Is The iPad The New Travel Gadget? by Travelogger

Jan|29|2010

Is The iPad The New Travel Gadget?

I wish I could say yes. I was looking forward to January 27 as much as the next Apple enthusiast although to be honest, I was hoping for more iPhone news. When news about the iPad spread like wildfire, though, I found myself getting just as excited.

Since this is not a tech blog, let’s not go into the nitty gritty tech specs but suffice it to say that they are touting the iPad as the new travel must-have. It is supposed to revolutionize the way that we travel, but is it going to, really?

Let’s see, what do you normally need when you travel? I’d list down the essentials as:

• Camera
• Phone
• Laptop

Apple is promoting the iPad as something in between a phone and a laptop. It should be more than good enough to be your sole travel companion then, right?

Unfortunately, the iPad has several things going against it – at least if you’re thinking about using it while on the road.

• It has no camera. As such, you still have to lug around your digital camera if you want memories of your trip.
• It has no slots for USB and SD cards. I think this is really one of the biggest disappointments. Okay, no camera, that’s fine. You can always bring a small camera around and upload the pictures later. But how? Those common ports aren’t even available!
• It doesn’t have voice calling capabilities – yet. This is not such a big deal I think but if they’re going to market the iPad as a traveller’s companion, this would have been a good feature to add at the outset.
• It doesn’t have multitasking features. That is, you need to run one app at a time. That’s a no-sell for me. Multitasking is in my blood and I simply can’t function with just one app running.

It’s a pity. The iPad looks awesome but if I were to buy something Apple this year, it would be an iPhone or the 13-inch MacBook. At least they’ll give me what I need on the road.