Features - QOTW: How can Apple improve the iPad 3?

[HEXUS]

Or what would it take for you to consider buying Apple's "magic" fondleslab?

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[crossy]

You know it's coming and you've seen the various rumours, but what do you think needs to be done to fundamentally improve the iPad as a consumer device? Is a high-resolution retina display a must, or is greater battery life of more concern? And, if you haven't bought in to the tablet craze, what would it take to convince you to purchase an iPad 3?

To sell more to consumers they need to drop the price - £500 isn't an impulse buy for anyone but a banker spending his/her bonus!

To sell one to me, they'd need to drop the price a little, but also dramatically increase the expansion and connectivity options. For example, I want to be able to use uSD expansion and to be able to connect the 'pad to a PC as a big flash drive - i.e. if it needs iTunes then I'm not interested.

Everything else - display, battery life, size, etc seem pretty acceptable to me. That said, if you offered me a free iPad3 or a free Asus Transformer Prime, then I'll take the Prime everytime. In the meantime I'm pretty happy with my old Transformer - plays a mean game of Osmos HD...

[[GSV]Trig]

They couldnt sell one to me as I dont like the OS or the "Apple way" of doing things, my next tablet will be WOA as I cant see myself wanting anything more than my Xoom with ICS does other than having windows..

[Hicks12]

They couldnt sell me one, they could only give me one!.

Dislike the OS, the whole Apple ecosystem is horrid (in my opinion!). If they were going to make a device for me then it would have to be like this:

1. Get rid of forced ecosystem, let other OS be installed... Windows 8 please or android atleast.
2. Add expansion slot(s), allow usb host
3. High resolution display
4. Ability to have a keyboard (like asus!)
5. Cost a suitable amount, £500+ for some crap isnt interesting... id rather buy an i7 laptop! (theres an asus for £449 at the minute with an i7 4 physical cores and hyperthreading!) Id spend £300 tops for any tablet, none interest me yet!

think that sums it up for me. After my contract i would have spent £168 for my Optimus2x (in june!) and i cant see myself spending more on a glorified phone, i can understand phones being expensive as they're smaller devices and that always adds a premium but when tablets are the same spec (sometimes worse...) it baffles me why they can be in laptop territory!.

[ionicle]

i think the ipad series has been brilliant so far...i can see a few upgrades apple needs to make

1. Retina Display ...yes yes yes.
2. Faster processor/better graphics
3. Camera with the ability to take 1080p video's, as i dont see it as a camera, i see it more as a video camera
4. entry level to be 32gb, not 16, and the price not to increase because of this.
5. more accessories, like the ability to plug into the apple dock connector with a usb interface to allow a usb stick to plug into it, or a SD card reader and so on, so images can be imported/exported

and to the user above, via bluetooth, apple's wireless keyboard is compatable with the ipad currently

[tecnospy]

interface to allow a usb stick to plug into it, or a SD card reader and so on, so images can be imported/exported

There is already an SD adapter for the iPAD, which is actually useful ( I just hope it's still compatible with the next version)

I like the idea of a higher resolution screen, would love to play proper HD resolution even if its on a small screen, oh and it has to be anti-glare!

As for the closed ecosystem, it has often been said that it's a flaw, however no one forces anyone to buy one and you know what the deal is before getting it - most normal, non IT people don't care about open source or open platform, they just want a product that is simple and works.

[zugged]

Add GPS (to the wifi version) and cut the price.
Actually, just cut the price - given my netbook cost £171, I can't forsee spending over 250 on a tablet.

[jnutt]

Well I don't think they need to drop the price. The Apple sheep will buy them anyway. IMHO

[Andrew McP]

most normal, non IT people don't care about open source or open platform, they just want a product that is simple and works.

This is where the Apple genius lies. And I say that as someone who hadn't used an iAnything until I recently gave up trying to get my mother comfortable with her PC. I bought her an iPad, and within moments of turning it on for the first time, I realised why these things have been so successful. You just can't beat that slick, intuitive, "transparent" interface, and by customising the processor with that specific aim in mind, Apple created the first 21st century control device*.

Of course after three days I was tearing my hair out, because for anyone used to the freedom and flexibility of the Windows world, Apple devices are incredibly frustrating. Thank goodness for Dropbox, which I also hadn't used before, but which gave me a way of sneaking stuff onto the iPad.

