Advantage:
Battery lifeApple says ten hours. Softpedia says, “Not likely” and, “Would you like to put your money where your mouth is?” That’s how sure we are the iPad will not live up to its name, from a battery life standpoint, just like the iPhone. Your regular iPhone user - who browses the web, downloads an app or two, sends emails and listens to music on their iPhone, every day - will tell you that he or she needs to recharge that baby once every 24 hours. Apple claims up to seven hours of video playback on the iPhone 3G, and ten hours on the 3GS. These figures don’t reflect our experience with any of the iPhones we’ve employed. Sure enough, graphics-intensive apps - like racing games, for instance - will drain the iPad’s lithium-polymer battery before you can even reach for the charger. Of course, this is one take on the matter, based on experience with other Apple portables. We truly hope we’re wrong here. On the other hand, the device really belongs in a bag, or on a tabletop, so it’s bound to either have a plug nearby, or always be close to its charger.
Size-and-weight
Apple has always done well from both these standpoints, and will surely continue to do so with every upgrade / new product to come. You don’t need to turn the iPad around to see the sleek Apple logo on that finely finished aluminium casing to know you’re looking at a product designed at One Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California.
Storage capacities
Disadvantage:
The Apple iPad, first released in 2010, is a slate computer with a 10-inch touch screen. Hyped by Apple as a completely new form of computing, the iPad indeed offers an experience very different from that of a laptop computer. However, that experience is not for everyone. There are certain disadvantages with using an iPad as your primary portable computer, and it is important to know those disadvantages before purchasing one.
Typing Speed
The iPad does not have a physical keyboard like a laptop. Although it is possible to put the unit on a stand and use an external keyboard, this is a cumbersome setup that detracts from the portability of the device. For users who opt not to use an external keyboard, text entry on the iPad can be slow; in 2010, PC World wrote that the iPad was adequate for short text entry but slower than a laptop for long emails and blog posts.
Software Selection
The iPad is not a full computer and cannot run software written for Windows or Macs. Rather, software for the iPad must be downloaded from the iTunes App Store. Although thousands of applications are available on the App Store, all applications must be approved by Apple before they become available to the public. This is very different from PC and Mac software, which anyone can write and distribute. Due to Apple's policies for application approval, some types of applications are not available on the App Store.
Little Expandability
Most computers can be expanded with the addition of new hardware such as memory, hard drives, printers, scanners and joysticks. It is not possible to add additional storage capacity to the iPad, so you are stuck with the capacity selected at the time of purchase for as long as you own the device. Additionally, the iPad does not have a USB port and cannot use external hardware designed for computers.
Non-Widescreen
The iPad has a screen with a 1024x768 resolution. This is not a widescreen aspect ratio, making the iPad less than ideal for viewing movies. If you watch a widescreen film on the iPad, you must choose between having black bars on the top and bottom of the screen or zooming the video to fill the entire screen and losing content from the left and right edges.
No Unlimited Data Plan
The 3G version of the iPad has cellular data access through AT&T Wireless for an additional fee. However, as of 2010, the iPad has no unlimited data plan as many smartphones do. The highest-tier plan available costs $25 per month and is limited to a maximum of 2 GB data transfer. However, the iPad can also connect to wireless access points, which does not use data from the cellular plan.
