes the use of flash. Using the same interface but adding more functionality from a standard OS would be almost be a given in my opinion and what’s nice about this improvement is that its completely within the realm of possibility with a new OS version.

The Ability to Write with the Tablet

The main thing I was waiting for during the entire presentation was a brilliant Apple note-taking app. I was so hoping that this would be my paper replacement. I’ve been dying for a tablet that’s responsive and polished enough to replace the need to carry a notebook or binder to classes. So, Apple definitely was going to have this obvious addition to its long rumored product… wrong… The most obvious and quintessentially important aspect of a tablet is its ability to write and take notes like your using paper. Yet, as it stands at this time, Apple’s new pride and joy will ship completely void of a prominent handwritten note-taking application.

Now most are probably thinking, maybe they’ll just add it later as a free app addition but it’ll still be a miss in this college note-taking dept. Even though it seems antiquated, they need to add a pen. Note-taking using your finger in a sandbox style app is not going to cut it, it’ll lack the precision necessary for proper usage.

So in this category Apple just needs to scrap it and start over.

Apple’s Decision on Using Apps

Apps are the new thing, they’re easy to install, easy to remove and easy to use. The decision to use apps, in my opinion was a great idea. From a tech guy/repair guy standpoint, the move towards apps is brilliant. Remove all the hassles, and have libraries upon libraries of choices for each app, BRILLIANT! This follows Apple’s trend of installation and removal from its famed Mac OS, and I love it so much in comparison to Windows and Linux. So for the them to carry the idea over is definitely a good move but once again, they’ve just slightly missed the mark.

With their current set-up, you are bound to a set library of apps that are chosen based on the the views of a governing iTunes committee. This does insure the quality of its apps but it also gives them far more control than is necessary and limits the users choices and usability. It’s clear that this shouldn’t be the only option since so many in the market are currently using a jail-broken iPhone. A simple option to use non-certified apps would be a wonderful addition to not only the tablet but also the iPhone and iPod.

This would limit what you can install since most of the market isn’t designing for an app based platform but I feel its a better choice for application installs. This is debatable though and a combination of standard installation methods mixed with app based installs(similar once again to Mac OS X installation method) could definitely be a reasonable alternative.

The Focus of the Apps

Remember when the app store was first released and we were introduced to complex medical apps and some very cool productivity apps. Now with iPad’s release, it seems like they are focused on creating a larger gaming device. Almost every app was a game of one sort or another, which is nice but most users aren’t going to be purchasing a tablet so that it’ll become an oversized DS. That’s not to say I wouldn’t absolutely love to play some tower defense games in this fashion but I think they missed a large portion of the market by mostly focusing on the entertainment side of things.

The Need for Expansion 

The last major problem I see, is the lack of expansion. Personally I’m ok with a fixed internal storage but the option to expand this would definitely be a welcomed addition. Something as simple as a usb connection or an sd card slot would put this into a completely feasible realm for a much larger percentage of consumers. Being able to connect not only storage but also cameras and iPods, would expand the functionality of the product exponentially.

The Name

This is just a personal grievance but iPad would definitely not be my first choice as far as names go. The other patented name of iSlate would have been far more impressive sounding. Yet now that I’ve seen the final product, I’m glad they decided to save iSlate for something else (hopefully a bigger better version of the iPad).

These are only my thoughts on the matter but that these revisions combined with Apple’s brilliant craftsmanship that a “game-changer” could be born. Hopefully this is only Apple’s first step into the tablet market and the real tablet will be released in the near future.