Anyway, my mother is progressing very nicely with her iPad, and my initial "I want one too" techno-lust soon wore off, especially when things like the deliberately lousy camera reminded me of Apple's upgrade strategy. Which finally brings me to the point of this article... the iPad"3".

Personally I'll be surprised if the screen is retina resolution. For a start the existing resolution is far more impressive than I expected, thanks to anti-aliasing and clever design. So a small improvement might be all that's necessary to keep the upgrade momentum going. Then, of course, the more pixels, the bigger the battery needs to be to shuffle them around effectively. And there's no doubt that the iPad2's battery is incredibly impressive. They need to retain that without adding much, or even any, weight.

A better camera is obvious, whether it's used much by most users or not. There's just no excuse for it to be as poor as it is. Not unless greed counts, which I guess it does. :-) And more interface options would be nice, but that's not the Apple way. So I'll be interested to see what they offer. But I'll be even more interested to see if the opposition can get their act together anytime soon. What I want is a bluetooth enabled Android device which I can use for everything from Plants v Zombies to programming my PVR and changing channels on the TV. I don't expect to get it any time soon, but the touch interface is definitely here to stay now. And although I hate to give Apple credit for anything other than being ruthless marketeers and shameless control freaks, I have to thank them for showing us that.

Now I have to go wash my hands after saying nice things about a company I have so little overall respect for. Speaking of which, what's with that daft decision not to allow you to delete photos automatically streamed to the iCloud? Are they insane, stupid, careless, or just incompetent? :-) My mother's stream is full of pictures of the carpet, half a wall, her hand, and the dog's ear. I'm not entirely sure this needs preserving, though of course Apple always knows best. ;-)

[Ross1]

Find some kind of... USE for it.

[danroyle]

ditch itunes half the price and then i might consider one but not until then.

[kalniel]

As for the closed ecosystem, it has often been said that it's a flaw, however no one forces anyone to buy one

Why are you in this thread? Does it, perchance, have anything to do with the topic?

For me, yes it really needs opening up. There's too much anti-competitiveness in the system, especially with third-party apps, and artificial restrictions on things. I know I can work around them, but it's hard work explaining to non-computer savy people why it's all so different.

And the price.. needs to be much higher. I'm fed up of unethical labour practises driven by bulk purchase bullying.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

To sell more to consumers they need to drop the price - £500 isn't an impulse buy for anyone but a banker spending his/her bonus!

Don't worry they don't need to do that. More advertising and more easy payment plans will sort that one out.

And the price.. needs to be much higher. I'm fed up of unethical labour practises driven by bulk purchase bullying.

This. OTH,a lot of companies could easily pay their workers more and still make decent profits. However,this is the fault of many consumers who don't seem to care at all especially with expensive electronics products.

If you also look at another area of apathy, you only have to look at the plight of Dairy farmers in the UK.

[[GSV]Trig]

As said, people will buy one, we have a few at work and the people using them love them, my other half has an A500 having used my Xoom and its great for her, her sister gets an ipad and she wants one of those now instead, that said she has already "bought" into the apple way having an iphone4 and an ipad..

The bit that gets me is theres nothing new in an ipad, look at the technology, there are better hardware products out there, same with the phones, they put out 3/5 year old tech, in a shiney box and people buy it because it just works, for some thats great, for others not so..

[Splash]

Like Trig we have a number at work. For me the thing it needs above and beyond anything else is some decent enterprise management software. Do I expect that there will be any released? You're 'aving a larf.

That and the fact that transferring files on or off the bloody things seems to be needlessly painful - I was handed one to do some auditing a few weeks back. Completed about 70 or so forms and then found that I had to email them to myself to get the data onto our corporate network. Walked round with a laptop instead after that.

[Andrew McP]

And the price.. needs to be much higher. I'm fed up of unethical labour practises driven by bulk purchase bullying.

I'm not going to defend Apple on this, but we are all in danger of being hypocrites on this subject. Our homes are *full* of stuff made under similar conditions. Maybe you're the exception, but none of us can hold the moral highground here. Not unless we're typing on a ZXSpectrum made in.. well, I'm guessing a British Leyland plant, based on the fact the first one my family bought was broken.